perfect? - montgomery de la cruz

Code Red.

Jessica and Ashley were working together in gym class, trying to bandage a doll that had been shot in a school shooting. It was safe to say that the two girls were struggling, both of their hands covered in fake blood, trying to salvage whatever that was left of the dying doll. They both shrugged with small smiles on their faces when they saw how awful Justin and Clay had done, their victim definitely didn't survive.

"What happened with Clay back there?", Ashley asked as she walked with Justin to his locker. "I have no idea. I feel like he's hallucinating, maybe what happened with Zach made him go crazy?", he speculated.

After the Find Your Drink party, Zach had promised Clay that he could drive his car and he did. Except he crashed the car, left Zach for dead and now claims that he can't remember anything about it. Ashley and Justin were... in the middle of something when he came barging into the guest house and walked straight to bed without even looking at the couple.

"I mean, at least he's getting help, you know, the therapy?", she said with a frown. The frown turned into small smile when she saw the picture that Justin had inside of his locker.

The picture was taken on the ferry when Ashley and Justin were on their way to the Statue of Liberty. He had insisted on taking lots of pictures since he had promised Clay that he would. One picture that he had taken was of Ashley when she wasn't paying attention. The golden light made her eyes sparkle as she watched the statue from afar, the big smile on her face made his heart melt every time.

"I miss that.", she mumbled as she got snapped back to reality. "After graduation, we'll go back. I promise.", he said as he pulled her into his arms.

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Ashley was sitting alone in the history classroom since she needed to catch up on some homework when Principle Bolan's voice filled the air.

"May I have your attention, please? We are currently moving into a lockdown situation. Code red. This is a hard lockdown. Staff, please initiate lockdown procedures immediately."

She silently cursed herself for choosing to study alone, unknowingly making herself an easy target. She rose from her chair and started pulling desks to barricade the doors. After she was done, she crouched down to sit under the teacher's desk. She rested her head on the table with closed eyes, just trying to calm herself down.

"It's just a drill. It's just a drill. It's just a drill.", she repeated to herself over and over again.

"One loud noise and you'll end up like me.", Monty said as he sat down next to her. "It's just a drill.", she said, mainly to convince herself. "You sure about that?", she couldn't even bring herself to talk back, maybe he was right. Maybe this wasn't a drill and this would be the last place she would spend her life.

"Are you scared? Terrified even? Then you know how I felt.", he whispered into her ear. "I'm familiar with the feeling, Montgomery.", she scoffed as she brought her knees to her chin.

A few minutes of silence broke out as the two ex lovers sat next to each other. She glanced at him. He looked so real, she could literally smell his cologne. She grabbed her phone to see a text from Justin.

'I love you. Stay safe.'

She let out a small breath of relief. Justin was safe, he wasn't hurt.

"Foley really stole you away from me, huh?", Monty stated as he looked at her background photo. The photo was taken by Ashley in the bathroom mirror of their apartment in New York, it was a simple picture of the couple brushing their teeth together but it made her happy.