perfect? - montgomery de la cruz

I believe him.

"How was he?", Ashley asked Justin as she gently stroked his back. Clay was at a mental institution and was being kept there for a while after he grabbed one of the guards gun after the shooting drill and threatened to shoot.

"He said that he was scared but that he wasn't crazy, and I believe him.", Justin sighed, he ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

Ashley did her best to make him feel better. She had even baked him some cookies so that he would focus on something else rather than Clay being stuck at a place where he didn't belong.

"I believe him too, baby. I think he's hurting, and I also think that he needs us to be there for him.", she whispered as she rested head on his shoulder.

It was kind of ironic. A few years ago Justin and Clay couldn't stand each other and now they were brothers, nothing could break them apart. A few years ago Clay and Ashley didn't like each other at all and now they were closer than ever.

———————————————————————

Things were slowly falling apart for the teenagers. Zach had told Winston that he beat up Bryce the night that he died and Winston had gone straight to Diego and told him the whole thing.

Justin already had enough on his plate with Clay now gone from the mental institution and back home even though he probably needed a few more days so he could collect himself, and now he also had to talk to Zach, in an attempt to make him fix the damage that he had caused.

On top of all of this, they all had college interviews today, which made their stress level rise even more.

Ashley was sitting in the counselors office with a woman that was trying to convince her as an eighteen year old to make a decision that would  decide her entire life. She had been forced to wear formal clothes since she needed to look 'professional' and 'mature', it made her sick knowing that she might fuck up her entire life just by choosing the wrong college.

The worst thing was that Ashley could barely remember what she wrote on her college essay since she was either high or drunk or maybe both when she wrote it.

"In your paper you mention that the person that you look up to the most is your brother, would you like to explain why?", the woman asked her with a reassuring smile.

She took a deep breath before she started talking. "My father died when I was younger and it completely broke my mother. She started drinking a lot and left me and my brother alone. He took care of me."

"I owe him everything that I have. And when he got arrested...", she stopped herself for a second, she was not crying in a fucking college interview. "My world kind of fell apart when he got arrested, I had to start living on my own and I had to start to deal with all of my feelings on my own.", she continued.

"He's the person that I look up to the most because I am part of the reason why he's in jail. He started doing illegal things so that he could put food on the table for me. He sacrificed everything for me."

"What would you say is that hardest thing about your brother being in prison?", the woman asked softly, clearly interested.

"Watching myself grow up without him. It's hard to see both of us get older as he's behind bars.", she said as she started fidgeting with her hands to distract herself so she wouldn't cry.

After the interview, Ashley took a walk outside the school to ease her nerves. She didn't really care if she was accepted to the college, the only thing that she cared about was if Justin got in to his college.

He deserved a future even if she wasn't apart of it.

The questions that the woman had asked her, made Ashley upset. She hated talking about her brother because she felt so incredibly guilty about it.

"You were just a kid and you needed to eat.", was Sam's excuse for involving himself in illegal stuff. She blamed herself for not getting a job herself, being ten years old at the time didn't really help her case.

She quickly walked back into the school before her thoughts consumed her. The first thing she saw when she walked through the front doors was Justin who was talking to Deputy Standall.

She watched her boyfriend's face get paler and paler as Alex's dad kept on talking. Deputy Standall finally walked away after patting Justin's shoulder with a small but pained smile plastered on his face.

The boy immediately walked to the bathrooms with Ashley close behind him.

She found her boyfriend bent over the sink, splashing water on his face. When he saw her, standing there, looking at him with worry in her eyes, he completely broke down.

He was full on sobbing when she ran to him and embraced him. "What happened, baby? What happened?", she asked as she held him tightly.

"She's dead. My mom's dead.", he cried into her shoulder. Her heart broke. She hated that woman but seeing how devastated Justin was made her wish she was still alive.

"Oh, honey.", she whispered as she ran her hand through his hair while he cried out, holding her tight.

They stayed like that for a while, Ashley allowed him to just let everything out. God knows that he needed it.

The boy just needed someone to hold him. Two broken people were together, trying to piece each other back together. They needed each other so desperately.

—————————————————————

Ashley was sitting in Clay's and Justin's room, waiting for Justin to be done talking to their parents. She knew that they wanted to have a proper funeral for his mother but she also knew that Justin would never let that happen. He was still angry at her for leaving him alone to survive by himself and allowing him to get abused by her shitty boyfriends.

The door flew open as Justin stormed into the room. He slammed the door behind him and sat down on his bed, burying his head in his hands.

She slowly made her way to him, putting her arms around his shaking body.
"I love you so much.", was the sentence that she whispered over and over again into his ear as she rested her head on his shoulder.

He needed her right now. For the first time in his life, he had found someone who loved him unconditionally. For the first time in his entire life, he had found someone who he was afraid to lose.

He couldn't afford to lose Ashley. He wouldn't survive it...

Hellooooo!
I've been feeling so unmotivated that it's crazy.

I feel like my chapters are getting worse and worse which is making me not want to carry on with the story but then I see all of your guys's comments and I melt 🥺

Y'all are too cute and supportive. <3

Don't forget to comment and vote!
-elise