Loose Change~ Montgomery De La Cruz / Zach Dempsey/Scott Reed

Part 3 Chapter 1b

tw: this chapter continues some violence, and it also contains sexual content

Ophelia remembered clearly the first football game she had ever gone to. It was one of the last games of the season. Zach hadn't been given a lot of opportunities to play, but Coach assured his mother he would be in almost the entire next game that night, so everyone went to watch. Ophelia, Honor, her parents, and Zach's parents.

Ophelia was upset. Not that she had to come, but because she had to see stupid Montgomery De La Cruz.

She had given him her phone number at the mall, almost a whole week ago, but he hadn't been texting her. Well, he did. Just twice.

Once, he said, 'Hi Ophelia. This is Monty. How are you?'

She replied enthusiastically with a, 'Hi Monty! I'm good! How is football going?'

He then said, 'Its really good. Can we talk at school tomorrow at lunch?'

Ophelia could still feel how excited and nervous she got. She asked, 'Where?'

But he didn't reply. At all. She waited an hour before texting again, 'Were you able to find a gift for your mom at the mall?' She was trying to restart the conversation.

Still, no reply. Now she felt stupid, and she was too scared he would ignore her again to say anything else. She saw him the next day in class. He smiled at her, but she looked away, embarrassed. He had basically ignored her, in her mind. She didn't want to risk saying something just to embarrass herself more.

That was it for that week. They didn't talk. She would catch him looking at her, but he never said anything, so she didn't say anything. She thought maybe him and his friends would make fun of her if she did.

Maybe that's why he texted her, so him and his friends could make fun of her.

At the football game, he was on the field a lot. He was really good at the sport. And...he looked really hot. She hated to admit it, but no matter how annoyed she was at him, she couldn't deny he was attractive.

At half time, when everyone took off their helmets to get some water, Zach's mom handed Ophelia a cold water bottle to run down to him, and then a ten dollar bill to go get something to eat at the snack bar.

Ophelia walked off the bleachers. She became too shy to simply walk into the crowd of players. So she stood at the edge, awkwardly.

"Zach!" she called. She saw him farther down. Maybe he couldn't hear her.

"Zach!" she called again.

A large boy appeared in front of her. He was at least a foot taller. He smiled down at her. "What's up?"

She blinked. "What?"

"I'm Zach," he said. "What's up?"

"Oh," she said. "I-I need Zach Dempsey."

The guy just looked her up and down. He smiled. His eyes lingered lower than her eye line. "You sure?"

"Hey!" Montgomery suddenly appeared. He looked even more attractive now with his helmet off. His hair was sweaty and clung to his head. It showed off more of his handsome face. "Hey, I got this," he told the other guy.

The other guy just chuckled. "What?"

"Bro, she's a fucking freshmen," Montgomery told him. His voice slightly aggravated that he was talking to her at all.

A guy standing near laughed. "Zach, you're such a pedo!"

This 'Zach' looked embarrassed. "She looks older!"