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

Part 3 Chapter 4b

tw: parental abuse, physical assault

"Are you really still mad at me?"

Ophelia huffed as she continued marching ahead of Zach, not bothering to say a word. Zach had told her mother about her walking home with Montgomery. Now she was grounded with no phone. Of course she was still mad at him.

"Ophelia, come on," he whined.

Ophelia scoffed. "You come on. You totally snitched on me."

Snitched? Ophelia didn't normally say words like 'snitched'. Zach figured Montgomery had probably said it before, and that's where Ophelia got it. He figured she was trying to use his slang to impress him.

"You shouldn't have let him walk you home," Zach insisted, speaking up loudly from behind her. "Something bad could've happened."

She rolled her eyes, not that he could see her face. But he could tell just by her voice she was annoyed. "Like what, Zach? He was being nice."

"No, he was being sneaky. That's why he didn't tell me you two were going."

Ophelia stopped now and turned around. "I thought Monty was your friend? Why are you acting like you hate him?"

"Monty?" Zach asked. "You guys have little nicknames for each other now?"

Ophelia huffed. "And what about it?" Most people called him 'Monty', so it didn't seem like that big of a deal. But it did excite her to think of them having their own names for each other. How romantic.

"He's bad news," Zach told her. "He's fun as my friend, but I wouldn't trust him as your friend."

Ophelia felt offended for Montgomery. She said, boldly, "Well, lucky for you he isn't gonna be my friend."

Zach narrowed his eyes at her. "What does that mean?"

She threw her hair behind her shoulder. "Monty wants to be my boyfriend."

"What?" His eyes widened now. "You-You can't date him. He's not a good guy."

She huffed, and turned around and started walking. "Yes, he is. He's nice to me."

Zach caught up with her. "You're not allowed to have a boyfriend."

She was suspicious now. "Are you going to snitch on me again?"

"Ophelia-" He struggled to keep up with her quick walking. "I don't think he's good for you. He-He's really inappropriate."

"Inappropriate?"

"He talks about bad stuff," Zach tried to explain. He didn't want to say he talked about sex, because Zach was too embarrassed to say the word in front of her. But he thought that's all Montgomery wanted her for, so he wanted her to know that. "He's just using you."

She didn't catch on to what he was implying. "What would he use me for? You think he's gonna make me do his homework or something?"

Zach couldn't believe her ignorance. "Stop acting stupid, you know what I mean."

Ophelia stopped walking again. Zach regretted his words when he saw the hurt look on her face. She frowned, confused and now upset.

"I'm not stupid, Zach. Don't call me stupid."

But he realized she actually did not pick up on what he meant.

"He is always talking about doing stuff with girls. How can you be sure he doesn't just want to..." he took a deep breath. "How do you know he doesn't just want to have sex with you?"