perfect? - montgomery de la cruz

Welcome back.

"Welcome back!"

The screams startled both Justin and Ashley as they walked into Clay's guesthouse. Both of them looked at each other with a smile before looking back to their friends.

All of them were there. Clay, Ani, Jess, Zach, Alex, Charlie, Tony and even Tyler was there to greet them.

Zach was the first one to embrace Justin. "Congratulations on sobriety, brother.", he slurred with a crooked smile.

Ashley had basically forced Justin to go to rehab when she found his syringes in his sock as she was doing laundry. It had been extremely difficult since New York City is filled with drugs but he made it and she was so incredibly proud of him.

She was lifted up from the ground by the 6'3 boy in a bear hug. "Zach, Zach, can't breathe.", she wheezed, a small laugh escaping from her lips.

"I loved your hair!", Jess screeched as her and Ani hugged her. "Thank you!", she answered with a big smile on her face, touching her now shoulder length hair.

The first thing she did when she got to New York with Justin was to cut her hair short. She felt confident with a new look and you could tell.

After they all had greeted each other, it was pretty lame. Zach was the only having fun since he was absolutely wasted. Charlie drove Tyler home after a few hours and Ashley zoned out as the others talked about the police.

"Are you alright, Ashley?", Charlie asked with a frown. "Huh?", she asked as she ran her hand through her hair. "I just asked if you're nervous about the whole thing with Tyler and the guns."

"I don't know if I'm going to be completely honest. I mean sure, I'm nervous about it but I trust Tyler not to rat us out.", she sighed.

After a while, almost everyone left except for Ashley, Justin, Jess and Clay. Jessica and Justin were outside while Ashley was sitting on the bed with Clay.

None of them were talking. They were both quietly enjoying each others company.

"I see him, you know?", he whispered all of the sudden. "Monty. I saw him outside my car."

"You're crazy.", she answered quietly while looking at the ground.

Clay wasn't crazy. Ashley had seen him too. The first time she saw him was when she was in the middle of Manhattan, she thought she was just imagining things but then she saw him again. Over her own bed, standing over her and Justin with his blue Liberty varsity jacket.

She almost had a heart attack before she blinked and Montgomery was gone.

———————————————————————

Standing in the middle of Liberty's cafeteria, Ashley was hit with a load of emotions that she didn't enjoy. People were looking at her, actually no, people were staring at her.

She wasn't too bothered by it though. She had just disappeared without telling any teachers or any students except for her friends. She had been gone for over a year and was now back, just a few months after her ex boyfriends death.

"Ashley?"

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a brunette girl standing in front of her.

"Estella?"

She nodded with a small smile as she motioned for Ashley to sit down by a lunch table.

Estella De La Cruz. Monty's sister. She had reached out to Ashley, wanting to talk to her about how Monty treated her. They had actually become really close friends, just from talking on the phone and texting.

"So... how do you feel being back?", Estella asked as she looked around the cafeteria.

"It's weird, kinda nostalgic in a way.", Ashley shrugged.

Before the two girls could continue their conversation, Luke came up to their table. He put two jerseys on the table with the name 'De La Cruz' on the back:

"We had 'em made for today.", he said with a smile.

"Thanks.", Estella said awkwardly as Diego walked up to the table as well. Ashley was not amused by the shirts, if looks could kill, then the two boys would be dead already.

"No, you gotta put it on.", he insisted. "You gotta wear it. It's the only tribute he's gonna get.", Diego said.

Ashley audibly scoffed, dragging the two boy's attention to herself. "Something funny, Bennett?", Diego asked with a frown.

"No, no, nothing.", she answered with a forced smile. "If anyone should wear the jersey, it's you.", Luke said.

"Yeah, maybe you can convince everyone that you didn't cheat on him.", Diego scoffed as he looked at her with disgust.

"Look, I'm not proud over what I did. I swear I'm not, but I did what I had to do.", she said while looking down at the table. "It's such bullshit! He didn't fucking hit you like everyone's saying, you're just lying.", he exclaimed, glaring down at her.

"Oh, I'm lying? Really? Ask Luke if I'm lying.", she said with raised eyebrows, anger radiating from her body. Diego looked over at the blond boy who was looking down at the table.

"You didn't see her, dude. He was like my brother but he was aggressive, alright.", Luke mumbled.

"Fucking take those jerseys off. You're honoring a fucking rapist.", Clay was now joining the heated conversation.

"Fuck you, Jensen. He took the fall for you, man. No way did he kill Bryce. Everyone knows that.", Diego sneered at the small boy.

"Bullshit.", Clay spat out.

"You're the real criminal.", Luke said as he stepped closer to him. Clay looked like an animal that had been locked in a cage for too long. The next thing he did was hit Luke right on the nose two times, Ashley actually thought he had a chance before Diego came and rocked Clay's shit.

She rose from the table and touched Estella's shoulder to show her that she was leaving. Before she could walk out, Justin got a hold of her wrist.

"Are you okay?", he asked with worried expression. "Yeah, I'm good. Clay's taking care of them, I guess? Well, he's doing his best.", she nodded towards the fight that was going on.

"I should go help him.", Justin said as he glanced over at Clay who was laying on the ground, clearly overthrown. "I'm just gonna go outside, I love you.", she said before kissing him and walking out from the cafeteria.

The cold air hit her face as she walked outside. Diego had said that Monty took the fall for Clay. Ashley had been told that Monty went to jail for what he did to Tyler, not for the murder of Bryce.

Someone was lying to her and she was destined to figure out who...

Soooo, I decided to keep on writing on this story :))))
I guess Monty's actually dead :(( I've only seen the first episode so NO SPOILERS GUYS PLS

I'm loving the new confident Ashley :)

Don't forget to comment and vote!
-elise