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

Part 2 Chapter 8a

"Tyler Down said that he received threats in his photography room, Jessica Davis had threats about testifying as well, and I'm assuming others did too. I wanted to ask if you had received anything. It seems someone doesn't want Bryce getting into any trouble from the court."

He deserved what he got, but she doubted Bryce would come up at all during his hearing.

Ophelia thought about the photo, but she was still unsure if she should trust Mr. Porter completely.

"I have nothing to say about Bryce," Ophelia told him. "The Bakers called me because they want to accuse me of being a bully, which, if you listened to the tapes you know I was. To Hannah, at least."

Mr. Porter shook his head. "I didn't hear anything like that. What I heard was the story of a girl who needed help, but who didn't have the courage to ask someone to help her."

Ophelia eyes widened as he realized exactly what Mr. Porter was getting at.

"Wait-you called me in here because you think I'm suicidal?"

Mr. Porter leaned back. "I never said that. I am simply implying that you have been through a traumatic event, and you have had to experience an abusive relationship, and you will not be able to overcome the trauma by refusing to admit that it happened."

Ophelia shook her head, adamantly. "I-I didn't go through anything like Hannah did. I wasn't raped. I wasn't bullied, I wasn't targeted. I-I don't have a good enough reason to do that."

Mr. Porter fell silent, and Ophelia wondered what she had said wrong.

Mr. Porter asked her. "Have you had to convince yourself it wasn't a good enough reason?"

He was asking why if she had ever thought about it. Suicide. Of course she had. Not before Hannah died. It never crossed her mind then. But after she killed herself, before Ophelia even knew the tapes existed, she wondered if the guilt of what she did would ever go away. She wondered if suicide really was the easy way out.

Ophelia told him. "I've never wanted to kill myself."

Mr. Porter pressed, "But have you thought about it? Even if you didn't want to, have you ever imagined it?"

Ophelia lied, "Of course not."

He told her, "A lot of people trick themselves into believing that suicide stops their pain. But that's not true. Hannah's death only spread pain, so did Alex's attempt-"

"I thought we weren't supposed to talk about them," Ophelia mentioned. "Didn't the principal say taking about it will cause people to want to try it."

Mr. Porter nodded. "He did. But I don't agree with that. I think if we don't talk about it, a lot of people might trick themselves into believing what Hannah did was good. It wasn't."

"I-I know it wasn't," she told him. "You don't have to preach to me about this. I already get the message." Why did he think she didn't know what kind of pain it caused?

"Ms. Tristano, I just called you in here to make sure you are safe. I understand you are no longer with Montgomery De La Cruz romantically, and I am extremely glad that you took yourself out of that situation, but that doesn't mean he can't still harm you."

"He hasn't," she said simply.

"I want you to know that if he puts his hands on you again, or threatens to do so, you can come tell me, and I'll have pulled from the baseball team immediately."

Woah. She had never heard a teacher say something like that before. She thought they all loved the athletes.

"He's, like, one of the Star players," Ophelia told him. "I don't know if you can even do that."