A Beneficial Friendship {Montgomery De La Cruz}

Thirteen

"Are you gonna personally give it to him or just stick in his locker with a note on it or something?" I asked Monty in between bites of my bagel on our way to school. I was referring to Tyler's new camera that he bought him that had finally come in the mail the night before. It had been three days since Montgomery smashed Tyler's camera and Tyler threatened us and ever since then, he's constantly staring at us and giving us very scary looks and glares. I was now starting to think that my boyfriends theory might not be as crazy as I originally thought. Giving him a new camera probably won't make everything right but at least it's a step in the right direction. That combined with us not bullying him anymore will hopefully keep us safe from harms way at least. "I decided I'm gonna hand it to him in person so that I can look him in the eyes while I apologize." Monty explained and I softly smiled at him in response. Hearing him say something like that made me so proud of him. Most everyone thinks that Monty is a huge dick with nothing else inside of his heart but I know that's not true. He's actually very kind and he tends to become remorseful of his negative actions in every situation eventually. Just because he doesn't show his softer side to everyone doesn't mean that it's not there... I knew that for a fact. I myself once was one of those people who thought he was void of any emotions other than anger and lust. I was very quickly proven wrong and I hoped that Tyler and the other kids that Monty has tormented would see that too. I knew that it would take time but I had faith in him that he wouldn't give up until he had proven it to them. "I think that's very mature of you, babe. I'm really proud of you for doing this and trying to make a change in yourself." I praised him with a smile on my face while placing my hand on top of his that was resting on my thigh after I finished my breakfast. "I'm doing it all for my daughter." He said and my heart swelled at his words and my eyes lit up. I loved hearing him talk about our little girl in a positive light and I loved hearing the tone of admiration and love that he always has in his voice while talking to her and about her. "Well, she's proud of you too. I can feel her fluttering around in there at the sound of you talking about it." I said and he chuckled at me for thinking that our daughter understood what we were talking about. I know that she didn't, I just like to think that. Montgomery always goes along with it too. "I'm glad. Y'alls opinions are the most important to me... the only ones that really matter." He told me, slightly whispering at the end. "I know how you feel because I feel the same way." I informed him and he grinned brightly and his eyes lit up at my admission. He tells me all the time how mine and our daughters opinions and love is all that he cares about but I've never told him that, even though I feel the same way. "Well, if that's the case... then I want you to know how incredibly proud of you I am, baby girl. You're doing so great with this pregnancy and I know that you're gonna be an amazing mother." He told me sincerely and I felt tears spring to my eyes. These damn hormones, always making me so freaking sentimental and emotional these days. I chuckled and wiped my eyes clean while Monty laughed and rubbed my thigh. "It's so cute to me how emotional you are lately." "Pregnancy has really turned me into a sap." I chuckled while looking down at my lap embarrassed. Montgomery squeezed my thigh, silently telling me not to be embarrassed about it. We finally pulled into the school parking lot and I started to feel a little nervous about confronting Tyler and gifting him the new camera. I also was feeling nervous that he might not use that camera for good... again. What if he continues stalking and taking perverted pictures of girls? What if he uses the camera that my own boyfriend bought to take nasty pictures of me all over again? I understood that the pictures are because he's a creep, but I still don't understand why he released them all over the school without it being a revenge thing. I hadn't ever done anything to him myself. Sure, I hadn't stuck up for him, but that's just because a lot of the time he brings these things upon himself. By doing things such as stalking girls. Monty parked his Jeep and as soon as he shut it off, he hopped out and jogged to my side to open the door for me and help me out. He picked me up out of my seat and gently placed me on the ground. I chuckled and then responded. "I'm capable of hopping out of the Jeep, Mon." I laughed but he shook his head. "You're getting bigger and more pregnant, baby. It's too dangerous for you to hop out. I'd rather be safe than sorry." He said while taking my book bag from me and then intertwining our fingers together, heading inside. "I'm capable of carrying my own book bag too, pumpkin." I laughed again and just like last time, he shook his head. "Too heavy for you... like I said, rather be safe than sorry." He repeated the saying again and I playfully rolled my eyes at him before chuckling and shaking my head at his antics. He's always been protective of me but now that I'm pregnant, it's even worse. Especially since I've gotten further along. We walked through the doors hand in hand and he placed a kiss on my forehead while handing me my book bag  before we temporarily separated to go to our lockers. Once I was done placing my unneeded things in my locker, I walked over to Montgomery and waited on him to finish so that we could go to the cafeteria where all of our friends' were. We made our way into the cafeteria a few minutes later and then joined our friends' at the table and they all welcomed us with smiles. We all held casual conversation until Monty and I noticed Tyler shyly walk into the cafeteria, look around, and take a seat at a table alone. I watched as Monty grabbed the camera out of his book bag and pushed his seat back. "What the hell are you doing, man?" Justin asked confused once he noticed the camera. "I bought Tyler a new camera since I smashed the other one." Montgomery stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You can't be fucking serious, brother. You're giving the creep a camera? Did you forget that he's the same perv who takes pictures of your girlfriend?" Bryce said with an eyebrow raised. "Of course I didn't fucking forget, dumb ass. I've got this shit handled." Monty slightly snapped before jumping up from his seat. I quickly stood up too but he put his hand up to stop me. "I don't think you should come... ya know, in case he starts freaking or something."I shook my head at his words and pushed past him to head in the direction of Tyler. I heard him sigh behind me but he followed behind me anyways and wrapped his arm around my waist. As soon as we approached his table, he looked up scared and started frantically picking up his stuff to leave. "No, man, stay. We've got something for you." Monty said calmly while pulling my chair out for me and then also sitting down himself. "Well, really Monty has something for you." I corrected but he shook his head. "What's mine is yours." He said to me and I softly smiled before looking over at Tyler and seeing the most confused look on his face. I cleared my throat and gestured for Montgomery to get to the point. He nodded his head and then sighed while running his hand over his face. "Photography is your life, right?" He questioned Tyler while looking him dead in the eyes. Fear still shined in Tyler's but he did tentatively nod his head. "I get that. Other than Eve and our daughter, baseball is my life. Before them, that's all I cared about and I would've died without it. So, I do understand having a passion so strong it feels like that's all you have." Monty explained and I was surprised at his words. I always knew that he was passionate about baseball, but I didn't know to what extent. Tyler vigorously nodded, understanding what Montgomery was saying. "With that being said though... sometimes you use your passion for negative shit, dude." He said, looking at Tyler and raising his eyebrows. "What I did to the two of you was wrong..." "It wasn't just us though. You did it to Hannah Baker, you were taking pictures of Evie in the woods the other day, and there's no telling if you've done it to other girls' too. Not only do you do that but you release the pictures that you took of people in their private moments. Hannah in a game of truth or dare while drunk in her own room, us having sex on her own roof, Evelyn sitting on the back of my Jeep with her shirt up because her best friend was rubbing her pregnant belly, and possibly other scenarios too. Those are private moments, man. It scares girls' to be stalked like that and it hurts them to have pictures like that released for everyone to see. Then they get bullied for it and I know that you know how fucking shitty that feels. Plus they end up getting slut shamed on top of that. That's the reason that I get so pissed at you and flip my shit. I'm sorry for how I've treated you, I really am. I regret that shit. You're not clean either though. You've gotta stop that shit, bro." Montgomery calmly explained to Tyler and I was proud of him for how well he was handling himself. Tyler looked down sadly and I could see guilt on his face. He slowly looked up at me and Monty tightened his grip around my waist, nervous about what Tyler was going to say to me. "Is- is that true, Evie? Does it-it really bother and hurt you and other girls'?" Tyler stuttered and I stared for a second before nodding my head. "Yeah, it hurts a lot. It makes us feel paranoid and unsafe with our surroundings. It's embarrassing to know that people have seen things like that and the things said about us afterwards are so degrading. I'd never felt so embarrassed and paranoid in my life before you took those pictures of us and released them. You... you made me scared, Tyler. And Hannah too. And possibly other girls' too. It's not okay." I told him, making sure I chose my words carefully so that he would understand without getting offended. He looked into my eyes for a minute and I noticed tears welling up in his. "I- I am so sorry, Evie." He apologized sincerely and I nodded my head with a small smile, fully believing that he was sorry and did regret it. We all sat in silence for a minute, other than Tyler's sniffling from crying, before Montgomery spoke up again. "I have a gift for you but I need you to do something for me and promise me something. Deal?" Monty questioned with a serious look on his face and Tyler immediately responded with a firm "yes". "Okay. Well... first of all, I appreciate your apology to Evelyn but I think you need to also apologize to Hannah and Courtney. If you've done it to any other girls' and they know, you need to apologize to them too. Can you do that?" "Absolutely... yes." Tyler immediately responded and I noticed Monty softly smile but quickly look down so that Tyler wouldn't see. He's not bullying him, but he is still playing the tough guy act. "What else do you want me to do? I swear I'll do it. I'll make everything right." He rushed out. Monty moved his arm from around my waist to around my shoulders and he started gently scratching my upper arm with his fingertips. "I want you to promise me that you'll never do it again." Monty said firmly. "Yeah, yeah. Of course. It's never going to happen again. That's a promise." Tyler said so fast Montgomery had barely even been able to fully get his words out. Monty lightly chuckled and nodded his head before removing his arm from my shoulder and taking the camera out of his lap. He handed it over to Tyler and he immediately grinned ear to ear and started lightly crying tears of joy. "Y-you got me a new camera?" He stuttered. "It's even the same exact one." He whispered with a grin. We both laughed and nodded before he looked up at us. "Thank you so much, guys. I really, really appreciate this... more than you'll ever know." He thanked us, whispering the last part. "I'm glad that you like it." "We hope that you get a lot of use out of it." Monty and I said one after another. He nodded his head and we both smiled at him. Once the bell rang, Monty said goodbye and I waved before we grabbed our stuff and headed out. "I think that went over pretty well." I said as we were walking down the hall. Monty nodded his head and then looked down at me with a soft smile. "It's all for you and baby girl."