Trust Me (a Montgomery de la Cruz fanfic)

3 Insecure

I was watching them from a far in the hallway again. They were pushing another poor dude around. Throwing his books around, tossing his lunch on the floor and shoving him up against the lockers when he tried to protect himself. Then they all just turned and walked away from him, laughing, leaving him to clean up the mess that they had made. How come there's never any teachers around to see them doing this?! I didn't have any classes with him that day. To be honest I was kind of trying to avoid him anyway. Not that I know why, because he obviously never notices me anyway. I decided not to tell Jenna about it. She was never interested in hearing about my acting class anyway.

I managed to dodge running into him the following day too, but in the evening it was back to acting class. I was kind of hoping he wouldn't show up, but as I walked from the bus-stop I recognized his car driving past me. The only reason I recognize his car is because I needed to know that part of the school parking lot to avoid. He walked through the door right as I sat down and joined our circle. "Welcome back. Today I was thinking we would just continue where we left of last time, so find your partner and keep rehearsing. Do not be afraid to come to me with any questions you might have. Good luck!", she said, and everyone disappeared with their partners. I saw Monty already sitting in the same place we sat the last time with his scrip in front of him, and I walked over. "Hi", I greeted him as I sat down across from him. "Hi", he greeted me back, actually looking up from the paper this time. "So I was thinking, this time we should try to loosen up a bit. I notice you are a bit...closed off, and that is to be expected. It's only your second time and you don't really know me, but just try to breath, relax and just let go", I advice him. "I'll try", he replied, but nothing really changed. We read the lines back and forth a few more times, but he was still so tense. What could I do to loosen him up?! I've seen him at school. I know he's not really like this at all. "What is your safe place?" I asked, interrupting our reading. He looked at me confused. "My safe place?", he asked back. "You know, the one place that you feel you can be yourself. Where all worries disappear and you're free and calm and comfortable". He was still looking at me confused. "Come on. We all have one.", I smiled. He seems to think for a second. "The field, I guess. I play on my schools baseball-team", he told me. I decided to pretend that I didn't know. "What is that like?", I asked. "It's fun. Running around, playing my favorite sport with all my friends. Winning". For the first time I saw him smile a genuine smile. His face looked so kind and mild compared to the one I was used to seeing. I smiled back as he told me about playing baseball. Not because it was interesting, but because I could really see something pure and genuine in his eyes. I wasn't sure he had something like that in him. "What about you? What is your safe place?", he asked. "This. This place. Acting class. This is the only place I can truly be myself."

My plan to loosen him up worked. He seemed a lot more relaxed and confident throughout the rest of the reading. There was even moments of eye contact. The class finished and as I was putting my script back in my bag someone passed by me and mumbled bye. I looked up just in time to see him disappear around the corner to leave the theater. I caught myself smiling. Who is this guy really? Who is the real him? Is it the school bully or is it the insecure guy from class? I thought back to the dream I had and couldn't help but wonder if maybe he had an evil twin. I just couldn't understand how this was even possible. And I was really scared he would turn into school-Monty as soon as he got comfortable in the group.

Somehow I managed to keep dodging him at school for the next couple of weeks. Every class I had with him I was first in and last out, unlike him who was usually last one in and first one out. He never really paid attention in class either so the few times where I actually had to speak up in class he didn't even turn to look at me. The benefit to being invisible. But I knew it was just a matter of time before he would recognize me. At some point there will be a group project and I'll get paired up with him, or a presentation where I have to get up in front of the whole class, and I have no idea how he will react to that. In class he kept getting better. He got more comfortable as we got to know each other better and it seems he might actually have a talent. I managed to add some more theatricality to our readings and it was a lot of progress. He even cracked a few jokes.

It was beyond surreal watching him push people around in the hallways without him even knowing I existed, and then meeting him at class a few hours later where I was the only one he actually knew. 

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