"Don't go for him" She told me
"Why not?" I asked
"He's um, a little broken I guess you could say" Was her answer
I simply nodded, my eyes following his body
///
The thing is, aren't we all a little broken? Wouldn't that mean that no one should go f...
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Althia.Tonight: Needed to get away💤🌞;📸:@MontyCruz ❤️359 💬79
MontyCruz: I should become your personal photographer MontyCruz: I'm insanely good at taking pictures🙆 MontyCruz: Like really good, wow😩🙌 JustFoley: ^Monty gassing himself up because he knows everyone gonna be talking about how good Althia looks instead of how he took a great picture😂😂 JustFoley: But wow Ee-Ah you are looking whoa😻 RyanS: @JustFoley All you've got to say is whoa? She's looking fucking fabulous and like the baddest bitch ever omg😨😍🙏 Alex_cannot_Stand_you_All: Why aren't you in school? Alex_cannot_Stand_you_All: @MontyCruz Was this your idea? Y'all should be in class rn smh Althia.Tonight: @MontyCruz Hi, yes, you take good pictures of me and I appreciate that. Now please comment about how good I look because I need the attention and the validation, thanks💜 Althia.Tonight: Thank you Jus💛✨ @JustFoley and @RyanS Thank you my darling😪💘 Althia.Tonight: Shit dad, I didn't know that you knew how to work Instagram😬🙄 @Alex_cannot_Stand_you_All Cheersheri: Okay but that outfit is 👀🙏🙏 MontyCruz: Wow Al, you didn't have to snap on us like that💣 MontyCruz: You're looking 👌🔥 Dempz: Okay Thi, skipping chem is looking good on ya😻 CocoaJess: Ummmmm who the fuck let you walk around the streets looking like a motherfucking cutie without me by your side😔😤 CocoaJess: Your beauty is unfair to the rest of the world wtf😍😭 Althia.Tonight: @Cheersheri Thanks sweets💝 and @MontyCruz Aw how nice of you to say Montitty😊💜 and @Dempz Sometimes you just gotta get out of the laboratory and strut your stuff you know😂💙 Althia.Tonight: Why talk about MY non-existing beauty when we can talk about your goddess like looks😵🙆 @CocoaJess and my ass is walking around looking like a hobo because I don't got you beside me babes !!!😕💖 Marcus4Prez: I'm not into people who skip classes but ayy when you look this good, I might as well skip class to join ya👅👅 Althia.Tonight: I would rather you just stay in class with your group of asshole friends while you all stay the hell away from me and my friends, thanks✌ @Marcus4Prez - "Hey Mont, can I ask you something?" I asked Montgomery, breaking the silence that had fallen between us since we sat down at a table in the Fro-Yo shop we decided to go to "I'm not giving you a bite" Monty answered the question he thought I was going to ask him as he spooned more yogurt onto his spoon "Or buying you another one once you finish the one you already have" He said as I opened my mouth again "Monty! I'm not going to ask you anything about food" I exclaimed as I started to laugh "Sorry, go ahead" Monty joined me in the laughter "First you need to promise me you won't get mad at me" I looked at him "Why would I get mad at you for asking me about something?" He questioned "I don't know, just promise" I answered Monty rolled his eyes but promised me he wouldn't get mad "How and why were you friends with Bryce?" I asked him "Why do you wanna know?" Montgomery asked me I furrowed my eyebrows at him as he looked at me, waiting for my answer "I just don't see how that friendship happened" I started "I mean, you and I became good friends once you stopped talking to him and I feel like we've gotten much closer since then and like I've seen the real you... I just can't wrap my mind around how you used to voluntarily hangout with Bryce" I continued "He cares about no one else but himself, he's ignorant, he's rude, he's a disgusting human being. While you care about people a lot and you'd do anything to protect your close ones, you're basically the opposite of Bryce. I just don't see it, you know? And I'm just curious as to how you became friends with him, that's all" I went on "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" I quickly added as I tried to read his face but didn't get anything "I struggled a lot with my anger and was very violent, as you already know I still do struggle with those things but I used to be way worse and I guess Bryce used that to his advantage because that's what he does. He finds people who are vulnerable and alone and he gives them the attention that they need. It's like he knows exactly what to do to get you to trust him and when you finally do, he'll dig deeper and deeper until he finds something that he can use against you. It's a big fucked up trap that you're stuck in because he can now use so many things against you so that you're trapped doing everything and anything he wants you to do" Montgomery started I leaned my face on my hand as I looked at Monty, giving him my full attention, as I let his words sink into my mind trying to figure out what he had just said "For me, I was the little kid who would throw fits and act in rational ways when something didn't go my way. I was the kid who pushed other kids because they did something as little as accidentally move the table when we were drawing. I was the kid who threatened the teacher when she decided to read the only book I didn't like out loud to the class. I was the kid who everyone wondered why he acted in such vicious, violent ways. For Bryce I was an easy target. First, he needed to figure out what everyone else wanted to know... Why was I so vicious and violent? Of course he couldn't just straight up come to me and ask me that because he knew I would hurt him. So instead he befriended me. He became the kid who started to hangout with the violent kid. He became the kid who told the other kids to try their best not to move the table when we were drawing because not would it only ruin everyone else's drawings, it would also ruin theirs. He became the kid who told the teacher which story to read, insisting that my favorite one would be the one that kept everyone's attention" Monty continued "He kept doing things like that until we became good friends and I trusted him. I trusted him enough to tell him that the bruise on me arm is not from when I slipped out of the bathtub but it was actually from when my father tugged me out of his office when I disrupted an important business call. I trusted him enough to tell him that the red marks on my back weren't from a rash but that it was actually from my father's belt as my punishment for disrupting the business call. I trusted him enough to tell him that sometimes I copy my father's behavior because he told me that's how real adult men handle things and I wanted to be just like him" He went on "Once Bryce knew this, it was like he took me under his wing. At this point we were very close friends and I spent most of my time over at his house, which felt good since that gave me an excuse not to go home. I thought that Bryce was trying to get me out of the house so I wouldn't have to deal with my dad but instead he was getting me out of the house so I would fight and threaten anyone who crossed him. If I didn't want to, which most of the time, I really didn't want to, he would remind me all of the shit that he's done for me. Like remember how I let you stay at home all weekend so you wouldn't have to go home or remember that I talked to Coach and told him that we would lose if he benched you. After hearing that, I felt the need to do whatever it was he wanted me to do. It was like if I do this for him, then we're even and he won't be able to throw something in my face but I never learned because there was always something that he could use against me, the list never stopped and I always tried my best to keep us even but it never worked" He finished "So basically none of his friendships are real?" I asked him "Each and every one of them, from what I know, is fear based" Montgomery answered I leaned back in my seat and played with my spoon in the empty cup "Wow, I would say that I'm shocked but it kinda makes sense now how he has so many people on his side" I spoke again "Yeah" Monty nodded "It's just shitty, you know? Taking advantage of people like that is such a fucked up thing to do" He added "I know, you shouldn't use anything that someone has confided in you against them or to your advantage" I agreed with him "You especially shouldn't help vulnerable people out by making them feel secure and safe and then turning and using your acts of kindness to make them do something for you in return. It's truly fucked up" I went on Montgomery simply nodded and I knew that was a sign that he wanted to drop the subject He finished the rest of his yogurt before grabbing both of our cups and throwing them away "What do you wanna do now?" He asked me Before I could answer, my phone beeped and I looked down at it to see a text from Julie - Mama Atkins: Hi Althia, Jeff woke up sometime this morning and he was really out of it for most of the day. I would have told you sooner but I really wanted you to focus on your classes and there was nothing you could have really done if you were here since he was up for a few minutes then out for another hour. However, the doctors just came to me and told me that Jeff should stay awake and be stable enough to have proper visitors. Whenever you can stop by would be great, he's been asking for you and everyone else
