Sorry this chapter is late I was processing getting my rights taken away (#AmericaCore)

(On a serious note tho; as a triple minority, black, queer, and neurodivergent, I am SHAKING in my boots rn)

She had texted Tara twenty times between their fight and the party. It wasn't like her to be so clingy with an ex (not ex, Carla needed to make that distinction to keep herself sane.)

Carla walked up to the twin's doorstep. She raised her fist to the large door covered in expensive-looking wood veneer but the door swung back before her hand could connect.

"Carla!" Lily yelled from the inside of the house as she took Carla into her arms and spun her.

Carla stumbled, her strides into the home stopped by Lily practically jumping on her. The smaller girl's grip on her only grew stronger as Carla tried to pry her off. "Lily, I was with you 2 days ago!" She laughed into Lily's ear.

"I know, but I missed you!" Lily let go of Carla's shoulders and held both of her hands in her own. Carla looked into the foyer, Nugget was already there and stood further down the hall having an intense conversation with Billy.

"Hey Nugget, Bill-" Lily ushered her further into the house and up the stairs, past the other two. They sat down on the queen bed in the center of Lily's room, Lily never letting go of Carla's hand.

"Sooo, what was that about?" Carla gestured to the now-closed door leading to the hallway.

"Sorry about that," She groaned and let go of Carla's hand. Lily flopped onto the bed, her hair fanned out on the duvet. "Billy and I are fighting and I didn't want you to have to pick sides."

"By dragging me upstairs without talking to Billy first?" She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side while looking at a meek Lily lying on the bed. She didn't answer, just stared at the ceiling.

Carla sighed, flopping down on the bed next to her. The two stared at the same spot on the ceiling in silence. "What are you fighting about?" They turned their heads to face each other.

"He's mad I went out with Felix the other day." She sighed and closed her eyes. "He said I've been 'leading him on'." Lily opened her eyelids just to show Carla her dramatically rolling them. "Which I obviously didn't... right?" Her expression turned frantic and worried, like whatever Carla said next could determine whether or not she would burst into tears.

Carla thought for a moment, looking up at the off-white ceiling, before looking back at Lily and shaking her head. "I don't think so. Nugget's one of his best friends-"

"Besides me, of course."

"-It's only natural for him to be a little protective over his feelings." Carla took hold of the shorter girl's hand. They laced their fingers together in comfort.

"How's you and Tara?"

Carla groaned while Lily winced. "That bad?" She nodded.

"What'd you do?" Carla glared at her out of the corner of her eyes. "Sorry, sorry!"

"I've texted her at least a thousand times now and she still won't answer!" She whined, moving her unoccupied hand to check her phone for the millionth time today. But, being the amazing friend she is, Lily blocked her from doing so by grabbing her right hand.

"Men are trash..." Lily signed.

"Women aren't better either." she turned to face her friend. "Relationships suck, I don't recommend."

They both laughed softly at that.

The party was bigger than the twins could've expected. Even the Kuznetsov's large backyard didn't help to hide the growing population of partygoers.

Carla stood next to Lily on her balcony overseeing people coming in. "Damn, quite the turnout." Carla muttered her hands in the pockets of the light green windbreaker she had over her shoulders.

"I don't even know half of these people!" Lily chuckled while wiping her sweaty hands on her dark blue, ankle-length, dress.

"This school loves a party," Carla said while scanning the crowd for a certain dark-haired Junior. She had invited her in one of the many, many texts and voice notes she had sent over the past few days. Carla groaned and dropped her forehead to the chipped railing, thinking about how pathetic she had been acting over this woman.

"She'll show up, I DM'ed her the info earlier today." Lily placed a hand over Carla's in support.

"Thanks, Lils," Her speech was muffled by the fabric of her sleeves.

"No problem." Lily stroked her back while looking over the railing. She squinted at the growing crowd. "Is that...?" Carla snapped her head up at a speed which made Lily concerned for her friend's neck.

Tara .

She quickly turned around and raced down the stairs, passing Nugget on the way who looked at her like she was crazy. But Carla couldn't care less. She whizzed past him onto the grassy backyard. She saw her long hair in a crowd of other junior girls. She was talking to another with her back leaned up against the large garden wall. In her hand was a water bottle filled with what Carla assumed was some sort of alcohol.

"Tara!" She yelled, all logic leaving her body when the girl standing ten feet away from her looked away from her conversation with Carla. Carla thought about how she would approach a confrontation between her and Tara all night, refusing to let sleep overtake her.

"Carla, hey," The girls surrounding her looked at each other, snickering from behind their hands. Carla suddenly felt very insecure around these older girls but put on a brave face in front of them and addressed Tara directly. "Guys, can you give us some privacy?" The group dispersed whispering in each other's ears as they passed. Carla's confidence staggered but they were alone now.

"I texted you, a lot actually." She looked down at her grass-covered shoes, twiddling her fingers in her pockets.

"Yeah, I haven't been near my phone much." The excuse was lame and just plain untrue as Carla had been stalking her social media and taking special notes when Tara was active.

"That's... fine, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Well, we're talking now." Carla could tell if she was making a joke to break the tension or just being an asshole. Either way, it was pissing her off.

"Sooo, are we okay? You made me leave in a hurry."

"Carla," Tara sighed and threw her hands into the air. "What do you want me to say?"

"How about a 'I'm sorry'? Maybe give me a reason for ghosting me?"

"I don't wanna talk about this right now!"

"Well, we can't just go back to how we were!" Carla stood her ground, hands moving frantically in front of her.

"What if..." Tara trailed off but Carla kept her intense stare. "What if I don't wanna return to how we were... like ever?" The older girl in front of her couldn't even keep her gaze, eyes shifted around the yard.

"What like you wanna break up?" Carla let out a humorless chuckle and crossed her arms. Tara looked back down at her with a knowing glint in her eyes.

Oh! She was serious.

"You want to break up..." Less of a question this time and more of a shocking reality.

"I think we rushed into this too soon," Tara began to walk away but Carla let her arm out stopping her.

"You're not serious."

"Carla-"

"No, Tara be serious, we can make this work!" She was practically begging now, her eyes wide with desperation. "I can change..."

" Carla , people are staring." The older girl gritted out causing Carla to finally look around her to see the previous group of the girls around Tara have created a half-circle around them, shamelessly staring and giggling now.

Carla looked back at Tara, eyes watery. "You really want to do this?" She asked, desperate for an answer. But instead, Tara walked past her and into the comforting arms of another girl in the group.

The circle dissolves leaving Carla stunned in the crowded backyard. Even though, most likely, no one was looking at her, the intense need to run and hide overwhelmed any logical part of her brain.

Spotting an above-ground empty garage in the corner of her eye felt like the perfect place to curl up and ignore the rest of the world. She bolted to the door and gave a silent prayer to God that no one occupied it at the time.

(Even if there was she would've just demanded they leave so she could cry in solitude)

She sat down on the concrete floor, face looking in front of her at nothing, lost in her thoughts.

Then the tears came. And once they did they didn't stop, salty tears streamed down her face and onto the fabric of her jeans.

She sat there, weeping into her jacket sleeves, for what felt like hours (but in reality couldn't have been for more than twenty minutes max). The door to the garage opened, and Carla was swift to swivel her head to make eye contact with her intruder.

"... not that I give a shit, but are you ok?"

Monty .

"...No." she sniffled.

"Oh... good!" He tilts his chin up from the girl huddled in the corner and walks past her towards the hidden box of beer in the other corner, opens it, and takes out two beers. One that will probably be chugged within the hour, and the other that will likely go untouched.

Walking towards the door, his hand outstretched ready to twist the knob and ignore her cries but a loud sob stops him in his tracks. 'Shit...' he mutters under his breath. Turning his body so he is facing her but keeps his head down, studying the glass of the beer. "What is it, Carla?"

She looked up from where her arms were folded atop her knees and glared at him.

"I'm trying to be nice!" he spat out through gritted teeth, glaring back at her through his glasses.

" That's your best attempt at empathy?" Carla stood on wobbly knees, her lower body almost giving out due to lack of blood circulation from sitting down for so long. She stumbled forward slightly before catching herself. Almost on instinct, Monty quickly stepped forward with both forearms extended ready to catch her if she were to fall. When she didn't though he, now slightly embarrassed, returned his arms to his sides.

"Seriously, though, what happened?" the teen spoke quietly, a part of him hoping she didn't hear the way his voice got softer when addressing her. If she did, Carla didn't make it known.

Carla paused, weighing the pros and cons of telling him the truth about her and Tara's, now-ruined, relationship. "Tara broke up with me."

The ginger's eyes went wide. On the inside, Monty was ecstatic, Tara and Carla's relationship has been constantly on his mind ever since learning of the two of them. He was jealous, jealous that Tara got to her first, jealous that she had the guts to do what he couldn't. Monty could barely contain the smile threatening to take hold of his face. "Damn, I'm- I'm sorry Carla." he looked away, averting his gaze to the dirty tile underneath them.

"Oh come on, I know you're ecstatic." she rolled her eyes playfully. She let out a humorless chuckle and wiped the wetness under her left eye with her pointer finger. "You're kinda obsessed with me if you haven't noticed."

"Come off it," The smile on his face grew bigger with each word that came out of her mouth.

"Seriously though, are you ok?" Carla exhaled and looked down at her feet.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, Honestly, I wasn't even into her that much." She let out a tearful chuckle. "I kinda just wanted to get back at you." Carla lifted her head to face Monty. His cheeks were tinted red and his head was cocked to the side in confusion.

"Me?" She nodded. "What have I ever done to you?" He said it as a joke but the question was genuine.

"You know, after the last party when you ghosted me." Carla crossed her arms and smirked at him. Monty thought back to that night, his face got hotter at the memory but he didn't let his confident demeanor falter.

"I was just thinking of how to text you," Her heart swelled, all this time Carla had assumed Monty wanted to forget about that night. Carla, for the first time since dealing with Monty, was glad she was wrong. "On top of dealing with Jerome and Cindy's hangover." His expression turned sincere. "I am sorry I didn't text you though." He smiled at her with eyes that made her feel like the only person in the world.

"Shut up." Carla then grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him to her face, smashing her lips onto his with a smile on her face. It took less than a second for Monty to kiss her back. He pushed his glasses onto his forehead

He wiped the remaining salt off of her cheek with a smile on his face. They gazed into each other's eyes, caught up in their own world, grinning at each other like two red-faced children.

Unfortunately, the real world had to come crashing through, shattering their newfound bliss.

"Yo T! Forget the booze, we're probably just gonna leav-" The door opening so abruptly only caused the couple to cling to each other tighter. Buggs looked back and forth between the two, a sly smile growing on his face with each passing moment.

"Fuck off-"

"I should've known!"

"God damnit..." Monty groaned and dropped his face into the crook of her neck. Carla just chuckled and weaved her fingers through his orange locks in comfort.

"Montgomery, you piece of shit! You have been wallowing for two fucking weeks now knowing damn well you two would get back together!" Buggs pointed and laughed at Monty. While he was practically doubled over, cackling, Monty lifted his head up from Carla's shoulder and glared at his friend.

"Shut up Buggs, you guys can leave without me." He looked back at Carla who was laughing into her palm.

"Oh no you don't slut, get your ass out here!" Buggs gestured to the door behind him.

"I'm a slut for wanting to hang out with my girlfriend ?" That word, girlfriend, was so fresh that it made both of their heads spin. For some reason that word leaving Monty's lips made Carla's head spin. And the look she gave him after he said it made that know.

Buggs groaned. "Oh God, you too are going to be insufferable, aren't you?"

"Yes." They said in unison, looking back at each other and chuckling to themselves.

"Ew." He deadpanned. "Alright, Monty, let's go!" He turned around to leave the garage. "I'll be outside, don't make out for too long." He winked at them.

Monty flicked him off as the door shut.

"Ugh! They're gonna be so fucking annoying tonight."

"They were gonna find out eventually." He mumbled under his breath some sort of acknowledgment or agreement to her statement. They turned back to each other, Monty smiled and kissed her on the cheek before finally departing.

"I'll text you. I promise."

"You better." Carla crossed her arms and smirked at him.

"Jerome! You won't believe what just happened!"

And yes that windbreaker IS Monty's!

Spoiler Alert!
Only Carlonty gets a happy ending :)

(Nugget's chapter was a bitch to write so be prepared)