(Btw, Tara's one of my OCs from another show (Don't worry she won't show up often, only when the plot needs her) so I have a Pinterest board of her lol)

The morning after.

"Ughhhh, why do I do this to myself?" Jerome groaned with his head in the toilet.

"Because your crippling self-loathing gets unbearable at times and you need to drown out the voices in random hook-ups and booze," Monty replied, typing away on his phone with a serious expression on his face.

"Oh yeah," the sick teen looked up at the ceiling in thought. Before looking back at his friend. "Who are you texting anyway?"

Monty paused. "Carla." he swallowed the invisible lump in his throat. "Oh..." Jerome quietly replied.

"Yeah."

They sat in silence once again, Monty staring sadly at his phone and Jerome looking into the toilet in shame.

"What's she saying?" the crouched teen said, somewhat bitterly. After Buggs sent the photo to their group chat their small group had said some... unflattering things about their mutual friend.

"What a fucking b-bitch!" he exclaimed, taking a sloppy swig from a near-empty water bottle. "Please do not call her that." Monty attempted to defend his long-time business partner and crush.

"I could've sworn I've heard you call her worse things than a bitch." Cindy interjected. The blonde girl dusted off nothing with the back of her hand off a small section of the edge of the large bathtub. "Can we please get out of this disgusting bathroom?" she fake-gagged.

"Hey! I'll have you know that this is a four-and-a-half-star AirB&B that we have the pleasure of trashing tonight!"

"...Jerome, don't get involved..."

Cindy rolled her eyes and stood. "Yeah, an AirB&B that currently reeks of puke," she eyed Monty. "And 'cheating ass-skank'" she smirked. The rest of the room (excluding Monty) nodded in sympathy and pity toward their close friend.

"She didn't cheat on me," the ginger placed both his hands on the sink behind him and hoisted himself up in order to stand (or at least Monty's version of standing). The group of teens began to exit the cramped bathroom and headed for the master bedroom down the hall. "We were never together, it's literally impossible!"

"Yeah, but everyone -Out-" Cindy gestured towards two teenagers getting handsy on the large bed in the center of the room. They looked up at the group in terror and embarrassment, the two quickly scurried away out of the room, muttering a quiet 'sorry' as they passed. "-Knew you guys had this weird 'academic rivals to lovers' thing going." she continued without a second thought. The girl took Monty's hand and led him to the side of the bed where they both took a seat.

"Was it really that obvious?" the boy, sadly, chuckled and looked down at his feet. He had been downplaying how hurt he was since he saw the possible 'love of his life' getting a little too friendly with upperclassmen.

"A little, babes." her voice softened a bit.

Buggs and Jerome stood before them and looked at their usually cocky and apathetic friend with a sympathetic frown. "You know, I could always fuck her up for you. Equal rights, equal fights?" Jerome elbowed Buggs in the stomach for that comment. "He's joking."

"I'm really not- oW!" he grabbed his knee in pain as jabbed her heel into the bottom of it. 'Shut the fuck up!' she mouthed.

Monty laughed. A real, genuine, laugh as he looked at his friends. "Thanks, Buggs, but I'm good."

"Umm, she just said she had a great time last night..." he trailed off.

"What, she tryna brag or something?" Jerome was confused as to why she would tell him that, to his knowledge, they didn't even interact that night.

"Not exactly," he chuckled and looked up at his best friend. "Before the whole 'Diana Situation'" he used air quotes when referencing what went down that night.

"We kinda... sorta... almost kissed..." Monty's voice got quieter as he trailed off once more. Jerome looked at his best friend in bewilderment before shouting, "WHAT?!"

The taller teen almost instantly regretted his volume as his deafening voice made his headache ten times worse. "Sorry, but why didn't you tell me? I thought we were homies!"

"We are!" Monty's voice went up several octaves. "You were just so busy mouth-shitting into a toilet for me to tell you!"

Jerome opened his mouth to respond before a violent gag cut him off. Putting his head back into the toilet the teen continued to gag but all the remains of alcohol and bile had left his system hours ago. "Touche." the porcelain slightly muffled his speech.

Jerome lifted his head and the two fell into a comfortable silence. "So how was it?" he smirked at the ginger as his face turned red. "Was it everything you've always dreamed of?"

"Shut up dude!" Monty blushed and light-heartedly pushed his face away.

Little grey dots appeared on her screen before disappearing once again. The lines on Carla's forehead grew deeper. She had texted Monty first thing when she woke up, but he hasn't responded. She knew he had seen it, the dots had been popping up, showing he was typing, and disappearing after a thirty seconds or so.

The Latina laid in bed wondering what she had done wrong. From what she remembered, she and Monty had a great time! You know, before Jerome basically nuked the remains of his relationship with Diana.

Shortly after the party, what happened with Jerome and his crush spread within their friend group like a wildfire. It had been less than 24 hours and almost the entire group had heard about it. Well, almost everyone, but Ozzy was always kinda oblivious to the inner drama.

Carla sighed and placed her phone on the shelf next to her bed. She sunk back down into her mattress and covered her face with a nearby pillow. The teen let out a muffled high-pitched scream into the soft item. This was the exact reason she hadn't let Monty know about her feelings for him! Monty was an asshole who used and manipulated people (that was kinda the reason why she had gained a crush on him in the first place) and now he was doing it to her.

The teen girl felt tears building up in the corners of her eyes, threatening to fall at any time.

She felt her phone vibrate on the wooden shelf next to her. Carla's eyes jolted wide, she sat up quickly and snatched her phone, knocking over a few hair-care materials onto the floor. She didn't care.

Tara: Hey, hope you made it home ok!

Tara: This is Tara btw ;)

The twinge of disappointment she felt quickly melted away when she realized the implications of the text. Oh, she remembered my existence! It was a pleasant surprise.

Carla didn't know how many drinks Tara had that night, but judging by her boldness and slight stumble she could assume quite a few. So it shocked her that One; Tara remembered her and their conversation. And Two; She actually cared about Carla enough to check up on her!

Cutie from the Party: Yeah, I'm fine lol

Cutie from the Party: Wbu? You seemed kinda tipsy while we were talking

Nice, Carla. Keep it casual. She thought.

Tara: MASSIVE headache but I feel beter now that im talking to you

Tara: But anyways, u free soon?

Carla felt her face heat up. She turned to look over the side of her bed, where she spotted an oversized green windbreaker that didn't belong to her. Once again she thought of Monty and that moment they shared in the dusty garage last night. Carla switched tabs over to Monty's contact, again nothing.

She switched back over to Tara and responded with a frown on her face.

Cutie from the Party: Well I was gonna hang out w/ a friend

Cutie from the Party: But ig not

Carla looked back at the Jacket, this time with a bitter glare.

Tara: Damn what happened

Cutie from the Party: Nothn, hes just being a dick rn

Tara: Damn well

Tara: His loss then ;)

Carla smiled and started to get out of bed.

Cutie from the Party: Sooo,

Cutie from the Party: Where we going?

Btw, I have made an executive decision (tm) to put the first chatfic on hold until I'm done with this one. Hope you understand :)