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The last thing Melanie expected when she pulled into the school parking lot was for Montgomery to jump out of his own car and walk up to her.

The second the two made eye contact, she could see something swarming through his iris' but didn't care enough to find out what it was, dodging him completely.

"Melanie!"

She didn't like Monty. Monty didn't like her. There was no reason for them to talk.

Unfortunately, the only thing they had in common was Mattias.

And Monty quickly realized that.

"It's about Matti!"

Her footsteps came to a halt, her back facing him for a few seconds before she turned.

"Is he okay?" Her question was simple. It required one response that would decide if the conversation was worth continuing.

She didn't need to be seen conversing with him. Zach would have her head if he found out. He already didn't like seeing her with Montgomery's brother, she could only imagine how he'd react if he found out she was talking to Montgomery, himself.

"No."

That was enough for her to gesture for him to lead the way. The two made their way to Monty's infamous jeep.

The gasp that left Melanie's mouth caught the attention of a few people nearby, only for them to quickly look away at Montgomery's glare.

Mel made herself comfortable enough to toss her bag on the ground and open the passenger side door. Her soft hands touched Matti's face, the teen flinching at the coldness of her touch.

"What the hell happened?"

"Our dad." Month responded lazily. The whole town knew that the De La Cruz's father was a horrible man. Yet, a lot of them figured that if they weren't the ones getting beat, then there was no point in reporting the issue to the police.

Not even their neighbors, who had witnessed Luiz beating his eldest son on their lawn, had the guts to report the man.

Monty didn't bother to go into detail about how Mattias looked the way he did all because Luiz called Mel a bitch.

"He's got to stay with you for a while."

"W-what?" She let out a shocked chuckle.

Monty sighed, "I can't take him home—"

"Well, where do you stay when this stuff happens?"

Monty brushed her off, grabbing an emergency bag full of a few clothing items and handing it to her, "I can't bring him there. It's not safe. Just let him stay with you for a few days."

His voice was almost pleading. In all her years of knowing Monty, even if it had been through Scott or Zach, she hadn't seen or heard him so vulnerable.

"My mom will—"

"Sneak him in, Melanie." He cut her off, his loud voice causing his brother to stir, "Please. He can't go back there until our dad forgets. He'll kill him."

She wanted to tell him that he was being dramatic, but Melanie knew better. The De La Cruz brothers had both came to school in crutches and casts curtesy of their father.

And while she wanted to believe that no one could be that horrible, she wouldn't put it past Luiz De La Cruz to commit murder. Accident, or not.

After running her mother's work schedule through her head, Melanie realized that she would be able to walk him through their front door with no problems. Karen worked from 9am to 5pm that day. As long as they made it there before 5, they would be fine.

The only real issue would be hiding him the rest of the time he was there.

The more annoying issue was Zach.

Melanie could convince her sister, May, not to talk if she happened to stumble across Mattias. But if Zach disliked Mattias as much as he claimed, Matti wouldn't last a day in their house.

An exasperated sigh left her lips as her eyes met Matti's limp figure. He looked dead. "Okay, fine."

"Good. Open the door." Monty grunted as he lugged his brother over his shoulder, eyes darting to see if anyone was around.

No, they had been in class by then.

"Oh, woah. Wait." Mel stuttered, "Right now?!"

"He can't go into school like this." Monty scoffed as if it were obvious, "Kid can barely walk."

Though shocked, Melanie opened the passenger door to her own car for him.

As he moved out of the way, going to close the door, Melanie stopped him, leaning to put on Mattias' seatbelt. She ignored the deadpanned look given by the older teen.

"I'll check on him every couple hours." Monty said, tossing his backpack over his shoulder.

Melanie stood frozen.

"Put some ice on his eye so it doesn't swell. Find some Neosporin for the cut on his nose. When he wakes up, he'll probably try to leave. Don't let him. Just tell him to call me."

As he walked off, Mel's arms fell, Mattias' emergency bag smacking her thigh in the process.

"What the hell just happened?"

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A/N: short chapter :)