Who We Are

Through out class the teacher talked about what would be coming up during this next school year. I listened intently, excited to be moving on and getting to learn new things instead of reviewing everything from last year.

Vanna Aaron and her best friend Monica Manning sat on either side of me and they seemed to be less than interested in anything the teacher had to say and incredibly enthused about the dark haired mischief maker in the back. A few times Mrs. Goodwin asked Vanna and Monica to face forward in their chairs, but each time the only did for a couple minutes.

Ronnie Radke was just loving the attention. He would smirk every time the girls turned to stare at him with dreamy looks in their eyes and their knees weak. The first time they got in trouble I turned to see what their were looking at and instantly regretted it. Ronnie sat in the far desk with his feet on the desk top and his arms folded behind his head.

I continued taking notes as Mrs. Goodwin spoke, telling us about her expectations for behavior, making an extra note to stress the concept to Ronnie, Vanna, and Monica. Near the end of class Mrs. Goodwin gave us a few minutes to socialize with our friends, Vanna and Monica hurried back to Ronnie.

Vanna sat on Ronnie's lap and kissed his lips as Monica smiled and cooed at the two of them. Ronnie looked slightly annoyed but he continued to kiss Vanna Aaron anyways. They stopped a moment later when the teacher cleared her throat and walked over to stand next to the beaten up desk that Ronnie was occupying.

Vanna licked her lips as she slid into an open desk and pulled out her lip gloss to reapply while Ronnie wiped it off of his own lips. I looked away as the dark haired Monica sneered in my direction. I stuffed my notebook into my back and zipped it up as the bell rang, signaling for second hour to come.

Most of the morning classes flew by quickly and soon enough I was heading for fifth hour lunch, tired and already drowning in homework.

I looked at the clock on the wall and decided that I'd have enough time to take the long way and swing past my sister's next class, seeing as I had memorized her schedule and her mine, in case we needed each other.

I grinned as the saw my blonde younger sister walking down the hall cautiously, looking at the room numbers and checking her schedule. I walked over to the room that she'd be entering and stood by the door with my arms folded over my chest.

"I think this is the room you're looking for, Gwendolyn," I said, causing her to look up from her schedule and smile before wrapping her arms around me in a hug. "How has your first day of high school been?" I questioned, leaning against the wall as other kids shuffled into the room.

Gwen wiped her hair off of her face and sighed, "Brutal," she groaned, "PE killed me, the seniors are mean in there!"

I chuckled and nodded my head. "Yeah. They won't give you a break."

Gwen nodded her head and glanced over my shoulder. I looked back too and smiled as my World Lit. teacher from last year came walking out of the door. Her brown curls framed her face as she looked at the two of us with searching brown eyes, smiling when she realized that we must be related.

"Katerina, it's so good to see you again," she greeted as she pulled me into a friendly hug.

I nodded, "Same here Mrs. Hughes. I thought I'd just stop in on my sister and check up on her. Tell her what a wonderful teacher you are," I chuckled as Gwen looked to Mrs. Hughes with wide eyes and straight posture.

"This is Gwendolyn," I told Mrs. Hughes, "My sister."

Mrs. Hughes took her hand and smiled. "I'm pleased to meet another Silverstein sister. I expect you to be just as exceptional as your sister was in my class."

Gwendolyn nodded once, politely. "Of course, Ma'am."

Mrs. Hughes chuckled and shook her head. "Relax, Gwendolyn, I'm only playing," she turned to me, "You get off to class before you're late."

I laughed and nodded, not finding it important to correct her seeing as Gwendolyn had to go anyways. I waved goodbye as I turned and walked off towards the cafeteria in the middle of the large school building. When I entered the room I searched for Dean and Emily. When I couldn't find them I sighed and got into the lunch line. I pulled a couple crumpled up dollars out of my back pocket and handed them to the lunch lady to pay for my slice of pepperoni pizza and chocolate milk. I thanked her as I took my food and began wandering around the large room in search of the two people who had been my friends since childhood. I grinned when I saw Emily attempting to hop up and down in her high heeled shoes. I laughed as she squeaked and just about fell over.

"Hey guys," I smiled as I set my plate on the table and sat down next to Dean.

"Where you been?" Dean questioned as he stuffed fries in his mouth.

Emily rolled her eyes and asked the question again. "Where have you been?"

I shrugged, "I went to check on Gwendolyn," I told them and then took a bite of my pizza, savoring the taste.

"What for?" Dean asked obnoxiously.

"Just because," I said with another shrug as Emily smiled at me.

Dean didn't reply as he was too busy stuffing his face. I looked up quickly as shouting sounded from the other side of the lunch room.

"Get the fuck off me!" a voice shouted as the entire student body of the lunch room rushed over to see what was going on. I couldn't see anything so I stood up and tried to peak over the edge of the crowd. Dean was already standing on a chair, shouting down to me.

"It's a fight!" Dean shouted with excitement in his voice.

"Who is it between?" I asked, not wanting to get up on the chair like him.

"Brett Freedman and some kid," Dean said as he watched. I sighed and got up on the chair like Dean and Emily, wanting to be able to see what was going on.

My mouth dropped as I saw who the other kid was. "That's Riley Radke," I said, shocked.

Dean's gaze snapped to me and his jaw dropped. "Ronnie Radke's younger brother?"

I nodded, "That's the one."

"I wonder what happened," Emily mused, her eyes wide as she watched Brett smash his fist into Riley's face.

"Riley probably pissed him off," Dean said simply, watching with shock as Riley managed to get out of the grasp of two of Brett's friends and hit Brett in the face with his fist.

There were murmurs through the crowd surrounding the fight as Riley got a few good punches in on Brett before his friends, Aiden Murphy and Skyler Henderson, grabbed a hold of the shorter, slimmer freshman.

"Someone has to stop them," I said with a shaky voice as Brett hit Riley over and over again in the stomach and ribs.

"Too bad Riley's big brother isn't here to fight for him," Dean joked with out humor, sensing the truth to that statement.

I bit my lip as Brett hit Riley one more time before one of the gym teachers grabbed ahold of him and held him back. Aiden and Skyler released Riley automatically and turned to run before another adult could come and get them too. The students who were interested in the fight all dispersed with disappointed looks on their faces, leaving Riley laying on the floor, huddled over in pain.

"Isn't anyone going to help him?" I asked incredulously as I stepped down off of the chair and looked at my friends who both shrugged.

"The teachers will grab him," Emily told me as she sat down and fixed her skirt.

I sighed and shook my head as I watched Brett be pulled away and then the school nurse run over to Riley and assess his damages. I swallowed and looked away from the scene. The rest of lunch went alright after they helped Riley Radke away. I saw a lot of kids that I knew from the year before, and even from elementary school. When the bell rang I tossed my trash away and grabbed my bag from under the table.

Emily and I had the next class together which was PE. We hurried towards the gym with our bags after departing from Dean who was off to Geometry class. We entered the gym and searched for our teacher together. Since it was the first day we didn't have to dress out but we'd be sitting on the bleachers in the gym talking about the grading scale, the sports we'd be playing, and basically getting introduced to our teachers.

It seemed that everyone in the gym was on edge, having heard about what happened in the lunch room and who it happened to. Riley Radke was not someone that you wanted to mess with, not because he was threatening or scarier than most high school boys, but because Ronnie Radke was his brother. A junior with a bad track record and even worse juvenile one. People feared Ronnie, and looked up to him, because he didn't fear any, or look up to anyone else. It was like Ronnie thought he was God and when you meet someone with that aura around them, people don't fuck with him.

When Ronnie's best friend entered the room with a glare on his face, people took their seats and watched him with cautious gazes. Max Green was second in command at this school. He was Ronnie's right hand man and the two of them were inseparable. Max Green was tall, but shorter than Ronnie, he had hazy green eyes that made him look like he was always stoned. His face was slender and there was a silver ring through the right side of his nose. His hair was about the same length as Ronnie's and dirty brown. He was wearing a pair of cut off zebra-print skinnies that seemed to be his signature pair of pants as well as a random black shirt that didn't completely cover the tattoo on his neck.

Max Green walked in and sat on the bottom bleacher with his arms crossed over his chest and a glare in his hazy eyes. When the teacher entered the room, his position stayed the same. It wasn't until Ronnie Radke entered the room that he nodded to him and licked over his lips. Now the class was really uneasy. This school usually made a point to keep Max Green and Ronnie Radke in separate classes seeing as they always seemed to cause twice the amount of trouble when they were together as apposed to separated. Ronnie handed the teacher a note and he read it over before nodded and sending Ronnie to sit on the bleachers. Ronnie sat next to Max and they began a conversation.

"Listen up," The teacher commanded, "This isn't going to be a 'show up, get an A' kind of class. You'll have to move and participate to get the grade you want."

He stopped as if to let his words sink in. "I won't warn you if you do something wrong, I'll just deduct points from your grade. You won't even know it. I expect you to be dressed and sitting here five minutes after the bell, everyday unless told otherwise. If you are not you lose a days worth of points. On Fridays we run all hour..."

The rules continued on for the rest of the class, even with Ronnie and Max chatting away at the bottom of the bleachers. Every once and awhile Emily would turn to me to whine about the 'bad kids' being able to get away with whatever they wanted just because the teachers didn't want to deal with them.

"I mean, they're disgusting," Emily continued, "They fight, smoke, and have tattoos on their bodies, and they live in rundown neighborhoods and even there their parents can't even pay the rent."

"Emily, be quiet," I demanded, noticing the teacher looking our way.

"No," she stated.

I turned to her and gave her a blank look.

"What?" she asked innocently, brushing some hair out of her face.

"I'm all for equal rights but you seem to be forgetting that I live in the same neighborhood as both of them, my father has tattoos and smokes."

Emily looked at me for a moment and then shrugged, "But that's different."

I scoffed, "Why don't you just get off your high horse, Emily? Not everyone grows up with rich daddies who buys them things to keep them happy."

Emily's jaw dropped and she jumped up, her skirt bouncing. "How dare you say that Katerina Silverstein! It's not my fault you're poor!"

I looked at her in shock and stood up too, getting angry at her. I smiled darkly and ran my fingers through my hair. "You know, Em, I thought you were my best friend but you're just a self-righteous bitch."

The class 'oohed' as I grabbed my bad and climbed down the bleachers, leaving Emily standing there with her jaw dropped to the floor. I went and sat on the bottom row, just a few feet away from Ronnie and Max. I looked to Mr. Galvin and nodded, "Sorry," I apologized, "Continue."

I heard Max and Ronnie chuckle but I didn't dare to look at them, or anyone else. The teacher shot me a look of disapproval but continued on with his rant, although I knew the class was paying more attention to Emily and I.