Who We Are

The only thing that pulled me back to reality was Emily the second I saw her. She stood by our lunch table with her arms crossed over her chest angrily. By the look on her face and her unwilling posture, I could tell that she'd obviously heard about Ronnie and I. And she believed it, too.

"Kat!" she shouted when she saw me approaching the table, "Where have you been? I need to talk to you!" She pulled out my usual chair and took my bag from me like it would make me more willing to sit down and let her ramble angrily at me.

"The bell just rang a couple minutes ago," I said as I stood by my chair, "I've been walking here."

"Well, sit down!" Emily demanded as she sat down, too. "We need to talk about what you did on Friday night!"

I bit my lip and gingerly sat down on the the edge of the chair. "What do you want to talk about?" I asked dumbly, "Because I really don't feel like talking about the date that Ronnie took me on."

Emily looked stunned. Even though the rumor she had heard was probably mostly true, I knew she didn't expect me to come out and say it blatantly.

"Don't you have anything to say?" I asked softly, leaning back in my chair when I realized that she was too surprised to try and smother me with anger.

"Yes," she said quickly, pushing her hair away from her face so she could see me better, "Why would you agree to go out with him?!"

I shrugged my shoulders and pictured the boy in my mind. I smiled at the thought of him and looked at Emily. "Because he's really nice to me," I told her. Then I smiled and added, "Well, most of the time. But when he's not, he doesn't mean anything by it."

"That's it?" Emily questioned, "You ruined your reputation because he's nice to you... sometimes?"

I nodded with the same large smile on my lips. "Yeah," I replied. I pushed my hair back over my shoulders and leaned forward so that I was resting on my elbows. "I like him, okay?" I murmured, "He's different than he seems to you. He's completely genius and you'll never understand that, Em. Not that you'd ever try," I added, looking her dead in the eyes.

She wasn't offended by my words like I'd expected. She felt that she was too good for Ronnie so it was perfectly okay for her not to want to get to know him. Instead of replying to my insulting words, she changed the subject. "You know my brother really likes you," she stated, "He told me a couple weeks ago."

I tried to conceal the shock that I felt. All my composure slipped away and I asked, "What?" as if I hadn't understood the words that she spoke, although they were still ringing in my ears.

"Nathaniel really likes you," she repeated, saying each word individually, "And he was more than hurt when you told him that Ronnie Radke kissed you," she sneered, shaking her head like my words were the most ridiculous thing that anyone had ever said to her.

"Nate's in college," I told her, "He's dating college women."

"So," Emily stated, "That doesn't change the fact that he would snatch you up in a heartbeat."

I shook my head, disbelieving. "You're insane, Emily. I've known Nate for years and he's never once showed any interest in me like that."

"Maybe you just weren't looking."

"Stop it," I demanded, "Nate isn't even like that."

"Well, I guess you'll never know." She looked over my shoulder and scowled automatically.

A smile grew on my lips at the look on her face. Not because she was unhappy with what she saw but because she only looked at one group of people like that. I turned around in my chair and smiled at the boy standing there, tattoos and all.

"Hey," I said softly, slightly embarrassed because of what happened earlier. "What's going on?"

Ronnie grinned and shrugged. "Nothing really," he replied, "Do you want to come sit with me and the guys? I was thinking that we could come up with an idea to keep your sister quiet."

"Quiet about what?" Emily asked from behind me. "You're keeping that from your dad?" She motioned towards Ronnie.

"Yes, Em," I murmured, looking back to her with harsh eyes, "You know how my dad is."

"Gwendolyn is never going to keep a secret from him," Emily scoffed, "You might as well either tell him of your horrible decision or end what ever it is that the two of you have going on."

"Emily!" I scolded, "Why are you being so rude?"

Ronnie reached out and grabbed my arm to catch my attention. "Don't worry about it," he said when I looked at him, "Her bitchiness doesn't offend me. Although I don't know how you've put up with it all these years."

Ronnie was grinning as Emily became completely offended. I was sure that this was the only time they'd ever shared words directly. Emily didn't dare reply to him as I climbed out of my chair and grabbed my bag from the floor next to me.

"I'll see you later," I told her, bumping my shoulder against Ronnie's, "If Dean shows up tell him that I'm with Ronnie and the guys. He knows where to find us." I didn't wait for her reply before I followed Ronnie around the tables and out of the lunch room completely.

"Where are we going?" I asked, knowing that Ronnie's friends usually occupied a table in the far back of the lunch room.

"Just come on," Ronnie said as he reached out of snagged my hand, tangling his fingers with mine, pretending to be completely nonchalant about it.

"Smooth," I commented, watching as he grinned over his shoulder at me.

Ronnie pulled me out to the student parking lot through the back doors of the school. We weren't supposed to leave the building using these doors because there was no school official to sign us out.

"I can't leave!" I said, trying to pull away from him, "I'm only a sophomore!"

"Just pretend you're a junior for the next hour. You take all the classes anyways," Ronnie replied as he pulled me towards the same car from Friday night.

"Are you trying to get me suspended?" I questioned as we grew closer to the car. I noticed that it was occupied by two other boys.

Ronnie greeted Max and Robert and smirked when they starting making jokes about me leaving school grounds with them and breaking the rules. I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Alright, alright," Ronnie chuckled, "She's already having a heart attack about breaking one little rule, don't shove her over the edge."

Max grinned and pulled open the passenger's door for me. "Since Ronnie's driving anyways, I guess you can ride shot gun," he said, raising his eyebrows and smirking at me.

"Thanks?" I replied, wondering what the big deal was.

Robert rolled his eyes. "Just ignore him. He's trying to make a sexual joke but failing miserably."

"Really?" I asked, "Because I didn't get anything sexual out of that."

"Shut up," Max demanded, "I was not." He shoved Robert before he climbed into the backseat and slammed the door behind him.

Robert grinned over the hood of the car towards me. "Don't worry about him," he said with a shrug, "He's just touchy because some girl turned him down again." Robert and Ronnie laughed loudly and Max's scowl deepened.

The rest of us climbed into the car and I turned around in my seat to look at Max. "Who's the girl?" I asked, ignoring the chuckles I received from Robert and Ronnie.

Max shook his head. "No one," he said, "Don't worry about it."

I frowned. "It's actually a girl right? And not some secret way of saying something else?" I questioned, glancing forward as Ronnie started to pull out of the school parking lot.

"Yeah," Max replied, shaking his head with a small smile on his lips, "But she's really not important so don't worry about it. It's more of a joke than anything else."

I gave up trying to figure out what he was talking about and instead turned around in my seat so I could ask Ronnie where we were going.

"Just around the corner," Ronnie said with a shrug, "We just need to grab something."

I leaned back against the seat and licked over my lips, not bothering to ask what it was or why we had to get it now. "Does this friend have food?" I asked, "Because that's kind of the point of lunch."

The guys chuckled and Ronnie nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah. We'll be back in time to get something to eat. Don't worry," he replied, pulling into a neighborhood that backed up to the school.

"I'm not worried," I responded.

Ronnie pulled into a driveway a few minutes later and shut off the car. Robert and Max climbed out instantly but Ronnie turned to me and asked, "We'll only be a minute. You can wait here if you want. We just need to grab some shit."

"What kind of stuff?" I questioned, unbuckling my seatbelt so that I could follow him into the house.

"Well, I guess you're coming in and seeing," he chuckled, pushing the driver's door open. He waited for me to make it to his side before he lead me down the small sidewalk and right up to the front door of the small two story building.

"Who lives here?" I asked as Ronnie pushed the door opened and walked right in.

"Robert," he replied, "This is his parent's house."

"Then why'd we have to come here now?"

"Because his parents aren't home," Ronnie replied like it was obvious, "We just need to grab the rest of his stuff." He turned and headed up the small staircase, looking over his shoulder to make sure that I was following.

"You don't live here anymore?" I asked Robert as we walked into the room that I was assuming was his.

"Nah." He shrugged. "Moved in with a buddy of mine a couple weeks ago."

"Why?" I watched as the guys started shoving things into bags and ripping posters off of the walls.

"Just my parents," he replied, "They're just too overbearing."

I wasn't entirely naive. I knew that most parents were that way, or at least, mine was. But I had never imaged leaving my father because he was over-protective. The thought had never even occurred to me before now. Maybe it was because of my sisters or maybe it was because of the way I was raised. I wasn't sure how I ended up different from them.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" I questioned quietly as Ronnie left the room with a large box of stuff in his arms. Max followed behind him.

Robert grabbed a large bag and nodded. "Yeah," he said offhandedly, "A sister."

"Does she live here, too?"

"Just moved out," he said before he turned to look at me completely, "Why so many questions?"

I glanced at his Aviator covered eyes and shrugged my shoulders. "Just wondering," I murmured, "I don't know much about you."

He chuckled. "You don't know that much about Max, either. Why aren't you bombarding him with questions?"

I glanced at the shaggy haired boy as he came back into the room with his hands empty. "I know enough," I said softly, "I've known Max since we were little kids."

Max's eyes snapped my me and a soft smile came over his lips. "So now we're telling people?" he asked playfully, "Thanks for the memo, Silverstein."

"Hey," I replied, "They all saw Ronnie drag me out of the lunch room, so why not?"

Max mock-punched my shoulder. "There's an awful lot to lose," he spoke, "You probably don't even realize."

"I know," I defended, "But maybe I won't have to lose anything."

"Can't have your cake and eat it, too," he protested, "Haven't you ever heard that one?"

"Shut up, Max," Ronnie said as he entered the room and leaned against the wall by the door. I could tell that this room had once been a pristine white but from years of wear and tear the walls had been smudged and faded to a light, dingy gray. The one window didn't allow for much light to come in and the simple mattress that sat on the carpet wasn't very inviting.

"Are we done?" I asked, tucking my hands into my pocket, "I still need to find my sister."

"Yeah," Robert chimed as he picked up the final box and handed it to Max, "I've got everything that I need."

"Then lets get out of here," Max commented, moving towards the door, "Your dad is going to be home in like a half and hour and I'd hate to be here when he walks in."

"What?" I questioned, my eyes going wide, "Why not?"

"Don't worry," Robert soothed as we hurried down the stairs, "We have at least fifteen minutes before he gets here."

I groaned and smacked Ronnie as trampled down the stairs behind me. "I'm never going any where with you again."

"I didn't do anything!" he defended.

I didn't answer him. I hurried out of the front door and headed towards the car that was now packed with all of Robert's things from his room. I climbed into the passenger's seat as Ronnie went and slammed the trunk shut.

We headed out of Robert's neighborhood and I was sure that I probably wouldn't be coming back here.

"You guys go sign back in," Ronnie said as we parked back at school a few minutes later, "I've got to sneak Kat back in through the back."

I glowered. "If they catch me they're going to call my dad and we're all dead," I told them, completely unhappy that I'd let Ronnie pull me off school grounds even though I wasn't upper class enough to leave. "We need to lay low, Ronnie," I said as we started heading back the way we went out. "I'm going to be in so much trouble if the school calls my dad and tells them that I've been running around with you."

"You mean like keep us a secret," Ronnie asked, although it didn't sound like much of a question.

I shook my head. "Not really," I answered, "Just tone it down a bit until I tell my dad."

"You're planning on telling your dad?"

"I'm going to have to, aren't I?"

Ronnie pulled open the door for me and hurried me through it. "Well, I don't know. I'm not telling my dad about you."

"That's different," I sighed.

"How?"

I pushed my hair back behind my ear and starting walking through the halls and back to the lunch room. "You don't really talk to your dad that much," I told him, hoping not to offend him, "But if I don't tell my dad I'll feel like I'm lying to him about something important."

Ronnie reached out and grabbed my arm, causing me to turn back to look at him. He had a cocky smile on his face as he asked, "I'm important?"

I rolled my eyes. "No."

"Liar," he said with a laugh, "But I still don't see the point of telling your dad. He's just going to flip out and ban me from seeing you or something."

I pulled away from Ronnie. "I don't know what to do," I moaned, "This is just too much to think about."

Ronnie reached out and pulled me back to him slowly, his arms wrapping around my waist. "Kat," he said simply, "Do you like hanging out with me?"

I nodded slowly.

"Then what's the problem?"

"My dad," I claimed, "He doesn't like you. You know that."

Ronnie shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that's his problem, Kat. I like being around you and you like being around me, so forget everything else and just let yourself have some fun!"

"I have fun," I defended, "I bowl at Emily's house and I watch movies with my sisters."

Ronnie rolled his dark eyes. "I mean real fun."

"Shut up."

Ronnie grinned down at me. "It's not a big deal, Katerina. You can tell your dad if you want but I'd go with the 'convincing Gwen not to say anything' idea instead. She likes me more than your dad does."

"I don't know about that," I replied, a permanent frown on my face.

Ronnie pressed his lips against my cheek. "I do. Girls can't help but like me."

I rolled my blue eyes. "You're disgusting."

"You're example one."

I scowled and shoved him away from me. "Lets go get something to eat. I'm hungry."