Who We Are

Silence.

I stood on the top of the stairs, my limbs frozen as my dad looked over the scene in front of him. My sisters looked on, nervous and scared, because even though it hadn't been their idea to bring two teenage boys home, they knew that we'd all be in trouble for it. Even Gianna, who'd run around the living room with them.

Dad dropped his jacket by the door. "What's going on?" he asked, his arms crossing over his chest as I slid past Max and stepped down a few more stairs.

"Dad..." I trailed off, lacking any good excuses, "You're home early."

He scoffed loudly, just like I'd expected, and snagged my arm, dragging me down the last three steps and past Ronnie, who was more shocked than anyone, myself included. "Katerina, what the hell is going on here?" Dad demanded, tightening his grip on my arm as I tried to slid out of it.

"Nothing," I said quickly, "We're just doing homework."

Dad gave the three of us a blank stare. His gaze flickering between Ronnie and Max. "Get out of my house," he demanded, his voice scarily calm and his eyes steady as Max and Ronnie tromped down the stairs.

"Mr. Silverstein," Ronnie started, standing in front of my father. He was a good couple inches taller than my 5'11 father but my dad didn't seem to notice as he trained his glare on the dark headed boy. "I'd like to ask your permission to-"

"Ronnie, stop," I said quickly, cutting off his words before he could get them out and make the situation ten times worse than it already was. "You two should go. We'll finish our paper at school."

Ronnie frowned but nodded after a nudge from Max, who was a lot shorter than my dad. Ronnie spared me one last glance before he and Max disappeared out of the front door, closing it quickly behind them as they took off to the house next door, leaving me to face my father on my own; the way I prefer.

"Dad, we were just working on a paper for English," I said slowly, hoping it sounded more convincing to him than it did to me.

By the look on his face I knew my words weren't helping the situation. "Kat," he drew out, "I want to know why those boys were upstairs in your room, alone with you." His gaze snapped to Gwen as she stood up from the couch and set Gianna down in her place. "Do you know something about this?" he questioned, "Because I'm sure you would've told me about today's plans if I hadn't found out on my own."

Gwen opened and closed her mouth, looking between Dad and I as shock stole her words.

I shook my head and took a step closer to our dad. "Don't be mad at them, they had nothing to do with it," I promised, shoving my hands into the pocket of my jeans. "It was my idea for them to come over."

Dad looked to me with his eyebrows raised. "Where did this idea come from, Kat? All of a sudden you're friends with those boys? What about Emily and Dean? Are they friends with them, too?"

I cringed at the sarcasm and shook my head. "It's not like that," I stated, unsure about how to explain what was really going on between Ronnie and I.

Dad sighed and ran an angry hand through his cropped hair. "Girls, go upstairs. Katerina, go sit down." He pointed at the wooden table in the kitchen without looking at me. Lisette and Octavia gathered their homework from the table and walked past me and up the stairs. Gwen pulled Gigi off of the couch and pushed her in the same direction, but she lingered for a extra second, causing dad to grunt angrily and point towards the stairs.

"Go, Gwendolyn," he demanded, "This doesn't concern you."

Gwen frowned and gave me an apologetic look as she brushed past me and ushered the girls into their rooms quickly, knowing that it wouldn't help anything if they tried to listen in on the conversation.

"Dad, will you stop treating me like this?" I questioned as he simply pointed to the kitchen table.

"Like what?" he asked as he followed me, "A liar?"

I frowned and sat down at the table. He sat across from me and crossed his arms, resting his elbows on the table. "Yeah," I replied lamely, unsure of what else to say.

"Tell me the truth, Kat," he stated, looking into my eyes. "I need to know what you've been doing with them."

My eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?" I questioned, leaning against the back of the chair.

He sighed and ran his fingers over his hair again. "Two teenage boys were in your room, Katerina," he said slowly, "I need to know what you were doing."

"What?" I asked loudly, shaking my head. "Dad, we weren't doing anything like that! And with Max?" I shook my head animatedly, trying to think of the word to explain it. "That's just unfathomable."

Dad leaned back in his chair. "It's only 'unfathomable' with Max?"

My eyes widened when I realized what he'd picked up on. "No," I said quickly, "What I mean is that it's disgusting that you would think that the three of us would be doing something together." I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Kat," Dad said softly, obviously becoming worried, "That's not what you said."

"But it's what I meant," I corrected.

Dad sighed. "You picked a horrible time to start lying, Katerina," he stated, shaking his head in disbelief. "How long has this been going on with Ronnie Radke?"

When I sighed in defeat, it confirmed what Dad was speculating. He sighed angrily and banged his fist on the surface of the table, causing the whole structure to shake. "I can't believe you, Katerina!" he shouted, jumping up so that he was standing in front of me. "How could you be so irresponsible?!"

"Dad, stop," I called to him, "We haven't done anything!"

He rolled his eyes. "And how can I believe a word that comes out of your mouth?"

"Because it's the truth!" I shouted, standing up just like him. "I haven't done anything like that with Ronnie Radke!"

"He's almost eighteen, Kat!" Dad yelled in protest, "You're barely sixteen years old! What happens if I hadn't found out and this continued past then? He'd be going to jail, that's what!"

My eyes widened. "We haven't done anything," I grumbled, "And so what if we did someday. He's good to me."

He slowed down automatically and dropped himself back into his chair with his head in his hands. "He's not good to you, Kat," he said, looking up at me, "Ronnie Radke is bad news and you're not allowed to talk to him. I thought I made that clear all these years."

I rolled my eyes. "He's not that bad," I replied, "You don't know him."

"And neither do you!" Dad bellowed, "You think he's this attractive, brooding teenage boy with a heart of gold underneath the rough exterior, well he's not, Kat!"

"How would you know?!" I shouted while roughly pushing my hair out of my face.

"I've arrested him!"

I froze and stared at my dad. His breathing was labored and his cheeks were red. He glared at me with his arms thrown out in front of him, willing me to understand that he was right and I was wrong.

I shook my head slowly, my gaze not leaving his. "You're wrong about him," I stated, "You don't know anything about him."

Dad rolled his eyes. "I know everything about him."

"Only the bad things," I replied, "You don't even care that he takes care of his little brother, that he's in a band that's going to be something huge, or even that he cares about me, Dad." I shook my head and pictured the slender seventeen year old in my mind. "Is it so impossible to imagine that even though he's not the best person in the world that he gives all his best to me?"

Dad shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous, Kat."

"It's not ridiculous, Dad! Ronnie's the one who pursued me! He likes me!"

"Kat, please stop talking," Dad asked, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

I closed my mouth and ran my fingers through my curls. I stared at him until he felt my gaze and had the choice between ignoring me or looking at me. He chose to stand up from that table and turn his back on me. He stared out of the small window above the sink and I stood up slowly so that I could peer over his shoulder.

Like always, Ronnie was sitting on the front porch of his house. On his left Max sat, rambling on about something to Riley, who sat on Ronnie's other side. The front door opened quickly and their dad stepped out onto the wood planks of the porch. Max and him shared a few words before the man slapped his shaggy head and Max jumped off the porch, shouting a few words that were silenced by the distance between us and the thick glass of the window.

Ronnie stood up, standing between Riley and his dad as the older man crumpled a beer can in his hand and tossed it in Max's general direction, missing by over two feet. Max plucked it from the yard and tossed it past the man back into the house.

Ronnie grabbed a fistful of Riley's shirt and led him past their dad. Max climbed up the stairs and barged past him, too. I slid back into my chair, unable to see out of the window anymore. I looked to my dad's face as he turned and stared back at me.

"You don't need to get involved with that family," he spoke, "They're bad news." He pushed his chair his chair in and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me sitting there, listening to the empty silence in the house next door and the sound of encroaching sirens passing by the neighborhood.
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