Who We Are

Second Sister

After school I waited at my locker with Emily until my sister showed up. I told her where I was going and that I'd be home later if she wanted to start dinner for me. She wasn't very thrilled about the idea, but left anyways, claiming that I better be home to finish it.

"Where's Colette?" I questioned as Emily and I made out way out of the front doors of the building.

"She's coming," Emily replied, checking her phone for messages. "Nate's home already," she added, smiling down at her screen, "He was gone for the night."

"What was he up to?"

She shrugged. "Just hanging out with some of his high school friends, I think."

Colette pulled up just a couple minutes later and I grinned at the woman when she reached out for a hug. "Sweetheart," she cooed, wrapping me in her arms, "I haven't seen you in forever. Where have you been?"

I glanced at Emily as she climbed into the passenger's seat of the van. "Just been busy," I replied, worried that if I told her about Ronnie she'd say something to Emily's parents.

"Well, it's good to have you back," she concluded, pulling into the road as I scooted back to the second row of chairs behind Emily and buckled my seatbelt.

Colette asked Emily how her day was and they chatted back and forth about Em's classes. The ride from the school to Emily's house went quickly and soon enough we were pulling into their driveway and parking beside Nate's car. I grinned, although nervous, and climbed out of the van.

"Where is he?" I asked as we stepped through the front door, "I really want to see him." Emily pointed towards the stairs and I knew that he must be in his room. I thanked her softly and hopped up them, heading towards the back hallway.

I knocked on his door. "Nate?" I called through the wood, "It's Kat. Can I come in?"

It was silent up until he yanked the door open. I grinned widely and stepped into the room. He looked as normal as usual, a pair of blue jeans and a white button up. "How've you been?" I questioned, clasping my fingers together as he looked me over.

"Good," he said, one corner of his mouth pulling up just slightly higher than the other as he smiled. "What about you?"

"Same," I said, trying to forget what Emily told me so that it wouldn't effect how I acted around him. "I've been busy. That's why I haven't been here."

He nodded and pushed the door closed. "Emily told me you got together with your neighbor," he recalled as he walked past me and sat down on his bed.

I sat next to him and crossed my legs. "Yeah." I nodded, smiling a little. "He's a lot different than he seems."

Nate's smile wavered and then came back full force. "Well, I'm glad it's working out, Kat. I'd hate for you to get hurt."

"I won't," I replied softly, pushing the thoughts of Vanna tripping me out of my head. I knew that wasn't the kind of hurt he meant. "Ronnie wouldn't hurt me. He's too protective."

Nate just nodded in reply.

"This is awkward," I stated after a moment of silence, "Why are things so awkward? We've never been this way before."

Nate's frown matched mine. "It probably has something to do with what Emily told you," he explained, bringing up the topic I wanted to talk about.

I scooted farther into the middle of bed and rested my hands on my knees. "Is it true?" I asked, narrowing my eyes so I could detect any changes in him.

He licked his lips and glanced at his patio door, evading the question.

"It is," I stated, my hopes getting crushed as I realized Emily hadn't made it up. Somewhere inside of me I was hoping that it'd been a plot that Emily concocted to make me break up with Ronnie. I hoped she thought that I'd believe Nate liked me and go running to him, ruining whatever I had with Ronnie by shredding any trust he had in me.

But staring at Nate's face as he looked anywhere but at me, I knew that it was true. The boy I'd known since I was little actually had feelings for me and he'd waited until after I met someone else to tell me.

"You are such a jerk!" I exclaimed, sliding off his bed, "I can't believe you would do this to me, Nathaniel!"

He was shocked. He watched me as I stood a couple feet from his bed with my arms crossed over my chest. "What?" he asked dimly, looking over my angry posture.

"You wait until I'm with Ronnie to spring this on me," I stated, shaking my head, "What do you think that was going to accomplish, Nate? Did you realize that you made some kind of mistake by not telling me sooner? Is that why you kept throwing compliments at me when I told you that Ronnie kissed me at school?"

Nate faltered for a second and then stood up, reaching for my hands. I hissed in surprised when he grabbed my sore wrist. He looked down at me in surprise, glancing between my eyes and my wrist.

"What happened?" he questioned, pushing up the sleeve of my jacket to inspect the nasty bruise that was forming on the underside of my wrist.

I rolled my eyes. "Some girl tripped me," I stated, gently pulling my hand from him and pushing my sleeve back down. "But that is not the point. What were you thinking?!"

"I didn't want to tell you!" he exclaimed, "Emily can't keep her big mouth shut, Kat! I was prepared to go the rest of my life without telling you but then she told you and you just... did nothing. You didn't call or come over or even ask Emily about me. How do you think that made me feel? Now you know and you completely disregard me."

I stared at the nineteen year old, wondering why all of this had to happen now. I tried to push it away, but a piece of me wondered what would've happened if he would've told me before Ronnie got to me. Would the roles be reversed? Would I be with Nate right now, fending off Ronnie? I couldn't picture spending time with Nate like I had with Ronnie. They were opposites and I couldn't see anyone else making me feel the way Ronnie did, with his arrogance and charm.

"I'm sorry," I said, running my fingers through my hair, "I didn't really believe her at first. It's just so absurd that I thought she was just trying to ruin me and Ronnie."

"Why's it absurd?" he asked, confusion obvious on his face. "I've known you forever, Kat, I trust you. I tell you everything."

"That's why," I stated, "I know everything about you and you know everything about me. I've seen almost every birthday party and met all your girlfriends. It's like I'm another Emily."

"You're not like her," he denied, "She's my little sister. She's a pain in my ass and sometimes I hate having her around. I've never felt that way with you, Kat."

"That's because I don't live with you," I replied, shaking my head, "If I did you would see that you feel exactly the same way about us. We're your little sisters, Nate. That's all you feel for us."

He rolled his eyes and pivoted back on his right foot, facing away from me. "That's really how you feel about me?" he questioned, gazing out the doors of his balcony, "You think of me as a big brother?"

"Why shouldn't I?" I inquired, "That's all you've ever felt like to me."

He turned back to me. "Just let me try something," he suggested, facing me again, "It's merely a science experiment. I want to see if I can get this out of my system and if I do feel the same way about you as I do with Emily, then this will prove that."

"What do you want to do?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest, "I have Ronnie to think about."

Nate sighed and rolled his eyes, tapping his foot against the wooden floor. "This is going to sound really weird to you, but just let me kiss you once, Kat."

"No way," I replied, stepping back, "I can't do that to Ronnie, Nate. I can't cheat on him."

"It's not like I'm asking you to have sex with me, Kat. It's just one kiss."

"No."

"You let Ronnie Radke kiss you and you didn't even know him!" he exclaimed, shaking his head at me.

"I didn't let him!" I defended, "He just did!"

"And now you're hooking up with him?" he asked rhetorically, turning away again as if he couldn't bare to look at me.

I stepped forward and grabbed his shirt, yanking him back around to face me. "You really think I'd sleep with him already? I've barely been with him a month, Nate. How could you think I'm that kind of girl. I'm a virgin, for Christ sake."

"You are?" Nate questioned, a playful smile coming back on his lips as he was reassured and relieved. "Me too."

"What?" I sputtered, unable to believe that Nate had never had sex with any of the girls he'd dated.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Why do you think they all break up with me?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest, "I'm just not ready to when they want to."

I realized that Nate hadn't had the best luck with women. Most recently an upperclassman named Jacey had broken up with him for no reason at all, but now I realized it was probably because she couldn't understand why a freshman in college wouldn't have sex with her if he wasn't waiting for marriage.

"You can't kiss me," I said, bringing us back to the old topic, "I don't know how you're going to get over this weird crush you have, but it's not by kissing me, Nate."

"Kat, please, I just-"

"I just can't," I cut him off, slowly crossing my arms, "I really like Ronnie and I wouldn't be able to keep it from him, Nate. You might not like him, but you've only heard what Emily has to say about him."

Nate sat back down on the edge of his bed and patted the comforter-covered spot next to him. "Then tell me what you have to say about him," he instructed, offering me a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "I might not like that you're with him instead of me, but I'll try to understand what you see in him."

It was obvious that Nathaniel Henderson was a good guy. I dropped back onto his bed and stretched out with my head on one of his pillows. He moved over to lay beside me and started asking me questions.

"How do you guys hang out if your dad doesn't let you see him?"

"My dad works," I said simply, "He can't be around all the time to watch me. Plus, we live right next door to each other, so it's really convenient for him to just stop over."

"What do you do together?"

"Watch a lot of movies," I answered, "And we talk about a lot of things. He even took me to see his band play."

"So you like musicians?" he asked, grinning at the ceiling, "I could probably master the drums if you gave me some time."

I lightly smacked his arm. "Shut up."

"What's he play?" he asked, folding his arms under his pillow.

"He's the singer," I told him, "But he plays guitar on his own."

"Acoustic or electric?"

"Acoustic."

Nate chuckled. "That's more angst-ridden teenage boy, isn't it?"

Nate asked questions and listened to my answers, throwing in little jabs at Ronnie along the way and reminding me discretely that he would be better for me. I couldn't blame him for trying to change my mind, but I also knew that it wouldn't work. Part of me wanted to let him kiss me just so that he would see that he didn't actually have feelings for me, yet I couldn't, because it wouldn't mean anything and because I didn't want to see the look on Ronnie's face when I would have to tell him.

Nate and talked for an hour or so before his parents called him down through the intercom. He led me down the stairs and into the living room, greeting his parents for me before they could ask if I'd been in his room alone with him.

"Don't worry," he muttered, heading around his parents to his side of the table, "We were alone but she has a boyfriend."

I glared at him and he held his hands up in defense. I turned my attention to his seated parents and greeted them myself. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson."

"Hello, Katerina," Mrs. Henderson greeted, motioning for me to sit between her and her son. "How was your weekend?"

I nodded. "It was good. Thank you. Yours?"

"Busy," she stated, glancing at her cell phone as it sat on the table, lighting up with new notifications. "You'll know what it feels like to work someday. Just remember that hard work gets you everywhere." She excused herself from the conversation and answered her phone before it barely had time to ring.

Nate rolled his eyes at me and grinned when his father sent him a disapproving look. "Where's Em?" he asked his dad, looking across the long table, "Didn't you summons her too?"

Mr. Henderson nodded. "Why don't you go get her, Nathaniel. I'm starving. I'd love to eat before I have to head out again."

Nate followed orders without a word, leaving me sitting alone in his dining room with the two most intimidating adults on the planet. His father turned his attention towards me since his wife was busy and his kids were absent.

"How is your school work coming?" he questioned formally, "Emily told us that you're in all advanced placement classes again this year."

I nodded, thankful that we'd stumbled upon and neutral topic. "Yeah, actually, I'm taking all junior classes this year so there's a chance that if I take a few summer school classes I can graduate early in a next year."

Mr. Henderson looked very surprised. "That's fantastic, Katerina," he complimented, obviously stunned to hear it. "Your dad must be very proud of you."

"I think he is," I agreed, realizing that I hadn't told my dad about the possibility of graduating early. He would be proud of me, but it would also be hard because I'd be leaving home earlier, leaving my sisters to fend for themselves. Gwendolyn would be expected to hold up the house when Dad worked and he and I both knew that would be a challenge.

Emily and Nate came into the room before we could get onto a more awkward subject, and I was thankful that Mr. Henderson turned his attention to his daughter, asking her what the hold up was.

"I was on the phone, Dad," she stated like it was most important, "It was Sal," she said to me, grinning widely. "He wanted to know if we wanted to hang out with him."

"Both of us?" I questioned, my forehead scrunching in confusion.

She shrugged and lifted her phone from her lap to check her texts. "Probably wants it to be more laid back," she noted, smiling at the screen, "It's pretty thoughtful actually. He doesn't want me to get too nervous so he says I can bring you."

"You two should just go," I commented, not wanting to be stuck on the date with the two of them, "When was he thinking, anyways?"

"There's a game on Thursday. He was hoping we could go out to eat afterwards or something," she explained, setting her phone on the table as her mom started dishing out food.

"I can't," I said quickly, catching both Emily and Nate's surprised gazes.

"How come?" Em asked, grabbing the bowl of fried vegetables from her dad.

I glanced at her parents who were just listening now and then sighed inaudibly, knowing that Emily would know if I lied and call me out on it in front of them. "I have plans," I said non-descriptively, wanting her to leave it alone and get on with something else.

She didn't. Instead she asked, "With who?"

"I'm not lying," I stated defensively, grabbing the bowl from her and handing it straight to Nate, "I have plans with Ronnie on Thursday. I had to reschedule today so I could see Nate before he heads back to campus."

"I'm going to be here for awhile," Nate stated, glancing at Emily and then back to me, "You could've come another day."

I tried to meet Emily's gaze but she looked down at her phone instead. "Oh, well, it's okay," I replied, flashing a smile at their parents, "He was fine with meeting up on Thursday."

"Who is this boy?" Mrs. Henderson questioned, passing another bowl to her husband after scooping some meat onto her plate.

I glanced at Nate, hoping he'd help me out of this one. He cut in for me, answering his mom's question with a generic answer. "Kat was telling me about the Chemistry project they're working on together," he said, shaking his head in disbelief, "Sounds like high school has gotten a lot more complicated since last year."

"Of course," Mr. Henderson stated, "You were never in advanced placement classes."

Nate smiled, ignoring the insult. "Nope," he agreed, "But I made it out, didn't I?"

"You were everyone's favorite student," I muttered, glaring at him playfully, hoping to remind his parents of the smart boy they'd raised.

I called Gwen after dinner and told her she'd have to make it without me since I was going to be staying a little bit later with Nate and Emily. She whined into the phone but agreed to do it anyways when I started begging.

"Fine, fine," she grumbled, "Just knock it off, please. I hate when you beg."

I smiled again. "Thanks, Gwen. It's good to hang out with College Boy again."

"Sure," she muttered, putting emphasis on the 'u', "I'll see you later. I hope you don't expect me to help Gianna bathe, so you better get home before then or she's going to bed without one."

"Aren't you a wonderful big sister," I said sarcastically, "I'll be there. Just make sure they eat and do their homework."

She promised she would and then hung up on me. I hung up the Henderson house phone and headed back into the dining room to offer to help clean up.

"Don't worry about it, Katerina. It's Nathaniel's job to clear the table when he's home," his mom said, getting up now that her wine glass was empty, "I'm sure he can take you home when he's finished."

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at the tempestuous woman. "I'm not in any rush, my sisters are taken care of for awhile so I was planning on staying a little while longer."

"Well, I don't know if that's such a good idea," she started, only to be thwarted when Nate interceded.

"I'm an adult, Mom," her reminder her, swooping back into the room to gather the last of the dirty plates, "I can make my own decisions on when I take my friends home and go to bed."

She pressed her lips together and simply nodded once, obviously unhappy with her son's easy-going attitude. Even though he was almost twenty, she was so used to making his decisions for him that it was hard for her to stop. She refilled her wine glass and left the room without a word.

Nate rolled his eyes at her.

I chuckled and helped him with the plates. Emily had disappeared back into her room, probably unhappy about how well things had worked out with Nate and I. We rinsed the dishes and stuck them in the dishwasher so that their housekeeper wouldn't have to do it when she came tomorrow, before Nate grabbed my good wrist and dragged me back to his room, claiming that we were going to watch a movie before he drove me home.

"What are we watching?" I questioned as I jumped onto his bed.

He went to his TV stand and opened the cabinet to look through his large collection of DVDs. "What do you want to watch?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at me as he crouched down in front of the stand.

"I don't care," I replied, shrugging my shoulders as I leaned against his head board.

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Way to have an opinion." He plucked a DVD from the top shelf and pulled the movie out, tossing the empty case at me so I could see.

"Seriously?" I asked, reading the title, "Space Jam?"

Nate glared at my mockery. "It was my favorite movie as a kid," he defended, turning on the TV and grabbing the remotes. "Michael Jordan plus the Looney Tunes, what can get better than that?"

"A grown-up movie," I stated bluntly as he crawled from the foot of the bed.

"Shut up, Kat." He pushed me and laughed as I grabbed a fistful of his comforter, trying to keep myself from falling off of the bed.

"Jerk," I sneered, scooting away from the edge.

He rolled his eyes but couldn't wipe the grin from his lips.

When the movie was almost over Nate's dad came to his room and told the nineteen year old that it was time for me to leave. Nate told him that we'd leave when the movie was over, but Mr. Henderson wasn't having it.

"She's been here long enough, Nathaniel," he stated, crossing his arms over his chest, "Your mom asked you to take her home over an hour ago, so you need to take her home."

Nate scowled and stood up. "I'm an adult, Dad," he stated, although he was reaching for his shoes, "Someday you're going to stop telling me what to do."

I pulled my shoes onto my feet and focused intensely on them as Mr. Henderson still stood in the doorway, watching the two of us.

"Dad, we're going," Nate exclaimed, waving the man out of the room, "You don't have to supervise us. If I really wanted to disobey you we'd just leave and go to my dorm room. It's not like you can really control what I do anymore." He pulled his jacket over his shoulders and tossed me mine, motioning for me to slid past his silent dad and out of the room. "See you when I get back," Nate stated, walking away.

"You're such a rebel," I joked as we headed downstairs, "You threaten to show a little disobedience yet you follow orders. Very manly, College Boy."

"He's my dad," he stated, opened the front door, "It's his job to bark orders at me."

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, walking towards his car, "But that doesn't mean you have to follow them."

"Is that why you're so interested in Radke?" he questioned as he unlocked his car door and stepped in, "Because he doesn't listen to authority figures?"

"Knock it off," I demanded as I buckled my seat belt, "He's not like that, not really. He does what he's told most of the time, he just doesn't like people demanding that he do things. If they ask nicely, he'll probably do what ever they want."

"That's charming."

I didn't reply to his sarcasm as he pulled out of the driveway and headed towards my house. He pulled into my driveway and cut the engine, turning towards me with a smile.

"I'll see you around," I said, unbuckling so I could get out of the car, "I'll try to stop by before you head back to campus."

"One more week." He dropped his head back against the headrest.

I frowned, taking him in. "What's wrong?"

"College isn't bad," he stated, "It's just that it's not what I was expecting, you know? Honestly, I miss high school. All my friends were there and my classes were easier. My parents weren't throwing fits about the money they're spending."

"They're the ones who wanted you to go," I murmured, remembering the long conversation we'd had last year about applying to schools that he didn't really want to.

"Yeah, well, they want me there, they just don't want to spend money for it."

I didn't comment that his dad owned almost the entire strip. Money was no issue for them yet they still had trouble spending it on anything except luxury cars and additions to their house.

"I should go," I stated, "I'll talk to you soon."

Nate glanced across the yard at Ronnie's house. The lights were off except for in two windows, Riley and Ronnie's rooms. "Are you going to talk to him?" he questioned, still staring at the windows, "Reassure him that you're still his and that you'd never pick me over him?"

"Stop it," I demanded, "I'm going inside to give my little sister a bath and check Lissy's math homework."

"Let me know how your date goes on Thursday," he called after me when I got out of the car. "I really want to know."

I looked back into the car before I shut the door. "You'll find someone else, Nate. Someone older and better for you. Someone who won't care that you're a virgin."

"So are you!" he countered.

"Yeah," I agreed, "But I'm a sixteen year old girl, you just act like one. "

"Get out of here." He glowered, nodding towards my house. "I don't like you anymore."

I laughed and shut the door, waving through the window as I headed up the driveway to the front steps. I knocked our special knock and greeted my oldest-younger sister as she pulled the door open and pointed up the stairs without a word.

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw that her shirt was soaked and her jeans were darkened above the knee. "Forget something?" I asked as pushed the door closed and moved past her, "Usually people take their clothes off before they shower."

"Just go," she stated, obviously not in the mood for any jokes.

I climbed the stairs and went into the bathroom at the end of the wide hallway. Gianna was in the bath, grinning as she sat covered in bubbles. She clapped, smashing them between her palms, when she saw me.

"Are you the one who got Gwen all wet?" I asked the six year old although I already knew the answer.

"No," she lied, drawing out the vowel, "She got herself all wet."

"Mhm," I hummed, reaching for the shampoo so I could get her cleaned, dressed, and put to bed.
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:D
I tell you guys that I'm going to only update this story for awhile and I only get TWO comments?
Come on now! I miss the days when you guys told me what you liked and disliked about Who We Are.
Talk to me! I need to hear from you!

Also I was hoping you could recommend some great stories to me! About All Time Low, Green Day, Avenged Sevenfold, stuff like that, or original stories too. I just want something that draws me in. (: I read a good "Jalex" fanfiction today. Not finished yet, but it's called Barely Legal if you want to read it. (: