Who We Are

In the morning, I woke up before Ronnie. He was sleeping with his face against his pillow and the blankets barely above his waist. The curtains were closed so the room was relatively dark.

Ronnie didn't move as I climbed over him and stepped down to the floor. Neither of us had to get out of bed for another hour, but I couldn't go back to sleep without using the bathroom. I peaked out of the window to see if Ronnie's dad's car was parked outside and was relieved when it wasn't.

Ronnie's brothers' doors were closed and all the lights were off, so I crossed the hall into the bathroom silently, cringing when the floor creaked under my weight. When I stepped out a couple minutes later, wiping my hands on my shorts, I almost jumped out of my skin at the sight of Brad standing to my right, just staring at me.

"So, you're Ronnie's girlfriend," he said, the sound of his voice surprising me in the silence. He looked me straight in the eye, causing me to feel a little uncomfortable as I used my hair to cover my bruise, even in the darkness.

I nodded gently and took a miniscule step towards Ronnie's bedroom door, which I had closed behind me.

"He's never brought a girl here before," Brad stated, crossing his arms over his chest, "He must think you're something special." He dropped his hands to his sides and they slipped into his pockets.

"No," I murmured in the darkness to the older boy, "I'm going back to bed now."

"With my brother," he stated, leaning against the wall with his eyes still trained on me. "You're sleeping with my worthless little brother."

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back on my heels, biting my lip between my teeth. "That's none of your business," I replied, wondering how he thought he could ask a question like that. "I have to go," I added, deciding not to waste any more time talking to him.

Brad chuckled and shook his head. "You don't have to," he denied, "You'd just rather be back in bed with my brother."

I nodded and stepped back again. "You're right, I would," I stated, reaching for the handle of the door, "Goodnight." I pushed the door open and stepped through, closing it on him behind me. Ronnie must've been almost awake, because the soft sound of the door closing roused him. He opened his eyes and lifted a hand to his hair.

"Kat?" he questioned, lifting his head from his pillow, "What are you doing?" He sat up and pushed his fingers through his matted hair.

"Just went to the bathroom," I replied, moving back over to him, "Brad stopped me in the hall and I just said goodnight."

Ronnie nodded as I crawled over him and laid down. "What'd he want?" he asked, putting his head down again.

"Nothing." I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. I'll tell you in the morning." I wrapped my arm around his waist and put my head on his shoulder, his arm wrapping around me and his fingers pressing against my back.

"Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day," Ronnie said groggily, wrapping his other arm over my side, "I'll see you then."

I kissed the side of his chest and nodded, not bothering to tell him that nothing 'interesting' would happen tomorrow because he wasn't going to do anything to Sal or Emily, even if he thought he was.

Tomorrow definitely would be difficult, but the thoughts in Ronnie's head weren't going to come true, whether he wanted them to or not. There was no way he could lay a hand on either of them, Sal hadn't done anything and Emily was a girl. The only one I was worried about was Nate, but luckily he would be no where near Ronnie or his friends.

Like he promised, Ronnie woke me up earlier than I would get up at home. He climbed onto my waist and leaned down to press his lips against my neck. "Kat," he murmured into my ear, "Wake up. Kat, wake up."

I groaned and tried to roll over, unable to because of his body on top of mine. "Get offa me," I growled, trying to push his body off of mine, "Get off, Ronald."

"I can't because you'll go back to sleep," he stated, crossing his arms just as I opened my eyes to look at him, blinking against the light on the ceiling.

"At least turn off the lights," I grumbled, "I need ten more minutes."

Ronnie chuckled and shook his head. "Sorry, Kat, I promised that I'd wake you up in time to get ready and get to school before your sisters."

"I know," I said as I struggled to roll away from the sound of his voice, "Just get off of me so I can move."

He laughed and pushed off, sliding over to sit on his bed beside me. "Morning," he said, reaching out to push my hair away from the bruise around my eye. His smile dropped to a frown and he gently pressed against the discolored skin. "Does it hurt today?"

I shook my head, matting the hair on the back of my head against the pillow. "Not so much," I replied, "I think the ice really helped keep it from feeling terrible." I reached up to touch it. "How does it look?"

The look on his face said he didn't want to tell me.

I groaned softly and covered my face with my hands. "That bad?" I asked from behind my palms, "They're definitely going to call my dad when I get to school."

Ronnie scoffed. "Am I supposed to be upset about that?" he asked, crossing his arms as I looked back at him. "She punched you in the face," he stated blatantly, "I won't really feel bad if she gets arrested."

I wasn't stunned by his words, but the fact that he wasn't thinking of the repercussions of getting Emily and my dad together made me nervous. "If we get Emily arrested she's going to tell my dad that I've been with you, Ronnie. She might even blame you," I told him with wide eyes.

He didn't shake his head or disagree. We both knew that Emily would do whatever it took to shift the focus from her back to me, including trying to keep Ronnie and I away from each other.

She was vindictive. She always had been and I couldn't believe that I hadn't been worried before. While Ronnie left to take a shower, I dressed in my clean clothes and brushed my hair out. We switched places when he got out of the shower. He crossed the hall in just a towel and I looked away, surprised that I even wanted to look back.

He smirked at me before he closed his bedroom door and I blushed and hurried into the bathroom to brush my teeth, shaking my head at myself for looking and letting him see.

We were ready about twenty minutes later. Ronnie went into Riley's room to wake him up and tell him that we were leaving, and I went downstairs to wait for him, growing nervous as the time inched closer to when my sisters would be catching their buses.

"You ready to go?" Ronnie asked as he came bounding down the stairs, grabbing his backpack off of the couch and swinging it onto his back.

I nodded and slipped my fingers between his. "People are going to stare," I stated as he led me out of the front door, "Everyone is going to think you hit me, just like your brother did."

"No, they won't," he denied, sounding angry at the idea, "because I would never fucking hit you and everyone knows that."

"The guys do," I replied, "But what about the rest of the school? What are they going to think when we walk into school together and I have a black eye?"

Ronnie rolled his own. "We always walk into school together, Kat. Stop hyper-ventilating. It'll be fine. If anyone asks, just tell them the truth. You need to stop worrying so much."

I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and nodded, my eyes cast the street as we walked. The closer we got, the more nervous I became. I could already see one of my teachers questioning me about my eye. Ronnie underestimated the interest of the adults in the building.

I'd never had a bruise on me before and the only noticeable correlation was between spending time with Ronnie and showing up with a black eye. I knew that somehow my father would find out about everything, when in reality Ronnie had nothing to do with the bruise on my face.

Ronnie tightened his grip on my hand when we stepped onto school property. "Here we go," he said, pulling me closer to him, "Everything will be fine."

"Here we go," I repeated, looking at the numbers of kids already piling into the building. Ronnie and I walked hand in hand into the building. Like always we walked to the same classroom and got some looks from the kids lining the halls, but today, it was like every kid was scrutinizing the bruise that surrounded my eye and spanned to the top of my cheek bone.

Ronnie was in "tough mode". He didn't say a word as we walked to class, but I could see his dark eyes scanning the halls for two of the three people he wanted to 'talk' to. Since we had more time than usual before class, we headed over to where the guys usually hung out in the morning; the picnic table in the back courtyard.

Max was the only one there and he looked surprised to see us when we walked over. Ronnie called out to the shorter boy and he sat up with a grin on his face.

"What're you guys doing here so early?" he called, looking between us with a cheeky smile on his face, "I didn't know the two of you were meeting up early to hangout nowadays."

Ronnie rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Shut up, Max," he demanded as we got closer, "Kat stayed the night last night."

My jaw dropped and I elbowed the brunette in the side. "It was completely innocent," I stated, not wanting Max to get the wrong idea.

But Max wasn't worried about my words, his eyes were glued to the bruise on my face and he quickly reached out to softly grab my chin before I could shield it with my hair. "Fuck, Katerina, what the hell happened?" he asked, looking to Ronnie for an explanation.

"Emily and I got into a fight," I said, pushing him off of me, "She just happened to catch me when I was least expecting it."

Once again Max glanced to Ronnie, who was silent fuming beside me. "Shit, Kat, that looks bad," he said, looking back to me, "I'm guessing your dad hasn't seen it yet."

"That's why I stayed at Ronnie's last night," I replied with a shake of my head, "I'm too nervous to show him. I have no idea how he'll react. He'll probably try to arrest somebody himself."

"He'll probably try to arrest one of us," Max added, catching Ronnie's eye for a split second. The singer didn't like the thought, but it was the truth. He didn't want to admit that people could believe that he'd do something like this to me, but nobody knew him like I did. Nobody knew how he felt about me.

"I'll tell him it was Emily," I responded, "There's no way I'm letting Ronnie take the fall for this. Even if it means Emily gets arrested, I'm not letting people think of Ronnie that way."

Max nodded, his lips pressed together. "I hope he believes you," he murmured. He wasn't reassured by my promise that my father would listen to me, but I knew he would. My dad had no idea that Ronnie and I had spoken a word since he last kicked the two of them out of the house, so he wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Ronnie hit me when there was no reason to think we were ever near each other.

"We've got to go," Ronnie said a few minutes before the bell rang, "We should beat your sister and Emily through the halls."

I nodded, glad that Ronnie suggested we avoid Emily instead of confront her.

"Just don't look at them," Ronnie whispered into my hair as we moved through the halls. I covered my face the best I could with my hair, but the word had already spread through certain social groups, so many eyes were on us, waiting to see if it was true.

Mrs. Goodwin was at her desk when the two of us walked in. She was focused on something, so we hurried to the back row and sat down even before the bell rang.

More students filed into the room before the bell rang and she looked up, so Ronnie and I were able to fly under the radar. I usually sat in the front, but I hoped that nobody would make a big deal about moving the seats around. There was no way to hide my face when I was sitting in the front row.

Of course, the minute Vanna and Monica entered the room, they noticed Ronnie and then me beside him. I ducked my head and turned towards Ronnie, my bruise facing away from her. Vanna frowned and sat down at her desk, leaving mine empty between her and Monica just to make it blatantly obvious that I wasn't sitting in it.

When the final bell rang and another boy took my spot, Vanna called out loudly that he was in the wrong seat, catching Mrs. Goodwin's attention.

"Avery, go to your seat, please," the teacher asked, glancing back towards where he usually sat. She frowned when she saw me there. "Katerina, you two need to switch spots. You chose that seat at the beginning of the year and I expect you to stay there."

I saw Ronnie roll his eyes as I gathered my bag and stood up, my gaze to the floor as I gave Avery his seat and sat in my own, using my hair to keep my face hidden from Vanna to my right.

About halfway through class I was working through a packet when I tucked my hair behind my ear without thinking. From my right, I heard Vanna scoff in surprise before she said, "What the hell happened to you?" catching the attention of everyone in the room.

"Vanna, language," our teacher warned from her desk. Her eyes moved from the girl to me, but I quickly untucked my hair and dropped my eyes back to my paper.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Goodwin, but I was just so surprised by the huge bruise on Kat's face." She turned completely to me in her seat and reached out to touch my arm.

I pulled away from her and glared at her for getting the entire room to stare at me. Mrs. Goodwin gasped when she saw my face and scrambled up from her desk.

"Kat, hall, now," she said shortly, already heading to the door.

I looked back at Ronnie, who was glaring daggers at Vanna, as I left the room behind our teacher. He looked up to me and mouthed for me to tell the truth, wanting nothing more than Emily to go down for what she did.

The hall was empty except for the two of us, and she reached out to gingerly move the blonde strands away from my face. "Oh gosh, Kat, what happened to you?" she asked seriously, attempting to touch the ugly coloring.

I stepped away from her hand. "I just got into a fight," I replied, trying to sound nonchalant about it, "It's honestly not a big deal, Mrs. Goodwin."

She frowned and glanced from the color of my eyes to the discoloring on my face. "Then why were you trying to hide it?" she questioned, crossing her arms over her face, "Who did this to you?"

I didn't want to answer that question. The truth could bring out more truths and that could cause more than I was willing to lose. Not telling the truth, however; could spark theories that didn't need to exist. It seemed that either way I would lose and my father would find out about both Ronnie and my eye.

"Kat, you have to tell me," she stated, sounding firm and authoritative, "If this is domestic abuse, I promise you that nobody is going to be able to hurt you again."

"My father would never hit me," I replied, stunned at the accusation. Everyone knew my father at this school. He was one of the hardest working men on the Las Vegas police force. Every night he dealt with the nastiest ones in town and the people who couldn't control themselves. He knew all the city's secrets, but didn't even have any of his own.

Mrs. Goodwin looked nervous as she shook her head and cupped her elbow with her right hand. "Kat, I wasn't referring to your father," she stated, rubbing her hand over her arm, "I've noticed that you've been spending time with Ronnie Radke and we've all seen his temper get out of control-"

I glared at the woman like she was the bane of my existence. "Ronnie would never hit me," I practically growled, "I don't know why you all have this terrible idea of him in your mind, but you're completely wrong. He's one of the smartest kids in this building and one of the most loyal and protective people I've ever met. I can't believe that this entire school would think that Ronnie would ever try to hurt me."

Mrs. Goodwin nodded along with everything I was saying, obviously trying not to upset me because I was the "victim" and my "attacker" was still out there somewhere, whether it Ronnie, who I was sticking up for, or someone else who wasn't named. "If Ronnie didn't do this to you, then who did?" she questioned softly, glancing towards a janitor as he walked down the other side of the hall. She gave him a miniscule nod. He looked over and saw my bruise and kept walking, his hand moving to the walkie talkie on the side of his belt.

"Emily Henderson," I stated nervously as the janitor rounded the hall corner and pulled the walkie up to his mouth, "Can I go back to class now?" I looked back to my teacher.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Kat, but any time a student comes to school looking battered or abused or gets abused at school, we have to report it to Officer McKrin."

"But it didn't even happen during school," I complained, choosing my words carefully, "I shouldn't have to give up precious learning time because of something that's done with."

Mrs. Goodwin rested her hand on my shoulder. "Katerina, please calm down," she soothed, "Officer McKrin will be here soon to escort you to his office and the two of you can make an official report. Once he talks to your father, you can get right back to class, I'm sure of it."

"That's not fair," I stated, shaking my head, "I don't want to make a police report."

"You're not an adult, Kat, so that's your father's choice. Lets go get your things from inside," she replied, not bothering to listen to what I wanted.

She walked over to the door and raised her eyebrows at me, signaling for me to hurry along. She held the wooden door open as I walked over to my desk and gathered my things. All eyes were on me as I stuffed them into my bag. Ronnie stood up and walked over to me, ignoring our teacher as she demanded he sit down.

"Kat, are you okay?" he asked, lightly grabbing my arm, "What's going on?"

I took his fingers in mine and shook my head. "They're calling my dad," I said even though most of the class could hear and Mrs. Goodwin was now almost screaming at Ronnie to return to his seat. "They're going to tell him everything."

Ronnie looked nervous. All this time he said he wasn't worried about my father finding out about us, but I could see on his face that he was worried that this could be the last we'd be allowed to see each other. While my dad had already told the school to keep us apart, none of them had really bothered to care all that much if we were only talking.

We both knew that things were about to change. "Mrs. Goodwin asked if you did it," I told him as said teacher barreled into the room, "So, they'll probably question you."

Mrs. Goodwin grabbed my left arm and pulled me back from the dark haired singer. "Katerina, go to the hall," she demanded, treating me like I was on lock down, "Ronnie, get to your seat, now."

I could hear in her voice that she thought Ronnie was a threat to me. I was hoping that by telling the truth they'd believe me that Emily hit me, but it seemed she still held onto the idea that Ronnie was the abusive one.

"I'll see you later," I promised the boy, pulling away from Mrs. Goodwin's side to press my lips against his quickly, my right hand touching his hair. Since she hadn't really let go of my arm, our teacher yanked me back like a dog on a leash.

Ronnie just stepped forward to continue the kiss for an extra second. "You will see me later," he replied, sounding sure of himself for the both of us.

Mrs. Goodwin told him to sit down one last time as the school police officer stepped into the room and looked between Ronnie and I. Mrs. Goodwin was relieved at the sight of the officer and gently pushed me in his direction, demanding that I go to the hall.

Ronnie turned on his heel and went back to his chair. We both ignored the class as I walked away from him, the school cop walking behind me like he was separating the two of us.

Mrs. Goodwin told the class she'd be right back and asked Mr. Fletcher, the biology teacher from the class next door, to sit in her room, probably to make sure that Ronnie didn't try to walk out.

As the two adults escorted me to the office, one of each flank, I knew that my dad was already on his way. They took into the large room and led me down a back hallway towards the rarely used conference room.

The desk ladies looked at me with pity as I passed them. I was sure that the rumor of my abusive boyfriend had spread through most of the assisting help in the building.

I just hoped they were pulling Emily out of class and leaving Ronnie alone.