Who We Are

Conflicts and Honesty

Mrs. Goodwin left me in the conference room and through the window in the door I could see Officer McKrin standing outside, speaking into the walkie talkie in his hand. He disappeared for only a moment before he returned with Emily in tow.

She sat across the table from me with a glare in her eyes. The sight of my face didn't affect her at all. I turned away from her and crossed my arms over my chest, nervously waiting for my father to get here. Whether Emily's mother or father showed up, they'd surely clash with my own, especially if Emily admitted what she did to me.

"You better tell the truth," I sneered, pushing against the back of my chair.

She didn't reply.

My dad came walking through the door just minutes later. The look on his face was a mix of concern and anger. I just wished I knew where the anger was pointed. "God, Kat," he said when he first walked through the door, "Look at you." He reached out and pulled me to him so he could examine my face. "I can't believe someone did this to you."

"Someone didn't do this to me," I replied, knowing what the school had told him, "Emily did, last night at the football game when the boy she likes liked me."

Officer McKrin cleared his throat from the corner of the room. I looked up at him and he shook his head, warning me not to mention anything until we could fill out the report that I didn't want to make.

My dad pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. Suddenly, he pulled back and held me at arms length. "If you two go into a fight early last night, where were you all night?"

Emily scoffed from beside me in a way that made it obvious she knew I went to Ronnie's house after our fight instead of going home. I shook my head. "I'll tell you later," I promised, glancing towards the girl, "Don't worry, I was fine."

"Katerina, you're going to tell me now," he demanded, growing worried. He turned around to speak to the school cop. "Will you please escort her out of the room so I can talk to my child in privacy?"

"Sir, we're waiting for Mr. Ulrich. He's decided that this a matter for all involved," he responded, motioning to the chairs, "If you would please have a seat, we'll get this started soon."

"Kat, sit down," he demanded as he did.

I sat down in my chair and leaned back. They'd sat Emily and I directly across from each other, so when she looked up, I looked away from her face and towards the door. I was surprised that both her parents were walking through the door.

Mr. Ulrich sat at one end of the table and Mr. McKrin sat at the other.

"Emily," her mom greeted quietly as she sat down on her daughter's left side. Her father stayed silent as he sat on her right, directly across from my father. I looked up as both Mr. and Mrs. Henderson looked to my face. I could see the shock in their expressions.

"Do you see what your daughter did to mine?" my father asked, sounding harsher than I'd heard him ever speak towards adults.

"There's no proof Emily did that to Katerina," Mrs. Henderson replied, resting her hand on her daughter's, "We heard that the school suspects that a boy is involved, so don't you dare point fingers at our daughter."

I glared at Emily like she was the worst person I'd ever seen. "That's a lie," I stated, speaking up and towards Emily, "You know that a boy didn't hit me, Emily Henderson. Now you speak up and tell the truth or I'll tell it for you."

Emily lifted her head, catching the attention of all the adults in the room. Then she shrugged her shoulders and looked me dead in the eye. "I don't know what you're talking about Kat," she spoke, shaking her head, "I'm not going to be your scapegoat. I'm not taking the blame because you have an abusive boyfriend."

"You liar!" I shouted, wanting nothing more than to lunge across the wide table and make her tell the truth.

Emily shook her head and then turned to look at our principal. "Maybe you should ask Ronnie Radke what he knows about Kat's face," she said vindictively, causing my father to stiffen beside me.

"He has nothing to do with this, Emily, and you know that," I stated, shaking my head at the girl, "Why are you doing this? Grow up and take responsibility for what you did!"

My dad spoke up. "I want to talk to Ronnie," he demanded, talking directly to Mr. Ulrich, "You get him in here now."

Mr. Ulrich nodded and motioned for the school cop to go get him. "Tell Evelyn to call his father," he directed, "I want them both in here within minutes."

I fell back against my chair. I wasn't sure what was going to happen when my father were in the same room talking about the bruise that had shown up on my face overnight, but I knew it wouldn't go well. I was even more concerned with what would happen to Ronnie when his father got a call about all of this.

"Ronnie had nothing to do with my eye, Dad," I said to the man, hoping you he would believe me.

He looked down to me and I shrunk back in my seat, wondering how he could possibly look at me like that. Sure, I'd lied to him about spending time with Ronnie, but he looked so angry that you'd think I'd ruined his entire life with just one lie.

McKrin came back into the room with his hand on Ronnie's shoulder. The table was rounded, so it was either he sat near me, the principal, my father, or either of Emily's parents. He headed towards me, but McKrin pulled him down in the chair that was just two from my dad.

"Mr. Silverstein, I had nothing to do with what happened to Kat," Ronnie spoke right away, not letting a minute go by. He stood back up and pleaded with his eyes for my dad to believe him. I apologized with mine.

My dad stood up and shoved Ronnie back into his chair. He was stiff with anger. For his belief that Ronnie put his hands on me and for the lies we'd been telling while he thought we were apart. "Don't you dare speak to me when my daughter is sitting next to me with her eye blackened. You don't get to defend yourself, not for this."

"I didn't hurt her!" Ronnie shouted, getting back to his feet. "I would never put a fucking hand on, Kat! She means so much to me. I'm never angry when she's around, I'm never upset. She's like this neutralizer and I feel great when she's around, so I'm not going to sit down and let everyone blame me for touching her, because I would never do that!"

"You're a liar, Ronnie!" Dad rebutted, "You've been lying all your life. It's how you were taught. How do I know that you even care about her?"

"Can't you hear it in my voice?" Ronnie asked, his eyes wide and begging, "I don't just care about Kat, I love her, Mr. Silverstein. And I know you loved her first, but I love her too. Just as you could never hurt her, neither could I. I swear to you."

My dad was silent. Officer McKrin pushed Ronnie back into his chair and the boy rubbed his face with his hands. He looked around my father to me and licked his lips. "That's not how I wanted to tell you that," he said to me, almost as if the rest of the people weren't in the room, "I wanted to take you out and make you remember it."

I couldn't help but smile because of the circumstances. "I'll remember," I replied, unable to express how that admittance bubbled up like a flower in the dead of winter and made me feel.

"You see, Ronnie," my dad spoke, sitting down slowly, "I've got two suspects in this room. A girl my daughter has known her entire life or a boy with an extensive record and a blatant anger problem." I couldn't tell if the anger in his voice was because someone hit me or because someone loved me.

"Dad-"

"Katerina, be quiet," he demanded, silencing me with one look. Then he continued, "What I don't understand is why Kat would cover for you and blame Emily instead of trying what most victims do by playing it off."

"Because he didn't hit me," I got out before he could tell me to be quiet, "Ronnie would never hit me, no matter how angry he gets. I can see why nobody believes me, but please, Dad, you have to believe us." I grabbed his arm and begged for him to hear the honesty in my voice and the way Ronnie just spoke.

I begged him to see past Emily's lies. She wasn't the innocent girl she was pretending to be. She might've had money and reputation on her side, but Ronnie and I had the truth.

My dad was conflicted. Why he was so calm, I didn't know, but I figured it was the surprise and pain of knowing his daughter had been assaulted. There were two types of assault and he felt as though it was his job to find the truth. Perhaps he thought of this situation like a case, staying calm to analyze all sides of the story.

I silently thanked him for handling the situation like a cop and not my father. The latter would've already knocked Ronnie to the ground, he and I both knew it.

"I swear, Ronnie," my dad spoke after a tense minute, giving in to what he felt about the situation, "If I find out that you laid a hand on my daughter and then let her cover for you-" He turned his head and looked at the honest boy. "I will ruin your life. You won't be a high school kid with a record, you'll be in jail."

"Dad," I murmured, so relieved that he believed me and listened to me for just once, "Thank you."

My dad's gaze turned to me and he closed his eyes at the sight of my face. "I'm trusting you to tell me the truth, Kat," he said softly, "Please don't make me regret it again."

The principal piped up. "Mr. Silverstein, we can't take your daughter's word on it. Ronald has a lengthy record. Ms. Henderson doesn't have so much as a tardy. I'm asking you to reevaluate the situation," Mr. Ulrich suggested, folding his hands on the table.

"Yes, he's right," Mrs. Henderson stated, "It's ridiculous for you to take her word for it. She's obviously blinded by her feelings and will say what ever she has to to keep him from getting in trouble with the law."

"I'm not like that," I replied, outraged, "If he ever put his hands on me I'd be gone before he could even think about apologizing. I'm not blinded by anything, I'm just telling the truth. Your daughter is a jealous brat who can't handle it when she doesn't get her way."

"Screw you, Katerina," Emily growled, leaning forward in her chair, "You're a liar and a slut and I wish I never met you. I knew when we were kids that you were nothing more than trash." Her mom pushed her back in her seat and gave her daughter a warning look.

"That's enough!" Mr. Ulrich shouted, looking between us, "You three won't open your mouths until spoken to," he stated before turning back to my father. "Mr. Silverstein, we urge you to rethink about all of this before you take your daughter home. She has a bruise the size of Texas on her face and you could possibly be allowing an abuser to walk away."

"Ask Nathaniel," I growled, watching surprise arise on Emily's face, "He didn't see her hit me, but he pulled her off of me when she was attacking me last night."

"Kat, he's just going to stick up for his sister," Ronnie stated, ignoring the look he got from Mr. Ulrich. There was a tone in his voice that suggested he wasn't happy that I trusted Nate to come to my rescue.

"He'll tell the truth," I told Ronnie, "Trust me. He will."

Ronnie nodded and glanced away from my eyes.

My father looked to the family across the table. "Go ahead," he demanded, "Get your son to come in. He hasn't left yet, I'm sure of it."

Emily didn't say a word as her parents dialed their only son's number, believing that they really had nothing to be worried about. The police officer said they couldn't ask him or the phone or talk to him about what we needed him for, so he agreed to drive over.

Emily's father, who'd been silent until now, met Nate outside the building along with Officer McKrin, who monitored their conversation. Nate's dad led him into the conference room, and from the moment he stepped through the door, Ronnie was still and angry.

"Kat," he whispered when he saw me and how dark my bruise had become. He didn't say anything else as he saw Ronnie by my father and Emily across from us. It was obvious while he was here, so he sat down next to his father and looked at the man who was still the principal when he went here.

"Nathaniel, Katerina told us that you pulled Emily off of her during a football game last night, is that true?"

It was such a simple question, but the answer would change a relationship with each person. Nate might temporarily lose Emily if he told the truth, but if he lied, he would lose me forever.

Nate leaned his elbows on the table and looked across at me, then glanced at Ronnie, them to me, then his sister. When he looked back to me again, I spoke.

"Just tell the truth, Nate," I said simply, folding my arms, "Please just tell the truth."

The Henderson boy met my eyes and I could see something in his that he showed me for the first time last night. He flicked his eyes to Ronnie and then back to me. Very slowly, he nodded, looking back to our principal.

"Emily and Katerina were fighting last night?" he asked, making sure he got it correct.

Nate nodded again. He looked more unhappy than I'd seen him in a long time. "Yes," he confirmed, "It was something about a boy."

Officer McKrin looked almost intrigued as he motioned towards Ronnie and questioned, "The boy they were fighting over was not Mr. Radke?"

"No." Nate shook his head. "Emily was upset because she likes a boy who likes Kat."

Emily looked stunned that her brother would throw her under the bus. Their parents, who sat on either side of their daughter, couldn't argue with their own son, so they stayed quiet, obviously surprised by the turn that everything had taken.

"I told you," I spoke, glaring at the adults in the room, "Maybe next time you shouldn't blame the easiest one to pin it on." My dad lightly grabbed my arm and gave me his look, telling me to be quiet.

On the other side of him, Ronnie didn't look pleased, but I knew he was. Part of him was glad that Nate told the truth and got him off the hook, but the other part was probably hoping Nathaniel would turn out to be a bad guy. It would've given Ronnie more cause to be angry with the older boy.

"Can I go back to class now?" Ronnie asked, the tone of his voice annoyed as he looked away from the family on the other side of the table, "This has nothing to do with me."

"We're still waiting on your father, Ronnie," Mr. Ulrich explained, "You can go wait in the office if you want."

"He's not coming," Ronnie stated as he stood up. He met my eyes before he maneuvered around Officer McKrin and headed through the door.

My dad spoke up next, surprising me. "I'll be excusing Katerina for the rest of the day," he said, "Where do I go to have someone sign her out?"

"Mr. Silverstein, I need your daughter to write up an incident report before you go," the cop said, "If the two of you would follow me to my office, I'd appreciate it."

I looked over to the dark haired girl. "Is she getting suspended?" I questioned as he father got out of his seat and waited for me to do the same.

"I'll be discussing that with Emily's parents, Kat," the principal stated, "Now if you'll please go fill out your report so your father can take you home..."

I nodded, looking at the family, and got up. I followed my dad and the cop out of the room and to the front of the office, unsure of what was going to happen with Emily or with my father and I, now that he knew I'd been lying to him for as long as I had.
♠ ♠ ♠
I updated again!
:) That's probably a shock to your system. This story isn't used to getting attention and I feel terrible about it. Really.

I got two comments on the last chapter, but I would love some more on this one, pleease. It means so much to me to read what you're thinking, and since I've been neglecting you for months, I'm sure you've got things to say!

And oh yeah! I bought tickets for "A Night With Falling in Reverse". It's a night where you get to hang out with the band, get a poster, laminate, get stuff signed, ask them questions, get pictures, etc. I'm so excited. This will be my fourth FIR concert and second meet & greet. Plus, there's only 10 dates around the US so I know this is going to sell out fast.

Well, comment! Please!