Who We Are

Mr. Ulrich

When we walked through the door together, it seemed that rumors had already circulated around the class. With Ronnie’s hand in mine; we walked down the row without apologizing to our teacher, who sighed and said something about us barging in like this.

“Where have you two been?” she asked, eyeing us suspiciously, “Class starts promptly at nine am, not 25 after.”

“Sorry, Mrs. Goodwin,” I apologized, following Ronnie down the aisle created by the rows of desks, “There was something going on with my sisters’ bus. It won’t happen again.”

She nodded, but Vanna Aaron smirked, turning in her seat as we passed between her and Monica. “Are you sure something wasn’t something going on in Ronnie’s bed?”

The class erupted and other comments were murmured amongst the laughter. Mrs. Goodwin struggled to call the class back as Vanna basked in the glory. “Vanna, that’s not okay,” Mrs. Goodwin said after everyone went almost silent.

“Shut the fuck up, Vanna,” Ronnie spat before our teacher could continue. He stepped around me so that his body was between the other girl and I and added, “I don’t want to hear another word out of you.”

“What, Radke? Upset that you can’t keep Kat your little secret anymore? We all know that she’s not as pure as she pretends to be,” she taunted back, looking at us like she knew something we didn’t want her to.

“What we do is none of your fucking business,” he said, his fingers leaving mine as his anger contorted his tone, “Stop wasting so much of your time worrying about me, Vanna. It’s never going to be you in Kat’s place, you fucking bitch.”

“That’s enough,” Mrs. Goodwin shouted, having come around her desk to stand at the edge of the front row of chairs, “I want all three of you out of my class right now. This is not appropriate and I won’t put up with it.”

She moved to the phone mounted next to the door and dialed for the office, asking for someone to come escort us from the classroom. Ronnie’s glare didn’t leave him as he took my hand and pulled me away from the set of monstrous girls. “We can walk ourselves to the office,” he said to Mrs. Goodwin as he pushed the door open, “but it’s not our fucking fault that those bitches are attacking my girlfriend.”

Mrs. Goodwin called for us not to storm off and then relayed the information to the woman on the phone. We walked out and stood next to the lockers in the empty hallway, deciding to do as she asked. When I leaned back against the metal locker, Ronnie cursed under his breath and turned to me, his arms wrapping around my shoulders.

“I’m so sorry, Kat,” he whispered during the hug, “I didn’t know that it would turn out like this.” He tipped his head against the side of mine and I could feel the

I wrapped my arms around his waist, both comforted by him and distraught over the trouble that us being together had caused. We couldn’t even walk into class together without Vanna spreading lies to the people around us.

“Emily is probably already saying the same things,” I answered him as I leaned against him and wrapped my arms around his waist.

We were only like that for a minute before our teacher stepped out, closing the door behind her. “Ronnie, Katerina,” she said to get our attention.

Ronnie glanced at her over my head before he relented and stepped back, taking my hand again as I turned around to face her.

She continued, “I don’t know what happened in there,” she said, standing just feet from us, “and I’m sorry that you two feel like you’re being attacked, but I just can’t tolerate that kind of behavior in my class. I don’t know what you guys were up to this morning, but coming in like that is only causing more trouble for yourselves.

“Both you two and Vanna are going to the office to figure this out,” she explained, looking at us with a sense of calm that I hadn’t seen anyone direct towards us, “Stay here.” She went back in the class, leaving the door open, and Ronnie and I listened as she directed Vanna to gather her things and come with her.

The girl argued, claiming that we were the problem, but begrudgingly did as she was told. Mrs. Goodwin escorted her out of the room and our school police-officer was already coming down the hall with one of the office aids, the two of them heading straight for us.

Mrs. Goodwin spoke from where she stood between us. “These three were being very disruptive,” she explained, “Ronnie and Kat came in and Vanna made some derogatory comments causing Ronnie to argue back.”

Officer McKrin folded his arms over his chest and simply stared at the three of us. “Do you guys realize how early in the day it is?” he questioned, glancing at the clock above the lockers for added effect, “It’s first period and you’re already fighting?”

Ronnie and I didn’t say a word but Vanna called attention to herself by rolling her eyes. Nobody said anything about it but the aid took another step to her side.

“Alright, lets go,” McKrin said, reaching out to grab Ronnie’s arm as the office aid took hold of Vanna. Mrs. Goodwin gave me a fleeting look before she disappeared back into her class and we turned the corner.

They led us into the office and sat Ronnie and I at the opposite ends of a row of chairs and Vanna sat in the middle of another across from us as we waited to be taken back to the familiar conference room to talk to the principal. Instead of taking us back, Mr. Ulrich came walking out of his office and stood at the end of the chairs, arms crossed.

“You two are in my office a lot lately,” he said to Ronnie and I, “I’m actually really tired of having to call your fathers, especially since Ronnie’s never shows up.”

Ronnie smiled sarcastically. “Not everyone can be so lucky to be blessed with his presence,” he stated, rolling his eyes as he turned his attention away.

Mr. Ulrich ignored him. “What’s going on, Kat?”

“Vanna and Emily Henderson started a bunch of rumors about me,” I answered, “Mrs. Goodwin heard her.”

“Vanna, what’s the point in this?” he questioned, taking a step towards her, “Why are you trying to cause problems? We have a ‘no bullying’ policy in this school and the things you said can definitely be interpreted as such.”

“I didn’t bully them,” she claimed indignantly, “It’s not my fault that they showed up to class late and people suspected things.”

“Why would anyone suspect anything other than the reasons they gave, Miss Aaron?” he asked, glancing back at us. “I don’t understand.”

She turned her eyes to him. “If two people were dating and they showed up late to class, together, claiming that someone’s sister missed the bus, what would you think?”

“That someone’s sister missed the bus,” he answered, “Even if it’s not true it’s not your business to announce to the entire class. No one goes around belittling you, Vanna, so I don’t know why you think you have the right to do it to others.”

“Because she’s a liar and a whore and everyone thinks she’s this prim and proper little princess,” she sneered, crossing her arms over her chest as she met my gaze defiantly.

“I prefer people only having that rumored about me than proof like they do with you,” I answered, “I mean, even if I were a secretly sleeping around, at least I would have the decency to hide it. We all know where you’ve been.”

Vanna smirked darkly. “Yeah, with your boyfriend.”

Ronnie crossed his arms over his chest, his expression muted as he looked at her.

“Enough, ladies,” Mr. Ulrich demanded, pressing his fingertips into his forehead, “You can’t go around saying things like that. It’s not appropriate. I don’t know where this all comes from, but it needs to stop.”

He called us into his office one by one, starting with Vanna and ending with me. When Ronnie came walking out, he didn’t look angry, but he wasn’t pleased either. As he passed, he leaned down and kissed my cheek before heading off without a word, leaving me to the mercy of Mr. Ulrich, who thankfully decided against calling our parents again.

“Have a seat, Katerina,” he said as I lead the way into the office. He sat down behind his desk and I nimbly seated myself in the wood and cloth chair, folding my arms over my stomach as I stared at him, waiting for him to speak.

He took his time, his eyes lingering over me as he gathered his thoughts, and then he said, “I just don’t understand, Kat, how any guy could be with all this trouble.”

“Ronnie means a lot to me,” I answered, hoping it would be enough to subdue him.

“The kids that are picking on you aren’t going to stop,” he answered, “I wish there was some way for me to force them to, but no matter what I do I can’t stop everyone from talking. Vanna has been given detention for the next two weeks due to inciting bullying, and we’re looking into Emily as well, but so far no faculty members have heard her say anything about you. We might be able to punish one or two girls, Katerina, but as long as you’re in this situation, kids are still going to talk.”

I crossed my leg over the other and kept my arms crossed as I asked, “So you’re saying that I should give up Ronnie because people are saying things about me? Wouldn’t that be letting them win?”

“It would be taking yourself out of the situation,” he responded, “It would make things a lot easier here for you and neither of you would have to worry about the backlash.”

“I’m guessing you had this same conversation with Ronnie,” I stated, looking him in the eyes, “and the response that you probably got from him is the same one that I would give you if you were actually suggesting that I break up with him because Vanna Aaron is jealous.”

“What makes you think that this stems from jealousy?”

“It’s based off the assumption that it’s the only emotion she’s capable of feeling.”

He smiled despite himself and leaned forward so that he was resting on his desk, looking at me intently. “You’re a clever girl, Kat, and incredibly smart, I know that. So if you think there’s something redeemable in Ronnie Radke than I believe you, but I don’t want to see you be negatively affected by all of this. You don’t deserve to be in this situation and if it gets worse I hope you’ll be smart enough to take yourself out of it.”

“You don’t have to worry,” I answered, “I’m slowly realizing that putting up with other people’s opinions is something that I’ll always have to do, and if I let them effect me now, I might be missing out on something that has the capability of making them irrelevant.”

He stood from his desk and I followed suit when he stepped over and motioned towards the door. “Let me get someone to walk you to class. It’s almost third period but you have to be excused from second hour.” He called out to the main part of the office for someone to take me and then faced me in the doorway.

“You’re one of my favorite students, Kat. I hope you know that I just want to see you do well.” He patted my arm comfortingly and motioned for me to go ahead, seeing as the aid was waiting for me just outside the door. I headed out and she followed me to my second class, following me in just to tell my teacher that I had a legitimate reason for not being there.

I took my seat for the last ten minutes, watching the eyes of the students as I passed for any sign of the rumors having spread to them, but saw nothing that would alert me to the idea that they’d heard the lies. That was until one guy near the back row ‘whispered’ a joke to his friends about how he wished he could’ve been the one to ‘contaminate’ my purity.

I blanched and dropped down in my seat, utterly humiliated.
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Hey guys! So, since I have a one shot set as the "sequel" (which was actually the inspiration for this story in the first place), I'm thinking about writing a prequel one-shot for this, which would take place when Ronnie, Max, and Kat are kids.

What do you think? I'm hoping it'll get me updating for WWA more frequently, but I really love the idea! This whole story stems back to that time period in their lives, so it would be cool to actually write it rather than write about it.

What do you think!?