Who We Are

I pushed my way into the house quickly and sure enough Ronnie and Riley Radke were sitting on the couch awkwardly.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded as I took in Riley's roughed up exterior and Ronnie's hostile posture.

Ronnie rolled his eyes causing Riley to smack his arm. Riley stood to his feet and groaned as he did so. I just stood in front of them with my arms folded over my chest. They two of them looked like a raggedy duo. Riley was beaten and bruised from school and Ronnie just looked torn up. His hair was messy and hung around his face. There was a bruise on his right cheek and a cut on his lip. I rolled my eyes. "Well?" I asked loudly, "What are you doing here?"

"We uh," Riley stuttered nervously, "Our, uh..."

Ronnie rolled his eyes and shoved his little brother behind him. "Your Dad told us to stay here again tonight. We can leave if you have a problem with it, but I thought maybe you were a little bit nicer than people say you are." Then he turned to Riley and grabbed his arm. I watched as Ronnie tried to yank Riley out of the house.

"We don't have any where to go!" Riley shouted as he struggled out of Ronnie's grasp.

Ronnie stopped tugging on him. "I'm going to Max's house. See you around." Ronnie walked out of the house, ignoring Riley as he called out to his big brother. Riley tried to run out after him but Ronnie just waved him off as he walked to the left and down the street, heading for Max's house that was just a couple streets over. Riley stared after him blankly and I could tell that he was distraught.

For a moment I imagined Gwendolyn standing on the sidewalk, staring after me as I walked away, leaving her to fend for herself with someone who wasn't being very welcoming. I walked out of the front door and over to Riley. He didn't realize I was there so I set my hand on his shoulder. He jumped and looked at me.

I sighed and nodded towards the house. "Come on," I told him.

He sniffed and nodded. "Okay."

So I took him in the house as called the girls down. I knew that they'd be watching from the stairs' banister, anyways. The four of them came walking down the stairs cautiously, keeping a watchful eye on the 15 year old boy in front of me.

"You know Gwen," I said, "But this is Lisette, Octavia, and Gianna."

Riley nodded, "I know," he murmured then he blinked and cracked a smile, "Kind of."

"You're Riley?" Gianna asked as she walked up to him and stared at him with huge, dilated, blue eyes.

Riley glanced to me. I smiled and nodded. Then he smiled at Gianna and kneeled down next to her. "Yeah. You're Gianna?"

Gianna grinned at him and grabbed his hand. "Yeah!" she shouted as she jumped, her curls bouncing. "I'm six!"

Riley and Gianna hit it off automatically. Gianna even attempted to pull him up to her room to show him her favorite toys. Riley followed her like a gentleman and acted like he was interested in everything she had to tell him.

I got busy setting up the couch for Riley while he kept Gianna entertained. Gwendolyn was hovering around me with her arms folded over her chest and her lower lip between her teeth. She'd sigh every couple of seconds and wring her fingers.

By the time I was setting a fluffy blue pillow on the couch, I was annoyed. "What!?" I shouted at her as I stood up straight and copied her posture.

She tucked one of her pale banana curls behind her ear and shook her head. I rolled my eyes and went back to folding the blanket back neatly.

Then Gwen huffed once more and threw her hands out in front of her. "Why would Dad let them stay here?" she growled, "If the people at school find out about this!"

I just shrugged in reply.

"Kat!" she shouted, "How are you not worried?"

I stood up straight and looked into her eyes that were an identical shade of blue to mine. "Worried about what, Gwen?" I asked her quietly, walking around the couch and standing next to her.

Her eyes left mine and she shrugged, obviously embarrassed of the thoughts that were running through her head. "I, uh-"

I turned around as I heard footsteps on the stairs. The black-haired Riley Radke was walking down the stairs absent of any kids. "Gianna is playing in her room."

I nodded once and turned away from Gwen completely. Riley played with his fingers and then he looked up to Gwen. "You're worried about what people will say about you since I'm at your house." Riley sighed and shook his head. "I'm not like my brother," he said, "I won't tell anyone. I'm just grateful to you for letting me stay here... And Ronnie," he smiled then, "If he wasn't such a jerk."

I smiled at Riley involuntarily and walked over and rested my hand on his shoulder. "I don't group you in with Ronnie. You're a good kid."

Riley grinned at me and nodded his head. He was just barely shorter than me and it made him chuckle that I called him a kid because I knew that within the next couple of years he'd be out growing me by inches.

I motioned towards the kitchen. "Did any of you eat yet?" I asked as I looked between the two freshman.

Gwendolyn shook her head and Riley copied her. I smiled and pushed Riley's shoulder towards the kitchen. "Go sit down," I told them both, "Let me round up the girls."

Riley nodded and walked into the kitchen beside Gwen, who was ignoring him. I rolled my eyes at my sister and hopped over to the bottom of the stairs. "Lisette! Gianna! Octavia! Come down here! I'm making dinner!"

A got replies from two of them and minutes later all three girls were coming out of their rooms. Gianna was running and I called out to her, demanding that she stop before she falls down the stairs. She stopped automatically and walked down the stairs while holding onto the rail and smiling at me sarcastically.

I growled playfully and pulled her off of the third step and spun her around. Her high-pitched giggles met my ears and her little hands gripped onto my forearms tightly. "Kat! I'm dizzy!" the little girl squealed as I bent over and set her feet on the carpet.

"Well, waddle yourself into the kitchen and have a seat."

I followed behind Gianna as Lisette and Octavia walked beside me with smiles on their faces. I looked to Octavia and pulled her closer to me. I threw my arm over her shoulder and ran my fingers through her silky hair.

"How was your day?" I asked her.

She looked up to me a smiled. "Today we learned about the cat people in Egypt."

I chuckled, "The Pharaohs?"

Octavia nodded, "Yeah! When they die they kill their cats too so they can live together in their afterlife. Since they don't go to Heaven."

My eyes widened and then I laughed at the ten year old and pushed to an empty chair at the table. I busied myself around the table and after awhile I had mashed potatoes and chicken set out. I grabbed plates and set them in front of everyone. Riley sat across from me with his hands in his lap, looking at the pile of food that was sitting in the middle of the table.

"Go ahead," I chuckled, "Eat up."

Riley smiled at me and started piling food onto his waiting plate. It took just a half an hour before everyone was finished eating. Then the girls pulled out their homework and started it. It was our routine. Gwendolyn sat at the kitchen table with Lisette and helped her with her math homework while Octavia and Gwen sat with me on the floor in the living room and worked on ours.

I was sprawled out on my stomach working on my music appreciation worksheet while Lissy was reading a book and Gianna was matching up her vocabulary words to their definitions. Riley sat on the couch behind us, watching TV with the volume turn down. He had eluded any and all of my attempts of getting him to do his homework. He told me that he lost his binder, didn't have a pencil, and had eight broken fingers that he couldn't write with.

So he sat on the couch above us, watching as we all helped each other with our work. Every once and again he'd chime in with an answer for Gianna or Lisette. Around nine o'clock Riley, Gwen, and I were watching a movie on TV while the other girls slept.

About an hour into it I could hear shouting from the street outside. It took me a minute to figure out who it was but Riley knew automatically. "I'm sorry," he said as he glanced to the stairs. Then he got to his feet and pulled on a pair of rundown shoes that had probably belonged to Ronnie before they were tossed down to him. He didn't bother to tie the laces as he hurried over to the front door, unlocked it, and went through it.

I sighed and stood up as well.

"Where are you going?" Gwen asked as she reached out and grabbed onto my arm.

I looked at her with firm blue eyes. "To deal with Ronnie Radke."

Gwen shook her head and stood up to. "It's none of your business, Kat. Just leave them be."

I looked into her eyes and could see the worry on her face. I knew that it wasn't because she didn't want me helping them but she knew that I couldn't. Ronnie and Riley Radke had lived next door to us our entire lives. We had seen more about their personal lives than we were willing to admit. We knew that Riley was a secret sweetheart and emotional at times, too. Ronnie was brutal when he had to be. Slurring words at his father and his little brother so that they'd get too angry and storm off or too hurt and wander away with cautious glances.

Ronnie had never asked anyone for anything a day in his life. (And he never would). Ronnie was hard-headed and temperamental. I had listened countless times as he screamed from his house and then stormed off towards his best friend's house. Only to return hours later drunk and ticked off even more.

Max was an only child and a self-proclaimed "drunken mistake". His parents were still together, but they weren't perfect. When we were children and we used to play together Max would show up in our front yard with a smile and a black eye, waiting for five-year-old Ronnie to make his way out of the house. Max's parents had been alcoholics as long as I could remember. They were angry drunks who blamed their beautiful blonde haired child for all their problems and unhappiness. My mother would try and confront them many times, only to find out that they would punish Max for it mercilessly every time that she showed her face around their beaten up house.

That made my mother feel horrible. And because the Green's made my brilliant mother feel guilty for trying to help, my father hated them with everything he had inside of him.

Eventually she stopped trying to get through to them and started trying to get through to Max. Nowadays Ronnie and Max use his parents' stash to get incredibly drunk and wander around town aimlessly. Usually they would end up back at Ronnie's, though. They would talk in the streets, so drunkenly that they'd be yelling and not even notice it.

I would just close my eyes and talk to my mother. "I don't know what you ever saw in them," I'd whisper to her memory, "They turned out just like they're supposed to be."

Then I'd apologize because I knew that my mother had seen something incredible for Ronnie, Riley, and Max. She always saw the good in people. She would call it "The light in their eyes" and she would always treat every child like royalty. Children were her weakness. They were her everything.

When I sat back down on the couch with Gwendolyn the shouting picked up from the street. Riley's voice met my ears.

"Ronnie! Just knock it off! Go back to Max's before you wake up the whole neighborhood and someone calls the police!"

Ronnie grunted as Max laughed obnoxiously. "Get offa me!" Ronnie slurred at his younger brother.

"Ronnie!" Riley pleaded, "Come on. You're going to get in trouble!"

I sighed and closed my eyes. I wanted to sit here and do nothing about what was going on outside. I had never done anything before and I don't know why I felt compelled to do something now. Maybe it was because my father had a sudden change of heart towards the kids that the love of his life wanted so desperately to help. I didn't know why he did, either.

I stood up off of the couch and pointed to my younger sister. "Go upstairs," I demanded as I pointed to the second floor of our house.

"But Kat- You can't!" she growled at me.

I looked her straight in the eyes and pointed to the steps. "Go."

She stared straight at me as she walked upstairs. I nodded once and then slipped into my shoes. I pulled the door open and rushed down to the three high school boys who were standing on the side of the road.

"What's going on?" I demanded rudely as I stood in front of them with my arms crossed over my chest.

Ronnie sneered at me. "Go the fuck away."

I rolled my eyes and cringed at the fowl smell that was being emitted by his breath. "You're going to wake my sisters up, Radke, and if you do I'll be ticked."

Ronnie just rolled his eyes and took a sip from the beer bottle that he held in his hand. "To be honest," he murmured afterward, "I don't really give a damn about your little brats, anyways."

My hand flew out instinctively. My eyes grew wide as a my hand began to sting from making contact with Ronnie's cheek. Ronnie stood there in shock with his hand covering the left side of his face.

I bit my lip, "Don't you ever talk about my siblings like that, again," I warned sternly. Then I turned around and began to walk back to the safety of my house. "You're welcome to sleep on the floor, if you want. Riley already called the couch."

With that I pushed the front door open and walked up the stairs to my room, knowing that at least Riley would follow behind me and lock it up for the night.