You Could Be My Punk Rock Princess

Zack's POV

"Forgive me, I'm trying to find
My calling, I'm calling at night
I don't mean to be a bother,
But have you seen this girl?
She's been running through my dreams
And it's driving me crazy, it seems
I'm going to ask her to marry me"

I couldn't take my eyes off of Kat. She was so beautiful up there, singing her heart out with not a care in the world for anyone else. She looked amazing today too. I hadn't seen her enough to compliment her on how she looked, but she looked amazing. It was a simple outfit, of a pair of jeans, a white shirt, a scarf and boots, but she looked fantastic. As she rounded off Remembering Sunday, as Alex had told her she could cover it and play it when she wanted, she looked up and caught my eyes. I smiled softly and nodded to tell her she was perfect. The class were awestruck. She brought her guitar back with her and sat down, slipping her hand back into mine and sighing with content. I looked at the clock to see that school was just about over. And it was the last Friday before the Summer break, so we were staying at Kat's for a couple of weeks

Kat's parents weren't around very much. It wasn't that they didn't love her with their whole heart, they did. They were both owners of companies so she had the house to her self a lot. And they were going on a three month trip, one of them to the UK and the other to Australia. So, she had the place to herself. She made it out that it didn't bother her but even from the way she was with my parents, you knew it hurt every time they came back to go away again a couple of days later. And it wasn't just Kat either. Kat had a seven year old brother, Kyle, who was about as understanding about all of this as a slug. Every time his mom and dad went away, he'd cry for days. And Kat was the one to have to hold him together.

The bell went and Kat looked at me, tired. We walked over to the bus and all climbed on. Kat's parents were due to leave that evening, but there was a glint of happiness in her eyes. I sat beside her, on the window side, and we all sat together, taking up two of the rows, talking and laughing. It finally got to Kat's stop and the bus hit the curb, more harshly than usual, sending a before standing up Kat onto my knee. I helped her back up and we bustled our way off of the bus and onto the sidewalk Then we made our way to Kat's house. I noticed her car in the drive way as she was going into her bag for her keys and smiled softly, nudging her arm as we approached her driveway. She looked up and squealed.

"Baby! You're back. Look at you, all fixed," she said, walking over and running her hand down the side of Baby. Her front door opened and her parents came bustling out in a hurry.
"Oh! Kat, honey. I'm glad we caught you. We have to go catch our flights now. We'll call when we get to England and Australia. We love you. Can you go pick up Kyle from after school for us? Thank you soo much. We love you and we'll see you in a few months," her mother spilled out, not even giving her a chance to speak before they were piled in their car and away.
"Great... Right. Can you guys look after the house while I got get Kyle?" she asked us, sighing and walking to the door.
"Of course," Alex replied as we stepped into the house. She grabbed Baby's keys and turned back around.
"You want some company?" I asked her softly.
"No.. you wait here with the guys, I'll be fifteen minutes at most. It'll be fine. I'll be fine," she replied and kissed me quickly before running out, yelling for us to help ourselves to whatever we needed. Kat was a great sister, an amazing friend and a perfect girlfriend, but she never fell apart. Ever. And maybe she felt she needed to be strong for Kyle, but she didn't. Kyle would love her regardless. She was due for blowing up, the question was who she was gonna blow up at.

Alex put on the TV which distracted me from my thoughts. Then the front door burst open.
"Kyle, please do-"
"No!" Kyle screamed. "I hate them! They can't keep doing this to us. To me!" Kyle was taking a tantrum. I went through and stood at the door.
"I know it's hard, Kye. But they love us. They do," she tried to reason, sounding exasperated.
"Don't Make Excuses for them! They don't love us! If they loved us, they'd be here," he screamed at her and ran upstairs, beginning to sob. I had a feeling Kat hadn't even notice me because she shut over the front door and sunk down against it, sighing, her eyes filling with tears. She blinked them away and stood back up. I didn't move so as not to scare her. She pulled off her jacket and kicked off the shoes. I moved back into the living room and sat back down as I heard her come through.

"He okay?" I asked her.
"No. Never is. But he will be," she replied, smiling at me. I could see she was hurting, but she didn't want to show it.
"You okay?" Alex asked her. She nodded. She didn't wanna lie to us, but she didn't wanna admit it either.

We left it at that. She didn't want to go any further into that. She came over and sat on my knee, and joined our TV watching until it was time for dinner. She wasn't particularly hungry. She never was for a week after her parents left. But she knew we would be. So she cooked for everyone and ate to keep me happy. She took a plate upstairs for Kyle but we knew it wouldn't get touched. Kyle showed his emotional state more than Kat did. But Kat was going through more than Kyle. From the year Kyle was born, when Kat was ten, he was her responsibility. She changed him, fed him, bathed him, clothed him, read to him, put him to bed. She was more of a mother figure than his real mom. Their mom took four months off of work for maternity leave. Since then, Kat's been basically raising Kyle. She's his guardian. She signed his forms and took him home if he was sick and made sure he wanted for nothing. Her parents put a lot of money in her bank everyday so he could want for nothing. But she was getting tired of being a non biological seventeen year old mom. And we could all see it.

But, still she hid her feelings so that Kyle could have his moments. And he could scream and shout and be angry. He'd hit her in the past. Told her he hated her. Threatened to run away. Attempted to run away. Refused to leave his room. Had her sitting outside of his room listening to him cry. Crying on her. Stopped eating. That girl went through hell and high water with him. Yet, not once did she yell. Or scream back. Or cry with him. Not once did she lose her cool. For him, she stayed strong, held up her guard and held onto what she felt was the best interests for him. She bought him thing after thing. Every time something broke, she replaced it. In the last year, he'd had seven laptops, three guitars, ten games consuls and an uncountable number of games. But it's true when they say money can't buy happiness. But she was trying her damn best to make sure that boy got what he wanted. And she showered him with love. Because she was all he had.

That's why I showered her with love and gifts and compliments. Even when she didn't know. I looked after her so she didn't need to look after herself. So, if she missed a day, I made sure to get all her notes and stick them in her locker. I always had a spare hoodie and leather jacket in case she needed it. I kept a spare set of earphones, extra money and stuff for her period all in case in her rush, she didn't grab anything. She had me to rely on and she knew that. But even then, she barely ever cried in front of me when it was to do with her parents. She never wanted to accept that this was affecting her as much as it was. But I knew her. Better than she knew her. And she was on breaking point. And was ready to explode.

But she wouldn't. For Kyle's sake, she wouldn't. In her mind, Kyle was too young to have to deal with her crying and breaking down. She just wanted to keep him happy. So she hid away everything she was feeling and buried herself in school work and learning how to parent a seven year old. It couldn't be easy. She did washing every day. Didn't complain once. And she didn't ever stop smiling. Even when alone, she kept practicing. In the shower, she held the smile on to save Kyle the pain of watching her break. She was his rock. He saw her as this perfect, stone hard, teddy bear big sister who did everything for him that a mother should. She was four roles in his life. A mother, a father, a sister and a best friend.

So she refused to break in front of him. Until tonight.