Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Chapter 12

I said as I walked into the Moore's living room, "Hey." Zach frowned, "What are you doing here?" I glared at him for a second and said, "I'm great, Zach, thanks for asking." He said, unamused, "Seriously." I sighed and sat next to Nate, "My parents have asked me to make myself scarce for the weekend, citing my insensitivity as the reason why I shouldn't be there when they tell Kaley her parents waived their responsibilities to her as far as school goes." From his office, I heard Mr. Moore laugh, not even trying to stifle it. I snapped, "It's not funny!" He said, "No, it sort of is." Nate ignored his dad and said, "Wait, your parents are calling you insensitive? Since when does your mom have any right to call anyone else insensitive? She's one of the most insensitive people I know aside from my dad." His dad said, "I heard that!" Nate said, "You were supposed to!" I said, "Anyway, you don't think I'm insensitive, right?" Nate hesitated. He glanced at Zach slowly. Zach shrugged. I could hear Mr. Moore chuckling in a low voice. Nate said, "I don't think you're insensitive... However, I don't think your parents were wrong in thinking that it's best you're not there when they tell Kaley about the situation with her parents."

"What? Why not?"

He sighed, "Because you have this habit of... Not being sympathetic towards people... Especially Kaley."

I said, "I..."

I stopped when my phone rang. And when I pulled it out of my bag I frowned at the caller ID. Kaley. I hit accept and said, "Hello?" She wasn't crying. She wasn't even sniffling. She just said softly, "Can you drive me somewhere?"

I said, "Sure."

She said, "Thanks."

And then she hung up. I told Nate, "I have to go." He said, "Wait, go where? Who was that?" I shrugged, "I don't know. But the girl that I'm especially unsympathetic to asked me to drive her somewhere. And because I'm a sensitive person, I'm going to." Nate just shrugged, "Whatever."

When I got back to my house, I could tell they were both emotionally drained. They just sat at the dining room table in dead silence. My mom said, "Didn't we say to make yourself scarce, Katriana?"

I held my hands up in mock surrender and said, "I just came to get my keys. I think I left them in my jacket."

As I went to my jacket, still draped over the couch where I had left it this afternoon, I said, "Where's Kaley, anyway?"

My dad said, "Your room. She took it pretty hard."

I raised my eyebrows at them as I threw on the cropped leather jacket and said, pulling my keys out of my pocket, "You guys look like you did, too."

My mom said, "It's not an easy thing to tell someone."

"I would imagine so."

My parents didn't even ask where I was going, so I didn't offer any explanations. I just went to the garage and found Kaley already sitting on the hood of my car. I said, "How do my parents think you're upstairs when you're really in here?" She shrugged, "Do I really have to tell you how easy it is to sneak out of this house?" I smiled slightly, "No." I unlocked my car and said, "So? Where to?"

She said, opening the passenger door and sitting down, "I'll explain on the way."

I sat in the driver's seat and she said, over the roar of my engine, "Left off of your street."

I made a left off of my street like Kaley had said to and said, "So? Where are we going?"

She shrugged, "Beverly Hills."

I said, "Why?"

She said bitterly, "If my parents are going to relinquish their responsibilities to me, then they're going to do it to my face."