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."
I glanced at her, "You sure that's a good idea?"
She nodded.
I said, "So... Don't take this the wrong way, but..."
She finished, "Why would I ask you to drive me anywhere?" She laughed, "Well, who else was I going to ask?"
So that's how I ended up in the driveway of a Beverly Hills mansion. She said, "You're coming in with me, right?" I said, "Uh... I didn't plan on it, no." She frowned, twitched her nose and said, "I was really hoping you would." I took a deep, hesitant breath, "I guess I can if you really want me to." She smiled, "You're the best." I forced a smile unsurely and followed her up the driveway. She rang the doorbell and we both waited until the door opened and her dad said, "Kaley. What do you want?" She said, "To talk. I think we have a lot to discuss... Don't you?" He raised an eyebrow and glanced at me, "And you bring the girl that's sleeping with your ex-boyfriend?" I was grateful he used the word "girl" instead of "whore" or "slut". She said, "You basically gave me away to her family." He said flatly, "That's where you belong now. You disobeyed us, you disobeyed your religion, just like your sister." She said, nodding to me, "Is that what you think I am now? Just another her?" The way she said "her" made my stomach churn. She continued, "You think I'm like Kitty? I'm not even close!" And that was when I realized she only brought me here to prove to her parents that she's not the worst teenaged girl out there. But before I could stop her she said, "I didn't get pictures of me in bed with a guy in magazines and online! I didn't get expelled from school! I didn't get arrested multiple times for underaged drinking! And not once did I make a public mockery of our family!" I started quietly, "Kaley..." She just barreled on, "And you know what else? I at least had the common sense to use a condom. She didn't. I mean, who knows how many diseases she could be carrying?" I said louder, "Kaley..." She added, "And you think it's a sin what I did? At least I didn't commit adultery as well! I was still in a relationship with Nate when she slept with him!" She paused as if she expected me to interrupt again, but this time I just gave her a cold look. She said, "I was just a little misguided, tempted by the devil, really. She, on the other hand, practically was doomed from birth. The mere conception of her was shameful! Her place in hell is already reserved with her name on it... Don't you agree that I can still be saved? I haven't been cursed with such a disgraceful family, compiled of adulterous acts and greed and lust." This time I snapped at her, my blood boiling, "Kaley!" Both her father and her ignored me. After all, I was only there to show God could've given him a much, much worse daughter. He shook his head, "No. Kaley, no. You've disrespected this family and your religion in more ways than one and that is unforgivable. But I have to admit, if you've managed to do anything right, it's your avoidance of public spectacles." He nodded towards my car, "You should probably go now." And then he shut the door. We stood there in silence for a second. I just spun on my heel and went back to my car. And I waited until she sat down next to me to say, "I can't believe you just did that." She said quietly, "I didn't know what else to do." I snapped my car into reverse and said, "How about just have a conversation with your parents? Huh? Did you ever think about that?"
"Listen, I'm sorry, but..."
I said, "No, you're not! If you were really sorry then you wouldn't have done it! You're just saying your sorry because it didn't work! If your dad had been like, "Oh, well, you know, you're right Kaley. I'm so glad you're not like her..." then you wouldn't be sorry at all."
"Well what are you so mad about anyway? I mean..."
I cut her off angrily, "Do you have any idea how humiliating that is? To stand there while someone points out every single thing you've ever done wrong? To be called such a shameful and disgraceful person? To have your entire FAMILY be insulted like that?"
She said, "What do you care anyway? It's not like anyone thinks any of it isn't true, right? Everyone knows..."
I said, "I don't care what everyone knows or thinks they know about my family and me. This isn't about what anyone else says about us. This is about what you said about us."
"What's the difference?"
I shook my head to myself, disappointed she didn't understand, "The difference is my parents didn't have to sign those papers to be held responsible for you with the school. They could've said "no thanks, we have enough kids," and be done with you. But they didn't want that to happen to you because they care about you. They care about you and your sister. But apparently you don't care all that much about us."
When we got home, Kaley was in tears and I didn't have any sympathy left. She immediately ran up to my room and ignored my parents and Nate's parents when they all started to say, confused, "Kaley...?" Nate said, "What did you do to her?"
I laughed incrediously, "Oh, believe me, it's not a question of what I did to HER. It's a question of what SHE did to ME."
Mr. Moore muttered, "Oh, this'll be good."
I said, pacing the floor back and forth, "So I try to be a good person and agree to drive her somewhere and how does she repay me? By taking me to her dad's house and showing him he should be grateful he got a daughter like HER instead of a daughter like ME. She recounts everything I've ever done that could be considered "shameful" or "scandalous". So she reminds him about the pictures of me and Nate that were leaked and about our expulsion from school and my past arrests for underaged drinking and me making a "public mockery" of our family and the non-condom-using sex I have with my boyfriend and the fact that when we had the aforementioned non-condom-using sex he was still HER boyfriend and then she said that our entire family was just built upon "adulterous acts, lust, and greed" practically dooming us all to hell!"
I was met with silence for a minute. Then Mrs. Moore said, "So why was SHE crying?"
I took a deep breath and admitted, "On the car ride home we MAY have gotten into a fight."
My dad said, his eyes widening, "Well what the hell did you say to her that caused her to CRY?"
I shrugged, "I don't know. I think she started crying somewhere between when I told her that our family didn't HAVE to support her or her sister and when I told her that even though we're all going to hell, there's a special place down there for traitors."
My dad sighed, "Oh, Kitty, you didn't."
I said, "Wait, why are you mad at ME? What is it you always say about people that bite the hand that feeds them?"
He said, "Those who bite the hand that feeds them, lick the boot that kicks them. Yes. Eric Hoffer said that. But Kitty, honey, you have to consider something. Wouldn't you try anything to get us back if we had done to you what Kaley's parents had done to her?"
I hesitated, "I don't think there's a proper way to answer that question."
Mrs. Moore said, "Kitty, the point is, you're terrifying enough when you're NOT yelling at someone. So Kaley must've been absolutely petrified sitting in the passenger seat of your car while you screamed at her the entire way home!"
I said, defensively, "But she totally deserved it! She..."
My mom said bluntly, raising an eyebrow expectantly, "Kitty, which part of what Kaley said wasn't true?"
"What?"
She said impatiently, "True or false: there were some very shameful pictures of you and Nate leaked last year?"
I started, "True but..."
"True or false: you were expelled from school?"
"True but..."
"True or false: you had difficulty with the law more than once about underaged drinking?"
"True but..."
"True or false: you have made what could be considered a public mockery of this family?"
I said, "True."
"True or false: you don't use a condom when you have sex with your boyfriend?"
I felt my face grow hot when I replied, "True."
"True or false: you had sex with your boyfriend when he was technically someone else's boyfriend."
I sighed, "True." I started to add, "But..."
She said, shrugging, "So what part of that was false? I mean, just because you're not necessarily proud of any of those things, doesn't mean you can pretend they never happened. And you certainly can't get mad at other people for reminding someone that you did them. It's not defamation of character. It's the truth."
I snapped, "What about what she said about you, huh? You're not mad about that because it was the truth?"
My dad said, "We're not mad about it because she was desperate. We can't blame her for not knowing what to do when her parents disowned her. It can't be easy, what she's going through right now. And I'm sure you biting her head off didn't make things any better. And I think you owe her an apology."
I said, "I most certainly do NOT. I don't regret what I said to her in the least."
My dad said, raising an eyebrow, "And then you wonder why we told you you were insensitive."
"I am not insensitive."
My dad said, "Well... You didn't used to be."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It means people change and you're no exception." As he started to head up the stairs he added, "Now you just have to decide if you like what you've become."
I said, "Does that mean you don't? Like what I've become, I mean?"
He paused on the steps, but he didn't turn around and he did't reply.
"You know, typically if you let it thaw for a few minutes then you won't bend our spoons," Mr. Moore told me, watching me eat their ice cream right from the carton. I ignored him and said, "I can't believe my parents."
And when no one replied I raised an eyebrow, "You don't agree with them, right?"
Nate said, "No. But..."
His mom said, "We don't think they were wrong about everything..."
Mr. Moore said, "Like the fact that none of what Kaley said was wrong..."
"Or that you biting her head off didn't help anything."
Nate said, "We do however think they were wrong about the fact that you should apologize to her. You should only apologize to someone if you mean it."
I said, "So in other words you agree with everything they said except that I should apologize. And that actually has nothing to do with anything. That's just about my failure to feel sorry?"
Nate's dad said, sighing, "Don't you think you were a little harsh on the girl?"
I said, "No. I do not. I think I..."
I stopped at the sound of my phone ringing. And then I was confused when I saw it was Max. "Hey, Max," I said slowly.
He said, "Hey, so Dad told me that Kaley's parents officially disowned her..."
I said, "Yeah, it's a real tragedy, huh?"
He said, "So why are you being so bloody mean to her?"
I sighed, "Come on, not you too, Max."
"She called Kennedy in tears, Kitty! What the hell is wrong with you?"
I snapped, "Apparently a lot okay? Apparently I have a habit of mishandling a lot of situations and kicking someone when they're already down and just being an awful person lately. I don't know."
I knew he could tell he had struck a nerve just by the way he said, "Well you did apologize, right?"
I said, "No."
"Let me guess: you're not sorry you said what you said."
I shrugged, "I'm not."
I heard him laugh, but I knew he didn't find anything particularly funny, "You know, Kitty, you always call Mom insensitive and in lack of compassion but have you looked in the mirror recently?"
I swallowed, "What the bloody hell does that mean?"
"You've always said you weren't like our mother, who doesn't have a compassionate bone in her body but the truth is that's exactly who you've been like lately."
I remained silent and just waited for him to continue. He said, "You lied to everyone about the fact that you were sleeping with Nate and from there you just went on a downward spiral! You got in a HUGE fight with our dad about that after and told him you HATED him! You've been terrible to Kaley, barely putting on a convincing act that you can tolerate her! You've been blowing off the whole idea of college even though you told Dad you would at least send in applications! You got bloody ARRESTED for a huge underaged drinking party! You've been nothing but inconsiderate, irresponsible..."
I snapped, "You want to talk about irresponsibility?! YOU'RE the one that got your girlfriend of about two seconds pregnant! That's one thing even I can manage to avoid!"
He said, "It didn't ruin my bloody life, Kitty! And if that's the best you can say for yourself is that your birth control hasn't failed you yet then you need to get your priorities straight!"
I said defensively, "That is NOT all I can say for myself! I have more of a career at seventeen than you do at nineteen! And I have since I was thirteen! And I'll have you know I sent out my college applications earlier this week!"
He said, "Yes and now your show's ending. Why? Because you and Nate screwed yourselves and your show over the second word got out that you two were screwing each other!"
Now that statement, that was a sucker punch. I said, "What?"
He said, "Yeah! The only reason your show was cancelled was because no one could find a way to get the show to work if they took its two stars off the air!So naturally they just took the whole goddamn show off the air!"
I said, "What are you talking about?!"
He said, "Why don't you google the reason your show was cancelled, Kitty? You just might be surprised." And then he hung up.
"Nate, I think I seriously screwed things up with my family,"
Nate said in between planting kisses on my neck, "It'll be fine. Tomorrow morning you can talk to them all."
"But what if he was right?"
He pulled away from me and said, "Who? Your dad?"
I shook my head, "Max. He told me... he told me I'm just like our Mother. And then he told me that you and I were the reason our show got cancelled."
He sighed, "You know neither of those things are true."
I cocked my head, "Do I?"
I watched as he stood up, grabbed his laptop , handed it to me and said, "Go ahead. Google yourself."
"Our parents have always told us never to do that."
He laughed, "Yeah? Our parents tell us not to do a lot of things. It's never stopped you before."
I hesitantly typed my name into the search bar and read the suggestions aloud, "Kitty Collins leaked pictures, Kitty Collins hot, Kitty Collins bikini, Kitty Collins mom, Kitty Collins oscars." But instead of clicking search I added "and Nate Moore" to the search bar and Nate read the suggestions, "Kitty Collins and Nate Moore leaked pictures, Kitty Collins and Nate Moore scandal, Kitty Collins and Nate Moore pregnant, Kitty Collins and Nate Moore show, Kitty Collins and Nate Moore real reason show cancelled" he frowned, "Wait. Click on that last one." I did as he said and watched as the screen was flooded with search results. I clicked on the first link and Nate read aloud, "Today was a sad day in television history, as we all grieved over the news that Partners in Crime will not be returning to air next fall or next winter or next spring or the fall after that. Yup, that's right. There's been uncertainty about how the show would continue after its main characters graduated high school, and unfortunately now we all know the show won't continue. The network says the abrupt cancellation was due to the writers' inability to work with the plot lines and creative differences as well as too many script re-writes and impatience with the cast. Bottom line the show was tearing at the seams because the plot lines just weren't working. The show's producers and writers and directors took full responsibility for that saying they didn't expect the show to go anywhere but straight into the ground in the first place so when they were first shooting the show they didn't account for the fact that the way the plot lines were running basically gave the show an expiration date." He took a deep breath before continuing, "But we're not sure if we're buying it... Rumor has it that, while all of the issues the network mentioned were not nonexistent, they're not the actual reasons the show's ending. Most people are actually blaming it on the show's stars, Kitty Collins and Nate Moore. Word has it the network had had enough of the two of them and all of their PR headaches and because a show can't function without it's two leads, they cancelled the entire thing. Now keep in mind, this has not been confirmed by anyone at the network or on the show, but let's just take a second to consider what the two of them have done recently to catch the public's attention in a very negative way. Well, for starters: a picture of them was leaked showing the two of them in bed together. Yeah, we're guessing that was the last straw with the network. Not only did that picture make them look bad, it also showed that they had breached their contracts in several ways. First, there's the no nudity clause they both have in their contracts that went out the window when that picture saw the light of day, then there was the fact that they didn't tell their network about their relationship-a condition all network employees must agree to so they can avoid sexual harassment charges in the workplace, and last but certainly not least, the fact that alcohol was clearly visible in the picture and Kitty and Nate are not even old enough to vote, let alone old enough to drink. So we're reluctant to believe the network being fed up with its stars had nothing to do with them taking the show off the air. Let us know what you think in the comments section."
I said, "Do we dare read the comments?"
He shook his head but said nothing. And for a minute we just sat there staring at the screen. And then my phone broke the silence. I went over to Nate's night stand and picked up my phone. Nate said, "Who is it?"
I shrugged, "Your brother."
He said, "Wait which one?"
I mouthed, "Zach," as I hit accept and said, "Hey, Zach."
He said, his words coming out slurred, "Hey, Kitty,"
I said bluntly, "Where are you because you sure as hell aren't at your house."
He said, "Nah, no, no... No. I'm not... We're not... We went to a party."
"Who's we?"
"Oh. You know... Me... And Luke... And Kaley..."
I repeated, "KALEY? You brought HER? You bloody idiots!"
He didn't seem insulted when he said, "So? Will you... You..." there was a long pause before he said, "Pick us up or not?"
I rubbed my temples and said, "Where are you?"
"I think... Downtown LA?"
I said, "You THINK downtown LA?"
"Ye-ah."
I said, "Just get the address of the house, okay?"
He said, "Oh... We're not... We're not at the house anymore. We... Sorta ran when the cops showed up."
"Are you kidding right now?"
"No."
I ran a hand through my hair and said, "Oh. My. God. Where are you?"
"On a street... On a street corner."
I said, "The three of you are sitting on a street corner in Downtown LA at three in the morning are you insane?" I added quickly, "Why don't you just take a cab or..."
"Kitty! You know damn well that... when you got... shitfaced... at a party Max and Matt helped you guys. And when Bella... got shitfaced you did this for... her. There's a protocol for this and you are not going to break it now!"
I groaned, "Fine. Fine. What street are you on?"
He mumbled, "I don't know. We're leaning against some gate and behind it is some building called... Puptech Inc."
I rubbed my eyes underneath my glasses and said, "You're in front of our dad's building and you don't even know it?! How drunk ARE you?"
"Very."
"Stay where you are. DO NOT move. Do you understand?"
He said, "Aye aye, Captain."
I hung up and told Nate, "Come on. We have to go pick up our brothers and Kaley."
He said, "So we're taking your car, then?"
I said, "Why?"
"It's bigger. It actually has a back seat."
I retorted, "It still only fits four people."
"We'll make one of them sit on the floor."
I glared at him, "You just don't want them puking in your car."
He laughed and said, "Well, there's that, too," as he pulled on a pair of jeans. I did the same and then we tip-toed out of his room, down the stairs and out the door. We went to my house and first I went to my room and grabbed my keys, and then I went to Bella's room and slowly opened the door. I whispered, "Hey, get up. We need to go pick our brothers up." She groaned as she sat up in her bed and said, "From where?"
I said, "We'll explain along the way. Let's go."
"How the hell are we gonna get your car out of the garage? It's too loud. Our parents will hear it," Bella said.
Nate shrugged, "It's nothing to worry about. You just put the key in but don't start it, put the car in neutral and push."
She raised her eyebrows, "And that REALLY works?"
I shrugged, "Yeah." I added, "Now get inside and steer."
"I don't have my license."
Nate said, "You're not actually driving. All you have to do is make sure we don't push this thing onto the front lawn and you might have to tap the breaks."
She slowly climbed into the driver's seat and said, "Okay..."
As Nate and I pushed the back end of my car, Nate said, "So once we're on our way, we'll call and get a suite at the usual hotel,"
I nodded, "And let them sober up in there and our parents will be none the wiser."
He said, "Never failed us before."