On The Stage

III

Of course the driver of the van was at fault. Of course the Von Rostov family will get a compensation for the damage to Kevin's car, which did not make my situation any better. At the scene of the accident we spent probably an hour explaining the whole incident to the police. We also witnessed the arrival of a tow truck to tow away the cars destroyed on the road. Uniformed officers also wanted to determine the cause of the fight between the young men. Not to fulfill some official duty. They were just curious.

As for me, I wasn't going to apologize to either Kevin or Rayan for getting pepper spray from me right in the eye. The Doberman got carried away by his emotions and as soon as he regained control of his body, without saying goodbye, being pissed off he just left. I think it hurt his male pride. In his mind he probably did the right thing and probably didn't understand why I attacked him with the weapon he gave me. Rayan was furious and in fact he had every right to be. He wanted me to go with him to wait out this difficult family situation some more and I refused him. The result was a car accident that didn't necessarily end without injury. But put yourself in my shoes. What could I have done differently? Let them blow each other's skulls out? They were both determined to smash each other's faces in. It was close to bloodshed. If it hadn't been for my brutal intervention, it wouldn't have been for the bruises on their faces, and they had a lot of them. Kevin's head was all messed up and so was Rayan's.

Of course, Rayan probably wanted to present that he stood up for me. I won't say I liked that because it wasn't like that at all. It was an accident, and an eighteen year old nonetheless wanted to punish Kevin for something he wasn't at all guilty of. If anyone was responsible for this car accident it was me. I remember Rayan throwing me a look full of reproach once he got into his BMW. He may get angry, he may curse under his breath, but it won't change anything. Let him process this alone. Maybe he would come to the conclusion that attacking Kevin in the act of I don't even know what, was senseless and pointless.

As for Gregory... the man admittedly stepped out of the car and exchanged a few brief and frigid words with his son. He ordered him to deal with the police and immediately get into the car that Gregory had arrived in with Buck. Kevin also felt disgusted by the fact that I had treated him with pepper spray, but he, unlike Rayan, did not coquette his displeasure so much. I could even see from him that he was embarrassed that there had been a fight between him and the doberman. Still, I didn't get a chance to talk about it with either man. As I said, Rayan immediately went to his place and Kevin had to do all the paperwork with the police. After that Wolf had me sit up front next to Buck's chauffeur, who smiled crookedly at the sight of me. The driver just asked me if I was okay and congratulated me on advancing to the finals of the dance competition. It was a very embarrassing situation for everyone and I didn't expect to be able to have a normal conversation with anyone in this cursed house for the foreseeable future.

Kevin sat in the back of the car, right next to his father. I expected the glass separating the cockpit of the car from the passenger area to be raised so Gregory could talk to his son. That did not happen, however. We spent the rest of the drive in an eerie and embarrassing silence. Buck didn't even choose to put music on the radio, which only added to the feeling of hopelessness of the situation. By the time we reached home, it was late afternoon. It was only then that Gregory decided to open his mouth and announced that we were to wash up, change and come down for dinner. I wasn't actually surprised by this. I might have guessed that even such a delicate matter had to be discussed in formal form at the dinner table. So when we left the vehicle, without looking back I immediately crossed the threshold of the house with a quick step and headed straight for my room.

I threw my backpack straight on the floor and went straight into the bathroom. I took off all my clothes and jumped into the shower from which wonderfully warm water was flowing. I stood under the shower for a while with my head leaning against the tiled shower wall. I didn't feel like coming out of there. It felt good, pleasant and safe. Stepping out of the shower meant an imminent meeting with the entire Von Rostov family. Gregory, Catleyn, Luna and Aurelia. Then I remembered that Apolonia had left which made all the guts in my stomach tighten. Not knowing what the woman was going to do, where exactly she went and for what purpose was even more frightening than her mere possible presence in the house during this situation. More minutes passed and I knew I had to get out of the shower already. As I wiped my creamy fur with a towel, I walked naked into my room. I walked over to the dresser to pull out some clothes. As I approached it, my heart immediately froze.