The Happiness Of Tragedy

Chapter 13

September 1st

"2 days Ali, TWO DAYS! I don't know what I'm gonna do without you in my classes" I said to her.

"Its fine Katerina, I'll still be there with you in spirit" she put a hand on my shoulder and gave a half smile.

I rolled my eyes, "Good to know" I got up off the bench. We started walking back to the house.

We decided we would take a long walk and talk since it's been a while since we had a full convo in person instead of on the phone or text. I haven't seen Ali ever since she brung me home to my angry parents the night they found out about what happen at school. I'm gonna miss these conversations. We've also been so worked up on the idea of college being in just two days.

"I'm pretty sure we'll see each other plenty of times in the hallways, and when you get a hottie of a boyfriend that you so desperately need, I'm a phone call away" she tells me.

"No calling in class" I interrupt.

  "You can text me babe" she holds up her phone. "And hopefully we can catch up for lunch"

"Yeah your right" I looked down at my feet and kicked a rock.

"Kat don't worry" she stopped and turned my body towards her. "It'll be okay, you'll find some new friends that you better not trade me in for. And you'll fit right in. Remember you were built for this life"

She's right. Although I don't feel any different. We cross the street at a red light and head past a couple stores to my right.

   While walking, something tells me to turn my head to the left and I noticed there's a stand, a man standing in it selling newspapers, magazines and comic books and theres also one hell of a line.

There's a crowd of people standing around reading the newspaper as if theres some big news like the lottery numbers going up. No, I don't think that's the news, it's something else. So I grab Ali's hand and head over.

I pick up a newspaper, "How much for this?" I ask the man in charge of the stand.

  "Its-" he starts and doesn't finish. I look up  at him and he looks at me like he just witnessed someone get killed with his own eyes.

He swallows. "Your...that girl.." he trails off in a low tone.

"What?" I say. He points to the newspaper and I immediately notice what the big woop is about.

It's me.

I'm in the newspaper and my picture is next to the guy I recognize as my attacker. His name is Daniel Gregg, I read. And like Officer Collins said, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"Oh. My. God" Ali says, I turn around and look at her as she stretches her neck to look at the paper everyone else is viewing. It was my turn to swallow now.

"Kat that's you!" She runs over to me and points to the paper I'm now holding that I didn't pay for.

I look up and I can see that the guy in the stand is still staring at me.

"Hey!" Someone from the group of people yells, "That's the girl!"

"No, its not" Ali says standing in front of me to block me.

"It is!!" Someone else yells.

  "Ali I think we should run" she nods and we start sprinting towards my house without question. Good thing I am wearing comfortable shoes because I had no idea this would happen.

I didn't look back until we were on the porch and through the front door of my house. We ended up on the floor and I immediately shut the door. I sat there on the floor with my back on the door. Ali got up to check if there was anyone that followed us all the way home. Luckily, she nodded her head and said no.

"What's going on?" My mom said, as she came in to the living room from the kitchen

  "We just ran all the way home from Riverton Ave because Katerina's beautiful face was in the newspaper" Ali said.

"What?" Mom asked. "Yeah, and a crowd of people started chasing us halfway up the block for no reason at all" I say to her, frustrated.

  "Macy get your sister and Ali a bottle of water" mom yells to Macy, my little sister. I get up and sit on the couch and gulp down the whole bottle of water that Macy brings us. Mom continues to stand with her arms crossed across the room after she tells my brother and sister to finish there homework.

"Mom you didn't hear anything about this?" I stand up, looking at her confused as to why she didn't pick up the paper before she came home from getting my siblings. She always does.

"No I didn't. But I'll deal with this when your father gets here because I'm sure he's picked up a paper. You've been through too much already and with school in two days, this is ridiculous". 

I'm actually kind of relieved because the University is out of this town and maybe just maybe the news hasn't made a big enough impact to spread around the globe.

~*~*~*~

I let the rest of yesterday and today go by. My dad came home and we had a little conversation about what I wanted to do about the newspaper situation and of course I don't want my face being all over the news and the internet. I had to admit, it was pretty awesome running home yesterday. I guess that's how celebs feel with the paps. I just hope my face doesn't spread too far before it gets taken down.

I finished packing the rest of my things for tomorrow. I was finally starting my phreshman year of college at Tampa University and sitting on the porch of my room, I now realized how nervous I really was about it. What if I don't see Ali as often as I imagine? What if I don't meet anyone new? What are the teachers like? What about the paper? I had alot on my mind just floating around. If I had to be honest, I wasnt ready at all for this. 'You were built for this' Ali said, 'Do whatever you think is right' Mom said, but was I doing the right thing after all that's happened? What if I'm bringing myself right back into an even bigger trap?