Caterina Valentine: My Life.
FlorMorada
I do NOT own Victorious, or any songs that may be used.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE:
13 reviews for the last chapter? That's so cool. And encouraging. Thanks, guys.
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NOTE:
" Real life ", " "Cat speaking" ", " Cat's flashback/past happenings ".
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Chapter Seven
Lilith III.
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[And then I had no time to think. Because they said those three stupid words.
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"You're under arrest."]
X
"So, tell me again why I shouldn't call each of your parents and give the three of you punishments to the extreme?"
I look down at my fingers, both of my hands resting on the grey, metal table. I can barely move them. I'd thought my hands only hurt because the edges of the window had scraped against them - turns out there were actual shards stuck in them too. Apparently, so badly that I needed stitches. This doctor at the ER examined my hands, before removing the glass and stitching up the cuts where they were. It doesn't hurt so much anymore. But both my hands are bandaged and I can still see some blood coming through. I can't move either of them properly either. I can't fidget.
And the only way I can allow myself to stay calm in these situations is if I cry, or if I fidget.
I can't cry – I don't want to cry. For once, I do realise that it won't help. We - I -already went into that house and did the stealing, we're already sat here at the police station. There's noting I can do to change it.
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"Yep.
Chrome, Lilith and I got arrested.
That man at that house, he'd called the cops. It must have been before the woman in the house had got up and was calling out to me. I don't know how he'd heard us though - could have been when I'd first jumped in, when I was padding around the room for the jewellery, the shattering of the window; I never knew.
Or maybe my guilty thoughts had been too loud. I wouldn't be surprised if the man heard every one of them.
I'm sure you wouldn't have thought the goody Cat Valentine would be one to get arrested, would you? Even if it was because of my sister, and her boyfriend, and I was only eleven and it wasn't my fault, at all.
But I still got arrested. I was still sat in front of the scariest woman, that cop, that horrible night."
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"Look, officer," Chrome says, the first to speak. I haven't heard him say anything apart from curse the entire car journey from the house to the ER, and then the station. "We're sorry. It was…wrong. We shouldn't have done it, okay, we get it."
From the corner of my eyes, I see Lilith nod. She actually looks like she feels bad.
So much for telling me about my conscience, with the sunglasses, I think.
I nod also.
I feel the police officer look from Chrome to Lilith to me, trailing her eyes across the three of us several times. I've never felt more ashamed in my life – and I shouldn't even have to. I shouldn't have to feel ashamed. It was Lilith who caused this; if she hadn't made me steal, I wouldn't be sat here.
If I hadn't stupid enough to do what she told me.
Gathering some courage, I look up form my hands. The officer's eyes fixated onto me. "How old are you, miss?" she asks.
I chew down on my lip, staying silent.
"She's only ten," Chrome says. I poke him. It was my birthday eighteen days ago. "Eleven," he corrects.
"And how old are you?" the woman asks.
"Seventeen." And Chrome adds for Lilith, before the officer can ask, "And she's sixteen."
The woman raises her eyebrows, and I watch her slightly shake her head disapprovingly.
She has a right to be disapproved, really.
"And your names," she then says, "will you each repeat them please, individually."
My sister speaks first this time. "Lilith. O'Brian."
"Christopher Romane."
I squeeze my eyes shut. I swallow, gulping down the lump in my throat that appeared from holding in my tears. Ashamed, I sigh. "I'm Caterina Valentine."
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"And he woman had this file with her, this huge file. The print inside was so small; I wouldn't have been able to read it if I'd even tried. It was similar to the ones that psychiatrists have – you know, hard covers on either side of the thick pages of paper, where they write whatever they always write down. Or like a permanent record at school, where everything's noted – there forever, no matter how long ago it was.
That was what terrified me – I'd already got my heart set on Hollywood Arts. I had no idea what they would do if they got an audition from a girl who was a…'criminal'.
I remember, the officer spoke to us for ages, over an hour. She just asked questions about the night. Previous nights, when each of us 'first started stealing', like it was a custom of ours, something we all loved to do. Even though I didn't. It was the worst thing I'd ever done, ish.
It turned out Chrome actually had a past. That night had been his second strike - one more, I remember hearing, would send Chrome to three years in jail. Apparently he'd been stealing for a while.
Lilith's punishment wasn't as bad - she'd been arrested before, but it was Chrome who actually got her into stealing, I found out. She got nine months of community service. And I saw her cry, which was a rare. Not sobbing sobbing. But there were tears. Which kind of surprised me.
And it could have even been worse - the punishment could have been way more severe. It was only because the woman in the house apparently recognised us and convinced both her husband and the officer to tone the punishment down. Which was lucky. Because I had no idea what Lilith would do if she were given more.
I sure don't know what I would have done. "
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"So, as for you, Miss Valentine..." the officer starts. I only stare at her. "I understand your crime was committed against your will, for Mr. Romane and your sister."
I nod.
"Were you intoxicated in any way?"
No. Neither of them ever give me anything. I shake my head. The officer crosses something off inside her file.
"Were you forced in any way verbally, to carry this out?"
I shrug. "Lilith...told me to, I guess," I say. "But I agreed, so…" Another cross - or a tick; I can't really make it out – inside the file.
"Physically?"
Lilith had pulled me out of my bed. But that was nothing out of the ordinary. No kicks or punches or slaps.
I shake my head. Another cross.
"Had been forced sexually, Miss Valentine?"
All I can do is blink, several times. It takes all I have in me not to get up and go and hit the officer across the face. A sound comes from Lilith's mouth; she sounds disgusted. I frown.
"Of course not, officer." My voice is actually strong. I look to an equally disgusted looking Chrome. "He'd never do that," I say truthfully.
Another cross in the file, and the officer nods. "It is my job to ask, Miss Valentine."
I only shrug at her. I don't care.
I just want out of here.
She finishes whatever she is writing on the file, before drawing a large, red box around something that, again, I can't make out. She places her pen on the table. "Well then, miss."
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"And I'd had no idea what to expect.
I knew from school that I was too young for community service just yet. At least not Chrome and Lilith's ones. And of course I wouldn't have been locked up in a Cali prison cell.
I hadn't really expected anything, honestly. I knew I would be 'in trouble'. But the most trouble I'd ever been in was, like, staying ten minutes extra after school, or being shouted at – or that sIap I got that time from my mother. I expected something like that, naively. I kept convincing myself that because I hadn't chosen to do the stealing, because I'd known it was wrong, that nothing much would happen. But of course I was wrong.
And something did happen."
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The officer puts her pen down on the table, and closes her file with a slap. She seems to be considering something. She looks over to a sheet of paper in front of her. Seemingly scanning it, she nods her head to herself.
I look towards Lilith and Chrome. They both look uneasy. My sister whispers something into Chrome's ear, and her raises his eyebrows, shaking his head slowly. I want to ask him what she's just said. But the officer, after folding her piece of paper, interrupts me.
"Looks like, Miss Valentine," she says slowly, "that because of the severity of this incident…we can actually sentence you to three months in detention."
…'Detention'. I've…I think I've heard of that before. It's not like school detention, I can tell by the way she's said it. It's something different. I think it's like…
"You heard of that, Miss Valentine?"
I don't know what it is – I shake my head. The officer smirks, before standing up from the table. She pushes her chair in, grabbing the file, and placing it on a stack of others on a metal shelf. I look again to my sister and Chrome but they're not saying anything. Maybe the officer hasn't seen my headshake. I clear my throat. "Um, no…" I say quietly. "I don't really know what that is."
The woman brings the sheet of paper on the table over to her and picks up her red marker. She scribbles something down. It's big, this time, but I can't read upside down, so I still can't make it out. She then closes her pen and slides the paper to our side of the table. She fixes her hat, before turning for the door and is gone.
I twist the paper around to face me. I feel Chrome and Lilith leaning over my shoulders. I read what it says. There are just three words on it.
'Juvenile detention facility'.
A…'detention facility'.
Oh. Yes.
I remember what it is now.
Juvie.
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A/N:
Everything will not be as it seems; do not worry. Just review (and get a preview). ;D
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FlorMorada.