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Chapter Fourteen: Lies and Truth

Veronica wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had told her mother what had happened at school that past Monday. While she was upset with her only daughter getting into a fight, she did appreciate why and how she did get into it. Her mother had grounded her for the two days that she was home from school. She didn't talk to her friends or have contact with the outside of the Mason home for those two days. She was glad that her brother was able to explain what was going on to her circle of friends. She had spent the better part of the two days suspended working around the house. She had done most of the general cleaning; the house started to look almost immaculate.

She took off the yellow gloves that were reserved for cleaning and tossed them into the bucket. She sighed and took a drink of water from the sink; then putting the bucket back underneath the sink. She looked over the list of things that she had left to do and smiled when she realized that the list was completed. She took another drink of water and put the glass in the dishwasher. She headed towards the stairs when there was a knock from the front door. Against her better judgment, she answered the door. When she opened the door, she wanted to die of embarrassment.

"Hey Veronica," Shane smiled, leaning against the doorframe. "So you actually do wear regular clothes outside of school."

Ronnie blushed. "I was cleaning, not that I don't wear normal clothes any other time. I'm just comfortable wearing items similar to school. You know, I'm not that attractive and all."

Shane shook his head. "Well that's your opinion. I would have to disagree."

"Flirting Mr. Milligan? I'm surprised."

Shane shrugged. "I'm telling it the way I see it. I didn't know that you ramble."

Ronnie blushed again. "I don't ramble."

"Uh huh." Shane smiled again. "Do you mind if I come in? Gabe and I have an intramural meet today at Bardell."

"An actual match?" Ronnie stepped back and let Shane in.

"No, more of a practice match with them." Shane stated, taking his shoes off. "Bardell's coach and Dad are good friends and we compete for the fun of it early on. It's kind of testing the waters and what not."

"Hey Shane." Spinner stated from the kitchen. "Picking up Gabe for the meet?"

"Mostly sir." Shane smiled as he met Spinner halfway, shaking hands. "If Veronica's not grounded, I'd like to ask you permission to ask her out on a date Friday night."

Ronnie's eyes bugged out of her head and her cheeks turned a deep red. She looked at the two and tried to tell her father not to allow it. Spinner smirked as he looked at his daughter.

"Well she's not grounded anymore. I think she's working the restaurant Friday morning…" Spinner smiled. "I have no issues with it. Jane?"

Jane walked out of the bedroom. She was heading into work a little later. She looked at her husband. She looked at Shane and gave him the once over.

"I caught something about asking my daughter out?" Jane asked. "Is she working this weekend?"

"Friday morning and Saturday night." Spinner offering Jane a cup of coffee. "I try not to work the kids too much during the school year."

Jane nodded. "Well I don't see an issue with it." She looked at Shane. "What grade are you in?"

Shane cleared his throat. "Barely a junior. I'll probably end up graduating with Gabe."

"Same age though?"

"I think I've got Gabe beat by four months." Shane nodded. "My mom pushed to get me into school early. I might have rebelled a bit in my ninth grade year."

"What did you rebel against?" Spinner asked.

"What do you got?" Shane stated, trying to sound like Brando. Spinner and Jane smiled. Jane handed a coin to her husband.

"You're right, he is funny."

"I told you Jane."

Gabe grabbed Shane in a headlock and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, he's not a bad guy. That's if you're into the macho jock type of guy."

"Hey man, I'm working on it." Shane slid out of the headlock and lightly tossed a few jabs at Gabe's open hands. They smiled at each other as they took boxer's stances.

"Not in my kitchen boys. If you two want to do that, go in the backyard." Jane stated.

"Sorry Ma."

"Sorry Mrs. Mason."

Jane shook her head; a slight smile on her face. Spinner looked at his watch and finished his coffee.

"I'll give you guys a ride to school. I'm heading that way."

"Thank you sir." Shane smiled.

"Thanks dad." Gabe walked over to Jane and kissed her cheek and Shane thanked her for the hospitality. Spinner kissed his wife goodbye and the three left out the front door.

Jane took a seat at the kitchen counter. She had another cup of coffee and asked for her daughter to sit down. Ronnie took the other cup and took a sip.

"Why didn't you say I was still grounded?" Ronnie asked after a moment.

Jane chuckled and motioned for her daughter to follow her out into the backyard. Jane took a cigarette out and lit up. Ronnie found a chair nearby.

"I'm not going to fight your battles for you Veronica." Jane said taking a drag. "If you don't want to go out with him, that's fine. It's your decision."

"I tried to tell dad to fight for me too."

Jane laughed at this. "Dad's a good man. He won't do it either."

Ronnie sighed. Jane looked at her daughter and spoke.

"Do you not like Shane?"

Ronnie looked at her feet. "It's not that I don't like him. He's one of Gabe's friends."

"That's the problem?"

Ronnie shook her head. "It's not that." She sighed and spoke again. "He's so different from when I met him on the first day."

"I hear that your brother had something to do with that."

Ronnie looked at her mom. "How did you hear that?"

Jane smiled. "I went into Degrassi the next day. I talked to Simpson and talked to some of the teachers while on their lunches. When I mentioned his name, they had talked about how much of a better student he had become. Teachers and students noticed how much he changed over the school year. It had to do with Gabe and Jimmy."

"Jimmy as well?"

"From what I've heard." Jane took another drag. "You've known the Brooks' for years. They're a good family. Jimmy and Rosalyn are good kids."

"I never thought of that."

"People tend to follow after your brother. He's a great young man." She looked at her daughter. "You're becoming a great young woman. People will follow greater people. Look how your friends look up to you, in a sense."

Ronnie thought about this for a moment. She really never noticed how her friends tended to follow her lead. Even Alyson, who tended to follow her brother, followed her lead in a sense when she was with them. She noticed that Gabe and she were the ringleaders of their friends. It wasn't a bad thing; they actually shared ideas. They had a good time every little get together they tended to have.

"What about some of the people that we know, but don't spend time with us?"

Jane sighed. "I never really liked Ben Cameron. Why Gabe hung out with him, I'll never understand. Tony Hogart will come around on his own; those two were good friends."

"And Juliette?"

Jane shook her head. "That girl really needs to wake up. I don't personally like what she's been doing; trust me I've seen what she's doing and it doesn't work out."

"You sympathize with her?"

"I sympathize with Manny." Jane said. "Manny had some issues when she was young. I met her and we clicked. She told me that she wanted a daughter and hoped and prayed that she would do the opposite of her in high school. I guess that history repeats itself."

Ronnie looked at her mother. "What is your honest opinion of Shane?"

Jane smiled. "If he had come by here before hanging out with your brother; I would have said no way. Now? I would give it a shot. The worst that happens is that you find out that you don't click and end up being friends."

"Does that actually work?" Ronnie looked at her mother skeptically.

Jane smiled as she put out the cigarette. "Ask your father."

"Really?"

"It did when I came back to take care of Grandma." Jane turned towards the door. "Look where we are now."

Ronnie smiled. "Thanks mom."

Jane smiled. "Anything else? I need to head into work."

"Do you mind if some of the girls come by?" Ronnie asked.

"Second opinion?" Jane asked. "No I don't mind. Just make sure that if Alyson comes by for her to smoke out here instead of out a window. Just cleanup after yourselves. Gabe will be back around dinnertime. I'll be home around the same time."

Ronnie got up and hugged her mom. Jane wished her a great day and left for work. Ronnie was glad that her mom would tell her the truth about everything; it was better than being lied to. She still felt that she needed a second opinion. She took out her phone and texted a message to her friends.

Thank you guys for waiting for this chapter. I know that it seems a bit like filler. That's not the case:

You really have to look at Ronnie. Ronnie is the quiet and smart one. She's going to take an offer (much like Shane's) and look at it from every conceivable angle and really try to figure out all of the positives and negatives. She will then go to her parents, brother and friends and get their opinions. She'll then take everyone's advice and go from there. I don't totally agree with it, but it is how I wrote the character (that and an odd addiction to spray cheese in a can, but more on that in the next chapter).

As always; many thanks to those of you that keep reading this story. It really means a lot to me. I know that I say that a lot, but I really do appreciate it. Hopefully in the next few months I'll be able to post more than once a month. For the time being it's working and I'm a chapter ahead.