TW: Mild homophobia


It was an empty-skied morning. Katrina was entering the school to go to homeroom when she passed by the "falsehood coolness" girls; girls who thought they were cool when they were really just mean. Veronica Pensworthy, Sasha Cloverway, and...

Even though it ha been going on for a while, she still felt a little cold inside when she saw Claire with those girls; her heart stung when she saw her give her an icy glance, then whisper to the other girls and giggle.

Whatever. She shook her head and continued walking. Who cares about what Claire and those mean girls think, anyway?


After an uneventful first few periods, it was lunchtime. Katrina chose a nice, open space at a table to sit down and eat. She opened her phone camera and took a selfie to send to her fathers; she did this about once a week, because she knew it made them feel loved.

"So, you're coddling your dad's feelings again?"

Katrina looked over her shoulder. Claire was standing over her, reading her texts. Katrina flipped her phone screen down on the table and glared at her.

"I swear, he needs a life or something," continued Claire, "he's absolutely obsessed with you."

Katrina was shocked and offended. Dad wasn't obsessed with her; he just loved her like any parent should!

"Oh, come on, you can't tell me it's not creepy," said Claire when she saw Katrina's appalled expression. "If he needs a woman in his life so badly, he should get a girlfriend."

Oh, that was enough. Katrina put her lunch back together and got up. "Sorry my dads love me," she said coldly as she went to find a new seat.


At the end of the day, Katrina was getting her things out of her locker when Claire came back for another go at her. "So is it true that your room has a camera in it?"

Katrina ignored her. The only camera in the house was the one on the front steps that Dad put in after Laura had tried to have him arrested. She closed her locker and clicked the lock shut.

"Come on," said Claire, following her, "you've never heard of spousification? Your dad can't get over your mom dying and he's projecting that onto you. It's wrong."

"He barely knew my mom," said Katrina, hoping to get her to back off, "and neither did I. We get on fine."

"Yeah, right," said Claire, continuing to badger her, "he only cares about you so much cause he knows he'll never get another woman.

"He's married," said Katrina, "he married my stepdad like over a year ago."

Now it was Claire's turn to be surprised. "What, that moustache loser from his work? God, was he that desperate? Is that how terrible he is at the dating game?"

"Vati cares about me more than you ever have!" Katrina whirled around in a fit of rage. "He's been in my life since I was six months old, and he's going to stay in my life for a very long time. You, on the other hand, can go back to whatever rock you've been living under to think you're still my friend, because you're clearly not!" She hauled her bag over one shoulder and stormed off.


When Katrina got home, she shut the door a little too harshly and stormed into the kitchen, where her fathers were.

"He, kleine," said Vati, not looking up from his papers. (Hey, kiddo.)

"Tu regardes bouleverse," said Dad, "qu'est-ce qui se passe?" (You look upset, what happened?)

Katrina slammed her lunchbox on the table. "I hate Claire Lenore Gwan!"

Dad and Vati both stared at her. Now they were both listening. Dad took the seat next to Vati and they both pried further to get answers out of her.

Katrina sighed. "She wouldn't stop harassing me all day." She looked up at Dad. "She keeps insisting you're some kind of creep just because you love me."

Dad was taken aback. Before he could properly respond, his phone buzzed with a notification.

realkevinsnow_ sent: hey are you katrinas dad (3:11 pm)

joebeaufort84 sent: Oui (3:11 pm)

realkevinsnow_ then sent him a video of Claire's confrontation with Katrina. It began with the spousification comment and ended a little after Katrina had left, focusing on Claire going over to Sasha and not-quite whispering "what a bitch".

Dad and Vati were shocked at what they were seeing; Dad most of all. He put a hand over his mouth. Vati was simply angry. He sighed and put an arm around his stepdaughter. "Sie kann dir diese Dinge nicht sagen." (She cannot say those things to you.)

"I know," griped Katrina. "I swear, it's like she enjoys making me miserable."

They then noticed that Dad was getting more and more notifications from students at Katrina's school. Most of them said a variation of "she didn't do it". Eventually, Janet Bernard sent him a concerning post from Claire's page; an unflattering picture of Katrina clearly taken without her knowledge with the caption "hate this r!cist bish 💀". Now they understood; Claire had gone online claiming Katrina was racist to try and throw her under the bus. Vati was right furious; he opened his email to talk to the principal.

From: Viktor Von Kaiser, 1MIC

To: Abramo De Lorenzo

Subject: Katrina

Hallo,

Heute kam meine Stieftochter zu mir und sagte, sie würde von einer anderen Schülerin gemobbt. Die andere Studentin hat sie in den Fluren und online belästigt. (Today my stepdaughter came to me saying she was being bullied by another student. The other student has harassed her in the halls and online.)

Das ist absolut inakzeptabel und muss aufhören. Ich hoffe, von Ihnen oder einem anderen Fakultätsmitglied zu hören, wie Sie diese Situation beheben können. (This is absolutely unacceptable and needs to stop. I am hoping to hear back from you or another faculty member about how to fix this situation.)

Respektvoll,

Viktor

Sent at 3:17 pm, November 4th, 2021

Vati also attached copies of the video and the post. After he sent it, he sighed and shook his head. "Manche Kinder sind einfach böse, das sage ich dir." (Some kids are just evil, I'll tell you that.)

A little bit later, Vati got a response.

From: Abramo De Lorenzo

To: Viktor Von Kaiser, 1MIC

Subject: Re: Katrina

Ciao Viktor,

Grazie per averci contattato. Mi fa sempre piacere vedere genitori che vogliono aiutare i propri figli. (Thank you for reaching out. I always enjoy meeting parents who want to help their children.)

Per favore, vieni domani; L'insegnante di Katrina terrà una riunione. (Please come in tomorrow; Katrina's teacher will be holding a meeting.)

Grazie di nuovo, (Thanks again,)

Abramo

Sent at 3:59 pm, November 4th, 2021

Vati sighed and put an arm around Katrina. "Es wird okay sein." (It will be okay.) Sofie-Miette rubbed her head on Katrina's leg.


The next day, when Katrina entered her homeroom, some of the kids came over to her. "Hey," said a girl named Masako, "we didn't believe the post."

"Claire's been mean to everyone since Grade 6," said Harry.

"I think half the grade has seen the video," said Jackson.

"Yeah, Kevin's a bro," said Harry.

"So how are your dads?" Masako asked.

"Good," said Katrina. "They were pretty upset about the video, though."

"Of course they would be," said Kevin, walking into the class. "Who wants to hear someone call their daughter the b-word?"

Just then, Mrs. Bowen entered the classroom with the photocopied worksheets she'd gone to pick up from the office. The other kids moved in a bit closer to Katrina. Mrs. Bowen kneeled down by Katrina's desk. "Trina, honey, I know you're probably very upset right now, but I've talked to Mr. De Lorenzo, and he's making sure you aren't getting in trouble. We watched the video, you didn't do anything wrong, and you certainly didn't say anything racist."

"Claire was twistin' words," said Masako. "She was telling people Trina told her to go back to her own country."

"Why would she try to say that?" Harry stood up. "Both of Trina's parents are immigrants."

"Really? I didn't know that," said Kevin.

"Yeah," said Katrina. "Dad's from France and Vati's from Germany."

"Exactly," said Mrs. Bowen, "so Katrina would especially know how hurtful that kind of language would be."

Katrina sat up straighter. She felt a lot better knowing that so many people were standing up for her.


"Please excuse the interruption, at the bell, could Katrina Beaufort, Claire Gwan, and Kevin Snow please go to Mrs. Bowen's room."

Now that school was over, it was time to have a special parent-teacher conference. Dad and Vati came, as did Claire and Kevin's parents, Daisy, and Kevin's little brother Mikey, who was Daisy's best friend. Once everyone had sat down, and once Daisy and Mikey were settled in the back with some colouring pages, Mrs. Bowen stood at the front to start the conference. "So, I'm sure everyone already knows why we're here. Let's get to the bottom of this."

"My daughter came home from school yesterday telling us that Joseph is not treating his daughter right, and Katrina is lashing out because of it," said Mrs. Gwan coldly.

Katrina saw Dad recoil with shock when he heard that. Vati squeezed his hand.

"I just don't understand," said Mrs. Gwan-Jameson, looking crestfallen. "I always thought Joey was such a nice person, I can't imagine him being like that."

Mrs. Bowen turned to Katrina and her fathers. "Mr. Beaufort, Mr. Kaiser, do you have anything to say about that?"

"Quand elle était en sixième année, Katrina me dit qu'elle ne voulait pas être amies avec Claire non plus," said Dad. "Elle me déclare qu'elle fait toujours des commentaires impolis." (When she was in Grade 6, Katrina told me that she didn't want to be friends with Claire anymore. She said that she was always making rude comments.)

"Das ist lächerlich," said Vati. "Mein Mann hat seine Tochter nie misshandelt und meine Stieftochter hat nichts falsch gemacht." (This is ridiculous. My husband never mistreated his daughter, and my stepdaughter hasn't done anything wrong.)

"Miel…" (Honey…) Dad put a hand on Vati's shoulder to calm him down before continuing. "J'adore ma petite fille. Je vais être perdue sans elle." He gave Mrs. Gwan a stern look. "D'être franque, je suis extrêmement offende que ta fille pense que ma famille et nos dynamiques sont ses affaires." (I love my little girl. I would be lost without her. Frankly, I'm extremely offended that your daughter thinks my family and our dynamics are her business.)

"Um, excuse me," said Mrs. Snow, raising a hand, "what do we have to do with this?"

"This is where you come in," said Mrs. Bowen. "Your son filmed a video about yesterday's encounter that set the story straight." She pulled up Kevin's video on the projector, which all the parents watched.

Once the video was complete, Mrs. Bowen turned back to the Snows. "First off, Mr. and Mrs. Snow, I want to extend my praises to your son for sending us the video."

Kevin jumped in. "I saw Claire going to Katrina and I thought something was gonna happen, so I took out my phone to get a video in case Claire tried to get Trina in trouble."

"And we're very grateful for it," said Mrs. Bowen. "Without it, I think some teachers would very well have punished Katrina for it."

"Do you not see how he treats her?!" Claire stood up from her seat. "He's literally always got his hands on her. He acts like she's his wife!"

"Rede nicht so über meinen Mann!" (Do not talk about my husband like that!) Dad wrapped his arms around Vati to keep him from getting up.

"That's enough," said Mrs. Bowen. "We're looking into this, and we can assure you the wronged party will not be punished. Mr. Beaufort, Mr. Kaiser, Mr. and Mrs. Snow, you're free to leave if you wish."

Katrina could tell Vati wanted to stay, but Dad took his hand and led him out of the classroom.

"That's my boy," said Mr. Snow on the way out of the school, patting Kevin on the back. "Say, why don't we all go get an early dinner? My treat."

And after the stressful day they'd just been through, Katrina, Dad, and Vati just had to say yes.