chapter twelve ━ caroline gillespie & the past
( original chapter )

❝ you became a black belt when
you were six?! ❞

"𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐘, 𝐆𝐔𝐘𝐒, 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘, we're going to do something a little different," Rudy said to his group of karate students. He looked up when he heard the door of the dojo open. "Ronnie, you're late. That's not like you."

"Sorry," she mumbled quietly, sliding into her seat on the other side of her friends. "Lost track of time while studying."

He nodded and continued with his lesson. "Okay, as I said, we're going to do something different. We won't be training today—"

"Yes!" Jerry cheered and Veronica rolled her eyes at the boy.

"—but we'll have a different kind of lesson," Rudy finished, looking at the boy before letting out a breath. "When I was around six years old, just beginning as a karate student, there was a girl about nine years younger than you who became the youngest black belt in the country."

"How come we haven't heard of her before?" Kim asked, crossing her arms. "I mean, a girl being the youngest black belt is pretty rare, isn't it?"

Rudy nodded. "It is," he confirmed. "But the reason you haven't heard of her is because she's been displaced of the title. In fact, the youngest is sitting in this room right now."

At those words, everyone looked amongst themselves before turning their heads and looking at the brunette girl who sighed. "It's you?" Jack exclaimed in surprise. "I mean, Kim always said you were good, but I didn't think you were that good."

"How come you never told anyone?" Milton asked.

She shrugged. "Just didn't want to..." she replied quietly, playing with her locket with her fingers. "It was a lifetime ago."

"Ronnie... you—" Kim was scrolling through her phone before looking at her best friend. "You were six! You became a black belt when you were six?!"

She nodded wordlessly. "How old was the girl she beat to get the record?" Milton asked Rudy.

"Seven," Veronica replied, glancing at the black television screen for a moment. "And you're about to watch her."

Rudy nodded. "Karate runs in Ronnie's family," he said, finally able to continue his lesson. "And not just with me. In fact, the only reason I began karate was because my big sister did it first. Carrie was seven years old when she got her first black belt and, at the time, she was the youngest in the country. Displaced only by her daughter."

She smiled softly at him. "Fortunately, Carrie had all of her meets recorded—not by choice, of course. It was part of gaining that record. Everybody wanted to watch her. Ronnie was kind enough to find some of them so we could watch them for our lesson today."

She pressed her lips together as her uncle turned on the TV and the screen was filled with the sight of a dojo. "Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer from the video said. "Please welcome Caroline Gillespie to the mat!"

When Veronica saw her mother come into view on the video, tears immediately filled her eyes. She looked exactly as she did whenever she thought of her mother—albeit younger, of course. Her golden blonde hair was pulled into two French braids, her cheeks were accentuated with a soft pink blush, and a light smile graced her face.

"She's so cute," Kim whispered and Veronica smiled softly at her. "Ronnie, you look just like her. You have her eyes."

The brunette looked back at the screen with a small smile. In truth, she was her father's twin; everybody knew it, including her mother. She found it comforting that somebody thought she looked like her mother.

"Carrie was one of the best fighters I'd ever seen," Rudy told the group while his niece's eyes stayed on her mother. "And the reason she was so good was because she had a lot of patience. It's how she won so many matches. She was the calmest I had ever seen someone while in a fight."

"Did she ever lose?" Jack asked.

Veronica nodded. "Lots of times," she replied, still watching the video and her friends looked at her. "But she had more wins than losses." She looked at the group of teenagers and shrugged. "Because, at the end of the day, her strengths outweighed her weaknesses."

"Congratulations, Caroline, on your hundredth win," the reporter on the screen said and Veronica turned to watch. "You're the youngest black belt and now the quickest to one hundred victories."

A twelve-year-old Carrie smiled softly. "That's very kind of you. Thank you."

"Tell me, what more could you possibly accomplish?"

Carrie shrugged. "I'd like to have a family one day," she replied and Veronica felt her friends' eyes on her. "A daughter."

"And would you put her in karate?"

"If she wanted to, sure," Carrie said and the brunette smiled softly. "But I'd want her to do it for fun. Not because my brother or I do it. I want her to do it because she wants to. But more than anything, I would want her to be happy. With her friends." She looked behind her. "Oh, I'm sorry, I have to go. That's my brother waiting for me."

The screen cut out and the room was silent. "What I want from you to take away from Carrie's old videos is to have patience," Rudy told the group of karate students. "Patience is key when it comes to karate. I'll see you all tomorrow."

___________________________

𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐓𝐇𝐄 halls of the high school, going toward her locker from her history class. It was one of the few classes that she didn't share with any of her friends and for that, she was grateful. She was still mad at them for the party they threw and for interrupting her video chat with her father.

They, of course, still didn't know that small detail.

They all just assumed she was mad because of the party.

"Hey, Ronnie." She glanced behind her as she reached her locker and saw Kim walking toward her with Jack and Milton following. "We've been looking for you all day. Where have you been?"

"Class," she replied simply, turning back to replace her books. Her three friends looked at each other before Jack cleared his throat.

"We—uh—we were thinking of going to Phil's after school," he said and she nodded wordlessly, still looking for her English textbook. "Did you wanna join us?"

She shook her head and closed her locket. "No, thanks."

"Come on, Ronnie, it feels like we haven't seen you in weeks," Kim said, letting out a breath. "I know you're still mad about the party, but—"

"That's not why I'm mad," Veronica interrupted, cutting off the blonde and her friends looked at her. "It was never why I was mad."

"Then why are you?" Jack asked and she sighed. "If it's not the party, then what else did we do to make you mad?"

She shook her head. "Why do you wanna know?" she asked them with a shrug. "Can you all not accept that I'm just angry? I have to give you a reason?"

"Well, how else can we fix it?"

"Well, maybe I don't want you to fix it," she said, letting out a breath. "Maybe I just want you all to leave me alone."

She shook her head and walked down the hall toward her English class, leaving her friends to watch her go.

"What was that all about?" Kim asked and Jack shrugged.

"I don't know."

___________________________

"𝐑𝐔𝐃𝐘, 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐖𝐇𝐘 Ronnie's been acting so weird lately?" Jack asked, walking into the dojo with Kim and Milton. "She was late yesterday, she's snappish and quieter than usual."

He looked up from his desk at the three teenagers. "I don't know whether to be protective that you noticed all of that about her."

"Rudy."

He sighed and stood up, closing the door of his office. "Look, Ronnie's..." He paused and pressed his lips together. "Ronnie's been through a lot. Especially in the last few months. She lost her mother, her father is halfway across the world with bad cell service. She was uprooted, forced to leave the only life she'd ever known; she's allowed to have outbursts.

"But it just doesn't seem like her."

Rudy glanced at Jack and let out a breath. "It is," he said and they looked back at him. "It's more common than you think. She just doesn't let other people know. Let me ask you, have any of you seen Ronnie cry?"

"I mean... once," Jack replied. "When she couldn't get a call through to her dad. But, other than that, no."

"That's because she doesn't let other people see her break," Rudy said with a sigh and sat down on the couch. "But she does. Every day. She cries herself to sleep—usually whenever somebody mentions Carrie. She'd break down whenever she thought about how she has to wait another year to see her dad again."

Kim furrowed her brows and looked at their sensei. "A year?" she repeated in confusion before glancing at Jack and Milton. "I thought it was six months..."

Rudy shook his head. "It was extended another six months," he replied and the three teenagers looked at each other. "I think she found out while I was on my trip with Phil and Bobby. It was the first good service Carlos had gotten in months."

Kim sighed. "So, that's why she's angry at us," she said, looking at the boys. "It's all our fault." She shook her head and walked out of the office making Jack and Milton follow her. "If we hadn't thrown that party, then she wouldn't have gotten any notifications about it, and she would have been on that phone call with her dad."

"She wasn't angry about the party," Milton added with a nod. "She's angry with what the party interrupted."

Jack sighed. "We have to make it up to her."

___________________________

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐎𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 notorious for keeping extremely-detailed photo albums of each stage in their daughter's life. Every event of the Becker family's life was documented in a photograph with a lengthy description beside it.

Carlos and Caroline's wedding?

July 9—Happy wedding day to us! It was a small, simple wedding at Carlos' family's house on the lake. It was perfect weather for a wedding. There were no clouds in the sky, a small breeze that was welcomed in the July heat, and delicious food. Of course, the highlight was getting married, and Rudy falling in his chair. Can always count on Rudy to do something silly.

Veronica's first birthday?

June 8—Ronnie's first birthday. We invited our family over to the house for dinner and cake. Of course, Ronnie got dessert all over her face, and on her Uncle Rudy's face, too, before opening her presents. She received a pink plastic pony, a small drum set that has already been hidden from her, several stuffed animals—the most popular one was the little Winnie the Pooh bear—and a play tea set. Our baby girl is one!

Veronica's first karate tournament?

September 27—Ronnie's first karate tournament. We think we have a little karate prodigy on our hands. Her sensei told us that she's a natural and had already mastered breaking a board. She's four years old and breaking boards. Does this mean we should hide the china dishes? But she got first place in her tournament and Carlos cried tears of joy. He's such a girl dad.

Their final family vacation?

April 2—family vacation to Spain. After months of planning, we finally made it to Spain! Carlos' sister joined us for the trip and it has been amazing! The city is absolutely stunning and the food is incredible. Maria joked that Carlos needs to learn how to cook more Spanish food even though he burns everything he touches. Maybe this means I'll have to learn how to cook Spanish food...

Veronica let out a breath. Her mother never did get to learn how to cook Spanish food.

She looked up when she heard the doorbell and furrowed her brows. Who could possibly be at the door? She wiped away her stray tears before rolling off her bed and walking over to the front door, seeing Jack, Kim, and Milton standing on the other side with a stack of movies and a bag full of food."

"What are you doing here?" she asked them, looking confused.

"We thought we could do a movie night," Kim replied, holding up the many DVDs she held in her hands. "I have every kind of superhero movie known to man."

"And we brought your favorite ice cream," Milton added and she glanced at him. "Cookies and cream. We also brought chips."

Veronica raised her eyebrows and Jack sighed. "Ronnie, we're really sorry that our party interrupted your phone call with your dad."

"How did you hear about that?" she asked.

"Rudy told us," he said and she let out a breath. "Not purposefully, though, I don't think. The point is—we feel horrible. We know how long it had been since you talked to him and we ruined that for you."

Veronica nodded and looked between them before taking the bag from Milton's hands. "It's starting to melt." She walked into the kitchen to put the ice cream in the freezer and looked at her friends who were still standing in the doorway. "Are you coming?"

Kim smiled and hugged her best friend making the brunette stumble backward at the embrace. She chuckled softly when Milton joined the hug.

"So... which movie should we watch first?" Kim asked, pulling away from the hug and walking into the living room. "Superman, Batman?"

"Iron Man," Veronica replied, pouring the bag of chips into a bowl. She looked over at Jack who was still standing to the side. "I forgive you, Jack."

Before she could say anything, he pulled her into a tight hug and she paused. "I'm sorry his deployment got extended," he whispered and she pressed her lips together, wrapping her arms around his neck. "And I know I've been a horrible friend recently, but you can talk to me." She pulled away and looked at him. "You don't have to keep your guard up. And, when he comes home, I'll be sure to tell him just how amazing his daughter is."

Veronica let out a breath as he walked over to the couch, sitting on the end next to Milton. She turned to face the sink and released a heavy sigh. Somehow Jack Brewer always knew what to say to make her feel better.

She glanced at her friends who were turning on the movie and smiled softly. They were the friends that her mom always wanted her to have.

They were her family.

___________________________

━ author's note:

I could have made her stay mad for longer, but I just didn't feel like it.

besides, I have more sad things in store for ronnie (I'm sorry)

anyways, two more chapters until the end of act one (which is where the book left off before taking my unintentional hiatus before coming back to this) and then we can get into season two which I have so many plans for! I'm very excited for you all to read act two :)