^^^^^^^^ Pic of Mum

So, here I was, sitting in this stupid police station interview room with my mum beside me.

"What did you do?" Mum whispered to me hastily. I sighed, staring straight ahead at the murky cream paint peeling off the closed door.

"Nothing, mum." I replied slowly.

"Nothing? Ray we're in the police station. The police takes you to the station for questioning and you didn't do anything? I find it very hard to believe that you're completely innocent; but whatever you've done, I hope you realise this is serious." She huffed. The door suddenly opened with a deafening squeak before a man walked in and slammed it shut.

He was a tall, slightly chubby man. He had thin brown hair and was balding. He had thick brown eyebrows and a permanent frown. His lips were spread out thinly as he walked in. He came over to the table silently before scraping his chair across the floor and sitting on it. He placed the papers he was holding and spread them out on the table in front of us. He studied them briefly before looking up at mum and me. He looked deeply into my eyes and I held his gaze. I didn't like to back down from anything.

"I'm Detective Peter Barnes. Would you like to tell me what happened on bus 143 at 3:42pm today?" He spoke, revealing his posh accent. I rolled my eyes.

"Nothing." I replied.

"Nothing?" He asked.

"Nothing." I repeated, my tone harsh.

"If you could just tell us why we're here-" Mum started.

"Mrs McKenzie, please don't speak unless I've asked you to." He looked at her. Um what?

"Excuse you?" I raised an eyebrow at him. Who does this guy think he is? He looked to me.

"I believe I was talking to your mother, not you." He pointed out. I don't know why this guy was pissing me off so much but I could feel myself getting angrier the more he spoke.

"Well you can't speak to my mum like that."

"I believe I just did." He smiled smugly.

"It's okay Ray. He's just trying to get to you." Whispered mum. I exhaled deeply and nodded slightly.

"Any further retaliations Miss McKenzie?" He asked. I shook my head. "Good. Then let's proceed." He asked me a shitload of questions which I did not answer. I could tell he was becoming increasingly frustrated as I didn't give him an answer. Not once.

"Ms McKenzie, you do know your actions have been so severe, you have put a person in the hospital?" he leaned forward. Mum swung around and faced me.

"You did what?" She exclaimed. I blinked slowly and shrugged.

"So you did not know about this Mrs McKenzie?" asked Detective Barnes.

"Who did you put in the hospital?" she asked, ignoring him. Fury was still evident in her voice. Oh gosh. I bent my head and rubbed the back of my neck.

"I don't know." I mumbled.

"You don't know?" she asked. I stayed silent and stared at the ever so interesting table.

Riah Nicole McKenzie, this is the last time I'm going to ask you; who, did you put in the hospital?" Mum repeated.

"Kieran." I murmured.

"Kieran, who?" I could hear the irritation rising in her voice.

"Kieran... Cole." I briefly pressed my eyes shut. She turned to me fully.

"Cole? As in my best friend's son Kieran Cole?" She asked. I nodded slowly.

"Ray!" she cried out.

"I'm sorry mum!"

"So you admit to assaulting Mr Cole?" Detective Barnes asked. I sighed and nodded. "Wouldn't it have just been easier to admit this before?" he added.

"So you got into a fight with Kieran and ended up putting him in the hospital?" she declared.

"Yeah." I sat silently, waiting for her to say something else but she didn't. That just meant that she was going to yell at me for time when we went home. Cracking and a fuzzy voice filled the silent room. Detective Barnes jumped and pulled the walkie talkie from his waist.

"Excuse me." He got up and left the room.

Mum and I were left alone for a few minutes and the quiet was killing me.

"Mum-"

"Don't." she put her hand up, stopping me from continuing.

"I'm-" I started.

"Say something else to me Riah. Say something else, I dare you." she warned. I gulped. Detective Barnes returned soon after.

"You're free to go Miss McKenzie. Mr Cole's parents have decided to drop the charges so you're not going to have to face any legal consequences for your aggressive actions." he informed us.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. You're free." He opened the door wide for us and we stood up and walked out of the room.

He escorted us out of the station and to a police car. I looked at the car suspiciously and he explained that the feds sitting in the car were going to take us home. Mum nodded.

When we got home, I wanted to be as far away from Mum as possible but she started yelling before I could get upstairs.

"What is wrong with you Riah? How did you manage to get into a fight with a boy? And why did it have to be with Kieran? What has that boy done to you?" She kept on running her mouth and I zoned in and out of what she was saying.

"Are you listening to me?" She asked, staring at me.

"Yes." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, really? What was the last thing I said?"

"You said 'are you listening to me?'" I looked at her and she frowned.

"You are unbelievable. Ray I can't even express how mad at you I am right now. I mean that's my best friend's son! How do you think that makes me look huh? It doesn't make me look very good, I'll tell you that. Oooh I don't even know what to do with you Riah, I really don't." she rubbed her forehead and that's when I knew I really stressed her out then.

"Mum-" I whispered.

"You know what, we're gonna go to the hospital and you are going to apologise to Kieran and his parents right now."

"What? No." I objected.

"No? Ray you put him in the fucking hospital, so don't piss me off by saying you aren't going to apologise to him." She was the angriest I had ever seen her. I don't know why this got to her so much, I mean yeah what I did was bad but I don't know why it affected her so much. She grabbed her black jacket and pulled me out of the house, but not before yelling to Rianne that we were going out.

She forced me into her white Audi A3 and sped off to the hospital. When we got there, it seemed like everyone from my school was there too. There were kids from the bus that were loitering outside and even some kids from the younger years were there too. I was surprised to see so many people there, but at the same time Kieran was an extremely popular guy and he was so friendly to everyone. He'd say hi and introduce himself even if you just took a quick glance at him. He was never rude or disrespectful and he always treated everyone with respect. But with me, he decided to be different. -_-

I threw my hood over my head and took my phone out of my pocket. I purposely looked down at my screen so that it would be difficult for the people around to identify who I was. I waded through the sea of school kids with my mum in front of me. We asked the receptionist for Kieran's room and she directed us.

When we reached the ward, it seemed like all his family members were already there. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to explode. His mum was standing outside his door crying as her husband tried to comfort her.

Mrs Cole spotted mum and gasped. "What are you doing here?" She snarled, causing all family members to look at us.

"Sharon I-"

"Do you know what your daughter has done? She's put my boy in the hospital. We're all here because your ruthless daughter couldn't keep herself in check!" Mrs Cole said through gritted teeth.

"I know, that's why we're here. She wants to say sorry." Mum replied, her tone apologetic.

"She's here?" Asked Mrs Cole.

"Yeah." Mum moved so that they could see me. When Mrs Cole saw me, I could see the fire and hurt in her eyes and I instantly felt remorse and very frightened. We were about 2 metres away and she stormed over. She swung for me, knocking me to the floor and was about to hit me again when Mr Cole grabbed her and dragged her away. She was screaming at me as her family members tried to calm her down. I was breathing heavily and my cheek and nose were throbbing again as a result of her surprisingly strong blow. Mum helped me up but did not say anything about Mrs Cole punching me. Not gonna lie, I was more than shocked that Mrs Cole would do that to me, but even more shocked that Mum didn't do anything about it.

"Mrs Cole, I'm so sorry." I breathed.

"You're sorry? Is that all you can say? You humiliated Kieran in public, you stripped away his dignity! I couldn't believe it when I heard. You broke one of his ribs Riah!" She exclaimed. I don't know why, but tears formed in my eyes as she spoke.

"I didn't mean to-"

"Of course you didn't mean to. You just decided you were gonna pick a fight with him over nothing and cause his family a whole lot of pain." I wiped my eyes as she shouted at me.

"Why are you crying? Has your son been hospitalised? Is he doped up on painkillers to ease his pain? Have you had to take the rest of the day off to spend time with him? As far as I'm concerned, you have no right to shed tears. You're such a spoiled little lady. I drop the charges and you don't even say thank you, ungrateful child!" She was livid. I didn't know what to do, everyone was looking at us as the scene unfolded. I didn't do anything, I just stood there as she continued verbally attacking me. She only stopped when a woman who I presumed was the doctor came over. She wiped her face and straightened her coat as the doctor stood in front of her.

"How is he?" She asked with a trembling voice.

"He's getting better. It's only been an hour or two since he's come out of surgery but he's awake." she informed us. The smile on Mr and Mrs Coles faces when she said that were too incredible for words. That's when I knew I really fucked up.

"So we can see him?" Mr Cole asked. The doctor nodded and he let out a sigh of relief. I watched as his friends and family took turns visiting him in small groups. I sat down on one of the chairs outside his room awkwardly. I sat there for about 30 minutes while his family members left the hospital. After a while, his parents came out of his room and I stood up.

"Mrs Cole, Rob, I-" I twidled my fingers nervously.

"Rob? Child you better start treating adults with respect. Why do you call me Mrs. Cole and call him Rob? Don't call him Rob, you're not one of his friends." Mrs Cole snarled, cutting her eyes. Me and Kieran's dad were closer than Mrs Cole and I. Sometimes, when I was about 7 or 8, I wouldn't see my dad because he'd be coming home from work when I'm asleep or because he was away on business. During the day, Rob would take me to football or take us to his house because my mum was working too. I treated him like he was my dad because I saw him more than I did my real dad and he treated me like I was his daughter. Over the years we had become really close but we began to see less of each other when Mrs Cole spent less time with mum.

"Sorry." I apologised. "I was just wondering if maybe, erm..." I was speaking quietly, embarrassed with the request I was about to make.

"I- can I see him?" I looked up at his parents.

"Can you see him? You're the one that put him in here!" Mrs Cole exploded. Rob held her back and shushed her.

"I just want to tell him I'm sorry." I replied. He looked at me with sincerity and nodded.

"If you want to, please feel free to." He told me. Mrs Cole was less enthusiastic about the situation and decide to turn it into another scene. I ignored her and opened the door to his room. Here goes nothing.