✓ | Mr. Hetfield, My Teacher. [Metallica: James Hetfield]

Chapter 34

"Ali. Why are you here in San Francisco? Shouldn't you be in Chicago getting ready for college?" Ali's father, John said and then looked over to James. "Who is this?"

Ali bit her lip and was about to respond until Veronica spoke up first.

"Dad, that's Mr. Hetfield. James Hetfield." Veronica smiled. She was going to walk over to him but AJ got in her way.

"What's going on?" Veronica finally asked her sister.

"Ali has something to tell you sweetheart but you need to sit first. John, Jonathan you too." Brianna spoke up and guided her husband and daughter to sit next to her. Brianna didn't take her eyes off of James for one second. She was wondering why he was there...with his sister. She was glad he was there though. "When Ali tells you, the both of you have to promise that you will not overreact. Both Jonathan, Veronica and John nodded.

Ali took a deep breath and stood up along with James as they explained everything again. It was harder the second time around because this was her protective father and brother, and little sister. She had to take pauses as she told the story because she was so nervous and her voice was cracking. After she told the whole thing, she jumped when her father stood up quickly. She could see it in his eyes that he was furious; but furious was an understatement.

John was absolutely livid. He stood up from the couch rapidly and before Brianna could stop him, he walked right up to James and punched him right on the jaw. James went stumbling to floor and covered his face with his hand. He would be lying if he said he wasn't expecting this.

"Dad!" Ali yelled and went on her knees next to James to see if he was okay. James assured her that he was okay as he flexed his jaw.

"John sweetie, calm down! What did I tell you! You have no right to react that way! Did you not forget how we met!? This is the same situation and we have no right to get in their faces like that!" Ali's mom snapped. John was furious but as Brianna started talking, he had to realize that she was right and started to calm down.

"Dad, seriously! I'm not trying to be disrespectful here but don't be a hypocrite...mom told me how you guys met under the same circumstances."

"That doesn't mean you have to follow in our footsteps!" John raised his voice again.

"I'm not trying to! It just happened. Dad please I-" before Ali could continue, James stepped in.

"Sir, If I may...I can only imagine how it feels to have your daughter reveal something like this and I know why you had that initial reaction. Well, I'm here to say that I'm serious about Ali. You probably think that I'm taking advantage of her or playing her.."

"You are!" John yelled.

"No, I'm not." James countered."If I wasn't serious about her, I wouldn't have quit my job here, I wouldn't have left my life here and moved to New York in order to be with her. I risked my job to be with her. When you are serious about someone and you LOVE them, you make those types of sacrifices; and that's exactly what I have done in order to be with your daughter...and yes I do love her. I love her with everything I have and I would never hurt her. I have nothing but respect for her." James stated confidently and grabbed Ali's hand in his.

Everybody went quiet and were looking at John, waiting for a reaction. John sighed and walked up to James. Ali got in the way but her father assured her that he wasn't going to do anything. "Do you know what I see when I look at you son." John started off and looked James straight in the eye. "I see myself. It's like I'm looking at another me when I was your age. When I look at Ali..." John cupped Ali's cheek and continued. "I see her mother as well. The younger version of her mother. Everything that you just said, I completely understand it because I did all those things too. I sacrificed a lot to be with Ali's mother because I loved her; and I still love her." He turned to his wife and smiled at her then turned back to James and Ali. "I see no difference with you guys...I honestly don't."

"Then why did you punch him?" Ali pouted.

"Initial reaction but of course, your mom puts me on check, like always." John said and that caused Ali to give a soft smile.

The smile faded when she remembered about Veronica. They were busy with her dads reaction that they forgot that she was in the room as well. "Roni..." Ali spoke but when everybody turned to where she was sitting, she wasn't there, but Jonathan and then they heard a door slam shut upstairs. Ali sighed knowing that her little sister was hurting. "I'll be right back." she said. James, Jonathan and her parents nodded.

As she was walking up the stairs, she was thinking about what to say. At this point she was clueless. She didn't know what she was going to say; she just knew she had to talk to Veronica. She didn't even bother to knock because she knew that she was going to earn a scream telling her to go away. Luckily for her, the door was unlocked. She turned the knob to Veronica's door and opened it slowly. She peaked her head in and noticed Veronica laying down on the bed, face down. Ali closed the door silently and then went to sit on the bed next to her sister.

"You must think I'm the worst sister ever huh? You hate me?" Ali spoke up, looking down at her hands. Veronica got up and sat down next to Ali.

"No I don't. I could never hate you. I'm hurt but I could never hate you. I'm hurt that I don't have a chance with him now but I'm also hurt about the fact that you didn't tell me the minute you started seeing him. We're sisters Ali, don't you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you Roni. It's just that, we were really freaked out and we really didn't want to say anything. It was a scary situation. The only one that knew was Kate and that was because she caught us. Believe me, if I would have known how to handle the situation better, I would have told you in a heartbeat. Right now though, I'm concerned about you. You...love him." Ali looked away briefly.

"Yeah I do...but...I know what you two have is real. I guess in the back of my head I knew it would never happen anyways. It pains me that my own sister is with him but I'm not going to get in the way of that. I may not get over it soon but eventually I will...he was the first guy I loved technically. And I won't lie that I wanted to claw your eyes as you told the story."

"So you're not going to kill me so you can have him to yourself?" Ali joked to lighten up the mood.

Veronica smiled, chuckled, and wiped the tears from her face. "No...I'm not that evil."

Ali nodded. "By the way, the time you showed up at my prom...why did you really go? To see him?"

"Honestly, yes. I wanted to see if he was there with anybody."

"But he was a chaperone."

"Yeah I know but still. Apparently he was with someone because remember we saw him come out of the elevator. He was with you?"

"Yeah...he was. I wasn't in the bathroom. I was with him.."

"So..you guys...you know?" Veronica smiled and nudged Ali with her elbow.

Ali playfully rolled her eyes and nodded.

Both sisters fell into a comfortable silence. Ali was relieved that she and James came clean to her family. It wasn't easy but it went better than they expected. Ali found out stuff about her parents as well and her bond with her sister got stronger; which she was happy about because she was afraid Veronica wouldn't forgive her. Ali realized in that moment that she was lucky to have such an understanding family. A lot of people didn't have that but she did. She was very thankful for it but she would also not take advantage. She was lucky and she wasn't about to push her luck. From now on, no more secrets and no more lies.