"I see through those silent lies of yours, Liv."
𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫, the girl who's known to be mute in school. No one knows why though, and she doesn't want anyone to know either. Only her best friend and this certain boy want to know why. S...
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My nerves and anxiety when I went back to school Monday are absolutely nothing compared to what they are now, as I watch other cars pass while mom drives, Mason in the front and Noah right beside me. They sent Cassie to school, knowing she's too young to actually understand this. Everyone's missing school, for me. To watch me get mine and Hadley's justice, they said.
I smooth out my black jeans a million times, leaving not a single crease or wrinkle in them. I button and unbutton the buttons on the blue blouse I borrowed of mom's with the white tank top underneath. I swirl the friendship bracelet from Danny around my wrist a million times also.
"It's going to be okay," Noah assures from beside me, his usual joking and playful personality gone serious with me.
I woke up to Noah around 3am and haven't been back to bed since. He shook me awake from a nightmare, a bad one, revolving around dad. He stayed with me until mom and Mason got up, getting Cassie to school, and until now. It's nearing noon now, the trial beginning at half past noon.
So much has changed between me and Noah in these last eight or nine hours, as it did when I first moved in, when he found out I was his step sister now, when he learned the reasons on why suddenly I was his step sister. I'd cried in his arms and he helped me through a panic attack thanks to the nightmare. Binx was also there.
My stomach twists even more when mom pulls into the parking lot in front of the courthouse, making me feel like throwing up but nothing comes up, thankfully. Everything starts to move in slow motion-taking off all our seatbelts feels like ten hours, opening the car doors is another ten, and actually stepping out of the car is an eternity. I'm thankful everything seems to be slow moving.
I see Adrian stepping out of his mom's car a few parking spaces over, making me speed walk over to him, needing his hugs. His parents get out of the car, giving me reassuring and warm smiles. The second his arms are around me, I feel less sick to my stomach due to being anxiety ridden.
When I finally pull away from Adrian, I see that Ashton and Danny were with him and his parents also. I then see Divine and Admira also, Admira standing and discussing things with mom, Divine coming over to me and pulling me into a hug.
"You ready for this?" She asks softly, holding me tight.
"Not really," I say honestly. "But it's going to happen no matter what."
"Everything will go the way it should, and it shouldn't take more than a couple hours. It'll all be okay." I gain some hope from my best friend, turning to everyone who's giving me warm smiles.
I wonder about mom, knowing this will be her first time really seeing dad in years, the only other times she's saw him was thanks to the mugshots. I wonder about dad, wondering what he's pleading as, wondering if he even feels a bit of remorse, or anything like that.
"We need to be heading in," mom tells me, coming to my side.
"I know." Me and mom have to see the lawyer alone first, before anything begins. "Let's go." The sooner we go in, the sooner this begins and ends.
