I'm Sick And Tired

-17-

It's been about 3 months since the whole incident went down. Claudius is behind bars, on trial -due to Toni's conditions, and his history alone- and waiting for his sentence announcement.

Toni's out of the hospital and with a slight bit of bruising on her body, she's doing well. She hasn't been in school since the incident, herself wanting to get better, and her parents wanting it to be a whole thing when Toni came in.

For the past 3 months, Toni's been skeptical of Cheryl. Although Cheryl's not responsible for the crash, Toni couldn't do nothing more but look at the redhead a bit sideways.

For her to not know about the tension between the two brothers couldn't have been hard on miss. But when she got dragged into it, causing her life to be on the line, that's when things got a bit risky for not only Toni, but relationships amongst everyone, as well. 

Toni was in a gaze, reliving everything that happened to her- something that became a habit after the incident, as well. She didn't realize Cheryl was calling her for the past 5 minutes.

Cheryl took the books off of Toni's lap, slightly grabbing the tanned girl's hands. Toni snapped out of the daze, looking at the conjoined hands, and the at the concerned redhead.

"Babe, you okay?" Cheryl asked, her hands and eyes never leaving the brunette.

Toni nodded, her thumb rubbing over the pale skin in her hands. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just in my head a bit. No worries," Toni said with a small smile.

The tanned girl placed a kiss on Cheryl's cheeks and got off of the bed to go to he bathroom. When she got into the conjoined bathroom, she closed the door, locking it behind her and looked in the mirror.

All she could see in her reflection was a tragedy. All she could see was someone who was going to get sympathy from everyone around her the second she returned to school.

The same person who was going to never forget this, never going to get over this situation. It has been 3 months and the same thing she saw now was the same thing she's seen for what seemed like forever.

She was in another trance when she heard a knock on the door. She walked out the door, unlocking it and moving out of the way slightly so the redhead could come in. Cheryl closed the door behind her and sat on the floor by the door.

Toni sat in front of her, her hands picking with the fabric to redhead had on. Cheryl looked at the brunette, knowing it was a lot on her mind she wasn't speaking.

That was another thing; Cheryl never pushed Toni to something she didn't want to do or say. She gave her the space when it was needed, an open ear, and a shoulder to cry on when she got that confirmation.

Cheryl placed a hand on Toni's, Toni's fidgets not stopping much. "Babe, what's going on? Is it the accident?" Cheryl asked.

Toni gave a look of uncertainty. "It is, but the again it isn't," Toni responded. 

"Well, then let me know so I can try to help," Cheryl spoke with a slight smile.

"Um, I look in the mirror and I see a well-known tragedy. I can't go anywhere where there's a lot of people without being looked at with sympathy and I hate it," Toni said, her head starting to hang low.

Cheryl placed a finger under Toni's chin, lifting her head up. "You're nothing but a beautiful human being. You do so much, Toni, and you're still here. I'm proud of you. And I'm sorry for putting you in the line of danger, I should've opened my eyes and saw that you were in danger," Cheryl assured.

Toni broke out to tears. Cheryl put her legs down, pulling in the brunette and holding her as she cried. Cheryl kept holding onto Toni, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. She pressed play on a song and Toni's cries slightly slacked.

The brunette looked up at the redhead and Cheryl placed a kiss on her forehead. Cheryl would wipe her tears, but new ones would fall in place of that.

Cheryl pulled Toni in, letting her rest her head on her shoulder as the song played on repeat. Cheryl rocked the two side-to-side softly, rubbing her hands on the bunette's back.

-

It's been about 15 minutes and Toni and Cheryl's lying in bed. Toni was playing with the ends of Cheryl's hair as Cheryl was rubbing along Toni's back.

Toni took her head off Cheryl's chest and sat up on the bed. Cheryl looked at her, sitting up and leaning against the headboard.

"Babe," Toni said, recieving a hum from the redhead. "Do you think it's going to be okay to go to court against your uncle?" Toni questioned.

Cheryl took a deep breath, not knowing how it respond. "I honestly think it's up to you to see whether or not you feel it's right with you. You can go to trial against him, he has no one on his side, and you have people protecting you," Cheryl responded.

Toni nodded, sighing and running her fingers through her hair. "I hate that this happened to me," Toni said.

"Me too. You didn't deserve it."

Toni laid back down, Cheryl doing the same, returning to their current position.

-

About a week has passed, and the Topaz family was in court with the best lawyer they could find. After time of going through the case, the files, they had the best case against Claudius.

Toni was in the courtroom and was sitting in the chair with Cheryl right behind her. Things went faster than what Toni thought it would be.

Cheryl placed a kiss on Toni's head and rubbed over her shoulders. "You'll do great." Cheryl said, rubbing Toni's shoulders.

The judge walked into the room, and sat down. After doing the oath, they went very what had happend last meeting and what could be the outcome of the current one.

"Okay, Toni, we went over the evidence, and you've got a strong case. My question to you solely, do you think that anyone else in this room has anything to do with the incident with Claudius?" The judge asked.

Toni looked down, fiddling with her fingers and looked back up at the judge. "No, your honor."

The judge nodded and looked at Claudius, sitting to the far left of Toni. "You, Claudius. You're going to be sentenced to 50 yeas to life with the charges to have. So, let's go to the jury to see the verdict." The judge looked over at the people sitting on the side of the room.

A woman stood up, taking a piece of paper out of her pocket. She unfolded it and read from it. "The verdict for the arresting of Claudius... we find him guilty on all counts..."

After Toni hear that they found him guilty, everythig else became a blur to her. Everything turned out, and the woman reading off the carges became quiet.

Toni felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked over to see the lawyer looking at her with a smile. Toni smiled and emotions started to overwhelm her.

She turned around and Cheryl was giving her a proud smile. Toni stood up, embracing Cheryl in a hug, following her parents and brothers.

She broke hugs with everyone and listened as the judge cleard the case and the courtroom. She left out of the courtroom with everyone surrounding her in love and support.

She gave a smile, a real one. She hasn't done this since she could even remember. But she was happy that this chapter of her life came to a close, and she was ready to open a new chapter for the good.

She was ready to find some light on her life.

This is the second to last chapter. This doesn't need to be dragged on like the other ones, and I feel like this is a good place to end after I wrap everything up.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. I enjoyed writing this, seeing the comments and support. Forever grateful.

Love y'all <3

Thanks for reading, byeeeeee

-Ley<3