The Last Chance Book 2

Chapter 21

TW: Mentions of injuries, trauma

NuNew is awoken by someone lightly shaking him. " NuNew. It's time to get ready for the trial. You need to get up ". He slowly opens his eyes and sees Zee. He pouts. " I don't want to do the trail. I just want to continue having my dream ". Zee helps him sit up. " What was your dream about? It must have been a good one " Zee asked. He smiled and nodded. " I dreamt that we all ate at a restaurant. Just talking and laughing. Like none of this was going on ". Zee kisses him on the forehead. " Maybe that can happen some time after the trial " Zee says gently. He nods before forcing himself to get off the bed. " Hia, do you have any pink clothes " he asked. Wanting to try and match their outfits again. " I have a light pink hoodie " he says. He smiles. " Wear that so we can match again. Please Hia " he says in a cute voice while grabbing on to Zee's arm. Zee laughs before saying " Ok I will. You don't have to beg me ". He just kisses him on the cheek quickly before grabbing his clothes. Rushing into the bathroom and closing the door. " Why did I just act cute. So embarrassing " he whispers quietly. He quickly changed into his pants. He then walks over to the mirror and looks at himself. Only then does he realize how exhausted he looks. How he has so much stress. He slowly takes off his shirt and looks into the mirror. Along with the scars on his chest you can see fresh scratch marks all along his lower arms. Some of the scratch marks are opened cuts.
He takes time studying all of the scars on his chest. As if he hasn't done that several times in the past. However, out of all the times he's studied his scars he's never felt this way about them. He doesn't feel sad or angry. He doesn't even feel afraid when looking at them. He just feels numb when looking at his scars. Maybe it's because he's recovering or maybe it's because his body knows that the situation at the trial will be far more stressful then just looking at his scars. There's endless reasons as to why he could be feeling numb while looking at them.
" NuNew, can I come in " he hears Zee ask after knocking on the door. " Yes Hia " he says. Shorty after Zee walks into the bathroom. " Are you studying your scars again " Zee asked. He gives Zee a small smile before he says " Yeah. But this time I just feel numb when looking at them ". Zee walks behind him before wrapping his arms around him. He slowly brings his arms up. Grabbing on to Zee's arms. " Maybe that's a good sign " Zee says gently. He responds by saying " Maybe " in a quiet voice. Hoping that Zee is right. Zee places a gentle kiss on his shoulder. Surprising him. He turns to look at Zee. As if asking what that kiss was for. Zee just smiles at him saying " Because I love you ". Zee then grabs his shirt and hands it to him. " You should get ready. Max's dad should be here soon " Zee says. He nods his head before putting his shirt on. Zee smiles at him.
He tucks the front of his shirt in while the back of the shirt is left untucked. When he's done fixing his outfit he turns to show Zee. " Does it look good " he asked. Zee nods smiles before he fixes his hair. Helping get him make his hair look nice instead of messy. " You look cute in this outfit. Let's go put the bandage's back on your arms ". He shakes his head. " I don't want to. They don't hurt anymore. I'd rather not have bandages on today " he says. Zee just nods. " Then let's go to the living room " Zee says. He quickly walks over to his desk and picks up the rainbow necklace and puts it on. He also puts the rubber lgbtq bracelet on. Once he's done he turns back to Zee. " Ok now we can go " he says before grabbing his phone. He follows Zee out in the living room.
When they get there they see everyone watching the news.
He quickly puts on his shoes before walking over to them. When he does he notices that his old school is on the tv screen. Several people are standing outside of it and protesting. Police are standing at the entrance of the school helping students safely enter the school. He takes a deep breath before walking over to the tv and turning it off. " Oh sorry we didn't see you NuNew ". He shakes his head. " It's fine. I just don't want to see my old school. I feel bad for the freshman but everyone else at that school deserves to go through protesters yelling at them. Especially the teachers and staff " he says before walking over to Zee. " I agree with that " Nat says. He smiles at Nat. He's then reminded of how him and Nat teased both Zee and Max last night. So he quickly takes out his phone before opening instagram and looking at his post. Several of the comments still say that he's dating Nat or that they ship him and Nat. When he opens his notifications he sees a tag that makes him curious. When he opens the post he laughs. It's a poll with all of his friends names listed titled who is NuNews boyfriend. The order from most to least amount of votes is Nat, Max, Net, Zee, James, Tommy, Jimmy. He looks at everyone and says " There's a poll on twitter for people to vote which one of you guys are my boyfriend. The order of the most to least votes is Nat, Max, Net, Zee, James, Tommy, Jimmy. Zee is in fourth place " he says while laughing. Nat starts to laugh as well. " I wanna know why I'm in last place " Jimmy says. " Probably because you treat me as a younger brother more than the others do " he says. Jimmy just nods agreeing with him. " I find it funny that I am in third while Zee is in fourth " Net says earning a glare from Zee. He lightly hits Zee on the shoulder. " Calm down Mr.Possessive " he says. Making everyone laugh. He turns to Max and says " I don't know why you are laughing when you are just as possessive as Hia Zee. Which reminds me. P'James can you send me the video " he says as he turns to look at James who nods. " We wouldn't have to be possessive if so many people thought that you and Nat are dating " Zee says. " Most of them think that way because we hold hands a lot and he's also the first person besides me that's in a photo on my instagram " he says. Nat nods his head. " I can honestly see why they would come to that conclusion " Nat says.
Just as Nat finishes talking there are three knocks on the door. His mom opens the door and a guard walks in. He recognizes him from yesterday. He's the one that led him to the medical area. " Where's my dad " Max asked confused. " Mr.Kornthas has to check the questions for the testimonies with the attorneys so he sent me to send everyone off as well as take Max,Nat,Zee and NuNew to the court ". The guard tells everyone. " Both cars are here so everyone can leave at the same time. Please hurry to the cars when we go outside. There are a lot of people outside " The guard says as he opens the door. When they walk outside several people are shouting questions. At one point he hears someone shouting " NuNew is Nat your boyfriend! He is right ". He looks at Nat and they make eye contact. Nat grabs his hand and people start shouting that they are holding hands. He finds it hilarious. Luckily he is able to stop himself from laughing. When him and Nat get to the end of the driveway they look around not seeing Max's fathers car. He turns to look at the guard. Who notices him and points to the last van that's parked. He quickly pulls Nat into the van while Zee and Max get in after them. Nat sits next to him while across from them is where Max and Zee are sitting.
Once the door is closed he starts to laugh and Nat does as well. Luckily the windows are tinted black so you can't see inside. " so naughty " is all Max says. " I just wanted to see how they would react if we held hands " Nat says making him laugh. " I was also wondering how they would react " he says as the van starts to drive away from his house. " Time for another social experiment " Nat says. They all look at him confused. Nat grabs Zee's hand and places it on his knee. " Keep your hand on NuNews knee " he says as he pulls his phone out. He then quickly takes a photo. " Oh! I know what you are doing Nat " he says laughing. Nat shows him the photo and he smiles. " I'll send you the photo after I'm done with this " Nat says as he opens instagram and post the photo on his stories. Tagging his account on the photo. He laughs shaking his head as he watches Nat. " P'Zee's hands look mor masculine then mine. There's no way they can still think that your boyfriend is me
after this " Nat says. He laughs and says " They might if they saw the photo being posted on my account and not yours " he says. Nat just shrugs as he sends the photo to him. " Do you guys plan on ever revealing you are dating " He asked both Max and Nat. " We've never discussed it " Max says. " What if we do if P'Zee and NuNew make an official post " Nat says. He smiles " We can do it in one post together! Like we can take a photo of the four of us and do something to show that you're dating P'Max and I'm dating Hia " he says which makes Nat excited. " Can we do that P'Max and P'Zee " Nat asked excitedly. " I'm fine with whatever " Max says. Zee says he's fine as well. " When do you feel ok saying that you are dating P'Zee? Cause I don't want to force you to do it if it will make you uncomfortable " Nat asked. " I was actually thinking about this recently. Last night was mostly a test to see how everyone would react if I posted that. And they all reacted well. So I think I'm fine with revealing that I'm dating Hia today. We can make the post when we get back " he says. Everyone nods their head and agreeing with him.
When they get to the court house he sees that the number of people has almost doubled. It's hard for the vans to even pull up to the entrance. It starts to make him nervous. " Are you ok NuNew " Nat asked. Noticing how he's become quiet. " There's so much more people here. It's making me nervous " he says quietly. " It's ok. Just try and focus on getting inside the court house " Nat says. He nods.
When the van parks the guards move to the door and open it for them. Zee and Max are first to leave. Then him and Nat leave the van. While walking up the stairs he can feel his anxiety rising. He doesn't know what to expect for the testimonies. Zee noticing that he's walking slower up the stairs stops and waits for him to catch up. " You ok NuNew " Zee asked. He grabs Zee's hand as they continue to head into the court house. " With every step I take. I can feel my anxiety rising. Knowing that I will have to see Nate and the others again. I don't even know who they all called to testify in this case " he says. Zee gently squeezes his hand. " It's going to be ok. There's only 2 more days left of this and then everything should be over ". He can only nod his head. He's hoping that the case will end after two more trials. He can only hope. Because he knows that it will never end until Nate and the others are put in prison for life.
When they get inside of the building everyone else is already there. Including Max's dad. So they quickly make there way over to them. As soon as they do Max's father says " Ok since everyone is here we need to have everyone besides Max, Nat and NuNew go into the court room in order to get seated and prepared for the testimonies to start. The three of you will follow me to the side room. Nate and the others are already in their seats. So nothing like yesterday should happen ". Everyone nods before splitting up and heading to the places that they need to go to. Once he walks into the room he sees both Mrs.T and Mrs.F writing frantically on to sheets of paper. " What's wrong Mrs.T " he asked getting their attention. " We had to cut some witnesses from our list of people to testify because it would take to long. So now only some of your friends are going to testify as well as some other witnesses " she says.
After waiting a couple of minutes in the room they are told to enter. When they do he can see a large group of people sitting in the seats. " Come on NuNew " Nat says guiding him to the same spot he sat in yesterday. When he sits down he turns to look at the group again. He recognizes his friends and family as well as Mrs.Betty. When he looks at the others he notices someone familiar. Who is looking straight at him. His eyes widen when they make eye contact. He quickly turns to Nat. Which scares Nat a little bit. " What's wrong " Nat asked concerned. " I think Noah is going to testify. I just saw him " he says whispering a little panicked. Nat grabs on to his hand. " He won't hurt you. Besides we have the upper hand against him. It will be ok " Nat says trying to reassure him.
Before he could respond a guard asks everyone to rise for the judge. So they stand up. Once the judge sits down they do the same. " Todays trial is the start of the testimonies. You must all tell the truth when on the stand. If you are caught lying you will be charged for breaking the law. Does everyone understand " the judge says in a serious tone. Everyone says yes at the same time. " Very well. Attorney you may call up your first witness to the stand " the judge says. Mrs.T stands up, holding a paper in her hands. " We'd like to call Noah to testify first " she says. Shortly after Noah walks to the lectern and gets sworn in. When Noah walks past him he moves closer to Nat until Noah is sitting on the chair at the stand.
" Can you tell me your Name as well as the relation you have with the victim " Mrs.T asked.
" Noah, I used to be NuNews friend "
" Explain why you aren't anymore "
" He confessed to me and I turned him down "
" Is it true that after NuNew you told others about him being gay "
" Well I wouldn't say others I ". Mrs.T interrupts him. " It's a simple yes or no answer Noah. Did you tell others about his sexuality "
" Yes I did "
" Is it true that you were the one who told Nate about his sexuality ". His eyes widened at the question. Was Noah the reason Nate found out.
" Yes I did ". He looks down. Noah was really the main reason of everything. Nat grabs his hand and gently squeezes it. He bites his lip.
" Is it true that you told him even though you knew that Nate and his group of friends would beat and harass gay people "
" Yes "
" Why did you tell someone who's known to beat gay people that your childhood friend is gay "
" Because he's disgusting for liking men. It's disgusting that he had a crush on me " Noah says loudly. He takes deep breaths to keep himself calm.
Mrs.T points to the screen and shows messages between Noah and Nate. She starts to read it off.
" Is it true that you pay people if they tell you someone who is gay "
" Yeah. I pay $300 per person "
" Good. Then I have someone you'd like to know. He goes to our school. His names NuNew Chawarin "
" How do you know he's gay "
" He just confessed to me "
" Very well. We'll get you the $300 on the first day of school ". The chats stop there. He tightens his hand into a fist as a few tears fall down his face. He's so angry that he would do that to him for $300 dollars.
" Did Nate give you the money "
" Yes "
" What did you do with it "
" I bought some video games "
" You put your childhood friend in danger for video games "
" Yes "
" That's all Judge " Mrs.T says. " Noah leave the stand. Mrs.T who is your next witness " the Judge asked. " I would like to call Mrs.Betty to the stands ".
When Mrs.Betty sits down at the stands. Similar questioning is done. " What's your name and relation with the victim "
" My names Betty. I was the one who called the ambulance for him "
" What were you doing before NuNew showed up to your house "
" Me and my daughter were cleaning our house preparing for guest to come over "
" What was your first thought when you saw NuNew "
" I was immediately worried. I was thinking how could someone do this to a child "
" Why did you hold him in your lap "
" The poor boy was so scared and could barley keep his eyes open. My instincts as a mother kicked in "
" Do you think of him as your son "
" I think of him as my grandson ".
" Why did you go with him to the hospital "
" I knew that if my daughter was in that type of position I would want the person who helped them to ride in the ambulance with them "
" Why do you think that way "
" They would know more about what happened. It would also bring some sort of comfort knowing that my child wasn't alone when going through that "
" Did you meet him after the incident "
" Yes, I kept in touch with his parents to see how he was doing. NuNew also stopped by to thank me when he was out of the hospital "
" Do you still keep in touch with them "
" Yes I do "
" How did you find out about the incident at the beach "
" I saw the videos and then shortly after his parents called me "
" How did you feel while watching the videos "
" I was so heartbroken. That poor boy had to not only face the very people that gave him so much trauma but he also had to see his friends get hurt by those people "
" When was the first time you saw him after the beach incident "
" It was the same day that the video of the first incident got released. I saw him looking at the protesters in front of his old school "
" How did NuNew react to seeing you again "
" He was happy to see me but you could see the fear and pain that he felt "
" Did he do anything when he saw you "
" He immediately came to me and hugged me. He said how much he missed me. I also asked how he was doing. He said he was fine before quickly changing the topic by introducing the friends he had made as well as his boyfriend. He was happy to tell me how each of his them had helped him "
" Did he seem to have made any progress in recovering from his trauma "
" Besides being able to show his scars he had actually seemed to be worse then when I had last seen him "
" I'm done questioning Mrs.Betty " Mrs.T says. He just looks down at his hands. She was so easily able to see that he went back in his process of recovering.
" Next I would like to have Jimmy come to the stand ". He watches as Jimmy gets sworn in before sitting on the stand.
" Please tell me your name and your relation to the victim "
" My names Jimmy and NuNew is my best friend "
" How did you first meet NuNew "
" On his first day at our school Nat brought him to our lunch table and introduced him to everyone "
" How did NuNew seem on the first day "
" You could tell that he was nervous about meeting our friend group. However he was really kind "
" Did anything happen on the first day that made you worry or wonder about his past "
" Besides coming to our school half way through the year. He got really scared and started to panic when he found out that besides Nat, the rest of us were seniors. He got up and left quickly to the bathroom "
" Has there been any other things you noticed that were not usually normal for people to do "
" He was very nervous when a lot of people looked at him. He would often have a lot of panic attacks. He also says sorry for a lot of things he doesn't need to "
" Has he every told you about his past "
" When we all started to get really close to him after he had shown his scars to us. He said he wanted to explain to us in full what had happened. Before he had only told us that he was beat up really badly by seniors at his old school "
" How did you feel after finding out about his past "
" It made me furious "
" Why did it make you furious "
" How could someone do that to a person. Let alone to someone as kind as NuNew. No one deserves to go through what he did "
" Did anything change about him after telling you guys "
" We all became really close. He started to open up to us and be himself. He relaxed a lot more after telling us. At some point I became so close to him that he's like my little brother "
" Why do you think of him that way "
" I just want to keep him safe from everyone and everything that could hurt him. I became protective of him like an older brother is with their younger siblings "
" How did you feel the day before the incident happened at the beach "
" All of us were having so much fun. We walked all along the tiny shops. Later that night we all played in the ocean together "
" How did NuNew seem that day "
" You could tell that he was having so much fun. He stopped worrying about what we thought. It seemed like during that day he had forgotten what had happened to him "
" What happened the day of the incident at the beach "
" We all got up early and decided to spend the whole day at the beach because it was our last day there. We all spent a couple of hours sitting on the beach just talking and making jokes. At some point NuNew and Nat walked away. They wanted to go in the water "
" How did you find out about what was going on "
"  At some point James mentioned how we haven't seen them for a little while. So we all got up to go and look for them. We saw several people watching something. When we went to look Zee shouted that it's Nate and his group. Zee and Max took off instantly. I told James and Tommy to go call the police while me and Net went to go help "
" What was going through your mind during the incident "
" I was furious. NuNew had previously mentioned how his biggest fear was seeing his friends get hurt by Nate and not be able to do anything. When I saw that happening I was consumed by anger. They were hurting my friends. Not only that it was people who caused NuNew so much pain "
" How did NuNew start to act after the incident "
" He went back in the progress that he made in his recovery. It's like he built another wall around himself. He was so afraid to have people near him for a while because he kept thinking that others would get hurt. Even when we got back to the school he struggled for a long time. He couldn't really control his emotions and often got mad or scared by the smallest things "
" What happened when you herd that the video from the first attack was posted "
" Zee had texted our group chat to meet at the nurses room immediately. I was with Tommy so we left class and ran to the nurses office. There he showed us the video. When we tried to contact NuNew we couldn't get ahold of him. Zee said he knew a possible place that he could be so all of us as well as the doctor followed Zee quickly. As soon as we saw NuNew it was clear he wasn't ok "
" Why was it easy to tell "
" his whole body was shaking and he was looking at us like he couldn't understand us. He was crying and screaming to turn it off and that it's so loud "
" Turn what off "
" We we're all confused at first until NuNew looked at Nat and he was able to understand. NuNew had thrown his phone and shattered the screen so you couldn't use it. The video was loud and you could hear him screaming constantly. He didn't start to calm down until the phone was turned off "
" What about the incident where he got animal blood thrown on him " Mrs.T asked. He instantly covers his ears. Blocking the sound. Not wanting to hear him talk about it. He only stops covering his ears when Nat taps him gently on the shoulder.
" How has he been acting while you guys are at his house "
" Although there are a couple times that he's smiling and having fun. He's mostly sad and stressed. Even when he's having fun you can still tell that he's extremely stressed. He often wants to be in his room "
" does he ever talk alone with anyone "
" If he ever talks alone with someone it's usually with Zee or Nat. They are the closest people to him "
" Why do you say that "
" Zee can usually help NuNew calm down in situations where he's scared or panicking. He often says he feels safe when he's with Zee. When there are times that Zee can't understand what he needs to do in order to help NuNew calm down or times where NuNew can't say what he needs Nat can often tell. With just a single look they can understand what each other need "
" I'm done questioning Jimmy Judge " Mrs.T says.
" Please leave the stand Jimmy ". Once Jimmy is back with the others the Judge says " I'm giving everyone a 10 minute recess starting now ".
Max's father has them all go back into the small room. When he gets inside the room he walks over to a chair and sits on it. " What's going through your head NuNew " Max asked him. He takes a deep breath and says " All of this. For $300. He knowingly told Nate my sexuality, putting me in danger just to get some games. I never knew it was Noah that told Nate. I never even knew that Nate hasn't just done this to me but to others as well. I'm not the first person he's beat just for being gay " he says holding back his tears. Nat hands him a glass of water. " The worst thing is. I want to send Noah to prison so bad after finding this out. Yet there's nothing we can use to send him to prison " he says before drinking the water. " Even if we don't send him to prison the media knows who he is, what he looks like and what he's done. So that's almost a worse punishment " Nat says. He just nods his head before putting the glass of water on to the table. " How many people are left that need to give their testimony today " he asked Mrs.T . " There's only two more people ". He nods before standing up. " Times about to be up we should head back out there " Max's father says. They all agree and go back to their seats. Preparing for the next testimonies.

Word Count: 4819