Guilty

Juliette

"I will not be partnering with you," I say, coldly.

"Why not?" Zane asks as he follows me to the back of the lecture hall.

"Because I don't want to," I state simply. It's a perfectly reasonable explanation.

He rolls his eyes at me and pulls a chair next to my desk, "I'm going to let that stupid sentence slide because you were recently attacked and probably still suffering some psychological after-effects that cloud your judgement."

Tender like always, Ivory.

I shoot him a bored look and he sighs, clearly distressed.

"You know just as well as I do if we tell Professor Slinn we're a team he'll give us the damn place without us having to argue for it with all the other classes."

"We don't know that," I say, taking out my notebook.

"Yes, the fuck we do. Yale wants to win the contest which means Professor Slinn wants to win the contest which means he wants two competent players. Are you catching my drift?"

He was right of course. If Zane and I were working together we'd be the best representatives for our school and our Professor knew that. Everyone knew that. And that's not even me being cocky, I'm brilliant at maths and the odds simply are tipped in our favour.

"Zane I don't think I could get myself to spend time prepping whatever case comes up with you," I say sweetly.

He makes a disappointed face and gets up and sits in the front of the classroom. I laugh to myself as the lecture starts.

When it's over I grab my things and walk out of the hall, linking arms with Emery the moment I see her as we walk towards the main eating area for students off campus.

"What's got you so riled up? Your cheeks are red," She says, shooting me a curious look.

I hope I didn't look so flustered when I was speaking to Zane earlier. My body has betrayed me once again.

"Zane wants me and him to team up for the Mock alumni thing happening this year," I say with a dramatic sigh.

"The what thing?" Emery frowns as we make our way towards the cafe.

"There's this thing for the people studying Law at Ivy schools where in their last year of college they can participate in a Mock Law alumni event. Two students from each school are selected to represent their school. And they get to work on a real case."

"But what's the point?"

"Those two students are allowed to act as real lawyers for a real case and whoever ends up winning said case or performing the best is guaranteed a spot at whatever law school they then go on to apply to. This year Yale and Harvard have been selected to go head to head."

"Wait only two schools?" She asks me handing me a bottle of water from her purse. We step outside and make a beeline for the cafe. It's not crowed today thank god.

I grab it flashing her a smile, "Yeah there are too many Ivy schools so each year they just select two schools at random. Yale hasn't been picked in like eight years."

I almost crash into Emery when she stops suddenly. I stare at her wildly as she whips around. "You, have the chance of getting into your dream school if you work with Zane. And you're deciding not to?"

"There is no way me and Zane would be able to get any work done. We'd be at each other's throats the entire time," I argue.

"That is such bullshit."

I open my mouth ready to come up with another lame excuse when my phone buzzes with an email.

"Well here's the case and what side we're on," I say dryly looking at my phone.

Lana Reyes, 17, was allegedly raped by her boyfriend Sam Daniels, 18, at a high school party. Lana claims she was drunk and drugged by her boyfriend and he forced himself on her. She woke up naked in bed next to him with no memory of the night before and when chose to confront him he denies rape. Sam claims she came onto him upstairs and didn't display any signs of intoxication via alcohol or drugs. He argues they had consensual sex that night but broke up the morning after which is why she accused him of rape.

My mouth dries as I read over the short briefing. My hands shakily scroll down to the bottom of the email to see what schools have been assigned to what defence.

Harvard: Defence of Sam Daniels
Yale: Defence of Lana Reyes

Defence.

Defence.

I practically throw my water at Emery as I spin around, my eyes scanning the grounds around us. As soon as I spot him I jog over to where he's sitting with a blonde girl I don't recognise on a set of benches. Their knees brush each other every time he laughs.

"Zane," I say. My voice is so icy I'm surprised he doesn't shiver. The blonde girl looks over her shoulder but with one look at my face, she quickly stands up and moves away from the both of us.

"Have you read the case we were given this year?" I ask him, nervously.

He shakes his head at me and I hand him my phone.

After a minute he looks back up at me, his expression is blank. I swallow and then take a step closer to him, "I'll be your partner on the case if you promise me something..."

Zane raised an eyebrow curiously, "Yeah?"

"You and I are going to do everything we can to put Sam Daniels behind bars okay? For a maximum sentence."

"How do you know he's guilty? Innocent until proven guilty." Zane says to me.

"I'd rather defend a liar than a rapist. We have to always believe the victim." I tell him.

Zane hands me back my phone and grins, "Well Juliette looks like you and I are about to get into our dream school. You want to shake on it?"

"Don't push it," I tell him before turning around and walking back over to Emery.