ꨄThe Debutanteꨄ

112.

...

6 Months Later

...

Anika stood before the judge with a shaky breath and a heart that was beating rapidly. She awaited the judges response to her appeal.

Cookie, Jamal, Hakeem, and Andre sat present in the stands, including the rest of the jury and lawyers. Lucious was not in the room.

"Your honor, I can openly admit that having the possession of a weapon was completely poor on my part. I wasn't making the smartest decision, but things like this happen when no one expects it. I have never been in a situation such as this before, and I can assure you it was not apart of my life's plans." Anika said.

She and the legal team had been working tirelessly to create a perfect and justifiable appeal process to present to the judge. They had seen Lucious again a few times in between, as the court has to hear his 'side' as well to reassess the trial, although to everyone's surprise, he didn't provide as strongly of an argument as everyone anticipated.

In addition, Anika had a stellar background compared to him. Attending prestige business schools and so on, while not having a single crime on her record until now. A felony truly does damage an image like that. She knew that there was no saving the fact that she approached him with the gun, that she fired it, and that she 'owned' it.

But who wouldn't be ready to retaliate against someone who has tried to kill you, harass you, and threaten you all because you no longer have feelings for them? His reasons for being upset at them were all based on emotion. But she and Cookie retaliated out of self defense. He was going to shoot Cookie, more then likely.

During this appeal, so many emotions of fear, hope, and practically desperation were felt. Each one of Anika's family members were called to the stand to further prove her mild innocence.

Anika was constantly in and out of her cell while simultaneously trying to stay relaxed during this time. She tried not to get into any altercations, but it was extremely difficult when you would deal with women who intentionally try to provoke you. Sometimes they would call her all sorts of unspeakable things, try to fight her, or even try to pimp her.

Anika had no idea how she survived thus far without that happening to her. Being pimped was something that even Cookie had to face at some point, so what makes Anika different? Perhaps it was the way she managed to avoid them. By hiding out and avoiding some dining times. By intentionally finishing her work as soon as possible so that she could leave the earliest. Cookie probably did the same thing. 

They probably viewed her as a challenge because of what she was in for. Anika's sentence was viewed as one of the 'petty crimes' of prison. A mixed girl gets mad at a man and shoots him after he likely treated her like trash. It was common. But having an entire drug ring while potentially meeting some of your previous customers in prison that got locked up for being in possession of your product--they had it out for Cookie the moment they found out she was in there. 

Anika hated to even think about what happened to her in there. But she was glad Cookie survived it.

...

After the appeal trial, which was noted as the final one before a decision was made, Anika immediately got on the phone with Cookie. "So...do you think things are looking good?" Anika asked. Cookie sighed from the other end. "I don't know. I hope so. But I'm unsure. The judge seems to take a liking to you, but then again you some of the things you did can't be cleared up." Said Cookie. "I know, I know. I'm just so tired. We have been waiting so long for this day. I don't know who else is left for them to question." Said Anika.