After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 90

July 29, 1993. 10:39 AM.

Bright and early on Thursday morning, Dana Barnes took to the front of the courtroom to continue her pursuit to convict Jack Merridew. She picked up where she left off yesterday afternoon; grilling Jack's high school teachers for evidence that the boy's violent tendencies continued after the island. After finishing with his eighth grade teacher yesterday afternoon, Barnes spent the morning thus far questioning Jack's ninth and tenth grade teachers.

The two testimonies revealed that Jack Merridew was still a bully when provoked. The teachers admitted that Jack could be aggressive at times, lashing out and yelling when another student or even another teacher upset him in any way. It was a struggle to get him to do his work when he didn't want to, but he was certainly capable when he did try. Jack evidently had issues with authority. He didn't respond well when an adult or anyone told him what to do. He'd work only when he felt like it. Jack clearly wanted to be in charge of himself, and would only do his job if he felt it was his choice.

Jack was supposed to be going into the eleventh grade now, his junior year, but the trial would continue into the new school year, and the Merridews decided to wait until the end of the trial to send him back to school. And with that, there were no more teachers to take the stand to speak to Jack's post-island recovery in the classroom. And so right on schedule, Judge Eldeson adjourned court for the noon recess.

"Why didn't anyone tell us that you were having a hard time at school?" Paige asked her brother as they sat out on the courthouse steps, munching on their Subway sandwiches under the summer sun.

"They did" Jack insisted with a mouth full of bread and lettuce, "you just didn't get the message."

"And why's that?" Paige asked knowingly, and accusingly. She already knew why, but she wanted Jack to admit it.

"I never gave you or Dad any of the letters they sent home. And I took the ones out of the mail that had the school's insignia on it" Jack shamelessly confessed.

"Jack" Paige sighed with disappointment, "you keep doing shit like that and you're gonna get expelled."

"Good" Jack retorted, "I hate that place anyway. And besides, it's not like it matters anymore, I'm going to juvie once this stupid trial ends."

"You don't know that" Paige gently insisted.

"Now who's being stupid" Jack countered.

"Don't give up before they even get a chance to tell your side of the story" Paige pointed out.

"No matter how the defense spins it, Simon and Piggy are still dead. And I'm still a delinquent with a record that started long before the island and continued long after it. Someone's gonna go down for this, P. You really think its gonna be Ralph or the kids who were in the second grade on the island?"

"I think I don't know how it's gonna go yet" Paige reminded him, "and neither do you."

"If you don't get your head out of the clouds before the verdict, you're gonna get crushed when reality comes flying in and hits you like a truck" Jack commented bitterly as he rose to his feet, crumbled his empty sandwich wrapper in his fist, and abandoned her on the steps.

Judge Eldeson brought court back into session shortly after 1:00 before handing the floor back over to Barnes. The prosecutor called a couple of Jack's more recent classmates to testify that afternoon, followed by his current baseball coach, swim coach, and the high school teacher who headed up the debate team Jack was on in his freshman and sophomore years.

By the time Barnes called her final witness for the day, it was nearly 4:15 PM. Jack was so exhausted from listening to people he barely considered acquaintances speak ill of him all day, that he could've fallen asleep right there in the gallery. Brett whispered subtly into his ear to remind him to sit up straight and keep his eyes open, and it certainly wasn't the first time Brett had to do that.