Stay Courageous

Chapter 36

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Stella's POV

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I tugged on the hem of the itchy, formal dress I had to wear to court. It was achingly uncomfortable. Nothing really interesting or dramatic happened like it does on TV, the judge just read some things and my parents both made statements and then Nick made a statement. He didn't have to be asked who he's going to live with since he's over eighteen. Now was the scary part. Now it's my turn.

"Would Stella Allison Ridley please approach the witness stand?" The judge looked straight at me, and I walked to the the literal witness stand. It was quite nerve racking. It felt like all eyes were on me, even though the only people in the court room were my parents, their lawyers, Nick, Ms. Nancy and Max, and my five friends. They came just to support me. Even Zoe managed to throw on an appropriate dress.

"Miss Ridley, being over the age of thirteen, you have a say in which of your parents gets custody over you. Given the reviews from the social workers, both your parents personal statement, and your own personal experiences, who would you choose to take full custody over you? Your mother, or your father?" I counted my heartbeats... one... two... three... I felt the sweat sliding down my back as I prepared my answer to this long awaited question. "Miss Ridley?" Three... Four... My nervous eyes darted between my two parents. "Miss Ridley?" Five... Six...

From the small audience, I locked eyes with Zoe. I saw her move her hands up and down, signaling me to breathe. I didn't realize I had been holding my breath. The Earth seemed to turn in slow motion as I saw her mouth the words "be courageous."

"STELLA!" I snapped out of my daze when I heard my father yell at me.

"What?" I said innocently, completely caught off guard.

"Answer the man's question!" My dad's eyes got big as he pointed me towards the judge with his eyes. I looked above me and to my right and locked eyes with the judge. He was a large, black man with kindness in his eyes. I took a deep breath.

"I want to live with my father," when I uttered the words, it felt as if the weight of the whole world was lifted off my shoulders.

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James' POV

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"I want to live with my father."

My daughter looked straight into the eyes of the hulking, somewhat scary looking judge and answered his question of who she'd rather live with. And she chose me. She'd rather live with me.

Right then and there, I remember putting my elbows on the table, putting my head in my hands and just sobbing. I cried. In front of Thalia, in front of Nancy, in front of my daughter's friends, in front of my son, everyone! This whole ordeal was finally over and I was so relieved that all my emotions came out at once. I could not control myself. At this point, the case would still have to be reviewed and the judge would come back in about three days to give the custody papers to whomever won. To whomever won my daughter. What a horrible thing to say. But, none of that mattered. If it was Stella's choice, she'd rather live with me.

When I removed my hands from my eyes, the first thing I saw was my lawyer giving me a strange look. To hell with him, he probably didn't know what it was like to have a daughter he loved. Not bearing to look at Thalia, I turned all the way around in my seat. Nancy was smiling at me, and tears were running down her cheeks too. Even Max, who almost never breaks his straight face, was smiling. I jumped over the little wall that separated the audience from the rest of the courtroom and I hugged my girlfriend. I hugged her long and I hugged her hard and I breathed in the smell of the shampoo in her hair and everything was perfect in that moment.

I looked further behind me where my daughter's friends were taking up the back row: Zoe, Katherine, Samantha, Taylor, and Emily. I ran out of the row that Nancy and Max were seated on and all the way to the back where I hugged each one of them as well. I was so happy. Zoe hugged me back as hard as I was hugging her and said "Congratulations, Mr. Ridley. Stella really loves you, ya know."

"Mr. Ridley?" I raised an eyebrow at her when I let go, being silly. "Zoe honey, you're as much of my daughter as Stella is! All Y'all are!" I gestured to the other five girls and they erupted in a chorus of 'aws' before attacking me in a group hug.

"Hey, can I get in on this too?"

"Stella! Baby!" The other girls backed up and let me embrace my daughter.

"I love you, dad." I felt her hot tears fall on my shoulder.

"I love you too, baby girl," and I hugged her the hardest and the longest of all.

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Zoe's POV

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When Stella first made her statement, I didn't see either of her parent's reactions since I was sitting behind them. It looked like Mr. James was having a panic attack or something, putting his head in his hands for about five minuets. Stella looked really worried as she came back from the witness stand, but then she just smiled when she saw her dad jump up and start acting like his hyper self, hugging everyone in sight.

It wasn't until we came back here and started group hugging all of us that I finally saw Ms. Thalia's eyes. They were filled with longing and remorse and sadness, but her stare was not directed at Stella.

It was directed at Mr. James.

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Stella's POV

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Three days after going to court, we had to go back to hear the judge's rule. This time it was just me, my mom, my dad, and no one else. I cried again when the that fat, kind judge handed my father the custody papers.

Looks like I'm moving to Palm Beach California.

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End of part 36

I'm so sorry if this part was bad or really unrealistic. I have never been to court or had divorced parents so I'm not really writing from experience here. Basically, James got custody of Stella and he was really happy and started acting crazy and jumping over the dividing wall and hugging everyone.

The outfit is what Stella wore to court. Comment if you want to see what Zoe wore to court.

Thanks so much for reading! Two more updates tomorrow. So sad this story is almot at it's end. <3

-SJ