"Little Girl" - lrh

31

A lot of things were said, harsh things: lies, excuses, accusations, fingers pointing, and so much swearing. I think the judge hadn't ever witnessed an audience quite like ours. Michael was there, Mali-koa, Mr. and Mrs. Hood, even Lana showed up to support Alice.

They blew up the pictures of me and had them displayed on a huge screen for everyone to see. Snickers were hushed quickly by the banging of the gavel, but it didn't ease my raising blood pressure at the fact people, strangers, were oggling my bare ass.

"Sir," Calum's lawyer cleared his throat, standing up apprehensively. "Permission to speak?"

"Permission granted," the judge's voice sounded almost exactly how you imagine it would for an old man.

"I fear that this isn't quite necessary to the trial," he gestured to the display of my naked body. Sure, it was censored, but I could quite literally see women fanning themselves in the back while guys were glaring at me. I told myself it was out of jealousy because I don't think I could handle anymore humiliation.

"I fear that it is, in fact, incredibly necessary to the trial," Mrs. Ryley very graciously offered to handle the case at my defense. "We can clearly see that these photos, from your client's cell phone, were taken while my client was entirely unaware.

"Mr. Hood had been asked on numerous occasions to stop showing up at their residence and he continued showing up. Not only to disturb Alice, but to obviously take sneaky photos of Mr. Hemmings while he was nude." The judge merely nodded.

"Your honor, this is speculation!"

"I fear that with evidence like this, there is not much to speculate," the judge dismissed Calum's lawyer a majority of the hearing. As I sat there, I remembered Jess' excerpt in her journal where she had a dream about a noisy courtroom, complete with yelling. It was unfolding, right before my eyes as I remained silent until I was called upon to the witness stand.

"Mr. Hemmings," his lawyer had begun, visibly sweating due to realizing he cannot help his client out of this. "Is it true that Calum and Alice have been friends for quite some time?"

"Yes," Mrs. Ryley trained me to not over speak, as I typically do, before this. She said it can cause the lawyer to over speak themselves, digging them and their client so deep they can't pull each other out.

"Is it also true that the two were dating?" I took a deep breath, reminding myself he only asked to receive a reaction from me. It was possible Calum told him everything, and I mean everything. I just needed to play along.

But something is feeling very off about this. The hearing went well for us as all we really needed to do was plead our case; an agreement couldn't be met because we don't trust Calum enough to actually leave us alone. Then, I was suddenly on a witness stand. I don't know much about restraining orders, or courts in general, but I don't feel like this should be a public thing.

"To my knowledge, no, they were not dating."

"Could you maybe clarify for the court, what you mean by that?" I wished I could remember his name. Carly said she knew a couple witches that could lay a mean hex.

"Your honor, relevance?" Mrs. Ryley interjected.

"I'll allow the question," the old judge looked down at me. "Go ahead, son."

"Well," I started, sitting up straighter and clearing my throat. Don't say too many words, Hemmings. "What I mean by that is I am only aware of what I am told. I had asked, more than once, if Alice and Calum were dating.

"Alice always told me no, and Calum never gave me a clear answer. So, to my knowledge, no the two of them were not, nor have ever dated." I glanced to my lawyer, and she gave me a subtle thumbs up.