The Unsocial Freak

Chapter 12-The Jury's Verdict

The next morning I woke up and my first thought was Stephanie. Today was the day that Stephanie and Gaby were going to be questioned in court. I had to be there to support Stephanie and I had to know what the verdict was for Karlee. After all, I am Karlee's bestest friend and I vowed to do anything for her ever since the day I met her.

I was very nervous today and I had a bit of trouble trying to find something formal to wear. I haven't worn formal clothes in ages and it was too late to go shopping for some now. Mac kept telling me that I looked beautiful in anything but I snapped back at him telling him that not everything I do is for him and he shut up pretty quickly. I smirked at myself, happy that I had finally shut him up.

It wasn't until there was 15 minutes until we were supposed to be there that I was finally satisfied with what I was wearing. I wore a yellow dress with a white cardigan to go over the top and a pretty flower in my hair that matches the dress. I never usually wore a dress and when I walked out to Mac with one on, and his face lit up instantly.

"You look... beautiful." he told me. He looked handsome in his black tuxedo and it was then that I realised that I was very lucky to have a man like him.

"Oh, please shut up." I said jokingly, taking his hand. His mother offered to drive us to court and I accepted the offer kindly considering I had no idea where to go if we walked. His mother was so kind and that was definitely one of the reasons why I liked Mac's family so much.

The trip was shorter than I expected and by the time I knew it, we were already there standing out the front waiting for the que to go in. I was shaking and felt Mac squeeze my hand reassuringly.

I've never been to such a big and fancy place before. The huge polished building had a clean marble staircase leading up to two large doors that went into the building.

I felt like I was in a totally different universe. Red carpet was placed in the middle of the room down the aisle of wooden benches. At the front on the far left was an old fashioned typewriter for an old lady to type things on, next to that there was a high desk where the judge sits, beside that was a red box with a chair in it and on the far left was where the jury sat. In front of all this were chairs for the lawyers to sit in and behind that were the chairs we sat in to watch it all.

As we sat down we saw the whole party walk down the aisle towards the front, the judge following them. Gaby was first to sit in the red chamber box and the first to be questioned by Karlee's father's lawyer. Gaby didn't look like she cared at all and tried to make up a story along the way. She said how it wasn't her fault because the stuff 'just went in the way' itself. I stared at her threateningly the whole time she opened her mouth. I hated her guts and if nobody noticed that by now then they were obviously very stupid and had to be mentally retarded.

It all went too fast and by the time I knew it, a crying Stephanie had stepped up for her turn to be questioned. I gulped, hoping for the best. Whatever they decided to do her I hoped they'd do to Gaby ten times harder.

It took a while but when Stephanie finally opened her mouth to tell her side of the story, the whole chamber went quiet. At this point you could hear a pin drop after every stutter that carefully came out of Stephanie's mouth.

"So we were walking to school a-and Gaby was telling me about h-how she hated E-Emily and how she would k-kill to get Mac back for the popularity. B-By the time I knew it, G-Gaby was forcing me to throw rocks at K-Karlee's car. I only threw one and she e-encouraged me to throw more b-but I told her to stop. S-She didn't listen and started t-throwing them herself. I wanted t-to run and hide. I had enough and I felt l-like I wanted to kill myself. I-I didn't even know why I-I was still friends with Gaby because she has p-put me through so much and I n-never intended to do anything. I-I'm sorry for throwing a rock at Karlee's car. I really am."

"But how did the car crash into the debris?" the lawyer asked. I knew at this point that there was no hope anymore for Stephanie and that Gaby going first had jeopardised everything. I wanted to walk out and cry but I knew that by doing that I would be betraying Karlee and her father and I really wanted what was best for them at this point.

Stephanie gulped. "I w-was angry and I didn't know what t-to do. It was m-me who pushed that b-branch in the middle of the road... It was me." The last sentence was only just a whisper. I froze. This wasn't the story that Stephanie had told me when she confronted me the other day. Why would she do something like that?

The thought stayed in my head the whole way home that night. The jury had decided that Gaby and Stephanie were to spend some time in juvenile prison. I wanted to talk to Stephanie and to tell her that everything was alright. I wasn't sure if it was either my nervousness or Mac's firm grip on my hand that stopped me but I knew for a fact that what I did was right. I honestly didn't feel like talking to anyone right now and I knew that if I went over there that I would just make it all worse.

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sorry for not updating in like ages. I've got big stuff planned but so much writers block that it isn't even funny. thank you for hanging in there though. I promise I'll try and update as often as I can for you <3