Raising Isaiah (No future updates)

Chapter 52

Zeke's POV

It was weird to be in court during the same week of prom.

I'd always picture my senior year would focus on winning the championship game, getting accepted into Duke and going to prom with Amber.

But my reality was totally different.

I was going to prom, but with a busted leg and no championship game under my belt. I'd gotten accepted to Duke, but I wasn't going. I was going to prom during a time of social turmoil where almost everyone believed I'd raped Raquel. I was going to prom as a soon-to-be father with a girl who'd been someone to fool around with but now had my heart. I was going to prom with a mother who'd blacked mailed my friends and disappeared off the face of the earth.

And I was in court.

The judge presiding was Judge Balor. She was younger than I'd pictured, somewhere in her late thirties. She sat at the head of the room, her dark robe in deep contrast with her brown skin and her black hair cut in a shoulder length style. Her demeanor was like one of a queen almost, regal and serious but seemingly kind. I watched as she listened intently to the lawyer who represented Raquel. Raquel's lawyer was a woman as well. An Asian woman that Balor kept calling "Counselor Wang". The woman was slim and dressed in a pants suit and heels. She seemed very charismatic toward Judge Balor, she even joked a few times at the beginning of the session causing Balor and a few others in the room to laugh.

Mrs. Redd didn't laugh.

She sat next to me looking through her own paperwork and every now and again she'd freeze and listen intently to what was being said. She'd ditched her usual pants suit and wore a skirt, blouse and a suit jacket. Her hair was in its usual low bun.

"Raquel Cross, my client", Wang stepped around the table that she and Raquel shared, "Has made it clear that she'd ventured upstairs after Mr. Morgan in an attempt to make sure he was okay. They've been long time friends since the beginning of their high school career—"

"If I may," Mrs. Redd interrupted.

"You may." Judge Balor nodded.

"My client asserts that Miss. Cross and he were never friends. She is actually an associate of his former girlfriend."

"So, they ran in the same circles." Wang shrugged.

"They've done more than that," Mrs. Redd countered. "Miss. Cross and my client have had consensual sex multiple times over the last few years."

I inwardly cringed as Mrs. Redd stated what was fact.

It had been embarrassingly hard to tell her my sexual history, but she insisted that I'd be open with her if I wanted to win the case. I'd held back because I didn't want to give she and Mr. Redd one more reason to insist that Symone and I shouldn't be together. I relented knowing that going down for this false rape would be worse than owning up to my past infidelities.

"I'd like to call my client to the stand." Wang gestured for Raquel to go up.

Raquel clicked up to her seat next to the judge. Once seated Wang centered herself in the middle of the courtroom.

"Miss. Cross," she smiled warmly at Raquel. "I know it is difficult for you to be here today."

"Very." Raquel lowered her head.

"I understand." Wang nodded. "I'm going to ask you a few questions about that night. When was the first time you saw Mr. Morgan that night?"

"After the pep rally a lot of us hang out in the school's parking lot. We listen to music and just talk. I saw him there."