Element Guardians *To-Be-Edited*

30 ~ Court Troubles

Tuesday really didn’t do my accident yesterday any better and when Wednesday lunchtime came, I was desperate to go to Ashleigh’s trial.

It started in an hour and a half and the city was probably half an hour’s drive away not to mention taking another half hour to find a parking spot then locate the trial room!

“Anything?” I prompted.

“No,” he replied and ruffled my hair affectionately. “Rose, don’t panic. Dad promised he’d take us.”

“Me too right?” Felix piped up.

“What did your parents say?”

I clamped my mouth shut, not wanting to speak to anybody but Cale. I will speak if – no – when Ashleigh gets out of the detention centre fair and square.

“Rosella and Cale Alcot? Felix Zathe?” A small petite Chinese girl ran up to the three of us by the English block shade area, her face red probably from running. She waved three paper slips in the air and bore a green tag with the word MESSENGER coloured on it. “For you guys.”

Handing us the slips, she ran off obviously trying to locate other students that needed notes delivered to.

Eagerly, I swept up my bag and ran for the front office. I ditched Felix and Cale; they could catch up.

“I have an early release note,” I said breathlessly at the front desk and slapped the purple piece of paper down on the counter. The excitement of seeing Ashleigh in person once more started to pump energy into me.

“Your father is just outside,” the receptionist said kindly. “And the other two –”

“Here,” Felix said abruptly, giving the lady a small grin then fell in step with me. “Excited to see Ash?”

“What do you think?” I retorted, feeling more like myself than ever.

He held up his hands in defeat and plastered a grin on his face. “Glad to see you’re back to yourself.”

“Just know you’ve still got to fix you know what,” I reminded lowly, following dad into the car and hopped into the back seat. Like always, Cale got the front seat and I was left in the back with Felix. So nothing much had changed apart from dad being completely emo. Not cool . . .

“I’ll be dropping you off and picking you up as soon as the trial is finished and the verdict is given,” he said emotionlessly, igniting the engine and started to cruise out of the school’s drive.

Goodbye evil Mischa, hello Ashleigh!

The whole car ride may have been silent but inside my head it wasn’t. What would happen at the trial? Would the judge find her guilty? What sort of evidence would they even have against her? Was it possible that she could be sentenced to the detention centre until she turned eighteen?

The horror of the thought struck a nerve. That would be awful! How on earth could we do anything without Ashleigh? How could we complete the quest and more importantly, how could I go on without my best friend?

“Rose calm down,” Felix mumbled, patting my shoulder awkwardly.

I turned away, pressing my forehead against the window and waited for the car to come to a slow, soft stop. When it did, I didn’t hesitate to leap out of the door and start jogging on the spot impatiently. “Hurry up!”

“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Cale and Felix chimed, jumping out with dad.

“Come on dad!” I begged. “What if we’re late?”