Rosemary and Juliet

The Final Plan

Juliet

"Well, our final court hearing is on Saturday," Rose told Amilia on speaker phone. "You guys are going to be there, right?"

"Rosey, we wouldn't miss this for the world! We are in it with you one hundred percent!" Ami assured them.

"Thank you so much," Juliet said. Over the months, she'd grown to quite like Amilia.

"Of course! We have to look out for each other in this community. It's what makes the LGBT+ community so much like a family, you know?"

"Yeah," Rose replied.

After they hung up, Juliet laid back on their bed. "I think things are finally looking up for this case, Rosey."

"I sure hope so," Rosemary sighed, laying beside her. "I can't take much more of this."

****

The first part that went wrong was the court date being pushed back a week. They let Amilia and her friends know about the change, and they said that they would still try to be there.

Sitting in court, waiting for it to begin, Juliet looked for the faces that she'd grown to recognize. This was supposed to be the day that they all met in person, hung out together, celebrated winning the case. As she searched, though, she realized that she couldn't see them.

It was a crowded courtroom, though, so she figured that maybe Rose could see them. Her eyesight was a bit better, anyways.

"Rose, do you see Amilia and her friends?"

Rosemary turned around and looked, but turned back to Juliet looking a little distraught. "No."

After the realization that they weren't there supporting them, Juliet felt a little off her game. Even Rosemary had lost a significant amount of her spunk while presenting her argument. They fought back and forth, trying to get the judge to see their side.

"We don't know how to protect ourselves, we hardly know how to do most things! We're teenagers. An assembly would teach them what to do if they were in a threatening situation, it could keep them better informed on protecting themselves on social media, and that could result in better protected teens!" Rosemary said, but her voice was more desperate than it was convincing.

"I understand that the school board is trying to act in our best interest," Juliet added. "But I also believe that they're wrong this time. They were wrong on the Day of Silence, weren't they?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Capulet, but it just isn't a valid case," the judge insisted. "Your idea for an assembly is wonderful in theory, but the reality is that it could create more problems than it would solve. It wouldn't save anyone, and it wouldn't be worth it. I will not overturn the school board's decision."

"Tell me that again when you find a god damn suspect," she hissed back. There was way too much stress for this.

"Case dismissed, please exit the courtroom. And if I were you girls," the judge added, "I would give up."

Rosemary marched up to where she sat and looked up at her. "Ma'am, I'm sure that you believe as much as most people your age that at least this killer is ridding the streets of these filthy faggots, right? Well, with all due respect, Your Honor, I'm one of those 'filthy faggots' and my girlfriend here is too, making us in danger. So you can sit there and pretend like you're washing your hands of this like Pilot, or you can admit that until you stand up and do the right thing, these kids' blood is on your hands! You're not protecting anyone here!"

The two of them left the courtroom, Agents Simon and Sanders following them. "That was a brave speech," she complimented. "If you didn't throw in that 'with all due respect, Your Honor' though, I'm pretty sure you'd be in jail right now."