𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒, 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

FORTY-THREE| court troubles

"Bailiff!"

Pope tries to calm his friends down, "You're good, you're good—"

Eden ignored the Heyward boy and continued to call out to the judge, still utterly upset about the sentence. "No, I'm not good, Pope. She can't do that—Your Honor, he's seventeen! You can't do that!"

At the sound of his friends yelling, John B. turns to look back and Eden's heart sinks as she notices the terrified expression he holds. His eyes are widened and he tries to take in his friends because in all honesty, he doesn't know if he'll see them all again. 

"Hey, John B—John B., we're gonna figure it out." the Maybank boy calls out to the boy, pointing at the Routledge.

"John B.!" Sarah's voice wailed as she pushed past Eden towards the front of the courtroom. She couldn't let them take him away from her. She let the fear of not seeing him again lead her forward, "John B.!" The boy turned back to look at her, eyes hollow. "John B.—no!"

An officer stepped in front of the Cameron girl with an unamused expression, dismissing her by placing his hands on her figure and pushing her backwards.

"Sarah—don't touch her! Leave her alone!" Eden raised her voice at the cop, grabbing Sarah's hand and pulling her back. She leans to the side to see her best friend, meeting his gaze with soft features. She nods firmly; We'll take care of her. Despite the cop in front of her, she calls out once more, "We got you, John! We're gonna get you out of here!"

"Eden, Sarah, come on." Kiara approaches the two girls, taking the Cameron's free hand in her own to start pulling her towards the courthouse doors. "Let's get out of here."

The Pogues exit the courthouse angry and distraught, which the comments from the amongst others didn't help with. 

"Justice is served."

"He had it coming."

The Kooks around whispered and gossiped about the sentence as if it were mere gossip rather than a seventeen year old's life on the line and it made Eden want to punch one of them in the face.

"Is this a joke?" Kiara scoffed humorlessly as they exited the courthouse, whispering quick to hit their ears. "Like, are we in hell, or......?"

Voice wobbling, Sarah states, "I should have never come home."

"They're gonna kill him, guys." JJ says, looking at his friends with tense features. "I know it."

Eden tries to think of the better side of things, but she couldn't. There's no way that John B. wouldn't be tried and killed for the murder of Peterkin, no matter how many people tried to prove he was innocent. Ward Cameron wouldn't let it happen—not when he was this close to being out of the story entirely.

But, despite the shitty odds, Eden would try. She would try with her friends to get him out of jail, to prove him innocent, before he was taken away for good. "We'll get him out before that. We'll find something—"

"I'm so sorry about what you and your family have gone through. Thank God the system works."

The Pogues whirl around to see a man speaking to Ward Cameron, a solemn expression on his face—as if Ward went through shit. It pissed Eden Bexley off to say the least, and she couldn't help herself as her voice echoed, "Excuse me?"

The Bexley's eyes suddenly narrow in on her parents, standing at Ward's side and if anything that made her even more pissed off.

So, she proceeded to call out the man.

"If anyone deserves an apology, it's John B." 

"He'll have his day in court." The man who'd originally spoken replied, sending a pointed gaze her way. Ward and Rose watched to the side, while Isla and Tom went thin lipped at the sight of their daughter standing up for the accused murderer—for making a scene. "A jury will decide."