Harry’s POV
At one-o-clock sharp, the student life committee opened the doors of the trial room and everyone walked back into their respectful. Neither side even motioned to look at the other until everyone was seated. The student life committee then sat down in the middle as the referee and jury at the same time.
“Thank you everyone for coming back,” The head of the committee began, “We will be cross-examining the prosecution first and then will we ask questions first. First, we ask for Callie Taylor to take the stand,” Callie looked perplexed as she walked up to the stand. Callie quickly regained her composure as soon as got on the podium. “Miss Taylor, we have questions on your testimony that we want to ask you. Did Harry Styles stay in your room for multiple nights?”
“Yes, on my honor,” Callie answered.
“For how long?” The leader gave her a stern look.
“It was for a week. It was our last week together,” Callie recounted bitterly.
“Was intercourse the cause of this breakup?”
“Yes,” Callie replied ruefully.
“Who broke up with who?”
“Harry broke up with me,”
“Did he say why?” The question clearly got caught her off guard and I can feel myself smiling internally.
“I have no comment,” Callie bit her lip nervously.
“Then explain to me why on your search history, which Van Buren is allowed to read in given circumstances, are there searches for sex positions, best sex lubricants, and sex tricks to keep a boyfriend?”
Callie was sweating profusely from my angle. “I researched those after Harry,” Callie lied.
“From our research, you did these searches on November 11 and 12. Why you were looking these up?” I stared coldly at her quite curious myself.
“I didn’t want Harry to break up with me and I was afraid he was going to if I didn’t do something,” Callie confessed.
“Why?” The head of the committee asked for the umpteenth time.
“I wanted us to be together. I couldn’t see myself without him,” Callie exaggerated. Well, there might some truth, but it was very little. I can tell now.
“Are those the only reasons?”
“Excuse me?” Callie retorted.
“Was that the only reason you wanted to stay with Harry Styles or were there other reasons?”
“I wanted to have him, I didn’t want him to be with…Jenny,” The name came out of Callie’s mouth like vinegar. She couldn’t bring herself to say Jenny’s name without thinking colorful words.
“Did you think you were better girlfriend for him even though that is clearly his decision?” The head retorted back.
“Who do you think you are? My dad could put you out of your jobs if I had a real trial,” Callie threatened.
“Answer the question, Miss Taylor,” The head asserted.
“In my mind, yes, I am the better girlfriend. I can fulfill him in many ways that Jenny can’t,” Callie told them. Bullshit. It took everything within me to contain myself, but at the same time, I was extremely enjoying this watching her get flustered.
“I think we have heard, all we needed to hear from you, thank you, Miss Taylor. You may sit down now,” Callie followed her orders and began to sit down quietly. “Now, those are the only questions we have for the prosecution. From the defendant side, we ask for Harry Styles to take the stand,” I gulped nervously and I took to the podium. I put a tightlipped smile on my face as I waited for questions. “Mr. Styles, why did you break up with Callie Taylor?”
“When I broke up with Jenny, my present girlfriend, I was still with Callie. I had realized after my breakup with Jenny that Callie and I were not meant to be. I didn’t realize that completely until after we had consummated,” I answered truthfully.
“Why did you consummate with Callie?” The head asked me.
“I gave into temptation, that’s all it was. There was little emotional reason to do it at all,” I looked at Callie at a glance and I can see that planted a dagger in her heart which makes me feel bad, but I am actually being honest.
“You would say you were forced to have sex with her?” She asked me.
“I would not go that far, but I can say I did not see a way I could’ve convinced to not have done it,” I answered, “She refused to acknowledge any refusal from my part when I made myself clear,”
“Did she hurt you at all?”
“No, she did not. All contact between us was purely sexual,” I answered calmly.
“Did you want to have sex with her in the first place?”
“No,” I spat out.
“I think that is all we need to know from you, you may sit down,” I smiled back and I made my way back to my seat. Judging from my questions compared to Jenny’s, maybe they do think she’s lying. I really hope so. “Next, we want Jenny Roe to take the stage,” Jenny looked nervous, but she got up and made her way to the podium.
“Were you aware that Harry and Callie were dating?” The committee clarified.
“Not until the day we broke up,” Jenny told her.
“Were you aware that Harry was using your bed when he was exclusively dating Callie?” Jeez, I feel like such a jerk they had to add the exclusive part. Jenny looked to me. I nodded to her.
“I was suspicious he was at the time, but it was not confirmed to me until Harry and I talked about a week ago,” Jenny answered.
“Do you think you make an ideal girlfriend for Harry?” I cocked my eyebrow at that question. My head tried to scramble to think of the relevance of the fact.
“I think Harry knows the answer to that one, not me,” Jenny answered. Good answer, I approve.
“How did you react to the news of hearing about Harry having sex with your roommate?”
“I felt sorry for him, he was crying when he told me,” Jenny answered bleakly.
“Did Harry show any regret or remorse over his actions with Callie?”
“Yes, he did regret immensely everything he did with Callie,” Jenny replied sadly.
“Thank you, Miss Roe. You may take a seat,” Jenny brushed her eyes and then headed off the podium. When Jenny sat next to me, I held her hand. Jenny looked up at me and smiled. I mouthed, “Thank you,” to her and she kissed my cheek as an answer. I think my heart just exploded. As I felt everything gushing within me, the stark voice of the committee brought me back from the heavens, “Miss Ruby, can you please take the stand?”
The RA got up nervously and took a seat. “Why did you never tell the dorm mom about the possibility of a boy staying in a girls’ dorm room for a whole week?” The tone went from harsh with Jenny, concerned with me, sympathetic with Jenny, and now accusatory with Tori. I was taken aback by the ruthlessness of the question.
“There was no concrete evidence of Harry himself until the very last day. Also, after the last day, Callie seemed way more down than usual which only confirmed what I had saw the day before,”
“Did you ever report of this?”
“I told my dorm mom, but there was nothing we could do since Callie was not in violation at the time I reported,”
“So, you’re saying a girl can get away with shacking up with her boyfriend in her room as long as he not seen at the curfew call?” The head jeered sinisterly.
“What I am saying, as long as there is concrete evidence, we can suspend anybody at will,” Tori barked angrily, “but in this case, Harry and Callie were hiding so well, that I did a room check of both the bathroom and her room that he was never seen,”
“You never saw anything unusual enough to report while this incident was going on?”
“No, ma’am, the evidence was simply not there, and Harry’s RA never reported to us that he was missing,” Tori answered truthfully.
“Did you ever hear of what was reported to Harry’s RA?” The head of the committee asked.
“I defer to Niall, for the answer,” Tori answered. Niall snapped up in alarm and nervously walked up to the podium. He was brushing his hair and breathing irregularly.
“I lied to the RA saying that Harry had unexpected business to take care of in England,” Niall confessed, “I never told him Harry was at a girls’ dorm,”
“Did you ever tell your RA the truth afterwards?”
“No, I did not, it’s not his business,” Niall refuted.
“Why did you feel the need to lie?” The head asked softly.
“I didn’t want Harry to get in trouble,” Niall answered, “I didn’t want to be kicked out of school,”
“Thank you, both of you, you may sit down now,” The head of the committee motioned to both of them. Both of them sat down while chatter was conversed between the entire committee. After a few moments, the head declared, “The committee will vote on what we will decide in a separate room. We will leave, but everyone is free to remain here. We will be back shortly,” The entire committee then got up and quietly walked out of the room. When the doors shut, Callie glared at us.
I thought Callie would chomp us down, but all she really did was flash a really inappropriate hand sign at us and then focused on her group of friends. I calmed down afterwards and I turned towards my group. I could tell everyone’s faces that they were anxious about the results.
After an hour, the committee walked back in. All conversation had ceased and all the committee had taken their seat except the head of the committee. The head walked up to the podium and I can feel the tension bearing down on the whole room. The air was so thick, I’m sure it was solid for a moment.
“After much deliberation, our committee has decided how we are handling the suspensions of this case. Tori Ruby,” Tori looked at her nervously, “It has been decided by us that starting next semester you are unfit to serve as RA for the rest of your time here at Van Buren. While your grades are fine and you have no problems with conduct, your judgment was lacking in this situation. We are sorry to inform you that this, but we do not you wanting to slip up on a situation like this again,” Tori nodded like she expected that type of response. Sarah and Jenny hugged Tori in response.
“All other side witnesses on the other hand are free from any charge. None of them did wrongdoing worthy of a suspension,” Niall, Sarah, and Jenny all exhaled slowly. Niall looked relieved. “However, that cannot be said of the prosecutor and the defendant,” What, no, no, this can’t be happening. I started doing numerous nervous habits at once. “Harry Styles,” My eyes focused on only her.
“We feel in some ways, you were wrongly mistreated by Miss Taylor, however,” My breath hitched, “You still consummated which is against school policy and you stayed in a girls’ room which is also against school policy. We are not making you do the full punishment of both violations of a suspension of a whole year put together, however, you are still suspended for a week effective in 24 hours. You will not be allowed to step on campus and if you get caught on campus during your suspension, you will be immediately expelled. Do you understand?” I nodded my head eagerly. Man, I feel lucky, I only got a week.
“Callie Taylor,” Callie perked up and listened intently, “It has been decided that you have done the most wrongdoing out of anybody and are guilty of sexual harassment against Harry, hosting a boy in your dorm, blatantly lying to the committee of your wrongdoing, forcing your friends to lie for you, and also for forcing unnecessary procedure of this case which could’ve been handled in a simple meet up instead of this extravagant court case. Based on all these accusations, Callie, you are hereby expelled from Van Buren,” Everyone was flabbergasted and literally all jaws fell to the floor.
“You will also have 72 hours to pack all your belongings starting today and move out of your dorm room. If you ever dare to come back to Van Buren, you will be kicked out and arrested for trespassing. All school matters of dropping classes and et cetera, should be done before you leave. Does anyone have any questions before we are dismissed?” The room was silent. “Then this case is adjourned, you are free for the rest of the day.”
Everyone got up slowly except for the Koju group who stormed out of the room in a ferocity that could kill bears with only bare hands. The head of the committee came up to me and I shook her hand. “I’m so sorry about all this, Harry, I truly am. We could’ve handled much more privately than what actually happened, but she refused. We are very sorry your love life was put on public display for everyone to see.”
“No worries, love,” I told her sweetly. “Thank you for reducing my sentence, it means a lot for me that you would do that.”
“No problem, Harry,” The lady answered, “We did that as a way to apologize for the embarrassment and the humiliation this may have put on you and also to apologize for what she put through you. It was obvious to our committee that you were abused by her and we want to help make anything better in any we can,”
“Thank you so much, I truly appreciate what you did,” I told her back. With that, I smiled and we parted ways. I walked out of the room to rejoin the group and I can see all the big grins on everyone’s face.
“Harry! We did it! You’re not going home!” Jenny cried. “I’m so happy!”
“We all knew you didn’t deserve to go home,” Niall winked at me which was strange from him, but I’ll take it in stride.
“Thank you, everyone, truly,” I told them all. “I’m so sorry about your firing, Tori. I should’ve had the guts to come out. This would’ve turned out better for all of this if I had done that.”
“It’s okay,” Tori answered sadly, “I could tell from her questions they were not happy with what I did. It’s too late to do anything about it,”
“We should go celebrate! Let’s go to Misty Oliver’s!” Jenny suggested. With that, the group agreed and that’s where went since it was still late afternoon. I couldn’t help, but worry about one thing though. Where I am going to stay for a week since I’m suspended tomorrow? The questions bothers me as I walk behind the group.
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