Long chapter ahead people grab a snack :)
~
Me and Isaac get inside the car, and as soon as we're on the road, Isaac holds down the honk and starts laughing. I jump at the sudden sounds but crack a smile.
"Yes!" he screams. "Yes, yes, yes! Fucking yes! I fucking love you!"
"I handled it terribly in comparison to what you said," I say but without the control to hold back my laugh.
"Hell yes you did! But that's the point; you chose the risky over the safe, and you handled it with both emotions and mind tricks. That was so clean. You're officially one of the fucking psychopaths Hayden, but I fucking love you for it!"
I let out a laugh and he rolls down all the windows and the sunroof, raising the volume of the music and honking all the way until we finally get home.
As soon as I step outside Isaac's car, I'm bouncing between embrace after embrace.
"You fucking nailed it!" Thomas exclaims when he lifts me up. I'm laughing during the whole time, almost forgetting the anger I felt just a while ago.
Dylan made it his honor to screamingly spin me around, while Parker just shook his head, his smile giving away his amusement. Elaine told me how awesome it was after a tight hug, while Iona professionally said I did good. And then she hugged me. Kaitlyn just gave me a dry hug, a sign that I need to talk to her later.
When I lay eyes on Landon, his face is the definition of poker face for a minute, but then it cracks, revealing a huge smile on his lips that he decides to put on mine.
I can't recall how many times we've kissed, but one thing is for sure; we've never, ever, kissed in front of the others. Until now.
I hear the sound of a whistle belonging to Thomas and the laugh of the others the second his lips land on mine. His arms are quick to wrap around me and even though I should be redder than a tomato, I'm not. I kiss him back with a smile on my lips and my hands playing around his neck, trying to ignore the others, but it's for no use at all.
"I told you you look good together," Iona's voice reaches my ears, and she was right. She was so right. I wouldn't be able to find better than him, he's perfect. Maybe not perfect as in flawless and everything you expect from the perfect boy, but he's perfect for me. Perfection is about hundred percent, and he fulfills me, makes me hundred percents, and so he's perfect for me.
That's your logic?
I repeatedly stroke his cheek until he lets go, but even then he doesn't fully let go. He keeps his eyes less than an inch away from mine and tightens his grip around my waist.
"You were amazing," he says, and the whole world just fades out of the picture. It's just me and him in the whole universe. "I love you."
As a reply to his three words, I just throw my head in the crease of his neck and fold both my arms around him, and yet, it isn't enough. It's when he finally lets go that a blush spreads on my whole face; the boys.
"Well," Isaac starts. "What about we go inside and celebrate this all together?"
I'm one of the people that laugh at him before we all walk inside and fall down on the couches.
"I've got to admit," Parker is the first one to speak up. "The confidence looked really good on you."
"Hell yeah it did," Dylan agrees, putting a smile on my face. "I was intimidated bestie."
"Jokes aside," Isaac says. "You did good up there. Now it's just the trial left."
"Just," Iona speaks our minds.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
I've put more time on my trial talk than on my homework and the exams, and yet, none of the boys feel like it's ever enough. Isaac's done his best with me, but at random occasions he's been heard screaming that the time isn't enough and that we all should've prioritized our lives and everything better, and that we're all "stupid as fuck". The others have had nothing to do with this, it's completely my fault, but I think he's cursing us all to get his point to hit me since he still feels he can't tell me I'm a retard to my face. That, even though I've proven more than billions of times, especially this week, that I am. The fact that graduation and prom and everything is rolling in doesn't make it any better either; the boys are stressed. Not because they're worried about what to wear and that package, but because their girlfriends are calling every other second to confirm this and that. Well, Iona and Kaitlyn. Elaine "doesn't give a fuck", but she's still going after she made sure you could bring someone from outside of school since she "refuses to go with any of the fucking assholes". To bring someone of her choice was the only request, or else she wouldn't come. She knows too well a twenty four year old Isaac isn't allowed, but she made him younger, twenty one, and now, for some reason, everyone at school are waiting to see Elaine's mysterious date, especially Colton.
I don't care as much as Kaitlyn says I should, mostly because my last homecoming didn't go well because of Noah, but I've pushed that thought aside and tried showing some interest whenever the four of us have been at the malls looking for dresses that I for sure can't afford. Elaine's got her racing money, Iona's dad is a CEO, and Kaitlyn's dad is a business man. If it'd be up to them, they would have prom everyday, and they for sure would come with a completely new outfit for each day.
Kaitlyn tells me not to worry, that she'll buy whatever I want and that I later can pay it off, but I'm still refusing. I have no idea what to buy, and how, and it's pretty late to start saving money for a prom dress, but to be honest, I had priorities that came before prom. For example the trial we're sitting and waiting for at court.
Noah hasn't shown up, obviously, and even though I'm really scared of whatever that's gonna happen today, I have to admit I in first place wanna know what John is gonna do now. He looks like he's having the worst day of his life, and I really hope he is. I hope the blackness under his eyes will grow, and I hope both him and Esther will have as many sleepless and painful nights as I've had when they've been out, knowingly leaving me in Noah's hands. I hope they'll both get worse than how they are now.
I'm sitting between Landon and Isaac in the waiting room. Isaac's wearing some lawyer suit, his foot tapping against the floor and his hand constantly sliding through his hair. He's more nervous than me; I'm his first case. Elaine's trying to calm him by reassuring him about how we're gonna be fine, all of us, and that they can't do anything that can prove the opposite of why we're here.
The other boys don't say anything. They're also silent and nervous. Thomas is as always sitting on the floor. He's got some serious problems with furniture, and it's obvious on him that he wishes Iona was here. I told him to bring her, I even told her, but she said this was private and that she shouldn't be a part of it, but that I'll be in her thoughts the whole day. Parker's got his usual face, but I know he's nervous. He's really nervous. He's just that guy that you have to know really well in order to see the thin layer of nervousness behind the thick layer of mask, but you don't even have to know Dylan to read him. He isn't nervous, he's pissed. His hands are fists and he's glaring at John on the other side of the hall, looking like he'll jump at him any second while Kaitlyn's holding him back by the hand on his knee. It does look like it's calling him. A bit at least.
Landon's been stern the whole day, but he's handled it better. The only way you see he's anxious is by the fidgeting of his hands. Someone who doesn't know him can't realize that he's different from his usual self; he acts exactly like the guy he was before Minor Island, not like his now self. Honestly, it feels like I'm the one trying to calm him. I'm not complaining, but seeing him nervous makes me more nervous.
"Hayden Kendricks and Noah Peters," a man says and opens the door.
I get up and am about to walk inside when I'm pulled into the embrace of Landon. I hug him back as tightly as I can manage.
"Don't worry okay?" he says, not as if he's more nervous than me. "You'll do this flawlessly, I know you will."
I let go and grab his neck to kiss him, but he doesn't let me. Instead, he puts his hand on my cheek and brings my forehead to his lips, whispering an assuring "I love you", before letting go.
I exhale once to calm my racing heart and then walk inside the room, even though all I wanna do is run out again, grab his hand, and hide behind him as he just as always fixes this too.
I walk over to Isaac in the front, who's smiling a sad smile, but his features change when he looks behind me. As soon as I reach him, he pushes me to where he was standing before, making himself a wall between me and John and Esther.
The judge, a man in his fifty's, walks inside and sits down on his place, letting us sit down as well.
"Hayden Kendricks?" he says.
"Yes," I reply.
"Noah Peters?"
"Your honor," the Peters family's lawyer, Zack Kingsley, starts, probably thinking up some lame excuse as to why Noah couldn't make it.
He's dead, that's why.
"We tried changing his mind," he says, "but he said he couldn't bear facing the girl he called his best friend and sister when she's accused him of such a horrific crime. His mental health has been at its lowest the past time."
The muscles in my stomach instantly twitch together, and if it wouldn't be for Isaac who had prepared me for these words, that they're gonna make me look as bad as possible and use every method, I would probably be sprinting my way to the bathroom right now.
"Really?" the judge asks, not convinced.
Thank God.
"Yes your honor."
"Because..."
The judge looks through a few papers. "According to the FBI's and the hospital's journals, Noah Peters was found dead in Lake View four days ago."
The breath I had sucked in stops halfway down my throat, and I feel an urge to turn my head to Landon, but just like Isaac said, no matter what, I don't look at any of the people behind me. "Why are you lying in court, Mr Kingsley?"
"We talked to Mr Peters a few days ago, we didn't know he had been killed."
"But he hasn't. It was a suicide. He shot himself with a gun ordered in his own name. Evidence number one please."
The gun Noah killed himself with is held in the front of the court in a plastic bags, red bold letters written on it that I can't call words. "His body was found at the cliffs, hundred and fifty yards from the house we've confirmed he had stayed in. Mr and Mrs Peters, you don't look concerned. Did you know about the death of your son?"
"No your honor," John says. "We didn't."
The judge nods for a few seconds and then turns to the reports.
"The reason the case is still active is so that if it's just one percent true, the young lady can have justice for it.... I'm calling John Peters to the stand."
John walks over to the stand, confidence and fear present in his steps. A man addresses him to place his left hand on the Bible and the right one in the air.
"Do you, John Peters," he starts, "solemnly swear that the answers you are about to give today before the court will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"
"I do."
I bet.
I know if the situation would be different, I'd hear snorts coming from the boys' sides.
They call Esther up next, placing the Bible below her hand.
"Do you, Esther Peters, solemnly swear that the answers you are about to give today before the court will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"
"I do," she says, and once more, I bet.
My heart starts racing when they call me. When I touch the stuff cover of the black bi le a spark of adrenaline pumps through me.
"Do you, Hayden Kendricks, solemnly swear that the answers you are about to give today before the court will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"
"I do," I answer.
"Then," the judge starts, putting a pair of glasses on. "You all are, in the presence of God, from this second and until the end of this case, are punishable by the laws of the United States of America, if anything but the truth is said in this room today. Shall we begin? Mr Kingsley? Mr Taylors?"
"Yes sir," Zack says.
"Yes your honor," Isaac answers him.
The judge nods, and we're all allowed to sit down, which I'm grateful for since I now can fidget at least a little with my hands. He starts by asking yes or no questions that Isaac and Zack answer.
"I'd like to call Miss Kendrick's to the stand," Zack says.
I exhale and then make my way towards the wooden stand in the middle of the room, my eyes now only seeing the judge and his companions. "Miss Kendricks, if any of the actions that you have declared are true, why didn't you turn to someone?"
"Your honor," I start. This is much scarier with John's and Esther's eyes burning on my neck. "I was too scared. John had just applied for government and my mother..." the taste of that word makes me sick. "Only cares for herself. Whatever that was going on, she would just tell me to not ruin this for her."
"What about your friends?"
"As I said, your honor, my fear of John and Noah kept me caged."
He nods.
"When did the abuse from Noah Peters start?"
"Approximately two years ago, at summer."
"And how, if I may ask?"
"He started commenting my appearance at first, and then things would get more and more sexual until he one night just did it."
I grab the wooden stand tightly. The trial hasn't even begun but I already just want to go and lay down on my bed with Landon.
"And no one noticed?"
"Some people noticed how my behavior changed and how I got slimmer, but I... I kept lying to them and pushing them away until they were at a safe distance."
He nods and throws a glance at the woman that's sitting beside him. It makes me think they're two judges at the same court, but the difference of their clothes makes it clear she's not a judge. She's wearing usual clothes and she's just looking at me.
"How did you end up in Phoenix?"
"I wanted to escape as far as possible, so I tried renting somewhere and ended up here."
"But your roommates are men?"
"Yes, your honor, but I didn't know that at the time I talked to my host. I found out when I saw him. I only agreed to staying a few days until I found a new place, but I ended up staying there with them."
"And you weren't scared of them?"
"At the beginning, yes, very much, but they were just amazing and kept trying to include me and make me their friend and they were always there for me, so my fear started fading, until Noah once more showed up."
"Did you ever consider telling them?"
"Noah already hated them because of Landon, not to mention me living with them. If I'd tell any of them, and Noah would find out, they'd get hurt. Bad."
"According to the news and the journals, you've had a pretty close relationship with Mr Fernandez."
Here we go.
"Yes I do. He sacrificed more than his life for me multiple times. He gave me blood after my suicide attempt, he always had my back, he made sure John and Esther wouldn't bring me back to Minneapolis, and whatever that's happened he's always stayed by my side."
"Despite being Mr Peters's cousin?"
"Noah and John have done horrible things to Landon and his family. Landon wants nothing to do with him. He's nothing like Noah. I've never seen them as cousins."
"What horrible things?"
"I'm sorry, but it's not my story to tell."
"Of course. Thank you Miss Kendricks, you may return to your seat."
"Thank you your honor."
With shaky hands, I return to my seat beside Isaac and wait for the judge to continue.
"Mr Peters, can you approach the bench?"
John confidently walks up to the wooden stand, not as if he's found out his son is dead. Maybe he simply doesn't care since his campaign is pretty much ruined. Maybe he feels like Noah deserved it for ruining his campaign. John is terrible.
"Did you or did you not know about the abuse your son put Hayden Kendricks through?"
"No your honor, I didn't," John answers, having Isaac at his feet not a second after uttering his words and the second before I go sick.
"Objection your honor!" Isaac exclaims, probably louder than he should've.
"Withdrawn," the judge says, forcing a furious Isaac in his seat again. "What would your actions result in if you'd know?"
"I would solve it in the family before meeting up with a counselor your honor. Noah wouldn't dare do it again."
"Your h-" Isaac tries.
"Withdrawn, Mr Taylors. Mr Peters, you do realize this isn't a family fight I hope. The reason behind this case is rape of the first grade, one of the heaviest crimes in the law book, and that won't be solved like a fight. Your son can't even compensate for what he's done if the things said are true, how would you solve it with a counselor? Mr Taylors, objection accepted. You may speak."
"If I may, your honor, I'd wish to approach the-"
"Sustained. Go ahead."
Isaac gets up and walks to the front, handing over a few papers to the judge's companions.
"As you can read in the journals in front of you, your honor, m.... Mr Peters has had encounters with all kinds of troubles that his son has caused, but yet, none of them are recorded. There's been theft, break ins, school fights, and many more, and all of them have been written down on the papers in your hands. The compensation you're talking about your honor, has been able to make up for the things written there, because Mr Peters here, has been able to pay back the stolen material, and bribe the victim to taking his or her complaint to the federal officers back, which is the reason behind the short time of recordation for the crimes of Noah Peters."
"Objection your hono-" Zack Kingsley tries, but when the judge cuts him off, a small feeling of bliss and hope spreads throughout me. Like I can actually win this.
"Withdrawn," his voice echoes throughout the room.
"As seen, your honor," Isaac continues after an eye roll facing Zack Kingsley, "John Peters knows how to cover up, which is the reason to why the smell of his under aged stepdaughter running away didn't reach the media's noses. I'd like to announce in front of all of you, your honor, that not only wouldn't he do anything about his son if my client would try and get justice earlier, but he hasn't done it either, because both him, and his wife, Esther Peters, my client's mother, knew about the torture their daughter was putting up with under the roof of that house. The actions of Noah were clear for everyone living in that house, and not only didn't they even go to the counselor, but they ignored the fact that my client was living in a hell beyond imagina-"
He's cut off by the slamming of a door, and despite what he's told me, I still snap my head behind me, seeing that Landon's face is missing in the crowd of people I know.
He left.
I glance at Dylan who just discretely shakes his head, and then turn back to Isaac and the judge.
Tears have welled up in my eyes, and I don't know if it's for hearing all these words over again, forcing through dagger after dagger into my heart once more, or because Isaac has become an unbreakable wall around me, protecting me from everything; any words, and anyone.
He clears his throat and continues. "Excuse me, beyond any imagination. It was when my client took matters into her own hands by running away from a nightmare, that they decided to step in, and not because of their parental responsibilities, but to cover it up once more."
"Your honor-" Zack Kingsley tries again, but also this one time for no use.
"Withdrawn!" his voice is also raised now.
"Your honor these people are just as guilty as Noah Peters," Isaac continues, ignoring the three people to his left who's fear for each second grows more and more. "And I'm asking for a sentence for the both of them apart from Noah Peters's punishment. Thank you."
"Thank you Mr Taylors."
I told Isaac what I wanted. I told him I wanted them too feel just as bad as I did, I told him I wanted them to be punished. Noah is out of my control now, but they have to pay. Esther has to pay. She has to pay for choosing her marriage and money and her awful stepson over me, they have to pay for everything I was forced to go through for two years.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"Do you have any witnesses you'd like to call Mr Taylors?" the judge asks after God knows how long.
"If needed, they're waiting in the other room your honor," Isaac answers. "But if the medical journals about the injuries, the PTSD and the DNA results in the files are enough, we'd like to keep them outside of this."
What?
"The DNA results?" the judge puts my thoughts into words.
We didn't have DNA results, where and how and when did he fix DNA results? Who's DNA?
"The DNA results are from the same day as the last abuse took place. My client tried her best to fight him, and during the fight he was injured and his blood was spilt on the floor. The DNA results are the results of the blood tests that confirm that Noah Peters was there just a few minutes before the ambulances arrived."
"Do you have anything to say before the sentence is imposed, Mr Kingsley?"
The room is silent for a few seconds as I try to process how he managed to do that. Noah and I didn't fight and I definitely didn't hit him. No blood except mine was spilt that day, how did he manage to make it look like it was?
"No your honor," Zack says, disappointment written on his face.
"Do you have anything to say before the sentence is imposed Mr Taylors?"
"No your honor," Isaac answers. "If you don't want to call in the witnesses, that is."
"Miss Fox, Miss Lionel, Mr Bentley, Mr Larson, if you've heard enough, it's time for a short recess."
"Agreed," is what all of them say before the judge stands up, all of us following his lead.
"Miss Fox, recess at... fife forty seven pm. Start at six. You're free to leave."
The judge steps down from his place with the four people behind him, and when I try to walk out, Isaac holds me back.
"You were amazing," he tells me, not dropping his poker face.
"Thank you," I say, my tears threatening to fall down. "Isaac I-"
He cuts me off by throwing his arms around me in a hug, my tears spilling down on his expensive looking suit.
It feels like he's changed my rot lungs to fully working lungs, giving me back the ability to breath again. I breath so much easier. It feels like I've finally woken up from the nightmare, like it's finally over and even that I maybe can forget about it someday.
I really don't know what I would've done without the boys. If I wouldn't send that one message to Parker, if I'd send it some time later, I'd probably be dead by now. They saved me from it all; the nightmares, Minneapolis, John and Esther, Noah, the fear, myself.
Every word they've said until now has been true, even the ones I didn't want to listen to before, because that was the old me tricking me to not take the risk of fixing this. I made myself believe that there was no way out. If the boys wouldn't save me from those thoughts, if they wouldn't be as stubborn and kindhearted and amazing as they are, I'd either be under the ground, or worse; in Minneapolis. I have always taken them for granted and I haven't said this enough times, but I love these boys. I love all five and I love Elaine and Mamá and Jordan and I love every second that they've been in my life. I'll make sure to tell them that.
"Shh," he says. "It's over. It's finally over sunshine, don't worry. The recess means he's gonna try and convince the others, and when we're called back, he'll just inform them about their punishment."
When I finally let go, I catch a smile on his lips. "Go see him. He's sitting on the stairs outside, waiting for his life to end."
I give him a smile of my own before heading out of the courtroom, running down all the stairs until I'm outside, but I don't see any sign of Landon at all.
He really went?
A small stone weighs down my heart as I walk back to the others. Even though I should be overly joyful about today, I wanted him to be here.
I only find time to hug all of them before the judge walks inside the courtroom with us behind him. All of us except Parker, who's disappeared in the last second.
"Miss Fox," he starts. "On the twenty fourth of May two thousand an nineteen, at six o clock, the sentences of John Peters and Esther Peters were determined. John Peters, you are hereby for the concealment of the two years long sexual abuse of Hayden Kendricks that your son, Noah Peters, committees, and for the act of lying whilst under the oath of the court, sentenced to four years in prison, and four hundred and fifty thousand dollars as compensation to Hayden Kendrick for yours and your son's crime." He changes the page in his book and reads again. "Esther Peters, due to the concealment of the sexual abuse Noah Peters committed to Hayden Kendricks, and for lying whilst under the oath of the court, hereby sentenced to seven years imprisonment. If there is anything that may prevent you from serving your sentences, you may speak. Otherwise, case dismissed."
A huge smile spreads across my whole face. My eyes are sparkling, and I just wanna run out and get rid of the too-much energy that's filled me.
I walk out with the others, only to see Landon storming through the hall with Parker after him. When he sees me he stops, Parker running into him without any of his care, but after that a smile reflecting my own is seen on his face, he's back on track again. With the same lightning speed, he's over to me, picking me up and spinning me around while I tightly hug him and laugh in his neck.
"It's finally over," I say.
"Yes!" he exclaims, and I see the judge looking at us from behind him. "It's finally fucking over!"
A small amused smile, one I'm pretty sure he isn't allowed to show, is seen on his face.
I throw myself around his neck again and feel how he picks me up, only this time, my legs somehow end up around his waist. I feel like I shouldn't do it, but I can't help myself. I never, not even in my dreams, would've seen this day come, and that somehow covers up the voice saying I should probably get out of the courthouse before kissing him, but I don't listen to it. At all. Instead, I crash my lips on his and let the judge and his companions and John and Esther who are being forced into handcuffs watch us. Watch my little bubble of happiness where I'm in the arms of the only person I need in the whole universe.
The one person that saved me from everything.
The one person I love so much more than my own life it hurts in my stomach just thinking about it.
The love of my life.
~
It's not light darling; it's just the dark that was suffocating you fading away. This light is normal. You just haven't experienced it yet.
~
Each chapter is getting more and more optimistic I love it, it's finally time these two get on the road with their lives instead of braking in the middle of it.
I've taken too much of your time now already;
Is this the end?
End of the school year closing in ;)
What's gonna happen?
For more chapters according to my calculations people !!!!!! >0< We're almost there :) !
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Merry early Christmas two point zero (hate numbers >•<) !
Michelle