"Sinjin, please walk us through the night of the incident." Henry requested casually, almost as if he were talking about the weather.
The boy took a deep breath, his expression carefully architectured to appear neutral and somewhat regretful.
"It was Burf's last night in town before he moved away. We were sitting in my porch, and we… We wanted to do something memorable, you know. Something special. So I brought out a bottle of vodka and we shared it."
The boy pulled off his glasses and wiped them with the hem of his shirt, then put them back on, sighing as he turned to the judge.
"That's all I remember, your Honor. I don't usually drink much, and Burf and I together went through almost a whole bottle. I- I was out of my mind."
The judge nodded, but Henry let out an incredulous scoff, crossing his arms in disbelief. His sound was matched by a quieter one coming from Jade, who was still trying to convince herself that standing up and beating the living shit out of that disgusting little pig wasn't the best idea at the moment.
"So you don't remember going over to Ms West's house, ripping out the buttons on her shirt, and cutting her shorts off, do you?"
Sinjin swallowed hard.
"No, sir. I have no recollection of that."
"And when you found said shorts in your possession, what did you do?"
A little sigh escaped the boy, an almost imperceptible smile forming on him. The answer had clearly been rehearsed. Jade almost imagined him and his mother at the dinner table, fine-tuning the sentences like lines to a play.
"I assumed they belonged to my sister, sir. When I asked her about it, she mentioned that a friend of hers had slept over recently, and probably left them there. I thought nothing of it."
"Even though they were in your bedroom, with a large cut down the back?"
Every time the tear in the fabric was mentioned, the memory of how it was made brought a huge shiver down Jade's spine.
"They weren't in my bedroom at the time, sir. The maid found them on the floor somewhere in the house and handed them to me, since my sister wasn't home. When Courtney said one of her friends had probably left them there, I assumed it was because they had ripped down the middle, thus making the girl need to change clothes and forget the ripped shorts at my house."
What a load of bullshit.
"And why did you keep them in your drawer, along with the cloth that Ms West was gagged with?"
"The maid found the cloth and stuffed it in my drawer. I own a very similar handkerchief, so I didn't even pay much attention to that, sir. As for the pants, Courtney asked me to store them for her, since her closet was full and messy."
The subject of the incriminating clothes was a dead end, but Henry's interrogation of Sinjin was far from over. After the questioning about the evidence proved itself fruitless, the man took a much more certain road.
"Mr Van Cleef, how did you and Jade get along in school?"
The question seemed to take Sinjin by surprise; Jade could see matching smiles form at the same time on both the Van Cleefs' faces, and almost read their thoughts. This is gonna be easier than we thought.
A hint of panic began to stab at Jade's stomach.
"I'm in love with her, sir." Sinjin replied quietly, the smugness all gone from his face as he put on his best sad puppy eyes, making Jade nauseous. "In fact, I've been in love with her since I moved into the neighborhood and met her, when we were just children. But I'm always offering to do things for her, and met with nothing short of gratuitous brutality."
"What kind of brutality?" Henry arched his eyebrow suspiciously.
"Screams. Incessant name-calling. She'd pinch and sometimes slap me. I'd come close to her, lay a friendly hand on her shoulder, and she would scream at me to go away. I would never, ever hurt someone like Jade, sir."
The girl's nausea began to increase; one look at Tori told her that she was definitely not the only one to be disgusted by Sinjin's ridiculous little speech.
"The way she treated you must have made you pretty angry. Did you ever want to seek revenge?"
"Never, sir."
"Really? Not even a little bit?"
As Jade herself couldn't figure out where her lawyer was going with these questions, Mrs Van Cleef's voice echoed around the courtroom.
"Objection. The defendant has already answered that question, your Honor."
"Sustained." The judge remarked sternly. "Mr Tamer, if you have a point, please make it."
And then a wicked grin formed on the attorney's lips as a few sheets of paper were brought out and distributed among the jury.
"Oh, your Honor, I was just making sure. Because, you see, a quick Internet search brought up a very interesting page. People's evidence…"
"Objection! Anything from my client's private pages online would have required a warrant."
"Not if it's public. In this case, anyone who has an account on this website would be able to see it."
The judge frowned, but the expression on his face was more curious than displeased.
"I'll allow it."
"Mr Van Cleef, you have an account on FetLife, which is, according to the definition given on the homepage, a fetish forum. Isn't that correct?"
The boy nodded sheepishly.
"I don't think that's a crime, sir."
"Actually, since you are underage, it's a lot more problematic than you'd think. But let's overlook that fact for a moment. Tell us what your username on that forum is."
Jade could see a faint blush rising to his cheeks.
"Cleefman."
"Good. People's evidence 78-C is a post made by the defendant the day before the assault, in the topic Taboo Fantasies. One of the sub-topics, in which this exchange was found, is called Actual Rape – No Safeword. Can you please explain to the jury what a safeword is, Mr Van Cleef?"
Sinjin squeezed his hands together uncomfortably.
"It's a code word used between the dominant and submissive partners, sir. If it's said at any moment during a scene, everything stops."
His act. It's faltering. Jade smirked slightly, watching the look on the boy's eyes turn into panic, although his expression remained exactly the same. Oh, man, this is gonna be good.
"So in the absence of a safeword, if the person said 'no' or tried to get away, that would mean they are not consenting."
"Objection! Speculation."
"Overruled. Go on, Mr Tamer."
"I will now read an excerpt from what the defendant posted in that forum. Quote. 'There is a bitch in my neighborhood I've always wanted to teach a lesson to. This girl doesn't know any kindness or compassion and she's been rejecting me for as long as I can remember. Just once, I'd like to have what I deserve, even if it meant I had to tie her up and gag her'. Who were you talking about, Mr Van Cleef?"
That is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard. He's gonna lose it. I'm trying not to throw up. But he's gonna lose it! Look at that face. Look at his bottom lip trembling. You're dead, Sinjin.
He's got squat.
Look! Silence. Fuck yes. Take that.
Come on, Henry, destroy this little piece of shit.
"In fact, I don't think we need an answer from you. Another user asked you what this, quote-unquote, 'bitch' looked like. You answered, and I quote, 'Like a Goth dominatrix. Huge breasts, tiny waist, amazing ass. She's pale and has these incredible blue eyes and black hair with green or blue stuff on it, depending on the day. And she's always wearing these little skirts, showing off those legs…'"
A lot of things happened at once.
Martha Van Cleef gasped.
Jade's nails dug so hard into her palm, they actually drew blood.
Sinjin stood up.
His hands were shaking.
And he pointed an accusing finger at Jade.
And then he screamed.
"Well, of course I wanted to hit that! You don't know, okay? You don't have a single fucking clue what it's like to be rejected day after day after…" He swallowed dryly. "If I'm going down, I might as well just fucking say it. I fucked Jade West. She owed me! I did so many good things for her and she just- just blew me off and kept parading that ass around the school like it was a goddamn trophy! I raped her, I wanted to, and damn it, I would do it again if I had the chance! I'd stick my cock into that tight thing until she fucking dropped dead!"
His yells were only interrupted by the judge's gavel slamming harshly down on the wood.
"ORDER! That is enough!"
It was a good thing he stopped where he did, or Jade would have actually spilled her lunch all over the courtroom floor. But as dizzy and nauseous as she felt, she found a little spark of vengeful happiness in the middle of her swirling rage.
He confessed.
I win!
Despite Martha's reaction – which could only be defined as a full-blown temper tantrum – Sinjin was sentenced. Prison without bail, plus reimbursement of all the money Jade had spent on medical exams, including the pregnancy test and all the tests for STDs.
The excitement of finally seeing her assailant get dragged away by two police officers got into Jade so intensely, she wasted no time in giving Sikowitz and Tanya a big, enthusiastic hug. Her father was met with a slightly more awkward embrace, but even that didn't make her happiness falter.
And Tori… Well.
You see, when Jade looked at her, she didn't think about what she was doing. As a general rule, she was always careful and methodic about any display of affection. Her fear of being rejected, of showing any sign of vulnerability, was strong enough to keep her very well restrained until the other person made it completely clear that the feelings were mutual.
But when Tori went in for a hug, the pale girl surprised her with a kiss to the lips. Granted, it wasn't a movie kiss. It was so quick that if Tori's heart weren't beating so fast and her cheeks weren't burning, she wouldn't have been sure it had really happened. But it was more than enough for now, and as the two girls left the courtroom holding hands, Jade was left with the very decisive thought that she had actually won twice that day.
A/N: YAY, a Jori kiss! Isn't that lovely? I'm so happy about this chapter. The trial was enormous, but it was worth it, and the chapter was worth the wait, wasn't it? I think so.
For those of you who use Twitter, follow me ( littleweirdo) if you want. Or just do a search for #StayTheFanfic for updates on how far along I am on upcoming chapters!