At The Beginning

by: LunarEclipse360

A/N: I. Am. So. So. So. Sorry for being M.I.A. for the past few months. Between writer's block, school and my waning passion for this story...ugh, not even, the fandom in general. It's sad, I know. I do plan on finishing this story since it is not far from coming to an end. I promised some of you a short sequel to Until We Bleed and you will get it. There are other stories that I started writing and desperately want to publish for you, but I'm not sure if I will. I have two stories that I've started and one that I'm trying to write. There's no guarantee that they will ever make it onto this site, but I'm hoping I'll be able to. Also, I know you guys are probably wondering what happened to Pieces...well, I'm not sure. I think I jumped headfirst into that story without having a clear plan of where I wanted it to go and it's coming back to haunt me. Anyway, not sure how many of you will even read this since I'm sure that many of you have moved on, but if you do read this, please show love in a review so I know that I still have readers.

Chapter 21

"Counselor," Judge Matthews bellowed, "you may call your first witness."

Thalía stood. "Thank you, Your Honor. The prosecution calls Michelle Montez to the stand."

Michelle visibly tensed as her name was called. She wasn't ready for this, but she knew it had to be done. Her eyes found her sister's and Gabriella gave her a reassuring smile. Returning the gesture, she stood and made her way to the witness stand. The bailiff walked over to her and placed the bible before her, allowing her to place her hand on it and raise the other.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

She nodded. "I do."

"You may be seated."

Taking her seat, she looked to Thalía and waited for the questions to begin. Her brown eyes followed the woman as she moved from her place behind the desk and closer to the witness stand.

"Miss Montez, can you please tell the court how many times has your Father hit you?"

"Um, well, before my sister left, none."

"And after?"

Michelle swallowed the lump in her throat. "Maybe about a dozen times."

Thalía nodded. "Did he ever give you a reason why he hit you?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes he said it was because I did something he didn't like and…sometimes just for no reason."

"Did you ever actually do anything wrong whenever he said you did?"

She shook her head. "Not that I remember, no."

"Has your Father ever touched you sexually?"

"No, but," Michelle lowered her eyes, "he almost did."

"Tell me, Miss Montez, how many times has your Father hit your sister?"

"More times than I can count."

"Did he ever give her any reason for it?"

She shook her head. "Not that I know of."

"What do you mean 'not that you know of?'"

"Well, whenever he would hit her, he would send me out of the room so I never knew if he explained to her why he was punishing her."

"Do you believe that he was punishing her?"

"At first, I did, but…after a while, no."

"And what made you think he wasn't?"

"Because Gabriella tried to do everything right. She didn't want to be punished, so she tried to do everything right so he wouldn't get mad, but…he'd hit her anyway."

Thalía nodded, pausing for effect. "Michelle, do you remember the first time your Father hit you?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"I-It was a few months after my sister left. School was over and I wanted to go out with my friends. My boyfriend…my ex-boyfriend, Eric…was waiting outside for me. My Dad must have spotted him because, before I could get to the door, he stopped me and started giving me the third degree."

"What did he ask you?"

"Who was he? Why was he here?"

"And what did you tell him?"

"I told him that he was my boyfriend and that I was going out with him and a couple of friends. I knew he didn't approve by the look in his eyes. It was the same look he'd gotten whenever Gabriella had done something he didn't approve of. He told me that I wasn't allowed to go anywhere with someone he didn't know and to tell my friends that I couldn't go."

"Was it common for him to make such an excuse?"

"Yeah," she answered with a nod. "He's never liked me going anywhere by myself or with people he wasn't familiar with. Before Gabriella left, he would make her go everywhere with me."

"What happened after he told you that you couldn't go with your friends?"

"I told him that I thought I was old enough to be out on my own with people I trust, but he still refused. I begged and begged, but he just kept saying 'no.'" She took a breath. "I got fed up with him treating me like I was a kid and I told him I was going anyway, no matter what he said and…"

"And?"

"And he hit me."

"Where?"

"Across my cheek."

"What happened after that?"

"He told me to tell my friends that I couldn't go with them and then walked away. I did what I was told; went outside and told Eric that I was unable to hang out and went back inside without letting him get a word in. A week later, my Dad told me that he didn't want me seeing Eric and made me break up with him over the phone."

"How long after did he hit you again?"

"A-A few weeks later. Eric had come over, wanting to talk to me, to ask me what he did wrong, but my Dad was the one who answered the door and told me that I was busy. After Eric left, he hit me again."

"For no reason?"

She shook her head. "Not that I knew of."

Thalía smiled. "No further questions, Your Honor."

Judge Matthews looked over at Henley. "Your witness, Counselor."

Henley stood and walked over to Michelle. "Miss Montez, if your Father sent you out of the room when he punished your sister, how do you know he hit her?"

"Because he would hit her so hard that she would cry out, though it became less over the years."

"So how would you know that he continued to hit her?"

"She would have bruises over her arms and legs."

Knowing he had nothing else to prove with this line of questioning, Henley moved on. "Miss Montez, has your Father ever touched your sister…inappropriately?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever seen him do it?"

Michelle froze. The answer was no. She had never seen her Father touch her sister in anyway, much less see him rape her. She was trapped. Lying was not the answer and she knew that.

"Miss Montez, please answer the question," Judge Matthews said.

"N-No," she whispered.

"I'm sorry. Can you say that a bit louder?" Henley asked.

"No," she answered, her voice a little stronger. "No, I've never seen my Father touch her inappropriately."

A smug grin appeared on Henley's face and Michelle wished she could wipe it off. "And have you ever seen your Father rape your sister?"

"No, but I know he has."

"Oh? And how do you know?"

"Because…" She closed her eyes, "I've heard it."

"You heard it? Miss Montez, is it possible that you only heard what your sister wanted you to hear?"

She shook her head and opened her eyes, her brown irises staring at the man before her. "No. I know what I heard."

"Can you tell me how old you were the first time you heard your Father raping your sister?"

"Nine-ten years old."

"And before that, had you ever heard or have seen anything sexual?"

"No."

"Then how can you be so sure that you heard your sister being raped?"

"I know what I heard!" she yelled, her emotions getting the better of her, "She wanted him to stop. He was hurting her."

"But how did you know it was your Father?"

"Who else could it be?"

"I don't know. It could have been a boyfriend."

"Gabriella didn't have any boyfriends. She wasn't allowed to."

"And, yet, she was dating Mr. Bolton. If she was so willing to go behind your Father's back to date him, what makes you think that she didn't have others before him?"

"I-I…"

He grinned. "I thought so. No further questions, Your Honor."

Judge Matthews looked to the prosecution for any indication that they would like to ask any more questions, but Thalía just shook her head. "You may step down, Miss Montez," he said, sending her a soft smile.

Slowly, she made her way off of the witness stand and back to her sister where she whispered a soft "I'm sorry." Gabriella smiled sadly at Michelle, knowing it wasn't her fault. Her gaze drifted over to the spot her father vacated and felt her heart sink at the smile he had on his face. It was a victorious one; one that told her that he was going to win this and, in turn, make sure she'd never see her sister again.

"You may call your next witness, Ms. Lopez"

"Thank you, Your Honor. The prosecution calls Troy Bolton to the stand."

Gabriella looked over at the man beside her; her eyes reflected worry. He smiled, reassuringly, and kissed the back of her hand before going to take his place at the podium. It wasn't long before he was sworn in and seated in the witness box. Troy fought hard to ignore the intense glares that her father was throwing his way; he, instead, focused his gaze on Thalía, watching as she stood and walked to him.

"Mr. Bolton, can you please tell the people of this court what happened the day that Mr. Montez was arrested?"

He nodded. "I had called Michelle earlier and told her that I was coming over. She opened the door for me when I rang the bell and she was quiet. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that I needed to see for myself; so, she led me up to Gabriella's room…and that's when I saw the extent of what her father could do to her."

"What did you see?"

"Physically or emotionally?"

"Both."

He gulped, swallowing the knot that had formed in his throat. "Alright, I'll start with the physical part. She had…welts…all over her back. She also had both old and new bruises."

"Did it look like this?" she asked, presenting him with the picture of Gabriella's back.

"Yeah, but that picture is nothing compared to actually seeing the damage he'd done in front of you. It was horrible. I felt so nauseous looking at it."

"Was her back the only place where she had bruises?"

"No. She had some on her arms and legs. She…she even two in the shape of hand prints on her waist."

"Is this what those two looked like?" She showed him a picture of two hand shaped bruises on Gabriella's skin and he nodded. "Thank you. Now, what did you see in terms of emotional damage?"

He laughed, bitterly. "What didn't I see?" He ran a hand through his hair. "From the moment I met her, Gabriella had always been a bit distant, but she was always friendly. She's the sweetest girl I've ever known; the strongest, too. But…to see her lying there so broken, so ready to give up…it made me wonder what kind of monster would do that to her; would willingly destroy her soul the way he had."

Thalía smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Bolton. No more questions, Your Honor."

Judge Matthews nodded and looked at Henley. "Counselor, your witness."

After whispering something into Clemente's ear, Henley stood and walked over to the witness stand. He kept quiet for a while, trying to figure out how to word the question he wanted to ask.

"Mr. Bolton, isn't it true that you beat my client unconscious the day he was arrested?"

"Objection," Thalía yelled. "Relevance?"

"I do have an end point," Henley said, appealing his question.

"Overruled. Answer the question, Mr. Bolton."

Troy nodded. "Yes, it's true."

"And isn't it true that you have a history of violence?"

He was hesitant to answer; nodding slowly. "Yes."

"Tell me, how many fights have you been involved in?"

"I-I don't know."

"Of course, because you've gotten into so many that you can't even count them. Now, is it true that you got into a fight with one of the football players in your school and broke his nose so bad that he had to go to the hospital to get it reset?"

"Objection. Again, relevance?"

"Sustained. Please get to the point, Counselor."

"I'm sorry, Your Honor; I'm just trying to understand Mr. Bolton, here. I mean, a guy who has a history of violence towards others wouldn't hesitate to put his hands on a defenseless woman."

"That's not true."

"It's not?"

"No! I would never, in my life, hit Gabriella. Yes, I've gotten into fights with others, but it was mostly out of self-defense."

"How did the ones that weren't out of self-defense get started?"

"They usually happened when I got angry."

Henley nodded. "So, tell us about the time when you caught that same football player with Gabriella in one of the upstairs bedrooms at a house party."

"How did you…?"

"I ask the questions, Mr. Bolton. Now, please, answer mine."

"He was trying to rape her. I got angry, so I hit him a couple of times. Gabriella stopped me before I did any real damage."

"Is that what happened? Or did you hit him because you found your girlfriend cheating on you with some other man? Did you hit her, too, when you left that night?"

"No! I told you, I'd never put my hands on her like that. What do you not understand about that?" Troy could feel his anger building, but didn't realize that everyone could see it.

Henley grinned. "It's obvious you have anger issues, Mr. Bolton. For all we know, you could have rage induced blackouts and beat her without even knowing it yourself."

He was frozen; disgusted and disturbed at the fact that what Henley said was a possibility. He already knew that he had, a few times, when he was in a fight, blacked out, but could he have done it when in Gabriella's presence. There were times when they got into an argument about something, but he doesn't remember ever putting his hands on her, or seeing the result of that on her. He couldn't have been telling the truth, could he?

"I have no more questions, Your Honor."

Judge Matthews looked to Thalía to see if she had other questions, but she just shook her head. He nodded and told Troy that he could leave the witness stand. Troy took his time, still trying to figure it all out. Gabriella tried to reassure him that he hadn't done anything by grabbing his hand, but he wouldn't let her. Judge Matthews called for the dismissal of the court until tomorrow, letting everyone go. Gabriella took that time to turn to him.

"Troy," she called, but he didn't answer. "Troy, look at me." He glanced at her; tired of his avoidance, she took his face between her hands and made him turn to her. "Troy, listen to me; it was all a lie."

"A-are you sure?"

She nodded, giving him a small smile. "I'm sure. Believe me, if anything he said was true, I would have told you a long time ago."

"You're right." He nodded, getting his head back on track and pushing the web of lies that Henley spun out of his mind. "I don't know why I even believed him."

"You were scared, that's why." He looked up at Thalía. "He made you doubt something you were so sure of and you became frightened at the possibility that it might be true." Her dark brown eyes finally connected with his bright blue ones before looking over at Gabriella. "We've decided not to put you on the stand."

"What? Why?"

"You saw how Henley was today; he'll rip you apart."

"But I can handle it."

"It's out of the question, Gabriella."

"I have to do this. I have to look that man in the eye and tell him everything that my Father did to me. Please, just…let me do this."

Thalía sighed and nodded. "Fine, but you have to remember to not let him get in your head. He likes to play mind games."

"I got it."

"Alright then. I'll see you all in the morning," she said and left.

"Brie, you sure you want to do this?" Troy asked, grabbing her hand. "I'm sure Thalía would be fine without your testimony."

"I want to, Troy. I want to, I have to and I need to. The jury needs to know everything."

"If you're sure about this."

"I am."

He smiled. "Then I'm behind you, one hundred percent."

"So am I," Michelle said, showing her support for her sister.

"Thank you."