Chapter 8: Court appeal

T.J woke up the next morning thankful it was the Easter holidays. He yawned, stretched and dressed up. He then went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. When he did, he saw both his parents there, looking concerned.

"Hi Mum, hi Dad."

"T.J, I think you should take a seat," said his Dad.

"O.K but I planned to anyway," T.J replied.

"We got a very interesting phone call from the police this morning," said his Mum.

T.J froze. He was caught, red handed.

"Y-You did," he stuttered.

"Yes. Apparently you and your friends were involved in a big fight last night," said Dad.

"Really?"

"Yes! What were you thinking?" Shouted Mum. "We couldn't give them an alibi because you went out for two hours on a date. A date which lasted two hours, what were you doing?"

"I'm sorry mum," said T.J, knowing what would come next.

"We are very disappointed in you T.J, why did you do this?" Asked Dad.

"Well, do you want to hear the full explanation?"

"Yes, explain yourself."

"O.K, but please don't interrupt me while I'm talking."

"Sure thing son."

T.J told his side of the story, beginning with Mikey's money and ending with the fight. He added every detail and explained why fighting was the only way.

"T.J, you know you could have told us," said his Mum.

"And what would you have done?" Questioned T.J

"Well, we would have tried speaking calmly to Mundy."

"Yeah but he wouldn't give you the money, he would just laugh in your face."

"Then we would explain the situation to the police."

"I already told you about L.K's dad."

"Well, I'm sure they would believe us, and even f they didn't there are still many other ways to get your money back without resorting to violence."

"Like what?"

"Like taking your case to court," said Dad.

"That would be the hard way," said T.J

"Well, we are going to have to do all that anyway," said Dad, sternly.

"What do you mean?" Asked T.J, feeling uneasy.

"Well, we told you about the police calling, because L.K's dad claims that you assaulted them, according to what he's been told."

"Oh, right."

"But if you had done the sensible thing, we would have taken Mikey's case to court and would be the prosecutors instead of the defendants!" Shouted Dad.

"I'm sorry dad."

"Well you should be. Now go to your room and think hard about what you've done."

"Yes dad."

T.J trudged upstairs. Now he was feeling guilty. It would have all tuned out fine if the police hadn't caught one of Mundy's gang.

Now he had little defence. He was going to court for the wrong reasons and he didn't have much of a case.

The phone in his room rang. It was Vince.

"Teej, have you heard the bad news?" He asked.

"Yeah, my parents didn't take to kindly too it."

"Neither did mine, you know that we're going to court again right?"

"Yes, don't remind me. We are for the wrong reasons and there are many ways this could have been avoided."

"Don't be so hard on yourself man."

"I can't help it."

"Yeah, sorry Teej, I've got to go now. Later."

"Later."

He wondered when this trial was coming. At the moment it was all he could think about. Who would be his lawyer? It was too much, but he had to know when the trial was.

"Mum," he shouted. "When do we go to court?"

"I don't know, but we have a meeting with the police we must attend to soon. They will tell us then.

"O.K thanks."

T.J lay down; he needed to take his mind off things for a while so he played his Electro-Station. His parent left a little later and when they came back after an hour and a half, they called to him.

"T.J, the trials are in a week!"