Okay, this may seem a little fast, but I promise everything in this chapter will be explained in the next chapter or two. This is another song-fic-ish chapter. All I'm going to say is "Split Screen Sadness" by John Mayer is the inspiration for the last part of the chapter.

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The next couple of weeks went by much easier than the past few. Things seemed like they were starting to get back to normal. The regular gossip, giggling and notes were now joined with antidepressants and therapy, but overall, things were better. Before I knew what was happening, a month and a half had gone by and Dean's trial was only two weeks away.

"Hi, Paige," Jenny said when I came in to talk about the trial. "How are you?"

"Good," I answered. For once it was true. I sat down on the chair by the table she was sitting at. She had a notepad in front of her and a pen between her fingers.

"Good. I wanted to go over your testimony today. Just to give you an idea of what it'll be like in court."

I nodded. "Two weeks from today, right?"

"Yes. Now, before we start, I want to ask you something. What do you want to see happen to Dean?"

I closed my eyes and opened them again. "I want to see him pay for what he did."

"How?"

I was going to loose control. I couldn't really say what I was thinking, could I? "I want him to go to jail."

"Off the record. If you could see anything done to him, what would it be?"

I exhaled slowly. "I want to see him got to jail and rot in there before he burns in hell. I want him to pay for what he did. I want him to hurt the way I did for the rest of his life. I want him to know what he did and I hope he dies a slow, painful, agonizing death."

She nodded, and a slow smile crept across her face. "Good."

I was surprised. "Good?"

"You're passionate about this. You're not going to treat it as a joke. You're going to get him convicted."

Three days before the trial, Spinner was walking me home when he offered to skip school for the trial.

"Don't," I said quickly. Too quickly. He stopped walking and stepped back. "I mean. . . I. . ."

He looked hurt. "You what?"

"I. . . I don't want you getting in trouble because of me," I finished lamely.

He nodded and started walking again. He was still hurt, and he was still upset, but kept walking. We made small talk all the way home. When I unlocked the door, he kissed me quickly on the cheek and turned to leave.

"Wait," I called after him. He turned. "Do you want to come in for awhile?"

He shook his head. "I've got a lot of homework."

I stepped out to look him in the eye. "Spin, it's Friday."

He stepped back. "I have to get home."

"Spin," I called again after him. "Spin!"

He turned around for a second time. Although he had walked away, I could see his eyes were red. "I'll see you Monday, okay?" I nodded and watched him walk away before stepping back inside and slamming the door. The whole house shook. Dylan came down the stairs and asked what was going on.

"I don't get it! What did I do wrong?"

"What happened?" he asked as I dropped my bag in the entranceway and plopped down on the couch, pouting.

"He asked me if I wanted him to skip school to go to the trial. I said no and now he doesn't want to talk to me.

Dylan sat down beside me. "Pride."

"What?"

"The whole male-ego thing. Just give him a chance to get over it. Why don't you coming anyways?"

I shrugged. "He's already done so much."

"Hmm. Just give him time. You guys'll work through it by Monday."

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"Wow. Can you say prepville?" I asked Ash as we walked into Fairweathers the next day. I knew that had some preppy stuff, but I was overwhelmed by the suites, blouses, dress pants and skirts. We were looking for clothes for me to wear in court. After a quick look through my closet, it was evident that nothing that I already had would cut it.

"Do you want to get a bunch of outfits or just one for when you're testifying?"

"I don't know. I just don't want everyone thinking that I'm a major slut."

"How much did your mom give you?"

"Her credit card."

"The we'll get as much as we need."

"Are my clothes really that bad?"

She didn't answer, but went over to a rack and pulled out a white collared blouse and handed it to me. I raised my eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"Paige, you wanted my help."

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, taking the blouse from her. "What else?"

She proceeded to find me a blouse like the white one in white in black, beige and red, two suits- black and beige- with both pants and skirts. After an hour and a half and almost two hundred dollars, we decided to take a break.

"We need to get a couple more things, but we've still got time," she said, taking a bite of her caesar salad. I couldn't bring myself to get a salad, so I settled on a slice of pizza. "What's been going on with you lately? We've barely had a chance to talk."

"You're not missing much. I'm just freaking out about the trial. And Spinner and I are fighting."

"What happened?"

I shrugged. "I'll let you know when I figure it out. Dylan said it was some pride thing."

Ash smiled. "Well you know how much of a pain that can be."

"I guess in a way it was my fault."

"How?"

I shrugged. "Maybe if I was honest with him, this wouldn't have happened."

"What did you lie about?"

"I think I need to figure out what I'm thinking before I explain it to anyone else."

That comment confused her even more. "What do you mean?"

"I told Spinner that I didn't want him coming to the trial. And I don't. I just don't know why. I love him. I should be able to have him support me, shouldn't I?"

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The trial started Monday morning.

After several hours of pleading and bargaining, I had finally convinced my mom to let me go for the whole thing. Ms. Sovet had also told her that it would be good for me to see.

However, after several hours of pacing, rambling in my journal, shopping and-literally- pulling my hair out on Saturday, on Sunday night, that wasn't what was on my mind.

Saturday, I had worn myself out to the point of exhaustion, and I slept in late Sunday morning. I got up around noon, and had planned to spend the rest of the day in my pyjamas when Spinner called.

"Hello?"

"Paige, it's me." I felt like a massive weight was being lifted off my chest. He didn't sound mad.

"Hey."

"Can you meet me at Hillside park in an hour?"

"Sure." Silence. "Hey, Spin."

"Yeah?"

I love you, I love you. Just say it, Michalchuk. "Nothing. I'll see you in an hour."

I ditched my plans to stay in my pyjamas and headed to the shower.

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He was sitting on a swing when I got there. I carefully walked around the puddles, still there from the newly melted snow, and sat in the swing beside him. It was still cool, and I wished I had brought a heavier sweater. The sun was shining on us, at least.

"Can you just explain it to me, Paige?" His words were soft, almost sounded gentle. "I don't understand after everything's that happened."

"I. . . it's hard, Spin. I wish I could explain it."

"Then try. I've been with you for everything I can since this happened. Why don't you want me?"

"It's not that I don't want you! Why would you think that?"

"Because you've been avoiding me lately."

"I have not!"

"Well it sure feels like it! And it's not like it would be the first time that you ditched me for someone else." Instead of the comment coming out angry, it was soft, like he was hurt by the idea of it.

I gaped at him. As much as I tried to fight it, tears formed in my eyes. I ignored them. "Once, Spin. Once. And you think I didn't pay for it?" A tear slid down my cheek. "It was the biggest mistake I have ever made. I was arrogant and stupid ad did I ever pay for it."

"Is that your way of saying it's true?"

I stood up and slapped him. Hard. I quickly wiped my face, then continued. "If you think that, maybe you never really knew me."

"I knew you Paige. I know you. But I'm trying to understand what you're saying, and I can't. And I have spent hours trying to figure out why you don't want me, and nothing else makes sense."

I gritted my teeth. "I'm not going to stand here and justify the way I feel to you."

This time he had tears in his eyes too. "Then I guess we're done here."

I nodded and allowed the tears to run freely down my face. "That's it? You don't get your way one time and it's done? I still don't know what I've done to offend you."

He nodded. "Then this is goodbye?"

I still couldn't understand what I had done, or what was wrong with him. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "Goodbye."

Slowly, almost in slow motion, we turned and went our separate ways. I started walking, then turned back around to watch him. "Spin?" He stopped, but didn't turn. "I don't know what's going on, but if you figure it out, I still love you."

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One last thing. I'm thinking of doing a Paige/Original character story. Would any of you be interested in reading that, or are OC's too annoying?