Marissa sat nervously in the courtroom. She was sitting beside Sandy, who was getting his papers organized. She looked around the large room. Seth, Summer and Ryan were sitting closely behind her. Jimmy and Julie were both sitting nearby. Marissa saw Dawn sitting beside Ryan. Theresa beside Dawn. Everyone had gathered to watch the trial. She looked around some more and saw the jury. These people terrified her. These were the people who would be deciding her future. The rest of her life was in their hands, and she prayed to god that they would believe her story.

Ryan watched as Marissa's trembling body looked around the room. He felt so bad. He wished he could be where she was instead. It wasn't fair. She didn't deserve this. All she did was save his life, and now she was in court, being tried for murder. He still couldn't believe how things had ended up like this. He and Trey had problems, but never did he imagine that one of them would end up dead. It was pathetic, he thought. Two brothers couldn't even solve their problems without death. It really was sad.

After finally finishing with his papers, Sandy took a minute to breath. He looked over at Marissa and saw the genuine fear and sadness in her eyes. Poor girl, he thought. The world is an ugly place. A sweet girl may be facing jail time for saving her boyfriend's life. It just wasn't right, Sandy thought to himself. He turned around and gave Seth, Summer and Ryan an assuring smile, and then faced Marissa again. "It's going to be okay."

She turned to him, starting to get teary. "How do you know?"

"Because you're innocent. You have nothing to worry about. Just tell the truth," he explained.

Marissa nodded and wiped her eyes. "Thank you so much for doing this for me."

Sandy smiled. "You're a good kid Marissa. This is what I do. I get good kids out of unfair trouble."

The sweet conversation was quickly ended by the bang of the gavel. "Order in the court," the judge yelled. She looked through her papers. "We have Marissa Cooper up for the murder of Trey Atwood. Sandy Cohen is defending Marissa Cooper."

Marissa looked at Sandy immediately. That one sentence made everything so real. She started shaking and breathing heavily.

Sandy stood up. "Your honor, my client is not guilty. The act was a form of defense."

"Sit down Mr. Cohen," the judge harshly told him. "Marissa Cooper, please rise to the stand."

Marissa nervously got up and made her way towards the stand. She took a sit. A man approached her with a bible, and she recited the traditional speech, agreeing to tell the whole truth.

The judge turned to Sandy. "You may begin."

Sandy got up and walked towards Marissa. "Marissa Cooper, first explain what you saw in Trey's apartment that forced you to shoot him."

Marissa closed her eyes and jumped at the site she saw. Trey strangling Ryan. Killing him. "I ran into the room, and Ryan was lying on his back with Trey on top of him. Trey's hands were around Ryan's neck. He was strangling him."

"And what did you do when you saw this?" Sandy questioned.

"I screamed," Marissa began. "I shouted at Trey. I ran to him and started hitting him and pulling. I couldn't get him off. Then he swung at me and pushed me off," she said with her eyes closed. She was running the grisly scene in her head. She remembered it all too well.

Sandy nodded. "After you were shoved, what did you do?"

Marissa was shaking harder than ever. "I looked to the ground and saw the gun beside me," she explained. "When I looked back up, I saw Trey rip the phone out of the wall. And that's when I knew what he was going to do," she said. But then she paused. Marissa was having trouble speaking. She started to cry.

"It's okay," Sandy assured her. "You have to tell me what you did when Trey grabbed the phone."

Marissa started to speak through her tears. "I bent down and grabbed the gun off the floor. I looked back at Trey, and he had lifted Ryan's head up." Marissa paused and started to sob. She looked straight at the judge while crying her eyes out. "He was gonna kill him. I had to do it. I had to pull the trigger."

The judge acknowledged Marissa's tears and nodded. "Now I have a question Ms. Cooper. I want you to explain what caused all of this in the first place."

Marissa froze. She didn't want to repeat that night on the beach, but knew she had to.

Sandy looked at her. "Marissa, what happened between you and Trey?" he asked.

Marissa pulled herself together and began. "When Ryan was away in Miami, I had been hanging out with Trey. Trying to keep him company. I helped him find a job. That sort of thing. One night we decided to go out to get some fresh air so we went to the beach. While we were there," she paused. Her eyes closed and she watched Trey attack her. "Trey tried to kiss me. I said no, but he insisted that I was interesting because I was helping him. I told him I was helping because he was Ryan's brother, but he wouldn't believe me. He attacked me," she cried.

The judge shook her head. "You're going to have to go into more detail than that on the attack."

Marissa wiped away her tears and continued. "He grabbed me and kissed me, and pushed me onto the ground, him falling on top of me. I screamed for him to get off, but he wouldn't. I grabbed a piece of driftwood beside me and bashed him in the head. I tried to get away but her grabbed me and scratched my chest. Then I managed to push him away and get up. I ran away as fast as I could."

Ryan sat there stunned. He had never heard the full story before. He knew the gist of it, but never did he think it went on that long. Ryan looked down to the ground in emotional pain.

Sandy could tell that Marissa couldn't take much more. "Thank you Marissa. That's enough for now."

She slowly got up and made her way back to her seat. Summer, sitting directly behind Marissa, put her hand over on Marissa's shoulder.

Sandy looked at the judge, and then at Ryan. "Ryan, please come to the stand," Sandy said.

Ryan made his way to the stand, and he too recited the truth agreement.

The judge looked down at Sandy. "I would like to ask some questions to Mr. Atwood."

Sandy nodded and sat down.

"Mr. Atwood," she said. "What was your reaction when you first heard about the attempted rape?"

Ryan looked at Marissa, who was looking at the ground. Then he turned to the judge. "I was angrier than I've ever been. Any problems me and Trey have had all rushed to my head. I couldn't control my anger."

"What did you do?"

Ryan looked down to the ground. "I drove to Trey's house. He pulled a gun on me, so I started to back off. But I couldn't control it. I was too angry. I charged him. He hurt someone that I love."

Marissa looked up at Ryan and their eyes met. She started to cry.

"Tell me about the fight," the judge asked.

"Well," Ryan started. "I was winning at first. I nailed him in the face a bunch of times. Then he flipped me into the coffee table and started strangling me. It's blurry from there."

The judge nodded, understanding. "That's enough. You may be seated."

Ryan got up and returned to his seat.

The judge shuffled through her papers and then looked back up. "Summer Roberts, please come to the stand."

Summer nervously got up, Seth's hand sliding out of hers. She walked forward and took a seat.

Sandy stood up and walked towards Summer. "How did you first find out about Trey's attack on Marissa?" Sandy asked.

"Well," Summer took a breath. "I had noticed the scratch on Marissa's chest, and she had told me she had fallen. I didn't really believe her, but I was too wrapped up in my own life, and didn't make anything of it. Then I noticed extremely awkward tension between Marissa and Trey, and started to link the two together. I asked her what happened, and at first she acted like it was nothing. But then she finally broke down and told me."

"What was your reaction?" Sandy asked.

"I was shocked!" Summer explained. "And scared. I felt so bad for her. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't sure if Ryan should know, so I decided to tell Seth instead."

"What did he say?"

"He was just as scared as me. He was also worried that Trey might to it again to someone," Summer told Sandy. "We decided that Ryan had to know."

Sandy nodded. "What did you see when you ran into Trey's place?" Sandy asked her.

Summer closed her eyes and pictured the image. "Trey was lying motionless on the floor. Marissa was across the room, in shock. She was trembling. And Ryan was beside Marissa, looking out of it."

"Did you call the police immediately?"

"Yes, right away," she told him. "I didn't know who what had happened. I just saw Trey motionless, Ryan looking in pain. I didn't know who was injured or who was not."

"Thank you Summer," Sandy said as he motioned for her to go back to her seat.

The judge interrupted before Summer got up. "One more question. You're her best friend, so you would know. Does Ms. Cooper have a history of violence or temper?"

Summer shook her head. "Not at all."

"She did try to kill herself, didn't she?" the judge viciously asked.

Sandy stepped in. "That has nothing to do with this trial. I would appreciate it if we stuck to the case."

"She also almost caused someone else to shoot themselves." The judge looked out at Marissa, who looked horrified. "Not your first situation involving a gun, is it?" She looked back at Summer. "Take a seat."

The judge watched Summer return to her seat, and then spoke up. "Seth Cohen. Please rise."

Seth was expecting to be next, so he readily got up and walked up to the stand.

The judge looked down at Seth. "Before you tell me about that night, I want to know about the relationship between Ryan and Trey Atwood. They both lived in your house at the same time for a short while. Did they get along?"

"Well, they had minor problems like any siblings," Seth explained. "They got into arguments, but they both clearly loved each other."

The judge nodded at Sandy, allowing him to ask questions.

Sandy stepped forward. "What was Ryan's reaction when you told him about the incident?"

"He looked like he was in pain. He sat down and told me that he couldn't ignore this," Seth explained. "He said he had to settle things with Trey."

The judge told Seth he could sit down, and then she looked towards the jury. They all left the room for quite a while.

The entire courtroom was filled with tension. Everyone was scared. Marissa was crying. Seth and Summer were both silent, staring at the ground. Ryan had his eyes closed, thinking about everything. Theresa had her arm around Dawn, comforting her. Sandy was nervous. Jimmy and Julie were holding each other, worried about their daughter's future.

After what seemed like forever, the jury finally re-entered the room. Everyone, except Ryan who was still looking down, sat up immediately and faced the jury.

One jury member stood up. "We, the jury have carefully reviewed this case. We understand what the defendant is saying," he paused, "but we just don't believe her."

Julie's jaw dropped. Marissa immediately turned and faced Sandy, petrified. Seth and Summer looked at each other, unsure of what that meant. Ryan now immediately looked up at the jury.

"Spoiled rich girl gets her hands on a gun. Points it towards the man who tried to rape her. Revenge looks sweet. We do however believe that Ms. Cooper was defending Ryan Atwood, but we don't believe her story. The jury finds the defendant guilty. We sentence you to five years."

Marissa screamed. She couldn't help it. She fell to the ground in uncontrollable tears. Ryan jumped over the wooden barrier and held her tight. Summer and Seth were in shock. Julie was absolutely outraged. This wasn't fair. Dawn was completely shocked and stunned. Theresa was frozen. Jimmy started to cry for his daughter.

Marissa Cooper was going to jail.