A/N: One review? kursk, you rock, but seriously, people. If it sucked enough to not review it, review it anyways and tell me that it sucked. I have no idea if you guys liked it or not! Pretty please review this one; it's a big chapter.

A/N: Just so this doesn't confuse people: When you hear a character on trial that is saying something that conflicts with the actual events of what happen, they're lying. I'm not mistaken; I know Ryan attacked Trey first. But they are changing their story to save Marissa. Also, I'm having the trial take just one day. I know that doesn't happen, but it just makes more sense to shorten it. I don't really understand why they'd need more than like, eight hours for all the testimonies and stuff. The jury's decision my take a few days, however. This is a long, legal chapter, so if you think it'll bore you, you could skip it. I'm not sure yet if you'll absolutely have to read it in order to understand the story, but I would recommend it. Am I making sense?

She stood in front of her mirror, fixing her hair, Should it be up? Down? Braided? She finally settled on a low ponytail, and it seemed to fit,

She took another peek at her reflection. It wasn't what she was used to seeing. God only knew how long it had been since she wore a suit, but here she was, sporting a gray blazer, a soft pink tee, and a matching gray skirt.

"Coop?" Summer asked, knocking at her door. "Are you ready?"

She looked one last time at the mirror. "Yeah."

She left her room and walked with Summer down to Sandy's car. Sandy was already in the car, and Ryan was in the back. Summer hopped in the passenger seat, and Marissa slid in next to her boyfriend, taking his hand. Seth had already left, going to pick up his mom at the center, and drive her to the courthouse.

"All set?" Sandy asked, as she slammed the door shut.

She tensely nodded.

"All right, then." He backed the car out of the driveway and set off for the city.

The closer they got to the courthouse, the tighter she gripped Ryan's hand. She was nervous. God, was she nervous. She had been trained for this day for the last half of a week, and she still was absolutely terrified.

No one spoke in the car; everyone was too deeply involved in their own thoughts. Sandy turned on the traffic report after a few minutes, but other than that there was complete silence. No one noticed that they had pulled up to the Orange County Court Of Law, until Sandy nervously cleared his throat.

"Um, we're here," he announced.

"Right," Marissa said, blinking. Ryan got out of the car and held the door open for her.

"Thanks," she smiled warily, and took his hand again. She needed all the moral support she could get.

Summer uncomfortably crossed her arms and stayed behind the group. She waited at the curb for Seth to pull up. When he did, he helped Kirsten out of the car, then took his girlfriends arm.

As Marissa headed up the steps to the courthouse, she was immensely surprised to find her picture being taken by camera people from the local newspaper.

"What's with all the photos?" she asked Sandy, as they opened the door.

"Haven't you read a paper lately? Thursday's huge headline was 'Teen Kills Her Boyfriend's Brother.' You're the new hero-or villain- of Newport. Enjoy it while it lasts.

As he spoke the last word, a man dressed in brown and gray, with a gigantic camera, jumped out in front of them. "Marissa! Look here!" He snapped her photo.

She noticed a woman in a bright red suit talking into a microphone off to the side. "Thanks, Jay. I'm here at the Orange County Court of Law, where Marissa Cooper, her lawyer, and friends have just entered. Miss Cooper, as you know, has been charged with manslaughter, after shooting her boyfriend's brother last Wednesday evening. Cooper, who is right now going through security, is with her boyfriend today-" the camera panned Ryan "and some of her close friends." The cameraman got a shot of Summer and Seth. "Apparently absent today is Cooper's mother, who resides here in Newport, and her father, who lives in Hawaii. Also joining Cooper's entourage today is Kirsten Cohen, wife of Cooper's lawyer and mother of one of Cooper's closest friends. For NBC News, I'm Susan Harper. We'll be sure to keep you updated. Back to you, Jay."

"I'm on the news?" Marissa asked, distraught.

"Yeah."

They passed security, Marissa squeezing Ryan's hand so hard that it was turning white, and stopped in front of Room 1110.

"This is it," Sandy informed them. "Ready?"

"Yeah," she lied.

He pushed open the heavy oak doors, into the courtroom, and motioned for them to sit down while he checked in with the judge.

Marissa sat down in a scratchy green chair, and the rest of the group followed suit. Marissa looked over at the jury. There were six women and four men. A man and a woman were Hispanic, three women and two men were Caucasian, and two women and one man were African-American.

A few minutes later, Sandy joined them.

"All right, we're going to start opening statements in about five minutes. See that guy over there?" Sandy inconspicuously pointed to a man with soft gray hair, clad in a tan, faux-suede suit, opening a briefcase and rummaging through it. "He's the prosecution lawyer. Name's Mark Harrison. He'll make a statement about why you're an evil murderer who should be locked away, I'll go up there and deny everything he says, he'll call people up, question them, we'll call people up, question them, and then he'll repeat his shit about you being an evil murderer, and I will once again deny it. That's pretty much how it's gonna go."

"Alright," Marissa said shakily.

The doors swung open again and a woman, wearing judge's robes, strode in. Everyone stood up, and sat back down as she took her place.

She banged the gavel down. "Order! Order! I call this court to session."

Instantaneously, everyone stopped talking.

"Marissa Cooper, stand before me."

Marissa rose and walked over to the judge.

"You have been charged with the manslaughter of Trey Atwood. How do you plead?"

Marissa's voice shook as she answered. "Not guilty."

"You may return to your seat. I now call forth the prosecution to begin their opening statement."

Mr. Harrison adjusted his tie, sniffed, and arrogantly walked over to the prosecution stand.

"Ladies and gentleman of the jury," he began loudly, "here we have a very unusual case. The question is not, did Ms. Cooper kill Mr. Atwood, it why did she do it? And you all are probably wondering that. Why did she kill him? The answer, my friends, is simple." He paused for effect. "Ms. Cooper did not kill Mr. Atwood because, as the defense claims, out of defense for another. The fact is, over spring break Mr. Atwood attempted to rape Ms. Cooper, and she wanted revenge. Ms. Cooper had been leading Mr. Atwood on, causing him to believe she had feelings for him, which she did not. When Ms. Cooper found Mr. Ryan Atwood illegally fighting with Mr. Trey Atwood, she saw it as the opportune moment, to take the life of an innocent man. Ladies and gentleman, we have here a young woman who took her revenge on a defenseless young man much too far."

He nodded to the jury.

"Does that conclude your opening remark?" the judge asked him.

"It does." Mr. Harrison took his seat.

Marissa had been struggling to stay silent through his speech. It was a pack of lies, all of it.

She snapped back to the situation as the judge called Sandy up for his opening statement.

"Thank you, your honor." Sandy said. "During Mr. Harrison's speech, I took note of what he say, and he appears to be erroneous on the events that took place before and up to Mr. Atwood's death." He pulled out a piece of paper. "He was correct in the fact that over Spring Break, Mr. Atwood attempted to rape my client. But he neglected to tell you the full story. He and Ms. Cooper had been watching a movie at his apartment, when he suggested they go for a walk along the beach. She agreed, and she went outside. While she was out of the house, Mr. Atwood used drugs to get him high. She was unaware of this, until he attacked her and admitted that he had taken drugs. She had not been leading him on, she had simply befriended him, and the drugs caused him to believe she wanted something more than friendship. Ms. Cooper is very happy with her boyfriend, and is loyal to him. She was distraught over his attack, and finally admitted to her boyfriend, Mr. Ryan Atwood, who was Trey's brother. Ryan went to go discuss the issue with his brother, who was once again under the influence." Sandy took a deep breath. This was where he had to change the true events a little bit. "His brother became aggressive when pressed about the matter, and began to physically attack Ryan. Ryan responded in self-defense. When Ms. Cooper showed up, knowing that Trey could be dangerous, and that Ryan might not be safe, she discovered Trey strangling Ryan. She pleaded with Trey not to kill him, but he did not listen She saw a gun lying on the ground, that had been dropped during the fight by Trey, and warned him again to stop choking her boyfriend. When Trey again refused, she shot him, and therefore saved Ryan Atwood's life. Ladies and gentleman of the jury, we have here not a young woman who took revenge on a defenseless young man, but a frightened young woman who killed a man that was killing someone else, consequently saving another life."

"Does that conclude your opening remark?"

"Yes, Your Honor." Sandy sat back down.

Mr. Harrison mentally kicked him self. Damn it, he forgot to say Your Honor. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!
"The prosecution will begin their case," the judge proclaimed.

Mr. Harrison stood before the court. "I call Ryan Atwood to the stand."

Ryan walked over to the bailiff. "Left hand down on the Bible, raise your right hand and swear tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, help you God."

"Yeah."

The bailiff gestured for him to take a seat on the witness stand.

"Mr. Atwood," the attorney made the words long and sharp. "Could you please retell the events starting from when you found out about your brother's attack on your girlfriend?"

"Seth told me that over spring break, Trey attacked Marissa. I was upset and went to go talk it out with. We fought-" he stopped and looked at Sandy's horrified face. "Not physically. With words." Sandy relaxed. "But Trey pulled out a gun and said I had to leave or he'd kill me. I was going to leave but turned in to say something. Trey thought I was going to attack him, and he started punching me. I was fighting him back, but in self-defense. He was a lot stronger than me, and threw me on the floor and stared choking him. Marissa came in and begged Trey to stop, and he didn't. He was about to hit me over the head with a phone, when Marissa found the gun that I had pushed out of his hands and shot him."

"And why do you think she shot him?"

"So he couldn't kill me."

"Do you suspect, even a little bit, that there could be another reason?"

"No."

"Maybe because she hated Trey for attacking her, wanted him dead?" Harrison suggested hopefully.

"No."

"Is there anything else you want to note about what happened?"

"Yeah. When I came over, Trey was on drugs."

"Do you know how Ms. Cooper knew your life would be in danger?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"You were his brother, you knew him growing up. He was a good kid, right?"

Ryan laughed hollowly. "No. When we were really little, like I was four and he was eight, he stole every kid's bike in Chino. By the time he was ten, he had been hotwiring and stealing cars for a year."

"But he was a good brother, right?"

"Sometimes," Ryan said quietly.

Mr. Harrison sighed; this had not been helpful to his case. "Thank you, you may sit down." Ryan returned to his seat next to Marissa, and she immediately attached her hand to his again.

"I now call Summer Roberts to the stand."

Summer went over to the bailiff and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help her God.

She sat down at the winless stand, crossing her left leg over her right.

"Ms. Roberts, could you please tell us how you knew about Ms. Cooper's… incident… with Mr. Atwood?" Harrison began his second interrogation.

Summer smiled sweetly. "Which Mr. Atwood are you referring to, sir?"

There were some hastily muffled laughs from the people watching the trial.

Harrison rolled his eyes. "Trey."

"Sir, would it be all right if I used people's first names when referring to them?"

As tempted as he was to say 'Whatever', he controlled the urge. "That's fine, Ms. Roberts. Now could you please answer the question?"

"Well, I invited Marissa to go out with me, and she said OK, and I told her we could go as soon as she explained the huge bruise on her neck and all the tension when she's around Trey lately, and she broke down and told me what happened."

"Did she ask you to keep it confidential?"

"No."

Damn. He had been so sure… "And then you proceeded to tell Seth and Ryan?"

"No."

He was confused now. "Then how did they find out?"

"I told Seth, and Seth told Ryan."

That girl was going to be playing mind games with him all day, wasn't she? Oy. "And you let Seth tell Ryan, even though you knew it might provoke him into a fight with his brother."

"No one had told Ryan what had happened, and he thought that there was a slight possibility that while he was away for Spring Break, Marissa and Trey had gotten together, which wasn't true. He had to know the truth, or his relationship with Marissa would have lost its stability."

For a girl who looked like she spent more time in the mall than she did in school, she knew how to put a sentence together pretty well. "So then how did Marissa find out that Ryan had found out?" He didn't like the way that sentence had gone, it sounded unprofessional.

"Seth called her and told her that Ryan knew. She understood, and took off for Trey's to stop any fighting that might happen, and Seth and I started off for there, too. Marissa just happened to be closer and got there first."

"I see. And when did you arrive?"

"Seth and I walked in the door as she shot him."

"I see," he repeated. "And did you think that that was necessary in order to preserve Ryan's life?"

"From what I had seen, yes." Like she would have said no.

"And tell me, Ms. Roberts, how well did you know the late Mr. Atwood?" He couldn't help it. First names were way too uncomfortable and unprofessional for him. And with that sentence about Marissa finding out about Ryan finding out, he needed all the professionalism that he could get.

"Not that well."

"And the present Mr. Atwood?"

Summer shrugged. "We're friends. We don't hang out like, one on one a lot or anything, but Seth and Marissa and Ryan and I go out all together often."

"And Ms. Cooper?"

"She's my best friend."

"Alright, thank you Ms. Roberts. You may go back."

She stood up, smoothing her designer skirt, and everyone in the courthouse heard her heels click back to the seats.

"I call Seth Cohen to the stand." Mr. Harrison fidgeted with his fingernails.

Seth lazily stood up and stretched, proceeding promise to tell the truth, the whole and nothing but the truth only after being poked and pinched several times by Summer.

"Mr. Cohen. What do you know about the situation?" Harrison asked, trying to discreetly bite a hangnail. So much for professionalism.

"To be honest, nothing that you haven't already heard."

"Is it true that Ms. Roberts informed you of Mr. Atwood's attack on Ms. Cohen, and you, in turn, informed Mr. A- I mean, Ryan of it and Ms. Cooper of Ryan's knowledge of the situation?" There. He had gotten the wording right this time.

"Yup."

Harrison had been expecting more than a syllable in response: he was caught off guard.

"Is, um, er…" He fished for a question. "Do you believe that Ms. Cooper is, as the defense claims, a young woman simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or do you believe it to be more than that?"

"No, I think the defense would be right on that one." Seth yawned.

This kid wasn't going to help. He excused the teen, and thought. He was not doing well, that was for sure. Why did this have to be his first case? He got stuck against a trial that any half-wit defense lawyer could win, especially the great Sandy Cohen. This would not look good on his record. It was time to call in his surprise attack.

No one had noticed her there, she was dressed way down, sitting in a chair that in the shadows. Yet as she stood up as her name was called, her dark tan revealed her identity easily.

"I call Julie Cooper-Nichol to the stand." Harrison smirked, as the eyes of the Cohen's, Marissa and Summer widened simultaneously.

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

"Yeah, sure," Julie said, pushing her black sunglasses up on her head and taking a seat on the witness stand.

"Mrs. Cooper-Nichol, could you please tell the court some of your daughter previous infractions with the law?"

"I certainly could, Mr. Harrison," she said, and his cheeks flushed tomato red. "Marissa has been notorious for her drinking, sir, and she did some illegal drugs two years ago in Mexico, which almost resulted in her death."

"I see. Mrs. Cooper-Nichol-"

"Please," she said flirtatiously, "call me Julie."

The lawyer awkwardly cleared his throat. "J-Julie, could you tell us where your daughter lives?"

"Not with me, that's for sure."

"Could you tell us why?"

"Well, Marissa has done some wild things, like her drinking, and she's always seemed to unreasonably hate me. She even tried being a lesbian last winter just to get me mad! And when I found out about this, she assumed I would hate her, and left the house of her own will."

"Objection!" Sandy called out. "Your honor, this is irrelevant to the case, and untrue!"

"Sustained. Harrison, get the witness back on the subject of the case," the judge declared.

"Mrs. Coo-, Julie, what do you know about the case?" he hurriedly changed the subject.

"Nothing. Nothing whatsoever." She smiled.

Harrison shut his eyes and inhaled sharply. What was this bitch's problem?

"You may return to your seat," he said through clenched teeth.

Julie, unbeknownst to everyone, slipped out of the courtroom altogether.

"I call Marissa Cooper up to the stand."

Sandy stood up. "Ms. Cooper is taking the fifth, sir." The training for the last few days had been to intensive, she was cracking. Sandy had no idea if she could remember it all. One slip, and she had ten to life. She had agreed last night to take the right to remain silent.

"The prosecution rests." Harrison sighed.

"The defense may begin their case," the judge declared.

Sandy took the defense stand, and called Ryan to the stand. Marissa let go of his hand again, and examined her fingers. They had turned white from gripping Ryan's hand so hard.

"I'm not going to waste time asking you to recall the events of June first, Ryan." Sandy exhaled and swept a hand through his hair. "But can you please tell us how your brother got to know my client?"

"When Trey got out of jail, he came to live with me, and you and your family." Ryan began, and explained on account of the perplexed look on the jury's face. "I live with Mr. Cohen and his family."

"He's like one of the family," Sandy furthered his explanation.

"Anyways, so, Marissa met him, because he was my brother and she's my girlfriend, so he was trying to get a job and she befriended him and drove him to interviews and stuff." Ryan said.

"When you went over Trey's house on June first, what exactly were your intentions?"

"I was planning on asking him what the hell was going through his mind when he attacked Marissa." Ryan didn't hesitate in his answer.

"Did you expect that he would show you aggression?"

"In the back of my mind, I think that I knew that Trey wasn't going to be content with showing up being like, 'Hey, Trey, what's up, yeah, heard you tried to rape my girlfriend, so what's up with that?' Trey takes things the wrong way, and he thought that I was going to starting pushing him around, so he, in his mind, which obviously wasn't working right on account of the drugs, he decided to attack before I could." He paused. "Even though I wasn't planning to."

"Before spring beak, was Trey seeming to leave his old ways and become a better person?"

"In a way. Everyone thought he was getting better, because of him getting a job and a house. But not me. I knew him too well. He could never lead a life like that. Everyone kept saying 'Ryan, why don't you just believe him? He's not going back to his old habits.' I wanted to believe it, but I couldn't."

"Thank you. You may return to your seat." He did, and took Marissa's pale hand in his own once again.

"I call Summer Roberts to the stand."

"Summer," he began. "If you had known of the evening of June first what you do now, would you have still let Ryan discover the truth about Marissa?"

Summer took a deep breath. "There is no easy way to answer that. I would like to say no, but that's not true. If Ryan hadn't found out, he probably would have thought that Marissa was cheating on him, cause she kept acting weird around Trey, or if he had found out some other way, and the whole thing happened, who knows if she would be there to save him?" she finished softly.

" Do you feel at all responsible for the death of Trey Atwood?" Sandy asked.

"Yes," she answered quietly, tears rolling down her face. "Yes, I do. I'm not saying that Trey didn't deserve what he got or anything, or that he was a good person or something. But if it hadn't been for me, he'd still be alive, and my best friend wouldn't be on trial for killing someone!" Her shoulders shook as sobs wracked her body. "How would you feel, if you knew that something you did caused someone to die?" she asked, tears dripping down her face.

"You may return to your seat," Sandy said, giving her a tissue. She walked back to her seat, passing Seth on the way, who had been called up to the stand. He caught her eye, and smiled, melting her heart.

"Seth, I'll ask you. If you had known on June first everything that you do now, would you have still told Ryan the truth about what happened?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"Can you elaborate?" Sandy asked.

"What else is there to say? I knew Ryan would find out, I didn't realize that it would end up so bloody, but it could have been worse. If I hadn't told Marissa about the whole thing, I'd be testifying at Trey's trial for killing Ryan right now."

"So you're saying that you don't feel responsible for his death?"

"Yes. No. Huh?" Seth was confused. "I mean, I don't feel responsible. To tell the truth, I feel a bit heroic for getting Marissa to go out there and save Ryan, to tell the truth."

"Thanks, Seth. You can be seated."

He returned to his chair between Summer, who was still shedding a few tears, and his mom, who had remained emotionless all day.

"The prosecution will begin its closing statements," the judge proclaimed.

"Thank you, your honor." Yes. He had remembered. "The defense still claims that Marissa Cooper acted in a moment of courage, saving her beau's life. But really, as I have said, we have a girl who saw it the perfect opportunity to do it all it one- be a hero, and take the life of her attacker. But this will not go without punishment. No matter what Trey Atwood had previously done to her, she still was not in the correct judgment to kill him. She is a threat to society, and could become much worse if he is not put away for a minimum of twenty years. Perhaps some time in a jail cell will set her straight." He took a gleeful delight in that last phrase, knowing very well about Marissa's short-lived relationship with Alex.

Sandy took the stand for his closing statement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your honor, the prosecution, after five hours of testimony-including lunch- is still misguided when it comes to Marissa Cooper. A threat to society? Marissa simply acted to save another. She is someone who protected society, not threatened it. She didn't go out on the street and point a gun in someone's face. In elementary school, teachers tell their students to tell an authority when they see a student being picked on or beaten up. Marissa, who is obviously out of her grammar school days, didn't have time to contact the police. By then Ryan would be dead. So she did the only thing she could. We all must make sacrifices to get ahead in life. This, unfortunately, was a necessary sacrifice that had to be made."

"The jury will now deliberate on the fate of Marissa Cooper. You are all expected to be here, tomorrow morning, at 10:15 AM, to hear whether the jury has made its decision yet. Court is dismissed."

Marissa had been up all night. '… the fate of Marissa Cooper…. The fate of Marissa Cooper…' had echoed in her head for the last ten hours. Now it was 9:30, the next morning, and Marissa was getting ready to go back to court.

The one thing on her mind, besides her fate, was her mother's testimony. How could she have done that? Her own mom, Julie Cooper-Nichol, may have just sealed her destiny. If she was found guilty…. She shuddered. She could never forgive her mother. Ever. This was worse than kicked her out. She laughed aloud. At least her mom didn't know about the baby.

The baby. What was she going to do about the baby if she was sentenced to prison? She couldn't have her child be born in the Orange County Jail, that was for sure.

They arrived at the courthouse in much the same manner as yesterday, photographers and news reporters seeming to swarm all over the building. She shielded her face from them, her head buried in Ryan's shoulder, as they made their way back to Courtroom 1110.

At precisely 10:15, the judge (Marissa still didn't know her name) swept into the room, as everyone rose.

"Be seated."

A member of the jury, a Caucasian woman, scurried out from a room behind the stands and whispered something in her ear.

"The jury has decided."

All twelve members filed out of that room, looking like they hadn't seen sunlight since yesterday morning. Marissa reminded herself they probably hadn't. Everyone stood up, Marissa clinging onto Ryan's hand.

"We the jury," the woman read of a sheet of paper. "find Marissa Cooper-"

A/N: HAHAHAHAHA! I'm not letting you hear the verdict! Hahahahahahaha! God, I am so evil. And I am NOT doing this just to get reviews. Okay, maybe I am just a little bit. Like 5. Maybe 10. Anyways, I'm mostly doing that just to watch you all be pissed at me. Please review and let me know whether you want to smack me or not for that little cliffhanger. Thank ya!