Rick's POV

I heard three knocks on my door, causing me to stir from my sleep. I opened my eyes to see and feel that I was still buried in Kate's neck from last night.

"Come on guys, we gotta get a move on" my dad said.

"Coming" I called. Kate groaned and then turned to me, opening her eyes slightly.

"What time is it?" she asked tiredly. I checked my phone to see that it was 7:12 in the morning.

"Time to get up" I said, I then gave Kate a kiss on the forehead, making her close her eyes and smile. "Why don't you snooze for a minute, I'm gonna go shower" I said. Kate smiled into the pillow and nodded. I then stood up and dressed up a bit to walk outside. As I crossed the hall Angel passed me.

"Thought you werent gonna get up" she said, making her way to the stairs. "Where's Kate?" she asked.

"Snoozing, I'm taking a quick shower and then I'll wake her up" I said. Angel nodded and then went down the stairs. I took a piss and brushed my teeth as the water warmed up. I then took a quick rinse off and dried off before walking into my room again, by now Kate was up and putting her shirt on from last night.

"You're up" I said.

"Yeah, mind if I use your shower?" Kate asked.

"No, my shower" I said while I used my deodorant.

"Thanks, where do you keep your washrags?" Kate asked.

"Cabinet, above the toilet" I answered.

"Got it" Kate said, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind her. I picked out my outfit which ended up being a gray button up and black jeans, with my light brown jacket to go with it all. Not the one I always wore, but another one, I'm not sure where it went, last time I wore it was at the party. I hope it wasn't thrown out. I decided to go downstairs and grab a cup of coffee for Kate, I could smell it brewing from up here, and I knew that if I could smell it, Kate could too. Angel was sitting on the couch playing on her phone while mom was sitting at the table, dad was presumably sitting on the front porch smoking a cigarette.

"Morning" I said as I passed my mom.

"Morning" mom replied, taking a sip of her coffee. I grabbed one of the plastic to-go cups we had with a lip, we almost never used these. As far as I knew my mom used to use them when she was late for work but now she had a real one for all day. I poured the coffee, making sure I had room for creamer, I chose sugar cookie flavored, put some sugar, and a lid, and that was that. As I passed mom again she spoke. "Since when do you drink coffee?" she asked.

"It's not for me," I Answered.

"Ahh" mom sounded. I then walked back up the steps to see that Kate was getting dressed. A black button up with blue jeans and brown shoes, holy shit she packed shoes.

"This is for you" I said, putting the cup on the dresser. Kate came over and grabbed it.

"Ohhh, thanks" she said. She then took a sip as I grabbed my wallet and keys. "Tastes good," Kate said.

"Thanks, you can bring it with you and toss it when you're done" I said. Kate nodded and then followed me downstairs. When we reached the bottom my dad was just coming in.

"You guys ready?" he asked.

"Oh yeah" Kate answered.

"Nice, let's ride together, it's a bitch finding a parking spot down there" dad said.

"Alright" Kate agreed. Angel stood up and pocketed her phone. We then all made our way to the car. My mom and dad sat in the front, while me and Angel sandwiched Kate in the back.

"You guy's good back there?" mom asked, looking in the rearview mirror. Angel smiled and gave a thumbs up making Kate giggle. "Alright" Mom responded as she began driving. It was a twenty minute drive until we got there, giving us seven minutes to spare. We eventually found a parking spot and legged it into the court house. We went through security one at a time, and then waited for us to be called. As we sat Kate rubbed my arm and smiled.

"This is going to be great," she said.

"I'm sure," I replied.

"It's a shame though, if Garth wasn't such a prick, he really could have made something for himself" Angel commented.

"We all make mistakes Angel, some of them worse than others" I said.

"Fuck him" Kate said.

"Do you think Garth is gonna make it in prison?" Angel asked.

"I see it going one of two ways, either he joins a group or he acts the same way he acts in school and gets shanked for it" I said.

"I vote option two, they'll see him as a pretty boy" Kate said.

"Yeah, option two" Angel agreed.

"Option two does sound right," I said.

"Yep, option two" my dad mumbled, making us laugh a bit. I felt my phone vibrate, as did Kate and Angel, we pulled it out to see it was a message from the group chat.

H. Hey, wanted to wish you guys luck today. Not that you need it after what happened.

S. yeah, good luck. I love you guys.

L. stick it to him Rick.

I smiled and put the phone back in my pocket.

"So enthusiastic," Angel said. Just then we were called in.

"Come on guys, let's get this over with" mom said. We then stood up and walked inside. We walked in and up to the front where dad sat next to me, and everybody else sat behind. Looking to my right I saw the table where Garth would sit but I didn't see a lawyer. He didn't call one? Or request one? I was confident enough to not have one but Garth? You would expect him to have something. Looking to my far left I saw the jury, getting ready for the judge to come out. What was taking so long? Just then the doors opened behind us. I then turned around to see the son of a bitch himself. In handcuffs being escorted by a cop, with his dad following right behind him. They took a seat and then glanced over at me. Me and Garth made eye contact, and where I could feel the hatred in my eyes I saw confidence in his, this didn't make sense. Finally up at the front of the room the judge stepped out and sat down at the stand, flipping through papers and then sighing.

"Alright, this is case forty-two A. I'd like to start by reading out the crime and going over what happened via the defendant's story and the victim's story" the judge said. "I'd like to start with the defendant," he added. The whole room turned to Garth as he started.

"I… I um… I'd like to say that I did go to a party where Rick was, I spent a majority of my time hanging out with friends, drinking, all the things that we would normally do, but what I didn't do was what is being accused of me" Garth said. I heard someone scoff behind me, it sounded like Kate. "I did see Rick there, but he seemed to be off a little, not acting like himself. Personally I think he was drunk, I've never really seen him at a party before so this must have been somewhat new to him" Garth said.

"You do know that legally, you are not allowed to be drinking" the judge said.

"I understand that judge…"

"Mccain"

"Judge Mccain, but I want to be as honest as possible so that you know I'm not lying when I say that I did not do what you think I did. I went there, spent time with friends, and went home, that's all" Garth finished. Mccain then turned back to the center and flipped through some more papers again.

"Alright, now for the victim" he ordered.

"Go on Rick tell him" my dad whispered to me.

"Well… it was supposed to be a fun night, I just wanted to go have fun with some friends and go home, but that obviously didn't happen, I will admit that I took a shot but that is it, I was not drunk that night and I did not wander around like a fool. There was food ordered and so I had decided to grab some so that I could eat with my friends, but when i was getting it Garth put something in my drink" I explained.

"Did you see this happen?" Mccain asked.

"No, No I didn't, I wouldn't have drank it otherwise" I said.

"Go on, and get to the point this time" he ordered. Why was he being such a dick?

"I was drugged, I wouldn't have drank it if I knew it was drugged. But I did and I passed out. When I woke up I was in his car, driving to the silo outside of town and he took me out, beat me, and then stabbed me" I said.

"He just… started wailing on you," Mccain said.

"Yea, and he only stabbed me after I threw up on him"

"You threw up on him?" Mccain asked.

"I was so dizzy from what he gave me, I could walk or think. So when I was being moved around so fast, yeah, I threw up on him. He got angry after that and stabbed me, he said he was gonna go back to the party and give the same stuff to my girlfriend, and then left me" I explained.

"And why isnt your girlfriend here?" he asked.

"She is," I said.

"Great, then she can make a case," Mccain said. I turned around and faced Kate. she looked at me with sadness in her eyes and then stood up.

"I'm his girlfriend," she said.

"Okay, help me understand this, why is it that this young man would want to drug and stab you? What's his motive?" Mccain asked.

"He… he's obsessed with me, I'm the whole reason this happened. Rick and I got together and he couldn't take it, so he tried to take him out, and he wasn't going to stab me, he was going to rape me" Kate explained.

"Was? So this didn't happen?" Mccain asked.

"No, but it could have-:"

"Then it's irrelevant, sit down," Mccain ordered.

"Wait, how is it–" Kate started but was cut off.

"Sit down, that's not a request" Mccain barked.

"This isn't right," my dad muttered. He and I were thinking the same thing. Kate whimpered and sat down. Seeing her yelled at like that made me want to go for this bastard's throat.

"So is this your final statement?" Mccain asked me.

".. yes" I muttered angrily.

"Okay, normally this is where we would go over the evidence but there is none. No camera footage, no weapon, nothing. So I'm going to have to skip this and ask both parties to step out of the room so that me and the jury can discuss the case, please do not discuss this case outside the courtroom. You will be called in half an hour" he listed. Me and my family stood up and marched out, sitting outside once again.

"Kate, are you okay?" I asked.

"Fine, but something isn't right about that," Kate answered.

"Agreed" my mom said.

"I swear if that prick get's away with this" Angel said.

"He won't, he can't, there's no way he gets away with this" dad stated.

"We can only hope," mom said. Just then Garth's dad came out and sat across from us.

"You were awfully quiet in there" my dad called out to him. My mom tried to hush him up but it was too late.

"So were you," he replied.

"We'll get our chance to speak, and when we do you and your son are fucked" dad said. Just then a cop came around the corner.

"Do you need to leave?" he asked.

"No" dad responded.

"Then fucking act like it, sit down" he said, my dad scoffed and did as he was told. This place was hell.

"If he gets away with this I'm fucked" I muttered to myself.

"Rick, look at me" Kate said, pulling my face to hers. "He won't get away with this, no matter how much of an asshole that judge is, he cant get away with this" Kate said.

"In the end, it's not what we say that matters, it's him" I said.

"We need a miracle," Angel sighed. We then sat in silence for what felt like hours. But eventually our waiting ended and we were called back in. We took our seats the same as before and the judge spoke.

"We have not reached a verdict yet. Me and the jury thought it would be best to hear from the parents" he said. "I'd like to start with the defendant's first"

"Well, I can confirm that my son had come home that night, he told me he had a fun night and then was off to bed. Nothing went wrong, nothing happened" Tony said.

"Is this all?" Mccain asked.

"Pretty much, everything was smooth sailing," he replied.

"And for the victim?"

I would like to say that everything coming from over there is a lie, my son was stabbed and hospitalized for days, everyone knows that he did it, my son knows it, his girlfriend knows it, I know it" my dad said.

"But were are any of those people there?" Mccain asked.

"What do you mean? Of course not" my dad said.

"So no witnesses? Garth has one" Mccain said. "Young man, please say your piece" he said. I then turned around to see Cando stand up, I hadn't even noticed him.

"Yeah, I want to say that my friend is telling the truth, me, him, and a couple other friends were hanging out all night, no crime happened" he said.

"No, he's one of the three that attacked me" I said, pointing to him.

"Don't Speak unless spoken to" Mccain yelled. "First you say it was Garth and now there were three?"

"We told the police there were three, was there nothing in that file?" Kate asked.

"Young lady, you speak one more time without permission and you will be removed from this courtroom, do you understand?" Mccain growled. Kate's Ears flattened as she looked away and held her arm. She nodded sadly.

"Good, now I don't know why you wouldn't tell us something like this before, it makes me think that this is all being made up as it goes along" Mccain said.

"That wouldn't-"

"And with no evidence or real witnesses to your events gives me no choice but to reach the final verdict. I hereby would like to announce that Garth Briars is found not guilty of the crimes by reason of false accusation" he said, banging the hammer on the counter. My dad stood up as Garth hugged his dad, cheering.

"This is bullshit! What part of you really think that we made any of this up? Then who stabbed him? Who stabbed my son!" my dad yelled.

"I think he did it to himself" Mccain smiled.

"You son of a bitch" dad muttered.

"Careful now, I can have you put away easily to at least cool down. The way I see it he stabbed himself because he was drunk and careless" Mccain said.

"No, he didn't do that, he would never-" my mom started.

"What, you think you know better than a judge? Do not question me, I will not stand for it, now please exit the room this court session is over" Mccain said. I looked over to see Garth being uncuffed and taken back to presumably grab his belongings.

"If that son of a bitch hurts my family again, or anything else of the matter then it will be on you" my dad growled. Mccain then started counting backwards from ten. "Come on, let's go" dad said. I stood up and followed him out of the door. We walked in silence to the car and sat down. The ride home was silent and heavy. Tension filled the air as my dad drove. We eventually made it back to the house where I went up to my room, took off my jacket, and laid down on the bed. Kate laid next to me as Angel leaned in the doorway with her arms crossed.

"What are we gonna do?" Kate asked.

"I… I don't know, but something was off in there. There's no way he just got away with that" I said.

"That judge was a corrupt piece of shit, why would he smile while saying you stabbed yourself, he knew it wasn't true" Angel complained.

"I'm so angry, I want to kill him" Kate growled.

"Garth or the judge?" I asked.

"Both, fucking both. There both scum that don't fucking deserve to breathe" Kate said.

"So I guess it's just back to school for Garth tomorrow" Angel said.

"I guess so, and then it's off for christmas break" Kate said.

"What are we gonna tell the others?" Angel asked.

"The truth," I said.

"They get out at twelve thirty, so I'll send a text to the group chat" Kate said.

"Tell them to meet up here" I instructed. Kate nodded as Angel came over and sat down next to me, pushing a pillow back to make room for herself. She then started rubbing my leg.

"I'm so sorry Rick" she whispered.

"Angel it's… it's not your fault, but Garth will be back, and if he tries something else then we gotta be ready for it" I said.

"We shouldn't have to do that," Angel complained.

"I know, believe me I know, but this is the hand we've been dealt, and we have to play it" I said.

"We almost lost you once, i don't want to have to worry about losing you again" Angel said, tears started to fill her eyes. I pulled her on top of me and into a hug. She hugged me back and began sobbing into my shoulder. Kate rubbed her back and tried to calm her.

"It's okay Angel, whatever happens… we'll get through it" Kate said.

"I just don't want to lose any of you" Angel sobbed. I continued rubbing her back as dad came and knocked on the doorframe to grab our attention. Me and Kate turned to him. Angel continued to sob into me.

"Rick… can I talk with you for a moment?" dad asked.

"Yeah" I said. I gently lifted Angel off of me and she rubbed her eyes. "I'll be right back," I told her.

"Okay" she sobbed. I gave her forehead a quick kiss and then walked out of the room where I heard Kate trying to calm her. I found my dad in his room sitting on the bed. He waved me over and so I sat next to him.

"You know what happened in that courtroom wasn't right, don't you?" he asked. I nodded. "I just wanted to say that… I know your friends will be there to protect you, I know that you know I'll protect you and your sister as well" he said.

"My sister?" I asked.

"Yes, since you fought him you've proven that you can beat him, he knows that, and after what he did you better believe that if he can't hurt you, he'll go after someone close to you, Angel, your friends… Kate, so you better watch your back as well as your friends, keep each other safe" Dad said.

"I will" I promised.

"I know you will, it's a scary world out there son, and nobody plays fair, you saw that today, and if you think anything is going to happen then you let me know" Dad instructed. I nodded. "I'm sorry this happened to you, you kids deserve so much better, your mom suggested moving but I'll kill that son of a bitch myself and take the fall before I pull you kids apart, I've seen your relationship, how important it is to you, I saw it last night at the table when you and Kate interacted. You might have thought it all seemed normal but I didn't, I see a spark in you that was never there before, and nothing is gonna ruin that, I won't let it, and I know you won't either" dad said.

"Thanks dad" I said, I never before saw him so serious. Normally he was a jokester but now he seemed broken and upset. He pulled me into a hug and patted my back.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I replied. Dad let go and exhaled.

"Alright, go back to your sister, she looks like she needs you" he said. I nodded and went back to my room. When I walked in I saw Angel in Kate's arms as Kate ran her hand down Angel's hair gently. Angel's face turned to the door with her eyes closed and up against Kate's chest. Kate looked over to me.

"You two okay?" I asked.

"Angel she… she's taking this hard, personal even" Kate answered.

"I understand why, today was a shit show" I said, sitting on the bed next to Kate and Angel. Angel stayed where she was, Kate never once stopping her stroking.

"What did your dad want?" Kate asked.

"He wanted me to keep an eye on you guys, our family, he thinks that if Garth tried something once then he'll do it again" I explained.

"I'm not scared of him," Kate said.

"I know you're not, but Garth is a nasty son of a bitch, and we should watch our back is all" I said.

"So live in constant fear? This is bullshit, he should have been locked up" Kate ranted.

"I know, I know, but he isn't, answer we have to live with that. I'm sure it will pass over eventually Kate" I assured.

"I hope so," Kate replied. I sighed as I put my hand over Kates which was wrapped around my sister's back.

"I love you guys" I said.

"We love you too Rick" Kate said. Today was a huge setback.