AUTHORS NOTE:
I am so sorry for the wait! I want to give a shout out to Paragon Eight; you really need to go check out their stories they are wicked awesome! This chapter was written while listening to Our Last Night. Any other fans of them out there? Please review, it really makes my day when you do!
JOHN'S POV:
"In the case of John Smith the Jury has found him…"
"… guilty." The crowd gasps. I barely can process what's going on around me. All I can think is, how can they find me guilty? Isn't it obvious that Bryce planted the drugs in my locker? The world around me is buzzing. I feel a hand grip my elbow and led me out a side door. I am put back into my holding cell and the guard slams the door shut. I stand in the middle of the cell, still in shock from what just happened.
"I'm guessing your trial didn't go so well?" a voice asks. I turn around and see a guy about my age sitting in One's cell.
"No, apparently I'm guilty." I reply.
"Well that sucks. I'm Hannu by the way, just got in today."
"John, what are you in for?" I want to ask him if he knows anything about where One is, but don't, these are holding cells. You can't stay here forever.
Hannu grins and says, "Gambling and fighting. I only got caught because of the fighting. Apparently, no one's ever that happy to get their butts whipped by a seventeen year old kid. The loaded dice didn't help either." I laugh. This guy has a great sense of humor, despite the crap situation he's in. His care free attitude reminds me of Cole.
"So, what about you, why are you in this joint?" he asks and I give him my hold story. When I reach the end of it he lets out a low whistle.
"Wow man, that's lame."
"Yeah it is. I'm going in for three years."
"Well, I got to give you props; most people in your shoes would be balling their eyes out, or ripping someone's throat out. Personally, I'm glad you're remaining so cool. I'm terrible at comforting people, and I enjoy my throat."
"I think I'm still in shock so I can't promise that I won't break down but if I do, I won't expect you to try to comfort me." We both laugh. After that we sit in comfortable silence and I think about what I lost today. I lost my friends, peoples trust, any respect anyone ever had for me is gone. I lost the chance of having a successful future, the chance of going to earth. And most importantly, I lost myself along the way. If I found about that everything I have ever worked for is for nothing, I would be sobbing. Hannu's right, my reaction of laughing this off isn't normal, especially not for me. I have changed these past few months. I just wonder if it's for the better or not….
STANLEY'S POV:
"I can't believe this!" I shout as I hurl a vase across the room. It shatters into a million pieces when it hits the wall. I'm home alone, the gang has just dropped me off and my grandparents went out to eat with John's family. It's as if they're celebrating the end of his life. Rain pours down outside, the sky a vile gray. I flip over a table and then grab my phone and put on my favorite opera. Yeah, yeah, I'm into opera. Only John knows that about me, not even Sandor knows I like it. Or more correctly, love it. I started listening to it when I was 12 and my parents were going through their divorce. I developed anger management issues and the only thing that could calm me down was opera. John found out when I was 14 and he never mocked me, never told anyone. Through the opera I heard a knock at the door. I kill the music and open it. I see Leia standing there in the rain.
"What are you doing here?" I ask her after letting her in. I didn't really want to, no, that's not true, I really wanted to let her in, but I hate the thought that I am breaking the bro code or something. I mean, John is in love with her.
"You're thinking about John are you? You're thinking that this is wrong. So am I." She says reading my mind. I turn my back on her, unable to look her in the eye. "But we are our own people. And as much as I hate to say it, John's gone." I spin around at this.
"You make it sound like he's dead. Like we will never see him again so why not start dating? He'll never know. Well you're wrong, he's not dead and we'll be visiting him and he will be released three years! Possibly less! John is my best friend, I won't, no, I can't do this to him." My hands are shaking with anger and I clench them into fists. Leia walks over to my couch and puts her head in her hands. I immediately feel terrible about shouting at her. I sit down next to her and wrap my arm around her shoulders. She looks up at me a she has tears running down her face.
"I'm sorry," she says, "I know that John's not gone forever it's just, acting like I can forget him eases the pain. Lore, that's a horrible thing to think isn't it? I am such a bad person. This is entirely my fault. If I stayed away from Bryce in the first place, or kept me distance from John these past few weeks then none of this would have happened." She's crying again. Man, I wish I know how to stop her. I've never been good at comforting people. That's more John or Cole's department.
ONE'S POV:
After John leaves to go to his trial another guard comes in and opens my cell door. I've had this guard before and I know he doesn't like me, or any young person, or any form of happiness.
"You're free to go." He says gruffly.
"And what if I don't want to go Mark?" I ask in a sickly sweet voice. He rolls his eyes.
"Why wouldn't you want to leave?"
"I want to see what happens with my friend."
"Then you can hear about it on the news tomorrow. Time to go." He walks into my cell, grabs my arm and leads me out. I glance at John's cell as we leave. Goodbye, I whisper.
I'm given my few possessions that I had on me when I got caught; a wallet, a pair blue of sunglasses, a black baseball hat, and my cell phone. I notice that the records I stole weren't in the pile.
When I get out I walk to the coffee shop down the street and call Adam to have him pick me up.
"Hello?"
"Adam! It's me. I got released today. I'm at the coffee shop down the street; can you come pick me up?" I ask him. I hear him sigh from the other side of the phone.
"Look, One, I love you, I do," Oh no, this cannot be good, I think. Adam is using his serious voice, the same one he uses with his father.
"It's just," he continues, "My parents think that you're a bad influence. They never liked me dating you, but this past arrest was the final straw for them. My father said I had to break up with you."
"And you're listening to him?" I cannot believe what I'm hearing.
"I don't want to but he said that if I stayed with you then he wouldn't pay for medical school. You know how much I want to be a doctor. I hope you can understand. " And as much as I hate to admit it, I do. Ever since I meet him, all Adam wanted to do was become a doctor. He worked himself to the bone in class to get top marks.
"I do." I tell him. But then I realize in talking to thin air, he had already hung up on me and on our relationship.