A/N: Yeah, I got a new reviewer! She Said She Said my story is 'refreshing' – I've never had that before!

I was really surprised about what someone had inferred from the last chapter. One of the reviews said 'It seems like Patrick thinks Sadie likes him.' That was not what I was expecting at all as an interpretation from Patrick's actions. Well, later on the real reason Patrick was like that will be revealed. But until then, it's court time! Oh, and I don't care if the process for going to court is wrong, I'm no expert! The only thing I am an expert on is The Beatles!

And it's been a Long, Long, Long time since I've updated (only about 297 years - it's been so long that there were no docs in the doc uploader!) – I'm sorry! I had exam block and I was super busy and everything explained above… I wanted to get it out before my birthday on Saturday, even if it is a short one. I wanted to get the court chapter out of the way, ready for a big new thing next chapter (and forever after in the story – keep you guessing at what it is!). Anyway, should probably let you read on before you die (if you even read this, that is.)

PS: throwaway title for this chapter (like the title for the song was). I am not against Yer Blues – in fact, it is one of my favourite White Album songs, so…

Chapter 24 – Yer Blues

"Hey, Anna, I need to talk to you," I told one of my best friend's at school on Monday.
"Sure," she replied and had a look of wonderment on her face. We walked away from our group for a private discussion.
"Okay, Anna, I know that you know what was wrong with Patrick on Saturday," I turned to her and straight up questioned her, "Did I do something wrong?"
"What?" she was surprised, I could tell.
"You know what Patrick was like the other night. What did I do to put him in that mood?"
"You didn't do anything, Sadie. It was something else that was making him like that."
"Really? What was it?"
I sounded concerned now.
"He just wasn't really happy with his maths test result."
"What? He got a B+. How can you not be happy with that?"
"I have no idea, really. But that's all it was. It had nothing to do with you."
"Oh, that's a relief!"
"Are we done?" she asked and I nodded. We headed back to our group to finish our lunch.

It had been a week since the outing with Max, Anna and Patrick and it was now November 9th – the day of death. Well, not really, that was an exaggeration. November 9 was our set court date. I really didn't see the reason we needed to go to court. How is defending yourself a criminal offence? Plus, we were only fifteen. Surely, this is not very high on their priority list. There are murderers out there and they're worrying about a bunch of teenagers who have personal issues with each other. I got dressed in a skirt and shirt and some of Mum's heels. You can't look shabby in court, although Tim will undoubtedly breach that. Mum, Dad and I got into the car and drove to the courthouse in the city.
"Are you nervous?" Mum asked me from the front seat.
"A little bit," I replied, "What will we look like in the eyes of the court?"
"Hopefully honey, they will only see bad in Tim, not you three."

We arrived and parked. There was no sign of Tim, Patrick, Max or their families, so we just waited out the front. Eventually, the Edisons arrived. Max kissed me as a greeting and the parents chatted amongst themselves while we just stood there looking around. The Grubb family arrived soon afterwards. Vince tried to make friendly conversation with Dad and you could see Dad was really uncomfortable. Edith, mother Grubb, tried talking to Mum and Joan and they were desperately trying to get out of the conversation. To tell you the truth, when I started primary school with Tim, our mothers were friends. But Mum finally came to her senses. Max and I glared at Tim, if we weren't trying to avoid eye contact with him and his brother Luca, who was younger than us by a year. The Donaldson family arrived then – parents Karen and Mitch and their children, Erin, Patrick and Brighid (the kids were born in Ireland).

"Hey," Max and I greeted Patrick.
"Hey guys," he greeted, friendlier and in a better mood than he was the other day.
"Hey Erin," I greeted his older sister, who was seventeen.
"Hey Sadie, how have you been?" she had always been friendly to me.
"Fine. How have you been, Brighid?" I asked the younger, twelve-year-old strawberry headed girl.
"I'm okay," she replied. She had always been slightly precocious.
"Well, it's time," Dad announced, looking at his watch. We all herded inside the courthouse doors where we met with our respective lawyers. Max, Patrick and I were represented by a lawyer called Carmen Huntley. She was friendly but firm and wore her dark hair down. She had a pant suit on. Tim was represented by Alec Rutherford, a young lawyer who was a family friend of the Grubbs. We checked in and were told to go to courtroom 4. We were called in and court proceeded.

"Would the accuser please come to the stand?" the judge called Tim to the stand. He got out of his seat and took to the stand.
"What is your side of this violent story?"
"Well…" he started.
"Oh God," I whispered to Max.
"It all started in Woolworths. I was there shopping with Mum and Lucas when I spotted Sadie. I decided to go and say hi, so I approached her. As I spoke to her, she just randomly slapped me! Her mother egged her on. She continued to hit me back until Patrick suddenly came along, and in an attempted act of valour to his precious Sadie," he spat the word precious, "Max was then there all of a sudden and he hit me!"
My jaw dropped at his outright lie. How could he say that? Well, it was Tim, of course. What else would he say? Never the truth. Never.

Tim's questioning was over and Lucas, as his witness, was called to the stand. He basically said everything that Tim had said, with a few details changed. It was my turn next. I was so bloody nervous going up to the stand. When I got there I took a deep breath and looked out into the audience. Max flashed me a reassuring smile. God, how I loved that smile.
"Ms Parkinson, what is your account of the events?" the judge asked me. My mouth was so dry I didn't know how I was going to answer.
"Well, I was just shopping with Mum and I saw Tim and Lucas at the end of the aisle we were in," I started, a little uneasily, "And of course, it's universal knowledge that we do not like the Grubbs."
I saw Mum ashamedly place her hand on her face and lean down. Oops. Edith still thought she was friends with Mum. The Grubbs didn't know that we disliked them – they do now!
"I made the mistake of looking at him at the same time he spotted me. He decided to saunter down the aisle towards us, much to our horror. When he got there, a few unfriendly words were exchanged before he decided it would be alright to kiss me! So in an act of self-defence, I hit him. He was about to hit me back in retaliation but I was knocked to the ground and I blacked out. When I regained consciousness, I was surrounded by some people – Mum, Patrick, who I had no idea was there, and some shoppers. Tim was gone. I learnt that my boyfriend Max was there so I went searching for him. I found him in the next aisle with Tim, who he had just hit. Then I kicked Tim in a tender place because he angered me with a comment he made. Mum and Patrick came into the aisle then and we were soon placed under arrest. And that's it, basically."

I was let go from the stand and it was Patrick's turn. He explained what he had witnessed, including everything that happened when I was knocked out. I thought he made an excellent testimony. After Patrick it was Max's turn. He made the exact same testament , with details changed attributing to what he saw. Mum was called up as a witness next. She told the judge about the video. I had completely forgotten that she filmed it! The judge asked to see it, and Mum happily obliged to show it to him. She obviously forgot about the start where she egged me on to hit Tim, which is bad for our side. The judge raised his eyebrows after watching it and asked if there were any more witnesses. There was, of course, the other shoppers and even the store's security cameras, but neither were examined or questioned.

Our lawyers each made their concluding statements. I have to admit, Tim's lawyer effectively made it sound like he was the good guy. I had faith in our lawyer, however. And she delivered.

"I find in favour of the defendants," the judge ruled, "However, all four of those involved will be punished for their misdemeanour. The three defendants, Mr Donaldson, Ms Parkinson and Mr Edison will all be fined $50. Mr Grubb will be fined $50 and will also have to serve a month's community service as he initiated the event and intended to attack a woman. Case closed."
He slammed his hammer down in a bored manner, as if our case was routine and uninteresting (which it probably was to him).

We all got up and left the courtroom then. The Grubbs attempted to invite themselves along to have coffee with us. We made up excuses that we all had to go home. Us, the Edisons and the Donaldsons actually all went out for coffee afterwards.
"Kids, you've got to make sure you don't keep getting into this stuff," Bob warned us, "Especially with the Grubbs. I don't like them. They rub me the wrong way."
"I know what you mean," Mitch, Patrick's Dad, agreed, "Patrick was a perfectly normal and good boy until that Tim came along."
"Same with Max. Didn't even know the guy until he met Sadie."
The three of us of subject hung our heads in embarrassment as they talked and complained about us.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that Sadie," Bob assured me.
"It's okay," I replied, "I know you didn't."
"Kids, why don't you all go for a walk to the park over there or something?" Mum suggested. Obviously they wanted to talk about something without us listening in.

Max, Patrick, Brighid, Erin and I got up in a bored way, huffing as we did. We scuffed our way out of the café and down the street, leaving the six parents to their important gossip.
"What the hell do they want to talk about that they can't say in front of us?" Max complained.
"I reckon," I scoffed.
"Probably bitching about what terrible kids we are," Patrick added.
"Come on guys, I'm sure it's not like that," Erin stood up for them, "They probably just want some kid-free alone time."
We walked the rest of the way to the park in silence. No one said anything as we crossed the road, Brighid nearly getting hit by a careless driver.
"Aren't we a little too old for a playground?" Patrick asked as he plopped himself on the swing.
"I know right, we're fifteen," I agreed, sitting on the adjacent and only other swing.
"Guys, I'm seventeen," Erin interjected.

We all sat in silence until we started scattering. I went to Patrick first.
"Hey," I came up behind him.
"Hey," he replied.
"You're not still in that mood from when we went on the date, are you?"
"No, I'm fine."
"What was that? You were in a pretty foul mood. Anna wouldn't tell me why."
"Oh, it was nothing. I was probably just premenstrual."
I laughed at his awkward remark and he laughed back.
"You're a scream," I told him, playfully punching his arm, "You're a great friend, you know that? I mean, you practically sacrificed yourself to save me from Tim. Why again?"
"I told you, I lied about that. I said it in the heat of the moment. I don't really love you."
"Oh, what a shame. Way to make a girl feel bad, Patrick."
"I didn't mean it like that."
"I know what you meant."
I patted him on the shoulder and went off in search of my boyfriend, who was sitting on the grass. I think he still had a few little reservations about Patrick and his liking of me.

"Patrick's great, you know," I came up beside him and sat down.
"I know. Isn't his hair just like Jane's?"
"Yeah, it's beautiful."
Jane Asher, of course, we were referring to. All three Donaldson kids managed to get the adorable and incredible flame-red pigmented locks. Lucky bastards… I love red hair! We looked at each other awkwardly before Max suddenly and slowly leaned in for a kiss. Most of the background sound was blocked out, except for some immature whooping and whistling, courtesy of two red-headed girls.

A/N: I really didn't know what to put in the testimonies, so that's why you only see one from each side. Like it? Hate it? Was it random? Was it a waste waiting that long for it? Too short? Let me know with that newly renovated button below! The next one will be longer, I promise! (And out quicker too!)