Life seems to be going well for the group. Alex is over the addiction and has new hope. Aaron is in the top five of 150 ranked basketball players in the country. Kian, Nessa, and Roni have all been accepted into the their first pick colleges. Luke and Mariah have finally got to live a regular teenager life just for one minute. It seems great but just as Aaron suspected, all good things have to come to an end. The trial to day is the end. To relive all the trauma is going to be hard. Its also going to be hard to know that this isn't going to be the only trial. Even though everything is all grouped together in one, the trial could last a long time. There are some trials that lasted 9 months. There are some trials that last years. Everyone is praying for their own sake that this trial ends as quick as possible.
Aaron fixes his sleeve. Roni stands in front of him, brushing her hair. She refuses to not put care into how she looks. She's not going to show her mom how bad she hurt her. She and Nessa will never let her see them struggle. She turns around and looks at Aaron. She can see that he's nervous. She's can read his emotions. She knows nothing about his anxiety attacks but she can tell that he's nervous.
"We've got this." She says. He nods. They head to the police station to be escorted. When they get to the court there's cameras everywhere. That's the worse feeling. That's the last thing they want right now. They're used to it so Aaron, Kian, and Luke cover their girlfriends and themselves and walk in. They meet with their lawyers and take their seats. There's not as much press in the inside, but it is intimidating. Soon they see Diamond, Realeza, Wendy, and Gina walk out in cuffs with guards escorting them. Pictures are being taken and chatter is heard. The judge slams her gavel down to gather everyone's attention. She briefly looked over this case and she wants to end it because it's a big web of crimes.
Both lawyers state all the legal stuff that they need to and the first person that is sworn in and called to the stand is Roni."
"Is your name Veronica Merrell?"
"Yes"
"What day did you meet Aaron Burriss?"
"September 8th"
"Am I correct in saying that you met him on the first day of school?"
"Yes"
"Did you notice anything off about him?"
"No."
"You bailed his brother out of trouble one night, there were no parents there right?"
"Right." They tell her that's all and call Aaron up to the stand. He gets sworn in and is asked similar question. Each sibling is asked questions. They all give similar stories about how they were left to fend for themselves. Gina's defense knows that there's no disputing this. They are just trying to get her a lesser sentence. That doesn't look like it's going to happen.
They go into further detail of everything that has happened and they finally get to the dreaded night of one wants to speak on it, but they have to. Andrew isn't here to speak his piece, though everyone wishes that he was. Wendy holds her head down the whole trial. Talking about the factory fire has always bothered her, but seeing her daughters for the first time in almost a year hurts her more. When she does have to look up, Roni and Nessa lock eyes with her and make sure to stare into her soul. They will make her regret what she did. They show Andrew and his autopsy picture. That takes it over the edge. Aaron turns far away from it and keeps his foot taps at a steady pace. He's not going to get sick or act like he did when they saw the clubhouse. This is traumatic but soon this day is over. It doesn't mean that the trail is over though. They come back day after day to go through each individual part of the list of crimes. It finally hits a week and the last day of the trial arrives. Everything had been done and the jury has had time to deliberate.
The nervousness sets in for both the victims and the perpetrators. Gina, Wendy, Diamond, and Realeza just want the shortest sentence. Their hope is at the most minimum that it can be. They know that people are against them and the evidence is not leaning in their favor. Roni, Nessa, Aaron, Alex, Kian, Mariah, Luke, Sherry, Lear, and Ms. Troung want them to spend the rest of their life in jail. They want them to rot. They feel no sympathy for any of them. They know that is seems wrong but they can't feel bad for people who almost killed them. The tension in the room is thick and heavy knowing that opinions differ. It is broken by the heavy hitting of the gavel. The judge wants everyone's attention. She reads off what the jurors need to say and one of them gets up and straightens his glasses.
"On the behalf of Diamond Hernandez, Realeza Hernandez, Wendy Merrell, and Gina Nguyen, we find them guilty." He says. You can feel that everyone release their stress. All of them are getting life in prison, no parole. Tears stream down every single one of the teens faces. Not tears of sadness or joy. Just tears. They don't know the meaning behind them, but they feel good. They almost ease the feelings of stress and soothe them. You can see as Wendy and Gina's heart drops. Diamond and Realeza show nothing but anger. As they're escorted they glare at the teens and their family. Gina and Wendy show regret in their stares. They truly mean it. This breaks Roni and Nessa. No matter how tough you are, seeing your mother that desperate hurts. All they wanted was for this trial to be over but now it feels horrible.
