The Attorney ✓( A White House occupants prequel)

Chapter Ten

Tragedy tends to bring people together. Regardless of the severity, something about it just brings out the humanity in people, shows them that they aren't alone. Noelle's tragedy, while it doesn't affect a lot of people, hasn't been too kind to her.

I've been visiting her every single day because I owe her that too, after what I pulled and what happened as a result. She will be fine- that's what her doctors have said, but I have a hard time believing them because they also said she'd be walking by now.

She's got another appointment tomorrow so all I can do is hope- but next week is the bar.

  Our visits have been my one source of happiness in this place. Sonia still won't talk to me- she's emerged herself completely in studying, to the point she doesn't even hear me knock when I drop by her place. Or maybe she does- who knows?

  In any case, I've really started working on that multiple choice section to keep myself busy, too. In my earlier years, I would do the same thing just so I wouldn't have to talk to my family- except then I wouldn't really be studying, I'd be staring at the page waiting on my subconscious to automatically absorb the information.

  So as I glance across my current study group, most of them in their mid twenties, I'm reminded of my older brothers. Even though they had to deal with the same bullshit the younger ones have, they still come back for major family events, because it was engrained into their brains from the second they were born. "Church is a family activity-" Our dad used to say. We were made to go every single Sunday until we turned thirteen, which I don't see the logic in, but whatever. He thought after puberty, "following god" had to be a personal choice, yet they still pushed it on us every holiday and every meal. Fuckers.

  "Okay, Joe-" At the sound of my name, I turn my head up. A woman in my criminal defense class has slid our answer key across the table to me, and is currently looking at me like she expects me to be the quizzer. "Do me."

  My dirty mind wanders places it should never go, and I hate myself for it. Dating Sonia for seven years ruined me. "Uhm..." I flip a page to the murder questions. God, that feels like such a weird thing to think. Murder- just a casual Tuesday. It could be worse, Our client could be a mass murderer instead of just killing one or two people.

  "What is the statistically most likely charge to occur as a result of a school shooting?" I finally utter. "A)Manslaughter, B) first degree murder, c) Third degree murder?"

  "First degree." She immediately answers.

  "And why's that?" As law students, we're taught to question anything and everything do we're prepared for our future jobs. I may not be the best law student, but I'm trying.

  "School shootings are never an accident. Regardless of why they did it, they chose to go out and get a gun or a few depending on which one we're talking about and kill a bunch of innocent people. That takes planning, an insane person would be incapable of planning something like that."

  "Not necessarily." I shrug. "It depends on the level of insanity of course....which is unique to each case. I'd have to see the details first before making a call. We're they bullied so much by the students that it caused them to go insane? Did they have a home life that made them suicidal? Could they have a secret they were hiding from the world that was knowing at their insides?"

  "Unbelievable." She mumbles under her breath. "Are you seriously defending a psycho killer?"

  "Oh absolutely." I sit up. "People don't just wake up one day and decide to kill everybody. There are events leading up to that, environments that cause them to think that is their only way to make an impact on the world. I wouldn't defend the actions they took, but what I'm saying is.... Insanity is certainly a valid claim in court. I'd think you'd know that, being sixth in your class and already having a job offer."