BLAKE

Chapter 54

Blake

"Mrs. Cole will be your guardian until the trial but after that, the judge will have to take a decision." Jack explained calmly.

"So I won't stay here? Is that what you're saying?" 

"But I don't mind being her guardian until she turns 18." Lucie tried to reason with him. 

"Unfortunately, there is little chance that the judge will give you custody, I'm afraid you've got too many debts. And you're not related to Blake..."

"But she has no one else! Can't they understand that?!" Liam was sitting next to me, fuming. When I first decided to sue my mother, I had no idea how much it could change my life. I didn't think for one second that I'd have to move out and live with strangers. 

"I don't want to be placed in foster care." I plead Jack even though I knew it wouldn't change anything.

"I know it's a huge change but right now, we have to focus on the trial, we can't let your mother get away with what she did to you, do you understand?" He talked to me in a gentle way, almost as if I were a baby and there was nothing I could do but nod. 

These past weeks have been so stressful. 

As if the stress of the upcoming trial wasn't enough, we soon realized this case caused a bit of a scandal. 

My mother and John were well-known powerful people and now the whole world was slowly realizing what awful people they were in reality. 

People started to stand up for me and I have slowly become the main topic of conversation in town. 

Slowly but surely, children rights organizations along with women's organizations started to use this case to make their voices heard and plead their causes. Many journalists tried to contact me to hear my side of the story, some of them even followed me in the streets, but Jack had been very clear, I was not to talk to any of them before the trial, which led me to being confined at home for the rest of the summer. 

The only positive thing was that I was finally able to talk to Joane, and even though things seem to be different between us now, I was still glad we were back to being friends. 

School started and I was forced to go back there. This place I once loved more than anything suddenly became cold and uninviting. I went from the weirdo most people didn't notice to the victim people stared at. It made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and as if it wasn't enough, Liam decided to drop out of school. Even though I tried to help him, he failed his tests and said he didn't want to repeat a year, again. I tried to talk some sense into him, to convince him but it was useless, we all know Liam is a stubborn guy. Even his mom didn't insist, I guess she doesn't want to cause any conflict, since I moved there, it seems like they've been getting along and she probably doesn't want to ruin her relationship with her son. 

Joane hasn't come to school anymore and even though we saw each other  a few times in the summer, she slowly stopped seeing me, saying she was busy. 

Luckily, Jen and Tom have been here for me and their support means the world to me. No one dares to stare at me awkwardly when Tom is with me. 

And one October day, finally, the trial started. 

"Mrs. Biderman, you're accused of child abuse and failure to assist a person in danger on the person of your child, miss Blake Turner." The judge stated staring at the dock. "How do you plead?"