The Quarters

The Trial Part II

The next few hours all melted together into one blur. One super long, scary blur. When I sat down, they all took turns questioning me, until they became satisfied with my story. I explained how I met someone who convinced me to carry drugs between locations, how I did it because I found it thrilling, and how no, I genuinely did not think about the effect that my actions could have on the rest of my life. I was completely honest about everything, except for Amber. I withheld her name because I didn't want to get her in trouble too. They told me this would make my punishment more severe, to which I responded that I wasn't a snitch. At this, Mr. Howard looked at me in disbelief and then proceeded to angrily scribble something on the notepad in front of him. He looked satisfied, and I watched him push back his chair and stand up. "I've heard enough, to make my decision," he said, and he left the room. I scanned the remaining adults in front of me. They all looked perplexed and slightly bored. All of them kept looking over their notes, silently. Mr. Van Sant scratched the back of his neck every couple of minutes. 

Finally, Mrs. Miller spoke up, "Can you repeat the story, Parker? Carefully from the beginning, don't leave anything out." I was confused at why she wanted to hear it again, I had already told her everything. My heart sank when I realized what she was doing, she was trying to find me a way out. I repeated the story slowly and careful with my words. I wanted to give Amber up, in the hopes of saving myself. But, for some unknown reason, I couldn't. I should've blamed her, for dragging me into this mess in the first place, but I didn't. I was capable of making my own decisions. I could've backed out at any time, but I chose not to. I did. I was the one who did this. It was time to step up and take responsibility. 

 Once I had finished repeating my story for the second time, I was excused so they could have some time to think it over. I saw how many angry texts messages and voicemails  I received from both of my parents, who were undoubtedly furious. I really did not want to deal with that right now. What I had to do was get in touch with Mike, and let him know what had happened. I had to ask Lauren to ask him to text me, which obviously she had don't judging by the amount of times he had texted me.

 I sent him a quick text, telling him not to worry and that I would text him as soon as I knew what was happening. He responded with a text asking if Amber had anything to do with it. 

The thing is, Mike was Amber's twin. That was why Mike knew very well what was going on. Mike was a good guy but was involved with risky business. His sisters buisness, which he was used to turning a blind eye to. 

 Our relationship had started as just a casual fling, to assist me in getting over my ex-boyfriend Max. My heart had been broken, and Mike was a shoulder to cry on the whole way through. He eventually admitted his feelings towards me, and I agreed to give it a shot. Over the past couple of months, he had been a constant in my life and I had a deep appreciation for him. However, now that I had no more feelings towards Max, I wasn't sure if I even had them for Mike either. He was nice, and sweet, and went out of his way to treat me like a princess, but the lack of chemistry was undeniable. I responded to him, telling him Amber didn't have anything to do with it and shut my phone off. 

As I did so, the door reopened, and Mr. Prescott stood in the doorway. "Come in," he told me. I stood up and walked back in to hear the verdict.