GLORY AND GORE! ( DEFENDING JACOB )

𝐓𝐄𝐍

❝ 𝑰 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬 𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑫 . . . ❞

❝ . . . 𝑰 𝑮𝑼𝑬𝑺𝑺 𝑰'𝑴 𝑷𝑹𝑬𝑻𝑻𝒀 𝑮𝑳𝑨𝑫
𝑻𝑯𝑨𝑻 𝒀𝑶𝑼'𝑹𝑬 𝑨𝑳𝑶𝑵𝑬 ❞

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THE ROOM WAS COLD, CAUSING THE BARBER FAMILY AND WINDSOR FAMILY TO SHIVER A TINY BIT AS THEY SAT WITH JOANNA KLEIN TO DISCUSS STORIES AND TO CREATE A DEFENSE FOR THE TWO TEENS. madeline sat next to her brother and jacob, who glanced over at her from time to time. only madeline didn't reciprocate it, she didn't even say hi to jacob when they all met together. maybe she was being a bitch about the whole sarah thing, since she hasn't heard anything else about it. perhaps sarah was just trying to be nice to the boy, which wouldn't be bad. it still made maddie jealous for some unknown reason.

"you didn't have to come to this," madeline said towards adrian, turning to face him. he gave her a goofy smile and said, "yes i did. you're my sister." the two were finally getting along again after the whole incident with him getting kicked off of his team. he saw that maddie really didn't have anything to do with it and no control over the situation anyways.

"alright, let's get this started so you all can get back home. thank you all for being here," joanna stated. the whole group nodded, maddie pushed her hair behind her back and crossed her legs, watching her lawyer go through some papers. "now madeline, we talked to jacob a few days ago about his side of the story, i understand that you couldn't go to that meeting. please try to make it to all meetings in the future."

the blonde nodded, "okay."

"we're here to talk about your side, more particularly, the night before the murder occurred," klein said. "why did you go to ben's house that night after you went to jacob's?"

her hand was being squeezed by adrian's, a comforting gesture that she didn't know she needed until now. "i went there because he took my flannel from me earlier that day and I wanted it back."

"why did you feel the need to go over to his house so late at night?"

she took in a breath, "i texted him and said that he was a jerk and that i wanted it back. he said i could come over that night."

"did you go inside the rifkin house?"

"no, god no. i only went into ben's house once and that was at the shiva," maddie answered. the mere thought of being in that house brought shivers up her spine. all she could see was ben's dead face looking back at her. "he asked me a few times in the past to come over and i declined them."

"were you seeing ben rifkin romantically?"

madeline laughed, a grin coming to her face. that was the stupidest question she ever heard. the rest of the people in the room were silent though, watching as she laughed. madeline stopped her laughter and leaned forward, "no. that's a big no."

"then why did he ask you over sometimes?" joanna stared at her with a blank expression.

"he liked me. i rejected him a few times and he said he'd make my life a living hell," madeline shuddered at the thought of that moment that one day after school.

"i see. so you went to ben's house, what happened there?"

"i parked my car in his driveway, got out of my car and waited for him to come out while i sat on the hood of my car. he snuck out through his window and used the tree by his house to climb down. he met me with the flannel in his hands and said that he would give it back if i kissed him." her mother put her hand on her face and sighed. jacob was sitting up, looking at madeline as she spoke.

"and did you?"

"well, he didn't give me much of a choice."

"it seems like he did, he said-"

madeline interjected, "no, what i mean is that before i could tell him to fuck off, he was already kissing me."

jacob was wide eyed, looking at madeline like she was a ghost. his mouth fell open and he said, "you never told me that."

madeline shot him a look and rolled her eyes, "what? so you could've just told sarah?"

that seemed to shut him up, and joanna gave both of them a confused look and shook her head.  the woman then turned to each of their families and said, "could you give me a minute alone with the two of them, please?" madeline looked at her parents and nodded that it was okay, she felt adrian pat her back and walk with the other adults out of the room.

joanna watched them leave, waiting for the door to be closed before turning to the two teenagers sitting down next to each other. madeline was visibly uncomfortable, scooting in her seat as far as she could from jacob. she heard him scoff and that only made her want to leave the room more. half of her couldnt believe that she was getting so worked up about him hanging out with another girl, considering they weren't dating. he could hang out with whoever he wanted to hang out with. but then the other part of her felt insecure about the fact that he was hanging out with sarah. what did she have that madeline didn't? 

well, for one, sarah wasn't accused of murder. 

pushing her thoughts to the side, madeline soon realized that Klein had been talking and she had neglected to listen. " . . . wrong with you two. did you get into a fight?"

"no, we didn't. madeline is just being weird," jacob answered. like he didn't know. 

madeline scoffed, "you were hanging out with sarah yesterday."

"so what?"

"so . . . why were you hanging out with another girl?"

"because i can do what i want?"

"you're ridiculous."

joanna put her hand up to silence the two, "you two are being complete idiots. getting into fights while being in a joint trial for murder. if you want that court to take one look at you two and your angry glances at each other and then convict you of all charges pressed against you, go ahead and keep bickering. or, if you want to prove that you two are innocent, this can't happen."

"easier said than done," madeline muttered, blowing out air and rolling her eyes. jacob put his hands up and sighed.

"well, do it. do whatever you two need to do to be in each other's good graces again. go on dates, walk around, hang out at each others house, have sleepovers . . . i don't know," joanna ordered, putting her finger on the desk, her look searing towards the two teens.  

once she was seemingly done telling the two off, she stood up from her seat, walking out of the room with her things. joanna was probably going to tell their families the same thing, meaning that madeline would have to spend more time with jacob then she wanted to.