Remember Me | A Steve Randle Fanfiction

Chapter 37 | Plan

🌻Juliana's POV🌻

It was the day of Johnny's court hearing for his parents' abuse. I had to be there too since technically I was a witness, as well as the rest of the gang. We had all seen him after his beatings, and it turns out Soda and Pony had seen it once or twice passing by. They tried to stop them, but they had ended up getting hit too. They still have the scars from the cuts they were given. Darry was not happy at all. I wasn't there, but Soda told me about it.

That day was the longest day of my life. I heard the gang testify, and I had to testify myself. I then had to hear Johnny's parents lie right to the judge's face. It was pathetic. As we were just kids, we had to go with our next resort; the evidence. We had Johnny show the judge and the jury every single scar he had on his body. His back, his face which was hard to miss considering his stitched-up gashes were still there and not yet healed, and his black eye was still there, his bruises and the knot in his head, and last but not least, his broken wrist. There was no way they were getting away with this. I told them all about Johnny's blood that was around the house, how his blood was on every corner of every table, on several planks of wood, soaking the carpet, glass was everywhere with blood on the edges. That must have been enough evidence for them.

It took hours, but the decision had finally been made. Johnny's parents were sent to prison for child abuse, and Johnny was in Buck's custody. I don't know how the hell Dally convinced the judge to let Buck of all people be Johnny's legal guardian, but somehow he did. It was hard but we had everything we needed to give Johnny the justice he needed.

"I'll make sure he stays away from the parties," Dally assured us. He told us about his and Johnny's relationship the day before. The whole gang was so supportive, and I think that was the first time I've seen Dally genuinely smile because of the gang. It was nice. I never thought I would see him so happy.

We were all back at the house, just sitting around. The television was on, just playing some random show until it was interrupted by something on the news. Steve and I both went wide-eyed, and every traumatic memory in my brain flashed before my eyes. Evie had escaped prison and was on the run. I started thinking, what if she was going to try to hurt me again? I started shaking, and just looking at her picture and hearing the news reporter talk about her made me jump up and run to my room.

"Juliana!" Steve called. I hid under my bed, shaking like a leaf, trying not to cry as I remembered what Evie did to me. "Babe?" I heard Steve ask as he entered the room. He knew where I was once he heard my small whimpers of fear. He sat on the side closest to me. "Can you come out from under the bed please?" he asked.

"No!" I immediately whined. He held his hand out, trying to get me to go to him. After a minute, I did. He quickly pulled me into his lap and held me close.

"Are you okay?" he asked me, petting the back of my head. I shook my head.

"I-I'm scared."

"I know, baby, I know. But she's not gonna hurt you anymore. I'll make sure of it. You're safe. I promise." I looked up at him, fear in my eyes. Evie was a psycho. She would do anything she could to hurt me. She hated me more than anything just because I was in love with Steve and he was in love with me. She thought hurting me would make Steve love her again. What she didn't realize is that it was making it worse. He hated her more than he ever did. But regardless of how much he hated her, I knew she'd get revenge on me one way or another, and now that she's escaped prison, she was gonna find a way to get to me, to hurt me. It scared me.

I stayed in Steve's lap, my shaking not getting any better and tears welling up in my eyes. I knew something bad was coming. We were gonna have to come up with a plan to keep her away.