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My father automatically asks for a five-minute recess to go over this new information. I’m dreading those five minutes alone in the room with my father, but surprisingly, he’s more pissed at the Defense for bringing up another thing that has nothing to do with the case. Without going into great detail, I quickly tell my father everything that happened over the last two years. How Jace stopped being friends with me and how he had the whole school against me. Even though he doesn’t say anything, I know that it will be best if Jace doesn’t come around my dad for a while.
Returning to the courtroom, I make eye contact with Jace and give him a reassuring smile. I never thought that this would come out in court, but it has, and we have to deal with it. My mom gives me her ‘we are so going to talk about this at home’ look right before the judge comes back out.
The only good part that came out of this is that Jace and I no longer need to have our little talk, because it all comes out in court. He goes on to say how he was lied to by Mason and was led to believe that the girl he was in love with and was going to profess his love to that night had gone and been intimate with another guy. He explains how he went around and got everyone against me, threatening or blackmailing them in order to stay away from me. He also admitted that once he got some sense back, he was in too deep to back out of all the lies he spread and that’s when he started bullying me, so he could keep other guys away from me by claiming that I was his to torment.
The whole time I sat here listening to him coming clean, all I could think of was how it could have been cleared up if only he had asked me. He threw away two years all because I supposedly slept with someone? I'm not sure how to feel about this, I mean, what he did was a bit excessive for what I was being accused of doing. We weren't even dating, so he had no right to be mad at me even if it was true.
He doesn’t look at me once during the telling of his story, but I see the winces when he brings up certain parts, and I know he’s struggling with what he’s done. It doesn’t take away the fact that for two years he hurt me by his actions, but we are trying to mend that crack, and me knowing the real reason for him doing what he did, isn’t going to make me change my mind. I decided that I was going to try and keep the past in the past, and try to move on, and I’m going to stick to it.
“Is it true, Mr. Palmer,” the lawyer’s booming voice brings me back to what’s going on around me, “that on one occasion where you bullied Miss Baxter, you did so in an empty classroom with Mr. Anderson and Mr. Feeney in the room as well?”
“Yes.”
“And is it true that you had them hold the Plaintiff down so you could punish her by pulling her pants down and spanking her.”
“Yes.” Jace’s jaw ticks.
“Mr. Palmer, is it true that you were the mastermind behind this suppose attack?”
I gasp. What in the heck is he saying? Is he really trying to put Jace behind that whole night?
“Wait, what?” Jace is shocked by the question himself, “No, that is a lie! I had already made amends with Ella, and I would never hurt her like that!”
“You’re saying that you didn’t pay the Defendants to scare the Plaintiff?” The lawyer asks.
“Objection, your Honor! Why didn’t any of the Defendants mention this when they were on the stand?” My father asks.
“What grounds do you have for this line of questioning?” The judge asks.
“I withdraw my question, your Honor.”
“Jury will disregard everything about Mr. Palmer having anything to do with this incident.” The judge informs the jurors.
My heart beats begin to slow back down. What a prick, trying to trick Jace like that! Keeping my eyes on him, Jace finally glances over at me, and what I see is troubling. I knew that Jace already blamed himself for the attack, but now this asshole lawyer just made it worse by pretty much saying the same thing. My father was right, he’s trying to pull crap out of his butt to try and get the four of them off.
I’m on the stand now retelling the jury of the night that Toby, Brandon, Mason, and Kaylee ambushed me, held me down, stripped me, and abused me not only physically, but sexually as well. I also told the jury about the first time Toby attacked me, but that was thrown out because it wasn’t part of the case even though it shows a pattern of abuse from Toby.
“Ella,” my dad says my name softly, “Do you see your attackers in this courtroom today?”
“Yes, I do,” I point over to the Defendants table, “All four of them.”
“Please note,” my dad faces the jury, “that the Plaintiff picked out, Toby Anderson, Brandon Feeney, Mason Baker, and Kaylee Simpson as her attackers.”
“I have no more questions, your Honor.” As soon as my dad sits down, the Defense stands up and walks over to me, smiling.
“Miss Baxter, you pointed out the four Defendants as your attackers and yet you testified that you did not see their faces clearly. How can you be so sure that these four are the ones who attacked you?”
“I have gone to school with all of them except Mason ever since we were in preschool. I know their voices, and Kaylee has averydistinctive voice.” More chuckles break out in the room but are quickly quieted with one look from the judge.
“Okay, fair enough, but that still doesn’t mean that you have the right culprits. What about Mr. Baker? How do you know it was him?”
“Mason recently came to me to apologize for avoiding me and playing into Jace’s bullying tactic. I was helping tutor him in one of his classes, so I have been talking to him a lot lately. I was very surprised to see that he was there with the others, but then it came out that all of it was just a con for me to befriend him.”
“Why would Mr. Baker be conning you?” The Defense asks.
“I’m not sure. That was never brought up.”
“So, Miss Baxter, you are one hundred percent sure that these four are the ones who attacked you even though you never saw their faces?”
