Let's Follow Through With This Reckless Dream

3:30 a.m.

I stared at the clock as I started getting a cold sweat. I was having hard to breathe. I felt my head. I was warm. I can't stand this I had to get up. I eased my way up out of bed as Jack rolled over.

I gulped and got up heading towards the bathroom. I opened the mirror and skimmed all of the medicine we had...Advil...Thank, God. I popped out two and put it in my mouth.

I grabbed an empty cup on the side of the sink and filled it with water. I took a sip and leaned on the bathroom counter for a few minutes. I was sweating. I didn't know what was happening. Maybe I was just nervous for this coming week. At the end of the week the judge would decide whether I would be going to jail or not...And that is a big thing in my life. I'm a criminal...I never wanted to be a criminal.

I gulped as my stomach turned and flipped upside down. The next thing I knew I was gripping the edge of the toilet and puking my guts up. I gagged like crazy. I threw my hair up in a ponytail and laid across the bathroom floor. This was not good.

I rubbed my thin stomach and looked up at the bathroom ceiling. The room was spinning. I heard voices inside my head...Freddie's voice.

"So you think you're not going to go to jail huh? Guess again, Maxxie. Guess again."

I gulped and raised up, flushing the toilet.

"Jack." I moaned. I got no reply.

I raised up off the bathroom floor to meet face to face with Freddie.

"Fuck. Just go away...Leave me alone." I whispered rubbing my head as he smirked and shrugged.

"It's hard not to leave you alone, Maxxie. I mean after all you did kill me. Don't you feel just so good that you did?" He smirked. What was he trying to make me do? Go crazy? Because it's working!

"I am so sorry. Can you just go back to where ever the fuck you came from?" I begged him as he shook his head and got really close to me.

He was pale. He looked the same and his eyes were much more black then when he was alive.

I felt his breath on my face...His breath was so cold it gave me the chills up and down my spine, making my stomach even more queasy then before.

I then felt his cold hand brush up against my cheek, making me back away almost falling over into the bathtub.

"What's wrong, Maxxie? Are you still afraid of me after all these years?" He said with a smile on his face and his eyebrow cocked.

"You're not real, Jackass. So. Go. Away." I smirked putting my hands on his chest and pushing him as hard as I could. He felt like a real person. Maybe he was real...

"Go away!" I shouted as Jack came in the bathroom and Freddie fell over into Jack as I screamed.

"What?! What's wrong?!" Jack yelled out in panic.

"Freddie!" I yelled out and then when I looked down on the ground Freddie was gone...

"Max, are you feeling okay? Do you need me to go get you those pills or something? Should I call Dr. Wellington?" Jack asked his brown eyes roaming my shocked face.

"Jack, I'm fine." I croaked going over to him and wrapping my arms around his thin waist as he hugged me tight to him.

"Are you sure?" He whispered.

"I'm sure." I muttered into his chest.

"Let's go back to bed I have a big day in court tomorrow..." I said looking up in Jack's eyes as he gave me a look of sympathy and nodded...

The Next Day

I woke up to no one beside me except for my phone ringing off the walls.

"What?" I croaked into the phone. Not knowing who it was since I didn't check the caller ID first.

"Hey!" It was Jasey I could recognize her voice anywhere...

"Ow! Not so loud would you? I got a major headache." I groaned.

"Cranky are we? Did you and Jack like get drunk and have...-." I cut her off.

"No! Are you crazy! Not on the most stressful week of my life! Jack is too sweet to make me do that. Alex on the other hand would probably make you do that." I smirked as there was a long pause on the other end of the line.

"What are you trying to say, Max?" Jasey chuckled.

"I'm just saying." I muttered picking at my black fingernails.

"Okay...Well, I just called to wish you luck on this court shit you are dealing with. Because I am such a good friend." I heard a smile in Jasey's voice as I managed a smile back.

"I know you are, Jasey Rae. I wouldn't have gotten you that expensive locket if you weren't." I laughed.

"You got me a locket?! When?! I totally forgot!" Jasey yelled out sarcastically as I rolled my eyes.

"Nice..." I sighed.

"I'm kidding." Jasey giggled. "Wait. You know I'm kidding right?"

"Noooo." I said playing dumb as she chuckled.

"Alright, Max. Love ya. I'll call you tonight." Jasey said.

"I love-." I was cut off by Ellarie shouting something in the background.

"Tell Uncle Maxxie I wuv her too!" She shouted.

"Uncle Maxxie?" I whispered, cocking my eyebrow up at the wall.

"Nothing. She meant Aunt Maxxie. Alex got you and Jack's genders mixed up. So-anyways-talk-to-you-later-bye." Jasey said so fast I could barely understand her as I heard the dial tone.

"Alright then." I muttered shutting my phone and running my fingers through my tangled black hair.

"Max!" I heard Jack shout from the living room as I raised up.

"Yeah, babe?!" I shouted back.

"Do you want to go to Denny's or something?!" He yelled as I rolled my eyes and got up, heading downstairs and toward the living room.

"Jack, why couldn't you just come to our room and ask me instead of shouting from clear down here?" I asked sitting on his stomach as he sighed and looked up at me and then flipped through the channels on the remote.

"Because," He smirked and met eyes with me. "I was too lazy." He chuckled as I grabbed the remote from him and threw it on the other side of the couch.

"I have court in an hour...I'm not hungry, Jack. Do you know why I don't want to eat?" I asked him getting closer to him as he smiled.

"Why?" He smirked. I knew what he was thinking but I wasn't in the mood.

"Because when I am up there in that podium do you know what I feel like doing?" I said getting closer to his face as he grinned from ear to ear.

"What?" He asked in a husky voice.

"I feel like throwing up...I feel like dying right there in front of all those people in that court room. I feel like I am a bad person for doing what I did. So I can't eat because...I'm. Not. Hungry." I said raising my voice as tears filled my eyes and Jack's smiled dropped and he gave me a look of sympathy.

"Man, you don't know how tired I am of people feeling sorry for me!" I shouted raising up off of him.

"Max-." I cut Jack off. I got up off of him and paced the living room floor in front of our plasma screen TV.

"And you know what?! I do deserve it! I deserve to get some sort of punishment for killing that sorry no good bastard! Yeah, everyone thinks he deserved a gun to his heart but I am not like that! I would never hurt a...Well, I would but you know what I mean!" I yelled as Jack nodded and agreed to everything I said.

"Jack, the world is fucked up! Get that in your head! That is a quote you have to remember forever!" I yelled grabbing him by his shirt as his eyes popped out of his sockets and he nodded.

"Max, you really need to calm down." He whispered as I shook my head and let go of him.

"Calm down, Jack?! I can't calm down knowing that I might be going to jail in a few days! They're not going to let me off that easy! If they know I'm crazy all the better to put me in the slammer right?! Locked behind bars so I don't kill anyone else!" I shouted as a tear slid down my cheek.

"How can you trust me, Jack?! How?! The way I turned out...I wanna know...How can you trust me?" I asked him putting my hands on my hips and shifting my weight back and fourth as he shrugged.

"Because you're Max...I've trusted you forever. Max, you're not crazy." Jack said shaking his head and standing up off the couch as I nodded and more tears fell down my cheeks.

"Yes, I am." I whispered as Jack hugged me tight to him.

"No, Max, you're not." He whispered in my ear as I cried on his shoulder and he hugged me tight by my waist.

"Yes, Jack, I am..."

In Court

"You look really pretty, Max. You're gonna do great up there." Jack smiled, kissing my cheek as I hugged him tight and tried not to cry.

"Be good." I whispered in his ear and letting go of him as I walked up to the podium and sat down by the judge's big podium.

Dr. Wellington paced the floor in front of the whole court room. My heart beat started to race again and my palms were becoming sweaty. I was so nervous.

I bit my lip as Jay and Daniel gave me a thumbs up in the audience. I rolled my eyes and stared up at the ceiling.

"All rise!" The bailiff said as everyone rised. The judge came in as I stood and stared at the people. Some gave me dirty looks and some gave me looks of sympathy.

Then the bailiff came up to me with the bible...Great. I have already done this like three times already in the past week!

"Please raise your right hand and place your left hand on the bible and repeat after me..." He said giving me a stern look as I raised up my right hand and place my left hand on the bible looking into his ugly brown eyes.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" He asked giving me a stern look as I gulped.

"Yes, I swear I will tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help me God." I said as Jay and Daniel started laughing and all heads snapped to them.

They stopped laughing after they saw everyone had their eyes on them.

Dumbasses...We're in a court room and they try to make a fucking idiot out of themselves!

The bailiff nodded and stood over on the side by the judge as everyone sat down and then everything became silent, making my stomach turn upside down again...

"Mr. Chavez, I believe it is your turn to speak today." Judge Bolton said giving him a stern look as Mr. Chavez stood up from his chair and smiled walking over to me and standing in front of me as I nibbled my lip.

I hated this guy so fucking much...

"Maxine Willem, correct?" He smiled folding his arms across his big chest with a white paper in hand.

"Correct." I said straightening up in my seat.

"Was it true that on the day of April 15th Freddie Richardson came into the gun shop you were working at called, Bob's Gear?" He asked me as I chuckled at the name. Jay smirked in the audience as Jack stared at me with worried eyes.

"Yes, that is true but-." Mr. Chavez cut me off.

"And was it true that you told him to meet you at Baltimore Park later that night?" He smirked as I gulped and nodded.

"Yes...That is true." I said as the whole court room became silent and Mr. Chavez started pacing.

"What did Freddie say to you that day when he came into the shop?" Mr. Chavez asked as he stopped pacing and stood in front of my small podium, looking me in the eyes.

"He said...." I whispered and thought back on the day. It was so clear to me...

"I was aiming for Gaskarth not Jasey. Looks like you took a bullet for a total Douche Bag."

I gulped.

"Max, I'm really fucking sorry. I'm serious. Don't ask why I changed all of a sudden. I'm going to church and then I'm going to turn myself in."

Did he really mean that? Or was he lying straight to my face?

"He came to return the gun and then he told me that he was going to go to church and talk to someone...And then turn himself in because he escaped..." I said as Mr. Chavez cocked his eyebrow at me.

"Was anyone around with you at the time when you were speaking with Freddie?" He asked as I nodded and pointed to Jay and Daniel who smiled and waved.

"My friends Jay and Daniel....And Danny." I said as Mr. Chavez nodded and nibbled his lip.

"Did they have any contact with Freddie? Was there a fight of some sort?" Mr. Chavez asked as I shook my head.

"They stood behind me while I had my own conversation with Freddie...He told me he didn't care if I shot him. He wanted to die. He is a criminal too. He killed Christopher for no reason and he escaped from jail...Also he brought a gun to school...That's illegal." I said as everyone stared at me and Mr. Chavez looked extremely interested.

"That night behind the school...When you met up with Freddie and a guy named uh...." Mr. Chavez paused and looked up at the ceiling as I smirked.

"Carter? Yeah, he was on Lisa's side. Lisa was jealous of me and my best friend Jasey so she had Freddie kill my boyfriend on purpose just to make me angry...And believe me it worked." I said rolling my eyes.

"And when you were behind the school...what exactly happened that night?" Mr. Chavez asked as I leaned back in my seat and sighed thinking back.

"Well,..." I sighed pausing. Jack didn't know everything that happened that night...

"I was saying goodbye to my boyfriend Jack because I was leaving with my little sister Maddie to go to L.A. to live with my Aunt Sarah since she had money and we could go to school there. And when I was getting ready to leave to go back to my truck that night...Freddie was outside of Jack's house. I remember Freddie having a really big pocket knife and he edged it against my throat....I remember his exact words too." I whispered as everyone looked at me with serious eyes. They were really getting into this.

"And what did he say, Maxine?" Mr. Chavez asked as I smiled and shook my head.

"I asked him what he was doing out of jail...I was so scared...And then he said "You didn't actually think I was gonna stay in there did you? I know how to escape."..." I said as Mr. Chavez's mouth parted slightly.

"I tried to tell him to get the knife off my throat but he didn't listen. He dragged me to his car and we rode of to the school where we met Carter, Lisa, and her friends." I said doing finger quotes.

"Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, and Jasey Rae Rutherford didn't come until a little after we got there thanks to my baby sister, Maddie." I continued as everyone was silent.

They wanted to hear my whole side of the story...

"Apparently Freddie said he was aiming at Alex when he was shooting but he was aiming right at Jasey...My best friend. I couldn't let her die all because of him. How could I live if Jasey died? So I took the bullet for her...and everyone freaked out after that but I didn't care...because if you care for someone you truly love you would take a bullet for them any day..." I smiled looking at Jack as our eyes connected.

"It's like the old saying." I smirked.

"And then what happened after that?" Mr. Chavez asked as I managed a chuckle.

"What else? The cops came and Freddie ran off. Nobody knew where he went...Who wouldn't be mad at Freddie?! I mean seriously! He tried shooting my friends! He shot my boyfriend! He escaped from jail! Who is the real criminal here me or him?" I asked as everyone turned silent again and then there was a big slam, making me jump.

"Court dismissed! We will continue this discussion tomorrow afternoon." Judge Bolton said as everyone stood up to leave.

"Thank you, Judge Bolton. I think I got all the information I needed." Mr. Chavez said looking at him with a smirk on his face and back down at me as I gulped.

Dr. Wellington stood up as I got out of the podium and jogged up to Jack.

"I'm sorry." He whispered in my ear as I hugged him tight.

"Don't be." I smiled and then I felt my stomach turn.

I shoved Jack and Jay out of the way and ran out of the court room and to the nearest bathroom and there I puked my guts up...