Walls

A week later, Alex Gaskarth, Amanda Litty, Evangeline Hall, Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson, and Zack Merrick were sitting in at the courthouse in Baltimore, Maryland. All six were in shock. They didn’t really think that anything would happen in the case, nor did they think that they would be summoned to come testify. The two girls didn’t know why they were even there. Only the four boys had seen the actual rape.

Twenty minutes later they were ushered in, and sat on the benches. Not many other people were present, but Alex did see his mother. He sat beside her, and the others sat beside him.

“All rise.” The bailiff said, and everyone stood. Sydney and her lawyer walked in and sat at the table on the right, and Daniel and his lawyer sat beside him. The judge walked in and everyone sat down. The proceedings went on, and the groups testified.

Five hours later, the group walked out for lunch. Sydney walked up to them and bit her lip. Alex saw the same look in her eyes as he had when the rape occurred, and he felt a tug in his chest. She was more stunning in person than she had been in Jesse’s pictures.

“Hey, sorry I can’t really talk much. Rules and all, but I want to thank all of you for coming. I know you were summoned and you had to at least show up, but thank you for testifying. Hopefully the jury will see that what Daniel did was wrong.”

Then the three girls hugged and Evangeline whispered something in Sydney’s ear. The green eyed girl nodded, tears coming to her eyes and then walked back to where her father and lawyer were standing.

“V, will you take a walk with me?” Alex asked. She nodded and gave Zack a brief kiss and then followed the boy. They walked in mostly silence, Alex’s hands in his slacks pockets.

“I don’t know how to act around her.” He said finally, “And I was hoping that maybe you could arrange something where we could talk, but I could bail if I needed to.”

She bit her lip and nodded, “Yeah, I could do that.” Alex looked over at the girl, who was looking at her hands as they walked.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked. She bit her lip and sighed, “I don’t know. Hearing all of that, remembering everything in such clear and precise detail, kinda makes me feel really bad for being such a bitch to her. I mean, what she did was no excuse for what...but it just kinda makes a person think about things.”

Alex was quiet for a few beats, “I know about what happened in the make-up tent. How Sydney saved you.”

She half smiled, “I think she got that from you.” Alex smiled slightly to himself, and then bit his lip.

“V?” he said softly, “I think I’m still in love with her.” She nodded, “I understand. And I don’t blame you.”

“You know, out of you and Jack, I think you understand the most.” He paused, “Actually, I think you understand more than anybody.” She laughed and he draped an arm around her. “And I want to say thanks.”

“For what?” she asked, looking at him confused.

“For always being there when I need to talk. For being a momma bear for me.” She placed her arm around his waist and gave him a slight squeeze, “I’ll always be an ear for you, Alex.” She paused, “Even when you and Sydney become friends again.”

Alex bit his lip, wondering if he even wanted to try to be more. He figured that he should save that thinking for when he and Sydney are on good terms again. If they ever get on good terms again.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Sydney sighed, just pushing the contents of the salad in front of her around. She wasn’t hungry. After the trial, she didn’t know what else to do. All of those memories coming back to her really messed with her mind, and then not having the same support as she had at the time of the rape made her feel so helpless.

“Sydney, honey, you really should eat.” Her dad said quietly.

“I’m not hungry.” She replied, taking a sip of her water.

“Sydney-”

“Not right now dad.” She said softly. The man nodded and twenty minutes later they were still sitting at the table, her salad still not touched.

“Do you want to get that to-go?” the waiter asked. Sydney looked up and shook her head, “No.” he nodded and picked up the salad bowl along with the other bare plates and walked away.

“Sydney, you really should eat something.”

She shrugged, and her father sighed. “Maybe after all of this you could stay at home for a while. I miss you, Roo.”

Sydney bit her lip and shook her head, “I can’t Daddy. I just...too much happened here and too many...memories.”

Ronald Maxwell didn’t know what to do. Sydney wasn’t the daughter that he remembered. She had become more distant since the attorney’s had contacted her and she had come back to Maryland. The girl had been having nightmares, and Roland Maxwell didn’t know if there was anything that he could do to try and fix his broken daughter.

He didn’t even know how broken she was.

That night Sydney was laying in the bed of her old room at her father’s house. Her eyes were glued to the screen when she heard tapping on her window. She walked over and there stood a figure on the ground. She opened the window and stuck her head out, “Hello?” she asked quietly.

“Sydney?” the voice called up. She felt her heart leap into her throat and she nodded, hoping that the streetlight would show that she did. “Did I wake you?”

“No.” she said softly. She saw the figure look down, shoving their hands into their hoodie pockets. “Do...do you want me to come down?” she asked quietly. The figure looked up and nodded. She nodded in return, grabbed a hoodie and slipped on her house shoes and walked down the stairs and out the front door.

The two stood awkwardly in front of each other and the girl took a deep breath, opening her mouth to break the silence.

“I’m glad that he got what he deserved.” he said before she could say anything.

She nodded, and brushed some of her blonde hair behind her ear. “Yeah. Me too.”

The man in front of her took a deep breath, and moved some of his hair out of his face, “I’m sorry.” He said finally, “I was such an ass, even when all of us were on good terms. You didn’t deserve all of the shit that was said, and you sure as hell didn’t need me adding fuel to the fire.”

“It’s okay.”

“No it’s not, Sydney. I was just thinking about what people had said, and I completely ignored how you really are.”

“It’s-”

“Stop saying that it’s okay!” he said loudly, frustrated. “It’s not okay. I was being a child, and you didn’t need that from me.”

She shrugged, “I don’t blame you though. What I did was messed up. I should not have done what I did.”

The man in front of her let out a deep breath, and then nodded, “Yeah, you shouldn’t have. But that’s between you and him. It has nothing to do with me. And it has nothing to do with V.”

Sydney smiled slightly and the two locked eyes. “That really means a lot coming from you, Jack. Thanks.” He laughed and nodded.

“Yeah. It helps to have a girlfriend who has a good head on her shoulders. At least...most of the time.”

They both laughed and Jack pulled her into a hug, and she wrapped her arms around his back and they collectively sighed. “So will we see you tomorrow?” he asked.

She raised an eyebrow and Jack laughed, “I know that Amanda and V are going to quiz me about it. And I think that if you come over to our place tomorrow, it’ll show that I wasn’t an ass to you.”

“Does Amanda know that you’re here?”

“I didn’t tell her I was but, I think she figured it out.”

Sydney laughed and nodded. “Okay. Give me Amanda and V’s numbers and I’ll call them in the morning.”