Most of the student body were just shocked by Curt’s arrest. Though a few seemed less surprised, which made one wonder how many of them also knew who Curt really was. Though the four soul-mates, they were merely numb. After school let out that day, they all were sitting silently in Sky’s car, safely behind those tinted windows. All of them trying to imagine what his arrest would mean for each of them as well. It was true that he had made their lives hell; but now that he may have to pay for that hell, all their lives could end up under a microscope as well. And that was another kind of hell to them.

“I guess I should have let him get away with it” Kole was the first to speak, though quietly.

“What?” Crista looked over at him.

“I guess I shoulda let him get away with grabbing you like that. That’s what started this all, right?” Kole said softly, all of the older teens staring out their own windows.

“The video would have been seen anyway. And that’s why they brought charges against him. Because of the video” Crista attempted to assure.

“Chances are mall security wouldn’t have even blinked at some boy grabbing some girl’s ass. It was the cop who decided that something actually happened in that video. And the cop only even saw it because of Curt’s arm” Kole reminded.

“Right now” Star began softly, “I think we need to worry about what we will do instead of what we should have done.”

Kole sighed heavily, then looked up at the two in the front seat. Star’s eyes were cast down sadly, while Sky just silently stared out that window. “Unless you two just wanna rewind to Sunday night. Problem solved then, right?” he scoffed as Star just sighed and Sky barely showed any reaction at all to anything being said, still.

Star looked over at Sky as though waiting on some reaction to finally happen. But when she got none, she looked back at Kole, “then we just go back to living in fear every day, waiting for the counselor to open her mouth or for Curt to get bored and attack one of us again?”

“Fine, we can go back to the amusement park. We’ll just never go in that supply shack and Alana will never know what Curt did to Sky” Kole offered with another sound of frustration.

Again, Star looked to Sky, who again, said nothing. Star then spoke again, “if we did that then none of us would be lovers. Neither of you would be... like us now.”

“Oh well” Kole stated as Crista just looked down with a sniffle.

“You really regret being with us that much?” Crista whispered to Kole.

“It’s not about that” was Kole’s only response.

Star looked over at Sky once more, who still remained silent, staring at nothing. With a heavy sigh, she continued the conversation, “we’ve already tried that route Kole. It only fixes so much. Then there’s always another problem waiting. No matter how many times we went back, there’d always be another problem waiting. We have to just finally fucking get through it, like everybody else in this world has to” she finished sadly.

“But we’re not like everybody else. So why should have to play by those rules?” Kole returned.

“Again, no matter how many times we start over, there will always be a new problem. It’s called life” Star insisted.

Then, finally, Sky spoke, in a whisper, “and we all know there’s only one cure for life.”

“Sky” Star stated his name as more of a desperate plea, tears in her voice as well as her eyes then.

Crista sniffled in response to his words then too, as Kole simply took a deep, somewhat shaky breath and looked down. Sky finally offered another sentence, “and if we have to endure life, still” he swallowed, “we may as well just fucking tell the truth.”

“The truth?” Kole asked warily as all three of them looked back at Sky who was still staring out the window despite his somber words.

“About Curt” Sky clarified with another small sigh. “It’s supposed to set you free, right?”

As none of them found themselves capable of thinking of any alternate plan somewhere between resetting the whole world again and just telling the truth about Curt, if nothing else; that’s what their plan supposedly was going to be. And the hearing scheduled for that Friday, three days from that day, would be when they would have to test this ‘truth setting your free’ myth or fact once and for all.

Considering there was video evidence of a crime, but no victim was officially pressing charges; it was decided that there would be a hearing first, to determine if Curt was considered enough of a threat that the state should bring formal charges against him. The video evidence alone was probably not enough to get them all the way to trial. But other allegations quietly circling him over the last few years in combination with the video; that was enough to get them their hearing.

Several witnesses were called, most of whom were students or faculty, and all of whom faced perjury charges if they were to give false statements of any kind. Though the four of them didn’t know all the names of those being called, they knew their own names were on the list, and could easily guess at a few others.

The two lawyers present were of course Curt’s lawyer Brad Sullivan, and the lawyer for the state, Miss Lewis, who Sky and Star knew briefly in that previous life. After all, she was the woman who was Alana’s lawyer that time, and the one who showed them the video that led to their last bout with their own imprisonment before reliving the last three years of their lives to the point they now found themselves at today.

Among the first people called to testify was Alana Thomas. After stating her name, the first question she was asked was if she was aware of any claims of sexual violence or misconduct made against Curt Spencer.

Alana took a breath and tried to find her voice, “during the school trip, a friend of mine seemed very angry at Curt. We asked him why. He told us that Curt had raped his girlfriend two years ago. He wanted to have a confrontation with Curt. We tried to stop him by telling him that Curt had done other horrible things...”

“Who’s we?” Sullivan interrupted.

Alana took another breath, “my friend Kole was the one who was so angry at Curt. The one who said Curt raped his girlfriend Sammi two years ago. My friend Sky was the one who told him about Curt supposedly doing other horrible things.”

“And that’s Kole Wagner and Sky Vargas?” he asked her to clarify.

“Yes” Alana confirmed.

“They’ll both be testifying later” Lewis assured, “go on.”

“Anyway, Kole responded to what Sky said, by asking if what else Curt did was as bad as raping someone one of us loved” she sniffled slightly, “and Star said that yes, Curt did do that.”

“Star was confirming that Curt did what exactly?” Lewis prodded.

“Raped someone she loved” Alana sniffled again.

“And do we know who that was?” Lewis replied.

“The one person Star’s always loved. Her adopted brother, Sky.”

Sullivan paled slightly, but Lewis simply cleared her throat and moved forward, “and Sky was present as well, and he didn’t deny that Curt had done that to him?”

“No, he didn’t” Alana finished as she reached for a tissue from the box nearby.

Also among the first people called to testify at the hearing was the school counselor, Miss Burke. After making her introduction, the first question they asked her as well was if she had ever had knowledge of any claim of sexual misconduct involving Mr. Spencer.

She took a breath to steel herself before speaking, “yes, more than one claim.”

“Go on” Lewis pressed.

“The day after the school trip last week, a student came into my office and told me that she had heard that another student had been.. raped by Mr. Spencer” Burke stated quietly, eyes down.

“And you didn’t report it then?” Sullivan put in.

Burke cast him a dark look before answering, “unless the actual victim or someone present at the time of the actual event comes forward, we have to treat it as hearsay.”

“So rumors?” Sullivan responded, “can we move on from this witness?” he asked Lewis.

“No” Lewis glared at him, “so, what did you do when you heard this ‘rumor’ about this rape that had happened?”

“I confronted the victim” Burke answered plainly, though her eyes were down again.

Lewis allowed a slight sigh, as their had been no formal report made, she could guess at the answer to her next question, but she had to ask it anyway, “and what did the alleged victim say when you asked them about the assault?”

Burke let out another breath, “they wouldn’t admit to it. But they also didn’t deny it. And in a later conversation with the victim, they were terrified of Curt finding out that anything had been even unofficially reported. Terrified.”

Sullivan then interrupted, “so you’re a mind-reader, you know what terrified looks like? For certain?”

“I have a masters in Psychology” Burke bit back, “and I believe the victim’s words were ‘I’m terrified’” she stated coolly.

“Alleged victim” Sullivan corrected her.

Lewis just shook her head at him, then turned back to Miss Burke, “you said you were aware of more than one claim against Mr. Spencer? What other claims are you aware of?”

“Two years ago a girl was raped at school. I went with her in the ambulance. I called her parents. I heard the doctors confirm that she had indeed been raped, brutally” she swallowed a bit, “and she couldn’t talk to her parents at first, but I did get her to talk to me. She told me the name of the boy who raped her. But she begged me not to report it. And I suppose I should have. But after what she had already gone through, I didn’t wanna further betray her trust. I suppose that makes me just as guilty as the boy who did that to her” she finished tearfully.

“Who did she say raped her?” Lewis asked quietly as Sullivan averted his eyes.

“Curt Spencer” Burke sniffled as she said his name.

Sullivan let out a sound of frustration, “and the girl who claimed this, two years ago; is she finally going to be coming forward now, two years later? Is she on this list?”

“No” Burke responded, “Sammi was pregnant. First trimester. She lost the baby as a result of that rape. Then she killed herself a few days later” her own emotions taking over then, Burke added, “I guess it’s a good thing she wasn’t any further along. Then you might have to defend your client against murder charges too.”