Intro (Chapter 1) -
It was 9am and Alex had already gotten ready for the day. She had had woken up at 7am after a restless night sleep and had spent an hour of the morning deciding what she was going to wear for the day. She had eaten her normal breakfast, a bowl of fruit yoghurt topped with fruit sald, while sat
reading the local newspaper, the Denver post. It had stated the local events and the general local newspaper things but today's paper was different from the papers she had read previously in the week, today it had "Guilty or innocent? Denvers biggest trial in 9 years!" written on the front in big letters.Today was the day of Freddie Rodriguez's trial, the trial of which Alex was apart of.
3 weeks ago Alex had received a letter stating it was time to perform her civic duty and be apart of the jury on Freddie Rodriguez's trial. She had been excited ever since she got the letter. She loved being in the courtroom, it both thrilled her and scared her.Ever since her childhood, when her mum used to tell her about her days in court, Alex had wanted to be lawyer just like her. Now, only a week away from sitting her board exam, she was exhilarated from the thought of sitting in a court room just like the ones she had been told stories about when she was a child and help decide a verdict. The trial had started 2 days ago but today was the day her and the other sworn jurors would decide on a verdict. The jury would have decided on a verdict by now if it wasn't for a handful of the jurors who were hell bent on believing Freddie was innocent, even though there was much evidence stating otherwise. Never the less, Alex was happy to get the trial over and done with and as the foreperson of the jury, Alex was going to state the juries verdict.
She had told herself she was to leave her apartment at 9:45am and walk the three blocks to the courthouse where the trail was to start at 10am. All she had to do was pass the time.
It was 9:12am and she had just hoovered her untire apartment and did the dishes. After waiting for a couple minutes she grew bored of waiting for 9:45am to come around and had decided she was going to leave early and stop off at her favourite little place on the corner of the block next to the courthouse and get a coffee. She grabbed her bags and keys and headed for the door, stopping at the full length mirror next to it to look over her outfit one more time,
"Perfect, let's do this" she said to her self out loud as she headed out the door.
It was a Tuesday morning in the middle of September, and the weather was just as Alex had suspected, cloudy and cold. She buttoned up the long tan suit jacket she was wearing and
crossed the road to the coffee shop on the corner. Foot traffic was sparse and the roads were pretty much clear other than the few cabs waiting for a potential customer. She watched as someone dressed in a black tracksuit and black baseball cap got out of a cab and then approached the coffee shop titled "The bizarre lounge and bar". She looked back one more time to see that he had disappeared and pushed through the door of the coffee shop, causing the bell above the door to ring.
"Hey Alex!" Someone said from behind the counter.
"Hey charlotte!" It was Alex's friend from law school. They had met in the library one day when studying for an exam they had the next day.
"Thought you were on jury duty again today?"
"I am in about...", she checked her watch, "25 minutes actually" Alex said as she approached charlotte at the counter.
"Ah, so you want your regular quickly then?" Asked charlotte as Alex reached the counter.
"Yes please." She replied.
Charlotte disappeared behind the counter, preparing Alex's usual salted caramel latte with extra caramel as quickly as she could. Alex was glad to see charlotte, they had both been cramming for their board exam next week and had hardly seen each other the past month. She made a mental not to ask charlotte to lunch after they had taken the exam. She had missed there little chats about what was going on in their lives.
"So, you seeing anyone at the moment?" Charlotte asked as she returned with a large caramel latte.
" You ever going to stop asking me that?" Replied Alex. Charlotte always asked that question even though she knew for a fact that Alex had no intention of dating, not until she was a successful lawyer anyway...
"Nope. So?"
"No charlotte, I am not seeing anyone."
"I mean I'm always available you know." Charlotte teased.
"Charlotte I love you, but your not my type."
"How am I not your type? I'm a smart, gorgeous woman!"
"Yes, that you are!" She hesitated, "but your also my best friend."Plus your messy and can't cook"
"Fine, I get it." Charlotte moaned.
Charlotte had always had a crush on Alex and Alex knew it, but she had always made it clear to Charlotte that it wouldn't work out and that Alex didn't feel the same. It was just a little game charlotte liked to play whenever she was with Alex. She laughed to herself at the memory of the way Charlotte had acted when they first met, like a puppy in love. She put the memory away and looked down at her watch and saw that it was 9:45am.
"Hey i gotta go, let's get lunch soon though okay? Love you!" She said as she walked towards the door.
"Sure, text me! Love you too!" Charlotte replied. And with that, Alex walked out the door.
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