Jolene sat in the courtroom, her mother by her side as the lawyers argued back and forth, calling several witnesses to the stand, of which none were present during the original shooting. A few of Jolene's classmates were present in the room, wearing looks on their faces one would have never seen before. With a soft sigh, the fallen supermodel and queen bee of the upper east side hung her head in shame. It was the case of Eric van der Woodsen vs the assumed rapist in Dr. Ryan Dawson who was currently in a state of comatose. Eric had been seen purchasing the gun used in the shooting and several polariods of him holding it surfaced in the last couple of days. Not only that but his fingerprints were all over it like Michael Jackson on an 11 year old boy. The van der Woodsen's were all in attendance, not including Chuck Bass. Zarah Dawson was in the audience, of course on the opposing end and her father's side. Jolene watched as Tallulah denHayden showed the footage she saved on her cellphone of Jolene and Mr. Dawson together in the women's bathroom. Although Jolene was under the impression that she was using it against her supermodel counterpart, the obvious tears in Jolene's eyes in the footage told another story. Tallulah explained that there was a fight that night in which Jolene was involved in and it was Dawson who pulled them apart. Serena van der Woodsen said absolutely nothing at all. Actually, no one knew of her talk with Eric or that she knew of the gun being in his possession. To the jury, she was just as innocent as the other van der Woodsen's who had absolutely no idea. "Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?" Jolene was asked as she was called to the stand as a witness to the shooting. She was of most relevance that evening being the only witness at the scene. Hesitating for a second, she answers with a blunt "Yes," and then takes her hand off the bible. After she took a seat, Eric's lawyer approached her. He was Dean Bloore, Manhattan's top lawyer who won every case he fought, with the exception of this one. "Miss Marciano, how would you describe your relationship with Eric van der Woodsen?" he asked before shooting her a subtle wink, something she pressumed was a hallucination of hers. "Eric and I are close friends," Jolene answers. "We've known each other for quite a few years now," she continues but then hesitates to go any further as her mother told her to only keep her answers to two words or less. "And during those years of companionship the two of you shared, was there any implication that he might be a killer? A dangerous young man? A threat to society?" Shaking her head at first, Jolene answered with a "No." "Here we have a wealthy young man who excells in school, honor role quality and is known to be kind and courteous to even the lowest scums on the earth. Don't you believe that the driving force behind the shooting might of been a little more than pure hatred for the teacher. So would you say that the only reason Mr. van der Woodsen would purchase a gun was because he was worried about his good friend's well being and he thought a 40 year old man was harming her?" Mr. Bloore inquires in a loud, domineering tone. "Objection! Assumes facts not evident," objects Mr. Stanley Uyham who was representing Dr. Dawson who was yet to wake up from his coma. "Sustained." "That's all the questions for today," says Mr. Bloore before taking a seat, still keeping his eyes on Jolene who looks blank. Mr. Stanley Uyham approaches Jolene, a stern, determined look upon his face which seemed slightly contemptuous as though he thought of her as a slut. Whether or not that was the case was never truly confirmed nor denied but since she truly thought she was a whore, she felt he did too. "Miss Marciano," he said. "how would you describe your relationship with Mr. Ryan Dawson?" "Objection! Ambiguous." "Overruled!" the judge snaps and then all eyes are on Jolene. "He was my teacher," she says softly. "So he was a figure of authority. You were meant to respect him, learn from him and not claim lies because you were doing badly in his class." "Objection! Subject is irrelevant." "Sustained." With a smirk on his face, Uyham came closer and took a good look at the small thing that Jolene was. "Were you aware that Mr. Dawson had a daughter? One who was just about your age?" "Yes, Mr. Uyham." "Rumor has it that the two of you were friends and you were constantly at the Dawson household. Is that true?" "Objection! Hearsay." "Sustained. Mr. Uyham, please get to the point." "Miss Marciano, were you having sexual relations with Mr. Dawson? Was it forced or was it consensual?" he asked in a soft tone but his voice cut through her like a knife. "Objection!" "Overruled. Answer the question, Miss Marciano." Jolene's mouth went absolutely numb for a certain amount of time which felt like hours. She looked at her mother who's eyes were begging her to say it was not the latter. Her gaze then shifted to Eric's who seemed like light had suddenly been shone on him. And then, she looked at Zarah, sitting there quietly and almost alone. The look on her face revealed a great deal to Jolene as she knew Zarah inside out. Clearly, she knew of the drinking habbit her father had cultivated since they moved away. He was suddenly overtly strict but.. Jolene was no angel herself. Her blue peepers met Jolene's once vicious green eyes which were now vacant holes of guilt. "I shot him! I had sex with him," Jolene said finally causing jaws all over to drop. She did not look at Eric after that statement, even when she exited the room. "Mr. Dawson and I had been seeing each other and engaging in sexual intercourse. We were deeply in love and I really cared about him and his daughter." Watching Zarah's eyes literally burn holes through someone she considered a role model at one point, Jolene felt like hell and would have chosen to die that instant. "Zarah!" she shouted, getting out of her seat as a few security gaurds approached her. "I'm so sorry for everything I ever did to you. I just.. I can't lie anymore. Your dad was never a bad man and he loves you. It was all my fault." Tears were streaming down her face now as she got handcuffed and taken away. "Mommy!" she yelled, causing Mrs. Melinda Marciano to try and rush to her aid. The courtroom was filled with chaos but finally, Jolene was taken away to God knows where and that was the last the upper east siders saw of their precious Queen Bee. Jolene was officially DETHRONED. |