“Yes, half an hour ago,” I whispered. A strangled sob escaped my throat and I clamped my mouth shut. What the hell would I do if he was actually charged? His whole life would be ruined because of me.
“Alright, they might offer him one of their lawyers, but I’ll call now and tell them I’m on my way. Don’t worry. I’ll do everything I can.”
Hearing her say that gave me hope. She was the only person I would trust with this. No other lawyer would be good enough. “Is there anything I can do to help?” There must have been something. I couldn’t just sit around and wait. “What if I said that I made it up?”
“Oakley, no. You’ll undermine everything you said in court.”
“Please, Linda. I need to do something. Please?” My heart dropped. I felt so useless.
“Well…” she trailed off, sounding unsure if she should tell me. Or whether what she was going to suggest would be right.
“Please, I just want to do something. I’ll do anything,” I promised. And I would. There wasn’t anything in the world I wouldn’t do to get him out of that station.
“I’ve not looked at the TV, but I assume it’s news.”
“Yes,” I confirmed. Two people from the press and most of the neighbours had witnessed the arrest. They would be having a field day writing their stories for the papers, reporting half-truths with their own messed up fantasy twists.
“I thought so. Well, since it’s already news it might be a good idea to get the public behind Cole. This isn’t something I would usually suggest, but then this isn’t your usual situation.” She let out a shallow breath. “Oakley, I think you should go to the local press with the truth, before they put their spin on what they assume to be the truth.”
I froze, automatically shrinking from the idea of speaking to journalists, then shook myself, remembering what was at stake here. “Okay. I can do that.” There was still a large gathering of people out in the street, there would most likely be one or two members of the press still out there.
I heard Linda’s car door slam and the engine roar to life. “One second, I’m just putting you on hands-free,” she explained. I waited, listening to her press a button. “Alright. I’m now on my way to the station. Before you go out there we need to run through a few things you should and shouldn’t say.”
For the ten-minute drive to the station, with one two-minute break as Linda called the police to say she was on her way, we spoke about what I should say. Linda promised she would call the second she had any news, and I was happy that she had given me something to do that might actually prove helpful.
I was scared though. Actually, I was terrified. What if I said something wrong? What if people thought Cole deserved to be arrested for it? I just prayed that they would see our point of view. Yes, I was underage but barely and there wasn’t a huge age gap between us. It was nothing like what Frank did to me and to think other people would be making it out to be the same made me feel sick.
Five minutes later and I had mentally prepared myself, getting everything I needed to say straight in my head. This was all happening so quickly. I hated not having control over the situation. Taking a deep breath, I opened the front door. Jasper stood beside me on high alert with his chest puffed out. The rest of my family were just inside, behind me all the way.
My name was shouted over and over. The sea of noise was deafening. I held my hand up and surprisingly they all shut up. I guessed they really wanted to hear something from me.
Deciding to get straight to the point and not hang around wasting time, I said, “I really need your help.” Questions were yelled at me all at once, the second I finished my sentence. “Stop! I’ll answer some questions but one at a time.”
“Oakley, what’s happening with Cole?”
Jasper stepped closer and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “I’m okay,” I whispered to him, before addressing the reporter who had asked the question.
“Cole has been arrested because we slept together when I was fifteen.” Another round of questions started, and I wanted to scream. Could they not just let me finish? This was so important. I wanted the whole country behind Cole, but they were making it so difficult.
“Please,” I shouted, sighing in exasperation. “Cole doesn’t deserve this. We were both teenagers, both in school and both made the choice to be together. What happened between us was completely different to what my father and Frank did. Cole is nothing like them. This shouldn’t be happening.”
Words of support and disgust at the situation buzzed around the crowd, in which neighbours outnumbered press. Talks of a campaign and protests made my head spin. They really were willing to help. Most of the explicit words were spat by the neighbours, the people that had known me and Cole since we were born.
I opened my mouth again, and the crowd paused. “Please, I need your help.” Launching into the details I could say, I prayed they would follow through and help.