Page 108

It was a couple days after Mr Conway showed up on the Black household's doorstep that the court date regarding Sue and Pearl Clearwater's case could finally take place.

The courthouse was located in Seattle, and when the relevant case was finally called, practically everyone was in attendance. Aside from Bree and Renesmee, the entire Cullen family was present.

Seeing the hurt look in Pearl's eyes at not seeing her imprint among her vampire family, Jasper whispered under his breath to her, too low for any humans to hear.

"Bree has refused to go hunting since Charlie took you.

It wouldn't be sensible for her to be around so many humans in an enclosed space.

But know that you have her support, as well as ours. "

Pearl gave him a silent nod and a small smile, as she sat down next to Arthur Conway. Her actions let Jasper know that she had heard him and had understood.

Sue was to the right of Pearl, next to another lawyer on a bench of their own. Jacob, Billy and Charlie were seated amongst the audience behind Pearl and the Cullens. Whilst Leah and Seth were seated in the audience behind Sue.

'What are they doing here?' Pearl wondered, as soon as she spotted her biological siblings, who had ghosted her since this whole ordeal had begun.

When the judge walked into the room, the trial began.

Sue's lawyer presented their case first, and talked about how hard it was for Sue after Pearl disappeared, and stated that Mrs Clearwater went into a state of shock once she found out that her daughter was staying with the Cullen family.

Their entire side of the story, was a pity party for Sue, that made out the Cullen's to be the bad guys, as well as made out Pearl to be a stupid heartless child.

Once it was time to present the opposition, Mr Conway called Chief Swan up to the stand to testify.

To which, the chief then had to explain why Mrs Clearwater had not been the person to report Pearl as missing, because he and Billy Black had been the first people to notice Pearl's absence within the reservation, and how Sue hadn't seemed to think that Pearl's disappearance was cause for concern.

Charlie's testimony of how Sue reacted to finding out that they had reported Pearl as missing, tore down Sue's facade of her being a very worried mother.

And when Billy Black was called up to talk about how Sue had reacted to him asking why Pearl hadn't been at school the last couple of days, his testimony only built up Pearl's case for gaining legal emancipation on the grounds of child negligence.

The topic of focus was then shifted to the treatment of Pearl Clearwater when she was in Mrs Clearwater's care, after Harry Clearwater had passed away.

Again, Sue's story was rather depressing, and painted Sue as a god send throughout the ordeal, while it painted Pearl as a mentally unstable teen who had started purposely starving herself to cope with the loss of her father.

Mrs Clearwater's lawyer also presented Pearl's school records from those months, and showcased the increased number of detentions and phone calls home from the principle, as evidence of Pearl's mental health decline.

Arthur Conway pointed out that while yes, it was obvious that Pearl was struggling in school after her father's death, what child wouldn't? He also highlighted the fact that throughout that whole presentation, not once did Mrs Clearwater ever say what she had done to try and help her struggling daughter in her time of need.

This left Sue's lawyer without a defence, and in his haste, he called Leah Clearwater to the stand to defend his client.

Hearing that Leah was going to be a witness to defend her mother, shocked Pearl beyond belief. All of that talk about how Leah had regretted her past actions, seemed so empty now, as Leah walked up to the stand to defend Sue. The woman who had caused the hybrid so much pain.

With Leah now on the stand, she was questioned by her mother's lawyer. "What did Mrs Clearwater do to counter Pearl's problematic behaviour?"

"I wouldn't know." Leah answered.

Surprised by the lack of a real answer, Sue's lawyer questioned her further. "Why wouldn't you know?"

"I wouldn't know because I was hardly home after dad died. I had accepted a new job, and that kept me away from home a lot." Leah elaborated.

Realising that his client's daughter would be useless, he asked to change witnesses, but before he could, Arthur stepped in and asked to question her.

His request was granted by the judge, so Arthur began questioning Leah Clearwater. "When you were at home, what was the relationship like between Mrs Clearwater and Pearl?"

Leah looked directly at Pearl and meeting her eyes, before looking away to answer the question, she said, "To put it simply, they didn't have one."

"Why do you say that?" Arthur asked.

"When me and my little brother were home, we were the centre of our mother's attention.

Pearl was always left out and forgotten.

Our family dinners always held three places.

One for me, one for my brother, and one for my mother.

When I was at home, I hardly ever saw Pearl, but I always saw my mother. " Leah said honestly.

"The dinner placements you mentioned, do you know if Pearl ate a proper meal on those days?" Mr Conway asked.

"If she did, she didn't do it around us. But it was unlikely." Leah replied, her face downcast.

"What makes you say that?" He pressed further.

Staring directly at Sue this time, Leah coldly responded, "Because my mother only ever bought enough groceries to feed the three of us."

"Objection!" Sue's lawyer shouted.

"Sustained." The judge spoke sternly, so Mr Conway continued.

"So your mother wasn't buying enough food to feed all of you?"

Leah nodded in confirmation and stated confidently whilst doing so. "Yes."

"Could Pearl have eaten at a friends house, perhaps?" He asked, trying to get a deeper understanding of the situation.

Leah shook her head, denying it. "No, she couldn't of."

"Why not?" He questioned pointedly.

Leah gave Pearl an apologetic glance before answering, "Pearl didn't have any friends at school. She only ever spoke to me and our brother when we all attended together. She never left her comfort zone to get to know anyone else. She had no friend's house to go to."

"No further questions, your honour." Arthur Conway replied, returning to his seat next to the hybrid.

Sue's lawyer then called up a few of Pearl's school teachers to testify about Pearl's past behaviour. Of course Pearl's English teacher, Miss Lacey, happily dragged Pearl's name through the mud. She was all to happy to portray Pearl as a terrible student who was a misbehaving brat.

Throughout Miss Lacey's entire statement, Edward Cullen was glaring at her.

Practically fuming in his seat. With his ability, he was able to tell that almost everything that came out of the woman's mouth was complete bullshit.

And it pissed him off to no end that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

At one point, the mind reading vampire's body started trembling from the intense fury that was coursing through the venom in his veins. Bella was quick to grab his hand to try and calm her husband down.

Jasper also attempted to use his gift to quell Edward's rage, as the strong emotions emitting from his brother was affecting him, as well as the rest of their family.

Edward's apparent anger was making all of them tense up, especially Emmet.

And given that Emmet was prone to outbursts, they had to try and keep him relatively calm so that he wouldn't get thrown out of the courtroom.

The principle was then called up to finalise the school's overall statement about Pearl, and his testimony certainly made it sound like Pearl either needed to be placed into a military school, or a psychiatric ward, because she was such a nuisance to be around.

Even though Pearl knew that almost everything her teachers had said was total crap, there was nothing she could do to prove it, because it would only be her word against theirs.

And nobody was going to believe one kid over an entire body of teachers.

Plus, she didn't have any friends from school to call upon either.

So she could only sit there helplessly, as she listened to her former teachers drag her name through the mud.

After that fiasco, Mr Conway was asked to place his witness on the stand. Arthur replied that the only witness he would be calling forwards was Pearl Clearwater herself.

The judge motioned for Pearl to take a seat at the bench, and once Pearl sat up front, Mr Conway began his questioning.

"How often would you say that you ate a full meal, whilst you lived with Mrs Clearwater?" He began.

Pearl remained silent for some time, eventually, she responded, "Not often... maybe, once or twice every three or four days. Usually they were school meals."

"Could you have gotten more food yourself? Perhaps made something to eat on your own?" He asked casually.

"There was hardly any spare food in the house. Eating something that could be considered theirs, would always result in me getting screamed at, so I didn't usually bother trying to find something." Pearl spoke softly as the bad memories of that time, came back to her.

Taking a breath, Mr Conway asked an important question that he knew she would struggle to admit in front of everyone, but it needed to be addressed. Especially since Sue's lawyer had already brought it up. "Did you ever intentionally starve yourself?"

Pearl froze and remained silent for a long time.

It wasn't until the judge prompted her to answer the question that she remembered to breath, and allowed her body to move again.

Looking over to Carlisle and Esme for reassurance, she received two gentle nods, paired with kind, understanding smiles.

Breathing in, she clenched her fists under the bench and answered Arthur's question.

"Yes. There was a time when I purposely didn't eat. "

Mr Conway nodded encouragingly, and then continued, "How long would you say you went without eating? What was the longest period of time?"

Shame spread across her face as she answered him quietly, "About two weeks."

"What was the main reason for that?" He asked.

Pearl started fidgeting as she replied, "With there not being much food in the house that I was allowed to touch, it was just, a lot easier to go without. It felt like a lot less of a hassle to just give in and not eat."

"Could you have had extra school lunches? Would the school have provided you with that if you had asked?" Mr Conway questioned, wanting to create a detailed picture for everyone about Pearl's situation during that time.

"They wouldn't have allowed me too." She responded simply.

"Why do you say that?" He pressed.

"Because I asked the cafeteria lady once, and they phoned home to tell Sue.

When I got back to the house, she shouted at me, because apparently, the school had called her during an important work meeting, and my stupid unreasonable appetite wasn't worth her time and attention.

She stated that she had told the school that I was greedy and to not give me any extra food if I asked.

" Pausing for a moment, Pearl continued in a saddened voice, ".

.. I did try again after that, but they refused and told me to stop being dramatic.

They phoned home again and the same result took place.

After that, I just didn't bother asking again. "

"What pushed you to start eating again? You had some school lunches available to you, but you skipped them during those two weeks. What made you change your mind?" He calmly asked.

"I fainted." Pearl responded simply, after a moment, she elaborated, "The school called Sue but she didn't answer.

They went to the next contact down, which was Leah, but her phone went unanswered as well.

The final emergency contact they had was Billy Black.

He came with Charlie to pick me up from school, and I felt awful for disturbing them, so I promised myself that I would eat whenever I could, from then on.

So that it wouldn't happen again. I didn't go for a long period of time without eating after that. "

Mr Conway gave Pearl a few minutes to recollect herself before he continued to question her.

"The night you ran away from home, what caused you to make such a drastic decision?" He gently asked.

Pausing for a moment, Pearl slowly answered, "I had a fight with my sister."

"What was you fight about?" Mr Conway continued.

"I had gotten a two hour detention that day after school, and once it was finished, I stayed in the school parking lot listening to music for a few hours. She was angry because she got home and I wasn't there." The hybrid replied.

"Why did you stay out longer? Most kids would want to go straight home after they finish detention. Or at the very least, they'd be going out with friends instead. So why stay in the school's parking lot?" He questioned.

Pearl took a deep breath in before answering, "As Leah said, I don't have any school friends. And the reason I stayed out late was because I didn't want to go home."

"Why was that?" Mr Conway asked gently.

"Because either the house was going to be completely cold and empty, or I was going to walk into a screaming match with me as the target." Pearl answered bitterly, whilst looking at the floor.

"No further questions your honour." Mr Conway said, returning to his original seat.

"Well I have a few." Sue's lawyer stood up and approached the bench. "You said you'd gotten a two hour detention that day. Is that correct?"

"It is." Pearl responded simply.

"What were you doing to get a two hour long detention?"

"Aside from the fact that I spaced out in class, and then my seat mate Bethany, snitched on me for a comment I made under my breath when I was caught, I didn't do anything to warrant a two hour long detention." Pearl replied in a spiteful tone.

"What was your comment?" Sue's lawyer asked. His face showed how he clearly hoped that it was an absolutely awful insult that would be added proof that Pearl was an unstable child.

Her admittance to purposely going hungry, already assisted their case that she wasn't capable of taking care of herself.

He may get the opportunity to push for her to be placed into a mental hospital instead of returning her directly to Sue's custody.

Harry's life insurance policy wouldn't pay out to Mrs Clearwater as long as Pearl wasn't in her custody.

Having Pearl placed into a mental facility, would still be considered Sue's custody according to the policy.

It didn't matter where Pearl ended up, she just had to legally be under Sue's guardianship, in order for his client to get her monthly pay check.

Her underaged son, Seth Clearwater, wasn't included in the policy, for reasons unknown to him.

It only stated that since he had a certain heritage, he would be taken care of by the council in the event of Harry's death.

And her eldest daughter, Leah Clearwater, was too old to be considered as a child needing her mother's care.

So Leah was receiving her monthly allowance from the payout herself.

Mrs Clearwater had no involvement in it.

Pearl, was Sue's only access to the trust. As it had only been willed to the Clearwater sisters. She wasn't included.

Edward glared darkly at the back of the lawyer's head as he heard his thoughts. To discover that Sue only wanted Pearl back to receive a hefty pay check, was absolutely appalling. Reaching for his phone, he sent a text message to Carlisle, letting him know what Sue's intentions were.

Carlisle quickly and silently read the text he had received from his son.

As his shoulders tensed Esme knew that something was wrong.

Looking over at his phone, she saw the message, venom filled her eyes as she realised that Pearl's biological mother only saw Pearl as a pay day, and nothing more than that.

Pearl's attention was completely focused on the smug looking lawyer in front of her, so she missed the small interaction within her vampire family.

Raising her eyebrow at the lawyer's face, Pearl answered him with a small smirk on hers.

"Hate to disappoint you, but all I called her was a stupid woman. "

The lawyers face visibly fell at her response, and he sauntered back to his seat whilst muttering, "No further questions."

"Redirect." Arthur Conway stood up as he spoke, gaining the judge's attention.

"Would you say that your teachers reaction to your comment was normal? Would they have reacted the same way if it was another student who had said it?" He asked the hybrid.

"No. Miss Lacey has always hated me, she'd take any excuse to give me a detention." Pearl swiftly answered him.

"YOU LYING BITCH!" Miss Lacey screeched from the back row. Emmet immediately turned around to shout at the woman for insulting his sister, but Rosalie and Alice managed to silence him before he could get any words out.

"Order!" The judge shouted, silencing the teacher's outburst. "Interrupt again and I'll have you removed from my courtroom." The judge warned. "Continue please."

Mr Conway nodded, and asked Pearl, "Would you say that your teachers' and principle's statements about you were accurate?"

"No, I wouldn't. There was certainly some truth to me getting into trouble a lot, but the actions that led to me getting those punishments were exaggerated." The hybrid replied.

Mr Conway hummed in acknowledgement and walked back over to where he was previously seated. Pulling out an object from a sealed folder, he held it in the air for both Pearl and the judge to see, as well as the entire courtroom. "What is this, Pearl?"

Looking at it, Pearl quickly answered, "It's my diary."

"That's right. Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Pearl Clearwater's diary, that details the events before, and after, her father's death." Mr Conway announced.

For the next hour, entry's from Pearl's diary was presented to the courtroom.

The detail of which Pearl had written in, clearly outlined not only Sue's treatment towards her, but also the school's treatment towards her.

As well as the treatment she received from her biological siblings during that time.

Detailed descriptions of Sue's neglect and the abuse Pearl suffered at the hands of her bully Megan, were all displayed and read out for everyone to see and hear.

By the end of the presentation, it wasn't just Edward and Jasper who were fuming in their seats, the entire Cullen clan, Charlie Swan, Billy Black, Jacob Black, Seth Clearwater and Leah Clearwater were all at their boiling point.

Leah and Seth were already well aware of Sue's behaviour and their own faults, but hearing about how Pearl would get beaten and humiliated on a regular basis and no one, including themselves, did anything to help her, pushed them to the brink of shifting.

With all of the testimonies and evidence collected, the judge left the room to decide on a verdict.

Whilst they all waited, Pearl moved and sat next to Emmet, after Arthur gave her permission to.

Emmet immediately enveloped the emotional hybrid into a strong protective hug, and purposely blocked her biological mother from her view.

Surrounded by her vampire family, Pearl waited nervously to see what would happen next.

The judge returned to the courtroom 30 minutes later, and Pearl had to take her seat next to her lawyer once again. Looking directly at Pearl, the judge announced her decision.