All characters in this story are over eighteen.
I feel like I have been gone from this site for a long time. I've been doing a lot of writing, but not a lot of finishing. I hope that changes soon. This story is really a sequel to Gracie's Three Punishments, so if you like those, you'll probably like this (and future chapters). This also references other stories that I've written like the Sofia and Jordan story, but those are much less important. I also think you needn't read any of my previous stories to know what is going on, anyway.
Thank you to everyone who reads, rates, and comments. You guys are what makes it fun to write and post.
***
"It's not like I didn't know what was going to happen," Kelsey said to the concerned faces of AJ and Gracie.
After a whirlwind of communication with lawyers (that Gracie had paid for) and a quick guilty plea, Kelsey had been convicted of several crimes stemming from a protest she had led against a public Judicial Punishment at her university. Kelsey had founded a club called University Students Surviving Judicial Punishments, or USSJP, which advocated for people that were sentenced to the embarrassing and painful judicial codes that had been brought into force a couple years ago. Seven days ago, a member of the club, Sofia Alonzo, was serving her sentence and the club, without Sofia's knowledge, had organized a march against the Judicial code, and it had gotten more than a little out of hand.
There were clashes with the police and a couple members had actively tried to "save" Sofia from her punishment by trying to cover her body with towels and clothes. Kelsey hadn't actively done anything like that, but when the police started asking questions everybody said that she was the ringleader. Luckily almost all of the club had gotten away with no charges. Three people had serious charges brought against them: Kelsey and the two people who had tried to cover Sofia, Jeremy, a senior, and, Zoe, a Junior.
Then there were a handful of marchers who just got unlucky by being tackled by police even when they weren't doing anything different than the dozens of other people chanting. She felt bad for them, they didn't deserve the disorderly conduct charges that they had gotten.
"I just think you're being a masochist," AJ told her, continuing their argument.
"I don't like what's going to happen!" Kelsey answered heatedly.
"That's not what I meant," AJ started.
"I think what she means is you're acting like a martyr," Gracie interjected.
"Yeah," AJ confirmed.
"You could have let the lawyer actually defend you rather than just pleading guilty to the first thing the prosecutors offered. AJ was there. You didn't incite a riot, there would be a lot of witnesses saying that you didn't incite anything," Gracie said breathlessly.
"There was a riot. I organized the protest that turned into the riot. And all those people saying I didn't plan a riot would have been seen as rioters. They probably would have convicted me anyway!"
"They might have, but you didn't even give them the chance. They knew they didn't have a straightforward case. They would have let you plead down," Gracie said.
"It's ok. I didn't want to go through that," Kelsey answered, putting her hands up defensively. "Can we stop talking about it?"
AJ was red faced, angry and disappointed with her girlfriend, and let her older friend take the lead.
"No," Gracie growled and closed her eyes trying to gather her thoughts. She exhaled and tried to strike a measured tone, "Let us just say what we're thinking. We're worried about you."
"Fine," Kelsey said, resigned. The three of them had been arguing since they got back to Gracie's house from the courthouse and she wished they would just leave her alone. She had already made her decision and was going to live with it.
"There's two things I can figure why you're doing this, and I don't know which one is better," Gracie started.
Kelsey crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in the big easy chair with her knees drawn up to her chest. She stared at Gracie and AJ sitting on the couch across from her.
Gracie leaned forward, "It could be your thing about taking responsibility for your actions, which sounds fine, but really it's just flagellating yourself because you feel guilty. You shouldn't feel bad about what happened. You had good intentions and Sofia forgave you, you can't be responsible for what other people did."
That was true. Before her trial she'd sought out Sofia and apologized in person for everything. The protest had terrified the poor girl and put her back at the mercy of the police who must have threatened her. Kelsey did feel guilty, but that was only one of the reasons she was ready to live with whatever the consequences were.
"Or," Gracie continued, "It's like AJ said and you want to be a martyr and take one for the team for the USSJP so they don't go after everybody else and when it's all over you can act superior. If it's that, then it's not fair to AJ and I and probably your parents and all your other friends. We don't want to see you suffer. Plus, the prosecutors are still going after the USSJP. You're not saving anybody."
AJ nodded her head in agreement, her jaw clenched.
Kelsey couldn't look her friend in the eye.
"Am I that predictable?"
She had told people from the club to just put everything on her if they were threatened, and it had crossed her mind that whatever happened to her could end up helping the cause, since it would look like the government punishing a dissident.
"Well, it's too late now. I can't retract the plea now that the trial is over."
"You have to try. We can at least talk to Molly," Gracie suggested, mentioning one of their lawyers.
"I don't want to retract it anyway. I'll be fine and maybe I'm protecting people and I'm guilty anyway!" Kelsey said resolutely, rubbing her fingers through her short hair.
"Ugh, at least you admit what you're doing," Gracie answered, putting her face in her hands.
"What if you go to jail?" AJ said, "This might count as a violent crime."
"No one got hurt. Sofia said she wasn't going to say anything against us, and, besides, we were protesting the Judicial Codes, they're going to use the codes against us."
"Even if that's true why do you want to go through that again? We've all went through it!" AJ yelled.
"And you might be closer to what happened to me," Gracie said.
Kelsey had known that, but it still gave her pause to hear it said aloud. She had met AJ and Gracie five months ago, when they had all been serving their sentence. Her and AJ had been sentenced to public exposure, which was bad but actually a low level punishment. Gracie, though, had the worst of it. She'd been caned in front of a thousand strangers and that was only her first punishment. She'd also been spanked on her vagina and electrocuted on different days.
"Look if that happens, then I'll be ok," she said, "All of them are bad, and I can take it better than others. I've done it before."
"You're not responsible for them!" AJ exclaimed, "I don't want to watch you go through this."
"I know. I'm sorry to make you go through it again," Kelsey paused to think about how she was going to phrase her reasoning, "Once everything went to hell, I
did
have a responsibility to protect the people who were following me."
"Why?" AJ pleaded.
"I planned the rally. I didn't control it well. What happened was my fault, plus I've gone through it before I can take it better than people who haven't."
"But you're not responsible. They're their own people!" AJ yelled.
"Girls, let's stop," Gracie announced, "We are just going in circles. It's just going to become an even bigger fight."
"I'm ready to be done," Kelsey declared, "What's done is done."
AJ, though, was angry. She got up and spoke, fighting back tears, "They're going to torture you, Kels! You've heard the stories, and not just from Gracie. We go to those meetings twice a week. How could you just walk back into it? I just don't get it." AJ stormed off to Gracie's guest room, which had become their home away from campus.
Kelsey had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't thought about how much it would hurt AJ and Gracie to put them back through a Punishment Center ordeal. Kelsey and AJ had given Gracie lots of support and now she was making AJ support her again when they could have just put it all behind them.
After a long uncomfortable silence, Kelsey spoke quietly, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it through."
"It's ok. We will help you through it," the older woman answered, "She'll be ok. She's scared for you."
"Yeah," Kelsey sniffed, feeling her eyes watering too.
Gracie got up and came to snuggle next to Kelsey on the chair. Kelsey's tears kept coming as she sobbed into Gracie's shoulder.
***
"Thank you, counsellors, I have taken your statements under advisement," Judge Oldham, an older black woman with curly gray hair said," I am glad that in two of the cases agreements could be made regarding sentencing between the prosecution and the defense, as that makes my job easy. If the defendants will please rise, I will read out the sentences for the record."
A week after Kelsey had plead guilty, Gracie was sitting next to AJ in the back of the courtroom. Kelsey was standing about twenty feet in front of them, on the other side of the thick wooden bannister, next to her co-defendants Jeremy and Zoe. Gracie had convinced Kelsey to dress suitably in a navy business suit with a pencil skirt and modest black tights.
