Dreams Of Fame
1.17 - Case: Zoe vs. Zoe
“I can’t believe this!” Zoe shouted as she threw open the front door and stormed inside.
“Zoe, calm down-“ Liberty said quickly, hurrying in after her.
“Shut it, Liberty, I’m not in the mood for your optimistic remarks. Go make out with Travis or antagonize Summer, it’s what you do best.” Zoe snarled.
Liberty gave Zoe a look, completely offended. “Okay! I’m just going to attribute that to the situation and assume that you don’t actually mean that!”
Liberty stormed upstairs. Zoe shook her head, and sat down at the dining room table, exhausted.
Travis sat down across from her, and reached out a reassuring hand. “I’m with Liberty, that person who just shouted like that isn’t you. Listen Zoe, you’ll get through this. You’ve gotten through everything so far, I doubt this would be the one thing that defeats you.”
Behind them, Summer walked Giovanna downstairs. Giovanna was as addicted to her easel as a meth addict is to their drugs, and she’d struggled on the way home.
“I know Travis, I know, just she has so many points that seem right, I don’t know how to argue against them, let alone contest them in a courtroom!”
Travis thought for a moment, then he looked up at Zoe with a slight smile. “I’ve got it. I’ll call my moms. Catherine defends people in court for a living, and she’s good. This Patel woman won’t stand a chance.”
Zoe smiled at Travis. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
The next morning, the house was awoken by a knock on the front door. Travis’s moms had decided to come around at 5 in the morning, for some implausible reason. Zoe opened the door, eyes groggy. This was one morning where she wasn’t waking up feeling refreshed.
“Zoe, darling!” Catherine exclaimed, reaching out for an embrace.
“Sorry to drop by so early,” Charlie said, dragging their luggage inside. “The plane came in, and we didn’t have anywhere else to go, so here we are.”
“And Charlie has no shame,” Catherine said as she released Zoe from her embrace. “I told her we should stop by a restaurant to at least wait for sunup, but she insisted!”
“Oh, shut up Catherine,” Charlie laughed.
By 8, Summer had cooked up a large breakfast for the family and their guests.
“Oh! This looks delicious! Thank you so much Summer darling,” Catherine said as Summer brought out the food.
“Finally, someone appreciates my cooking,” Summer sighed. “These people are lucky I cook for them with no thanks, Catherine. Who knows, maybe I’ll move out of here and start cooking for just you two!”
“Don’t even joke, we might just have to pack you into our suitcases for the trip home!” Catherine exclaimed.
“Enough with this worthless small talk,” Zoe sighed. “How am I going to win this case? Patel has too many good points.”
“The fact that you published the book under Zoe P isn’t going to help your case…” Catherine sighed. “Wouldn’t your publisher-“
“I self published it,” Zoe cut in.
“Ah,” Catherine muttered. “That definitely doesn’t work in your favor.”
“How about, like, photos and shit? Did you and Giovanna take any selfies together before the success of the book? Restaurant receipts? Anything?” Charlie suggested.
“No…”
“Hey, Zoe, how about the police report Jo filed about you kidnapping Giovanna? Isn't that some great evidence that you’ve known Giovanna for a long time?” Travis said excitedly.
“A police report about Zoe kidnapping Giovanna? Oh, heavens no! I’m not going to ask any questions about why that was filed, but even though it would prove that Zoe has lived with Giovanna, it would only work to open an investigation into that account and would probably prove to incriminate her on that regard, which would result in a whole other can of worms I'd rather not open,” Catherine explained.
“Well then, what are we going to do?” Zoe asked, panicked.
“We’re going to rely on Summer and Liberty here as credible witnesses, they’d accuse us putting Travis up as a witness as bias of the lawyer,” Catherine smiled.
The time of the court case came, and everyone filed into the room.
Patel smiled venomously at Zoe, Zoe gave her a wicked glare in response.
“Catherine,” Liberty said urgently, tugging on her sleeve. “I-I’m nervous about this, I-I don’t do well in front of crowds!”
“Okay, Liberty, listen here. We’ll use Summer first, then you can just build off of what points she makes, okay?” Catherine said reassuringly.
“O-Okay…”
“Case: Zoe vs. Zoe. Ms. Patel, if you’d like to start us off please…” the judge said.
“Oh, well, I’m representing myself. Er, I’d just like to say that I’d like to receive the credit for the book I spent sooooo many years writing. It just isn’t fair that the woman over there receives all the credit!” Patel exclaimed.
“Ms. Patel, if you could please refrain from yelling at the opposing side…” the judge sighed. “Mrs. Scott, your first witness to the stand please,” the judge said.
Summer walked up to the stand confidently, winking at Patel and blowing a kiss to Travis.
“Appropriate behavior, Ms. Holiday,” the judge warned.
“Oh yes, of course, Mrs. Judge,” Summer apologized.
“Tell us about the first time you met Giovanna and Zoe, Ms. Holiday,” Catherine said, pacing in front of the stand.
“Well, you see, me and my roomies over there came bearing fruitcake to welcome the new neighbor to the neighborhood, the new neighbor being Zoe, and we found this woman wearing this hideous purple jacket and horrifying ripped tights-“
“Ms. Holiday, please omit the unnecessary details,” the judge frowned.
“Oh, of course, Mrs. JudgeyMcJudgerson,” Summer said in a sweet voice. She pulled out a bottle of wine, and downed it. “Now where was I…”
“MS. HOLIDAY!” the judge bellowed. “That is inappropriate court behavior! Mrs. Scott, if you could please ask your witness to leave the courtroom!”
“Is it really? Aw, shucks,” Summer sighed as she was escorted out of the room.
Just before the door, Summer whirled around, and yelled to Travis. “If you’d dated me, I would have actually worked with your mom!”
Summer was shoved from the room, and the doors slammed.
“Mrs. Scott, your next witness…” the judge said, exasperated.
Liberty gulped.
Shout out to @niceboulder! They created the courthouse I used for this chapter.