Dream held her breath during the beginning of the trial. It was as if she couldn't breathe.

Dream: Mrs. Woods isn't teaching today?

Although she knew it was currently two in the morning at Brooklyn and Zac was most likely asleep, there was no harm in quickly sending him a text.

When Zac didn't respond, Dream shrugged and put her phone away. She would find out soon enough, anyways, and she didn't expect Zac to get up that early in the morning just to answer one of her texts.

"Aren't you a little young to be here?" a snobby, elderly lady poked her shoulder. "And always on your phone. Kids nowadays! Skipping school?"

Dream rolled her eyes. "If you need to know, my dad is right there, and my school teacher is right there." She felt a little bad inside for using Mrs. Woods as a way to get this obnoxious lady to back off, but sometimes, a girl needed to do what a girl needed to do. 

"You can keep making up lies, but that doesn't make them true."

As if on cue, Dream's dad walked over. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, Dad," Dream said, putting a lot of emphasis on the word "dad", before turning smugly to the lady next to her, who just sniffed and turned her head.

"Good. We're starting soon, so be ready." He walked back to the front, and Dream, bored, decided to scroll through Instagram to see what was new.

Literally nothing. But she was hardly surprised. How many of her friends were going to be on Instagram at 2am?

"I will get what I want, Dream Cadison," a voice hissed. Dream jumped back, turning her head. That voice was familiar. Too familiar.

The seven-foot man towered over her. "I see you recognize me."

"You tried to kidnap me," Dream spat.

The man chuckled, reaching for her arm. Dream shifted uncomfortably. "You wouldn't want to touch me," she warned.

"You can make up lies, little girl, but that doesn't make it true," the lady next to her said again. Dream huffed in annoyance.

"I will get what I want," he said one last time before moving on.

Feeling uneasy, Dream left the courtroom and headed for the bathroom, locking herself in a stall. She lowered the lid over the toilet and sat on it, looking at her phone.

Bored out of her mind, Dream quickly began to look through her camera roll. She used to take pictures often, but not so much anymore. Hence, most of the pictures were from two or three years back.

Dream scrolled all the way to the top of her camera roll, feeling a pang of nostalgia. The first picture was one of twelve-year-old Dream, her light brown hair tied into two pigtails, her big eyes staring straight into the camera as she gave a wide smile. Dream chuckled as she looked at the pink braces on her teeth. Dream three years ago did everything she could to hide her depression from her father. Even if that included acting like a normal kid on the outside while secretly being eaten alive on the inside.

Dream sighed as she scrolled through all the pictures, taken in a great variety of places. There were maybe ten pictures of Brownie, the dog Dream owned when they lived in Australia. They had to give Brownie away to a neighboring family when they moved away, simply because of inconvenience.

And then there were a few more recent pictures. Dream smiled as she looked through the pictures she took with Chloe back in Florida. Those were some of the best times in her life.

Of course, it's not like life right now was too shabby, either.

Dream giggled as she remembered the silly selfies she took with Sawyer at the Burger grill, frowning slightly when she saw Francesca in the background.

Francesca. The evil girl who might not be so evil after all. She did save Dream and Zac from Sinclair last time. 

A few pictures with Savannah, and even a couple she sneaked of Axel, who hated getting his picture taken. But she managed to get a few shots of him while he was at soccer practice. And a few she took with Zac. She smiled. Two years ago, she didn't even have one friend. Her phone acted like it was on silent even when it wasn't. It wasn't like anyone was ever going to text or call her. Well, actually, there was her dad, who checked in on her if she was ever late in going home, or anything like that. But besides that, her phone never vibrated with texts or rang with calls.

Speaking of phones vibrating with texts, Dream jumped back. She got a text? And from Zac? What time was it in Brooklyn?

Zac: We had a substitute yesterday.

Hm, Dream thought, seeing that he was still typing.

Zac: We're going to have a substitute until Friday.

Dream: Oh.

Zac: Why do you ask?"

Dream: No reason.

Dream looked at the time, wondering why Zac was up so early.

Her mouth gaped when she saw that Zac had in fact woken up at a normal time. It was noon in Paris, which meant it was 6am in Brooklyn.

How long have I been here? Dream wondered.

---

A/N

So there you have it! Here's Chapter 25, hope you guys enjoyed it! :D

Now we know who sued Dream's dad and Marc. Any guesses why? ;)

Next chapter we're going to find out what happened at the court case. I can't be the only one who's scared for that, right?

I won't leave you with a very long author's note for today :) But Happy Holidays everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa to those who celebrate any of these holidays!

Next update is on Wednesday! Love you all! 

💙, Stella Rose