Free Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

boy looks up and looks directly at Bosco with a cold, hard stare, eyes filled with hate. Bosco matches the boy’s look but holds such disgust and contempt for him that I shrivel and almost want to apologize on his behalf.
    â€œYou shouldn’t be in here with such scum,” Bosco says simply, and I’m glad the boy can’t hear.
    â€œWhat did he do?”
    â€œHim? He’s Flawed to the bone,” he says, disgusted. “Though he doesn’t know it yet. I don’t even need to listen to the facts of the case to know his type. I can see it in him. Not like you, Celestine. You are pure. You should not have the future that is destined for him.”
    â€œWhat do I need to do?” I ask, voice shaking.
    â€œYou repeat the story we just discussed, and when they ask you about helping the old man into a seat, you say that you did not, that he sat there himself.”
    My mouth falls open. “But the old man will be punished for that.”
    â€œYes, he will. He’s old and very sick. He’ll probably die before Naming Day anyway.”
    The old man did not sit down. He did everything in his strength to stay standing. It was me who helped him to the seat.
    â€œI can’t—”
    â€œYou can’t what?” Bosco looks at me.
    â€œI can’t lie .”
    â€œOf course you can’t,” he says, confused, looking at me as if he doesn’t recognize me. “To lie would be to prove that you are Flawed. I would never ask you to lie ,” he says, as though insulted. “It is the only way you will go free, prevent being branded for life, prevent being Ousted. It is the only way. What we discussed here now is what happened, and you will confirm that in court, you will say loud and clear for all to hear that society must seek out and oust the Flawed scum in our society. It is the Guild’s work, and you, in full support of the Guild and its values, were working under its rules. You didn’t aid a Flawed. What you did was aid the Guild and, in turn, aid society. That’s what you will tell them. Are we agreed?”
    I’m the poster girl. One side wants to use me to prove the Guild is biased; the Guild wants to use me to prove that it isn’t. The perfect girl to prove its power. It wants me to feed the fear.
    â€œAgreed,” I say shakily.

 
    SIXTEEN
    MY HEARING IS this afternoon. The boy in the room beside me, whom I have nicknamed Soldier, has continued to ignore me. I’m sure that seeing me embrace Bosco didn’t do much to sway his initial feelings about me. The word that Pia Wang has been pushing on behalf of Crevan is that I was trying to get rid of the Flawed man from the bus, not help him. If Soldier has seen these reports, which I’m sure he has because Flawed Court TV is the only station we can get on the tiny television in our cells, then that is why he isn’t looking at me. I can only gather from this that he is not anti-Flawed, that he feels my actions were unfair. If only he knew the truth, then he would know he had an ally in the cells. I know this untruth will save my life, but I can’t help but feel embarrassed that this is the perception out there of me. I feel Soldier’s disgust through the wall, and I don’t blame him, but I wonder, if he had the same chance to get out of this, would he take it?
    Dad goes back to work and Mom stays with me. She has brought with her a suitcase of my clothes for the trial, and it looks like she went into a clothes store and grabbed every item from the racks. Soldier watches with a sarcastic look as Mom lays out the clothes on my bed, hangs them from every point of the cell she can. He shakes his head and starts pacing. I feel self-conscious about all the fuss in my cell when he has been alone all morning, but I try to put his presence out of my mind and concentrate on saving my own life.
    â€œThat’s a lot of pink,” I state as I run my eyes over the