Free The Lipstick Clique by David Weaver

containing the charges that had been listed against her.
     
    Milan felt bad. “Vicky… that’s not how I meant it. Your crime is equally as important as mine were, because all of us had to have an ID in order to make things happen. So in a sense, one community always supports the next one.”
     
    Vicky smiled at Milan. It was an eerie smile with a glimmer so bright, that it reminded her of Lena’s adoring gaze. When Lena crossed her mind, she felt a sharp pain enter her heart. She knew that she had let the young girl down; had inspired her while being influenced by drugs that had greatly hindered all of her logical ideas and thoughts. She hated that she had done that to her, but what was done – was done. The only thing she could do was try to make up for it later if she ever got out of prison.
     
    Milan exhaled and lay back against the hard pillow as softly as possible. Her tone lowered as she thought about the wide array of options and consequences that had been proposed to her by the federal government. So far, the options had been for her to work with them to help prosecute a few of their targets or just accept the 57 year plea deal that she had been offered. If she went to trial, she risked getting the death penalty.
     
    “Vicky… to be perfectly clear, it really doesn’t matter whose crime was more important or which crime was on par with the others, because none of them were worth our time. We are being held captive by the United States government because we violated their rules and regulations. If I had it to do all over again, I would have never done those things. Had I known that I was going to be in a situation where I could potentially never have a family of my own, I would have never traveled this road. I thought I didn’t give a damn about anything, but nowadays it seems that I care about everything.”
     
    Vicky lay back in her bunk and relaxed, with Milan’s words heavy on her heart. She thought about them and somewhat agreed with Milan. She knew she couldn’t fully agree because she wasn’t facing the death penalty. Since she wasn’t facing the same consequences, she couldn’t possibly feel the same remorse. She was only facing 24 months in federal prison, and even that would be cut down to 16 months with good time and the halfway house. She was really just ready to do her time, and then go do something bigger.
     
    The intercom in the room beeped twice, then a stream of static followed. After a few seconds, a loud voice bellowed into the room. “Milan Drimp , you have an attorney visit. Milan Drimp , attorney visit.”
     
    A deep feeling of dread ran through Milan as she slowly lifted herself up from the rock solid sleeping mat. She just knew that this particular day was going to seal her fate. So far, she hadn’t given her lawyer any indication that she would be signing a plea deal. The only thing that she was adamant about was the fact that she wanted to get the least amount of time possible. And if she had to go all the way to trial to try and get that, then so be it.
     
    She got up off of her bunk and grabbed her indictment papers from under her pillow. She had several things outlined and circled that she felt the lawyer could attempt to fight and address. But every time she met with him, she always forgot to bring any of those issues up. This time though, she knew it was ride or die season. She would have no other option that day.
     
    __________
     
    Milan sat down on the stool in front of her attorney with her wrists and ankles cuffed together. She took a deep breath as she watched the correctional officer remove the cuffs from one wrist so that she could use that hand to write with. She knew, based on that hint alone, that they were about to try to force her to sign something. She stared at the blank space on the floor next to the table while the lawyer drummed his fingers against the desk.
     
    “Milan,” he spoke when the correctional officer walked out of the room, “I