JUDGE NOT

AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER

Inspired by the One Tree Hill episode "With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept" and takes place after "And The Home Of The Brave". This fic will contain flashbacks in later chapters. I only own the plot and the characters you don't recognize. I got the name for one of the characters from a show known as "UC: Undercover" which belonged to NBC and I'm basing the looks and personality of Jake on the character from the show. 7th Heaven belongs to Aaron Spelling and the WB.

Lucy Camden blew out an exasperated breath as she and a friend, Tracey Stellar, walked out of the class.

"I cannot believe I got paired up with Jake Shaw," she complained as they headed for their next class.

"I know. He's such bad news. I mean, he has that gang, the Hawks," Tracey commented. Hearing footsteps approaching, they turned around to see the object of their discussion, a boy of Hispanic descent with black hair, hazel eyes, wearing a gray shirt, covered by a black leather jacket and a pair of black jeans ripped at the knees.

"Look Camden, I ain't thrilled 'bout this either, but we might as well just make the best of it and get this stupid project over with," he told her.

"Fine with me," she agreed.

"Meet you here at the library on Friday after school?"

"Fine."

"Fine." With that, he walked away. Tracey shudders.

"He scares me. Thank goodness you'll be meeting on campus."

"Yeah."

"Although, maybe you shouldn't show up alone. What if he tries to hurt you?"

"Oh, come on. He may be a trouble-maker, but he's not stupid." Tracey nodded in agreement. Lucy had a point there. They walked to their next class and sat down, each forgetting about the encounter that had just occurred.

A FEW MONTHS LATER

Lucy laughed as she waved good-bye to a group of her friends.

"Lucy, let's go!" her older sister, Mary, insisted.

"Okay, now I seriously gotta go," Lucy stated. She quickly approached her sister.

"Sorry," she apologized with a sheepish look.

"Don't apologize, let's just go," the older girl responded, grabbing her wrist. They were almost out the door when the boy appeared in front of them. He was Caucasian, skinny, and wore a visage of stone-cold rage. Mary's gaze dropped to the gun in his hand and she immediately pushed Lucy behind her.

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" she shouted, and they both started to run. The boy squeezed the gun's trigger. There was a scream and instantly, there was the sound of pounding feet. Mary looked around. Lucy! Where was Lucy? Though she gave a quick look, she was unable to find her sister and had no choice but to try to make her way towards the exit. Once she was outside, she looked around again. Had Lucy made it out?

"Mary!" a voice shouted.

"Matt!" she cried in relief. She ran to him and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank God you're okay," he sighed. "Where's Lucy?"

"I-I don't know. We were heading for the exit, and-and I saw the kid-and-the gun-I got in front of her-and then he shot…" Mary's voice trailed off. "I-I lost her! Matt, I lost Lucy!"

"It's okay. It's okay. I'm sure she's fine. She probably ran to hide in a classroom. I'm sure she's fine." As he held his sister close, Matt's eyes filled with worry.