TO LOVE A GIRL TOO

　　"Hello, Ethan?" Camilla calls clutching the phone to her ears.

　　"Camilla, how are you?" Despite the situation, his voice still finds a way to make her insides curl.

　　"Ethan I am sorry. I know you are at work and I shouldn't be calling you like this but we have a situated here and I am afraid only you can help me..." Camilla says to the phone.

　　"Camilla you can call me anytime you want... That rule doesn't apply to you. What situation are you in?" Ethan asks, his voice getting laced with worry.

　　"It's Lisa. She got entangled in a mess with Jessie..."

　　"I don't understand can you explain in detail?" Ethan demands. Whatever the case maybe he was sure he will be able to help Camilla. Even if it is the last thing he does.

　　"Jessie brought a pie for Lisa and me last night. We thought it was strange and refused to eat it. Lisa then took it to the security and now one of the guards is dead..."

　　"What's the council's decision?" Ethan asks her.

　　"I don't know yet but it is not looking favorable at all..." She trails off. "Sandra is a part of the council and none of those men look like they'll want to help Lisa. Ethan I don't want my friend to go to jail. She didn't poison that pie. Jessie did!"

　　"Jessie poisoned that pie and gave it to you?" Camilla could feel the anger seeping out of Ethan's voice as he asked the question.

　　"Yes, she did."

　　Ethan takes a deep breath before replying, "Don't worry, I am already on my way! You just hang In there for me," Ethan ends the call and Camilla becomes hopeful again.

　　She returns to the room and finds the council had started already.

　　"Why did you take the pie to the man?" The one on the left asks.

　　Lisa turns to look at Camilla before replying. "I wanted to be sure it wasn't poisoned..."

　　There were gasps in the room as everyone turned to stare at themselves.

　　"So, you knew the pie was poisoned?" The other man asks.

　　"I had my doubts," Lisa answers confidently.

　　"You purposefully fed one of our men poison to confirm a doubt, did you think he was a lab rat?" Sandra's spiteful voice filled the room.

　　"I didn't know it was a-" she is about to mention the fact that she thought it was a dog and not a human but she remembered Peter's warning about referring to the dog and swallowed her words.

　　Before Lisa can come up with another excuse, Sandra cuts her off.

　　"It has been brought to my notice that the guard in question had caught you stealing before and in an attempt to save yourself from exposure, so you gave him the pie... True or false?" Sandra begins and Lisa feels like her heart will pop out if it beat any faster. Sandra was turning the whole narrative around.

　　"That's not true!" Lisa snaps.

　　"You just made that up yourself!" Camilla barks from her position on the staff.

　　"Please someone restrains that... Girl!" She sneers turning to grin at Lisa.

　　Jessie is overly excited about the whole situation. She feels like Camilla is finally been put in her place. She has always wanted this and now it is happening right before her eyes.

　　Sandra stretches her hands out to Jessie, who passes her a brown envelope. "Unlike you, I talk with prove," Sandra says ad she opens the brown envelope in her hands. She dips her hands into the file and brings out printed copies of a picture.

　　She passes the picture to two men sitting by her side and one to Peter who is at the far end of the table, observing her with so much anger, she could melt under him.

　　One of the papers gets to Camilla and she takes her time to study the picture. It isn't Lisa in the picture. It is a woman with a blue hoodie jumping off the window.

　　This is the day, Camilla went to see her father in the hospital. This isn't Lisa.

　　Camilla turns her eyes to Jessie and she winks at her. It is like a silent dare for her to speak. She knows it isn't Lisa but she is framing her on purpose.

　　Unable to take it anymore, Camilla shifts until she gets closer to Jessie.

　　"Why are you doing this?" She whispers with clenched teeth.

　　"What?" Jessie asks with a sly smile of satisfaction at the heartache she is given Camilla.

　　"If you took that picture, you will know that it is me jumping that window and not Lisa. Yet you are presenting it to the council, what are you trying to achieve here?" Camilla snaps trying her best to maintain a low voice.

　　Jessie burst out in laughter.

　　"Your little friend will go to jail and then you will be next," she snickers moving away from Camilla.

　　Camilla narrowed her eyes at her back wishing her eyes can turn to lasers and melts Jessie away.

　　She tunes back to the judgment happening in front of her. Peter is trying to defend the picture but nothing he says satisfies the men, not Sandra who is bent on ruining Lisa. It was ad though the whole place was making her to feel hot. She wanted to talk but doing that will only implicate her and she did not want that to happen. Her feet were twisting inside her shoes while her hands had gone will.sweaty and sliding against each other.

　　Camilla is tempted to say she is the one in the picture but saying that would only complicate things further. But at this point, she doesn't care anymore. All she wants is to save her friend from this mess.

　　"Excuse me!" She yells raising her hands.

　　Lisa glares at her. Panic was evident in her eyes. She knows what Camilla wants to do and she won't take it. "Camilla stop! We are going to get through this some other way, not like this. This is what Jessie and Sandra want!" She yells back.

　　"I hope I am not the Sandra you just referred to, " Sandra says dismissing the little commotion Camilla wanted to start. The staff returns their attention to the table, watching Sandra.

　　"I am sure by now, you have all seen the picture. Lisa is not only a hardened thief, but she is also a murderer!" Sandra snarls.

　　"But we don't know for certain if she is even the one in this picture, the person in that picture can be anyone. It might even be an outsider." Peter slides in. "We can't conclude like this!"

　　"Does it matter who it was?" Sandra retorts.

　　"Yes, it does! Because then we have to secure the house to make sure things like this don't repeat themselves. " Peter snaps back at her.

　　"Beta, with all due respect, I think that is another matter entirely..." The man on the left comments.

　　"Fine. If you call that a different matter, I won't argue. But has any of you thought of the possibility that she might have not poisoned that pie?" Peter cries out.

　　The whole room goes silent and everyone waits for the response of the council to Peter's question. His question is right. None of them has considered that.

　　"I don't think that is necessary. She brought it here to kill poor Simeon!" Sandra snaps, trying to remove the focus on the question.

　　"I didn't bring the pie here. Jessie gave it to me!" Lisa throws at her.

　　"Can we have Jessie here! " Peter calls.

　　"That is not going to be necessary, Jessica gave her the pie, and then she decided to poison it for her benefit. How is that Jessica's fault? " Sandra cries out.

　　"This Jessica is only a victim of circumstances here..." The man on the right side says.

　　"And I am not?" Lisa can't believe they were saying this. If they consider Jessie to be a victim what about her. "She gave it to me. She is the victim and I am the villain?"

　　"She gave it to you does not mean she put the poison In it!"

　　"Sandra!" Peter hits his side of the table in annoyance. Sandra is trying every possible means to destroy Lisa's chances.

　　As much as Peter tries, it is obvious he was fighting a losing battle. The other two members were doing as Sandra was telling them.

　　"All pieces of evidence point at you, we will have no choice but to call the police to come to take you." The man at the right says.

　　"How can you say that? We are not-" Peter tries to say but the man disregards him.

　　"Beta, I am afraid this meeting is over and done with. This Lisa girl is guilty!"

　　They both stand signaling the end of their meeting. Lisa is fisting her hands, refusing to let the threatening tears pour out of her eyes. She will not give Sandra and Jessie that privilege. She will not.

　　Camilla on the other hand keeps her eyes on the door. Only Ethan can save Lisa now. There is no other way out but that.

　　Peter looks like he can eat up Sandra raw if he is given the opportunity. He tries to go with the members and talk to them to give him more time but they refuse to give him an audience. The only one who can stop this madness is their alpha.

　　And at that moment of despair, when it felt like all was lost, a bright light fills the room. Not literally but metaphorically in form of Ethan Jadiel Peterson.

　　His tall and large frame bounces into the living room where the staff had just started dispersing. The moment they set their eyes on him, everyone freezes. Sandra looks like she wants to drown and Jessie is as scared as a cat placed in front of the water.

　　"What is going on here?" His soothing yet powerful voice fills the room and everyone goes silent.

　　Peter is the first to recover. He runs to him feeling as if he has seen a god. "Ethan, I am so glad you are here!" Peter exclaims. He stands in front of Ethan unable to make up his mind if he should hug him or just pat his shoulder or something.

　　"Alpha, Lisa killed one of our men. She killed Simeon!" Sandra takes the lead and walks to where Ethan is standing at the center of the crowd.

　　"We have done all the necessary questioning and the council already decided that she will go to jail, I have called the police!" She blurts, throwing a hurt glare at Camilla who is walking to the center as well.