"What's happening?"

"This is preposterous. You will be hearing from my lawyer."

The Evil Elite - Prudence, Violet, and Elaine - sat front and centre as people began to file into the Main Hall of Westinghouse Manor.

After confronting Prudence (and after Audrey threatened her with physical harm if she didn't spill about their actions) they had gotten a de facto confession that Tawny had been set up.

The three girls had been collected by Madam Fraus, and while Prudence was petrified and Violet was indignant, Elaine remained uncharacteristically cool and collected. In fact, she was filing her nails and not saying a single word.

The Main Hall was set up to look like a mini courtroom, and while the on-duty Dylantantes took their seats, Sarah, Audrey and Maddie stood off to the side. Dylan and Bryce were nowhere to be seen.

Madam Fraus paced back and forth in the front of the Hall. "Where is she?!" she barked to no one in particular.

The doors opened; a hush fell upon the Hall as Rebecca and Professor McCurdy appeared, Tawny in tow. At the moment, she appeared to be unconscious, though she still had her arms draped around the Professor's neck.

"I hear you were searching for Miss Matthews?" said Professor McCurdy.

Madam Fraus responded with an annoyed harrumph and pointed to the lone seat at the front of the hall. McCurdy sat down with his wife standing by his side.

"At last, we can commence this trial," said Madam Fraus.

"Trial?" asked Rebecca.

"This girl has been accused of stealing the private property of Westinghouse Manor."

"That's a lie!" Maddie yelled from the corner of the room. "Tawny was with us all afternoon! Besides, Prude even confessed that she was the one that took the bottle."

"Ah-ah-ah!" said Madam Fraus, excitedly, pointing her finger up to the sky. "Under DURESS. This 'confession' was rendered null and void the second Miss Gale threatened Miss Lee with bodily harm."

"But you have no PROOF that Tawny even took the bottle!" said Sarah. "Why are you believing their word over hers?!"

"Clearly, these three upstanding students have nothing to gain by reporting a heinous act," as she said this, Madam Fraus gestured to Elaine, Violet, and Prudence. Elaine especially looked at the crowd with an expression evoking a cat that had swallowed a canary.

Madam Fraus continued: "Meanwhile, the two of you wish to defend this delinquent, this...this impoverished ragamuffin who's likely faking her injuries for sympathy!"

"She is guilty!" cried Prudence. "Guilty, Guilty, Guilty, Guilty..."

At first, it was just Prudence who was chanting, but as Violet gave the crowd of Dylantantes an intimidating glare, they followed suit and joined in.

"This crowd is getting out of control," Sarah said. "We have to do something...!"

From across the room, Maddie's eyes locked with Rebecca's. Though no words were exchanged, there was almost a telepathic exchange between the two of them, in which Rebecca's eyes invoked one clear message: "You have to save Tawny".

Maddie looked away, desperate to look at something else, anything else....

Her eyes locked on something on the wall.

"What is it?" Audrey asked, sensing her change in demeanor.

Madam Fraus approached Eugene and Rebecca, fully intending to literally pry the unconscious girl from the Professor's hands...

"Tawny is INNOCENT!" yelled Maddie, with so much conviction behind her statement that she silenced the chanting.

Madam Fraus looked at Maddie, dubious. "And where is your proof?"

"She's got your proof right here, you old German blowhard!" cried Audrey.

Simultaneously, the two girls pointed at the upper right section of the Hall, where the ceiling and the walls converged.

There, nestled in that spot, was a security camera.

"They've got cameras hidden all over this place," continued Audrey. "If you're so convinced that Tawny is guilty, then look up the footage of the area at the time of the crime."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"I...I..." for the first time, Madam Fraus appeared flustered and at a loss for words.

"Come on, Fraus," goaded Sarah. "Why don't you play the tapes?"

"Play the tapes, play the tapes!" chanted Audrey. Sarah and Maddie joined in as well, and even Eugene and Rebecca McCurdy and pretty soon everyone in the Hall save for the Elite 3 and Fraus were doing it.

At last Madam Fraus relented. "Go retrieve the footage!" she commanded to the nearest security guard.

---

Once the footage was acquired, everyone in the Main Hall had migrated to the Gaming Room, where Tawny had initially seen Dylan speak with his father. There was no time to set up the room with chairs, so everyone in attendance simply stood and stared at the television screen, waiting for something to happen, as though they were waiting for a concert to begin.

"Lights!" barked Madam Fraus.

Once the lights dimmed, the footage began to roll. To everyone's surprise, it was of Elaine and Prudence in the corridor outside of the liquor room. In Elaine's hands was the very item in question that Tawny was accused of stealing.

"Get rid of this," Elaine commanded in the tape, foisting it upon the reluctant Prudence. "I am putting an end to Tawny's reign of terror once and for all. Hide it somewhere no one will ever dare to look. And we'll accuse Tawny of stealing it."

Prudence looked reticent. "That seems awfully harsh..."

"Not as harsh as poisoning your father to speed up your inheritance," quipped Elaine. "By the way, you're welcome for the hook-up, not my fault you couldn't follow through."

"It was my Dad..." said Prudence. "And anyway, I know what they do to the Dylantantes who steal from Westinghouse Manor, and it's not pretty..."

"Hey! Grow a goddamned pair!" snapped Elaine. "Besides, I know you and that curly-haired tragedy have a history together."

"We were friends, sure..." said Prudence.

"More than friends, is the word on the street," quipped Elaine. "Look, you made the right choice dumping her. She was bad for your image. Now you'll do the right thing again and you'll hide this bottle for me, OK? Because if you don't, I'll see to it you're back in a maid uniform and on your hands and knees scrubbing toilets so fast, your stupid little pigtails will spin. Comprende?"

Prudence nodded and bolted down the Hall, which is where the footage ended.

When the lights were turned back on, the audience exploded with murmured surprise at the recorded revelation.

"Quiet....QUIET!" barked Madam Fraus. When the commotion finally died down, she turned to look at Elaine. "Miss Lannister, I am dismayed and disheartened by what I have witnessed. But the camera doesn't lie, so you put me in a difficult position. Theft on the Westinghouse household is a very serious offence, one which means I have no choice but to report you to the administration at Ivoree Gates and request your immediate expulsion."

A collective gasp filled the room. But Elaine refused to show any emotion. It was almost as if she didn't want to give those in attendance the satisfaction of her reaction.

In contrast, Prudence appeared devastated "Please, Madam Fraus, anything but that! She didn't know what she was doing. Expel me! I should have warned her!"

"Prude, you don't have to defend her anymore!" said Maddie. "This isn't your fight - you can have a clean slate away from Elaine!"

But Prudence regarded Maddie coolly. "Why are you so obsessed with me? Elaine saw what my future would be if we were together. She saved me from you. Even after my tenure as a Dylantante she saw my potential to be popular. You? You were just an unfortunate mistake."

The words shook Maddie, to the point where her knees buckled and Audrey had to steady her.

"You're wrong...Prude."

All eyes turned to Tawny, who had finally come to, and with the assistance of Professor McCurdy, had gotten back on her feet. "Maddie is the most nicest, generous, selfless friend a person could ever ask for. The only mistake was the trust she put in you."

"Hmph," said Elaine. "So the Princess Peasant awakes from her Poverty Coma. Just in time to gloat?"

Tawny turned her sights to Elaine. Carefully, gingerly, she walked over to the spoiled rich girl.

"You see, that is exactly your problem, Elaine," said Tawny. You've had the world handed to you on a silver platter ever since you were born. And instead of doing something with that privilege - truly making the world a better place - you've cut yourself off from it. You've blinded yourself to anyone who doesn't fit your pretty picture of how the world should be. And as a result, you've cut yourself off from the things that matter. Friendship, Kindness, Compassion, and most of all...Wisdom. If you had a scrap of any of those things you wouldn't be in the position you're in right now."

Elaine flipped her hair indignantly. "I won't get expelled. My family is too rich and does so much for this school they won't allow it. So what if I'm guilty? At the end of the day, I'm still rich, pretty and popular. I'm still part of the Elite. At the end of the day, what are you...Tawdry Matthews?"

"I am a Human Being," said Tawny. "And I have friends and family who love and protect me. At the end of the day, I'll still exist beyond the dollar signs. But you? Strip away this life, these trappings, Ivoree Gates...and all you have and ever will be, is a mean old bitch."

Madam Fraus placed a hand on Elaine's shoulder. When she looked up, she realized she was flanked on both sides by Westinghouse Manor's security detail. Once they clicked the handcuffs on her wrists, it suddenly became real what was happening. Elaine looked to Violet desperately.

"Vi!" she hissed. "Do something!"

Violet cleared her throat, melodramatically, and then, in a very intentional pacing, raised her hand and waved it like a British Royal. "Bye, Bye Elaine," she said.

"Bye, Bye Elaine," echoed Prudence.

"Bye, Bye Elaine," soon all the Dylantantes in attendance were doing the same as the blonde was promptly whisked out of the room, terror in her eyes as the realization hit that she may never grace these four walls again.

Tawny collapsed against a nearby piece of furniture as Sarah, Audrey and Maddie came to her side."

"I can't tell..." Tawny said weakly. "Did we just win?"

"It would appear so," Sarah said. "Looks like you're off the hook."

"You did it, Tawny!" said Maddie.

"Yeah, you finally took down the HEIC - the Head Elite in Charge!" said Audrey.

"That's great," said Tawny. "Now can you do one thing for me? Can you ask Queen Victoria to stop with the chanting? It's giving me a headache..."

"Tawny, what are you talking about?" Maddie asked, confused. "Tawny!"

Tawny fell to the floor, the last image she saw were her friends and the McCurdys surrounding her before everything faded to black.