Episode 25 – The Plot Revealed
Previously on Lives To Live:
– A new student started at Westside High. Kayla immediately introduced herself, but he wasn’t interested in his new co-students. The next day, Paris and Cleo spotted him at the mall. They were there to try and cheer Cleo up, which worked. Paris walked over to Joel, and introduced herself and Cleo. Soon Cleo and Joel were talking about skateboarding, though she then had to leave.
– Judi and Sara met for lunch, and they discussed the men in their lives. Judi revealed all about Russell, and Sara told her friend about a short marriage she’d been involved in. Then Sara told Judi about Alex, although she didn’t give any names, and didn’t think Judi would know who she was talking about.
– Justin was having a bad day at the hotel. He was very surprised when his mother in law, Celia, and his father in law, Henri, walked in. He then brought them to the Vincent home.
– Nicole overheard Celia talking to Henri about her depression, and ran out of the house. Henri comforted her, and told her that she’d be as overprotective as Celia when Erin was older. Nicole disagreed with her father over this, but she did agree to go inside and forget about her mother’s comments.
Tuesday,
April 1st 2003, The hospital, Morning
Camille Elliot smiled as she closed the door of her car, after stopping at the car park outside the hospital. She hadn’t had much sleep, tossing and turning all night long with worry in her and Russell’s bed. But a lack of sleep didn’t bother her in the slightest. All the worrying, planning, praying and hoping were about to pay off, hopefully with spectacular results which would mean Russell would be hers – and no one else’s.
In just a short while Russell and Judi would be finished. Judi was going to be the first to find out, what Camille already knew. Camille was looking forward to seeing her face, as the news sunk in. Over breakfast she would tell Russell, if Judi hadn’t reached him with the news first.
“Help the homeless.” Came a voice, from her left. Camille turned and spotted an old man sitting on the pavement. She recognised him from somewhere, but couldn’t place her finger on where she’d seen him before. She normally didn’t give money to people on the streets, but today was far different from an ordinary day.
Camille stopped and opened her bag. She rooted around for a moment, as the man looked up at her, his cold hands causing the tin he was holding to rattle slightly. Camille found a ten dollar bill, and placed it into the tin.
“Get something warm.” She said, smiling again. She realised that she had seen the man outside the Ritz Bar many times before, though she had always ignored him. Russell would sometimes give him money though, as the man was a regular patient who Russell had seen many times, especially during the winter.
“Thank you, thank you very much. May God bless you,” The man started. “But beware of rushing in to changes in your life too quickly, as you may regret it.”
Inside the hospital, Russell Elliot had just emerged from a tough operation. Although Tuesday’s were usually quiet, the shift which he’d almost finished was one of the busiest he could remember. Despite all the patients, however, the night had moved at a very slow pace making twelve hours feel much, much longer.
“Are you okay? You look very tired.” Nurse Melody Scott stated, in her usual cheery tone.
”Just the usual.” Russell answered, as Melody handed him a patients notes.
“John Robertson in five.”
Russell sighed, as he looked over his patient’s notes. This was the third time Russell had seen him in a month. And each of the other doctors had all seen him about the same amount of times. “Again?”
“His wife decided that it was an emergency. Just like the last time, and the one before that.”
“How many times have we told her that it would be best if they didn’t come here, unless it really was an emergency?”
“You know what the Robertson’s are like. Think they own this town.”
Russell was about to answer when his eyes were suddenly covered over. He heard a female voice from behind.
“Guess who?”
“Camille, what are you doing here?” He asked, quickly pulling away her hands and whirling around.
“I thought we could go for breakfast together, now that you’re done working.” She answered.
“Ah, but, I’m not done for another hour.” Russell replied.
Camille’s face fell, and she looked sadly at the floor. “Oh, I forgot,” she lied. “I’ll sit over there and wait.”
“Okay.” Russell said, still not very sure about his wife’s unexpected arrival. “I’ll just go and see some patients.”
“See you.” Camille said, hiding a smile as her husband walked away. She turned around, and walked into straight into Judi who was emerging from the waiting room. How lucky! She thought.
”Sorry.” Judi said, instantly down on her knees picking up her notes. Camille got down beside her and helped her pick some of the notes up.
“No, it was my fault.”
Judi looked up from the floor. “Camille!” She shouted loudly. “I didn’t realise it was you.”
”Yeah, I’m waiting for Russell.”
“He’s not done for another hour isn’t he?”
“I know, silly me. I got the times wrong.” Camille said as she handed Judi her notes.
“I better go.” Judi said, walking past Camille, letting out a soft sigh of relief as she did so.
“Okay then.” Camille said, turning back towards the direction of the seating area in reception. She started to silently count back… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
“Ah.” Camille said, putting her hand to her head and pretending to be dizzy.
“Are you okay?” Asked a tall, dark haired stranger, as he rose from his seat. He was wearing a fireman’s uniform.
“I feel very dizzy, and sort of sick.” Camille lied.
“I’ll go get help.” The man said.
”The woman standing at the desk is a doctor.” Camille said. She started groaning again.
“Camille, what is it?” Asked Judi, reaching Camille a moment later.
“I don’t know, I just feel dizzy and as if I’m going to throw up.”
“Will you help me take her into one of the rooms?” Judi asked, turning to the man.
“Yeah, sure.” He said, helping Judi lift Camille onto her feet.
“I think I can walk by myself now.” Camille said.
“Okay then.” The man said, as he watched her and Judi disappear from view.
“There, take a seat.” Judi said in the first empty exam room the could find. Camille did as she was told. “So, what made you fall?”
“I just felt strange, like I wanted to get sick. And then I fell to the floor.”
“And you don’t have any idea what caused it?”
“Well…”
“What is it?”
“Renee also used to get spells like that when she was…”
“When she was what?”
“Carrying Cleo.”
***
Samson
Enterprises, same time
Chardonnay Samson took her last breath of fresh morning air, as she walked through the doors of the Samson Enterprises building. She looked up at the large clock which immediately grabbed ones attention when they entered the foyer of the building. The little hand was slightly past the eight, while the longer hand was exactly on the three. She was over an hour early than usual, in fact she’d left Gabriel still sleeping. She had a long day ahead of her.
Yesterday had been one big disaster, from start to finish. Chardonnay had been late for work due to her car having a flat, and this meant she’d missed an important meeting with a representative from a worldwide cosmetics store who was interested in selling Samson Cosmetics products. Victor had been forced to take over the meeting, but despite his best attempts it didn’t look like the rep was going to be placing an order.
Also she had missed having lunch with her friends because of another meeting, been told that Landbourth Cosmetics were now beating Samson, discovered that they’d also stolen one of her major customers. And to top it all off she’d had to get a taxi home, only to be embarrassed at not having enough money in her purse to pay the fare and having to get a loan from Rosa.
The building itself seemed close to deserted, with only a security guard and a secretary around. Chardonnay ignored them, and walked over to the elevator. She pressed the button, but then spotted a sign saying that all four elevators were out of order and apologising for any inconvenience. Chardonnay turned towards the stairs, and started walking.
As she reached the seventh floor, she had really started to regret wearing heels. As she sunk down into her swivel chair, Chardonnay was feeling slightly relieved that nothing too bad had happened – yet. She spotted that she had one new message on her answering machine and pressed the play button.
“Hi, this is Kenneth Riley from MKS. We have decided that we will be using Samson Cosmetics. We will call you soon to discuss the details of the contract. Until then, goodbye.”
Chardonnay smiled to herself.
Knock knock.
Chardonnay looked up to the doorway and was surprised by who she saw standing there – Luc.
“Luc, what are you doing here?”
“I left something in your father’s office the last time I was here, and just remembered it as I was driving past. I saw you walking in and thought I’d say hello.”
“Oh.” Chardonnay said.
There was a short silence, until both of them spoke together.
”So…” She started.
“Why…” He began.
“You go first.” Luc said.
“No, it doesn’t matter.” Chardonnay answered. “You go ahead.”
“Okay then. Why didn’t you tell me you were engaged?”
”How did you find out?”
Luc didn’t answer.
“I… I don’t know.” Chardonnay said. “I just couldn’t.”
“But…” Luc started, but Chardonnay’s phone started ringing.
“I better get that.” She said, reaching for the receiver. “Hello.”
Chardonnay swivelled around on her chair, so her back was to Luc. He walked over to her desk and grabbed a pen, before scribbling a quick note and leaving it at her phone. He then turned and left.
“Yes Gabe, I’m okay. Just here catching up on some stuff. See you soon. Bye.”
Chardonnay turned around, and was surprised to see that Luc had left. She put down the receiver and noticed the piece of paper at her phone.
Meet me tonight, at the Ritz Bar
***
The
Hospital, same time
“So, am I pregnant?” Camille asked.
“Yes.”
”Oh my…” Camille said, taking in the news. Judi turned away from Camille, tears welling up in her eyes. Russell had been sleeping with the both of them, and had been lying to her about him and Camille.
“How far along am I?” She asked.
“About four weeks.” Judi answered, not turning around to answer the question.
“I better go and tell Russell.”
“Wait.” Judi said.
“What is it?”
“There is something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
”I… I’m worried about you collapsing.”
“Thanks, but I’m sure I’ll be okay.” Camille said, smiling.
She walked out of the room. Judi couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.
***
Westside
High School, a couple of hours later
“Right everyone, today we’re going to do something different.” Said Mr. Winters, said excitedly as he. Everyone sighed – different usually meant bad. And bad in Geography usually meant a project. Cleo and Paris exchanged worried looks.
“Basically each of you will be doing a project. There will be two people in each group. Now I’ve decided to do it this way because I’ve noticed several of you have had falling grades since we started back. I know some of you are struggling, and if you don’t do well in this, then you might be changing classes.”
Cleo was sure he had just glanced in her direction.
“Did you see that? He just looked at me when he said about changing classes.” She whispered to Paris.
“No, but there are a lot worse than you in the class at Geography.”
“Thanks.” Cleo replied, smiling.
“Is there a problem Ms. Brady?”
“No.”
”Good, then you won’t mind shutting it.”
Paris and Cleo exchanged glances again.
“Now, anyone want to volunteer to be the first pair?” A couple of hands shot up immediately. Okay… Martha and Julie, Ron and Harry, Darragh and Richard, Shane and Paddy…”
Cleo silently prayed that he world pair up her and Paris, but her prayers had no effect.
“You all seem to be boy and boy, or girl and girl. I think we’ll mix it a little now, Cleo you can be with,” Mr. Winters stopped to scratch his bald head for a moment, as he cast his eyes around all the males who hadn’t been paired of, “Joel and Paris you can pair up with Nate. I take it none of you have any objections?”
“No.” Cleo sighed.
“Good.”
“April and September, Emma and Sarah, Armani and Bryan and finally Hanna and Lora.”
”He separated us deliberately.” Cleo started whispering again. “We are the only people to be…”
“Right Cleo, I am not happy with this. Talking again? I want you to sit up at the front of the classroom from now on, by yourself. And if I catch you talking again this class, then you will have a week of detentions to deal with.”
“Don’t you think you’re going a little hard on her.” Came another voice. Everyone looked to see who had dared to interrupt.
“Mr Smith, do you want to join your friend in detention, because if you dare to question my discipline procedures again, then detention will be the least of your worries. As you are only new in this school, I will however give you a chance – this time.” Mr Winters narrowed his eyes, and gave Joel a cold look as he spoke before he quickly walked back to the front of the classroom. “Okay everyone, lets get moving and grooving on your projects.”
”Hey, there was no need to stand up for me like that, but thanks anyway.” Cleo said, as she and Joel left the classroom twenty minutes later.
“Well, Winters was stupid. You weren’t the only one talking in that class, but he chose to ignore Martha and Lisa.”
”Any ideas for the project then?” She asked.
“I’ve no ideas at all, and I’m not really bothered at all.” Joel replied, smiling as he walked away.
***
The Ritz
bar, Evening
“You meeting her here or at her place?” Corey Rafter asked, sticking his head around the door of the office.
Alex Blake looked up from the receipts he’d been looking over. “At her place.”
“You better get going. It’s almost seven.”
”What? Is it?” Alex said, alarmed. He quickly glanced at his watch – ten to seven. “I better get going.”
Alex stood up, put the receipts into a drawer and grabbed his black, leather jacket. He then walked hurriedly past Corey, the bar and straight into a young woman who was going the opposite direction.
“Sorry.” He said, quickly apologising.
“It’s okay.” Chardonnay said, smiling. Alex walked out the door. She knew she’d seen him before but… that was it. She’d seen him and Judi together one night, but Judi had run out on him. Chardonnay had completely forgotten about it.
”So, what will you have?” Corey asked the customer.
“I…” Jean Luc Laurent started, but was interrupted by a female voice.
“Hello.”
“Chardonnay, I didn’t know if you would come or not.”
“Well, I did.”
“What’ll you have?” Luc asked.
”Just some mineral water.” She said.
“What? Nothing stronger?” Luc asked, surprised.
“My cars outside.”
“Okay then, I’ll have the same.”
“Two mineral waters then?” Corey asked.
“Yes.” Luc and Chardonnay said in unison.
“So what made you come?” Luc asked.
”I just wanted to explain why I didn’t tell you about Gabe.”
“Any why didn’t you?”
“I just couldn’t. I meant to tell you, but I couldn’t say the words. I don’t know what it means.”
“There you go.” Corey said, placing two glasses on the bar.
Luc paid, and Chardonnay sipped her drink. They talked about the past for a short while, and then there was a short silence, before Chardonnay told Luc about her bad day.
”I better go now. They’ll be wondering where I am.” Chardonnay said, finishing her drink.
“I’ll walk you to your car.”
“There’s no need.” Chardonnay smiled.
“This town isn’t that safe. And I’m not going to take no for an answer.” He answered. They walked through the door and out into the street.
“It’s just across the street in the car park. There really is no need.”
”My car is there too, so we’re going in the same direction anyway.” Luc said as he and Chardonnay crossed the street.
Meanwhile, a silver BMW had just turned onto the street. Victor Samson tapped his fingers off the steering wheel, as he listened to some of his favourite country music on the town’s radio station, which he had an eighty percent share in. As Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress Me Much came across the airwaves, he decided to change station, not being a fan of the Canadian singer.
He noticed a couple on the pavement to his right. He suddenly realised that it was Chardonnay and Luc. Victor hit the off button on the radio, as he continued to watch his daughter and her ex-fiancé more than the road. He suddenly realised what he was doing and turned his attentions back to the road.
“Thanks.” Chardonnay said, as she and Luc reached her car.
“It was my pleasure.” He smiled down at her. She smiled back, but her facial expression soon became more serious. Luc moved closer to Chardonnay. Their lips almost met, but Chardonnay pulled away.
“I better go.” She said getting into her red Porsche. She started the engine and drove away.
Next Time:
The repercussions of Camille’s plot continue, and Sara advises Judi.