The Ringing (Very Slow Updates!)

Chapter Twenty-Four

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

SHAY'S POV

Is it possible to actually smack the stupid out of someone? I have to admit I was more than ready to deliver a few good wallops to the side of Cale's head in hopes of knocking some sense into him. I mean seriously, how the hell could he believe what Sam was saying in there? Yeah, I give her credit on her acting skills and all, but how could he believe that I would truly just snap off on her for making some snide comment about the food I eat? Like I really give a shit about what she would think about my eating habits or how the food I eat will affect my body! I realize that I haven't been very open with him so far but he should know me well enough to realize that I could give a shit less about other people's opinions of me, at least as far as food choices and my body go; when someone tries to insult my Alpha bloodline, well that's a whole different story. Cale should know that, he should have been able to see right through her little web of lies and straight to the truth; any wolf with Alpha blood running through their veins wouldn't stand for having their heritage snubbed, even if the snubbing was done by another Alpha bloodline.

I don't know what I'm more pissed off about, Cale's nonsensical blindness to Sam's perpetual lies, or the fact that he would actually believe her ludicrous story over mine – which, by the way, was the truth! They say that love is blind, and although I'm quite positive that Cale isn't in love with Sam, I think that the feelings he does have for her are shielding him from the person that she truly is. I guess I should at least be grateful that he didn't completely take her side and actually considered my point of view too; if he believed her completely then I would be packing my bags right now instead of sulking in my room, but it still hurt to know that he even considered what Sam had said to be the truth.

Maybe if I wouldn't have been so damn stubborn when I first got here and opened up to him more I wouldn't even be in this situation right now; my honesty has always been my greatest quality, I'm not sure I even know how to lie. Sam sure as hell doesn't have a problem lying, it's like her entire life has been a constant sting of lies all tied together into one seemingly perfect little package; with all the bogus shit that flies out of her mouth, I have to wonder if she even knows the truth from the lies that she speaks. It makes you wonder if she is just good at acting or maybe she has some type of medical condition that makes her feel like she has to falsify everything she says to make her look better; a compulsive liar maybe, or maybe she grew up with some fucked up family that corrupted and tainted her small mind and made her grow up into the hideous monster that she is today. I've heard stories about that being the reason people grow up to be rapist or serial killers, as much as I would like to blame Sam's atrocious behave on some screwed up back story, I can't help but think that she is the way she is because she chooses to be that way.

"Oh thank god you're still here! For a minute there I was worried that Sam would come up with some crazy cover story and Cale would make you go home. She actually told the truth about what happened for once?" Liz asked as she came storming through the door and engulfing me in a bear hug, breaking me out of my thoughts of Sam and Cale.

"Not exactly," I said as she finally released me, the confused look on her face had me continuing. "She did spin the story to make herself out as the victim and Cale bought it, at least most of it, but he must have seen some fault in her story because I'm still here."

"What! You've got to be kidding me, what did she say?" Liz asked making herself comfortable on the bed next to me as I explained what happened in the room between the three of us.

"That conniving little bitch, does she even know how to speak the truth? And what the hell is wrong with Cale, how can he not see that all she does is lie?" Liz asked with a huff as she fell back down onto the bed to stare at the same bland white ceiling I had been looking at for the last twenty minutes.

"I've been asking myself the same thing since I left that room."

"This is getting out of hand; we really need to do something about that girl. I never really cared for her from the beginning but now that she almost got my best friend kicked out of the competition, not to mention the way she blatantly insulted another Alpha's heritage, it's time for that bitch to go!" I turned my head and raised my eyebrows at her; Liz was many things – a great talker, a good friend, a really nice person – but never once had I seen her this angry and set on revenge.

"Well, well, well, there's a little devil in you after all." I smirked and she just rolled her eyes.

"Believe me it takes a lot to bring out my inner bitch but when she shows her ugly face you better watch out. Besides we're not the only ones that want Sam gone, the other girls are starting to get fed up with all her bullshit too; I would have to guess that we have about half of them on our side, and girls in number can cause some serious damage."

"Do you have something in mind?" I asked as my curiosity peaked; I had a feeling that someone as smart as Liz could cause some serious damage to another person when she set her mind on it.

"I have plenty of things in mind that we could do to sabotage her, but I don't want to take it to that level. I think that our best bet is to find a way to push her to her limits so that she's the one that ruins herself; if we can get her to show her true colors in front of Cale, he will see how blind he has been to her this whole time and kick her ass out of here faster than a knock out in a Mike Tyson fight." I couldn't help but laugh at the last part, the last thing I expected from Liz was for her to reference a boxer.

"Actually I believe a guy named Russell Rees holds the title for fastest knockout, something like four seconds, but Tyson is just an all around bad-ass so we can go with him!" I replied with a laugh as she play punched my shoulder.

"Whatever, Rees, Tyson, I don't care what one takes her out as long as she's gone."

"Couldn't agree with you more girl!"

Liz and I spent the rest of the night trying to figure out ways to get Sam to crack in front of Cale so he could finally see her for who she really is and kick her ass to the curb; the only problem is that Sam is actually really smart – at least in her own lying, deceiving, fucked up kind of way – and so every plan we came up with we ended up finding a fault in it. It's hard to try and deceive a deceiver, to cheat a con, to dupe a fraud; it's like Sam wrote the book on how to swindle someone, how do you bamboozle the Queen of Fraud? In the end we came to the conclusion that we're just not cut out to be con-artist like Sam; however I am great at pushing people's buttons and getting them to snap and Liz happens to be a connoisseur of conversation, so if we used our skills together maybe Liz could get Sam to slip up in front of Cale and I would be right there behind her to give Sam that little extra shove to push her over the edge so that she snaps.

There really was no point in having any interaction with Sam when Cale wasn't around so I spent the next few days doing my best to avoid her at all costs; even as the days went by I still found myself clenching my fists and fighting back my wolf from coming out whenever she was in the same vicinity as me. I found that it's more difficult than I thought to avoid someone that you technically live with; most of my time was spent out at the little pond and talking with Ali on the phone, god I really miss home. The longer I'm here the easier it gets being away from my friends and family but every time I call one of them it bring back memories of all the good times we had together, the stress free life that I had back in Arizona and the lack of drama in everyday situations.