Neil looked at Coraline with concern as Judge asked, "Are you absolutely certain?" Hugh sighing, "I can't hold it back any longer. Seeing my friends blamed for a crime I committed is absolute atrocious. The truth is, I had fallen in love with Constance, but she didn't return my feelings, so I figured if I can't have her, no one can. So I came up with a brilliant plan. I lured her into the courtyard, saying I'd rather have my study session with her there. Then when we arrived, I had her stand in front of the titan statue in which I pulled a trigger attached to the spear and detached it from the titan's arm, thus sending it into her rib cage." After a few seconds, Neil lowered his eyelids and asked, "Is it just me, or did none of that make any sense?" Raven nodding as Judge sighed, "That's a relief. I thought I was going crazy," Aria uttering, "Hugh, you don't have to lie to protect us. I know you're innocent," Hugh replying, "No, I'm bad to the bone, baby," Alexa lowering her eyelids and sighing, "Okay, now even I know you're full of sh**."
Coraline still couldn't pull herself out of the shock that she was going down. "How can I?" She didn't know what to do for once.
Neil could tell she had lost hope as she patted her on the shoulder and said, "There's still hope. Hugh was clearly lying, and Aria already has the alibi that she arrived after he and Alexa did. There's still a chance." Hugh could not accept that he had been called out, thus he added, "Please, stop casting your doubt on my comrades as I repeat my genius plan to you all," Raven growling, "That's enough!" hurling a feather past his head, "You've wasted enough of the court's time!" Aria then turned to Hugh and asked, "But wait, what do you mean studying session? Why were you taking those secret sessions with her?" Hugh sighing, "I admit it, there's something I've been hiding from you and Alexa. The truth is, I'm currently the worst student here. In fact, I didn't want to pressure you, but I failed that mock trial, Mr. Means told me I'd be removed from the course. I didn't want to put all that pressure on you, so I lied and took tutoring on the side so that I might actually have a chance at besting Alexa!" tears welling up in his eyes as he cried out in agony, the people all staring with concern as Jerome let down a light tear and said, "All for the sake of friendship."
Coraline couldn't think of anything to counter him and shrugged her shoulders. "No complaints from me. No evidence I've seen disagrees with the statements," she sighed.
Neil could tell Coraline had lost her spirit, thus he tapped his chin as Hugh was removed from the area, Judge saying, "Well, it's now clear that there's no way Alexa or Hugh could have done it, which only leaves Aria," Neil thinking, 'No, it's not that simple. There has to be another,' his eyes and mouth wide with terror as he asked, "Wait a minute, Coraline, I think you may have helped us more than you thought when you brought up James. I think you suggesting he be made a witness gave us the clue we needed to figuring this out. Think about it. Who is the first one to give us a reason to believe Alexa was the killer? Who seemed to have no problem suggesting that Hugh may have had a motive after all? And most of all, who was the only one to speak up against your surprise witness? I think you might very well know where I'm going with this."
Coraline gasped and jumped up. "Hold on Your Honor! Lila, I think you'd like to see this. Mr.Means needs to be examined as a true witness now! I completely forgot that everywhere I went he pointed out Alexa. Not Hugh and not Aria! Mr.Means must return to the stands to understand the truth of what's happened!"
Raven let out a sigh and asked, "And what would that accomplish? Aristotle is well respected teacher at the academy. He'd never do this," Neil smirking and saying, "You know, for someone who acts tough all the time, you sure are relying rather heavily on pure conjecture? Besides, Aria doesn't even have a motive whereas Alexa and Hugh actually did before they were proven innocent. If anything, I think we should listen to Coraline," as Judge nodded and replied, "Very well. Aristotle Means, you are to come to the stand," banging her gavel as Aristotle grinned and asked, "Now, what is this all about, Coraline? You seem to have figured something out."
Coraline chuckled and nodded. "I did. I'm going to quote your lecture to me when I was going to drop out of the academy when all of us were students. 'You can always find the evidence you need in the people you trust most.' I trusted your word to the end. Went after Alexa recklessly. I was a fool. Just like James. You nurtured us into students that believed you and only you. Making you seem inconjecturable. I was a fool. You always pointed out Alexa or Hugh. But you never gave me a viable alibi. Plus when Neil stared at you when we arrived the day of the murder, you were in the form of a shocked statue. Something tells me that wasn't the shock of me and Neil coming to the trial. It was the shock that you were too close to someone seeing something. Then when I went to ask you about something I couldn't find you. You vanished. Even the gossip girl knew nothing about where you were," she mused. She looked to Raven. "Lila as much as it kills me to say this, Means is the only other person with no alibi. No teacher told me that he was with them. He never was around when I went to ask him something and he always pointed it at Alexa. Something tells me Constance Court was onto something and Means couldn't be found out. So he killed her with the method Hugh said he used. Means is the only other person with a hate for Constance Court in the building! Therefore he must be our villain," she warned.
For the first time in his entire life, Aristotle looked not just negative but downright furious as he suddenly pulled a chalkboard out of nowhere and spiked up his hair into a Mohawk. He then ripped off his sleeves and snapped, "Alright, listen up, class, for I'm going to lay down the ultimate lecture!" Neil groaning, "Okay, that is strangely terrifying," Judge asking, "Do you mean you have an alibi?" "As a matter of fact, I do!" Aristotle replied with sternness in his voice, everyone watching as he started writing on the chalkboard and said, "I'll admit, perhaps I was off when I accused Alexa! The truth is, with everything going on, it only made sense that she would do it! Even so, it could not have possibly been me! Shortly after my meeting with Neil and Coraline, I headed to my office to do some paperwork! And that is where I was up until the murder took place! That is why no one else saw where I was when the crime took place!" Neil took a deep breath and said, "I've never seen him so riled up. If anything, that alone seems like proof to me. The only problem is I don't think the court would accept his outburst as actual evidence, so we'll just have to get the truth out of him."
Coraline knew he was lying. She then remembered she had access to the cameras. She pulled up the footage of Mr.Means office and smirked. "Mr.Mean the game is over. You've lost. Lila this is the footage up until the murder. Look who' missing from the office," she sighed
Raven's eyes widened as she gasped, "She's right!" glaring at Aristotle, "Why weren't you in your office!?" Aristotle growling, "Where did you get that footage!?" Judge asked, "With all due respect, Mr. Means, does this mean she was right?" the man gritting his teeth before barking, "Fine, I admit it! As it so happens, I've been using my reputation around the academy as a guise to commit various crimes! However, the morning before the mock trial was to begin, Ms. Court saw me right after I had committed such a crime. I couldn't let her reveal my secret, so I followed her to the courtyard, picked up the spear and struck her down! It's easy for me since, as you can see, my muscles are much bigger than those of Alexa," flexing with a toothy grin on his face as Neil said, "I wouldn't brag about that right now if I were you." And with that, Aristotle as handcuffed in extra strength cuffs, trying his hardest to shatter them only to fail as he was taken out of the area, Judge saying, "Well, that settles that. Therefor, I hereby declare the defendants, Aria, Hugh and Alexa not guilty!" banging her gavel.
Soon enough, Neil walked with Coraline out to the lobby where Jerome laughed and said, "Good job as usual! I never would have seen that coming! That man was a genius to the end!" Neil sighing, "Too bad he used it for the wrong purpose." He then noticed Aria and the others approach, a smile on her face as she said, "Thank you so much."
Coraline shrugged and went to the hall where her parents photos were. "How did I miss so many obvious things today?"
Neil let out a sigh and said, "Well, things were rather hectic." Suddenly, Alexa said, "Hey, Coraline, I want to say something."
“Thank you,” she said with a smile, “I feel truly at ease now and that would have never happened if you hadn’t exposed my secret.”
Soon enough, the mock trial between Alex and Hugh happened, and in the end, Hugh shockingly wound up victorious. Thus Aria invited everyone to her estate for a celebration.
