chapter five
reality bites me
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The girls were sitting around in Spencer's living room the next day, Adalind sat next to Hanna at the kitchen island. "'A' sent this letter to my mom." Aria said with a sigh as she held the letter that Elle received telling her about her husband's affair. "You know it's not your fault, right?" Emily asked her. "It's your dad's mistake, totally." she added. "No, it is my fault." Aria protested. "You did not hook up with her, and then ask your kid to cover for you." Spencer said as she placed food on the table.

"Ali said I should've told my mom right after it happened." Aria said. "Ali? Alison knew?" Adalind asked as she turned to look at her cousin. "Yeah, she was with me." Aria said before taking a sip of her coffee. "So, Alison saw this Meredith chick?" Adalind asked. "Meredith? Her name is Meredith?" Hanna asked. "Eww, that's not even a cute girl name, I'm seeing big pores and mousy roots." Hanna added. 

"Hanna, I think it's a little too soon to joke."  Spencer said. Hanna laughed. "I'm sorry, but if you're gonna cheat you might as well do it with somebody who deep conditions her hair occasionally." Hanna said sarcastically, making Adalind sigh. "Here, put something in your mouth besides your foot." Spencer said as she put something in front of her.

Hanna turned to Aria. "I'm sorry, okay? Look, all I'm saying is that when my dad left, laughing sometimes helped, so did crying." Hanna said softly. "My father hasn't left, guys." Aria argued as she stood up and joined her friends at the kitchen island while her friend looked at her sadly. "I mean, this happened over a year ago," she said but her friends avoided her gaze. 

"But it happened right now for Aunt Ella." Adalind said softly with a frown. "You think he's gonna leave?" Aria asked. "Look, whatever happens, we're here for you." Emily said and the rest nodded in agreement.

"Thank you guys for staying here, I couldn't have been here alone." Spencer said, changing the subject. "When's your family getting back?" Hanna asked. "This afternoon." Spencer responded. "Weren't you gonna clean off the mirror before they get back here?" Adalind asked but Spencer was silent. 

"You want me to come with you?" Emily asked and Spencer nodded and they moved to head towards the stairs. "We should all go." Aria said and Adalind nodded as she and Aria moved as well. "Uh, yeah, you know what, it doesn't take five of us to clean a mirror, so why don't you four go and I'll just wait here." Hanna said.

"Fine, okay, you stay down here, alone." Aria said as she moved with Spencer and Emily towards the stairs, Adalind following her. "Just make sure you lock the door Han." Adalind teased as she followed Aria. "Great, you spray, I'll wipe." Hanna said as she hurriedly followed her friends just before her phone went off as they stepped on the stairs. "The creature's back." Hanna mused. "We should have never unblocked our phones." Hanna said as they looked at the message.

UNKNOWN
Ever wonder what's going on
when your back is turned?
⎯ A
🖇 attachment...64397.mov

"Open the attachment." Emily said and Hanna did, she flipped her phone side-ways after clicking the attachment. It was a video of them, looking at the mirror last night, "Oh god," Adalind said, as she ran a hand through her hair. "That's us." Aria said in shock. "Was that shot from inside your closet?" Aria asked Spencer, making them look towards the stairs, where Spencer's room is.

"'A' was watching us." Spencer said before they rushed upstairs to Spencer's room. They walked in quietly, not knowing if someone's still in her closet. Spencer went to her closet, and opened it. There wasn't anyone in there but something fell out, making them jump and scream. "Guys," Aria said as she leaned down and picked up something from the floor, the thing that had fallen. "Check it out." she said, showing them that it was a lipstick tube, before opening it, she looked over at the mirror and noticed it was the same shade so, she put some on her hand and put it against the side of the mirror, comparing the two. Which were the same

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"You cannot seriously think that a blind girl broke into my house, that would take a lot more than a talking GPS." Spencer said as the group stood around Spencer's locker. "Well I didn't say that Jenna was alone." Aria whispered, making Emily sigh. "Let's not go to the Toby place, okay?" she said. "Why not?" Aria asked. "You guys think her guide dog left behind his lipstick?" she asked sarcastically. "Yeah, do you wanna ask what your lab partner was doing last night?" Spencer said, making Adalind sigh. "If you know, maybe he took a break from sitting on his porch, pulling the heads off of squirrels." she continued just before Mr. Sheldrake called out to Spencer.

"Spencer!" he shouted as he approached the group. "Sorry ladies, I didn't mean to interrupt, but I hope you're as proud of your friend as I am." he said, pulling an envelope from behind his back. "Congratulations, my instincts were right," he said as he handed it to Spencer. "This just makes it official," he said before walking away. Spencer doesn't even look at it and puts it in her locker. "What's that about?" Aria asked. "An essay contest." Spencer responded. "Wait, did you win it?" Emily asked. "Aren't you gonna at least open the envelope?" Adalind asked. "Why should she? She wins an award for waking up." Hanna teased with a laugh, causing Spencer to let out a nervous laugh just before the bell rang and they went their separate ways to class.

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Later that night, Adalind was in her room when she received a message from Hanna to meet her and Spencer at the Apple Rose Grille, which she did. Adalind sat next to Hanna who sat across from Spencer. Spencer pulled out the lipstick they found in her closet, which she had put into a plastic bag. out of her bag, and showed Hanna and Adalind. "I saved it. Just in case." she said as she opened the lipstik from the outside and twisted the lipstick up, showing the colour of the lipstick. "I'm telling you, that's the lipstick Jenna was putting on in the elevator." Hanna said.

"Are you sure?" Spencer asked to make sure. "Yes! That's Alison's colour." Hanna said. "Same shade, shade rube, what i'm wondering is why was Jenna in an empty room for an hour?" Hanna asked, confused. "I think we should call the police." Spencer whispered to Hanna and Adalind. "I mean there are fingerprints on this tube." she added. "Yeah, ours." Adalind said as she shook her head. "Look, if you want me to answer any more questions just let me get in the office and see what I can find." Hanna said and things fell silent between the three friends.

Hanna noticed Toby sitting at a nearby table before looking back to her friends, "Have you gotten any more emails?" she asked and Adalind shook her head. "Not since this morning, have you?" Spencer asked Hanna. "No, I'm just wondering." she said as Adalind eyed her, she could tell when Hanna was lying. Adalind caught sight of Emily entering the Apple Rose Grille. "Emily!" Spencer called out, making her turn to see Hanna, Adalind and Spencer sitting at a table. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Spencer asked, causing Emily to make her way over, and Adalind noticed Toby's gaze on Emily as she did and also saw her look at him.

"Uh, i was just–" she started but Spencer cut her off. "Hanna had a run-in with Jenna Marshall today." she said. "Sit down." She instructed her and Emily did so, sitting down next to Spencer, across from Adalind. "Em, you know that dentist's office I'm working at?" Hanna asked. "Well, I was going in for my shift after school and I was in the elevator. Jenna Marshall was in there." Hanna explained to her in a hushed voice so no one around would hear. "She had the same lipstick Ali wore." she added. "The exact same colour." Adalind whispered to Emily. "She had the same lipstick that Ali had." Hanna whispered.

After a bit of talking, Spencer got up, getting her bag as well. "Where you going?" Hanna asked. "Uh, I have an early tennis day with my dad and I have no idea what I'm gonna wear." Spencer answered as she pulled her bag on her shoulder. "There, um, may be this boy—" she started but Hanna cut her off. "Boy! What boy? Details!" she said excitedly, causing Adalind to laugh. "Well, there's none yet, but I'll keep you guys posted." Spencer said with a smile on her face before leaving but a waitress stopped her.

"Are you Emily?" she asked. Spencer shook her head. "No." she said, turning to Emily. "Em?" she said, tapping her shoulder, making her turn around. "Someone left this for you." the waitress said as she put a cd case down next to Emily, making her look up, noticing Toby wasn't there anymore before looking back at the art of the cd case. "Pretty, who made it?" Hanna asked. "Somebody from school." Emily said as she put it into her bag.

"Well, whoever made it must like you a lot." Hanna said, causing Adalind to side-eye her, confused. "No, we were just talking about this band we both like." Emily said. "Is it from somebody you like back?" Hanna asked and Emily looked shy making Hanna backtrack. "Sorry. You don't have to tell me anything." she said. "But, Em, if there's someone in your life who cares about you, then I'm happy for you." she said, with a smile on her face. "No matter who they are." she added, making Emily smile at her as Adalind nodded in agreement. "We just want you to be happy, Em." she said.

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The next day Adalind was over at Aria's house. They were studying together, well, they were trying. Adalind could hear Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron fighting downstairs. They were so loud, Aria and Adalind had to put earphones in to focus. "Okay, I told you something was up." Mike said as he entered Aria's room, making Aria and Adalind pull out their earphones. "Can you hear them?" he asked. "Look, whatever it is... it's not about us." Aria said to Mike as Adalind sat up from her laying down position she was in on Aria's bed.

"How do you know?" he asked. "I just do." Aria responded as she stood up. Adalind sighed sadly as she heard them fighting downstairs, voices growing by the second. "How about this," she said as she stood up, making Mike and Aria look at her. "You go get your stuff, we'll go to my house, we'll study there, okay?" she said softly. "Yeah," he nodded. "But for how long?" he asked, making her sigh," Just get your stuff okay." she said and Mike nodded before leaving. Aria turned to look at her cousin, "Thank you." she muttered, making Adalind shake her head.

"You guys are family, this is the stuff you do for family." she said before they heard Ella raise her voice higher, making Aria walk towards her door and lean on the door way as she heard her parents fall apart, Adalind sighed, she wished she could fix this for her but there was nothing she could do but be there for her and Mike through this entire thing. 

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter!! i'm really enjoying doing this show from a semi-different view <3