chapter two
the jenna thing
⎯⎯⎯⎯

After Alison's funeral, the girls headed to the Apple Rose Grille. They had intended to talk but it's been hours, it's dark outside and the girls have been quiet, but Adalind was the first to speak. "Why was Jenna there?" she asked. "I guess she's back," Spencer muttered as she held her cup of coffee. "That cop acted like we were suspects or something." Hanna whispered. "Do you think we looked guilty?" Emily asked, worried. "Why would we be? We haven't done anything wrong." Adalind replied. "Except lie about the Jenna thing." Hanna said. "We promised we'd never bring up the Jenna thing again, remember?" she said. "It never happened." she added as Hanna opened up a flask.

"Have you found a way to forget?" Aria shot back, "I still wake up in the middle of the night." she added before getting cut off by Spencer. "Aria it was an accident." Spencer said sadly as Adalind turns to see Hanna pouring stuff from the flask into her drink, both girls had taken notice of a man sitting at a table across the restaurant and that he's staring at Hanna, so she decides to respond. "It's medicinal." Hanna says but he kept staring, making Adalind annoyed. "Cramps!" Adalind snapped lightly, making the guy turn around and Hanna sent her a smile.

"I don't get it, how does 'A' know something about me that only Alison knew?" Emily asked while she looked at her friends. "I don't know Em, i really don't," Addie mumbled, trying not to think about the 'A' message she's gotten, there was no way Alison had known, if she had, my god Adalind would have been dead. "Ali knew all of our secrets, but we never knew any of hers." Aria said as she just realised that. "I knew some." Spencer said, causing everyone to look at her in shock. "Go on." Adalind said but Spencer hesitated about sharing Alison's secret.

"Talk." Hanna said, urging Spencer to continue. "I can't." she said. "Spence no, you cannot drop a bomb like that and just clam up." Aria said, looking at her friend. "She'd so kill me if I told you." Spencer said. "She's dead." Hanna deadpanned. Spencer sighed as she looked at everyone. "Ali was seeing someone that summer." she said.

"I knew she was keeping something from me." Emily said. "From us." Emily added. "Why didn't she want us to know?" Adalind asked. "He was an older boy, and he had a girlfriend." Spencer replied. "Who was it?" Emily asked. "She never said his name." Spencer said. "Okay, that's only half a secret." Hanna sighed, annoyed. "It's more than you ever got from her." Spencer defended herself. "How was it that Ali told us nothing and we told her everything?" Aria asked, annoyance laced in her tone.

"Because she made us feel like we were part of something special." Emily replied before letting out a sad sigh while playing with the bracelet that Ali had gifted them. "We were." Addie said softly as she picked at her nails. "I miss that." Aria said softly. "Me too." Spencer said before drinking more of her coffee. "I miss Ali." Emily said.

"Can't believe you still wear that." Hanna said as she saw Emily's bracelet. "Ali still wears hers," she paused before "Wore." Emily sighed. "When Ali didn't come home that night, I knew something terrible must have happened, but there always was some part of me that imagined someday she'd just show up." Spencer said sadly.

"Yeah, I used to think that maybe she'd just run off with some guy." Aria added with a laugh. "She was laying on a beach somewhere." Emily said with a soft smile. "Or getting a tan out by the pool with that hot lifeguard." Hanna smiled at the memory as well, making Adalind laugh. "Oh yeah, what was his name?" she asked her friends. "Who cares? 'Save me!'" Hanna imitated and they all laughed, and for a second it was like nothing had happened, the year apart never happened but they were brought back to reality when they heard the door open and something on the tile click, making them look to see Jenna before they all decided to leave, going separate ways expect for Hanna and Adalind who lived in the same street.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Adalind was at her locker when an announcement came over the speakers. "Will the following students please come to the office? Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin and Adalind Barlowe." The man over the speaker said. Adalind looked behind her as she shut her locker to see her friends standing around the empty hallway as Aria's phone goes off. Spencer, Hanna, Emily and Adalin go to walk, thinking nothing of Aria's phone going off but she stops them. "Wait. It's from 'A'." Aria said, making them walk back over and look over her shoulder to read the message.

UNKNOWN
Dead girls walking.
⎯ A

Hanna read it out loud making them share a look of fear before they decided to keep walking to the office where they were met with Detective Wilden, the guy from the funeral. The girls sat down on the couch and he started asking his questions. "So, let's see. You thought you heard her scream." He said and while he pointed at Spencer. "I-I said that, yeah." she stammered while playing with her fingers out of nerves. "And when you four woke up in the barn, Alison was gone, and so was Spencer?" He asks as he reads their statements from the night Alison went missing. "Yes. I woke up before them and I realised Ali was missing, so I-" Spencer started talking but only to get cut off by Wilden. "So, you went looking for her." He finished for her.

"That's what happened." Spencer replied honestly. "I got that." he said with a nod. "So, what's up? Was this a slumber party or–" he started but Spencer cut him off. "Is this an interrogation?" She asked. "No, just a routine follow-up." He paused, "Why did you guys all fall asleep?" He asked, making Adalind face-palm mentally. "We were tired." Adalind replied. "Tired? Really?" he said and it almost sounded sarcastic. "Is that how you remember it, Hanna?" He asked. "Yeah." Hanna nodded while looking at him. "Yeah, you guys were tired." He nodded and looked at his papers. "Look, we've told you everything that we know just like we did the night she went missing." Spencer said to him slightly angry. "I know, I know. You see the thing is, it's almost exactly what you said last year. Almost like it was rehearsed." he said, making Adalind shake her head in frustration. "Like Spencer said, we've told you everything we know." Adalind said and he just smiled at them and nodded.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

After leaving the office, they headed to their classes, or what was left of it before they met back up in the cafeteria. "He knows we're lying." Aria said, worried. "Lying isn't a crime." Hanna replied. "It is when you're giving false statements to the police. It's called obstruction of justice." Spencer said while looking directly at Hanna. "Oh please," Hanna scoffs "We lied about drinking, but the truth that matters is that we don't know anything about what happened to Ali that night." She replied while rolling her eyes. "We also know about someone who might have wanted to hurt her." Spencer added on.

"We should've told the police the truth about Jenna's accident the night it happened." Emily said while looking around the table at all of us. "I wanted to, remember?" Hanna said. "We had a chance to do more than just tell the truth, we had a chance to stop Ali." Aria said. "But we didn't." Adalind said before eating a blueberry. "And telling the police now about what happened to Jenna isn't going to make her see again, it'll just ruin our lives." Spencer told them before they heard a cane tapping on the ground, making them turn to see Jenna. "Oh my god, she's back in school too?" Hanna grumbled.

Aria looked at us and then to Jenna before getting up and walking over to Jenna. "What is she doing?" Adalind whispered while looking at her friends. "Jenna? Hey, it's–It's Aria. Do you wanna come sit with us?" She asked politely. "Sure." Jenna replied and smiled as Aria grabbed Jenna's tray. "Okay." Aria replied softly as Jenna put her hand on Aria's shoulder as a guide.

"So, you're going to be between Hanna and Emily, and you'll be across from Addie, Spencer and I." she tells Jenna as she leads her to the table. "Thank you." Jenna said to Aria as she placed Jenna's tray on the table for her. "Yeah, and here's a chair." Aria said as she brought a chair from a different table and placed it in between Emily and Hanna. "So, this would be Alison's chair, right?" She asked as she sat down.

"No. We're not even sitting at that table." Emily answered while looking down, avoiding looking at Jenna. "You know she came to visit me at the hospital after the accident." Jenna said and their eyes widened. "Alison did?" Spencer asked, shocked. "Mhm, everyone misunderstood Alison, but I knew exactly who she was." Jenna added. "When did you get back, Jenna?" Spencer asked. "We heard that you were in Philadelphia for the... visually impaired." Spencer hesitated. "You can say blind, Spencer. It's okay. It's not a dirty word." She said and took a sip of her drink. We were silent. "Wow. It's so quiet. You guys used to be the fun table. What happened to you girls?" She laughed.

FLASHBACK

They were all in Emily's bedroom trying on clothes that Alison had brought over. "That's so cute Ali." Adalind said as she sat on the bed with Hanna when Alison suddenly charged at the window. "I can see you!" she yelled, making the girls jump, before turning to them. "Oh my god, I can't believe it." She yelled. "Who was it, Ali? What did you see?" Emily asked. "He was in that tree spying on us! I'm so creeped out!" Alison exclaimed while looking at all of her friends."Who was it?" Spencer asked.

"It was that perv, Toby Cavanaugh." she scoffs. "Are you sure?" Adalind asked as she got up from Emily's bed. "Yes, I'm sure. He was right there! I bet he saw us all naked." Alison states. "Wh– Should we tell someone?" Aria asked her. "I mean we could." Alison took a pause before continuing her statement. "But I have a better idea." She replied with a smirk while looking at her friends.

They were walking out of the house and slowly creeped over to Toby's house as fireworks went off in the night sky. None of them liked what Ali had planned. "Are we sure he's not in there?" Adalind asked as she wrapped her arms around herself. "He's not, okay?" Alison snapped, making Adalind shrink back into herself. "You've got the lighter right, Spencer?" Alison asked as they continued to walk towards the shed, but Emily stopped Alison. "Let's wait a second." Emily said as she grabbed Ali's arm to stop her. "What, Emily?" she asks, getting annoyed.

"I don't wanna do this." Emily admits. "Fine. Go back. You're on your own." Alison scoffs. "Okay maybe Emily's right. We should just call the cops, they'll take him in. They'll take care of it." Aria said, hoping to change Alison's mind. "Where's the fun in that?" Alison asked, but the girls didn't say anything. "Girls, Toby Cavanaugh is a freak, and we need to teach him a lesson," she paused, looking at Emily. "If he thinks he can come and spy on us while we're in your bedroom, Emily, he needs to know that his little domain is no longer a safe little hideout. I mean, who knows what he does in there all day, the little freak." Alison snapped.

"Are you sure it was Toby?" Spencer asked. "Yes! And it's a stink bomb for god's sake. We're not nuking the place. Now, let's do it." Alison said and walked towards the door of the garage before turning to Spencer, who had the lighter. "Give me the lighter." she said to Spencer, who hesitated in giving it to her before handing it over to her. When she finally got it she lit the stink bomb and threw it in. "Let's get out of here. Run!" Alison said and we did as we were told. As they were running, they heard a bang, and the place went up in flames. "Ali, what did you do?" Adalind yelled. "We have to get out of here." Hanna said. "Come on." Emily said and they ran.

PRESENT DAY

The girls were brought back from the same memory when their phones rang at the same time, Jenna picked up Spencer's phone that was ringing and held it out to her. "Aren't you gonna get that?" she said, and Spencer took her phone slowly as the other girls picked up their phones and opened the message.

BLOCKED ID
If only she could see
how guilty you look
⎯ A

The friends looked at each other, scared, Adalind picked at her peeling coloured nails, something she did when she was anxious.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

"Okay, people, let's take our seats." Mr. Fitz said as Adalind sat behind Spencer. "Am I late?" Mona said as she walked into class after the bell. "It's Mona, right?" Mr. Fitz asked as turned to her. "That's right Mr. Fritz." She said not even noticing she said his name wrong, making the whole class laugh "What?" She asks as she was confused by the laughs and the looks she was getting. "Take your seat, Mona." he said, and she walked and sat down next to Hanna, who Adalind assumed corrected Mona on Mr. Fitz's right name.

"If the mockingbird represents the idea of innocence, what characters are innocent?" He asked as he passed out a paper. "Take a second, jot down your ideas. We'll discuss." he said as he walked back to his desk as Aria walked and set a paper on his desk before she took her usual seat next to Adalind.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Later that night, Adalind was heading to the Apple Rose Grille to pick up a food order for her and her parents, who neither felt like cooking that night. Adalind walked into the Apple Rose Grille and went up to the person at the front. "Picking up an order for the Barlowe's." she said, and the girl nodded and went to get it as Spencer approached her, making her turn to her. "Hey!" she said, smiling at her friend. "Hey! I was gonna email you when I got home," Spencer replied back. "How weird was that lunch?" she asked, making Adalind sigh.

"Well, I'd give it a twelve out of ten," she said. "Yeah." Spencer muttered back, and it was silent before they spotted someone walking through the door and to the table where Spencer's family was sitting. "Oh, is that Melissa's new fiance?" she asked and she watched as he turned to give Spencer a smile. "Is he uptight as Melissa?" Adalind whispered. "No one's as uptight as Melissa," she said, making them both laugh. "Well, I'd better get back." Spencer said, forcing a smile on her face.

"Alright, see you Spence." she said, patting Spencer's arm before she left as she did, Someone came back with her order and handed it to her, "Yeah, thank you." she said before handing over the cash that she had brought with her to pay for it.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
I KNOW I KNOW... it's been weeks but i've been working on 'rumour has it' but here's a new chapter!! <3