𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐄! | 𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐆𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐘

seven.

"so let's see," officer wilden levelled spencer with a look that unsettled olivia. "you thought you heard her scream." spencer nodded calmly. "i said that, yeah." he was holding what olivia assumed was their statements in his hand. she didn't know if wilden was allowed to be questioning them like this in the principal's office or if he could even question them without their parents around, but she was too scared to ask in case it made her look suspicious. "and when you four woke up in the barn, alison was gone, and so was spencer."

"yes, i woke up before them," spencer replied before any of the other girls could speak up. it was probably for the better given that olivia was struggling to form any type of sentence. "and i realised that ali was missing, so-" she trailed off, fiddling anxiously with her fingers. "so you went looking for her," he finished for her. "that's what happened." the officer looked down the row, as if trying to spot whether they were lying or not. olivia hoped silently that her facial expressions remained neutral. "so, what's up? was this a slumber party or?"

"is this an interrogation?" spencer leant forward, staring the man in front of them down. "no, just a routine follow-up," he answered dismissively. "why did you guys all fall asleep?" olivia frowned slightly, none of them had originally mentioned alcohol in their statements but it seemed like the man in front of them had put two and two together. "i guess we were tired," aria replied, glancing quizzically toward olivia as if she was having the same train of thought. olivia tore her eyes away. yes they had to stick together, but olivia was planning on ignoring aria as much as she possibly could. "tired?" he glanced towards the other girls. "really, is that how you remember it, hanna?"

"yeah," hanna nodded. "yeah, you guys were tired." he didn't look like he believed them at all. "look, we've told you everything we know, just like we did the night she went missing," spencer said. "i know," wilden replied. "and you see, the thing is, it's almost exactly what you said last year - almost like it was rehearsed." olivia gritted her teeth.

"or it's everything we know," olivia snapped before she could stop herself. "our statements are the exact same as they were a year ago because that's all we know about that night, our best friend is dead and we know nothing about it - shouldn't you be out there trying to catch the actual killer instead of quizzing us up about a sleepover?" she felt a hand land on her leg, squeezing gently in an attempt to get her to shut up. she closed her mouth firmly while officer wilden glared her down. "like spencer and olivia have said, we've told you everything we know," aria said. it was only at that moment that olivia realised the hand on her leg belonged to aria, she moved her leg, shaking the girl away from her.

"ok," he glanced at them once again, maybe he was hoping one of them would magically remember something but it was more likely he was hoping one of them would crack and admit to murder. which never happened, they were a lot of things but murderers was not on that list, olivia knew that much about her friends. "we'll be in touch but contact us if you remember anything else."  he gestured for them to leave, olivia could audibly hear emily breathing out a sigh of relief. they really had to pull it together, spencer was defensive, emily was a nervous wreck and olivia blew a fuse every time she felt threatened.

"and miss wyatt, maybe control that temper of yours," the man advised as the girls filtered out of the room. "it could get you in a lot of trouble."

✭

"he knows we're lying," aria breathed out shakily. the bell had just rung to signal the start of break which they were all grateful for considering how shaken up they all were. "lying is not a crime," hanna spoke up from beside olivia. "it is when you're giving false statements to the police," spencer sighed. "it's called obstruction of justice." olivia saw iris and kalani enter the canteen out of the corner of her eye and tried to ignore the nausea that bubbled within her.