𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐄! | 𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐆𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐘

nine.

"who's idea was this again?" hanna swatted at the insects flying around them. olivia had to admit that when emily had asked her about doing a memorial for alison she had assumed that it would be somewhere out in the open or at least a place with less mosquitos. she didn't really like the idea of going out to their hangout spot, the place they'd been every day after school or on breaks, she had agreed to it on the phone but being close to it now was totally different than she'd expected. it felt weird and it made olivia feel sick, she didn't always have the best memories of their hangouts. especially when her and aria used to sneak away to have their own space in these woods. she wondered if aria was thinking the same thing but she didn't want to give her the satisfaction of looking back at her. "emily's mom," spencer called back to her.

"the shed was me," emily piped up. "my mom just said we should do something for us." olivia swatted around her head in annoyance, she'd forgotten how irritating the bugs were. "we hung out in a lot of places," olivia groaned. "why'd it have to be the insect ridden woods?" hanna nodded in agreement. "exactly, why couldn't we do something without mosquitoes?" she swung her arms around her head dramatically to make her point. "they're not mosquitoes," aria said. "they're gnats."

"whatever!" hanna rolled her eyes. "they're small and annoying and they're flying up my nose." spencer glanced back at her in amusement. "well, they're attracted to your perfume," she replied. "and your hair product and your lip gloss." hanna's mouth dropped open in mock disbelief. "so, what are you saying?" she asked "that i attract flies?" spencer nodded. "yes." aria cleared her throat behind them. "gnats," she corrected. "literally no one cares," olivia said, glad that aria was behind her so she couldn't see the way the brunette was definitely glaring at her.

"why do i feel like this is the wrong way?" emily asked, steering the subject matter away from insects. spencer had taken the lead, insisting that she remembered exactly where the spot was. olivia had let her with no arguments because if she was being totally honest, she couldn't remember her way around the woods at all. "no, this is it," spencer reassured her. "i remember that tree, it's the halfway point. there's 136 steps left to the shed." olivia had spent a great deal of time wondering if she could bail without her friends noticing since they had reconnected and this was yet another one of those moments.

"have you been out here since...alison?" emily asked quietly. "me?" spencer shook her head. "no, no way." olivia felt a shiver run down her spine as she followed spencer past the tree. "but you remember that tree." olivia vaguely remembered the tree too, not that she would've marked it as a halfway point but she did remember skipping past it with her friends every day. "you guys, it's not that weird," hanna shrugged. "i mean, we came out here in eight grade like every day... even after."

"i think this is totally the wrong place to do this whatever you call it - shrine," spencer interjected. "it's not a shrine," emily corrected her. "it's a little bit like a shrine," olivia replied. "no, it's just a place to remember alison," emily said, glancing between spencer and olivia. "what's wrong with that?" olivia could come up with multiple good reasons about what was wrong with them placing a shrine out in the middle of the woods for a dead girl but obviously emily wasn't sharing the same thought process she was. "doing it way out here makes it look like we have something to hide," spencer said.

"you're worried what other people think?" emily asked. "um, yes?" olivia furrowed her brows. "we're murder suspects, in case you haven't realised, i care that people think that about me." spencer nodded. "do you really want to give that creepy detective more reasons to question us?" emily looked between her friends in total disbelief which made olivia feel a little guilty, she didn't want to be the talk of rosewood but the memorial out in the woods was sure to get people talking, especially if people saw the five girls going in and out to it together. it made them look suspicious even though their intentions were good.