✧
BROOKE GROANED QUIETLY, GRABBING onto the window ledge to pull herself up with the help of Mike who was howling with laughter that he was trying to cover with his hand. "Shut up." She narrowed her eyes at him for a split second before quickly looking back at where she was putting her shoes to make sure she didn't miss one of the foot holes that were holding her up. "I forgot how difficult that is." She snapped, laughing herself when he grabbed her to help her up the rest of the way, until they were both sat on his bed room floor laughing, each trying to stop and stay quiet, but each struggling immensely.
"That was the best thing i've seen all year." He joked between breaths, throwing his head back again when Brooke slapped his chest and stood up, wiping her now dirty hands on her jeans.
The foot holes that used to be so easy to climb, that Brooke used to pull herself up onto without a second thought seemed a whole lot harder to climb than before. There was about a foot of flat wall before the ridges started until they lead to Mikes window. She felt like she was having deja vu.
This route used to be the pairs go to when it came to seeing each other, whether Mike climbed down it to meet the brunette in her back garden or whether she climbed up it to meet him in his bedroom, either way it had been well used. But with nobody using it over the last year or so, moss had grown into the previously empty ridges on the bricks and it had become a whole lot harder.
"You can't laugh until you've tried it yourself." She huffed, standing with her arms crossed across her chest and a pout on her lips. "I forgot how unbelievably annoying you are." She grumbled when he stood up, a big grin still on his lips as he stood over her, only smiling more when he saw her pouty lips, taking in his full advantage to press a kiss to them. The frown was gone instantly after that.
He shook his head at the brunette, pulling the girl to lay down on his bed. He was made up to have the girl back and had spent at least five minutes staring at her when she dropped beside him on the bed. And while he was staring at her, she was staring at his room, wondering what had changed since she had last been in here and since he had left.
Considering he had moved out and then back in again, a considerable amount was still the same. His bed remained in the same place opposite the tv on his wall and his desk remained under the window and beside the big window that opened like a door, that she had just forced herself through. His room wasn't blue anymore tho, it was now a cream that she was sure the renters had painted and he hadn't been bothered to change back.
"What you thinking about?" Mike mumbled from beside her, running his fingers through her brown hair when she rolled to lay her head on his chest.
Brooke sighed a breath of contentment, fiddling with his free hand and the ring that rested on it. "Just how much better your room looks now." She hummed, laughing when the boy gasped as if deeply offended.
"What did you have against the blue?" He asked throwing his hands up dramatically and making the brunette laugh and him smile when he felt the vibrations against his chest. Rolling his eyes when she said, "Nothing, nothing." Before laughing again. "God, I missed you." He sighed in their moment of silence, the only moment of silence that didn't make Brooke cringe. The only silence that didn't make her awkward.
The only silence she didn't need to fill was the ones with Mike.
But even then, the silenced was ruined. Ruined by a knock at the door just as Brooke was beginning to fall asleep on his chest while he smiled down at her, twirling the ends of her hair. She knew what came after a night with Mike, she knew that she'd fall asleep until the early mornings and then her body would wake her up because it knew she couldn't stay. And then she'd sneak off without waking him up and scale down the side of his house once again and sneak back into her own.
But this time she didn't even have the chance to fall asleep. The knock woke her up so abruptly that sleep was long forgotten as the pair quickly sat up, the pair suppressing groans. "Yeah, one second in just getting changed." He called to the person behind the door, considering the weight of the knock, Brooke assumed it would be his dad.
Mike pressed a kiss to her lips and handed her a jumper that he grabbed off the back of his chair before she had the chance to climb back down the window, whispering that he would see her tomorrow and to use the sleeves of the jumper to keep her hands clean.
And just like that, they were back to the routine they both loved and hated at the same time.
✧
BROOKE STARED, UTTERLY CONFUSED as she watched Hanna poke and prod at her face, while she herself was staring into the mirror that she had magnetised into her locker. Aria was stood beside the brunette, the pair had been having a conversation but it came to an abrupt halt when they simultaneously noticed the blonde in their peripheral vision. "Han, are you okay?" Brooke asked after a few moments of watching her.
She turned to the pair that were already staring, attracting the attention of the other two also. Sighing she turned to face them all, "Okay, I need to ask you guys something, and I need you to be totally honest with me." She said with a face that said she was serious but Brooke and Aria were still thrown by her poking only moments ago.
A series of, "Of course, sure, what's up and are you okay?" Followed as they all chorused answers, all equally confused as they waited apprehensively for whatever the blonde was about to drop on them.
Cupping her cheeks and smushing them together and letting go again, she looked serious. "Is this side of my face fatter than this side?" She sighed, turning her face from left to right so they could compare the two sides. Meanwhile each of the girls around her visibly deflated upon hearing her question now they were aware that it didn't have anything to do with A or Alison or any of the other issues they had going on in their extremely chaotic lives.
Narrowing their eyes and looking pointedly so the girl couldn't accuse them of not doing so, they all murmured, "No." Expecting her to be relieved but she didn't seem convinced, cupping her cheeks again and letting out a whine before turning back to the mirror in the locker once again.
Once Hanna had moved back in the direction of the mirror, Arias gaze fell to the person stood down the hall behind her. "Is that Ian?" She asked narrowing her eyes. Brooke's stomach dropped as soon as the name slipped from her lips.
"Yeah. I hear he's the new field hockey coach." Emily explained, completely un phased by the return of the man, her face a completely different image to those of Spencer and Brooke. "Does Melissa know he's back?" She asked the younger Hastings who was staring at him.
Hanna dropped onto her hip as she looked around her locker door to see him. "I don't know why she ever broke up with him," She gushed, not so discreetly checking him out.
Brooke's nose scrunched in distaste, "Ew, Hanna, no," She cringed, looking disapprovingly at the blonde, seriously considering her taste in men what with Sean and her school girl crush on Ian. "His hairline is seriously receding, not to mention his general lack of any and all attractive traits."
"She didn't. He broke up with her." Spencer corrected, her eyes also lingering on the man who was dapping up a few of the people he knew and a few that he previously coached.
Her gaze only broke from him when it was interrupted by Mona Vanderwall, strutting up to the group of girls around the locker, flicking her legs up behind her as dramatic as ever. In her hand was a stack of envelopes strapped in a bow, a more than likely fake smile plastered on her lips. Classic Mona. "Hey." She greeted shortly, her attention quickly turning to what she was holding and thrusting one of many into Hanna's hands. "The first ones for my bestie, and one for each of you, my besties other friends." She explained, continuing her actions onto the other four girls until they were all holding a black and white invitation wrapped neatly in a yellow bow.
"Oh, uh...what's this?" Brooke asked, flipping it over to see what she was being invited to exactly. Knowing Mona it could be an invite to go shopping, what with her dramatic flare.
A smile creeped onto her lips once again, even bigger than before. "Oh, nothing." She shrugged. "Only an invitation to the most awesome birthday party ever," Mona sang happily, hyping up her own party. "Camp Mona."
"Camp Mona?" Aria asked.
She held up her hands to quickly pause them and their doubting stares. "Don't let the camping part scare you. It's 'Glamping' not Camping." She assured. "M is for Mona and massages, not mosquitos."
"Perfect for Hanna then." Brooke laughed, especially considering their trek through the woods a few weeks ago and the girls reaction to the gnats. The girls all laughed in return while Hanna playfully nudged the Brunette beside her with a playful glare.
She disregarded the conversation they were having completely once it shifted away from her party and her gaze landed on two more targets down the hall. "Oh, Naomi, Riley! Hey, wait up!" She called over to them, the pair that Brooke had never spoken to but did remember Alison calling wannabes once when they sat at the same table as her, stopping them in their tracks immediately as they waited for her to catch up.
Once the girl had disappeared, Brooke, Aria, Emily and Spencer turned to look at the raven haired girls friend. "Why is Mona inviting us to her birthday party?" She laughed, tucking her invite away in her bag and exchanging it for her history book, ready for their next lesson which Brooke was of course dreading and looking forwards to at the same time.
"Well, She knows that we're friends again, and she's just trying to reach out to you." Hannah shrugged just as the bell rang. "She's trying to be nice." The girl insisted when she saw all of their blank faces that were ready to scurry off to avoid having to agree to going straight away. "So, are you going to go?" She asked hopefully, before they had the chance.
"I know she's your friend, but..." Spencer started.
"I'm going to have to pass." Aria continued. "I've got this..."
"I got a lot of stuff to do this weekend." Spencer finished, blurting out the first excuse that came to mind, everyone following in her lead, the first being Emily.
"Me too."
Brooke had remained silent, hoping that Hanna would over look her and she wouldn't have to lie to her. "Brooke?" The plan failed quickly and painfully when she had to quickly scramble for an answer.
"I can't, I'm helping Aria with what she's doing." Brooke lied, internally face planting when she used Aria as an excuse since she had somewhat been trying to avoid her, and as a result avoid lying to her about her brother. Although, she wasn't technically lying, she was just keeping secrets. Even more secrets that made her stomach turn. She was happy when she was with him, light and relieved. And then she faces Aria and everything fell straight back onto her shoulders.
As if on queue all of their phones chimed. Brooke pulled hers out from her back pocket and dreaded looking at the screen, only doing so when everyone else had seen the message.
"Camp Mona's a scavenger hunt and I'm the prize." Spencer readout, undecided on whether she was more scared of A or the prospect of sleeping in the woods with Mona Vanderwall.
"Come and find me bitches." Hannah continued, somewhat relieved that the rest of her friends now had to come.
"A." Brooke finished, throwing her head back against the locker with a clang and emitting a loud groan. Reality falling at her feet once again.
They all looked around the quickly draped sing school halls in hopes to spot someone on their phone, or looking generally suspicious, even someone staring at them. But they didn't and Brooke was left walking into History in an even worse mood than she had been at the prospect of the lesson in the first place.
✧
DROPPING DOWN INTO HER SEAT WITH an already disgruntled look on her face was like a field day to Mr Stein. The man clocked immediately that Brooke was in a horrid mood and in his bitter and unhappy life, abusing the teenage girl became the highlight of his day.
"Brooke Bentley, how about you come up and answer the questions on the board." He announced, snapping the girl from her frustration to see the three questions regarding last weeks reading. The three questions that she didn't know the answer to. She knew he was doing this on purpose.
With a groan, she turned back to Spencer desperately, the girl attempting to mouth one of the answers but the brunette couldn't quite catch it. But as she turned back around, Mike walked in to take a seat, looking between the brunette and the questions. "Now Brooke." He groaned, flicking through the slides on his computer.
Coughing, Mike dropped his keys beside his chair, the metal clanking against the tiles and leg of the table they hit. Bending down beside him, he grabbed them slowly, looking at Brooke as he stood up. "Late fifteen hundreds, 1997, the British empire." He whispered before standing up and taking his seat behind her, a smirk pulling on his lips as she walked up to the board at the front.
Late fifteen hundreds, late fifteen hundreds, late fifteen hundreds. 1997, 1997, 1997. The British empire, the British empire, the British empire. Brooke repeated over and over again in her head in a desperate attempt of remembering the answers.
She wrote down the first one, then the second and then the third before returning to her seat, smiling at the boy and mouthing thank you as she sat down, leaning back in her seat and breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed to futile to anyone else, but Brooke and her stupid social anxiety appreciated it unreal amounts. When Alison was alive, she managed to make all the attention fall on her enough that Brooke didn't think twice, one of the things she liked most about the blonde.
But when Mr Stein looked at the answers, the anxiety washed over her once again. "Wrong." He drawled on, snapping her attention back to the front. "It was the late fifteen hundreds, not sixteenth." He chuckled, looking at her both bitterly but happy that he had something to annoy her over.
"That's a five." Brooke narrowed her eyes at him, pointing to the first question. Her hand writing was curly, but it was clear what she had written. The whole room could see it and the whole room knew he was only doing it to annoy her. "Very clearly a five, too." She snapped when he tutted.
He shook his head, wiping the answers off the board and ignoring it until they were gone completely. "No need to lie about knowing the answer Miss Bentley." He huffed, sitting back down at his desk and looking at her over his laptop and around the boy who sat in front of her. "I'd expect a D on your next paper, I haven't even marked you SAT's yet but i'm sure that'll be no different."
The brunette swallowed thickly, trying not to act like his words hadn't phased her but after living with a family where the only person who actually supported her was her big brother, it made her desperate to gain his validation. Especially since he was all she had. Not only that, but everyone had thought she was just a bitch throughout her friendship with Alison, that looks was all she had going for her, that was all everybody saw when they looked at. She wanted to prove something to herself too.
Shaking her head and grabbing her bag, she left her history book on her desk and walked out of his classroom, slamming the door behind her and grumbling 'fuck off' loud enough that he'd heard when he told her to sit back down and stop being dramatic. "Detention, after school Miss Bentley!" He called angrily after her, but by that point the door was closed and she was far down the corridor on her way out of school, completely disregarding her last lesson of the day, which luckily happened to be PE.
"I don't think she cares, sir." The kid who sat in front of her chuckled along with everyone else, enjoying how disgruntled their teacher looked.
✧
BROOKE THOUGHT SHE WAS GOOD AT sneaking around her own house, she had definitely had enough practice after all, but clearly she hadn't been discreet enough that next morning upon trying to avoid her mother who she thought was still in bed, fitting in lots of sleep before she left for yet another work conference that afternoon while her kids would still be at school.
"You got home late the other night?" She hummed, taking a sip from her coffee mug and placing it back down onto the counter heavy handedly, looking up at her daughter from the other side of the kitchen, looking accusingly at her.
Brooke tried not to let her breath hitch, "Not really?" She frowned, entering the kitchen and grabbing a glass from the cupboard and then a jug of orange juice from the fridge. Since she had already been caught, she might as well have breakfast. "I got back at like, half ten." She said after taking a long sip.
Her mom nodded, "And where were you until half ten?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. Brooke wasn't sure what she was accusing her of, she was so uninvolved in her life that she couldn't possibly know anything about what she was doing. She probably thought she was out shoplifting or some other crime with how little faith she had in her.
Narrowing her eyes at the woman, her lips pulled in a smirk as she took a sip of her orange juice. "Stealing cars." What she thought was a funny joke, her mother took far more serious than the girl had intended it to be delivered, her next words sucker punching the brunette in the gut so hard she could have stumbled back.
"Don't laugh, I wouldn't put it past the old you. You and that nasty friend of yours were always up to no good, disgracing our family and ruining peoples lives." She scowled, enjoying the satisfaction that came with the disintegrated look that now sat on her daughters face.
Swallowing down the resentment for her mother that was always evident but some what buried, she faced her with the best 'you don't phase me' face she could muster. "I was studying with Aria till late, but thanks for the lack of trust, mom." She snarled, the last word being spat out right as Mason landed at the bottom of the stairs with his keys in hand. She was lying and not necessarily the most trust worthy person but she still hadn't been getting up to the stuff that she knew her mom was wondering.
"You ready?" He asked, poking his head into the door way, sensing the tension in the room as he twirled the keys between his fingers and looked between his mom and sister who looked equally as irritated with one another as the other, his eyes ultimately falling on Brooke.
She didn't say anything but walked out of the door, not sparing a single glance at her mom as her brother followed behind her. Grabbing his lacrosse gear and glaring at his mom because undoubtedly whatever had happened that put his little sister in such a bad mood was definitely her fault. It always was.
✧
BROOKE COULD FINALLY ENTER THE cafeteria safely now that she wasn't trying to avoid Mike. She was certainly still trying to avoid Jake and now Noel a little too, but since Mike had shoved the first boy in the corridor he had backed off, keeping his distance. Brooke didn't know why but she was definitely glad. And the latter was still...Noel.
She kept her head down, her fingers toying with the buttons on her camera as she looked through all of the pictures she had taken in the photo lab, deciding which ones she wanted to develop and which ones would be wiped from the memory card.
Refusing to look up to meet the eyes of Noel that had been evidently sat on her since she entered the cafeteria. The only eyes she had been meeting were those of Mike Montgomery who was sat on a table a few away from her own with most of the lacrosse team including the brunettes brother.
The pairs eyes continued to meet as they looked up at one another, a smile tugging on their lips each time, his fleeting eyes always falling on her between conversation. Only the last time she looked up at him, his sister sat down in the seat opposite her, blocking her view. But a smile still pulled on the Bentleys lips at her best friends appearance.
"Hey," She hummed, returning the smile and dropping her bag onto the floor beside her chair and her lunch onto the table in front of her, her plate sliding slightly across the blue tray at the angle she placed it. "What are you doing?" She asked, leaning forwards and catching a glimpse of what the brunette was so encapsulated in.
"I'm trying to pick which photos I should use for my application for a photography class at Hollis." She explained, handing the camera to the brunette who flicked through a few before handing it back to her with a mumble of, "Impressive."
Aria took a bite of the pasta on her plate and surveyed the cafeteria while she chewed and Brooke explained that the application was due in a few days and she was still putting together her portfolio and how she was hoping that the class would make up for something on her applications for college when it came around, even though she still wanted to study law. But amidst her explanation, she was stopped by the brunette opposite her, "Why is Noel Kahn staring at you?" She asked curiously, intrigued as to whether anything had happened between the pair since Brooke had told her they almost kissed in the music room during the storm.
She obviously left out the part where it ended with her and her best friends brother back together in the secret relationship that nobody had known about since it started on and off four years ago. She was just trying to keep up the facade of her and Noel to keep the attention off what was really happening.
"Probably because I haven't spoken to him since the SATs we're supposed to happen." She shrugged, sending her camera back to home screen when she reached the last image on the cameras card, putting it down so the pair could chat and she could put more energy into lying so she didn't trip up.
With a smirked she looked at the girl with her head tilted. "Do you like him?" She teased, wiggling her shoulders and pointing her fork at the brunette who was glaring at her playfully in reply. "Want to find out for yourself how good of a kisser he is?" She grinned once again, laughing when the Bentley girls flushed pink.
"How good of a kissed who is?" Brooke jumped at the sudden intrusion, looking up from her off camera and Aria to see her brother stood beside their table, looking down at his little sister with a raised and questioning eyebrow, fighting the smirk
on his lips at catching the pair of guard while he tried to feign the protective big brother that he sometimes could be.
Brooke looked from Aria to her brother and then back to the Montgomery girl wondering what on earth she could say. Said girl beat her to it. "Noel Kahn." She blurted out, finding incredible amusement in the wide eyed expression that fell on Brooke's face, even more so when her brother turned to look at the boy, so incredibly obvious that he of course saw and grinned to himself.
"Who? Him?" He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder and Brooke quickly jumped up, yanking it back down, looking at her brother with the most serious face she could muster but that only made him burst out with uncontrollable laughter. Then she looked to the side, seeing Mike staring at the pair, his eyes looking between where Mason was pointing and the girl who was stopping him.
"I hate you." Brooke grumbled, dropping back down into her seat. "Both of you." She looked between the pair she was with. "What did you even want?" She then asked, turning her attention completely back towards her brother.
With a huge puppy dog grin still on his lips, he looked down at her with amusement as he spoke. "Oh, yeah. Moms left for her work thing, so do you want to go out or order in?" He asked, now remembering what he had intended to talk to her about before he got distracted by the amusement that came with embarrassing her, usual sibling amusement.
Brooke thought about it for a moment while she dug around in her bag for her next memory card to scale through. "Can we go out? I want sushi and last time we ordered from that Sea Floor Sushi delivery place you were violently sick. I do not want to relive that." She explained and even he could have gagged at the thought. Luckily the brunette herself hadn't touched the dodgy smelling salmon skin rolls.
"Yeah, alright." He nodded, looking to Aria who was silently munching on her pasta while they talked, laughing when they teased one another. "You can come too if you want, and Mike." He suggested, well aware that the Montgomery siblings were going through a very similar thing themselves but missing when Brooke looked anywhere but his face at the mention of the boy she was secretly with.
Aria chewed and swallowed before replying, "Yeah, that would be great." She smiled, Mason nodding in reply before walking back to his table, purposefully bumping his chair into Jake when he pulled it back. Mike hadn't been the only one watching the interaction.
Once he had gone, Brooke rolled her eyes with a smile to Aria who was smiling back. She opened the flap at the side of the camera while the girl talked about how she had been avoiding having dinner at her moms, but even the Aria stopped talking when a slip of paper fell from where it had been squished into the opening for her memory card. What else would it be than an A message.
"Looks like Mommy's
as much of a liar as
her daughter. Let's
hope Daddy doesn't find out.'
—A
Her and Aria shared an apprehensive look as Brooke slotted her other memory card into her camera, everything immediately making sense. What had previously been confusion, wondering if A had been wrong for one (of course they weren't) all became dread and sickness that settled in her stomach.
The first round of pictures was taken between the gaps in a blind that seemed to be the other side of an office, but the star of the show of the photo and all of the other photos on the slide was her mother and a man that wasn't her father. Sure, her parents weren't exactly on the best of terms. Yes, they were living apart. But no, they weren't officially divorced, not as far as Brooke knew despite making it very apparent that she wanted them to be.
Turning the camera off, it was anger that flooded her veins instead of sadness. Her mother was a horrible person, she knew that, she knew there was a reason that the pair argued so much and now she could confidently say that it was not her. "Are you okay?" Aria asked nervously, looking at the girls suddenly sickened face.
The intercom requested the five girls presence in the office before she got the chance to answer. And regardless, her answer would have been a lie.
✧
THE STUPID BLACK LEATHER SOFA IN the principles office was quite possibly one of Brooke's least favourite places in the world. And not even just to sit, not because it was uncomfortable, or that it was ugly. But because it seemed that every announcement of bad news was given was given to her on that stupid sofa.
First it had been in her sophomore year when the principle pulled her in to tell her that she was being suspended for punching Robbie Travilo in the lunch line, but that was soon after wiped from her record upon security cameras confirming that he had touched her ass moments before. Then it was the interrogation by Wilden at the beginning of the year, then the worst interrogation only a few weeks ago and now this. The FBI.
As if Brooke didn't have enough on her mind, now she had to worry about this. Tugging on the sleeves of her jumper until the door clicked open making them all look up. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I'm Agent Cooper." A woman wearing a blue pantsuit was introduced strutting into the office with another man behind her. She hastily passed her card to Spencer who read it and her eyes widened as she passed it along to the other girls. "FBI?"
"This is my partner Agent Randall. And we're here because the Bureau was asked by the local authorities to assist in the investigation of Alison Dilaurentis' Murder." She explained, taking a seat at the desk to the right of them, a laptop to her right and a TV set up ready to mirror whatever was on it. "I want to show you something that was sent to the Rosewood police department by an anonymous source. The family has permitted me to show it to the four of you." She explained, turning the Tv on and clicking on the laptop until Alison Dilaurentis presented herself on the screen. Her infamous yellow top and blonde hair at the kissing rock.
She was twirling her hair and using all of her usual tricks on whoever was behind the camera. She spoke about getting back before the girls woke up and about how they weren't mature enough to know she was seeing whoever it was. The girls all shared disgruntled looks upon hearing her voice. It was haunting. According to her on the video 'They would freak', she had giggled, wrapping the green cardigan that was draped on her shoulders further around her.
Then the video came to an end and the woman turned back to face the five teenagers who were stiff in their seats, shaken and covered in goosebumps. "Is there anything you can tell me about what you see?" She asked them, letting them take their time, clearly understanding more than detective Wilden ever could why they might need time to process seeing their dead friend. Brooke avoided flicking through old memory cards on her camera because they were full of pictures and videos of her. Happy videos that now made her sick with anxiety.
Brooke swallowed thickly before becoming the first to speak. "They're at the kissing rock." She told the detective who turned to look at the brunette instead of scanning across the four girls, waiting to see who would talk first. "It's in the woods behind the lake. Everyone used to go there."
"I-I think this was taken the night that Alison disappeared. She was wearing that yellow top." Aria added, gesturing to the infamous frilly tank that would forever be a staple that reminded them of that horrible night.
Hanna nodded before pointing at the other addition to her outfit that none of them recognised. "But that's not her sweater," She informed the detectives who were jogging down the information the girls were telling them on their black notebooks.
"Are you sure?" The woman asked.
"Ask me what's in each one of our closets and I'll give you an itemised list. I know clothes." The blonde assured and the woman nodded, finishing writing it down.
"I think she's talking to the older boy," Spencer interjected, it was strange how little information they knew about their friend, because when the detective pried for more information, asking if he was a potential boyfriend or went to their school, none of them could answer. All they could tell her was that Alison said it was a secret.
The woman raised an eyebrow at Spencer when she said it, "Huh. Alison liked secrets Huh?"
Brooke was fiddling with her jumper sleeves when she replied, "On the last night we were with her, she told us that sharing secrets keeps us close." That was one of the biggest lies the blonde had told them, they knew that now but still they kept secrets. But unlike Alison Dilaurentis, they did it to protect each other, they did it because some things they knew would tear them apart and they didn't want that to happen.
"Maybe...but secrets are made to be found out with time." The FBI detective pointed out, putting the girls on edge. If the police and each other knew everything that each of them knew themselves, it would change everything.
✧
BROOKE FOUND HERSELF ONCE AGAIN in Mike Montgomerys bedroom, only this time she didn't have to scale the walls. Since Aria was off god knows where and his dad was at Hollis College, the boy had the house to himself. And after he had interrogated her about the FBI interrogation, remaining persistent until she assured him she was completely fine and he believed her, she had settled down into the middle of his bed, watching as he moved around her.
"Does that even fit you anymore?" She asked with an amused laugh, holding up a blue jumper that she used to sleep in, up to him after finding it on his bedroom floor. It was an old sports jumper that was at least four years old. She was sure it would fit her like a regular sweatshirt now and doubted it would fit him at all.
Shaking his head at the brunette sat cross legged in the middle of his bed while he cleaned up the mess of the week around her. "No, I found it in a box from when I moved. It's yours if you want it." He explained, leaving out the part where it was a box of stuff that reminded him of her and that he had left it in storage when he moved and secretly hoping that she would take the sweatshirt.
"I'll trade it for the one you gave me the other day." She said, folding it and dropping it in her lap. She loved the stupid sports jumper, just how she loved the stupid boy.
He fell silent after telling her to keep them both and Brooke could tell something was off. "What's up with you? You're being all broody—"
"I don't brood."
Brooke laughed and moved so she was lay against his head board. "Yes, you do. What's up?" She pressed, watching as he tried to not seem irritated now she had noticed.
The boy sighed, heavily dropping the last hanger onto the rail in the closet before taking a seat at his desk. Brooke frowned at the action, wondering why he was so distant. "What was all that in cafeteria today, with your brother and Noel?" He asked, leaning back and fiddling with the ball that he had found at his feet.
A sigh left Brooke's lips, "Nothing, Mason was just being an idiot." She assured him, sitting up straighter now that he was looking at her pointedly and slouching when his head dropped to stare in his lap. "Mike, i'm serious. Aria was just joking about Noel and I can't exactly tell her to stop because i'm dating her brother." She insisted, fiddling with the jumper that now sat in her lap, pulling at the loose strings that were poking from the seams.
"I know that, but—"
Brooke shook her head, "But nothing." She said quickly, moving the blue jumper off her lap and moving over to him so she was sat on the edge of his bed facing him in his desk chair. "If me pretending that something is going on between me and Noel means I can still see you without your sister catching on then i'm going to do it. I don't want to lose my best friend, Mike." She tried to explain.
He looked up somewhat relieved when he met her worried stare, worried that she would lose him again. "I get it, but it's just frustrating that he can look at you and talk to you and flirt with you and make everyone seem like you're this couple while I have to sit and watch but can't do anything when all I want to do is have you all to myself." Brooke couldn't help but let a grin pull on her lips at his jealousy, at how much he cared.
He rolled his eyes at the grin on her face, standing up and pushing into her. She burst into a fit of laughter as he dug his hands into her sides, trying to lighten the mood he had created because he was jealous. When he stopped making her squirm and she stopped laughing, they looked at one another amidst the quiet and he pressed a gentle kiss to the brunettes lips. Nobody ever usually got to see the soft side of Brooke, especially before, but even now she was still guarded.
"You are so beautiful." He breathed out, moving the hair that had drifted onto her face behind her ear, enjoying the blush that flushed her cheeks. She didn't know how to handle her emotions very well and he knew that, so when the reply he got was a mumble of, "Shut up." Before kissing him again, he was satisfied.
✧
THE BENTLEY GIRL GROANED AS SHE dropped the mass amounts of camping gear she was holding onto Spencer's kitchen counter, some what distracting Ian and Melissa from the argument they were having in Spencer's living room doorway. Apparently she was declining another of his many requests for a coffee date.
The sight of Ian made the brunette nauseous and she had to refrain from telling Melissa to kick him to the curb because he was too good for even her. But before she had the chance to slam the door in his face as hard as possible, Spencer some how managed to persuade Melissa to go and thus with both of them out of the house, they could discuss what they really needed to.
That discussion was also put on hold when Spencer turned on the TV and they all heard the latest breaking news. It had been Toby's sweater that Alison had been wearing the night she died, it was Toby's sweatshirt that they had found traces of her blood on, it was Toby who now had an official warrant out for his arrest.
It was that news that made Brooke wish that she hadn't been so close to Alison. She wished that she didn't know what really happened between Toby and Alison that night because otherwise she wouldn't be completely riddled with guilt. It had been them to point the FBI in the direction of the green sweatshirt in the video of Alison and even tho Brooke didn't know that it would lead to Toby, she still felt guilty.
And now, Hanna had been banished from Mona's birthday party because A had told her that the blonde had liposuction and that was how she had gotten skinny and she hadn't told Mona. And Mona being Mona saw it as a sign of betrayal and had ended their friendship. So now they were being forced to face the Mona Monster without the help of their best friend (the only reason they had been invited in the first place)
All was going down hill and fast.
✧
AFTER MASON HELPED THE BRUNETTE load her car with all of her camping gear, He climbed into the front seat with her in the passenger seat and they set off to the camp grounds. The only reason Brooke was going was because of the cryptic A message that they had got in regards to the party and the only reason Mason was driving was because she couldn't.
But it turned out that the universe didn't want her to go to the party either. They were more than half way down the freeway when the car started to jitter and the pair shared an apprehensive look before pulling to the lay-by.
"That's weird." Mason mumbled, bent down beside the car while Brooke leant against the passenger door, watching as he inspected the tire he was knelt before, his jeans getting scratched against the gritty concrete. "The cap on the air valves been snapped." He explained in complete confusion, bending the black nub back to see that it looked like it had been sliced.
"What?" Brooke frowned, bending down beside him to see that he was right. The jagged lines on the plastic seemed like it had been cut with some sort of knife. "Do you want me to grab the tire from the back?" She asked and he nodded absentmindedly, still completely emerged in the broken cap.
She lifted the trunk up and released the tire from the hold, struggling but determined to get it out none the less. And when she did, it landed with a thud and a small bounce on the tarmac before rolling it round to him while he grabbed the rest of the tools from under his drivers seat.
Three hours and a lot of youtube videos later, they had figured it out and the tire was fitted. They were about to turn around and go home when Brooke's phone pinged.
I know who A is
—Han
Mason dropped the Brunette off in the car park and quickly said goodbye. She insisted that he should go because sooner or later they would find out who A was once and for all and if he was there then it would mean a lot of explaining. She left her camping stuff in the car, planning on sleeping in Spencer's car instead of camping after the evening she had and when she saw Hanna, she had hope for the first time in months.
Once she was sure he had left, she rushed up through the car park in search of her friends, following their voices that were already calling out for their other friend.
"Brooke is that you?" Spencer called upon spotting the brunette close to where they had just discovered the blonde.
But then it all happened so fast.
"Hanna look!"
"Watch out!"
The car came speeding through their group headed straight for the blonde. Brooke spotted it only seconds before the others and ran to her friend to push her out the way. She was unsuccessful in both instances.
Brooke went over the car and Hanna under it, the pair landing with a thud in the floor only one was conscious and the other far from it. "Oh my god! B, are you okay?" Aria was the first to ask rushing for the girl who was still conscious but holding her arm in her hands and her head on her knees, a ball on the dirty floor.
"Fine." She groaned out, but she couldn't look at the brunette above her without showing the pain she was truly in. But Hanna was unconscious and that was more important.
A deemed that the perfect time to reveal that they had in fact been behind the hit and run, via a message on both of their phones.
"She knew
too much
—A"
"Two bitches with
one Car. Lucky me
—A"
✧