THE FLASHING LIGHTS OF THE ambulance flooded the car park the girls remained stagnant in. Their eyes wide and scared like deer caught in headlights, literally in the case of Hanna and Brooke. While paramedics rushed around the blonde who lay unconscious on the gravelled ground, Brooke scrambled back to her feet, fighting back the urge to cry and sob from the pain that was escalating in her arm and head too.
Going over the car had put her in a much better position than it had Hanna, but it didn't stop her head from bouncing off the asphalt nor the bonnet of the car that sped past them so quickly they didn't get the chance to see the driver.
While Emily was encapsulated watching Hanna get wheeled into the ambulance, Spencer and Aria were looking at their other friend with great amounts of concern. She was so numb that she couldn't even feel the trickle of blood that was making its way down the side of her head, smudging into her hairline, just above the cut she had received the week previous, nor the very evident scrape just below it on her cheek bone.
"B, they should really check you out too." Aria told her, going to rest a hand on her left arm, to only retract it before she touched her, reminding herself that she was cradling that arm when she hit the ground, it was clearly hurt.
Spencer nodded beside her, looking around for a stray officer to check out her other friend. "It could be broken." She agreed, nodding towards the arm that was clutched to her chest, a scraped up hand cupping it delicately.
The brunette didn't look away from the flashing lights, reflecting in her teary eyes as they spoke, shaking her head none the less. "I will, just after we know Hanna's okay." She told the pair, although while that may have been her plan originally, it lasted merely seconds because while Aria and Spencer had been persuading the girl, Emily had flagged down another attendant and he was now ushering the Bentley girl over to another ambulance, placing her on the step at the end of it as he littered her with an abundance of questions that were met with half attentive mumbles that he managed to make out.
And before she knew it, she was being lay down on one of the ambulance beds along side her friend, with an attendant stood over her, telling her to try and stay awake if she felt tired because they weren't sure if she had a concussion. Brooke was far from tired, she didn't think she would be able to sleep if she tried. Although she did wish that she could just cuddle under her bedsheets and wash away the pounding in her head, the shooting pains in her arm and the pictures behind her eyes.
The ride to the hospital was shorter than expected, perhaps because the trip to the camp ground had been so chaotic, what with the deflated tire. Brooke had only ever been in the emergency room twice in her whole life. The first time was when she was nine and had eaten a poisonous berry off a tree in the school play ground. Her mother insisted she would be fine, but Luke had been so worried about his little girl that he ignored her and pulled both her and Mason from school to take her to the hospital. He had gotten her ice cream afted for being so brave. The second time was when she had been with Jason a few years ago.
This time she wouldn't be getting ice cream afterwards, or flowers to make up for what happened. She would be left with an impending feeling of doom and worry as she waited for what would happen next.
They took her into a hospital room at the back and cleaned up the cut on her head, assuring her that she was lucky to have gotten away with only two what she called 'minor injuries', as if Brooke didn't already know that. In the end she was left with a row of five stitches in her head and a cast over her arm. And two hours later, Mason was discharging her.
"God, I knew I should have stayed." He shook his head, more upset that she had gotten hurt than she was. "I can't believe it, I can't believe they didn't stop. I'm supposed to be looking after you, making sure stuff like this doesn't happen. I don't even know what I would have done if—"
"It's just some stitches, Mase. I'm okay, I promise." She tried to assure the boy who incessantly shook his head, stopping her in the hallway, just as they were about to enter the waiting room where Brooke hoped to find her friends and some news regarding Hanna.
He grabbed her not broken arm and gently turned her to face him. "It's not just some stitches, Brooke. You were hit by a car, you risked getting seriously hurt and I need you to sometimes put yourself first. You're lucky you got away with just a few stitches and a fracture in your wrist!"
"I know that, Mason! I mean, look at Hanna right now, oh wait...you can't. Because she hasn't woken up. And if I hadn't pushed her out of the way, then the car would have completely gone over her and this could be a far worse situation!" She shouted back, a flood of tears and emotions cascading out of her. She understood that he cared about her, she didn't even know what she would be doing if the roles were reversed in this situation, probably going crazy too.
Her voice trailed off at the end, turning to look towards the waiting room where the rest of the girls stood, awkwardly watching the siblings argue while they waited for news on Hanna. And then Mrs Marin walked out and all of their gaze fell on her. "Please, we can go home after, I just—"
"Go." He sighed, gesturing in the direction of the woman, sitting down on one of the chairs on the other side of the room, bouncing his knee up and down, his mind still plagued with thoughts of what could have happened.
"Is she going to be okay?" Aria asked immediately once the woman was close enough to discuss the state of her daughter with them.
Before the Marin woman had the chance to answer, she had pulled the brunette Bentley into a bone crushing hug which Brooke make sure to keep her arm out the way of before it got trapped between them. Once she let go, Brooke could see the glossiness of her irises.
"Thank you." She breathed out, talking again before the brunette even had the chance to assure her that she didn't really do anything, the blonde had still been hit after all. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" She asked, looking at the cast and scratches that the girl has sustained.
The brunette nodded, "Just worried about Hanna. Is she okay?" She asked, brushing off the cast and concussion that were quickly wearing her down. Her painkillers were kicking in quickly and she was in desperate need of her bed.
"She has a broken leg and ankle, but the paramedics said it could have been a lot worse if you hadn't intervened." She explained, relieving some of the weight and worry that sat like a lead brick on Brooke's lungs. "What happened?"
Spencer's voice shook as she spoke, "Hanna was coming across from the parking lot and this—this car just came out of nowhere. Brooke managed to get to her before it hit her head on." She explained while their friends mom nodded.
"Well, the police found the car. They said it was stolen from the campground." The woman then informed them. If only she knew everything that had happened, then this wouldn't seem like such an accident after all.
"Did they catch the driver?"
"No. Not yet."
That was the last thing they wanted to hear, their first question after whether the girl was okay. Because if they caught the person behind the wheel, they very well could have found A too. But fate was never on their side.
Spencer rolled her eyes unhappily, looking at the wall to stop the emotion in her eyes from showing itself. She was sure Ashley was much more distraught than her. "Well, the cops should be looking for Toby Cavanaugh," She grumbled bitterly, wrapping her arms around her waist stiffly.
Brooke bit her tongue once again, "It wasn't Toby. The police picked him up last night." Ashley told them quickly. The Bentley girl couldn't decide if that was good or not. She was relieved that they somewhat had confirmation that he wasn't their cyberstalker, but the police had still arrested him for Alison's murder. Even though she was almost certain he didn't do anything. She was almost certain that she had been the second to last person to see the blonde alive. The last being whoever killed her.
BROOKE'S HEAD POUNDED AS MASON shuffled her into her room and into bed. After grabbing her pain meds from the front desk and driving her home in their car while she dozed off in the passenger seat, he had insisted that she wasn't allowed to leave his sight ever again, every time she did, she ended up hurt in more ways than one. And this time she had gone one step further and ended up with a forest green cast clad on her arm and a burning concussion that hurt more than the scratches that littered her cheek. And to top it off, she was freezing since the hospital had cut off her sweater to examine her arm.
"Seriously, calm down." The brunette groaned at her brother who had gone into big brother mode as soon as they crossed the threshold, since neither of her parents were particularly bothered enough to do so—and neither of them was there to do so. Their mother's conference in New York had ran over by three days and her dad was god knows where after he had moved out. She didn't even know where he lived since her mother wouldn't utter a word to either of her children so they could see him.
Mason scoffed, pulling back her bed sheets so she could shuffle into them, "Seriously, no." He told her bluntly, allowing a smile to pull on his lips when she laughed at him. "Move over." He huffed, trying to sit on the side of her bed but the girl had climbed straight into the middle. With a groan of annoyance she did so and shuffled over to the side by the window while Mason joined her on the side closest to the door, TV remote in hand. "What do you want to watch?" He asked, kicking his feet up on the bed, rolling his eyes when she groaned about his shoes on her comforter.
The girl then hummed as she thought about it, "Ten things I hate about you." She answered to which it was his turn to groan. He had lost count of how many times he had watched that film—more likely how many time she had forced him to watch it. But none the less he very reluctantly put it on, it was her all time favourite movie after all.
Reaching over he grabbed her two painkillers from her doctors off the side, along with the glass of water he had poured before following her up, and the closest jumper he could find (the blue one Mike had given her a while previous), placing them into her hands and watching intently as she took the tablets, not turning away until he was sure she had done and once she had he placed the glass of water back on her side, he laughed as she grinned, pulling on the jumper.
"Right, i'm going to go to bed," He hummed after a little while, kissing his little sisters head, but not closing the door without a warning to be more careful, hoping she couldn't get herself more hurt than she already was while he went to sleep.
The brunette rolled her eyes but grinned at her brother as he left and closed the door. She sighed and nestled further into her sheets, watching Kat Stratford dance on a table.
It reminded her of the parties that Alison dragged her too.
2008
The music blared out of the open windows of the college house as the two girls approached it, clad in mini dresses and skirts that barely reached their mid thigh. They latched onto one another's arm as they entered, giggling with excitement.
They flashed their IDs to the bouncer at the door who nodded letting them into the sweaty party that was already raging inside, people chugging drinks, shouting, dancing on tables. Tucking her ID back into her phone case, Brooke followed after Alison over to the drinks table, they both grabbed a cup of whatever there was and drank it quickly, determined for it to go straight to their heads.
Two fourteen year olds getting drunk in a room full
of college students. The brunette of the pair looked around suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. Her and Mike were still on the outs after their argument about Noel of all people but for some reason she still felt incredibly guilty for being there. But she tried not to show that, mostly because Alison would make more than one back handed comment about it.
Soon enough the two girls had split off, Alison had disappeared upstairs, presumably to find Ian although Brooke had no idea why she even tried anything with him. She didn't see the appeal.
But while Alison had her eye on him, Brooke's caught somebody else's. That of Jason Dilaurentis from across the room. He was talking to a group of football players with matching jerseys and was leant against the wall behind him when he caught her eye. At first he was startled to see her there but soon after he smirked. Suddenly intrigued by the brunette girl who had appeared at the party she wasn't supposed to be at.
She smirked, taking a sip from whatever was in her cup before looking away from him. It was Alison's older brother and as much as she knew it was wrong, that she really liked Mike more than him, she couldn't help but be intrigued by the older boy. He captured her attention every time they were together and she couldn't detach herself from him.
She was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed Eric Kahn walking up to her, let alone that he was close enough to wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Why am I not surprised to see you here?" He asked once she had shot her gaze around, relaxing when they realised who it was but still feeling incredibly uncomfortable as he held her into his side. "I thought you'd be with my brother." He looked down at Brooke who shook her head, taking another sip from her drink before replying.
"Why would you think that?" She asked, turning around so that his arm wasn't around her shoulder and instead she was facing him, a little distance between the pair.
Eric shrugged, "I don't know, because he's so obviously obsessed with you?" He joked making her laugh slightly. He was only interested after all because Alison had told her to. "Or, have you finally decided to go for someone more mature and...experienced." He said the last word stepping closer to her and looking her up and down, placing his hand on her waist.
Brooke looked down, trying to hide that she was currently choking behind her cup from the last sip she had taken that just happened to coincide with him placing his hand where it currently sat. She hummed none the less, "Something like that." She muttered trying to look around for Alison. Suddenly feeling a desire to leave.
He smirked and leant forward so that his lips were against her ear. "How about we go and find a bedroom to discuss that further?" He whispered making the brunette cringe. Jason saw her disgruntled expression from where she stood and quickly excused himself from the football players when he saw Eric grab the Bentley girls wrist.
"Hey, you're here." He smiled at the brunette before turning to Eric repeating the same thing snappily, wrapping his arm around the girls shoulder, this time she leant into him. She couldn't help it but she also couldn't deny it. Pulling her closer into his side he fiddled with the hair that sat on her shoulder while he glared at Eric Kahn.
"Jason." The brunette boy acknowledged, an equally icy expression being returned. "Do you mind? I'm trying to talk to Brooke alone." He snapped.
"Yeah, I do actually." He glared at Eric, turning and pressing a kiss to Brooke's lips, one that she reciprocated before Jason turned back to Eric with a smirk.
Eric held his hands up in surrender, "She came onto me, bro." She shrugged while Brooke scoffed. "Seriously, control your girl." He added with a chuckle while Brooke glared at his furiously.
Jason rolled his eyes at the Kahn boy, "I saw what happened and that's not what it looked like." He snapped, leading Brooke away from the Kahn boy and up the stairs, looking back at him with a smirk as he did while Eric looked furious.
Brooke was on constant look out for Alison as Jason lead her to an empty bathroom up stairs. As soon as they entered it, he took a step back. "Sorry, I thought he was bothering you." He justified and Brooke smiled at him, putting her drink down on the side of the sink.
"He was." She assured him, "Thanks for that."
Jason nodded, "And sorry for this kiss, I just thought—"
"Don't be." She assured him, causing him to look up from where he was staring at his shoes. He looked surprised as he met her eye and couldn't help the grin that pull on his lips as she blushed a little under his gaze. "In fact...you should do it again." She whispered, stepping closer to him while he did the same to her.
"Should I?" He teased, placing both his hands on the girls waist and leaning in so that his lips were brushing against her ear and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
She nodded and after that it didn't take more than a second for him to attach his lips to those of his sisters best friend. He knew that it was wrong, just like most of the decisions he made in his life but even if it was wrong it felt right.
She kissed back and for that time in the bathroom at a college party, Brooke didn't think of Mike Montgomery, nor her phone that had been vibrating on the drinks table downstairs with nobody there to pick it up.
BROOKE WAS BROKEN FROM HER thoughts by a tapping on the glass of her window. Frowning, she dragged herself from her bed, the painkillers beginning to take their toll on her and make her drowsy. Lifting her non broken arm she pulled back the curtains and found the only person she wouldn't be surprised at for scaling her drainpipe to see her.
Mike Montgomery was using her windowsill as a ledge to rest himself on while he waited for her to open the window, a worried look encompassing his features. Brooke quickly unlocked her window, but struggled to push it up one handed, only finally achieving it when she got it far enough that the boy on the other side could fit his fingers underneath to pull it up the rest of the way, before ducking inside and landing on her wooden floors as gently as possible.
He wasted no time in pulling the brunette into a hug, while she once again, kept her casted arm at her side, hugging him back with one arm around his neck. "Are you okay, Aria said you and Hanna got hit by a car." He breathed out, his head buried in her shoulder.
She nodded, pulling away and smiling at him as confidently as she could (which failed significantly when accompanied by her cast) "Yeah, Han's in hospital with a broken leg but she should be okay." She sighed, running a hand through her hair and moving to sit back on her bed, while he joined her.
"Good, but what about you?" He asked, gently lifting the broken arm by her fingers that were poking out at the end.
Surprising him, the girl shrugged. "Just a fracture and a minor concussion. Nothing to worry about." She told him, brushing it off as if it was nothing. As if it didn't matter that she had been hurt too.
Raising his eyebrows, he lifted his other hand and brushed it over the covered stitches on her forehead too. "Just. I'm still going to worry about you." He scoffed, his gaze running over to the pain meds of her side. "Think it's a bit more than a minor concussion." He muttered, reading the name of the tablets and then turning back to look at her again. "You tired?" He asked, noticing the way her eyes were dropping and realising why she seemed so relaxed about what had happened.
She nodded, going to run her hand down her face, but stopping when she touched her stitched up forehead.
"Come on," He hummed, standing up and walking over to the head of her bed, gesturing for her to climb in while he closed her window and curtains and flicking off his shoes before turning back to face the brunette who was curled into a ball on one side of the bed, leaving the other free.
Smiling slightly, he tossed his jacket over the back of her chair and climbed in beside her, throwing the covers over the pair, humming contentedly when the brunette beside him moved so she was lay against his shoulder. "Thanks for checking on me." She breathed, her eyes closed while his were watching what he knew was her favourite film play across the television.
"Always will." He sighed in response, fingers running through her hair, his other hand running circles over the exposed skin on her hand that wasn't covered by cast.
This night he didn't have to worry about his dad or sister walking in, granted there was still Mason, but something told him that the girls older brother was difficult to fool when it came to his little sister. He had no doubt he already knew about their past relationship and he hoped that he would be the only boy he would expect to find in Brooke's bed.
BROOKE, FOR SOME REASON THAT WAS probably because they never got to do it, was surprised when she woke up with her head pressed into Mikes side, the boy was still sleeping soundly beside her, one of his arms holding her in his sleep none the less. She did not want to get up.
This had been the first time in almost two years that the boy had stayed the night and she had woken up beside him. She had never felt comfort like it and had planned on closing her eyes and going back to sleep, planned on prolonging the moment for as long as she possibly could, hoping that his family wouldn't be looking for him, she had planned on living in a moment of peace, in an A free moment.
But then her phone pinged and reality soon crashed down, straight in between the moment. With a groan that came out muffled into his shoulder, she reached over the boy as gently as possible with her broken arm to grab her phone off the bedside table.
'Hanna's awake and
wants to see you'
-Ashley
What had first been annoyance over having to get up, suddenly made her chest lurch. Because Hanna still knew who A was and Brooke had been itching to find out since the first message was planted on her phone. Last night had momentarily distracted her, getting hit by a car proved to be a significant distraction for them all, which she was sure their cyber stalker had wanted.
Quickly but still reluctantly, Brooke pulled back the quilt on her side of her bed and climbed out, grabbing a pair of jogging bottoms and pulling them on instead of the shorts she had slept in, shoving her hair up and out of her face without brushing it before grabbing her shoes too.
She grabbed her phone and walked back over to her bed where Mike was still fast off, now rolled over so his back was to her. "Mike." She hummed, placing her hand on his jumper covered arm. He stirred slightly and replied with a hum of acknowledgement, blinking a few times before rolling over to face her.
"Are you okay?" He asked, placing a hand over the one on his arm. He felt the same way Brooke had when she woke up, comfortable, calm and content.
"Hanna's awake, so i'm going to the hospital to see her." She explained, bent down beside the bed so that she wasn't towering over him. "And I don't know if your dads going to be looking for you." She added, chuckling when he checked the time and his eyes widened slightly, almost certain that if he turned his phone on his dad would have called him at least four times.
"Yeah, okay." He nodded, sitting up and stretching, although wishing they could have remained in bed longer and not just because hers was much comfier than his. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked, running his thumb over her scratched up cheek, feeling the roughness against his thumb.
She nodded, pulling a smile on her face that was weak, simply because she still felt heavy on her feet because of her concussion. "Yeah—"
"Brooke." He warned upon seeing the lie clear as day on her face.
"I am, really. I'm just going to go see Hanna and then spend the rest of the day in bed, I promise." She assured him, hoping that he would be less worried if he knew she wasn't going to be out all day, she wasn't supposed to be out of bed at all according to the hospital but finding out who A was, was much more important.
Mike nodded reluctantly, leaning down and pressing a short kiss to her lips. "Text me when you're back safe, yeah?" He asked as she grabbed her phone, feeling another wave of relief when she nodded, and kissed him again before leaving.
"DOES IT HURT?" EMILY ASKED THE
blonde in the hospital bed awkwardly, her gaze running up and down the big white cast that was lay on top of the covers on the bed.
Hanna frowned, not wanting to look at the new accessory on her leg. "Yeah, kind of." She hummed, lying her head back against the pillows with a hand pressed against it, Brooke wasn't the only one in the room with a raging headache.
"Do you remember what happened?" Spencer asked with an eye full of sympathy and curiosity. Hannah had gotten well equipped with those looks recently. The doctors had them, her friends had them, even her mom had them.
Hanna looked awkwardly at her mom who was perched in the end of the bed beside her daughter. "Uh, yeah, I remember." She nodded, looking pointedly at them all as if to say she remembered what they all wanted to know. "Um, Mom, you've been here the whole time. Do you wanna take a break?" The blonde turned to her mother while the group patiently waited for a moment alone so that Hannah could spill everything she had seen.
Ashley looked unsure at her daughter, despite knowing that her friends would profusely be at her side. "Are you sure?" She asked worried, unlike her daughter, she couldn't tear her eyes away from that white cast on her leg.
Hanna nodded reassuringly, "I'll be back in a couple of hours." Ashley smiled after a few moments of contemplation, standing up from the end of the blonde's bed and smiling at the other four girls as she made her way to the door, squeezing Brooke's non broken arm on her way out, the door closing behind her and as soon as it did, they all turned immediately back to the girl in the hospital bed.
Except Aria who had her eyes narrowed on Brooke. "Have I seen you in that jumper before?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, trying to place where she had seen the item of clothing that had caught her eyes almost as soon as Brooke entered the hospital room.
The Bentley girl looked down at the sweatshirt she was wearing and froze, trying not to make it obvious. "Uh, yeah, probably." She hummed, her best attempt at playing off that it was in-fact her brothers. "I used to wear it all the time." She forced out, only feeling slightly relieved when Aria nodded and the attention turned back to Hanna, just in time to catch the answer to the question Spencer had just asked the blonde in the hospital bed.
"I saw Ali, She said that we know what happened to her, all of us together." The blonde blurted out as soon as the woman left, all of the girls feeling ambushed by the sudden wave of information. Wondering how in the world Hanna had seen their dead best friend. And Brooke was wondering if she would ever be able to tell them what she really saw that night, what really happened, where she really went. And before any of them had the chance to reply, the blonde looked straight at Brooke as she began to speak, sighing to prepare herself for what she was about to say. "Noel Kahn is A." She revealed and suddenly, everyone's expressions dropped even further, their stomachs lurching. Especially Brooke.
She had grown up with Noel. They had been friends since they were two innocent children in the same kindergarten class. And he was supposedly A.
"What? Are you serious?" Aria asked, looking at the brunette beside her who was simply too stunned to speak. There was no denying that the girl cared about the Kahn boy, he was one of her best friends and he always had been.
Hanna didn't want to say it, the look on Brooke's face broke her heart and the way she had tugged the sleeves of her jumper over her hands, a blatant sign of her anxiety. "Yeah, I saw him in the woods, and he left an A message." She confirmed sadly, her blue eyes boring onto Brooke Bentley.
"You saw him leave a message?" Spencer asked with wide eyes. She hadn't been sure, but this couldn't be denied, it couldn't be argued, there was no evading blatant proof. As a Hastings she knew that better than anyone.
"He wrote something...on the back of a car," Hanna revealed and Brooke noticed not only Aria who visibly clenched her jaw and froze, but also how Hanna's piteous stare had drifted from her and to the girl beside her now.
Brooke looked between each of them and only Aria seemed especially concerned by what Hanna had just said, the other four remained confused, "What car? What did he write?" She asked for the first time, everyone now looking back at the blonde expectantly.
Only it wasn't Hanna to answer, "'I see you.'" Aria was the one mumble the words, worry evident in her voice as it shook. Frowns appeared on all of their faces as they asked her how she could possibly know that without seeing who wrote it like their friend. Aria looked down as she replied, running a hand through the ends of her hair as she spoke. "I was in the car."
Her voice was barely more than a whisper, it answered little to nothing for the girls who were still incredibly confused, perhaps more so than they had been when they first entered the hospital room. Sure, they supposedly knew who A was, though Brooke still couldn't believe that it was Noel Kahn of all people, but there were so many unanswered questions. So many that it made Brooke's head hurt more if possible, the brunette dropping down into the chair in the corner of the room and laying her head back. "Who's car was it?" She asked, her eyes closed with her hands pressed over them.
Despite all being concerned for their brunette friend in the corner of the room, the question hung in the air heavily while Aria hesitated to answer it. She didn't know how she could possible answer the question, without absolutely demolishing the image that her friends had of her, not to mention the undeniable feelings they would have about her relationship. Her relationship with a teacher. But then she briefly considered how Brooke would have felt before she outed the relationship she had with Jason two years ago. And the words just seemed to slip out. "Ezra Fitz."
Spencer's eyes grew to the size of small planets as she panned her stare across the rest of the room to see what the other girls reactions were. "Mr Fitz?" She forced out, now only looking at the Montgomery girl. Spencer wasn't the only one completely astounded, the other three girls who just found out also, mirrored her expression, although Brooke actually just lay with her eyes closed trying to take in all of the new information.
The swimmer of the group turned to Hanna for confirmation, all of them somewhat hoping that this was some sick joke, and that Aria wasn't more than likely being groomed by a much older guy. "It was Mr Fitz." The blonde confirmed, yet again another wave of anxiety washed over the room.
The group inevitable broke into a flurry of questions, most of which Aria had been expecting. They were concerned more than anything, given how inappropriate the situation was, anyone would be. "I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell anyone. I promised Ezra." Aria panicked, throwing her hands up in the air amidst her stress while she paced the floor and tried not to catch any of the girls gazes, in case any looked as if they were ones of disappointment.
"You and a teacher?" Brooke asked completely astounded, "How did you not tell anyone? Aria he's a grown man, you're a teenager." She breathed out, more worried than she was irritated that she hadn't told them. Because she hadn't told about Jason either, but that was arguably better than Aria Montgomery and a teacher.
Aria narrowed her eyes as she turned to look at the brunette in the chair behind her, crossing her arms over her chest and scoffing. "As if you're in any position to judge someone for an inappropriate relationship? You were fourteen when Jason was nineteen!" She shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the Bentley girl as she slouched in her seat.
The brunette glared back in reply, sitting up. "Sorry, are you actually comparing me and Alison's older brother to you and a teacher, right now?" She shouted back, baffled that she would even consider the pair to be the same level of appropriateness.
Hanna broke up the inevitable argument that was breaking out as she spoke from the hospital bed between them all. "So you've been seeing a teacher since labour day?" She asked, looking at the brunette who nodded before she turned to Brooke, feeling guilty as she came to the realisation, "And I set you up with A." She breathed out, wishing that she had listened to her friend the first time when she said she wasn't interested in the date and glad that they had snatched her away from the boy mid homecoming.
"Han, you didn't know, none of us did." Brooke assured her, standing up from her chair and walking over to the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently, ignoring the pointed stare from Aria that was glaring holes into the side of her head.
"Why did you get in his car last night?" Spencer asked, circling the conversation back around to Aria and Mr Fitz before another argument descended.
Looking away from where Hanna now had her head rested on Brooke's shoulder, Aria sighed and twirled her hair again. "Well, he, um, called me and...oh, don't look at me like that. " She snapped, turning to look back at Brooke unhappily again.
Groaning, Hanna lifted a hand to her head. "Ah, my head hurts just as much as my leg now. " She grumbled painfully, something Brooke could sympathise with. But when Spencer asked her what she saw exactly, she still forced out the words. They still hadn't gotten to the bottom of what truly happened. "Well, I saw Aria go into a parked car...and then I saw someone in a black hoodie...write something on the back of the car window. And when he turned around...it was Noel. " She affirmed. It didn't make Brooke's stomach lurch any less hearing it for the second time. If anything it felt worse. It confirmed that she hadn't imagined her saying it the first time.
She still couldn't believe it none the less. "It's not Noel." She shook her head standing up and taking a few steps away from all of them who were looking at her. It couldn't be.
Hanna looked sadly at her friend, she knew how much the girls childhood best friend meant to her. They had been close almost their whole lives, he had been there for her when she even didn't have the girls. In the year that they had fallen apart, he had been her closest ally, her fastest defender. Hanna was sorry to say it, but it was reality. "Brooke, I saw what I saw." She breathed gently.
"And he tried to kill you both for it!" Spencer whisper shouted, only earning a flurry of head shakes and mutters of 'no' from Brooke.
She wasn't sure she would even believe that Noel was the one who ran her over with a car. Her best friend would never. "None of us saw him driving the car!" The brunette stressed, grasping a thin strings to assure herself, even if she knew Hanna would never lie to her.
A knocking on the door made them all jump, they had been so consumed in what they were talking about that it surprised them all. Hanna held her temples and groaned, "If that's someone with painkillers, just let them in." She begged painfully.
As the one closest to the door, Brooke was the one obliged to open it, forcing herself from where her feet were planted on the floor and towards the door. She wished she had remained sat in her chair when she opened it, because it was the last person she expected to see on the other side.
"Noel." She spoke with surprise, loud enough that the girls in the room could hear, all of them sharing a look of panic and realisation as the door closed with a click behind their friend. Brooke should not have been the one to open that door. He would notice if she was being weird, more than he would any of the others. She was his best friend after all, he knew exactly what she was like.
He smiled widely, the classic Noel Kahn smile when it was her to have answered the door. "Hey." He breathed, a hint of relief in his tone. "I heard about you and Hanna, I figured you'd all be here." He explained, a basket in one hand and a bunch of pink roses in the other.
Unable to answer with words, Brooke offered a half smile and a nod, swallowing thickly as she looked at him, wondering whether it was physically possible for someone like Noel Kahn to do something like that. Suddenly, realising that she had been staring, she looked down at the floor and coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, she just fell asleep." She rushed out, "We were getting ready to leave." She added with a forced smile.
Noel nodded, pursing his lips. "What happened? Are you okay?" He asked, lifting his hand and swiping his thumb over the grazes on her face, just like Mike had done the night before. But this time she flinched away, it wasn't the same. And not just because he might be A.
"Don't you know?" The Bentley girl asked, backing away as discreetly as possible, her back hitting the back of the door, her hands fiddling with the handle behind her back, trying to hide that they were shaking.
The boy shrugged weakly, "I heard it was a hit-and-run." He explained vaguely, looking down at her with what looked like sympathy, but Brooke wasn't sure if she could trust him anymore. He very well could have been lying to her for months.
Narrowing her eyes slightly, she looked up at him. "Who told you that?" She asked and it almost sounded accusatory but he quickly brushed it off and she quickly changed her tone upon realising. If he really was A then he had hit her with a car the night before and she had no doubt that if she threatened him and he really was their cyberstalker he wouldn't hesitate to do anything worse.
"Sean," Noel explained bluntly, although he didn't meet her eye which she found slightly strange, given he usually took every chance to make eye contact with the brunette, usually followed by his signature smirk. "Are you sure you're both okay?"
Nodding silently again, Brooke swallowed thickly. "Yeah, I'm fine. And we hope Hanna will be too." She added, hoping that his worry was sincere, hoping that she wasn't going to lose one of her closest friends, hoping that she hadn't already.
"God, This is insane." He sighed, running a hand through his hair with the free three fingers that weren't holding the flowers in one of his hands.
Brooke nodded once again. "Yeah, you're right about that." She muttered, looking at the green cast that was moderately covered by the sleeve on Mikes blue jumper. "Well, i'll...uh—i'll give these to Hanna for you." She stumbled out awkwardly, taking the basket with a large teddy bear, some scented candles, chocolate bars and a get well soon card, followed by the flowers.
"Actually, the flowers are for you." He smirked again, giving her a glance of the Noel she hoped he was. It was followed by another stumbled thanks but was stopped by a gentle hand on her forearm before she could re enter Hanna's hospital room. Turning back to face the boy, she looked up at him, hoping he couldn't tell how nervous she was. "We need to talk." He insisted softly.
Brooke hummed. "I know." Breaking a small smile.
"You'll call me?" He asked hopefully and Brooke considered for a moment that maybe Hanna had seen wrong. That Noel really was the same kindergartener who used to paint horrifically bad yet endearing finger painting portraits of her.
"Sure, yeah." She breathed out, going to leave again, looking at the roses for a second and then double backing on herself. "Noel." She called and he also stopped in his tracks. "Where were you last night?" She asked before she considered that it might have only made this worse. Wondering if she could face it if he lied to her.
He paused and frowned, looking exploring at her curious features before replying. "Hanging with Sean, why?" He asked and the tone of his voice told her everything she needed to know. The tone of his voice that told her he was looking to know what she did.
She could have scoffed, but she didn't and shook her head instead. "Um... No, I was just wondering." She dismissed quickly. Heading straight inside the room after answering, not sparing a second look at the boy before closing the door behind her. She looked up and was met with four sets of eyes on her. "He lied to me...about being there. He said he was with Sean." She told her friends, none of them happy with the information.
It was almost certain. Noel was A.
AFTER STORMING OUT OF HER
history lesson at the hand of Mr Stein, her fifth period lesson was an icy one, one that left her in an even worse mood than she already was. As if she wasn't worrying enough about Noel possibly being A, she had now been set a five page essay, with the threat that if it wasn't handed in by third period the next day he would be putting in a request for her to drop the course.
She had rolled her eyes and snatched the paper from him before storming off, heading for the door and catching Mike who was watching her from outside the door, a smirk on his lips.
'Art classroom?'
-M
The brunette rolled her eyes playfully upon seeing the message, replying back that she would be five minutes, she just had to put her stuff in her locker. It turned out she was more than the five minutes she hoped.
Right as she was about to leave the door, empty history essay in hand, someone else's wrapped around her bicep, stopping in her in her tracks. "You didn't call." Brooke turned around and found that it was Noel who was now looking at her expectantly.
She looked down to avoid the eye that she thought she knew. Everyone says that the eyes never change, that they stay the same all through out your life, but Noel's had changed now, or her view had changed on them. They weren't endearing, or cheeky, or the Noel that she would always turn to, regardless of the situation. Because she knew something, that he didn't know she knew. "Sorry, it got late." She excused, moving back so his hand detached from her arm, glancing out into the hallway where Mike was now watching the pair curiously.
He nodded, almost sure that she was lying and wondering when the pair got to the point that they lied to each other. "Are you feeling better? What's the word on Hanna?" He asked, reaching for the cast that for once wasn't hidden under a big jumper, only because of the unusually hot day in the middle of November.
"Better, we both are." She spoke shortly, not sure what else she could say to him. Not when he might have been the one who did it to them.
Noel nodded, his smile was awkward too and they could both feel it, they could both feel the tension and they were both hiding something that was contributing to it. "That's great. Did they catch the guy that did it?" He asked, making her stomach lurch.
She wanted to narrow her eyes and tell him that she was sure she was looking at him. But in the unlikely event, the one that she wished would be reality, the one where Noel was not A, she couldn't bring herself to say the words. "Not yet." She forced out instead. "The police are talking to everyone who was there to see if...you know, anyone saw anything." She explained, a not so subtle hinting behind her words. But then it wasn't subtle anymore. Because she just needed to know. "Did you see anything?" She asked, seeing if she could plague a response from him.
Noel's exploring expression quickly dropped to one of shock, he hadn't expected her to say that. "Who told you I was at the campground?" He asked, a hint of worry in his tone.
"Hanna saw you, a bit before we got hit by the car." She explained, hoping that he wouldn't try and convince her that Hanna had been lying. That would have been the final straw. Her fingers pinched the skin on her arm, now wishing she had a jumper to pull over her hands to distract herself instead while she anxiously waited for what he would say.
The girl briefly looked back to the door again, the boy was still there waiting for her, feeling anxious himself to make sure she was okay. He could already see the red mark appearing on her arm and if Noel knew her as well as he claimed to, he would have known she was anxious and to stop her from doing it before it leaves a more noticeable mark.
"It was supposed to be a joke." He breathed out, bag falling limp on his shoulder as he leant back against the desk, his hands holding onto the sides as he sighed. "Yeah, like a movie. Bunch of girls in the woods. I went out there to give you guys a scare, too see you. But then I saw Aria walking off...so I followed her. I thought she was you. Followed her to his car." A shiver went down Brooke's spine.
Swallowing thickly she looked up at his deep blue eyes, his honest eyes. "You wrote on the window." She muttered, her anxiety easing slightly and her arm falling to her side. He wasn't A.
Noel scoffed, "Should've thrown a rock." He spoke bitterly. "I thought it was you, Brooke. I was angry." He explained, the girl feeling even more awkward now, even more worried. Noel wasn't A, But he did know about Aria and Mr Fitz.
"What did you see?"
The boy shook his head, looking down at his shoes and then at the ceiling. "Enough to figure out that it wasn't you." He assured her, grimacing at the idea. "What did he promise Aria to get in that car? I'll go to the principal with you. He can't do that to your friend." He rambled and Brooke's mouth opened and closed more times than she could count as she tried to find the words to say.
She was still undeniably disgusted by the idea of the teacher and student, but she also didn't want her friend to be ruined by a scandal that big. "Noel, please, it's not like that. I don't know what you think you—"
"—I know what I saw."
Blank. Her mind was completely blank because what could she say without outing her friend. "Please, we've been friends since kindergarten, Noel. Please just don't say anything, to anyone. Talk to Aria." She begged, pleaded. She didn't know what she could say, what Aria wanted her to say.
He shook his head and stood up from the table, "I have to go." He sighed, going to walk past her but she was quick to stop him, stepping in front of him and placing her hand on his chest to keep him still.
"Promise me, Noel. If you care about me at all, you won't say anything." He looked down at the begging brunette, at her dark caramel brown eyes and he could see how desperate she was.
He couldn't say no to her, not when she was looking at him like that. He never could and he probably never would. "Okay."
Breathing a sigh of relief, Brooke pulled out her phone as he walked out the door, frantically scrolling through her contacts.
To: Aria
'Noel knows about you
and Fitz. You need to
talk to him asap.'
RELIEF, SHE WAS ENCOMPASSED IN IT once again. She was addicted to the feeling of being with him and being near him, simply knowing that he was there. The old her was embarrassed by how much she liked him, especially when all she Alison told her she should care about was her appearance, her popularity and her status.
But this her couldn't have felt more lucky to have him if she tried. Even if they were hidden in the Art classroom down the hallway at the end of school, the lights switched off and half of the blinds closed, not hiding their actions but the people behind the door.
She was once again placed on a desk, only this time Mike wasn't frantically trying to get as much of her as he could, he was merely appreciating what he had. His finger tips gently ran over the stitches that Noel had done the same thing to earlier, only this time she leaned into him.
"And you're definitely feeling better?" He asked, acting as if he was a medical professional as he checked on all of the scratches and cuts that were still left from after the accident, only a few days later they were still fresh.
She rolled her eyes at his protectiveness but a fond smile pulled on her lips. "Yes." She insisted, gently removing his hand from where it was inspecting and moving it so that she was holding it at her side and he was leaning slightly into her. "What did you say to you're dad Sunday morning?" She asked curiously since he had snuck back home by the time she left the hospital and she had fallen asleep shortly after messaging him that she was home.
"I just said I had an early practice." she shrugged, using the free hand that Brooke wasn't holding to adjust his bag, secretly wishing that they could do this in the hallways in front of everyone.
She nodded sighing, relieved that nobody had caught onto them just yet. Her and Aria were already in a bad place, the revelation that she was also dating her twin brother would not have been a good one. "Hey, don't you have P.E, right now?" he asked suddenly, looking from the clock on the wall to his watch.
"Yeah, but I showed Coach Fulton my arm and told her that I couldn't possibly participate in todays hockey practice." She hummed, exaggerating just how she had done when getting herself out of the lesson.
Grinning, Mike nodded. "I see." He hummed, leaning forward and gently pressing a kiss to her lips, short but sweet. "I can't believe we're back here." He sighed happily, his fingers fiddling with the hem of her top as his hands rested on her hips. "I mean, I'm so glad that we are—"
"—But it's just weird." She agreed, wondering how they had come full circle after four years of being on and off and arguing and scheming, yet he still remained her source of support all throughout. He nodded, looking down at her caramel brown eyes and letting a smile pull on his lips. Brooke Bentley was his someone, who, he wasn't quite sure. But she was his and that's all that matters.
BROOKE HUFFED, RESTING BACK INTO Masons passenger seat, dropping her bag and camera onto the floor beside her feet, too nervous to pick it up incase another A message was planted inside of the memory card slot.
Since hiding the card in her jewellery box, she hadn't paid any attention to it, nor what was on it. She couldn't even bring herself to show Mason, she wasn't even sure why she kept it. It made her sick to see it whenever she went touting through it for her favourite bracelet.
"Can you sigh any harder?" He chuckled, checking over his shoulder before reversing out of the bay and then out of the car park, turning to look at her once they hit the road. "I thought you'd be more than happy, considering who I found in your bed Sunday morning." He added, watching as her eyes widened, cheeks flushed a vibrant red and she began to pull on the sleeves of her jumper. She couldn't even bring herself to spit out any words, her mouth opening and closing multiple times, yet still nothing came out.
After multiple long minutes of silence, the girl could finally turn to face her older brother. "Yeah, I—uh...we just kind of fell asleep, sorry." She muttered, quickly looking away and down into her lap as she rushed out the words.
Silence fell again and she was prepared for the lecture that was undoubtedly about to happen. But then he just chuckled and she was pleasantly surprised to see that he was smiling. "I'm not mad, or surprised." He assured the brunette who was still worriedly picking at her nails. "Just, tell him to go through the back door instead of your window next time, yeah?" He asked, with a smirk that grew even wider when Brooke glared at him.
"Whatever, just don't tell anyone, please Mase."
Authors note
The first person knows...