The girls were over at Emily's house, folding leaflets for the fashion show. Emily's Mom, made snacks for them. Ivy was eating apple slices. "Why would 'A' show us that part of the video?"
"To keep us distracted for when the next attack is launched." Hanna said.
"Or to tell us there's more to what happened that night." Ivy cut in.
"Guys, Ian tried to kill me in the bell tower to get back his perverted videos, and he went after Ali for the same reason."
"Yeah, but 'A' had us convinced that Ian killed Alison, and now it's what, two miles from the kissing rock to Ali's house. Did she turn off the camera and walk home in the dark, alone?"
"Yeah, someone could've been waiting for her and surprised her when she got home."
"Like who?"
"Like Ian. Just because he didn't kill Alison at the kissing rock doesn't mean that he didn't do it an hour later." Spencer was so sure that it was Ian, it was honestly making Ivy bored.
"If Ian didn't kill Ali, did 'A'?" Hanna speculated. The girls sat, not saying anything for a moment, letting it sink in.
"So, did you invite Ezra to the show?" Hanna asked Aria. "No, he's out of town presenting a paper at a conference. Did you invite Caleb?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you kissed him." Spencer said. Hanna's head snapped to Ivy. "You told them!"
"No." Ivy mumbled, taking a bite of apple. Hanna threw a pillow at her, making her fall off Emily's bed. "Ow."
"How was it?" Emily asked Hanna.
"Well, I wore the total wrong gloss. You know the kind that looks wet, but it's really sticky."
"Oof, the wads of hair get stuck to your mouth."
"It's all fun and sexy till somebody hacks up a hairball." Aria concluded. "Hey, could we please keep folding? I needed these done yesterday and I've already missed a million committee meetings."
"Hey, Chuck me down some leaflets." Ivy spoke from still on the floor. Ivy's back was lying on the floor and her legs against the bed. Spencer threw some down on the floor next to her.
"Do you realise that we finally all have boyfriends/girlfriends at the same time?"
"Ok, I do not have a boyfriend!"
"I don't." Ivy raised her hand.
"Yeah, you do. You just don't want to admit it." Aria said to Hanna.
"And you." Aria pointed at the girl on the floor. "You have a man who is so in-love with you, and you melt, every time you see him." The rest of the girls nodded in agreement.
Ivy lifted her head up to look at them. "Psh, he's not in love with me." Ivy paused, sitting up and leaning back on her hands. "And I don't melt." She paused and looked at Aria."I thought we were meant to stick together, you know, we both like older guys." Ivy sighed.
Ivy's eyes widened. "I don't like him." Ivy denied.
"Hmm, whatever you say." Emily teased.
○ ○ ○
Ivy and Hanna walked into the house to hear laughter. They walked into the kitchen to see Tom and Ashley making martinis.
"Hey Hanna, Ivy."
"Hey girls." Ashley smiled.
"Hey. What's going on?" Hanna asked. "Well, your father and I are cooking up a little farewell fling. Mind setting the table?"
Ivy moved to go get glasses and cutlery. "Are you still leaving in the morning?" Hanna wondered.
"Yeah. Thought it'd be nice to have one last dinner, just the four of us." Ivy rolled her eyes at his words.
"So, what's for dessert?" Hanna paused. "Or are you saving that for your new family?"
"Ooh, burn." Ivy mumbled.
Dinner was awkward, to say the least. Ivy mostly sat, not saying a word. Tom could tell Ivy despised him and kept trying to start a conversation with her, Ivy tried to reply with one word answers.
When they were all done Ivy got up immediately, taking their plates over and heading upstairs. She already felt like an intruder, she wasn't really part of their family, she was only there because her parents didn't want her. Ivy really liked Tom, thought of him as her father, until he left.
○ ○ ○
Ivy was sat looking out the window, drinking coffee, people watching. Her phone suddenly beeped. Ivy groaned and stood up from her comfortable position.
She walked over to her desk and picked up her phone. She read it for a moment before running to Hanna's room. "Did you get the email from Ali's Mom?" She asked frantically.
"No?" Hanna said. "Check your phone." Hanna picked up her phone and stared at the screen.
"Why does Mrs DiLaurentis want to have lunch with us." Hanna questioned. "I don't know, your guess is as good as mine."
Ivy's phone rang from her hand. She turned it over.
INCOMING CALL
Spencer
"Oh, it's just Spencer." Hanna nodded.
"Hello?" She answered. "Did you get an email from Mrs DiLaurentis?"
"Yeah, Hanna and I both did, did you?"
"Yeah, so did Aria." Ivy covered her hand over the phone. "Hanna, phone Emily, ask if she got an email." Hanna did just that.
○ ○ ○
The girls were now sitting at a table in the grille with Mrs DiLaurentis. Ivy was sitting next to Hanna. "Well, they've made some nice changes to the menu, haven't they. Hanna, what are you going to order?" Mrs DiLaurentis wondered.
"Um, Chinese chicken salad." Hanna answered. "Alison's favourite."
The girls gave each other awkward looks, not knowing what to say. "You must be really happy that Jason's moved back." Spencer started.
"Happy? I don't even think of that as our house anymore."
"Actually, we all thought Jason moving back was, kinda odd." Emily spoke up.
"Jason came into family money, and it's his choice what to do with it, he definitely marches to his own drummer." She smiled. Ivy started playing with her straw, not looking at her. "Both my kids do. Did." She corrected.
The girls looked at each other awkwardly.
"You know what? I was going to wait until after lunch, but.." she got up and moved to the boxes at the end of the table. "...now I'm thinking, why wait."
She handed Hanna and Ivy boxes, then the rest of the girls. Ivy smiled at her. They opened the boxes and froze. "Did Ali ever show you these?" Ivy picked up an above the knee red dress, which flowed out at the bottom, with spaghetti straps.
Ivy remembered back to when Alison was trying on the dresses. She remembered what Alison said. "All one of a kind, and all mine...just like you guys."
"She picked these out." Emily spoke. "She did. And..it's a shame that she won't get to wear them." The girls suddenly felt awkward again.
"You know, I gave so much away so fast. Ali's father thought that it would help me, but there were certain things that I just couldn't...And when heard that the five of you were doing the show, I thought wouldn't it be nice if Ali's dream could be realised, at least, by her best friends?" Mrs DiLaurentis was on the verge of tears.
"Um, I don't really know what you're asking." Spencer said. "Mrs DiLaurentis, are you asking us to wear these?" Aria wondered.
"In the fashion show?" Ivy questioned.
"Ali would've loved it. It's the five of that are keeping her memory alive." She paused looking at the girl's faces. "Please say yes." The girls smiled, agreeing.
"I won't. I can't." Hanna blurted. "Why not?"
"Because it's freaky and weird. We can't just March around in her clothes. It feels like we just buried her." Hanna argued.
"Alison never wore them." Emily replied. "Well, she tried them on. Freaky enough."
Ivy sat with her head leaning against the palm of her hand. "Hanna, it's a tribute. Some pictures of Ali, a couple of songs that she liked? You get where her mom is coming from."
"Yeah, well, she needs to go back."
"You don't need a degree to see that the woman's in pain." Spencer started. "Yeah, she ordered a second Bloody Mary for her dessert." Ivy chimed in.
"Yeah, that was her dinner."
"Well, she was sober enough to run it by the board, so we really don't have much of a choice." Ivy told.
"I'll let the student committee know. Do you want to take charge of photos?"Spencer asked Emily.
"Do we have to pass the pictures by her mom, make sure she's ok with the ones we choose?"
"Ivy could run them past Jason, anything for her to grab a lunch with him." Aria teased. Ivy flipped her off. "Uh, sure." Ivy agreed.
○ ○ ○
Ivy was sat on a bench next to Jason, outside the school, looking through photos together. Ivy stopped on a photo of the six girls standing outside Spencer's lake house.
"Where was this one taken?" Jason asked. "I'm not sure. Maybe at the Hastings lake house?" Ivy speculated.
"Cool." He nodded. "Did my mother ask you to do this?" Jason wondered.
"What? No." Ivy lied. He gave her a look. "Yeah, kind of. Why?"
"Just seems like something she would do." Ivy scrolled to the next picture, it was of Alison smiling, after getting out of a cab. "This was, um..taken the day she got back from your grandma's in Georgia. She came straight to Emily's." Ivy told him.
"Use it. She looks happy there."
"She went straight home after Emily's to get dinner and then get change clothes before Spencer's party in the barn."
"Ok." He shrugged. "I was just worried that if we used any pictures from the day she disappeared, that.." She started
"I don't think anyone but you guys will know that."
○ ○ ○
The girls were now at the fashion show. Mona was barking orders and Ivy honestly wanted to strangle her. Ivy was stood with Hanna, Aria and Emily waiting to practice walking down the runway. Spencer walked past them, obviously she had had enough of Mona.
"Do any of you guys have an extra ticket for tonight?" Hanna questioned.
"Did you change your mind about Caleb?" Aria asked. "It's for my Dad." Ivy's eyes widened.
"He's still in town?" Emily inquired. "Yep, and he's in no rush to get home to Isabel."
"What?!" Ivy almost shouted, furious that Tom was staying longer.
"What does that even mean? There's no way your Mom and Dad are getting back together." Ivy nodded, agreeing.
"Aria Montgomery!" Mona called. "Less talking, more walking." She instructed. Aria started walking the runway. "Um, are your legs always that short?"
○ ○ ○
Aria, Emily, Hanna and Ivy were touching up their make up in the dressing room. "Oh, did you figure out what's going on with your Dad yet?" Aria asked. Ivy looked over at Hanna, waiting for an answer. Ivy didn't go back home, she didn't want to face Tom, so she went back to Aria's instead.
"It's not even worth a recap. Where's your dress?" Hanna asked Emily.
"Being delivered as we speak." Emily got up, getting the dress from Samara. Samara and her friend were being touchy and they were holding hands. Ivy honestly didn't know what to say.
Emily turned back to the friends. "Did they seem a little touchy-feel to you?"
"A little." Aria replied. "How come I have no date and you have a date who brought a date?" Hanna wondered.
"You have a date. You just didn't ask him to come." Aria said.
"Yeah, well, I don't have one either." Ivy smiled at her sister, fixing her mascara. "You do too, he's just sitting out in the audience." Ivy glared at her.
Emily was sitting, staring at the item in her hand. "Em? Do you need help getting into your dress? I bet Samara's going to be here in a little bit." Ivy stated.
"I've got it." Emily got up to change. "We need some bubbly. I'm going to go hijack some champagne." Hanna stood up.
"Are you..are you sure that's a good idea?" Aria wondered. "Uh, yeah." Ivy cut in.
"I'll be right back."
Ivy was sat waiting, Aria was putting on hand cream. Ivy saw in the corner of her eye, Jason and Mrs DiLaurentis. He smiled at her, which she returned. Aria glanced between them and smirked.
Hanna came wandering back in. "I thought you were stealing champagne." Aria said. "They were out." Ivy laughed at her before turning to glance at Jason before he went out on stage with Mrs DiLaurentis.
Ivy sighed finishing of her final touches. Emily walked towards them. "You ok?" Ivy asked. "Yeah, everything's fine."
Mona came storming in. "Ok, last looks, people! Ladies, I need my first three models lined up!" Mona ordered.
The girls started helping Spencer. "I think I saw Caleb out there." Spencer informed.
"Caleb? Did you change your mind?" Ivy asked.
"I didn't ask him to come. Open." Hanna told them. "So he just showed up?"
"Looking really hot."
"Hmm, didn't notice. Blot." Hanna lied. "Hanna, he wants you back. You want him back. What's the problem?"
"We are not going to be angry at you if you give him a second chance." Hanna rolled her eyes. "You need more mascara."
"SPENCER!" Mona yelled.
"How do you not strangle her?"
The first walk Ivy did was with Mona. She wore a striped blue bikini with a beige cover up. The next, she walked down with Emily. Hanna and Mona had paired up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rosewood High student committee would like to take a moment to pay tribute to one of their own. Alison DiLaurentis."
Hanna, Aria and Ivy met up in the middle, wearing Ali's dresses and walked, holding hands down the runway. Spencer and Emily soon joined them.
The moment was soon ruined by music blasting through the speakers. "Wake up, everybody, the bitch is back!" Red lights were flashing. Words like 'Monster' and 'Bitch' were plastered on the screen.
Ivy and Aria stood frozen, still on the runway, not knowing what to do. The music stopped and Mrs DiLaurentis got up, followed by Jason.
○ ○ ○
Hanna, Emily, Aria and Ivy stood on the runway. Spencer had gone to try and phone Mrs DiLaurentis and came back over to them. "Did you speak to her?" Ivy asked.
"No...Jason picked up her cellphone. Said she was too upset to talk."
"Just when we're in the spotlight, doing something decent..."
"'A' makes the spotlight extra harsh." Ivy and Aria both saw Caleb, who looked eager to talk to Hanna. They nudged her and she walked over to talk to him.
The girls stood, silent for a moment, not knowing what to do. They felt awful for Mrs DiLaurentis. They wanted to do something for her. Hanna then came back over.
"Maybe we should just send Mrs DiLaurentis a note or something?" Aria suggested. "I don't think there's a section for 'I'm sorry you got traumatised' cards."
"Maybe flowers." A loud screeching noise made the girls look around. Ivy covered her ears. The projector flashed and said.
My Dresses
My Game
My Rules
-A
"Can we get out of here?" Emily suggested. "I'm right behind you." The girls started to move towards the exit.
"I just got to grab my stuff." Ivy told them.
She ran into the dressing room, packing her hairbrush, hairspray and makeup back into her bag.
"Did you want this back?" Ivy turned sharply round. She hadn't noticed Noel Kahn behind her. "I'd hate to leave something lying around that could get you and your friends in trouble."
"I assumed that was yours." Ivy saw Jason walking over to them. "What's that?" He wondered.
"The unplanned finale."
"Hand it over." Jason stepped forward. Once Noel had handed the disk, Jason snapped it in half.
'Damn, that was hot. Gosh Ivy shut up.' Ivy thought.
Noel walked away and Jason turned to face her. "You ok?" He asked. Ivy nodded.
○ ○ ○
Ivy set the dresses on a table. "Pretty sure your Mom doesn't want this back." Jason stood up.
"How many times do we have to put her away? It's like burying Alison all over again. Every time we start to make peace with it, someone has to go and say something ugly about her death, about her life." Ivy breathed. "When are people going to move on to gawk at the next tragedy?"
"Well, if I was a stranger, I'd be fascinated with the dark details."
"That's us. Her brother, her friends. We're the dark details." Ivy listed. She took a step forward. "Why come back? Why live in that house all by yourself?"
"Wanted to try and put the pieces together. I was looking for something."
"You still don't know who wrote that note. What if it has to do with what happened that night?"
"I have my answer." Jason replied. "Ian. I mean, what if he—" She got cut off.
"There are no ifs. Ian confessed. Look, from now on, I need to figure out how to be happy, and...I'd like to do that here." He smiled at her, she smiled back.
"Do you need a ride home?" Jason asked. "Uh, yeah, please." She smiled. "I'm pretty sure Hanna left already, so, yeah." He nodded.
They gathered their stuff and headed out to Jason's car. He opened the car door for her and she thanked him.
When they arrived back at her house. Ivy spoke. "Thanks for the ride."
"Anytime." She leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Give your Mom a hug for me and let me know if I can do anything." She smiled picking up her stuff.
"I will." She got out the car and walked to the front door. Ivy waved, then opened the door. Jason drove off after the door was closed.
Ivy walked upstairs, into her room, she got changed and climbed into bed. She immediately fell asleep.