A whole summer had passed since Mona was revealed as 'A'. And it was quite an eventful one. During the summer, the girls went their separate ways to do things that they wanted and enjoyed, being free from everything that held them back.
Ivy had done multiple things this summer. She started a job at a bookstore in Rosewood, and she loved it. It was a very quiet bookstore, and she loved the people that worked there.
Her paintings that she created, were shown in a elaborate art gallery, where people could buy them, and take them home. Surprisingly, everyone of her paintings managed to get sold, and she managed to gain a lot of money from them.
And what she wasn't expecting: was to find a publisher to help publish the book that she would release at some point.
Her summer was very busy, and she really enjoyed it, but she didn't want it to end.
But it was, and that was why Ivy was gathered with her best friends in Spencer's house for a party of some sorts. Neither of the girls wanted to go back to school, so on their last night, they were hanging out.
They sat by the fire, drinking and chatting away.
"Em, Ivy and I are the only ones who did anything worth talking about this summer." Hanna started. "Aria took some boring picture class and Spencer went to college."
Spencer scoffed. "I took a full load at Hollis, and Aria beat out a thousands applicants for a space in that
photography class." She bragged.
Hanna ignored her, and turned to Emily, "So, how many houses did you build?"
Emily thought for a moment, then said, "Uh, I think we finished about six."
Hanna spun to the girls. "And in poor countries, one house is like a home for fifty."
Spencer chuckled, and said, "Okay, Miss Productive. How much of your list did you actually do?"
Hanna pulled out her list and analysed it. "Let's see...Cooking class with Caleb. Done. Volunteer at the Animal Shelter for pocket dogs—"
Spencer interrupted her. "Wait. That exists?"
"Did not do." Hanna crossed it out. "Expand my vocabulary. "Effectuating."" The girls glanced at each other with surprised faces. "Interned for Vera Wang."
"You got an internship for Vera Wang?" Emily questioned.
"Yeah, I changed my mind. Turns out they want you to work for free." Hanna grimaced.
Ivy chuckled at the girl.
A distant noise from outside, made Aria ask, "Was that a car?"
Hanna shook her head. "No, it's just the wind." She assured.
Emily started pouring more alcohol in her cup, but Aria stopped her.
"Oh, careful, Em, they're already pretty strong." Aria said.
Emily stopped pouring, and raised her glass. "Maybe for you, you're a pixie. I've gotten really good at this." And she placed the cup up to her mouth.
The four girls glanced at each other, all of them extremely worried for Emily.
Just then their phones went off. And they sighed, already knowing what was coming. Spencer read out the text, "Show me your boobs. 'A'."
Aria scoffed. "Does Mona have a ten-year-old brother?"
"'A' for "annoying." Emily muttered.
Ivy decided to wright a reply, reading it aloud as she typed, "Only if you show me your micropenis. 'I'"
The girls got a good laugh out of her reply, but then Hanna turned serious, "Are these ever gonna stop?" she wondered.
Spencer replied, "Eventually we'll be old news."
"Yeah, and then Garrett will go on trial and we'll be news again. Or Mona will start talking and we'll be news again." Aria listed.
Emily chimed in, "Or I'll show someone my boobs and we'll be news again." She slurred.
The girls laughed at her with wide smiles, and Spencer reached forward, taking Emily's flask from her.
Emily groaned. "Hey, I thought this was a party." And she signalled for the flask.
"You know what? You're right, Em. Welcome back." Hanna raised her cup, and the others followed.
Aria stated, "And you're never allowed to leave for an entire summer again."
Spencer raised her cup in the air. "To making it to senior year."
A few cheers came from Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Ivy, but Emily didn't bother.
She stared at her cup. "Not all of us made it." She stated, referring to Maya.
Spencer stared at her with a sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry, Em. I didn't mean it like that."
Emily nodded in understanding. And raised her cup slightly. "To Maya." And she took another sip.
Ivy placed her hand on Emily's arm in sympathy. "Em, you know that we're here for you." She reminded.
Emily gave her a small nod.
They raised their glasses a final time. "To Maya." They chorused.
After a long, drunken night, the five girls ended up passing out in Spencer's living room.
Ivy had crashed on the cold, hard floor, - and she didn't have any complaints - Spencer and Emily fell asleep on one couch, while Hanna and Aria passed out on the other.
"Ivy."
Shake.
The quiet voice interrupted her dream, but she figured it wasn't important.
"Ivy."
Shake.
Ivy sat up with a groan, about to kill whoever had woken her from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes, and looked around, finding only Hanna and Aria in the room.
"Who woke me up? And where's Spencer and Emily?" She asked.
Aria shrugged, - acting like she had no idea who woke her up - and she stood up. "We don't know." She replied, ambling over to the open door, and called out, "Emily?"
"She's gone." Spencer's voice came from the stairs.
Hanna and Ivy looked up at her. "What do you mean she's gone?"
Spencer told them, "I've looked everywhere."
Ivy looked around at her friends, - this reminded her of something - and mumbled, "Well, this sounds familiar."
Hanna dialled Emily's number, and placed it up to her ear.
"Hello?"
The girls sighed in relief.
"Emily, where are you?" Hanna asked.
There was a few moments of silence, and then Emily answered, "I think I'm at a graveyard."
The four girls gazed around at each other with wide eyes.
Ivy took the phone from Hanna's hand, and asked, "A graveyard? What are you doing there?"
"I don't know. Just please come get me." Her voice wavered.
The girls ended up finding Emily beside a grave, holding a shovel in her hand. But what stunned them, was that it was Allison's grave, and it had been dug up.
Emily slumped against a gravestone, and Hanna and Ivy moved over to comfort her - rubbing her back in a soothing manner.
Spencer and Aria were whispering frantically about the situation. And a few seconds later, asked, "Han, hand me Em's phone."
Hanna handed the phone over, and Spencer unlocked it, scrolling through it to find any evidence of whatever happened.
"Em, you got a blocked call at eleven." Spencer stated. "Who was it? Do you remember who you talked to?"
Emily was staring at the ground when she replied, "Um...I think I remember leaving your house, and the next thing I know you guys are calling me and I'm here." She explained.
Ivy drew small circles on Emily's back, for her own, and Emily's comfort.
Emily looked up at her. "I'm sorry."
Ivy shook her head. "No, it's okay. It's not your fault." She reassured, pulling Emily into a hug.
Emily wrapped her arms around her waist, and placed her head on Ivy's chest, while Ivy slowly rocked back and forward.
"What? That can't be right." Spencer mumbled, making the girls - minus Emily - look up at her.
Aria wondered, "What is it?"
"It says that at midnight she got a call from my phone." Spencer informed.
Aria stared at her, as Spencer took out her phone to check. "You were asleep, right?"
Spencer's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Somebody called Emily from my phone." She said. "Somebody was in my house. You guys, this is a set-up." Spencer alarmed them.
The sound of a branch snapping, made the girl's freak out, and scan around the graveyard. But all they could see was grey shadowed gravestones, and huge dark and hooded trees.
"What was that?"
Ivy looked around the graveyard in a panic. "This is why we never come to graveyard's at night. Something always happens to us." She muttered.
Spencer instructed, "We need to get out of here. Now."
The thunder crackled, as the girls bolted out of the spooky and creepy graveyard.
While Spencer took Emily back to her house to get changed out of her clothes, and warm up, Ivy, Hanna and Aria were out burying the shovel, to get rid of any evidence which could convict them.
Ivy dug the shovel into the dirt, and shovelled some of it out. "I can't believe we're out burying something else that could incriminate us. I thought we were done with this." she murmured.
"Yeah. If I never see another shovel again, it'll be too soon." Hanna stated.
As Ivy was about to place the shovel in the hole, Aria stopped her. "Wait. Do we wipe it off or something? Do we wipe off the prints?" She queried.
Hanna took of her jacket, and handed it to Ivy, who began wiping the shovel, as the thunder boomed around them.
"Who would do this to Emily? Who would do it to Ali?" Aria questioned.
Hanna glanced over at her. "Some twisted psycho."
Ivy dropped the shovel in the dirt, and the three began to cover it up - scooping dirt, and throwing it on top.
"The only twisted psycho we know is locked up at Radley." Aria responded.
Ivy and Hanna glanced at each other. The pair had been secretly going behind their friends, boyfriends, and Ashley's back, to go and visit Mona. It was a stupid visit, because Mona never really said anything.
"Let's get out of here."
The three ran off to the car, trying to be as quiet as possible. Ivy climbed in the back, while Aria and Hanna sat in the front, and they drove away.
They were driving through the streets of Rosewood, when Hanna skidded to a stop, and ordered them, "Duck."
Aria who had been out of it, looked over at her confused. "Really?"
Hanna grabbed her, and hit Ivy on the leg for her to move. "Get down!"
Once the initial shock of Hanna dragging them down wore off, they peeked up to see what Hanna spotted.
"It's Lucas. What is he doing out so late?" Aria wondered.
"Shh!" Hanna whispered.
Ivy scoffed. "Hanna, he can't hear us."
They watched as Lucas suspiciously looked around the dark and windy streets, got into his car, and drove off.
The trio glanced at each other. "That was weird."
When they arrived at Spencer's house, Hanna parked, and the trio got out.
Aria glanced over at Ivy, and wondered, "Is Jason home?"
Ivy shook her head. "No. He left town. I don't know when he's gonna be back for." She told.
The girls' shoes crunched against the gravel, and the wind howled into the night, as they snuck past Jason's house, and made their way into Spencer's.
The garden was creepy at night. Only one light was on in the garden - shining onto the back porch. The light kept flickering, making Ivy more freaked out than she was.
When they walked into Spencer's, Emily and Spencer had their coats on, and looked like they were about to walk out the door.
"What's going on?"
Spencer continued to scribbled down a note. "We're leaving. We're going to the lake house. When my mom reads this note, she'll think that we've been up there since this afternoon."
The trio nodded in understanding, and gathered their things.
Ivy grabbed her backpack, and a hoodie, - that she stole from Jason - and followed the girls out, and into Hanna's car.
The journey to the lake house was filled with silence. Nobody dared to speak. Nobody uttered a word on what had just happened.
When they arrived at Spencer's lake house, they all immediately crashed in the living room by the phone. They didn't want to miss any calls that the house got.
Not many of them slept that night. Emily was the only one who got a slight bit of sleep. but the rest got none - too worried about being caught guilty.
By the time the phone rang in the morning, they were all up and wide awake.
Spencer got up, and answered the phone. As they could only hear part of the conversation, they weren't sure on how it was going.
"Were there...any witnesses?" Spencer asked.
The girls held their breaths in hope.
"No, mom, I-I understand. Okay, bye." Spencer hung up the phone, and looked over at her friends. "The caretaker called it in this morning. The place is crawling with reporters, but the police don't have any leads." She stated.
Aria let out a breath. "So we're okay. Nobody saw us."
Spencer crossed her arms. "Yeah."
"I'm so sorry, guys. This is all my fault." Emily stated.
Hanna shook her head. "No one's blaming you."
"Yeah, Em. Somebody took you there to make it look like you dug up Ali's body."
Emily stared down at her hands, and said, "And I made it so easy. If I wasn't so wasted—"
Ivy cut her off. "Em. We were never there. Last night never happened."
Aria spoke up from her spot on the couch. "Are we sure about that? We can still go to the cops. We can tell them the truth." She suggested.
"We don't even know what the truth is." Hanna pointed out.
The room then filled with silence. The girls were all in their own wee world. Some were trying to figure out what to do, and the others were freaking out about getting caught.
Spencer sighed. "Okay. We got up here yesterday afternoon. We roasted some marshmallows, we talked about how much fun senior year is gonna be, and...We went to bed early." She explained their cover story.
Hanna glanced over at Emily. "Em?"
Emily nodded. "I understand. Last night never happened."
——————
Ivy was out shopping with Hanna and Ashley. Ashley was trying to keep the girls distracted from everything that had happened the previous day.
For Hanna, it was working, for Ivy, not so much.
Hanna picked up a massive diamond necklace, and showed it to Ivy, wiggling her eyebrows. It was fake, but it looked surprisingly real.
"That's cute." Ivy commented.
Hanna grinned. "Yeah, it is."
Ashley's voice made the two look over. "Hanna? You like this?" She wondered as she held up an ugly teal dress.
"Yeah, I love it... For a pregnant woman." She added. "Is there something we need to know?" Hanna wondered.
Ashley put the dress back. "I'd need to have sex to get pregnant."
Both Ivy and Hanna grimaced.
"That's disgusting."
"Ew! Mom, that's gross." Hanna stated.
Ashley turned round. "Well, since when did you two become prudes?" She questioned.
"Since you intimated that you want to have sex." Hanna fired back.
Ashley crossed her arms with an amused smile. "Hanna..."
"All right, you're allowed to date, but you're not... Open for business." Hanna practically cringed at her own words.
Ivy winced too.
"Hanna..."
"Are you starting a business, Ashley?" The sound of Veronica Hastings, made the two girls turn round to find Spencer and her mum.
Both Ivy and Hanna snickered at the awkward situation they put Ashley in.
Ashley sighed, and signalled for the pair to move. "Go. Shop."
Ivy, Hanna and Spencer moved over to go pick out some cute things.
They were looking through some shirts, when Spencer's phone rang. Still on edge, Hanna and Ivy both kept their gaze on Spencer as she lifted her phone out of her bag.
She looked at the contact, and shoved it back in her bag.
Spencer explained, "It was just Toby. I'll call him back."
"Does he like the loft?" Ivy wondered.
"Well, he comes over to shower every day because the plumbing is broken, so I really like the loft." Spencer admitted
The three girls chuckled at that.
Spencer spun to Ivy, and asked, "What about Jason? How is he?"
Ivy sighed, and flicking through the shirts to find one that fit her. "I've not heard much from him, but he's doing okay."
Spencer gave her a small nod.
Hanna then spotted two ladies pointing at them, and whispering. "We are always going to be those girls who knew Alison."
"And now Maya." Spencer added.
Hanna pulled out her phone, and shouted across the store, "Hey! You know what? I could take a picture and send it to you."
The two women flushed in the face from embarrassment, and moved on, leaving the store.
When the coast was clear, Spencer came round the racks, and told them, "Look, I keep on replaying last night in my head. There was somebody in my house. While we were sound asleep, they were right there, they were in the same room as us." She pointed out.
Hanna let out a breath, looking down at her fingers, "Just as I was starting to feel safe again."
"I just—I really want to turn my brain off. Can we like ditch our moms and go catch a movie?" Spencer suggested.
Both Hanna and Ivy shook their heads.
"We can't. We have an appointment with Dr. Sullivan." Ivy lied. "But definitely another time." She promised.
Spencer's face lit up in surprise. "Oh. You're seeing her again?"
They nodded. "Yeah. A little."
"But you...Wouldn't tell her about—"
Ivy and Hanna both replied, "No!"
"Come on, we would never do that to Emily." Ivy added.
"Yeah, but it's not just Emily. We were all there." Spencer replied.
Before their conversation could carry on, Ashley interrupted them, "Hanna, Ivy, we should get going."
The pair nodded at her. "We'll call you later."
Spencer nodded.
———————
The nurse who worked at Radley handed Hanna and Ivy their visitor passes. One which said 'Rivers', and the other said, 'DiLaurentis'. Ivy got some looks from the name, but it wasn't too bad.
"You'll need to wear it while you're on this floor. We still haven't seen any changes, but I'm sure she appreciates your visits." The nurse said, and began to lead them along the hallway.
As they got closer and closer to Mona's room, Hanna and Ivy glanced at each other in anxiousness. Ivy reached out for Hanna's hand subconsciously, gripping it tightly.
Hanna squeezed her hand three times.
I love you.
Ivy smiled softly, and squeezed back.
I love you.
The nurse opened the door of Mona's room, to find her sitting on her bed, staring at the floor.
"Your friends are here. Can you say hello?" The nurse wondered.
Once the two girls sat down in uncomfortable, squeaky chairs, the nurse left, making Ivy feel even more anxious.
Hanna was flicking through a catalog, while Ivy's gaze bounced around the room. She was trying to distract herself from talking to Mona. She was only doing this for Hanna. For Hanna.
"Birds, birds, birds. You cannot find a top this season without feathers on it." Hanna told. When Mona didn't say anything - except stare at the door - Hanna moved and sat in front of her. "Are you gonna look right through me forever?" She questioned.
Ivy closed the book she was reading. "I don't think it's ideal, sitting that close to a person who used to torture us."
She didn't come for Mona. She came for Hanna. Funnily enough, Ivy didn't hate Mona back when Alison was still around. She talked to Mona frequently, and never made fun of her. Not sticking up for Mona more, still haunted Ivy to this day.
Hanna sighed. "Look, it's not easy for us to get here, okay? We have been lying to everyone we care about for weeks, and after what happened last night, we-we need you to understand something. We are not doing this for you. We're here for us. We both want to know what we did to make you hate us so much."
When she got no reply, Hanna got off the bed, and picked up her things.
Ivy did the same, and the two walked out the door - never looking back.
They didn't make it far, when their names were called out, "Hanna? Ivy?"
Hanna and Ivy looked up to come face to face with Wren.
"Um, no. No, you must have us confused with someone else." Hanna stated, speaking loud enough for the women at the front desk to hear.
Wren looked down at their name tags, and corrected himself, "Oh, Miss Rivers, Miss DiLaurentis, I'm sorry. Your resemblance to an old friend is uncanny."
Both Ivy and Hanna gave him a nervous laugh.
Out the corner of her mouth, Ivy uttered, "We're fucked." But Wren obviously heard it, as he raised his eyebrows.
Ivy lowered her voice, and said, "Please don't tell anyone that you saw us here." She pleaded.
Wren wondered, "What are you two doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
Wren replied, "I volunteer a few days a month. Quid pro quo."
The two girls stared back at him in confusion. "What?"
"It's your turn." Wren said.
Hanna glanced back at Mona's room, then spoke, "Look, she owes me some answers. I need it to make sense."
"Sense is something rarely mined from mental illness. Trust me, I've spent a lifetime trying."
Hanna nodded. "We're starting to figure that out. I mean, I don't think we can keep coming back. It's like she doesn't even know that we're here."
——————
Ivy stood in a line, with Spencer and Aria, about to get her new timetable for the year. Aria was complaining about how her dad practically winces every time she mentions Ezra. "Even if I say his name we get sucked into this vortex of awkwardness. And my dad pretends like he can't hear, but his neck gets all red and then his face pinches up like he's constipated." Aria notified.
"So basically Ezra is like Lord Voldemort." Ivy pointed out.
Spencer pointed a finger at her. "My thoughts exactly."
The three were joined by Hanna, who greeted them, "Hey."
"Hey."
Spencer then noticed Lucas walking by, so she called on him, "Hi, Lucas."
Lucas didn't reply, and continued walking on without sparing a glance.
"He knows something."
Spencer glanced at the other three. "I thought you said he didn't see you guys."
Ivy shook her head. "He didn't."
"It's no coincidence that he turned dark after the masquerade ball." Aria noted.
Spencer crossed her arms. "Jenna has that effect on people."
Aria pointed out, "Yeah, but she's been gone all summer, and he's still Boo Radley. Have you ever noticed how many skinny brunettes go to this school?"
"She fits the costume."
Ivy glanced at her friends. "Has anybody heard from Emily?"
Hanna shook her head. "No. I left her a bunch of messages."
"Yeah, me too. I hope she's okay." Ivy agreed.
It was break time now, and Ivy was sitting outside at a table with Spencer and Hanna.
Hanna sighed, and put her phone down. "I'm really worried about Emily." She admitted.
Ivy nodded in agreement. "Me too. I just hope that she'll talk to us."
Ivy's phone, along with Spencer and Hanna's, beeped in their pockets.
Every time the girl's phones rang in unison, they always jumped. They wee gonna have to relax if they wanted to seem normal.
Thankfully, it wasn't 'A'.
Aria <3
S.O.S
the bathroom.
The three glanced at each other, and sprinted straight for the school's public restroom.
"Aria?" They called out, opening the door.
Aria was sitting on the floor, and leaning against the wall. She was hugging her legs up to her chest, and was rocking back and forth.
The three crouched down, and asked, "Aria, are you ok?"
Her breathing was quick and panicky. "I had a panic attack. Guys, I think I saw 'A'."
Spencer shook her head. "No, you didn't, ok? Mona is in a straight jacket at Radley."
Hanna and Ivy nodded, trying to keep their faces unreadable. "Yeah, I-I heard that's she's practicaly in a coma over there."
That seemed to calm some of Aria's worries, as she was able to stand to her feet.
After being helped off the floor, Aria said, "Or that girl interrupted thing could just be an act to keep her out of jail. I mean, you know what she's capable of...we all do." She cried.
"Yeah, but she can't hurt us anymore, okay? Bitch crazy." Spencer exclaimed.
Then Hanna said very seriously, "Don't worry, Aria. Someday we will all have jubilation."
Aria, Spencer and Ivy looked over at each other and laughed.
Aria pulled Hanna into a hug, while Spencer stated, "That was a really good use of that word, Han." She chuckled.
It was an extremely odd occurrence for Hanna to use a complicated word right.
After watching their friends hug for a bit, Spencer and Ivy joined in on the hug.
———————
Ivy threw her head down on the wooden counter top, and groaned. "How long do I have left?" And she glanced over at her coworker, Luca.
Luca checked his watch. "Two hours."
He was pretty new to Rosewood. He moved to Rosewood over the summer to live with his precious gran - Ivy had met her on a few occasions.
Luca had dark brown skin, with chocolate coloured eyes. His hair was buzzed short, which suited him well.
He got the job in the bookstore round about the same time that Ivy did. And from the moment they met, they became best friends.
They were constantly bantering with one another, constantly picking on each other, and consistently playing card games in the middle of the store.
Daniel's was a very quiet store. And Mr Daniel's - the owner of the store - didn't mind if the pair goofed off, it wasn't like they were getting many customers anyway.
She threw her head back down on the desk. "I'm actually gonna go fall down a ditch."
"Don't do that. Who am I gonna make fun of?" Luca questioned.
"How about Rebecca?" She suggested with a cheeky grin.
Luca scoffed. "Like I would ever go near that bitch."
As if on cue, Rebecca came strutting over to them, greeting Luca with a smirk. "Hi, Luca. Hi, Iris." Her smirk turned into a frown when she looked over at Ivy.
Ivy rolled her eyes. Rebecca always purposely used a wrong name for her. "It's—You know what, I'm not gonna bother to correct you."
Rebecca ignored her, and turned to Luca. "Hey Luca..." She tailed off, the smirk rising back on her face. When Luca nodded, she continued, "How do you feel about going to the Christmas ice ball with me?"
From over Rebecca's shoulder, Lucas watched as Ivy mouthed, "Go with her!" With a teasing grin.
Luca looked back at Rebecca, and just stared at her. He was frozen in his spot. He had no idea what to say. He wasn't good with shutting people down. That just wasn't him. And quite frankly, Rebecca scared him slightly.
Rebecca placed a hand on her hip. "So...?"
A look of panic flashed in Luca's eyes, as he looked over at Ivy. "I—uh—"
Ivy cut in, "I'm sorry, Rebecca, but he just doesn't like you like that."
Rebecca looked over at her with a glare. "You're just jealous." She stated, folding her arms.
Ivy scoffed, "Jealous? Jealous? Because of him?!" - and she pointed at the pink face of Luca. She placed her hands on the counter and glared at her. "Listen sweetheart, I have a beautiful hunk of a man already, who's better than Luca. Why would I settle for Luca, when I've got someone at home?"
Luca muttered to himself, "Ouch."
"Not everyone likes you, including myself and Luca over there." She pointed once again at Luca - who gave Rebecca a small sheepish smile.
"Just because you walk around town with your nose poking into other people's business, and your heels stomping into other people's lives, doesn't mean that everyone's gonna like you for it. Trust me, everyone's so tired of your bullshit." Ivy told her, and spun on her heel into the back, where the stock of books were.
And she began unpacking the new books from the boxes that had just been brought in.
A few minutes later, Luca came into the room, leant against the doorframe, and watched her. An amused smile was on his face. "Wow. Just wow. I'm very impressed."
She looked up from the box, and smiled. "Thanks. Just being honest."
He stood up from the doorframe, and walked over to her, helping her unpack the books. "You did great. She's gone, and I don't think she's coming back anytime soon." He said, holding his hand out for a high-five.
An accomplished grin appeared on her face, and she high-fived Luca.
Luca's face then flashed with remembrance, as he recalled what else he came through for. "Oh, and after she left, the cops came in looking for you."
Ivy almost dropped the book she was holding. She looked up at him with wide eyes. "What did they say?"
"I don't know. They just asked if you were here, and I said I would go collect you." Luca answered.
Ivy looked around the room in panic, her breathing becoming shallow.
Luca placed his hands on her shoulders to stabilise her. "I'm sure you'll be alright. They're probably just gonna ask you some questions." He assured. "Now go out there, and face your problems head on. If you looks suspicious or even say anything suspicious, they'll question you, and think you've done something."
Luca guided her through some deep inhales and exhales, and she trudged back through to the front desk.
Upon her arrival, the two cops that were standing by the door, turned their attention to her.
"What's this about?" Ivy asked, folding her arms.
One police officer replied, "We would like to take you down to the station for some questioning. Are you up for that?"
Ivy glanced between the man and the women. "What am I being questioned about?"
"Just the ongoing investigation." The women replied, giving her a reassuring nod.
She nodded, and glanced back at Luca - who was watching their interaction. "Don't burn the bookstore down while I'm gone." She teased.
Luca rolled his eyes. "I will." He replied with a teasing grin, and a wave.
Ivy followed the cops out to their car, and got in the back.
She always got nervous in these situations. Even when she didn't do anything wrong, Ivy was still terrified and anxious.
When they arrived at the station, the officers led her into an interrogation room. She took one chair, and officers sat across from her.
And they jumped right into it, "Tell me again, where were you on the night that Allison DiLaurentis' body got stolen?"
Ivy replied, "We decided to go up to Spencer's lake house. We were all back together - after having being split up over the summer - so we wanted to go somewhere that it was just us." She told. "And we just caught up. We'd all missed so much of each other's lives. We shared pictures, stories, and we relived the moments, just to tell our friends."
The women jotted down key parts of her story on a notepad, then said, "All right, you are free to go."
Ivy got out of the chair, and walked towards the door - giving the officers a small smile as she did.
——————
It was a hot summers day, and Ivy, Hanna, Spencer and Aria, were over at Spencer's house. Turns out Spencer, Aria and Hanna all got interrogated too, but neither of them had heard from Emily.
"I'll try one more time." Hanna said, dialling Emily's number.
"Why wasn't she at the police station? Do you think she told 'em the truth?" Aria wondered.
Ivy shook her head. "If she told them the truth, we would be in jail right now." She stated.
A knock at Spencer's living room door, made the four look up. They darted for the door, and Emily was on the other side.
"Em, that was me calling you. Where have you been?" Hanna asked, as Emily squeezed into the room.
Aria reassured her, "It's okay. If you told them the truth, we'll figure something out."
Emily shook her head. "No, I would never do that to you guys."
"They called all four of us into the station. Where were you? We were so worried." Spencer told her.
Emily fiddled with the strings of her earphones. "I didn't have my phone with me yesterday. And when I got home last night, the cops were waiting for me. But I told them everything that we agreed on. Everything." She said, looking like she was on the verge of tears.
"Then why are you so upset?"
Ivy led the girls over to sit down, as Emily replied, "Because if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and it could haunt us forever."
"Em, it's fine. Okay? We've dealt with it." Hanna assured her.
"I saw you guys at school yesterday, and all I could think about was because of me—"
Spencer cut in, "Because of you, nothing. Okay? Nobody saw us, and if we just stick to our story, we are in the clear."
Emily's eyes began to water, and Ivy reached over, rubbing her back soothingly. Emily said, "I remembered something...About that night." The girls sat up a little straighter - ready to analyse what she said. "I was in a car. It was dark and the person driving the car opened the skylight." She finished.
Hanna raised her eyebrows. "That's it? That's all you remember?"
Ivy threw a glare her way.
"I found out online that some people forget things because they don't want to remember. And if this is selective, then anything can trigger it...sights, smells, sounds." Emily listed off.
"So the car that you saw, it just looked like the car from that night, or it was the car?" Spencer questioned.
Emily stuttered out, "I don't know. I started to talk towards it because I wanted to look inside, but...I got a text. And the person that sent it to me knows I don't remember what happened." She pulled out her phone, and showed it to her friends.
Spencer read it out, ""I bet you remember me.""
Aria looked over at her friends, worriedly. "Guys, is it starting again?"
Hanna was quick to deny it, "No. You guys, that's not "A." Mona is "A," and she's drooling in her bed at a nut hospital."
"We don't know that for sure."
Ivy and Hanna both glanced at each other. "Yeah, we do. We've been visiting her."
"What?" Spencer, Aria and Emily stared at them in shock, their mouths agape.
Hanna explained, "We didn't tell you because we knew you'd think we're crazy."
"Yeah."
"She tried to kill you both."
Ivy looked back at her friends. "I mostly went for moral support. Quite a few times, I had to be stopped from punching her head right through the wall." She stated.
Hanna shook her head at her sister. "She's locked up in a room with bars over her windows. Trust me, she doesn't know anything that happened that night."
"Yeah, well, someone does." Emily responded.
Spencer glanced at each of her friends. "There's something I need to show you guys."
She ended up leading the girls back to The Lost Woods Resort, and into 'A's old lair.
The girls - minus Emily - had came back here the morning after the fiasco with Mona, only to find that everything had been cleared out. Everything was gone.
But they couldn't tell Emily that because she had just lost Maya, and they didn't want to worry or freak her out even more.
Spencer sat down at the table, while the girls stood behind her. "Ali's shrine is right over there...And then over here she had a row of black hoodies all just perfectly hanging, ready for "A" to grab one and run." Spencer told, now standing up.
Hanna corrected her, "Mona. Ready for Mona."
Spencer nodded. "Yeah."
Ivy walked over to the bathroom door, and informed them, "And there was a zombie costume hanging on the back of that door. Just like the one that attacked Ali on Halloween."
Emily crossed her arms. "O-okay, so you've been coming here all summer trying to remember what was in this room. Why?" She questioned Spencer.
Spencer glanced at the others. "We have to tell Emily the truth."
The girls were silent for a quick moment, before Hanna turned to her. "The morning after they found Mona's body, we came back here."
"Yeah, to get rid of everything. I know. You told me." Emily said.
Aria shook her head. "We lied to you."
"We didn't want it to be another thing you had to worry about." Hanna admitted.
Ivy sighed, and explained, "When we came back here, it was empty. The file cabinets, the maps, pictures, Ali's diaries...everything was gone."
Emily suggested, "Maybe the police took it."
Hanna turned to face Emily. "If the police found out what Mona knows about us, my mom would be in jail."
"Yeah, Ezra too."
"And Jason." Ivy added.
Emily looked around at her best friends. "So who took it?"
"There are things that don't really add up. Like Mona was with you when "A" gave Emily that massage." Spencer reminded, pointing at Hanna. "And there's no way that she could have gotten Ian's body out of the bell tower by herself."
Aria placed her hands on her hips. "Wait. You're saying that you think someone was helping her?"
Spencer bent down and changed the laptop screen to the design of the black swan's masquerade outfit. "If the black swan wasn't guilty of something, why would she run from you guys?"
Before they could ponder on the question, a screaming car alarm gained their attention.
They ventured out, to find every door of Spencer's car open.
In the car was, hundreds of pictures of the five girls gathered at Allison's grave on the night that her body was stolen.
As the girls stared in shock, their phones suddenly went off, making them reluctantly pull out their phones.
And they began to read the text aloud,
BLOCKED ID
Mona played with dolls.
I play with body parts.
Game on, bitches.
- A
And the torture was back.
———————
Hey guys! I'm back!
I'm finally done my exams, and will definitely be uploading more frequently.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it wasn't very interesting, it was more just an introduction or something, but obviously as the show goes on it'll be more interesting.
There wasn't any Jason content this chapter, and I'm sorry. Jason is out of town within the first few episodes of season 3, but I promise he'll be in more.
I am also gonna be going back and editing this book at some point, cause my writing style is changed quite a bit, and it just needs some changes added. (I don't know when that will be, but probably soon.)
Thank you for reading!
I love you all!
-Katie