thirteen
In the morning Lottie woke up to a text from Spencer telling her that Alison's blood had been found on Toby's sweater. She questioned what A had against Toby, why go this far to make it look like he killed Ali. Maybe Alison was A after all.
Outside the coffee shop she held onto her herbal tea, she had chosen it over coffee, hoping it would help calm her down. She waited for Hanna with Spencer and Emily.
"Hi. i'm plannin' a surprise visit for my husband, and he cannot stop talkin' about the room he had on his last visit, can you pull up that reservation? His name is Ian Thomas." Spencer spoke in a southern accent.
"Why are you doing this?" Emily asked.
Spencer put her hand over the phone, "I think Ian and Alison were together the weekend before she disappeared. Do you remember how Alison was acting when she got home from visiting her grandmother, all giggles and tan?".
"Yeah" Lottie shrugged.
"Ali hated old people and her grandmother lives in Georgia. Hilton Head is in South Carolina. She was lying to us".
"So what? She lied more than she breathed. You think that was enough to make Ian to want to shut her forever?" Lottie said.
"Wow" Spencer said taken back, "Thought you'd be happy to hear it was anybody but Toby".
"Oh so you're on his side now?" Lottie laughed, " you're giving me whiplash with these theories".
"He lied about things too, Lottie, you can't just be ignored " Spencer said.
"If lying was a crime we would all be in jail" Lottie replied.
"Agent Cooper good Moring" Emily smiled, Spencer and Lottie waved as Agent Cooper left the coffee shop. Hanna had arrived and sat down beside Lottie, Hanna smiled at Lottie.
"The food in this town is to die for, I'm missing it already" Agent Cooper said.
"Are you going somewhere?" Hanna asked.
"Came here to find the person who killed your friend. Toby Cavanaugh may be out on bail, but he's not leaving town, and we have a solid case against him. So unless you have a reason for me to stay".
⋇⊶⊰♡⊱⊷⋇
"Agent Cooper is not some small-town cop that's going to arrest Spencer's brother-in-law because Ali carved his name into a tree" Hanna said. When they had gotten to school they told Aria about Ian and how he was at Hilton Head the same time as Ali.
Lottie walked a few steps behind holding her head where at was starting to ache.
One side effect of the sleeping pills she had forgotten about was the headaches she got.
She followed her friends to a table, catching up with them, "A tree that isn't even there anymore" Lottie said grimly.
"No one knows but us," Emily whispered.
"And Ian," Spencer said.
"And A" Hanna added.
Through the large window in the cafeteria, they saw Noel with a group of guys. "Noel led us to that tree for a reason".
"Is A-?" Aria started, "I mean, is Noel trying to help us find Ali's killer?".
"Why would A help us?" Lottie frowned.
"How could Noel even know about Ian and Ali?" Spencer asked.
"Have you ever noticed how Noel is always around?" Aria pointed out.
They all look at Noel again, Mike, Aria's brother, walked up to Noel. "Are they friends?" Emily asked.
"No" Aria shook her head.
Mike and Noel were talking about something. "Hanna's right about Cooper. We need to find some kind of proof" Spencer said.
"Thank you, Veronica Mars," Hanna replied sarcastically.
"That proof may be boxed in your kitchen" Lottie suggested.
A grim mood fell over them, Lottie looked across the room spotting Jude, looking lost. Quickly she told the others she'd be right back and hurried over to Jude, calling her name. Jude smiled bright and hugged Lottie, "come meet my friends".
Jude linked her arm around Lottie's, "jeez I'm nervous".
"Don't be, they're super nice" Lottie promised. Her friends weren't the thing to be nervous about but as long as Jude knew nothing about A or posed a danger to know about A, then she would continue to be safe.
Maya and Emily stood together when they got there. Seeing Lottie had returned, Spencer looked up and addressed her. "Maya was just telling us how romantic Emily is," she smirked.
Lottie raised an eyebrow, "oh well continue".
"Walks in the rain, picnics by the lake, dancing naked in the candlelight" Emily said. Smirk and smiles turned into shocked faces. It was strange to think about Emily doing any of those things.
Emily and Maya laughed, "I'm just kidding. We go to dinner and a movie, just like you guys".
"Well she's not entirely kidding. Emily would love to do all those things" Maya said.
"We've shared enough" Emily stopped her from adding anything else.
Jude smiled, "you guys are so sweet". It looked like everyone had just realised Jude by Lottie's side. She smiled and pushed Jude a little forward so everyone could see her.
"Jude, this is Emily, Hanna, Emily and Spencer and Maya, Emily's girlfriend" she pointed to everyone as she said their names "Everyone this is my cousin Jude".
⋇⊶⊰♡⊱⊷⋇
Lottie gave her best tour to Jude, with the best information she had, years of being an 'it girl' had some benefits. She wasn't sure how she would talk about that, surely Sallie must have mention Alison? You couldn't escape her even if you tried.
"Can I ask you a question?" Jude asked quietly, Lottie shut her locker and nodded, "do-" before she could finish, Emily walked up to them.
"Hey, I just heard that Toby's here".
"He is?" Lottie asked.
"Hey, freak coming through" someone called out in the distance.
Toby came down the hallway, everyone turned and watched as he was followed by two officers. He stopped in front of his locker, written across in red ink was 'killer'. He starred at it before taking some book out. Her hands started to shake when he finally looked her way, someone stepped in front of him and called him a murder. All the pain she felt turned into rage.
"Asshole" she swore under her breath. Emily and Jude watched with her, when Toby was gone, Lottie exhaled and walked away as fast as she could. Leaving a worried and confused Jude and Emily behind.
Instead of going home she walked around the town, searching for something to hide so she could be alone and grief Toby, even if he was alive and breathing.
In between two shops, by some bins, Lottie sat down holding her knees to her chest, trying to keep her breathing even through blurry eyes.
Listening to the footsteps of other people, and the sound of cars passing she slowly started to feel better. Then the gate to the alleyway strung open, hit the wall hard. jumping she looked up, "Toby" Lottie breathed, he came and sat down next to her. "I'm sorry" she sniffed.
His arm arm brushed against her, careful he held her hand, keeping his eyes on them, he said "it isn't your fault".
"You don't deserve any of this Toby" she sighed, wiping away a tear, "if I could go back I'd drive you out of here myself".
"If you did, I'd ask you to join me" he said in a poor attempt at a laugh. She wanted to tell him she'd leave with him in a heart beat, but if she did ever tried to leave, A would somehow lure her back.
"Jenna turned me in," he said suddenly.
Lottie mouth dropped, "I blamed Spencer" she murmured, "I was so sure she did it". She let her head fall onto Toby's shoulder, looking down at their hands. Sometimes she didn't understand her feeling for him and other times they were loud and clear.
⋇⊶⊰♡⊱⊷⋇
"Melissa, pregnant?" Hanna cried gleefully.
Hanna, Spencer and Lottie were outside school, the night before Spencer had found out that Melissa and Ian were trying for a baby.
"Hey, I said this was a secret" Spencer hushed her.
"No, it's not a secret. It's a bombshell, like a nuke u lah" Hanna carried on despite Spencer's wishes.
"It's nuclear" Spencer corrected.
Hanna, not seeing the difference, blinked. "Ok, whatever, it's still a disaster movie".
"Can you imagine Melissa pregnant? Or even worse - Melissa as a mom?" Hanna said.
"Try Ian as a dad" Lottie shivered.
"I've never once heard Melissa talk about kids. Now she wants to have this huge family? It's like he's totally manipulating her" Spencer bellowed.
"Come on Spence, Melissa is not the kind of girl to be manipulated by a man" Lottie stated.
"I don't know what we're going to find, but I have to see what's inside those boxes," Spencer hoped.
Emily approached sadly looking down at her phone. Spencer reached out asking if she was okay.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye" Emily said wobbly.
"To who?" Lottie asked
"Maya," she said.
Hanna asked. "Em? where is she going?".
"They're sending her to juvie camp for three months," Emily told them.
They gasped in response, "what happened?" Hanna asked.
"My mother. That's what happened" Emily said bitterly, close to tears.
⋇⊶⊰♡⊱⊷⋇
A is for Alison not amateur - A
The text came after Noel was caught with the answers to three mid terms.
Just as Mr Fitz was about to quit to stop Noel from telling everyone about his relationship with Aria.
"I don't know who I'm more afraid of A, the bitch who tried to flatten Hanna, or A, our new frenemy" Aria said when they all sat around Spencer's Kitchen table.
Aria smiled, "what?" Spencer asked, smiling back.
"A saved my relationship" Aria said in wonder.
"Yeah, well, A tried to kill me" Hanna added, not feeling the A love.
"Because A thought you saw her. A clearly knows now that you didn't" Spencer told her.
Spencer jumped into explain a maths problem when Melissa came into the kitchen, "English please" Hanna requested flatly.
Melissa smiled watching them, "it's nice to see the posse together again".
Aria chuckled, "the posse?".
"This is me playing nice, Aria," Melissa claimed. "Spencer and I have called a truce".
"Oh, well, I'll play along" Hanna said, "how does it feel to be married?".
"It feels like... I don't have to try so hard all the time - like things are settled" Melissa told them.
"Probably how my mom felt before my dad broke the news about Sallie," Lottie muttered, getting a snicker from Hanna, which made Lottie laugh.
Melissa laughed, catching Lottie off guard.
"One thing I don't need to worry about is Ian looking at other women".
"You ready, wife?" Ian asked to come into the house.
"I am my handsome husband," Melissa replied happily.
Emily came along later finding the others grinning at her. "What?" she asked.
"There is something that I need to show you in my room," Spencer said.
"Wait, no. I think she should find it herself" Aria suggested.
Lottie spun around on her chair, "I think so too" she agreed.
"But first" Hanna, changed up Emily's hair and shirt. The whole time no one could stop smiling. "There. Now you can go".
"Hey" Aria called for everyone's attention, Lottie stopped digging through the box full of old books in front of her and looked at Aria. "Look at this" she held a copy of the newspaper that covered Ali's disappearance.
"Everyone kept that," Spencer said dismissively.
"You guys look," Spencer smirked holding a pair of binoculars.
"Creepy" Hanna laughed.
Above them Emily and Maya laughed too.
"You know I am officially jealous of Emily's love life," Hanna said.
Lottie sighed, "ditto".
None of the boxes were proving to be useful, it was just junk.
"Hey thank you guys so much" Maya told them when she and Emily came downstairs.
Before she left they all hugged her and wish her luck.
"I don't even know how to thank you guys, tonight was the best gift anyone could have ever given me," Emily smiled widely.
"Where are they sending her?" Spencer asked.
"Some place called True North," Emily said.
"Isn't that the place they sent Betsy Berger" Lottie asked Hanna.
"Is it bad?" Emily asked worried.
Hanna smiled and giggled, "Yeah after she was caught huffing spray paint. She came back as a drummer in a gospel band".
Aria sighed at Lottie and Hanna giggling and falling against each other, "Maya's an amazing person, Em, she's going to be fine".
"Did you guys find anything?" Emily asked.
Spencer shook her head, taping a box back up, "we've looked through every box and found a big, fat nothing,".
Spencer's phone beeped from the table, Aria opened it and read the text.
Don't say I never gave you anything. Turn on your computer - A
They all sat around Spencer's laptop, a new email from A popped up with a video attached. Spencer clicked on it, when it started to play, it was the same video of Alison that Agent Cooper had shown them. But this time it didn't end with Ali's smile.
Ali took the camera from whoever was filming her.
"Oh my god" someone said.
Ian.
"Come closer" he said, smiling. They watched in horror, Ali did move closer, then a struggle started and it ended with Ali gasping and falling to the ground, her hand gripping the ground for a moment before going limp again.
Someone or something made a noise in the garden, they jumped back scared. Together they ran outside through the trees looking for whoever was watching them but no one was there.
The only sound was the wind in the trees and their own heavy breathing.
"Do you see anything," Spencer asked in the dark.
"That bitch is fast. Let's go back".
A/N - so either i suck at finding fics or
there's is just little to none Toby fic?
I love Jason I do but where's the Toby love
I kind of hate this part for some reason, idk just not
feeling my own writing rn but Im enjoying writing so
im very confused