Season 1, episode 17
! Slight smut warning !
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"Okay, so your sister is pregnant. How did that happen?" Hanna asked as the girls, minus Aria, were sitting on the Hasting's girls' bed.
"I figure pretty much the usual way Han" Sophie told her.
"It's more of a 'why' question rather than a 'how" Emily said.
"I guess Melissa could have gone all maternal but I doubt it" Spencer said.
"This is creepy"
"Where are they now?" Sophie asked.
"Philadelphia" Spencer replied, "shopping"
"What do you think this means?" Emily asked, gesturing to the piece of paper with Braille on it that Toby had given Spencer.
"I don't know" Spencer sighed, "but Toby wanted me to have it. Do you want to see this, Aria?"
"No, I can see just fine from here" Aria replied in a bitchy tone. The girl was sitting in the bay window and hadn't said a word since her arrival.
Spencer propped her laptop up and held the paper next to it. She carefully cross-examined the words on the screen and those in her hand, "Okay, so the first letter is a B" she paused for a minute, writing the letter down underneath the Braille, "A, it's an A"
"Do you think it's going to tell us who A is?" Hanna said hopefully.
"D" Spencer said the last letter, "B-A-D"
"Bad?" Sophie said, furrowing her eyebrows, "that's the whole message?"
"What's this supposed to mean?" Emily asked.
"It means you got punked" Aria snapped, "Toby doesn't trust us, and I don't blame him"
"No, I don't think he'd mess with us like this" Emily shook her head.
"You'd be surprised what people are capable of"
"Okay, what has gotten into you?" Sophie said in the same bitchy manor. She was fed up with Aria's attitude.
"Nothing" Aria replied, not bothering to turn to look at the girl.
"Well clearly when you're over there sulking like a baby" Sophie snapped.
"You guys, we have to figure this out" Spencer interrupted, "this might be a joke, but it could be something real"
"Well look, either way Toby is not the enemy" Hanna said.
Aria stood up from her place and huffed, "you know what guys, I'm gonna go"
She stood up and grabbed her bag before walking out without saying another word.
"What was all that about?" Spencer asked.
"I have no idea" Sophie shook her head.
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"You know Aria might be right" Emily said the next day as they were sat at the lunch table, "Toby does have every reason to give us a hard time"
"I suppose" Spencer shrugged, "that's just not the feeling I got from talking to him. Do you know what I mean?"
"Yeah I do" Emily nodded.
"What is with you and the Artful Dodger?" Spencer turned to Hanna as her and Aria joined them at the table.
"Who?"
"Caleb" Spencer said, "I thought that thing at the swim meet was a one-off"
"It was!" Hanna defended herself.
"We just saw you talking to him" Emily said.
"And you gave him something that looked like a wet oven mitt"
"It was his hat" Hanna corrected.
"What were you doing with his hat?" Sophie furrowed her eyebrows.
"Why shouldn't I have his hat?"
"Hanna, maybe you are looking for something edgier after Sean" Spencer worded carefully, "but this guys dark-"
"Spencer he is not that dark" Hanna interrupted.
"He is dark enough"
"Well, he's no Arthur Dodger whoever he is" Hanna dismissed.
"Artful Dodger, Han" Sophie corrected.
"Help me here please?" Spencer said, turning to Sophie.
"Don't look at me" Sophie said, putting her hands up, "the boys I choose make Caleb look like a saint"
"Caleb has just had it tough" Aria defended.
"Are you two on speaking terms again?" Spencer asked.
"Of course, we are" Aria smiled.
"You really need to be careful with that guy" Emily said.
"Well, it seems you made that accusation once about Toby" Hanna scoffed.
Sophie suddenly heard a commotion begin to take place in the middle of the cafeteria. Mr. McCullers – Paige's father – had come in making a scene about Paige receiving unfair treatment because one of her teammates was gay. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was on about Emily.
Sophie watched as Mr. Fitz smartly diffused the situation, leading the man away.
"Oh, hell no" Sophie scoffed, "I will destroy that son of a bitch"
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Sophie made her way to the girls locker rooms where she knew she would find Paige.
She waited for a while until she saw the McCullers girls walk out of the showers, a towel wrapped tightly around her body. She made her way over and slammed the girls locker shut, making Paige jump back in shock.
Paige looked up to see Sophie stood over her, a smug smile on her face, "Boo"
"I don't have time for this" Paige scoffed, going to walk off. However, as she went to brush past Sophie, she grabbed her arm, keeping her in place.
"Brave of you to think you could torment Emily and not have to deal with me" Sophie smiled.
"I don't have to explain myself to you" Paige scoffed, again going to move away from the girl but Sophie's grasp on her arm made her stay in her spot.
"I'll make one thing clear" Sophie said, leaning down so she could make eye contact with Paige, "hurt Emily again and you'll be a dead bitch before you'll even have the chance to say sorry"
"God you're just like Alison"
"Oh no honey" Sophie laughed, "I'm much worse. You see, the difference between me and Ali, is that Ali hurts people for fun. She does it for her own entertainment, and when she's satisfied, she stops" she stopped speaking for a moment, the smile wiping off of her face. She glared at Paige, making the former girl stare at the floor, not able to look her in the eye, "me however? I will stop at nothing to protect my friends. Remember pigskin, I own you" she spat.
She finally let go of Paige's arm, gave her one last sick smile before turning on her heels and walking away. As she walked off, she heard Paige let out a deep breathe and she smiled at herself.
She hadn't acted like this since Alison disappeared, she thought she hated the person she used to be. But now, after her conversation with Paige she felt a skip in her heartbeat and an overwhelming feeling in her stomach.
She was proud, and she hated it.
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"When are you supposed to see Toby?" Emily asked Spencer as they walked into a little boutique.
"Eh, tomorrow" Spencer shrugged, "when Jenna's at her music lesson"
"Take it" they heard Aria laugh, shoving a dress into Hanna's hands.
"No, no, you take it" Hanna replied, giving her the dress back.
"It seems like the storm has passed" Sophie laughed as they joined the two.
"What is going on with you two?" Spencer said.
"Okay" Aria sighed, "you know how I went to that museum with Ezra? Well, A tried to get Hanna to ruin it"
"Ruin it how?"
"A gave me another ticket and made me give it to Aria's mom" Hanna replied.
"God Hanna, why didn't you tell us what was happening?" Emily said.
"Well, I tried to stop it" Hanna said, "her mom's car didn't just stall. Caleb fixed it, to keep her from getting there. That's why I owe him"
"Yeah, and he's the one who's been breaking into the vending machines at school" Aria added, "he's practically living there"
"In school?" Emily said in disbelief.
"It's true" Sophie added, "Hanna nearly blinded the poor boy"
"You did what?" Spencer laughed.
"It was a mistake" Hanna defended, "and they found his stuff, he's not sleeping there anymore. He's sleeping in my basement"
"Woah, rewind for me" Sophie said in shock.
"Does your mom know?" Aria asked.
Hanna shook her head, "No, but it's only for a couple of nights-"
"A couple of nights? Are you crazy?" Spencer said.
"Guys" Emily said, staring at something behind them. They turned around to see Jenna stood a little bit away from them with a woman, trying on clothes.
"It fits perfectly" the woman said as the girls moved to get a closer look, "let me just pull this over and – the length looks great. It's beautiful"
"I want it to be perfect" Jenna said, "he likes lace"
"Okay how does she get a date and I don't?" Sophie whispered as the girls shared a confused look.
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"So, the prosecutor just dropped the charges?" Nova asked later that night as the Langford family sat around the dinner table.
"Yeah" Sophie shrugged. She had received the news of Toby's freedom from Spencer a few hours earlier, and it didn't take long before the whole of Rosewood knew about the news.
"How do you feel about that honey?" Chris asked.
"I don't know" Sophie sighed, "I mean I know he's innocent, I don't think he did it anymore. But it means were right back at the beginning, we're no closer to catching Ali's killer"
"How come they dropped the charges?" Blake asked with a mouthful of food.
"Blake don't talk with your mouthful" Daniel groaned at his younger brother.
"They didn't have enough evidence" Sophie replied.
"Well, I for one never believed he was guilty" Daniel told them, "What?" he added once he saw the confused looks on his family's face.
"Weren't you the one who stuck his face on your dart board a few days ago?" Nova said.
"That doesn't prove anything" he shrugged, "when's mom home anyway?"
"Not sure" Chris replied, "all she said was that it was going to be a late one"
This didn't surprise the kids one bit; they were used to their mother not being home pretty much ever. It was usually just the five of them home.
Throughout dinner, Sophie didn't miss the looks that Nova was giving her, so when Nova offered to clean up, Sophie offered to help so that she could talk to her privately.
"What's up with you?" Sophie asked her as she loaded the plates into the dishwasher.
"What do you mean?"
"V, you've been giving me the evils for the past half an hour" Sophie sighed, "is it because of Toby or what? Because whatever it is you can tell me because-"
However, Nova cut her off, "who's A?"
Sophie's eyes widened as she turned around so fast, she swore she got whiplash, "what?"
"Who is A?" she asked again.
"What are you talking about V?"
"Sophie stop ignoring the question, who is A?"
"I don't know" Sophie shook her head, it wasn't a complete lie, "why?"
Nova didn't say anything else. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, shoving it into Sophie's hands. Once she unfolded it, she swore her heart stopped beating. It was the same one that she had received a few weeks back.
It was a black and white image of her and Jason being a little too close, and you could clearly see it was them.
2009
"Not yet" Jason grunted as he continued trust his hips up to meet her own rhythm. He grabbed the back of her head, pulling her down to place another sloppy kiss on her lips, silencing her moans with his mouth, "you gotta be quite baby, my sister is in"
Sophie nodded her head, biting her lip to keep her quiet as she maintained a steady pace on top of him, "I can't hold it"
"It's okay" he panted, "you can let go"
Sophie's legs being to shake as she let herself become undone, the man underneath her following her actions. Jason grabbed her hips so tightly she swore he would leave bruises – not that she cared much. She loved having his marks on her body, it made their secret much more special.
She slumped down onto his chest as they both caught their breath, and once she did she rolled off of him, allowing him to throw the used condom in the bin. He climbed back into bed with her, allowing her to rest her head on his chest.
Sophie listened to his heartbeat, drawing small circles on his chest.
"It's always so much more fun when there's a chance we could get caught" she hummed.
"We will soon if you don't learn to keep quiet" he smirked.
"I can't help it" she laughed, "maybe I need more practice"
Jason didn't have to be told twice, he got the hint and effortlessly moved so that she was lead on her back, him hovering over her, "you don't have to tell me twice" he said, his lips painfully close to hers, "round two?"
"Round two" she nodded, leaning up to close the gap between them.
Present day
"Sophie!" Nova said, shaking the girl to snap her out of her daze, "what the hell is that picture?"
"I- I" Sophie tried to speak, but the words didn't leave her mouth.
"How long were you seeing him?" Nova snapped, "answer me"
"That whole summer" Sophie replied, "please don't tell anyone!"
"Sophie-"
"Nova please" she begged, "please don't tell anyone"
"Okay" she nodded reluctantly, "but if I ever see him around you again, I'll go straight to the police"
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Word count: 1881