"Ali knew all of our secrets, but we didn't know any of hers." -Aria Montgomery
"Why was Jenna there?" Aria whispered. The five of them were at the Apple Rose Grille.
"I guess she's back," Spencer shrugged.
"That cop acted like we were suspects or something," Hanna pointed out.
"Do you think we looked guilty?" Isabel asked nervously.
"Why would we?" Aria replied. "We haven't done anything wrong."
"-Except lie about The Jenna Thing," Hanna added.
"We promised we'd never bring up The Jenna Thing again," Spencer said in hushed tones. "Remember? It never happened."
"Have you found a way to forget?" Emily whispered back. "I still wake up in the middle of the night-"
"Em, it was an accident," Isabel assured her. Emily just looked down and fiddled with her friendship bracelet that Ali had given all of them after The Jenna Thing.
Hanna dumped all of the booze from her flask into her coke, which earned a funny look from an older guy.
"It's medicinal," Hanna explained. When he still gawked at her, she added, "Cramps." and begrudgingly looked away.
"I don't get it," Emily finally sighed. "How does 'A' know something about me that only Alison knew?" The girls exchanged meaningful looks.
"Ali knew all of our secrets, but we didn't know any of hers," Aria remarked.
"I knew some," Spencer said quietly. They all stared at her.
"Go on," Isabel frowned.
"Talk," Hanna added.
"I can't," Spencer said reluctantly.
"Spence, you are not going to drop a bomb like that and clam up," Aria scoffed.
"She'd so kill me if I told you," Spencer groaned.
"She's dead!" Isabel and Hanna exclaimed at the same time.
"Ali was seeing someone that summer," Spencer finally admitted.
"I knew she was keeping something from me," Emily huffed. "From us."
"Why didn't she want us to know?" Aria frowned.
"He was an older boy," Spencer explained. "And he had a girlfriend."
"Who was it?" Isabel gasped.
"Can we at least have initials?" Hanna pleaded.
"She never told me his name," Spencer said forlornly.
"That's only half a secret," Hanna complained.
"It's more than any of the rest of us got from her," Isabel pointed out.
"How was it that Alison told us nothing, and we told her everything?" Aria sighed.
"She made us feel like we were a part of something special," Emily replied.
"We were," Hanna said
"I miss that," Isabel nodded.
"Me too," Spencer agreed.
"I miss Ali," Emily sniffled.
"Me too," Isabel sighed. A server came by and refilled Spencer's coffee. He dropped a packet of sugar onto the table next to her cup.
"She's gonna need more than that," Aria joked to the server.
"She hates the taste, but loves the rush," Emily explained to a confused server. He dropped three more packets on the table, and Spencer dumped them into her coffee.
"I can't believe you still wear that," Hanna said, noticing Em's friendship bracelet.
"We swore we'd never take them off," Emily shrugged. "Alison still wears hers. Wore."
After a moment, Aria broke the silence with "So for the entire year I was gone, Jenna was away?"
"She left Rosewood that night and never came back," Spencer explained.
"If Jenna is 'A', then this is about revenge," Isabel sighed.
"Sorry, but 'A' is 'watching' us, and that rules out Jenna," Hanna scoffed. The girls stared at her. "Those sunglasses aren't a fashion statement. She's blind." She grabbed a sweet potato fry and munched on it. Em played with her bracelet.
"When Ali didn't come home, I knew something terrible must have happened to her, but there was a part of me that imagined, someday, she would just show up," Spencer said.
"I used to think maybe Ali had run off with some guy," Aria smiled.
"That she was laying on a beach somewhere," Em laughed.
"Getting a tan with that hot lifeguard who worked at the pool," Isabel finished, snickering.
"What was his name?" Aria asked.
"Who cares?" Hanna smirked. "'Save me!'" The girls all laughed, and then were silent for a moment.
"I can't believe she's gone," Spencer whispered.
Suddenly, a tap-tap-tap sound woke the girls out of their reviere. They looked around to see who it was.
It was Jenna.
The girls held their breath as Jenna took a seat at the counter. They all slowly got up and left.
-
Later, Isabel walked into the Rosewood High's gym.
"Hey," Isabel called to Hailey, the captain of the volleyball team.
"Hey, um," Hailey looked nervous. "We need to talk. You...can't be on the team anymore."
"What?" Isabel blinked.
"I'm sorry," Hailey gulped. "Look...you didn't hear this from me, but your close association with the Alison DiLaurentis case has made the team nervous. So they voted you off the team."
"I don't believe this," Isabel scoffed.
"You were the best player, and I voted for you," Hailey promised.
"Thanks," Isabel sighed. "See you around, Hailey."
"See you." Hailey gave her one last pitying look, and walked back to where the other teammates were practicing setting.
"Splendid," Isabel muttered, walking out of the gym. She turned a few corners and heard Aria talking to Mr. Fitz.
"I'd like to transfer out of your class," Aria said. But it had more meaning than that. Mr. Fitz told her she should come into his classroom, and she did. Isabel was a little suspicious, but walked away nonetheless.
-
Isabel was walking to class when she heard an announcement over the P.A. System.
"Will the following students please come to the office? Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Isabel Rivers, Spencer Hastings, and Hanna Marin."
The hallways were now empty, and the five girls all started at one another. After a moment, the girls walked to the principal's office. Aria's phone beeped, and they stopped while she checked her phone.
"It's from 'A'," Aria gulped.
"'Dead girls walking'," Hanna read.
-
Soon, the girls squeezed together on the principal's couch. Detective Wilden began to question them.
"You thought you heard heard her 'scream'?" Wilden asked Spencer.
"I said that, yeah," Spencer nodded.
"And when you four woke up in the barn-" Wilden turned to the others, "Alison was gone, but so was Spencer?"
"Yes," Spencer said through gritted teeth. "I woke up before them, and I realized Ali was gone-"
"So you went to look for her?" Wilden finished, recounting her statement.
"That's what happened," Spencer replied.
"Was this a slumber party?" Wilden asked.
"Is this an interrogation?" Isabel shot back.
"No," Wilden scoffed. "Just a routine follow up. Why did you all fall asleep?"
"I guess we were tired," Aria spoke up.
"Tired, huh?" Wilden asked. "Is that how it was, Hanna?"
"Yes," Hanna muttered.
"We've told you everything we know," Spencer huffed. "Just like we did the night she went missing."
"Yeah, I know. It's almost exactly what you said last year," Wilden said, boring his eyes into them. "Almost like it was rehearsed."
He glared at the girls for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Aria spoke up.
"Like Spencer said, we've told you everything we know," she said.
-
The girls ate lunch together that day.
"He knows we're lying," Aria stated plainly.
"Lying's not a crime," Isabel rolled her eyes.
"It is when you're giving false statements to the police," Spencer huffed. "It's called obstruction of justice-"
"Oh please," Hanna scoffed. "We lied about drinking. The truth that matters is we don't know about what happened to Ali that night."
"We also know about someone who might have wanted to hurt her," Spencer pointed out.
"We should have told the police the truth about Jenna's accident the night it happened," Emily sighed.
"I wanted to, remember?" Hanna said pointedly.
"We had a chance to do more than tell the truth," Aria whispered. "We had a chance to stop Ali."
"But we didn't," Isabel said quietly. Mona walked up to Hanna hopefully. She saw that Hanna was sitting with the girls, and walked away, dejected.
"Telling the police about what happened to Jenna isn't going to make her see again," Spencer sighed. "It'll just ruin our lives."
"Oh my god," Hanna whispered. "She's back in school, too?" Isabel turned and saw Jenna, holding her lunch tray, looking lost.
Some jock bumped into Jenna, and she seemed sad. Lonely. Aria got up and approached Jenna.
"Jenna," Aria called. "It's Aria. Would you like to join us?"
"Sure," Jenna replied after a second of confusion. Aria helped lead Jenna to the surprised girls' table.
"Here's a chair," Aria said, helping her there. "You're between Spencer and Hanna, and Isabel is directly across from you."
Jenna and Aria both sat down, and the others exchanged dark looks.
"So, this would be Alison's chair?" Jenna asked.
"No," Emily spoke up. "We're not even sitting at that table."
"You know," Jenna said. "She came to see me in the hospital after the accident."
"Alison did?!" Isabel gasped incredulously.
"So many people misunderstood her, " Jenna smiled, pleased by her reaction."But I knew exactly who Alison was. "
"When did you get back, Jenna?" Spencer asked. "We heard you were in Philadelphia at a school for the visually impaired."
"You can say blind, Spencer," Jenna shrugged. "It's not a dirty word." Isabel exchanged a remorseful look with Emily. "So quiet. This used to be a fun table. What happened to you girls?"
-Flashback-
It was the 4th of July. The six girls tried on outfits for the festival. Suddenly, Ali spun around and glared out the window.
"I see you!" she screamed. She threw open the window and stared outside. The others hurried over.
"Who was it, Ali?" Isabel asked.
"What did you see?" Emily added.
"He was in that tree, spying on us!" Ali spat. "I am so creeped out!"
"Who was it?" Spencer exclaimed.
"That perv, Toby Cavanaugh," Ali huffed.
"Are you sure?" Aria frowned.
"Yes, Aria," Alison scoffed. "He was right there!" She shivered. "I'm sure he saw us all naked." Hanna cringed.
"We should tell someone," Aria said firmly.
"We could," Ali shrugged."But I've got a better idea. "
-
Ali led them to a free-standing garage. The Cavanaugh's. She pulled out a stink bomb firecracker from her pocket, and crept towards the door.
"Are we sure he's not in there?" Aria hissed.
"He's not, okay?" Ali huffed. "You've got the lighter, right, Isabel?"
"Let's wait a second," Emily gulped. They stopped, and Ali turned to her.
"What, Emily?" Ali said, annoyed.
"I don't want to do this," Emily said hesitantly.
"Fine. Go back," Ali shrugged. "You're on your own." Emily shut up and crept closer.
"Maybe Emily's right." Isabel bit her lip. "If we tell the police, they'll bring him in. They'll take care of it."
"What's the fun in that?" Ali scoffed. The girls fell silent. "Toby Cavanaugh is a freak, and we need to teach him a lesson. If he thinks he can come and spy on us while we're in your bedroom, Emily, he needs to know his little 'domain' is no longer a safe little hideout." She looked at the garage. "Who knows what he does in there all day, that freak."
"Are you sure it was Toby?" Spencer asked skeptically.
"Yes, and it's a stink bomb for god's sake," Ali snapped. "We're not nuking the place. Now let's do it." She got closer, and the girls followed. "Give me the lighter." Isabel did, and Ali ignited the fuse. She then tossed it into the garage, but her eyes widened when she saw something. "Let's get out of here." She ran across the yard, and the others followed her. A girl screamed, making them all stop dead in their tracks as the garage burned behind them.
-Flashback ends-
The girls' phones all simultaneously beeped, and Jenna picked up Isabel's, handing it to her.
"Aren't you gonna get that?" Jenna asked. Isabel took the phone from her and read the message.
'If only she could see how guilty you look. -A.'
-
Mr. Fitz wrote on the chalkboard and turned to the class.
"Let's take our seats, people," he called. The four girls minus Aria huddled near Spencer's desk.
"Where's Aria?" Emily frowned. Isabel glanced at Mr. Fitz.
"Maybe you should ask Fitz," Isabel shrugged. They stared at her. Then they all sat down as the door swung open, revealing a late Mona.
"Am I late?" Mona asked sweetly.
"It's Mona, right?" Mr. Fitz said.
"That's right, Mr. Fritz," Mona nodded. The whole class laughed at this. "What?"
"Take your seat, Mona, please," Mr. Fitz sighed. She sat down next to Hanna, and the two of them had a whispered conversation.
Mr. Fitz passed out worksheets, and started talking. "If the mockingbird represents the idea of innocence, what characters in the book are innocent? Take a minute to list your ideas." He then wrote on the chalkboard as Isabel jotted down some names.
Suddenly, Aria walked into the classroom, and put a document on Mr. Fitz's desk. The forms to transfer out of his class, Isabel realized.
While everyone was writing, Isabel looked up and saw Mr. Fitz and Aria share a moment. Isabel also saw Hanna see this.
-
That night, Isabel walked into her house. There were boxes everywhere, and Kristy was drinking a glass of wine. Dan, her husband, walked in with his briefcase.
"What's going on?" Isabel frowned, dropping her book bag on the floor.
"We're moving," Kristy sighed, her blonde bun bobbing.
"What?" Isabel gasped. She had just re-friended her old friends! She couldn't move!
"I'm so sorry, honey," Dan said, putting his briefcase down.
"Where?" Isabel gulped.
"...Denver," Kristy replied. "Dan got a new job offer."
"Oh," Isabel muttered. "Uh... can I please stay here? Wh- When do you leave?"
"Tonight," Dan responded. "The movers will be here in twenty minutes, and we're taking a flight in about an hour."
"Okay," Isabel nodded. She felt numb. "I guess I'll go back to the orphanage. I'll go- I'll go pack up my stuff."
Later, Isabel hugged Xavier, Kristy, and Dan goodbye, and left.
She was back in the orphanage.
-
Isabel stared at the friendship bracelet Ali had given her. She kept it, and wore it as an anklet. Suddenly, her phone beeped.
'No one ever loved you. But I do. You were always my favorite, Isabel. -A.'