"Yeah, I heard that. I'm standing right next to you." - Aria Montgomery
"Whose idea was this, again?" Hanna grumbled. They were traipsing through the woods, about to make a mini- memorial for Alison.
"Emily's mom," Isabel sighed, nearly twisting her ankle for the fifth time today.
"The shed was me," Emily explained. "My mom just said we should do something for us."
"Well, couldn't we do something without mosquitoes?" Hanna groaned.
"They're not mosquitoes, they're gnats," Aria corrected her.
"Whatever!" Hanna snapped. "They're small and annoying, and they're flying up my nose!"
"Well, they're attracted to your perfume," Spencer replied. "And your hair product. And your lip gloss."
"So, what are you saying, I attract flies?" Hanna asked.
"Gnats," Aria repeated.
"Why do I feel like this is the wrong way?" Emily sighed.
"Probably cause it is," Isabel muttered, a tree branch hitting her in the face.
"No, this is it," Spencer assured them. "I remember that tree. It's the halfway point. There's 136 steps left to the shed."
"Have you been out here since...Alison?" Emily asked.
"Me?" Spencer scoffed. "No. No way."
"But you remember that tree," Aria pointed out.
"You guys, it's not that weird," Hanna said. "I mean, we came out in eighth grade, like every day...even after."
"I think that this is totally the wrong place to do this," Spencer huffed. "Whatever you call it...shrine."
"It's not a shrine," Isabel protested.
"It's just a place to remember Alison," Emily added. "What's wrong with that?"
"Doing it out here makes it look like we have something to hide," Spencer said, stepping on a branch.
"You're worried what other people think?" Emily frowned.
"And you aren't?" Isabel scoffed.
"Yeah, aren't you?" Spencer asked. "Do you really want to give that creepy detective more reasons to question us?"
"Hanna, why're you so quiet?" Isabel sighed.
"I'm trying to keep the bugs in my nose and out of my mouth," Hanna explained.
"You're allowed to have an opinion on this," Emily remarked.
"You want my opinion?" Hanna snapped. "I say we hold off, and not remember her til we know for sure she's not still here."
"What?" the others exclaimed.
"What are you talking about?" Aria frowned.
"You think she's still alive?" Emily asked incredulously.
"Hanna, they found her body," Spencer added.
"Stop," Isabel said firmly. "Okay? I'm officially freaked out. Can we just not..."
"You know, you asked for my opinion," Hanna shrugged. "I don't believe she's really gone."
"We went to her funeral!" Spencer exclaimed.
"Yeah, and when we left, we all got a text message from her," Hanna pointed out.
"It wasn't her," Emily argued. "Someone is messing with us."
"How do you know?" Hanna shot back. "And what about all those nasty messages? How does this 'A' person know stuff only Ali knew?"
"Okay, this conversation is giving me a hive," Aria shuddered.
"That's a bite," Hanna replied. "Mosquito."
"Gnat," Isabel countered.
"Spencer, have you gotten any more messages?" Emily asked loudly.
"Haven't you?" Spencer frowned. Suddenly, they heard something...or someone rustle some branches.
"What was that?" Emily gasped. "Did you hear that?"
"Yes, I heard that," Isabel said sarcastically. "I'm standing right next to you."
"Hello?" Hanna called. "Is anybody out there?"
"It's probably a rabbit," Spencer justified.
"Hello?" Hanna repeated.
"It's a rabbit, Hanna," Spencer scoffed. "It's not gonna answer you."
"Can't we just get to the shed?" Emily sighed. The branches rustled again.
"Okay, that is definitely not a rabbit," Hanna gulped.
"Let's turn around," Isabel agreed. They started to leave, but then they all got the same message.
'Heads up, BFFs. It's open season on liars, and I'm hunting. -A.'
-
Isabel stared out her window at the orphanage. She hated that she had to be here.
"Miss Rivers?" The Nice Lady opened her door. "There's a mother here to adopt you." The Nice Lady called it 'adopt', but it was really 'take care of'.
"Hi, I'm Quinn," the woman said. She had a faux fur coat on, and an evil glint in her eye that screamed money.
"Isabel," Isabel said gruffly. She gathered her things and followed this strange lady to her doom.
-
"Listen here, kid," Quinn huffed once they arrived at Quinn's home. "You can't stay here. I'll let you do whatever you want, but you have to come for the monthly visits. Here's a couple hundred bucks so you don't starve. Now get lost."
"Great," Isabel mumbled, taking the envelope and leaving.
-
The next day, Isabel saw the girls talking at Hanna's locker, and walked up to them.
"...she's the easiest to crack," Emily was saying.
"Who's the easiest to crack?" Isabel asked.
"Hanna," Aria told her. "Wilden is questioning her."
"She is," Spencer shrugged.
"Whisper, whisper, whisper," Jenna said, walking past them. "Almost feels like Alison's still here."
-
"What are you doing?" Isabel asked Aria, who was typing on her phone.
"Is that a new phone?" Spencer added.
"Yeah, I'm checking my Kia," Aria explained. "I'll just write on Hanna's wall from here."
"If she's not answering texts, what makes you think she's checking Facebook?" Emily frowned.
"It's worth a shot," Aria shrugged.
"What's going on?" Hanna, who'd just walked up to them, asked.
"We've been trying to get a hold of you," Aria said, putting her phone away.
"What happened in there?" Isabel exclaimed.
"Nothing," Hanna sighed, opening her locker. "Just the same old, stupid questions."
"You we're in there for an hour, Hanna," Spencer pointed out. "What else did he ask?"
"Nothing," Hanna repeated. She took some books out. "He just took a couple calls, and I just sat there, waiting for him to shut up."
"Well, is he gonna question all of us alone now?" Aria pressed.
"Who knows?" Hanna snapped, shutting her locker closed. "Look, let's do this at lunch, okay? I have to hit the ladies before my next class."
"Is she being weird?" Isabel frowned.
"She's being weird," Emily sighed. "I'll see you guys at lunch." She walked off.
"Bye," Spencer agreed, and they went their separate ways.
-
At Noel Kahn's party, Isabel talked to Aria, Spencer, and Emily.
"He tackled Ben?" Aria asked incredulously. Ben was Emily's now- ex. "What was Toby even doing in the girls locker room?"
"He probably saw Ben go in," Isabel defended him.
"Why are you defending Toby Cavanaugh?" Spencer scoffed. "He's a perv. We caught him peeping through the windows, watching us undress."
"Alison's the one who saw him do that," Emily pointed out. "We never did."
"What's up?" Hanna asked, walking over.
"Toby Cavanaugh got into a fight with Ben over Emily," Aria explained.
"It wasn't over me," Emily argued.
"Yeah, he just...saved her," Isabel agreed.
"For what, himself?" Spencer scoffed.
"Ew," Hanna gagged.
"You guys are overreacting," Isabel snapped. "He might be a perv, but I truly believe he was just being nice to Emily. Don't judge a book by its cover."
"Yeah, well, we've seen some of its contents," Spencer countered.
"I don't buy it," Hanna shrugged.
"If we hadn't asked you about Ben, would you have told us about this?" Aria asked.
"If he's such a bad guy, why'd he take the fall for us?" Emily pointed out.
"Is this another secret? Do you know something that we don't?" Aria frowned.
"Guys, why don't we just, like, chill, and talk about this someplace else?" Hanna sighed, obviously distracted.
"Yeah, like when it's just us, not at a party?" Isabel huffed.
"I...don't even know what 'just us' means anymore," Aria said, talking about 'A'.
"Yeah, uh, let's talk about this tomorrow, okay?" Hanna blurted, looking around for somebody. "Are we still meeting up at the shed?"
"Yeah. Sure, why not?" Isabel nodded. Hanna left, and Isabel started to go as well.
-
While Isabel was walking toward some shed or something, when someone put a hand over her mouth and pushed her up against a wall.
"What is a pretty girl like you doing all alone?" Noel smirked.
"Noel? What're you-" Isabel began, but Noel smashed his lips against hers. She could smell the vodka on his breath. "Stop! Don't-" She tried to pull away, but he was stronger than her. He started to slip his hands under her shirt, but suddenly, someone threw Noel off of her. Isabel was sure it was one of her friends, but it wasn't.
It was Toby.
"T-Toby?" Isabel stuttered. He just stared at her as Noel scampered off. "Why- Why'd you do that for me?"
"I know your friend," Toby replied.
"Emily?" Isabel gulped.
"She's really nice," Toby shrugged. Isabel saw no malicious intent in his eyes, and she decided that he could be trusted. He was just misunderstood.
"Well, um, thank you," Isabel said nervously. "I-I'm sure you have things to do, so..."
"Not really," Toby responded.
"Thanks again," Isabel muttered, and ran off. She might trust him a little, but she didn't know if she should befriend him. Not yet.
-
The next day, Spencer dragged them into the woods again.
"Alison wanted us across the street so she could have it out with Toby," Spencer explained. "Ali had something on him."
"Besides being a total perv who peeped in our windows?" Hanna scoffed.
"Yeah, something way bigger," Spencer nodded, "and she was threatening to tell everybody. That's why he took the fall for us."
"Why are you waiting until now to tell us?" Aria asked.
"I don't know," Spencer admitted. "Ali made me promise, and...I guess I was scared. I thought if we never talked about that night again, it would just go away."
"Well, it's not," Isabel sighed. "Going away. Not unless we toss our phones and join the Navy."
"Look, there's five of us, and one freak sending messages," Emily pointed out. "If we just talk to each other like this, I feel like it makes it easier to deal with everything."
"I think Emily's right," Aria agreed. "There's way too many secrets. We shouldn't do this in the middle of nowhere. We should do it where we can see it every day."
"You mean, like somewhere in school?" Hanna frowned.
"No. In town," Aria explained. "We should ask if we could put a bench somewhere. Wait, and you know what? Whoever did this to her, if they're still in Rosewood, we should make them look at it every day, too."
"What, you hate the idea?" Spencer asked.
"No. No, I just... had a rough night," Aria sighed.
Suddenly, something rustled the bushes.
"I'm not taking any chances," Isabel gulped, and started to run off. But then they saw one of their beaded bracelets on the ground.
"Look," Hanna gaped.
"We all are," Isabel rolled her eyes.
"Is that yours?" Spencer asked Emily.
"Alison's," Aria realized.