"I spy a liar" -'A'
The girls were still in the greenhouse. Suddenly, someone started shutting all the doors.
"What the hell was that?" Isabel gulped.
"Did things just get incredibly worse?" Aria panicked.
"I can't believe this. Ian's dead!" Emily shouted as Isabel looked around for the source of the noise in a frenzy.
"No, zombies don't text!" Hanna snapped. "Okay? He is alive somewhere."
"Spence?" Isabel turned to the one person who would have the sense to get the hell outta there.
"I have to get this phone home before Melissa realizes that it's gone," Spencer said slowly. A clattering noise that sounded like someone was dropping a bucket of rocks on the ceiling startled Isabel.
"Okay, you put it back, and then what do we do?" Isabel asked quickly.
"Do we call the cops?" Aria added.
"Oh, yeah, because that always works out so well for us," Isabel snapped, looking for an escape.
"Why is Ian texting Melissa?" Emily frowned.
"And why is Melissa answering him?" Hanna said to Spencer.
"Is she? I mean, we don't know how long this has been going on," Spencer argued.
"You know what?" Isabel freaked. "You have this stupid argument. I'm going."
-
The girls were walking home, approaching Spencer's house.
"Let's finish this in the morning, okay?" Hanna huffed. "I'm cold, damp and scared. We can talk at school."
"We can't talk at school, remember?" Isabel said, rolling her eyes.
"The four of us are supposed to be having 'separate time'," Aria added as they walked along. "Doctor's orders."
"So, what are we supposed to do, not talk to each other?" Hanna scoffed.
"We're in the same classes," Emily added as Isabel wrapped her jacket tighter around her numb body.
"We just have to play it cool," Spencer nodded. Suddenly, they heard a clattering noise. Again. But it was in front of the DiLaurentis house this time.
It was Jason.
He was back.
"It's Jason," Spencer stated the obvious. He was cleaning up some boxes, throwing them away.
"Did he move back in?" Hanna frowned, turning to Isabel.
"No, he's just cleaning up the neighbor's trash," Isabel said sarcastically. Hanna scoffed.
"What is all that?" She whispered, pointing to the stuff Jason was throwing away.
"That's all that stuff that those people left on my curb when Ali went missing, those tributes," Aria explained.
"Maya said her family kept those things when they moved in," Emily told them. "They didn't have the heart to throw them out."
"Apparently Jason's moved on," Spencer scoffed.
"If your sister went missing for a year, and then turned up dead in your backyard, would you wanna look at a reminder of her death every day?" Isabel snapped.
"Look who's sticking up for Goth Boy," Hanna smirked.
"Yeah, well, 'Goth Boy' happens to be my friend, too," Isabel huffed.
"Anyway, what's he doing back in that house?" Hanna gulped.
Jason went inside. Not even noticing the five of them right there.
-
The next day, the girls whispered in the lunch lines, because they were supposed to be having 'separate time'.
"So the videos are gone?" Aria frowned, creeping along in the lunch line.
"Totally gone," Emily nodded.
"That was our only evidence," Aria pointed out.
"Well, we don't have it anymore," Isabel huffed.
"Has Ian sent Melissa any more messages?" Hanna asked Spencer as Isabel piled beans onto her tray.
"I don't know," Spencer shrugged. "She's not leaving her phone sitting around."
"What about Jason? Why is he back?" Emily spoke up.
Before Isabel could retort, Spencer said, "Maybe he's just looking for closure or something."
"Okay, first, new rule: no one can say the word 'closure'. Ever," Isabel scoffed. "And second, what's so weird about moving back to your house? He could just, I dunno, miss Rosewood."
"More like miss you," Hanna smirked. Isabel gave her the 'really?' Look.
"Yeah, and what's so bad about 'closure'? Dr. Sullivan says it all the time," Emily frowned.
"I rest my case," Isabel shrugged. She picked up her tray and made her way to a table. When Hanna followed, she said, "Han."
"What?" Hanna asked.
"I don't think we should sit together," Spencer whispered.
"We always sit together," Hanna scoffed.
"We have to make it look like we're going along with this," Isabel added, her eyes darting around the lunch room.
"Looking like we're doing it is the same thing as doing it," Hanna snapped.
"Isabela!"
Great. She couldn't sit with her friends, and now Caleb was following her again.
She begrudgingly walked across the lunchroom to where Caleb was standing. "What?" She hissed, setting her lunch tray down.
"Sit with me," Caleb pleaded, motioning for her to sit down. She stood her ground.
"No," she scoffed.
"I've told you a hundred times, I'm sorry," Caleb swore with a desperate look in his eyes.
"Yeah. I know."
And she left.
-
The next day, Isabel was studying at the Grille, her favorite place to study, when her phone beeped. God, if it was Caleb-
'Did you miss me?'
No. It couldn't be-
"Did you?"
Isabel turned around and grinned. "Jason!"
"Hey," Jason smiled, walking over. "So, do you always study here?"
"Yeah, at nights," Isabel nodded as he sat down next to her. "It's most quiet then. So, what brings you to this lovely town of murder?"
"I dunno," he shrugged. "Maybe it's the draw of this little town."
"You don't like big cities?" Isabel joked. He used to hate them.
"How'd you remember?" Jason smiled.
"I remember little things," she replied, grinning at the memory. Even though the reason they were hanging out back then was night clubs, she always enjoyed his presence. He had an almost settling demeanor, that you would only notice if you had known him a while. Yeah, he had a temper, but everyone does. She definitely did.
Ali hated that Isabel and Jason hung out. Ali probably wanted her all to herself, seeing as Isabel was her favorite friend, and Isabel often found herself in the middle of most of their fights. She didn't tend to take sides, but in extreme cases, she usually defended Jason. Ali could be a bitch, and no one knew that better than her favorite friend and her brother.
"I guess I wanted to...start a new life," Jason finally said, smiling at her.
"That sounds nice," Isabel nodded. "In Rosewood, though?"
"Yeah. There weren't many options," Jason shrugged. "Can I buy dinner, or...?"
"Only if you have it with me."
-
The next night, Spencer called Isabel for the third time, trying to convince her of Jason's guilt.
"What?" Isabel snapped after it rung for the fifth time while she was trying to study.
"Do you remember that one time when Ali took something from Jason's room, and he tore it apart to get it back?" Spencer said.
"Uh, no he didn't. You asked if he did, and Ali said she had hiding places all over her- oh, you think you could find some of them? I swear, if you snoop around Jason's house-" Isabel scoffed.
"No, no, no," Spencer said quickly, before Isabel could hang up. "It's just...Ali hated Jason, and so..."
"You think he killed her?" Isabel huffed. Jason might've hated Ali, but he wouldn't have killed her.
"Come on. You don't remember all of their constant fights?" Spencer replied.
"I do, but I don't think anything of them like you do," Isabel snapped, and hung up.
-Flashback-
"Alison! Alison, hey!" Jason shouted as he chased Ali into the front yard. "Damn it, Alison, come here!" He grabbed her arm. "Come here! Hey! Stop messin' with my stuff. All right? You and the Powerpuff girls just stay out of my room! Not talking about you, Isa."
"What are you afraid I'd find in there?" Ali shot back. Isabel, Aria, and Spencer all watched as another argument between the two of them ensued.
"Look, just stop messin' with people," Jason huffed.
"No challenge with you and your little stoner buddies," Ali smirked. "All you need is something shiny on a piece of string." The other two started snickering.
"You would know, Ali," Isabel shrugged.
"What?" Ali said, rounding on her.
"I said, you would know," Isabel repeated as she watched Jason give her a small smile. "You know, as you broke into his room in the first place?"
"What about you, Isabel? I'm sure you'd know, too, as you seem very fond of my brother," Ali snapped. Aria and Spencer stared at Isabel quizzically.
"You also seem very fond of meddling in other peoples' business, but hey, we already knew that," Isabel shot back, and Jason laughed.
"'We' as in you and Jason, or 'we' as in you and all of his stoner buddies?" Ali scoffed. "And what are you still doing here? Or are you collecting info for your little spy club?" She huffed at Jason, who stared to go inside. "Watch him, ladies. He's got trouble with door knobs." The others smirked as Jason slammed the door shut. "Why do you like him? He sucks, Isabel."
"You wouldn't know, seeing as you hate your brother, and don't even try to talk to him without hurling insults at him," Isabel said plainly.
"What's wrong with Jason?" Aria asked abruptly.
"He just thinks I stole one of his Japanese cartoon porn books," Ali shrugged.
"Did you?" Isabel frowned.
"Of course I did," Ali smirked.
"Aren't you afraid he's gonna rip apart your room?" Spencer asked.
"Wouldn't do him any good," Ali shrugged. "I have hiding places all over the house. In the yard, too. When I hide something, it stays hid... until I want it found. That's why your secrets are all so safe with me." Ali smiled at all of the girls as something shattered inside the house.
-Flashback ends-
-
The next night, the girls met up in the greenhouse. It was like their special meeting place. Mr. Fitz had left Rosewood, and Melissa had lied to Spencer about going out.
"It was in the pocket of her raincoat," Spencer explained, pulling out a baby sonogram. "And her raincoat was wet. So were her boots."
"She lied to you about being out?" Aria asked.
"Well, she didn't go far. I checked the driveway and it was dry under her car, so it hadn't been moved all day," Spencer continued.
"Who would she want to show this to?" Aria frowned.
"I can only think of one person who would care," Hanna nodded.
"Ian," Isabel realized, pacing."If she didn't take the car, that means he must be close."
"You guys, Hanna's right. This is the worst time for us to be splitting up," Spencer agreed.
"What do you want us to do? Hide behind a dumpster?" Isabel scoffed as Spencer took the sonogram back from Aria.
"Well whatever we do, we have got to stay together," Spencer said firmly.
"Yeah, no matter how much lying it takes," Hanna added.
-
The girls walked home, and passed the DiLaurentis house again. This time, bags and gardening tools littered the front yard.
"What is that?" Emily gulped.
"They're a bunch of shovels. Get a grip," Isabel snapped.
Suddenly, Jason stepped out from the back garden with a flashlight, shining it on them.
"Jason?" Spencer called.
"Oh," he said, walking into the front. "It's you."
"Yeah, it's... only us," Isabel joked, and Jason smiled at her.
"Um, what are you doing?" Spencer asked.
"I've been replanting all day, and I'm putting up a fence," Jason explained.
"A fence? Why? For what?" Hanna huffed.
"Privacy. Security," he shrugged, walking over. "There's a lot of curious creeps in the world, and one way or another, people are gonna mind their own business. You girls better go home."
The girls started off, but Jason called Isabel's name.
"Yeah?" She asked, walking over.
"I heard you. A few nights ago," Jason told her. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Isabel frowned.
"Leaving you," he replied, wringing his hands nervously.
"Don't worry bout it," Isabel smiled. "You're here now."
"Isabel! Come on!" Spencer yelled.
"Spence! Let them talk!" Hanna shouted back. Isabel rolled her eyes at her.
"See you later, Jason," she said to him, and started off.
"You too, Isa."