Four girls sat around the island at Spencer's house. Aria read out flashcards for Spencer, while Hanna complained about it. The SATs were in 12 hours and the girls were trying their best to cram knowledge inside their heads. Well, all except Emily. Rachel wasn't sure where she was.
"This is insane!" Hanna exclaimed, "How many words do they expect you to learn in one night?"
Aria chuckled and flipped to the next card. "Stringent." She read out.
"Uh, tough, inflexible." Spencer repeated the definition.
"It's not like you're actually gonna use 'em." Hanna mumbled.
"Meretricious." Rachel took the next card from Aria's pile.
"I mean, it's not like you go to college and and you just start speaking a completely different language." Hanna continued her rant.
"It's about getting into college." Spencer said, "Meretricious, um, phony, flashy?"
Rachel nodded and put the card down with the others they had already reviewed. Aria took the next card and continued the testing of Spencer's knowledge.
"Hey, what did Noel Kahn say to you after the memorial?" Hanna asked, continuing to change the subject.
Spencer looked at Hanna like she had two heads. "Hello, we are taking the SATs in less than twelve hours. Can we focus?"
Hanna scoffed. "Okay, Spencer, you do not need to know any more big words. You're already scary enough to anyone under fifty."
Spencer gaped at the girls. "I'm not scary!" Spencer complained, "Am I scary?"
Rachel stifled a chuckle with a slight cough. Spencer gave her a look. "A little." Rachel admitted. Spencer pouted slightly before going back to her book.
Hanna returned to the original topic. "Hey, I saw Noel Kahn hugging you earlier and he did NOT wanna let go."
Aria gave Hanna a small glare. "Talk about not wanting to let something go."
"Why can't you just give him a chance?" Hanna asked, "He's smart, he's cute, his Dad owns like, half of Rhode Island, and he's got great lips."
"His Dad?" Rachel questioned. Hanna screwed up her face.
"No. Ew." She said disgustingly, "Seriously, Aria, you and Noel would look amazing together."
"Can we just drop it, please?" Aria pleaded, "I'm not looking for anything other than a friend."
"Why?!" Hanna asked, "Don't you have enough on Facebook? Besides, don't you want someone real, someone you can, I don't know, scratch and sniff?"
Rachel screwed up her face in disgust. "Maybe you should eat your food over the garbage. It would match your brain right now."
Aria chuckled and Hanna sighed and exclaimed, "Look, I am just trying to help a friend out here. We don't all have smoking hot ball boys from the country club."
"What is going on with you and Alex?" Aria asked the studious girl, "Is he back from that tournament?"
"Yeah, he's back." Spencer replied bashfully.
"And?" Rachel pressed.
"And... it's good." Spencer's cheeks flushed a light pink as she thought about her boyfriend. Hanna let out a soft gasp and grinned. The girls looked at Spencer to continue. "It's so good. I want it to last, but I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it."
"So, when can we officially call him your boyfriend?" Rachel asked. Rachel was never usually interested much in other relationships, but when it came to her best friends, she had to be. Just talking about it excited her.
Spencer shrugged slightly with a small smile. Just as she was about to say more, her Mother walked into the room. "Hey, Mom." She greeted her.
"Hey, Mrs Hastings." Rachel greeted her as well. Veronica was dressed like she just got home from work and she was looking through the mail.
"Hi, girls." She greeted the four, "Oh, what smells so good?"
"Garlic bread." Spencer said, "Want some?"
Veronica seemed to hesitate before shaking her head. "I can't. God, I miss food." She said, "Eat some butter for me, will you?"
Rachel grinned slightly. Veronica's phone buzzed and she huffed in frustration. "Why do I have so many messages?"
Hanna turned to Spencer and began to ask Spencer something about Alex, but Spencer quickly told her not to say anything. "Your Mom still doesn't know?" Aria questioned.
"Like I said, I want it to last." Spencer whispered.
Veronica looked up from her phone. "Where's Emily?" She asked, noticing the missing fifth girl.
"She's probably on her way over." Spencer said. Rachel wasn't sure either. Emily was someone who was usually on time; it was strange that she still wasn't there. Even Hanna got there before her.
‧₊˚✧ ୨♡୧✧˚₊‧
Rachel huffed slightly as she tied her umbrella back together. Spencer, Hanna, Rachel, and Aria all walked down the school hallway with Veronica. Once again, Emily was absent.
Veronica seemed erratic as she tried to find any member of the faculty. The storm blowing outside wasn't a good sign, and the SATs may have had to be postponed. Rachel definitely wouldn't complain. She had no problem with getting the day off and having more time to spend with Leo.
"Mom, relax." Spencer said, "If they were cancelled, nobody would be here."
Despite what Spencer said, Veronica still managed to find a teacher and followed her down the hallway, leaving the four girls alone.
Rachel looked around the halls while Spencer got books from her locker and furrowed her brows when she saw the familiar figure of Alex, Spencer's boyfriend. "You didn't say Alex was taking the test here too, Spence."
"Why do you think I wanted my Mom to drop us off and leave?" Spencer said, before turning to Alex with a smile. Alex approached her and greeted her with a kiss.
"Hey, you." He said, before continuing their heated kiss. The remaining three girls tried their best to hide their grins. Spencer never really had an interest in guys, so it was good to see her happy with someone.
The moment was interrupted by Veronica returning and Spencer quickly pulling away from Alex. Veronica seemed to have been unaware because she kept talking. "Nobody here can make a decision to save their life. It's absurd."
"Um, Mom. This is Alex Santiago, Alex this is my Mother." Spencer introduced one to the other. Veronica suddenly had a strange look on her face but quickly hid it when she realized she was doing it. Alex seemed to be acting weird as well.
"Of course, Alex from the club." Veronica said. Rachel zoned out the majority of the conversation, but both Veronica and Alex were acting incredibly strange. Spencer seemed to notice it too but said nothing. Eventually, after several seconds of awkwardness, Alex went to go sign in for the test.
Mere seconds later, one of the teachers approached the group. "Test is on today." She announced, "Rosewood students should register in the library."
"But like, half the school isn't here yet." Hanna said.
"And may never make it." Veronica added, "We saw this huge tree down on Sawmill road, and they've already closed off York street."
"That wasn't because of a tree." A sudden voice said. Rachel looked toward the source of the voice and found Detective Wilden. She couldn't help but dread what was coming next.
He approached the group. "York street's been closed since last night."
"Why?" Rachel asked.
"Somebody decided to pay a visit to Alison Dilaurentis's memorial and destroy it." He explained, "Shattered the tiles, broke the bench."
"When did this happen?" Spencer asked in concern.
"We had to cordon off the area, given it's an ongoing murder investigation." Wilden said.
"Maybe you can spare them the details." Veronica said in annoyance, "They're about to take their SAT's."
"Right." Wilden said, "Good luck on the test, ladies." He then walked away from them.
The girls went quiet. How could someone destroy Alison's memorial? The better question was— who? Rachel had an idea and it all pointed to 'A'.
"We should probably get to the library." Spencer mumbled. The girls nodded and followed Spencer to the library.
Rachel set her books down on one of the tables in the library, the other girls doing the same. Her mind wandered away from the pages of her notes, and onto Alison's memorial. That seemed to be the case for the other girls as well.
"I can't believe it was trashed." Aria sighed, "Just when you thought that 'A' would give it a rest."
"It's like Toby had to kill Alison all over again." Spencer commented.
"Toby? What do you mean Toby?" Hanna said, "His motorcycle was totalled. Isn't he dead?"
"Well, I hear more from Alison now than when she was alive." Spencer said.
"You guys, I thought we agreed that 'A' isn't Toby." Rachel said, "'A' was more than happy to have Toby out of the way."
"How do we know that Toby didn't just send that text?" Aria asked, "And why are we suddenly trusting 'A'? 'A' made a fake bracelet to mess with us."
As Hanna was about to speak, the missing fifth girl finally came. "Emily! Hey, where've you been?"
"Yeah, why weren't you at Spencer's last night?" Aria asked.
Emily sat down and put her bag on the table. "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't get out of practice till really late, so... just went straight home and crashed." She explained, "So, what have I missed?"
"Well, we studied." Hanna said, "They studied, and I annoyed them. And Alison's memorial got trashed."
"Yeah, I heard." Emily said. Aria looked out the window and was surprised to see her Mom, so she quickly excused herself and left. Emily pulled out her notes, as well, to study with the remaining girls.
A few seconds of silence passed before Hanna spoke up. "Maybe Ian had something to do with it."
That immediately got Rachel's attention. "Ian?" She questioned.
"Yeah." Hanna said, "Isn't it weird that he showed up the day of Ali's memorial, and then a few days later it gets destroyed?"
Rachel felt a wave of discomfort. She hated Ian, for reasons she didn't want to face. He was a weirdo, in Rachel's eyes. Yet he was a gentleman in everyone else's. The thought made her sick.
"I don't think so." Spencer said, "It doesn't really seem like an Ian thing to do."
Hanna nodded and looked at Rachel. "What do you think?"
Rachel hesitated. She didn't want to talk about Ian, she wanted to sink into the depths of the ocean and never return. A teacher entered the room and Rachel breathed a slight sigh of relief. "The test will now begin at 10:00 am. If this interferes with any plans you've made for the afternoon, I suggest you make some calls. If you didn't bring a phone, I am sure this tap-happy gentleman over here would be glad to let you borrow his."
Hanna went to speak with the boy, who Rachel knew, but couldn't quite remember his name. She assumed it was somebody Alison used to bully mercilessly. As sad as it was, that was how Rachel recalled most people.
Rachel returned to her notes, trying to remember formulas for her biology class. She should have memorized them by now, but too much was on her mind. Rachel felt Spencer lightly tap her to get her attention and looked up, and there was Wilden.
Great, more interruptions.
Hanna sat back down at the table. "He's seriously freaking me out!" She exclaimed. "Who's locker is he looking in now?"
"He's desprate." Spencer said, "Especially now with Jason breathing down his neck."
"Ours too." Aria added, "What if Jason told the police Alison's version of what happened after the fire?"
"If Jason was gonna tell them, he would have a year ago." Rachel explained, "I don't see him telling them now. Plus, he knows that story's bogus."
"Well, then why do they bring it up?" Hanna questioned.
"To try and drive a wedge between us." Spencer explained, "He's not gonna do that."
Wilden appeared practically out of thin air. He stood right by their table, almost too close. "I'm sorry about the memorial. I know how hard you girls worked on it." He said, "Shocking though, right, something like that could happen out in the open and nobody saw anything?"
Wilden seemed to be looking especially at Emily, and she looked extremely uncomfortable. "Well, everyone here was probably studying. You know, for the test we have today." Rachel snapped, "Try looking for witnesses elsewhere for once."
Wilden ignored Rachel's rudeness. "So you were all studying together last night, then?" Wilden asked.
"Yes, we were." Emily said before anyone else could, "All at Spencer's."
The girls looked around at each other. Rachel could understand why she lied, Emily didn't need Wilden suspecting her of something. But the way she was acting was far from normal, from the moment she stepped into the library to now. Rachel just didn't know why.
"All of you?" Wilden questioned.
"Yes, all of us." Aria said immediately, backing up Emily. Wilden didn't say much else before leaving, but it was clear he was suspicious of the girls. When was he not?
Emily checked her phone for the millionth time and Spencer finally said something about it. "Emily, what is going on?"
"Where were you last night?" Aria asked.
"I told you. I went home." Said Emily.
"Then why didn't you tell him that?" Spencer questioned further.
Emily scoffed. "What happened to all of us sticking together?" She shoved her stuff into her bag and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Rachel asked the girl.
"To the restroom." Emily glared, "But if you don't believe me, we can all try and squeeze into one stall." She quickly walked away from the group.
They were left extremely confused with how she was acting. "Should one of us go and talk to her?" Aria asked.
"No." Hanna said, "She'll talk to us when she's ready."
All of a sudden, Rachel's phone buzzed with a text. She hesitantly picked it up and read the message with a small gasp, which caught the attention of the others.
"What is it?" Spencer asked.
"Define desertion. Seems like you're about to lose Emily. Who's next?" Rachel read the message, "-A."
‧₊˚✧ ୨♡୧✧˚₊‧
With a tornado watch in effect, there was no chance anyone was leaving the school building. Rachel always hated tornados, they scared the living daylights out of her. So while there was still wifi in the building and the power was on, Rachel called and texted her aunt to check on Leo at least every twenty minutes.
"You're sure you guys are okay?" Rachel asked again. She heard her aunt chuckle from behind the phone.
"You worry too much." She insisted, "We have flashlights and lots of food and water just in case the power shuts off. Focus on your exams, honey."
Rachel sighed. Her aunt was right, as much as she hated to admit it. "Fine, but if anything happens, tell me, okay?"
Her aunt agreed, and their call ended there. Rachel sighed and put her phone back down on the table. She suddenly saw somebody sitting down next to her.
"You look down in the dumps, Garcia." Noel said with his signature smirk.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I'm not." She insisted, "Shouldn't you be over bothering Aria?"
"Bothering?" Noel questioned, "I wouldn't exactly call that bothering."
Rachel crossed her arms against her chest. "Well, whatever it is, maybe don't do it." She said, "Now, why are you here? You want me to get Aria to go on a date with you or something?"
"No, I tried that one before." Noel said. Of course, he did. "I was wondering if you were a basketball fan."
Rachel furrowed her brows slightly. "A casual one, I guess." She replied, "Why?"
"I've got floor seats to the Sixer's game Friday night." He explained, "They're playing the Celtics."
"Impressive." Rachel replied, "But what's that got to do with me?
Noel rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I was wondering if you'd want to come with me."
"What, like a date?" Rachel chuckled, "I thought you liked Aria."
"I do, but that doesn't mean I can't go on dates." Noel explained, "Besides, she already said no to going with me."
"Ooh, so I'm the other woman? Sounds like a fun night." Rachel said sarcastically, "But seriously, Noel? A girl rejects you so you move on to her best friend?"
"Well, you didn't have to word it like that." Noel said.
Rachel scoffed. She always knew Noel would sink low, but she hadn't seen it first-hand until now. He was a disgusting pig who lived off of Daddy's money, and Rachel couldn't wait until she could pull him down a few pegs.
"There's no other ways to word it, Kahn." Rachel said, "So take your tickets and go to the game with one of the other dozens of girls you mess around with."
Noel, embarrassed from being publically rejected, just scoffed and left. Rachel shuddered and went back to "studying", which honestly just consisted of scrolling on her phone.
‧₊˚✧ ୨♡୧✧˚₊‧
It was only about half an hour later that the tornado warnings got worse. Every student piled into one of the locker rooms, as a teacher ordered them around. "Move! All the way in, people!"
Rachel was jammed between two guys a lot taller than her; all she could smell was their musty cologne-- gag. Eventually, she reached an empty space and could sit down against a locker. The power flickered as the thunder cracked outside. Out of habit, she wanted to check up on Leo again, but her phone was low, and if it died, there was no chance she was going to be able to call them if anything did happen.
Rachel saw Spencer slumped over on a bench and decided to go sit beside her. "What's up, Spence?"
Spencer sighed. "Alex and my mother." That was all she said.
Rachel quirked an eyebrow. "What about them?"
"Alex is being cold to me, something to do with my mother." Spencer explained, "But he won't tell me unless my mother tells me first."
"And getting something out of your mother is like milking a chicken." Rachel added.
"Weird way to phrase it, but yeah." Spencer agreed. Rachel put a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sure it's nothing." She assured the brunette, "Just ask her, sincerely. Maybe she'll be honest with you."
"Maybe." Spencer smiled softly at Rachel, "Thanks, Rachel."
Spencer wrapped her arms around her. "No problem, Spence."
The girls continued their embrace until Rachel opened her eyes, to see Detective Wilden talking to Emily and Hanna. Spencer then looked over too. Hanna made a motion for the girls to follow, so they did.
They followed close behind until they all reached the library. Though, they didn't walk through the door. Wilden pointed to Emily's purse. "Is that your bag on the table?"
"Where'd you find it?" Emily asked meekly.
"I shouldn't have to tell you that leaving a bag unattended in a public place is not a very smart move." Wilden said.
Rachel felt a surge of anger at the thought of him searching her bag, so she burst through the door and walked straight to the two of them. Spencer, Hanna, and Aria followed close behind.
"What is going on?" Rachel demanded.
"Oh, perfect! We can all be together for an update." Wilden said.
"No, we're supposed to be in the girls' locker room." Hanna explained.
"Well, I'm guessing you girls are used to being in places you're not supposed to be." Wilden said darkly.
Rachel crossed her arms and glared at the older male. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Wilden looked to Emily. "Seems you didn't tell your friends where you were last night, when you weren't studying for the test." He said, "See because I got these really interesting photos. Go ahead and pass it around."
His phone got passed around to each of the girls until they all finally saw what was on it. It was a picture of Emily kneeling on Alison's memorial, holding the broken bits of it in her hands. She looked like she was crying.
"And I see you didn't get a chance to clean your shoes either, huh?" Wilden said. Rachel looked down and saw Emily's sneakers caked in dirt and mud.
"That's not why I went there." Emily insisted.
"Really? So you didn't go back to the memorial to finish up Toby's handiwork?" Wilden questioned, "Or were you just there covering up his tracks?"
"I found it like that. It was already destroyed." Emily explained.
"Really?" Wilden questioned condescendingly. He pulled out something from Emily's bag; pieces of Alison's memorial. "Then let me ask you a question. What were these doing in your bag? Souvenirs? Something Toby asked you to save so he can keep it for his trophy collection?"
"This has nothing to do with Toby!" Emily snapped.
"Em, why do you have those?" Aria asked. Emily stayed quiet, looking down at the floor.
"No, you put those in there, you creep!" Hanna accused him, "Emily would never do that. The memorial was her idea!"
"Yeah, so I heard. Nice cover, huh?" Wilden said. Rachel felt angry and confused. Nothing they said would change Wilden's mind. But she also couldn't come up with a reason why Emily would have those.
Wilden pulled a letter out of his jacket. "Would you like me to explain this to them, or would you like me to?" Emily suddenly looked very desperate and tried to take it, but he moved his hand away, "Go ahead and tell them about the angry letter that you wrote to Alison, which is dated three days before her disappearance."
"You had no right to read that." Emily said.
"Em, what's in that letter?" Rachel asked softly, a complete 180 from her previous tone towards Wilden.
"Tell her. Tell her how you wanted to punish Alison for rejecting you. Tell her how you felt relieved at the funeral. Tell her how much of a better girlfriend she would be compared to Alison." Wilden explained, "Yeah, she wasn't gonna be around to humiliate you anymore, was she?"
Emily turned to the girls with tears in her eyes. "I went back to the memorial to say that I was sorry. There were horrible things in that letter, and I didn't mean them. Then suddenly she was gone, and..." She took a moment and sniffed, "I loved her, as more than a friend. I loved Rachel the same way. I just never had the chance to tell either of them in the right way."
Emily... had a crush on Alison and Rachel? She could barely believe what she was hearing. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Her lack of interest in Ben and other guys, was the main one. Hearing how Wilden had outed her just made Rachel angrier, and she suddenly turned to him.
"Give her back that letter. Give it back to her now, or I swear to God, I will make your life a living hell!" Rachel demanded. She couldn't stand how Wilden was smirking, like he was proud of himself.
"Sorry, I can't." Wilden said to the girl, "And we're not leaving this room until you tell me what you were doing carting around pieces of Alison's memorial!"
"I took them because they were the only things that weren't broken!" Emily exclaimed.
All of the shouting must have alerted somebody, because the library door suddenly opened and in walked Veronica Hastings. Thank God. "What's going on in here? Why aren't they in the locker room with the other kids?" She questioned Wilden.
"Who are you?" Wilden asked, deflecting the question.
"Her mother." Veronica said, "I mean, if this is the school's idea of keeping my child safe, I'm glad I came back." Veronica looked at Emily, "Honey, why are you crying?"
"Because he accused her of killing Alison." Spencer explained, "He went through her purse."
Veronica looked shocked. "Hold it, you're questioning minors without an adult present? What police department do you work for? What century are you in?"
"Ma'am, I would advise you-" Wilden began, but was cut off by Veronica once more.
"Oh no, I would advise you to back off, because anything that they've said to you is inadmissable in a courtroom, period." Veronica said, "Let's go. Emily, honey, grab your things."
Emily packed her bag up once more and followed the girls out of the library while Veronica lectured Wilden. Rachel could say one thing; he looked pissed.
‧₊˚✧ ୨♡୧✧˚₊‧
Back in the locker room, Veronica was talking to the rest of the girls. Emily was seated on a bench alone, staring down at her hands. Rachel excused herself and decided to speak with Emily about what had just been revealed. She sat down beside her and quietly said her name. Emily looked up at her.
"I wish I'd known." Rachel said, "Hey, Alison loved you, and I do too. Maybe not in the way you wanted, but we do."
"I know." Emily said, "I already knew you had someone you liked, so it was kind of a dumb crush, huh?"
Rachel smiled lightly. "Not dumb at all, Em. But hey, I've never liked anyone. What are you talking about?"
Emily grinned. "You might not know, but I do."
Before Rachel could question how Emily knew before she did, the principal spoke up. "Attention! The storm warning has just been lifted, but the SAT will have to be rescheduled."
Students around the locker room cheered at this fact and all began to stand up to leave. Rachel and Emily followed, picking up their bags.
"I'm gonna head home, get some sleep. After today, I think we all need it." Rachel said.
"See you at school tomorrow?" Emily asked. Rachel nodded and gave Emily a small hug, before they walked off in their separate directions. Rachel was just eager to get back home with Leo and for this day to be over.