season 2, episode 19
(I love this chapter)
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"That's what you got from Ali's claim ticket?" Emily asked as the girls peered down at the red raincoat.
Turn out, Spencer had found a claim ticket stuck in the middle of a copy of Lolita, a book that once belonged to Alison. Hanna had borrowed the book a while ago, but had never had the chance to return it. The blonde girl had revealed a memory of seeing Alison with dark brown hair in the salon a few years prior and Spencer had revealed that the name on the I.D was Vivian Darkbloom.
"That's what they gave me" Spencer nodded.
"So, basically you picked up her dry cleaning" Sophie retorted, "I just can't picture Ali ever wearing this"
"Picture Vivian Darkbloom wearing it"
"So now we're saying this Vivian Darkperson had her own wardrobe too?" Emily asked with a raised eyebrow.
"This keeps getting weirder" Sophie muttered.
"Can I touch it?" Aria asked.
"Yeah, it's a raincoat Aria, not a mummy" Spencer quipped.
Aria stepped forward, picking up the rain coat and feeling around the smooth material.
"Where's Hanna?" Spencer asked, making her way over to sit on one of the barstools.
"She and her mom had a meeting with Tamborelli before school" Sophie told her, "Apparently Kate's mom printed out that picture, she's causing a real wildfire, threatening to sue"
"I'm the one that told her that Kate used to be called 'boil n' baggies'" Spencer sighed.
"Who told A?"
"A doesn't need anyone to tell hum, her it. That plan was probably in motion the moment Kate stepped into school" Spencer scoffed.
"Guys check it out"
Sophie turned her head to see Aria tugging a piece of paper out of the pocket of the raincoat.
"What is it?" Spencer asked, standing up.
"It's a phone number" Aria stated, unfolding the paper, seeing a phone number written in smudged, blue ink.
"Whose?"
"There's no name" Aria shook her head, flipping the paper around to see if anything was written on the back.
"Let's call it" Spencer said, taking the phone number from Aria's hand.
"Okay stop!" Emily exclaimed, "Now I feel like we're in a bad place"
"We're in my living room Emily" Spencer sarcastically replied, "we are holding a coat"
"Yeah, that belongs to someone that is no longer alive"
"Em, how could we not call this?" Sophie asked, "whoever's on the other side of the number might know something we don't, like why Alison needed this Vivian Darkbloom I.D"
"Sophie's right" Aria stated, "we need answers"
"Yeah, and who was Vivian meeting, and why?" Spencer added.
"You think we're gonna find that out from a number in a pocket?" Emily asked.
"Well it's probably easier than hiring the fat lady with the tube top at the farmer's market who's gonna tell you your fortune, but if you're too scared-"
"I'm not scared!" Emily shouted, cutting off Spencer's rant.
The brunette shot Emily a questionable look, causing the raven haired girl to let out an irritated sigh. She snatched the number from Aria's hand, pulling out her own phone and calling the number.
"Yeah, I don't know about our fortunes" Sophie started, "but that lady with the tube top makes really good apple butter"
"Hello?" Emily said, motioning to her phone, "okay what if we know this person? What am I supposed to say?"
However, the girls weren't quick enough to answer as Emily pulled a face, listening to whatever was being said on the other side of the phone.
"It went to voicemail" Emily informed them.
"Man or woman?"
"It's a computer"
"Give me the phone" Sophie said, stretching out her hand as she watched Emily fumble on what to say, "Hi, this is a friend of Vivian's, she gave me this number a little while ago. Could you give me a call back on this number today? It's really important, thank you"
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"Wait they still think you sent that picture?" Sophie asked Hanna as the girls stood at the blonde's locker later that morning. Hanna had a meeting with her mother, Kate and Kate's mother with Tamborelli.
"At least you weren't suspended Han, this is gonna blow over" Spencer said.
"Yeah until a gets hungry again and takes another bite out of my ass" Hanna scoffed.
"Hanna"
"No" Hanna snapped, "we thought we had all the power because we had as phone, well guess what now as using our phones against us"
The blonde girl gave an annoyed huff, hiking her bag up onto her arm before turning around to head to class.
The moment the blonde stepped away from the safety of the group, all eyes were on her – literally. No one cared about being discreet when they spoke about her. Hanna could barely make it to the end of the hall before she spotted Kate, talking with her mother and principal. Making a sharp U-turn, Hanna quickly made a get away, walking off in the other direction without saying another word to the girls.
"Guess it could've been a lot worse right?" Sophie sighed.
"Tamborelli's a jerk" Emily muttered, "hit the wall with him last week"
"Wait is he the one that's keeping you off the swim team?" Sophie asked, eyebrows raised.
"Totally" Emily nodded, glaring at the man, "found out he's got some major sponsor on the hook and he doesn't want anyone in the pool who might tarnish the team's image"
"What?" Sophie scoffed.
"God talk about bullies" Aria grumbled.
"How much longer are we going to have to pay for picking up that stupid shovel?"
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"I think I just lost my appetite" Sophie mumbled as her and Spencer made their way through the cafeteria to find some place to sit, only to see Noel Kahn and Jenna cuddling in a corner.
"Honestly there's a time and place and-" Sophie rambled, stopping what she was saying mid-sentence when she spotted a familiar blonde making his way towards them, "retreat, retreat!"
However, it was too late.
Sophie froze at the sight of her ex-boyfriend making his way over to them. If she wasn't hungry from the sight of Noel and Jenna, then she definitely wasn't now.
Honestly, she thought she was going to be sick.
"Spencer, Soph?"
"Hey" Spencer said cautiously, ignoring the glare that the blonde girl was sending her, "what are you doing here?"
"Just had to drop off some old forms" Jason explained, "kids that I counselled after school"
"Where you out of town?"
Spencer's question evidently caught Jason by surprise, as the two blondes gave the girl a weird look.
"Yeah, I was in Georgia" Jason said, clearing his throat, "we're still trying to fix up my grandmother's house, it needs a little work. Hey, can you do me a favour?"
"Umm, what do you need?"
"Give your father a message for me, tell him he owes me a call" Jason said.
Sophie internally cringed at his words, clenching her jaw tightly. Of course, Sophie knew exactly what Jason was hinting at but Spencer didn't. All it seemed she was doing recently was lying to her friends, and she hated it.
"Why?" Spencer asked.
"Just give him the message, I'm back and he cant keep dodging me"
Neither of the girls had time to respond to his statement as their conversation was interrupted.
"Jason!"
Mrs. Montgomery came walking towards the three, a warm smile on her lips.
"Hey Jason, sorry to interrupt"
"That's okay, we were done" Jason smiled, "How are you doing Ella?"
"Frazzled" Mrs Montgomery laughed, "I volunteered to recruit supervisors for tomorrow's event and I'm still short on staff, are you by any chance free?"
"I don't think so" Jason replied, shaking his head with an apologetic smile.
"Well, it was worth a try" Mrs Montgomery shrugged, "What about you Sophie? Can your parents help?"
"They're both out of town for the week sorry" Sophie smiled softly.
"Please tell me your parents are still on board, because I need bodies" Mrs Montgomery said, turning to Spencer.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure"
"What's the event?" Jason asked, jumping back into the conversation, "Maybe, uh, maybe I can be there"
Sophie wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
"Really?"
"Well yeah" Jason smiled, "I mean, you know, if you're desperate enough to ask me, then sure, count me in"
Sophie really wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
"Please put me out of my misery" Sophie groaned, turning to Spencer once the two were left alone, "I'm sick tomorrow I think"
"If I have to suffer through this, then you do to"
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"I thought the whole point of this thing was to stay off your phones" a voice said from behind Sophie, causing her to look up from where she was rapidly sending a text to Spencer.
"Actually, the whole point of this is to tell the truth" Sophie muttered, not even bothering to look up to Caleb.
Sophie was absolutely dreading truth up day, in her opinion the whole thing was pointless. No matter how much the teachers told them just how important telling the truth was, Sophie was struggling to see the bright side of it.
Not long after they had arrived at the school, the girls were split up and sorted into different groups. The one in which Sophie was situated into was in the music room, she had been one of the first to enter the room, which was not slowly filling up with more students.
Much to Sophie's luck both Jenna and Aria happened to be in her group which had led to her desperately texting Spencer about how much she hated this whole idea.
"Did you know she was going to be in this group?" Caleb asked, taking a seat next to Sophie, looking directly at Jenna across the room.
"No" Sophie scoffed, "if I did, I would have given myself a fever this morning"
"This is going to be such a long day" Sophie heard Aria say from the other side of Caleb.
"No kidding" Sophie muttered focusing her gaze back onto her phone.
"No phones" Caleb said again, this time snatching the blonde's phone out of her hands.
"This is exactly why we're not friends" Sophie huffed, reaching over to grab her phone back out of Caleb's hands.
"You've got to be kidding me"
Aria had caught Sophie's attention, as she looked up to follow the brunette's gaze, she saw the exact person she didn't want to see.
"Oh please kill me now" Sophie groaned, sinking further into her seat as her eyes locked with Jason's.
"Who's that?" Caleb whispered, loud enough for the two girls to hear.
"That's Jason"
"He's Ali's brother" Aria explained.
"Just Alison's brother?" Caleb teased, nudging Sophie with his elbow.
"That information is reserved for friends and friends only" Sophie muttered, "I can't do this"
"I don't think you have much of a choice" Caleb said, carefully eyeing Jenna with a scowl, "besides, with everyone spilling their guts today, some of us might have a lot to say, I know I do"
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"Feel free to write down anything you want, it's anonymous" Mrs Hasting's explained as the group began their first activity.
Sophie took the small piece of paper that she was handed, nervously tapping her pen on her chin. For their activity, they would be writing on a piece of paper which would later be stuck to the wall. Mrs Hastings explained that they could write anything they want as they would essentially be writing in invisible ink – only to be seen if a black light was used.
"Jenna, if you need help, I can-"
"No thank you" Jenna snapped, cutting Mrs Hastings off, "I'll pass"
"Well, I'm sorry but that's not really an option" Mrs Hastings explained, "if you'd prefer Jason, he'll be back in a few minutes with the flashlights, or if there's someone else you trust"
"I don't trust anyone around here"
"Okay" Mrs Hastings said slowly, "well, keep in mind that this day is about opening up to new possibilities, and you'll be expected to-"
"To what?" Jenna interrupted again, "to forgive all the classmates who've mistreated me. I'm not big on group hugs Mrs Hastings, I don't need a special flashlight to know what people around here are hiding. This school's filled with phonies and liars, they're everywhere"
"That's a tad hypocritical" Sophie muttered, quiet enough so only Caleb and Aria could hear.
"Takes one to know one" Caleb mumbled in agreement.
"In what ways have you been mistreated?"
"How much time have you got?" Jenna let out a humorous chuckle, "Oh, should I start with the day that I was cornered in the girls' bathroom and smacked?"
"Is she talking about Hanna?" Sophie whispered.
"Did you ever report this?" Mrs Hastings asked.
"Well, you couldn't" Caleb snapped.
"Caleb shut up!"
"No, because if she had, she would have had to admit that she threw the first punch" Caleb continued, ignoring the two girls, "isn't that right Jenna?"
Jenna remained silent after then and Sophie had to try her hardest not to laugh. Jenna being put in her place was a rather amusing sight, especially in front of other people.
"So, just to clarify, we are telling the whole truth today, right, not just the part we want to remember?" Caleb asked, "By the way, this is Caleb speaking, in case you were confused"
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"Hey, have you got a minute?" Aria called after Sophie once the group was dismissed from room on break.
Everyone else had left by now, leaving the two girls alone.
"Sure, what's up?"
"I'm tired of the fighting" Aria sighed, "I messed up I know and I'm so sorry"
Sophie's eyes snapped up to meet the brunette's after hearing her words.
She didn't quite know what she was expecting to hear from the Montgomery girl, but it wasn't this. The two had had an ongoing feud for a couple months now and everyone, the two included, was growing tired of the constant arguing and snide comments.
Aria was similar to Spencer in the fact that once she had an idea, she was quick to shut other's down – especially if it was criticism in any sort.
"You haven't done anything to me, or any of the other girls for that matter, and I was so wrong to behind your back like that. I should've told you what A made me do before I did it. I know it's not an excuse but I'm so sorry"
"I was so mad at you, you know?" Sophie admitted, "the break-up wasn't even the most painful thing, it was seeing you two together"
"You had every right to be angry" Aria agreed, "I shouldn't have done what I did, I'm so sorry"
"I'm not going to say it's all okay, because it's not, you were a very shitty best friend" Sophie said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, "I'm willing to move on from this because honestly arguing is so tiring. But it doesn't mean I forgive you, I can't just get over something like that"
"I know" Aria nodded, "so we're good?"
"We're good, for now"
"I can live with that" Aria smiled, reaching out to pull the blonde girl into a tight hug.
In all honesty, she was glad to have Aria back as a friend, she really did deeply care about the girl. Yes, okay maybe she didn't exactly agree with everything she did and yes Aria did really hurt her. But after everything Sophie had done in the past, who was she to judge?
"I think you should speak to Jason" Aria told her, pulling back from the hug.
"Maybe" Sophie sighed, "I just don't think he'd want to hear what I have to say"
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Aria, Emily and Sophie made their way towards the cafeteria to meet up with Spencer and Hanna when they were given a break from their group activities.
"Caleb went after her? What did Jenna do?" Emily asked as the two girls filled her in on what happened during their first activity.
"Nothing yet" Aria told her, "Caleb thinks he knows who he's dealing with and if Hanna was worried about him before..."
"Where is Hanna?"
"I think there group is still in the courtyard" Sophie said.
"No one called back" Emily said suddenly.
"What?" Sophie asked in confusion as her friends abrupt change of conversation.
"The number from Ali's coat" Emily explained, motioning for the two girls to follow her into the bathroom.
"We should've said we were Vivian, not her friend" Aria suggested, "That message would have been returned"
"Call back, say you're Vivian" Emily said, practically throwing her phone into Sophie's hands.
"What? Why?" the blonde spluttered, "I can't do it, I called yesterday and left that message. He know's my voice"
"You do it Em" Aria suggested.
"Me?" Emily scoffed, "I don't even know what a Vivian sounds like"
"A lot like Alison" Aria said.
"You know what, give it to me" Sophie sighed, taking the phone out of Emily's hands and dialing the number she did yesterday. The blonde was expecting to reach voicemail again, so she was surprised when a female's voice sounded through the speaker.
"Hello?" the voice said.
Sophie's breath hitched when she heard the voice on the other side of the phone. Her eyes widened as Aria and Emily crowded around her, trying to hear what was being said.
"Hello?"
"Hi, uh, I left a message on this number yesterday" Sophie started saying, looking at the other two girls for reassurance, "I'm a friend of Vivian's"
"Yeah, who gave you this number?" the woman snapped, "no one here knows anyone named Vivian, don't call here again"
The phone line suddenly went dead, causing Sophie to pull the phone away from her ear and stare at the girls in confusion.
"She totally got our message" Sophie breathed out, "she definitely didn't sound too happy"
"Or maybe she's just tired of a stranger clogging up her voicemail" Emily suggested.
"Yeah, maybe it is what it is – a number in a pocket" Aria agreed.
"Attention please. Will Emily Fields please report immediately to the vice principals office?"
"What's going on?" Sophie asked.
"Long story" Emily sighed, "I'll catch up with you later"
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"Come with me" Spencer said, grabbing Sophie's arm and dragging her down the corridor.
"Hello to you to?" Sophie scoffed, yanking her arm free from Spencer's gasp and following the brunette, "Spencer? Spencer what's wrong?"
"I need to talk to Jason"
"About what?"
"I need answers"
Spencer didn't say another word after that, she just kept on speeding down the corridor, in search for the Dilaurentis boy. Sophie had to practically run to keep up with her long strides.
Apart of the blonde knew what Spencer had to talk to him about, she was smart and Sophie knew she'd figure out the truth sooner rather than later.
It didn't take the duo to find Jason sitting out in the courtyard, earphones in as he listened to music.
"Jason?" Spencer called out, slowly making her way over to him, "I have to ask you something"
When he didn't reply, Spencer started to talk again, "Just hear me out. Please" she took a deep breath before continuing, "Did you... are you back because – my dad is your father too?"
"Who told you?"
"Ali a long time ago, I just didn't hear it until tonight" Spencer explained, turning her attention to Sophie, "Did you know?"
Sophie didn't respond to her best friend, and that was all the answers Spencer needed. The brunette took off, speeding out of the courtyard leaving Jason and Sophie in an awkward silence.
Sophie wanted to run away but she knew that the two really needed to talk. There were too many things that had been left unsaid and if she was being honest, Sophie hated this awkward place the two were in.
"Can we talk?" Sophie said, so quietly that Jason could barely hear her, "Please?"
"Go ahead" Jason replied, nodding to the empty space besides him for her to take a seat.
The blonde took a seat next to him, pulling the sleeves of her black jumpers, his jumper, over her hands and fiddling slightly with the ends of it. She took a deep breath, trying desperately to collect her thoughts.
How could she tell him the truth when she couldn't even tell it to herself?
"Well seeing as it's truth day, I thought it'd be appropriate to tell you the truth" Sophie started, mentally slapping herself at her lame excuse of a joke, "You know I've never been good at expressing my feelings, I get scared and I don't know I just push you away, and I'm so sorry for that. Seeing you kiss Aria hurt more than I care to admit and not just because she's my best friend. But I'm over it, I was a horrible person to you and you had every right to kiss whoever you wanted"
A long pause followed her revelation, and for a split moment Sophie regretted it all.
"You know what, maybe this was a mistake" Sophie said, standing up, ready to walk off, "I'll just leave"
"Wait" she heard Jason sigh from behind her, she stopped in her tracks, turning her head to see the boy following after her, "I just want to know why you did it? Push me away, I mean"
"I don't know" she shrugged, "I guess I'm just scared of being alone. If you don't open up to people they can't leave, and you don't get hurt"
"Sophie, you know full well I'd never leave you and I'd never do anything to intentionally hurt you"
"You kissed Aria"
"I thought you said you we're over the whole Aria situation?" Jason quipped, eyebrows slightly raised.
"I don't, I mean I do care and I don't know why I care so much, but I do and I guess if you wanna be with Aria then that's fine because I completely understand that I've been a really really bad-"
"I don't want to be with Aria!" Jason interrupted her rambling, "I want to be with you"
"What?"
"I don't care about Aria, Soph. God how many times do I have to tell you that I love you before you understand it?" Jason said, taking a few steps towards the blonde, "ending things with you was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do and I regret it. So much. Okay, yes, when Aria kissed me a part of me wanted to make you jealous to see if you still cared. It killed me to stay away from you"
I love you.
He loves her. Jason Dilarentis loves her. Sophie Langford of all people. For some reason, despite how many times he told her, this was the first time she had actually heard it.
Sophie felt things for Jason she didn't even know she could feel. Their once meaningless hookups had become something so much more. The blonde girls couldn't exactly pin-point the moment her feelings shifted from pure lust to pure love.
In the beginning of their relationship, it was nothing more than a friends-with-benefits situation, all they wanted to do was rip each other's clothes off as quick as possible desperate for some type of physical contact. The moment it was over, Sophie was gone, sneaking out the house with a bad case of post sex hair, careful to not be caught out by her blonde best friend.
But things soon changed.
There were slow, meaningful kisses, soft touches which led them wanting to be as close as possible. Slowly, overtime the two 'hung out' purely because they liked the comfort the other provided. They would spend time together without actually having sex, just laying together in his bed was enough for them.
Sophie had trouble remembering exactly when the lines started to blur – but she wasn't exactly complaining.
Hearing Jason confess his feelings for her left her utterly speechless – something that Sophie Langford was not at all custom to. Instead of replying, she let her eyes travel up his body, scanning over the way in which is muscles were so evidently clear through his thing t-shirt. Her eyes made their way to his face – God his face was so beautiful. She paused momentarily when she reached his lips, letting her eyes linger for a short while. Slowly, she lifted her gaze to meet his eyes. Those green eyes that she loved so much.
His gaze was already locked onto hers and slowly, their bodies gravitated towards each other. His hands wrapped tightly around her waist as hers lifted to wrap around his neck, toying at the sandy blonde locks that naturally fell down the nape of his neck.
Jason leaned down, letting his nose brush up against Sophie's as her breath hitched in her throat. Looking up, she met his eyes yet again, long forgetting the fact that she was supposed to be in the cafeteria for lights out in ten minutes. She didn't care at all at this point, she had waited far too long for this moment.
Sophie pushed herself up onto her tip toes as Jason's grip on her waist tightened, tugging her against his body firmly.
And finally, the Dilaurentis boy leaned down and placed his lips on hers.
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It took Sophie longer than she thought to hunt Spencer down after she left Jason. Truthfully, she had stayed with Jason much longer than she had intended to and the majority of the students were asleep in the cafeteria by now.
Spencer, however, was wide awake, sitting a little away from the rest of their friends by the window in the large room.
"Spencer?" Sophie softly whispered, approaching the brunette girl. Her sudden appearance had made Spencer jump, turning her head to see Sophie standing behind her.
"Spencer, I'm so sorry"
"You knew" Spencer muttered, "you knew about my dad and you never told me?"
"I promised Jason" Sophie sighed, sitting down to sit opposite Spencer, "Spencer I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you, but it wasn't my secret to tell"
"I know" Spencer nodded, sighing as she fully turned to face Sophie, "it's not your fault, I get it"
"Have you talked to your mom?"
"Yeah, it wasn't pretty" Spencer scoffed, "turns out Melissa doesn't know either"
"Spencer" Sophie sighed, watching as her friend slowly started to break down. The blonde wasted no time in reaching over to pull her into a tight hug.
Spencer rested her head on Sophie' shoulder, allowing her to gently run her hands through Spencer's hair as she quietly cried.
"Spence? Soph?" A groggy Emily said from somewhere behind them.
The two turned around to see their tanned friend slowly waking up, stretching as she sat up.
"Oh my god, I've got like six missed calls from that number" Emily gaped as she checked her phone. She reached over, gently shaking Aria and Hanna awake.
"What's going on?" Aria yawned, "What - what number?"
"Where am I?" Hanna mumbled.
"The number in Ali's raincoat" Emily said as her phone started to vibrate, the phone number from Ali's pocket lighting up the screen.
"Do I answer it?"
"Yes, answer it" Aria nodded as the girls all huddled around Emily's phone.
Sophie reached out to take the phone out of Emily's hands, quickly accepting the call and pulling her phone to her ear.
"Hello?" Sophie said quietly.
"Hey, is this Vivian's friend?" A man said from the other side of the phone.
"Yeah" Sophie replied, "this is Vivian's friend"
"What do you want?"
"I just, I had some questions I was hoping you might have the answers to"
"Yeah, well I have a few myself" the man snapped, making Sophie jump, "but I don't want to do this on a phone, will you meet me?"
Sophie took in a deep breath, looking around at the other girls for an answer. The girls all shared a look, nodding at the blonde.
"Yes, I'll meet you"
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Wordcount: 4709
hi
i think this is one of my favourite chapters, it's also very long sorry :)
sophie and jason are back hehe
i've pretty much got all of season 2 done now, and i plan to do double updates each week so that this season can be complete by the end of the year.
things are getting juicy, i love it