"Looks like you and Romeo can go back to play hide and seek. This time I hide and you seek little liar-A"
Rosewood, Pennsylvania 2010
The next morning me and the girls reunite at Spencer's house, the pieces that we order it had arrived and we were there to see them and discuss all about the memorial for Alison.
"I was afraid she wasn't gonna get it done in time for the memorial" Aria said dragging the big wood box with Spencer to the living room.
"And this was someone from your mom's gallery?" Hannah questioned in the couch.
"Right" She replied.
"Where is your mom?" Emily asked getting up from the couch to help the girls with the box.
"There's an appartment above the gallery, so she's staying there, for now" Aria explained.
"That's kinda of weird isn't it? Your mom moving out?"Hannah asked.
"Yeah, like my dad should've left. That's what you expect" Aria said looking at Hannah.
"Aria" Spencer called her out.
"It makes more sense, he was the one screwing things up" I comment from my seat in the kitchen counter.
"Ava" Spencer call my name now, I look at her confused.
"I'm sorry Han, I didn't mean it like that" Aria apologizes to Hannah"The whole thing just sucks".
"I know" Hannah smiled softly.
"Did anyone called Shelly Leonard?" Emily asked, helping the girls opening the box.
"Done, and I told her if she played anything drepressing Ava would kick her in the cello"Spencer admited.
"Hey, why me?" I ask pretending to be offended.
"You are scary to some people" Spencer said with a soft smile.
"Whatever."
"Oh what about the program?" Aria asked.
"Almost done but we should finish it before Ali's brother get's here" As soon as Spencer eneded that sentence I chocked on the coffee I was drinking.
"Wait-wait" I stutter "Jason is coming?" I ask, looking at Spencer without blinking.
"Yeah, he gets here tonight and wants to speak with us tomorrow morning" Spencer said" Sorry Avie but you will have to wake up earlie again" She chuckles.
"It's not fair, I didn't even had a word in it" I complain.
"You know what, I barely remmber Jason" Hannah said getting up from her place in the couch.
"Oh really, I whish" I whisper to myself.
"We didn't know him. Only Avie did" Aria says, turning all the girls attention to me.
"I didn't know him" I say stuttering.
"You went on vacations with him every summer, your families did sunday lunches. I think you know him better than us" Spencer laughed.
"Oh yeah sure, like that. It's whatever, he is just Ali's older brother, nothing more" I say bitting my lips.
"Yeah, he was just Ali's older brother down the hall" Aria said remmebering those times.
"Behind the closed door" That I was normally behind, God how I missed all that emotion of sneaking around to be with him.
"With his hardcore punk music vibrating the floorboards" Yeah thankfully he did have his music loud, because I was scared someone would heard me inside.
"How did he get into an Ivey league school?" Aria questioned.
"He's actually pretty smart" I comment, annoyed to hear them talking about someone they don't even know. "He's really smart" I say again, the girls turn to me with accepting smiles on their faces.
The girls take off the lid of the wood box, I move from behind the counter to next to them to see the memorial we order, it was..
"Beautiful" Aria said, finishing my thoughts.
"Pedestal's already out there, next to the bench. This goes up friday morning"
"Do you think Jason will like it?" Emily asked, they all stay in silence waiting for my asnwer.
"He will" I say, looking at it.
"Years from now, people will see it and that's all they will ever know about Alison. She will be the girl they dedicated the bench to. We will be gone , but Ali will still be remmebered."Aria said.
"Well you know what that is. That's immortality my darlins" I say Alison's go to pharse.
Flasback:
Everyone is here. Like everyone. All seniors and older boys that are popular in Rosewood. And so am I and the girls. Alison asked us to come with her, I had plans but Jason cancelled them last minute so I just showed up here. The girls are tanning each one in their onw chair, Alison in the middle.
"I whish we could just choose the age that we wanted to be and..just stay there" Aria whished out loud.
"The only way to do that is to die young. Leave a beautifull corpse" Alison said.
"Don't joke" Emily said next to her.
"It's not a joke. Oh come on. Haven't you guys ever thought about how delisciously tragic would be to die in some incredibly mystirous way?" Alison asked, she looked at me and smiled.
"Oh that would be superior" I smile, Alison turned to me and smiled.
"You get me Avies"
"Is that how you two really want to go?" Alison looked at me and we both luaghed.
"Not just yet" She shruggers.
"Don't talk like that" Hannah said.
"It's gruesome." Aria told the girls.
"It's not gruesome Aria" I smile
"It's immortality my darlings" Alison said looking at all of us.
End of Flasback:
"Where did she get that from a movie?" Asked Aria, bringing me back to real life.
"Ali was a movie" Spencer said
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The next morning I wasn't sure I was ready to face it. I tried on every piece of clothing I have, even the old ones, but nothing felt right. He always had this affect on me, leaving me naive and anxious but only for a moment, because the second I looked into those green eyes I knew I was safe.
Before, it was like that, now I wasn't even sure if he remmebered my name or the color of my eyes. Yeah I am exagerating, but I haven't seen him since I changed this much. I haven't seen him since that night.
I even went to the cafe to get myself a coffee, I just wanted to get there later as I could, have five minutes with him would be enough for me to want to ripp his head of.
"How long is she gonna take" Asks Jason in the Hastings kitchen.
"I'm sure she is about to come in" Aria says.
"She doesn't normally get's late" Spencer said making Jason laughed.
"I guess you don't know your friend then" He says.
I breath out every anxiety from my body and try to forget every good memorie I had with Jason, I put my hand on the doorknock and walk into the Hastings kitchen.
"There she is" Jason says, he is right at front of the door by the counter, it's impossible for me to pretend he is not there, God he ruined my plan.
"Hey" I say quietly, I notice him coming for a hug so I quickly move to the other side of the counter.
"Yeah, don't worry about being late" He comments.
"Sorry, do you have something to say." I ask him, I notice his smirk but soon it goes away.
"I was telling your friends that you guys have done a lovely work on the memorial" Jason says.
"Someone had too" I say avoiding his gaze.
"I might have done one or two things differently, but we can adjust that along the way" He says with a smile to the other girls.
"Here's a copy of the program for the dedication" He said, landing us a paper.
"Oh, I e-mailed you the program that we worked up" Spencer said.
"Right, I saw the draft. This just fine-tunes it" I couldn't help but laugh at him
"You have something to say Ava?" He asked. Ava, he called me Ava. God it hurted so much that he called me Ava.
"I do actually, what do you think you are doing. We been working on this for a lot longer than you and you just show up here, unannounced what so ever, and think you can change this whole thing" I say annoyed.
"I did anounced that I was coming and I'm not changing the whole program Ava. Some small details. Don't talk without knowing" He said, I swear to god if I could beat him I probably would.
"Now, let's see. If Shely's Leonard is playing something I don't think we can give her more than three minutes. I remmber she's somewhat of a showboat with the cello" He said, turning the page to talk about something.
"Oh wow, you remmeber people from Rosewood, who would have guessed" I say, reciving a under the table quick from Spencer.
"Shut up" She said.
"Then hum...Is this the picture from the program?" He asked holding a picture of Ali
"Yes, it's everbody's favorite"Emily speaks.
"It's the one I would've picked" He admited."I thought I was gonna be able to get my whole family out here, but you know, at last minute, my mom, uhm..." He makes a quick pause, I know this is hurting him even if he trys to play it cool."It's crazy talking about this isn't it?" He asks us.
"When I think about her I think about you" His words get my attention, I wasn't even looking at him as he spoke, but I needed to know now if it was about me. I look up at him he is already looking at me, our gazes met and that same old feeling I had with him comes back. He clears his throat before continuing.
"The six of you in her room laughing, keeping secrets" Once again he looked in my direction only this time I couldn't look at him.
"It was along time ago" I say, trying to end that conversation.
"Yeah, it was" Jason nooded." I want each of you to speak. I'd rather hear from you than Mrs.Slocomb from the PTA." Jason admited
"The PTA was a lot of help" Spencer spoke
"What about the rain?" He asked.
"Rain?" I ask confused.
"Forty percent chance beofre the weekend" He said it like it was obvious.
"Don't worry we can use the school multipurpose room if we have to move the ceremony inside" I say annoyed at the way he spoke.
"Great" She smiles, I give him an anoyed smile, only making his growing more.
"People think this dedication is about closure.There won't be closure until they found out who did this to Alison. The cops in this town have been jerking my family around for more than an year. No more of that" He said, his eyes landing on me. I wanted to ask him if he knows something anything, but again I can't.
"I'm here to get some action and this memorial is gonna help me get it. Oh and I'm adding one speaker to the program" He said, he then grabbed a pen and the paper and wrote it.
"Jenna Marshal?" Emily asked, reading the paper.
"Wait, you want Jenna to speak at the dedication?" Hannaha asked.
"That's right"
"Why" Aria questioned.
"She asked me if she could" He said, like it was normal.
"You talked with Jenna?" I asked looking at him intensly.
"I did, is there a problem?" He asked me this time.
"What do you think?" My eyes scan his face, he wasn't the same Jason.
"It just didn't occur to us that Jenna and Alison were that close" Spencer said.
"Yeah, I didn't know either. Jenna called and said my sister was a lot of help after her accident" I chuckel.
"Oh and of course you picked up the phone, and talked with Jenna Marshal" I chuckel, turning the girls and Jason look at me .
Jason smiled and turned to leave, he picked his folder and cup of coffee " Well, concetrate on what you're gonna say leave the rest of it to me. Now, I'm gonna have a talk to detective Wilden and find out why they haven't located Toby yet."
"I'm sure Wilden will be thrilled to see you here" I joke, I move my chair so Jason can pass I feel his eyes on me as he leaves.
The girls kept on asking each other questions about what just happened. I sat there quietly, with my own thoughts. God he pissed me off so much.
"What else did he say?" Hannah asked Spencer once sh came back to the kitchen.
"Nothing he just kept on smilling like he was running for office."
"Spence why does Jenna want to speak at the dedication?" Aria asked.
"Why does Jason want her there?" Hannah asked as well."I mean, he clearly knows they weren't friends"
"We can't let Jenna speak." Emily spoke from behind the other girls.
"Well, how are we going to stop her without looking like bitches?" Aria asked.
"How are we going to stop her at all?" Even Spencer asked"In case you guys didn't noticed we just got pathed on the head and sent off to play."
"You need to stay on top of him" Hannah told her.
"What? Why me?" Spencer asked the group.
"Because you are the big organizer, you got the laptop of knowlege and he's gonna need some of that stuff" Aria explained.
"Jenna can get up there, she can tell about the fire about Toby" Emily started.
"Ava" Spencer said making me turn to her.
"What?" I ask her.
"You stay on top of Jason" She smiled.
"No, no I won't" I say looking in between them.
"Look, you know him better than anyone of us, beisdes you two were here always picking on what the other said, he clearly trust you more than us." Spencer started.
"I can't" I say looking at Spencer.
"Please Avie"
"Wow, did I just made Spencer beg?" I laugh joking.
When we were all leaving to go to school my phone vibrated, I picked it from the back pocket to see on of it's messages again.
"Looks like you and Romeo can go back to play hide and seek. This time I hide and you seek little liar-A"
Oh great, now I have too annoying people in my life.
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"So you are not coming?"Noel asked me, he was holding two tickets for a concert, one for me one for him, and two other for Hannah and Sean "Don't make me go just with Hannah and Sean"
"You don't have to, you can ask anyother girl" I say, pointing around to the many more options he has "It's not like they would rejct Noel Kahn" I laugh.
"Thta's why I want you. You don't crawll to my feet Ava. You make me crawll to your feet" He jokes."You always have" I can't help but to smile.
"Fine we can go" I say, kissing his cheek before entering my next class.
Flasback:
"Well, well, well.Something new has been added" Alison commented on her chair, looking afar to Noel Kahn.
"Noel Kahn inspecting the troops" Hannah said.
"You know, you shouldn't go out so soon after a boob job. Let them drop down to where they are suppoused to be before you take them out" Alison said
"Prudence Finn had a boob job?" Emily asked Alison.
"She had to do something to compensate being named Prudence" Ali laughed.
"Thinking about it Aria?" Alison asked the older friend, who look like she was in a transe.
"Thinking about what?" She asked.
"Doing something like that to get Noel's attention" She said.
"No"
"Aria likes them brainy. Kinda your opposite Ava" Alison chuckled.
"You would know right" I say, smiling at her.
"Cute, rich and brainy" Hannah said."We get the whole packege with Noel Kahn"
"Ava, what do you think Aria should do to get Noel's attention. After all he is always on your feet" Alison said, smirking at me. She knew that Aria liked him and I knew he didn't like her, because he was into me.
"Nothing, if he doesn't like you for who you are, than he is not good for you" I smile at Aria.
"Personally, I like someone a little more maturity. Not that Noel doesn't have potential. He just lacks a little seasoning." Alison commented " What about you Ava, you also like them more mature don't you?"
"I learned from the best"I smirk at her.
End of Flasback:
"Is that you Ava?" I hear her from behind me, I turn to face her she is already smiling.
"What do you want Jenna"I ask her, I don't think I have spoken with her since the hospital.
"Jason's back, you must be excited" She joked.
"You don't want to play with me Jenna" I say to her, getting closer to her.
"Does Jason look the same?" She smiled" I got the impression he was different. He sounds different.
"He is different" I say "What do you want with us?" I ask her again.
"You know Ava, when I was talking to him, I got the strangest sensation, like Ali was in the room with us" She smirked.
"Jason and Alison are nothing alike" I tell her. He is worst I think to myself.
"Really? I guess I have to beileve you, after all you were the one that spent most time with both of them. Individually, of course" I laugh a little.
"Jenna, you think you know it all, but you have no clue what we are going through, and I am so sorry about what happened to you, but don't you dare to try and fuck up Ali's memorial, cause I swear to God you will regret it." I warn her, I turn to leave but she holds my hand.
"You know, when Ali visited me she told me all about your group, everything about each one of you. But when it came to you, she said nothing, nothing bad at least. She saw you like her sister, she said your strong and weak spot are the same,and now that Jason is back my doubts were confirmed, it's him" Jenna said, letting go of my arm for me to leave but I didn't.
"When I visited in the hospital, I didn't told anyone. Did you?" I asked her.
"I didn't Ava. You can sleep peacfully tonight, no one knows" She said, and left down he hall.
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"Well, that was painless" Jaso says, as soon as we get out the principls office.
"Not for principla's Hartman"Spencer spoke looking at me and Emily.
"He means well, but he needs to know who is in charge" Jason said.
"Oh we all know that" I comment looking down at the floor, Jason stops in his tracks when he hears me.
"Okay, is there a problem?" He asks me.
"Yes" I say, looking at him.
"No, there's no problem" Emily said after me, turning Jason's attention to her.
"You are Alison's brother. You should have that last say" Emily says, I can't control the dry laugh that leaves my lips.
"Oh please Em. We were her best friends." I say
"I'm just saying you are not the only one dealing with this" Emily finishes.
"Do you think that means you know her better than I did?" He askes us, I'm the first to speak up.
"Yes, at least I did"
"No, it just means we knew her in a different way" Emily speaks, trying to change my statment.
"No Em, we knew her better. You know that Jason" I say, this was the first time I was pronouncing his name since he arrived.
"Right here" Dective Wilden points to Toby's locker.
"Detective Wilden" Jason says approaching the man, Oh god please no these two again.
"Oh, you will find this interesting" He says looking at Jason and then at me."We are having a look at Toby's Cavanough locker"
"Why?Do you think he is hidding in there?" Jason asked sarcatly, I cound't help but laugh at his joke.
"He's a suspect." Detective said.
"Well, your investigation better turn up more than Toby's Cavanough old gym socks"
"You made it quite clear the other day you weren't happy with the pace of the investigation. You said you wanted action, I'm trying to give that to you"
"Yeah, you got nothing, I realized that yesterday" Jason commented.
"You know sometimes Jason, we withhold information on the progress of an investigation to avoid any interruptions."
"The only reason you are tearing this kid's locker apart is because he isn't around to object"
"Toby Cavanough called your sister cell phone the night she dissapeared, I checked the phone records, she took the call"
"Toby called Alison the nigt she died?" Emily asked in schocked.
"He did, or somebody else did using his phone" Wilden said looking at us three.
"Oh guys I have to go. Need to get ready for my date" I say. Was I making a little to obvious because of Jason yes I was. But come on It's normal, he is my ex.
"Oh so you and Noel are getting serious" Spencer commented.
"Humm, I don't know yet, but I do like him" As a friends, upsie I forgot to say that part.
"I need to go too, see you guys tomorrow" Emily said leaving and Spencer took that opportunity to leave with her.
I continued my walk down the stairs before Jason called out my name.
"Ava" He said" You need a ride?" He asked. I looked at outside and then at him, I was considering my options walking all the way to my house and then to Hannah's or just to Hannah's and taking a ride with Jason.
"Sure" I replied, yeah I'm taking the ride.
"So, you have a date with an Kahn" Jason lauged.
"What is it so funny?" I ask him, without looking at him.
"Nothing, it's just brings back old memories, I guess" I knew what he was talking about, last summer I used to deny every date that Noel asked me to go, all because of Jason.
"Noel is sweet, and he cares for me" I say to him, I look slighty at him, but he doesn't change his gaze from the road.
"Sweet, boring, pretty much thesame, isn't it?" He teases.
"You don't know Noel and you don't know me Jason" I say. We arrive at my house he stops the car and I undo my seatbelt.
"You right, I don't know Noel" He says, this time looking at me. I look at him for one more second before opening the car door and walking out "Thanks for the ride" I say and walk inside my house.
Fuck I hate Jason Dilaurentis so much.
Sean, Hannah, me and Noel are at Hannah's house, eating some pizza before it's time for the concert. Sean is telling some story back to when he was a kid and everyone seems to be enjoing it, but my mind can't stop two minutes without thinking about Jason and his dam smile, and the way he makes sarcatic jokes. Or the way he stands up for himself, anything and everything about him makes me weak.
"Guys we should get going" The guys said.
"Thanks for the pizza Noel" Hannah thanked.
"Oh don't put it away, it will be perfect room temperature when we get back" He told Hannah " Oh that's the guy back with the crazy bread" He said, mentioning to the doorbell.
"No, no. It's too late for that" Hannah told him.
"I paid for the crazy bread, I want my crazy bread" Noel said, I smiled at him and his stupidity.
"Thanks for coming tonight Avie" Hannah said to me, I smile at her before nooding.
"Of course, it's good. You know, feel like a normal teenager for once" I tell her.
"Yeah"
"Look who is here.It wasn't the crazy bread" Noel said, pointing to Luccas.
"So, you look cute" Noel said, walking towards me by the kitchen counter.
"You think?I wasn't sure what to dress tonight" I tell him. Noel places a hand around my waist and the takes a few straps of hair from my face and behind my ear, where he let's it stay there.
"You look amaizing" He said kissing the corner of my mouth.
"What is this?" Noel askes me, I look up at him confused.
"What do you mean?"
"This?Us?" He asks pointing his finger in between us" I like you Ava, you know that, everyone knows that. Do you like me?" He asked, he was bitting his lower lip and his eyes were scaning every move on my face, any signal that told him I didn't. He didn't find one.
"I do like you Noel, but I don't date, I told you that before" I say to him, I walk closer to him, place both hands on his chest and smile. I was expecting my heart to beat fast or my breath to be stuck in my throat, but none of that happened.
"Yeah, I know. Just making sure you are still the old Ava" He joked.
"Okay, why is everyone always bringing up that." I ask out loud, he laughes at me and shrugges his shoulders.
"Just, it felt more like you" Noel says, before kissing me.
"Well, little Kahn, this is me now. Take it or leave it" I say to him, he doesn't answer me, all he does is chukle and kisses me again.
"So she tried to pin it on you?" Hannah asked.
We were at Spener's, while me and Hannah were at her house we got a message from Spencer an S.O.S message. She is telling us how Ali lied to her brother an framed Spencer.
"That's what she told Jason" Spencer said, sitting on the couch.
"But why you?" Aria asked.
"Because Spencer could stand up to her and Alison didn't like that" I say " She told me that many times"
"About framing us?" Hannah asked shocked. I rolled my eyes before explaining.
"No, about Spencer standing up. Ali would get pissed and then she would tell me"I admit.
"God, this is offically insane" Hannah commented sitting on the couch as well.
"Is that what she told Jenna when she was at the hospital?" Emily asked this time, siting next to Hannah.
"I don't know, I mean, I don't think so, but I don't know" Spencer replied.
"So one minute she is trying to cover it up, and the next she is rattling us out to her brother?"
"Like she wanted Jason to know the fake story in case anything happened to her" Emily connected the pieces.
"Why?" Hannah asked again.
"So they would know who to blame" Spencer spoke.
"God, this really is Alison's movie. I comment.
"Yeah, and we are just filling up the screen" Aria completed.
"Like her side characters" I say looking in between us
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The memorial had to be done in school due to the bad weather outside, but that didn't stop people from coming and saying their words to Alison. Me and the girls at sitting at front. Spencer being the first, Aria, Hannah, Emily and then me. I wanted to be the last of us to speak, it felted that way like we used to do. Waiting for everyone to leave to talk to each other.
"Alison was more than a best friend to me, she was my sister. You never realize how heavy life is until someone takes the one person that helps you caring all your strengh. We all have someone that we trust, a rock, Ali was mine. Alison was so much more than a teenage girl, she was the most strong and admirable person I have ever met. I don't know if it's because we grew up together or because I liked her so much, but since I was a little girl I wanted her to be proud of me and to like me, because I wanted you to be by my side till our last days. I guess neither one of us expected this day to come this soon. There are no words to explain how much you meant to me Ali, and how gratifying was to grow by your side. I remmeber one day, we were watching a horror movie in the living room, while our parent's debated politcs and our brothers were playing games, and by your side Ali I wasn't afraid, I wanted to laugh, I think that moment reflects what we are. Our bond, the confort that we have with each other to knowing that no matter how scary the word is by your side isn't as terrifying as it looks. So Alison in behave of me and everyone's life you touched with your golden spark, thank you" I finish my speech and walk back to my place.
Jenna Marshal is next, I watch as Jason helps her up, Emily extends her hand to hold mine, I look at her she was crying, and so was I.
Once the dedications ended, the girls headed straight to the Hastings residence, I told them I would be right behind them, I just needed to speak with someone first.
"It was beautiful" Jason said from behind me, I turn to look at him, he is smiling.
"Yeah, all the girls made beautifuls speeches" I say to him.
"You anxious?" He askes, noticing how I am plaiyng with my rings.
"Yeah well, you are here" I say, like it was the most obvious thingin the world-
"I am. I'm here for my sister" He looks at me like he doesn't know me, and I have to admit it hurts more then what I thought it would.
"I know. I wasn't trying-" But he cuts me off before I can continue.
"Ava, Alison is the only reason I am back"
"I got it Jason. What? Were you expecting me to expect something different?" I ask him annoyed." Jason, I don't want anything that has to do with you, I'm only talking to you because of Ali. I have told you these before but in case you forgot you are dead to me" If we were in a private place I would slap that pretty face of his, but instead because we are in a public place all I do is turn my back to him and go to Spencer's house.
"I need sugar" Hannah said walking in the kitchen.
"Me too"
"I'm buying"
"That was my folks, they say thanks and so do I. Ava my mom said she will call you eventually, told me to tell you" I nood at him.
"You're welcome" Emily said. While the rest of the girls gave him softs smiles.
"I want you girls to have something" Jason said, picking a small nag from the inside of his pocket" The police returned this to my family, I think you should have it" He said, placing it in front of me.
"The police gave that to you?" Emily asked.
"Alison was wearing it" He admited.
"You mean when they found her?" Hannah questioned.
" After listening today, I just thought you should have it" He said placing a hand on my shoulder, I looked at him one more time before he left "I will be in touch" And he left.
God so many things to assimilate, Alison's bracelt is here but we found one in the woods, he touched my shoulder before leaving. God my head is about to explode.
"If that's Alison's bracelt, what about the one we found in the woods?" Emily asked.
"Someone made a copy of Alison's bracelt"
"Yeah, and made sure we would be able to find it" Spencer said.
"This A person is getting sicker and sicker as each day goes on" The girls nood to my statment.
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Episode 8 done