"Hey! You know what? I could take a picture and send it to you." -Hanna Marin
-5 MONTHS LATER-
Isabel had done a lot this summer. Her birthday was in August (the 18th. Funny, since she had just turned 18), and she had actually visited her mother. Claudia was overjoyed to see her, and they talked for a while. Isabel decided to stay in Rosewood, which Claudia understood. She also told her about her friends, Jason (she wasn't mad about that (?)), and Mona. Claudia watched the news, and it wasn't something Isabel could keep from her.
She also took a photography class with Aria, spent time with Jason, who taught her more about playing basketball, especially since she wanted to be on the girl's team this year.
"Em, Isabel, you two and I are the only ones who did anything worth talking about this summer," Hanna complained. They were sitting on Spencer's couch, discussing what they did over the summer. Rain pounded on the windows, and everyone but Isabel sported a drink in their hands. (She was so over that.) "I mean, Aria took some boring picture class and Spencer went to college."
"I took a full load at Hollis, and Aria beat out a thousand applicants for a space in that photography class," Spencer scoffed as Aria sat down next to her.
"So, how many houses did you build?" Hanna asked Emily pointedly, sipping her drink.
"Uh, I think we finished about six," Emily smiled.
"And in poor countries, one house is like a home for fifty," Hanna beamed. "How about you, Isabel? Didn't you, like, meet your real mom and become rich or something?"
"Okay, I did not become rich," Isabel chuckled. "She gave me some money as an apology for not being there for twelve years of my life. But I also took a that photography class with Aria, and trained for basketball tryouts this year."
"With Jason?" Hanna smirked. If anyone else heard this, they'd think Hanna was already drunk (she probably was), but this was just how she was about Isabel and Jason.
"Okay, Miss Productive," Spencer laughed. "How much of your list did you actually do?"
"Let's see..." Hanna sighed, pulling out her list. "Cooking class with Caleb. Done." She checked it off. "Volunteer at the Animal Shelter for pocket dogs-"
"Wait. That exists?" Spencer blinked, pulling her cup away from her lips.
"It does," Isabel gushed. "They're so cute! Normally, I don't like dogs, but pocket doggies are adorable."
"Did not do," Hanna frowned, looking back at her list. "Expand my vocabulary. Effectuating," she grinned, and Isabel laughed. "Interned for Vera Wang."
"You got an internship for Vera Wang?" Emily gaped.
"Yeah, I changed my mind," Hanna said, shaking her head. "Turns out they want you to work for free."
Something thudded, and Aria looked around, afraid. "Was that a car?"
"No, it's just the wind," Hanna shrugged a bit too nonchalantly.
"Oh, careful, Em, they're already pretty strong," Aria sighed, taking the flask from her as she dumped more in her cup.
"Maybe for you, you're a pixie," Emily scoffed. "I've gotten really good at this." She brought the cup to her lips, and Isabel and Spencer shared a concerned look.
Their phones all chimed at the same time, and Isabel read off hers."Show me your boobs. 'A'."
"Does Mona have a ten-year-old brother?" Aria huffed, dropping her phone back down.
"'A' for 'annoying'," Emily agreed.
"Are these ever gonna stop?" Hanna sighed, shaking her head.
"Eventually we'll be old news," Spencer nodded.
"Yeah, and then Garrett will go on trial and we'll be news again," Aria said matter-of-factly.
"Or Mona will start talking and we'll be news again," Isabel added.
"Or I'll show someone my boobs and we'll be news again," Emily said, swaying slightly.
"Okay!" Isabel laughed, taking her cup from her. The others laughed with her.
"Hey, I thought this was a party," Emily huffed as she reached for her cup back. Isabel let her take it, but begrudgingly.
"You know what? You're right, Em. Welcome back," Hanna smiled, raising her cup to toast her.
"And you're never allowed to leave for an entire summer again," Aria added.
"To making it to senior year," Spencer toasted, and everyone raised their glasses. Isabel raised her glass of lemonade (what? She loved lemonade.)
"Hear!" She agreed.
Emily looked into her cup sadly. "Not all of us made it." Maya.
"I'm sorry, Em. I didn't mean it like that," Spencer promised, but Emily still looked sad.
Hanna sighed as Isabel raised her cup. "To Maya."
"Em, you know that we're here for you," Hanna said as she took her hand.
"To Maya," Emily called, raising her cup, and then taking a long sip out of it.
"To Maya," they chorused. Emily just looked depressed and sipped her drink.
-
A little while later, thunder clapped and lightning flashed. Aria woke up groggily, and then woke Hanna up. "Hanna."
Isabel walked back over to them. She had gone to the bathroom for a second, and when she came back, they were all awake.
"Where's Emily and Spencer?" She frowned when she walked in.
"I don't know," Aria gulped.
"I need an aspirin and a trough of water," Hanna complained as she sat up.
"Emily?" Isabel called, and walked over to the open door.
"She's gone," Spencer said, walking down the stairs.
"What do you mean she's gone?" Hanna frowned.
"I've looked everywhere," Spencer said. Hanna tried calling Emily. It kept ringing.
This eerily reminded Isabel of a cursed night three years ago.
The night Ali went missing.
-
The girls stood in front of Ali's grave. It was dug open, and Emily said she had no memory of anything. Wind whipped at their faces, and Isabel felt frigid in her thin pajamas.
Emily walked away and leaned against a tombstone. She was really drunk, and Isabel knew from experience that she couldn't have done this. Hanna walked over to comfort her.
"How could she not remember anything?" Aria whispered to Isabel and Spencer.
"She's totally out of it. She's still drunk," Isabel scoffed, crossing her arms.
"You don't think that she had anything to do with this, do you?" Aria whispered back.
"No! She- she can hardly stand," Isabel hissed. "When I was drunk, I could barley even pick up a cup, let alone a damn shovel."
"How did she get here?" Aria frowned.
"Han, hand me Em's phone," Spencer called, walking over to her. She scrolled through it and blinked at it. "Em, you got a blocked call at eleven. Who- Who was it? Do you remember who you talked to?"
"Um... I think I remember leaving your house, and the next thing I know, you guys are calling me and I'm here," Emily muttered, slurring her words a bit.
"What? That can't be right," Spencer frowned as she stared at Emily's phone.
"What is it?" Isabel asked.
"It says that at midnight she got a call from my phone," Spencer said, pulling out her phone.
"You were asleep, right?" Aria replied.
"Oh, my God. Somebody called Emily from my phone," Spencer gaped, looking at it. "Somebody was in my house. You guys, this is a set-up."
Suddenly, a twig snapped, making the girls look around wildly. No, this can't be happening. 'A' can't be back!
"What was that?" Hanna gulped. Lightning illuminated the headstones occasionally as thunder rocked their ears. The lighting was terrible, so they couldn't see who was there.
"We need to get out of here," Spencer panicked. "Now." She picked up the shovel, and Aria and Hanna helped Emily up.
"Come on," Isabel called as they ran away.
-
"If I never see another shovel again, it'll be too soon," Hanna huffed. She, Aria, and Isabel were burying the shovel in the woods.
"Wait. Do we wipe it off or something?" Aria asked. "Do we wipe off the prints?"
Isabel took the shovel from Hanna and wiped it off with a jacket.
"Who would do this to Emily?" Aria asked as Isabel worked at it. "Who would do it to Ali?"
"Some twisted psycho," Hanna huffed.
"The only twisted psycho we know is locked up at Radley," Isabel pointed out as they kicked dirt onto the shovel.
"Let's get out of here," Aria said as they ran off. Thunder boomed, and they were shivering as freezing cold wind stung their faces.
-
Isabel drove the three of them home. As she turned a corner, she saw Lucas and gaped.
"Duck," Hanna hissed from the backseat.
"Really?" Aria frowned.
"Get down!" Isabel commanded, pulling her down with her.
Lucas crossed the road, and they watched him walk. Aria was the first to speak. "It's Lucas. What is he doing out so late?"
"Shh!" Hanna shushed.
"Hanna, he can't hear us," Aria scoffed.
Thunder still crashed as Lucas unlocked and hopped into his car.
-
"What's going on?" Aria asked as they walked into Spencer's house. She was writing on a notepad, and Emily stared at the empty hearth.
"We're leaving. We're going to the lake house," Spencer explained. "When my mom reads this note, she'll think that we've been up there since this afternoon."
"Em?" Isabel called.
The next morning, the phone at the lake house rang. The girls were already awake, sitting rigidly on the couches.
"Hello?" Spencer asked when she answered it. She paused, obviously hearing about the news of Ali's grave. "Were there... Any witnesses? No, mom, I... I understand. Okay, bye." She hung up and turned to the others, who were waiting expectantly. "The caretaker called it in this morning. The place is crawling with reporters, but the police don't have any leads."
Aria let out a sigh of relief. "So we're okay. Nobody saw us."
"Yeah," Spencer nodded.
"I'm so sorry, guys," Emily muttered as Aria leaned back on the couch. "This is all my fault."
"No one's blaming you," Isabel assured her.
"Yeah, Em. Somebody took you there to make it look like you dug up Ali's body," Spencer added, sitting down.
"And I made it so easy. If I wasn't so wasted-" Emily rambled.
"Em," Hanna said, cutting her off. "Last night never happened."
"Are we sure about that?" Aria gulped. "We can still go to the cops. We can tell them the truth."
"We don't even know what the truth is," Isabel pointed out, and they all sighed.
"Okay," Spencer decided, weaving a story for them. "We got up here yesterday afternoon. We roasted some marshmallows, we talked about how much fun senior year is gonna be, and... We went to bed early." Unbelievable, but okay.
"Em?" Hanna asked, turning to her.
"I understand," Emily nodded. "Last night never happened."
-
Isabel was back at her apartment. She had bought necessities such as a nicer bed, kitchen items, and a new laptop for school. (Her old one broke in the Pond-Not-A-Puddle Incident.)
Jason was on a business trip, but he practically lived here now, even though Toby had done a good job of fixing up his house. He liked the company, along with other things...
Speaking of Toby, Isabel left for the Brew. She got her job back (since she'd left for three weeks in the summer to Montecito), and was supposed to meet Toby in between shifts. At the Brew, Isabel met up with Toby.
"Hey," she grinned, pulling him into a hug. "How are you? I hear you've moved upstairs, and-"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down," he laughed. "Can I get a cup of coffee first?"
"Sure," she nodded.
Once they were seated at a table, she resumed talking. "So, you're living up there while you do renovations?"
"Yeah, the owner is letting me live here rent-free, as long as I do the work," Toby replied, sipping some coffee. "Except, the water doesn't work, so I shower at Spencer's."
"I bet she likes that," Isabel smirked. She knew Spencer was waiting for the perfect moment, but, just saying, if Jason showered at her place every day...
Toby smiled at her over his cup. That was how his cheery friend was. "So, how was your summer? You went to Montecito, some photography camp...?"
"Yeah, I met my real mom," she nodded, tensing at the word. She was still quite apprehensive about Claudia, especially since she left Isabel when she was only six.
"Is she nice?" he asked.
"Yeah, I guess," Isabel shrugged. "I mean, as nice as a mother who abandoned her kids when they were still in kindergarten, but hey, why hold grudges?"
Toby sighed. "I know, but you still have to give her a chance. I loved my mother, and look what happened to her."
Isabel looked down sadly. Toby didn't really talk about his mother, but she'd gotten him to open up about it, and she learned that Mrs. Cavanaugh committed suicide at Radley. Isabel didn't try to bring it up too much, especially since Radley was where Mona was now.
-
Later, Isabel bumped into Spencer and Hanna at a clothing store.
Spencer's phone rang, and she checked it. "It was just Toby. I'll call him back."
"Does he like the loft?" Hanna asked as she sifted through the clothing rack.
"Well, he comes over to shower every day because the plumbing is broken, so I really like the loft," Spencer grinned, and Isabel nudged her playfully.
"Hmm," Hanna smirked, and Isabel and Spencer laughed. They noticed some ladies whispering and staring at them, and Hanna sighed. "We are always going to be those girls who knew Alison."
"And now Maya," Spencer added.
"Hey! You know what? I could take a picture and send it to you," Hanna called sweetly, holding up her phone at the ladies. They stopped whispering and walked away.
"Look, I keep on replaying last night in my head," Spencer whispered. "Guys, there was somebody in my house."
"While we were sound asleep, they were right there, they were in the same room as us," Isabel nodded. "I just... I really want to turn my brain off."
"Can we ditch our moms and go catch a movie?" Spencer agreed, looking around.
"Ohh, I can't," Hanna replied. "I have an appointment with Dr. Sullivan."
"Oh. You're seeing her again?" Isabel asked.
"Yeah. A little," Hanna shrugged.
"But you... Wouldn't tell her about..." Spencer whispered, looking around.
"No!" Hanna assured them. "Come on, I wouldn't do that to Emily."
"Yeah, but it's not just Emily. We were all there," Isabel added, crossing her arms.
"Hanna, we should get going," Ms. Marin called.
"Okay," Hanna nodded. "You know what, I'll call you later." She said as she walked off.
"Bye," Isabel smiled at Spencer, and walked away, too.
-
"Even if I say his name we get sucked into this vortex of awkwardness," Aria huffed. They were at lunch the next day, and Aria was talking about Ezra. Spencer, Hanna, and Isabel listened. Emily wasn't there. Isabel didn't blame her. "And my dad pretends like he can't hear, but his neck gets all red and then his face pinches up like he's constipated."
"So basically Ezra is like Lord Voldemort," Isabel frowned, and Spencer smiled. "Finally! Someone gets my Harry Potter jokes."
"Hey," Hanna said as she walked up to them.
"Hey," Spencer smiled. Suddenly, Lucas walked by, and she stared at him. "Hi, Lucas."
He ignored her and walked off. Aria looked at them and said, "He knows something."
"I thought you said he didn't see you guys," Spencer frowned as they started walking.
"He didn't," Isabel assured her.
"It's no coincidence that he turned dark after the masquerade ball," Hanna added as they watched Lucas talk to some girl.
"Jenna has that effect on people," Spencer agreed.
"Yeah, but she's been gone all summer, and he's still Boo Radley," Isabel pointed out.
"Have you ever noticed how many skinny brunettes go to this school?" Hanna huffed and Isabel glared at her. "Sorry, not you."
"Anyway, she fits the costume," Aria shrugged.
"Has anybody heard from Emily?" Spencer asked, turning to each of them.
"No. I left her a bunch of messages," Isabel sighed.
"Yeah, me too," Aria and Hanna nodded.
"Hope she's okay," Aria gulped. They continued talking for a bit, until Aria left for the bathroom. Suddenly, they heard her screaming, and they ran over.
"Aria!" Isabel yelled as they hurried into the bathroom. Please don't be 'A', please don't be 'A'-
"Aria, are you okay?" Spencer gasped. Aria was huddled in a corner of the bathroom with her knees up to her chest. They knelt down next to her, and Isabel noticed that she was shaking.
"I had a panic attack," she gulped. "Guys, I think I saw 'A'." Isabel froze. No.
"No, you didn't, ok? Mona is in a straight jacket at Radley," Spencer promised, putting a hand on Aria's shoulder.
"Yeah, I-I heard that's she's practically in a coma over there," Hanna agreed.
"Or that girl interrupted thing could just be an act to keep her out of jail," Aria stuttered as they helped her up. "I mean, you know what she's capable of... we all do."
"Yeah, but she can't hurt us anymore, okay?" Isabel promised.
"Bitch crazy," Spencer nodded.
"Don't worry, Aria. Someday we will all have jubilation," Hanna smiled sadly.
Aria laughed and hugged her. "That was a really good use of that word, Han." Spencer and Isabel piled on.
-
A few days later, Isabel was working at the Brew when she got a call from the Rosewood PD summoning her there to answer questions. Her heart was lodged in her throat, and she could only choke out an "okay."
At the station, Isabel gave the rehearsed paragraph.
"We went to Spencer's lake house. We made a fire and Emily showed us pictures from the trip. We spent the evening catching up. It was a pretty low-key night," Isabel said.
The girls walked out of the station, and Caleb ran up to her.
"Are you okay? Why did they call you down to the PD?" Caleb asked.
"It's okay, Caleb, it's just a... routine follow-up," Isabel smiled, hugging herself.
"Do they think you had something to do with Ali's grave being dug up?" He pressed.
"Caleb, don't worry. We were at the lake house the entire night, so they have nothing against us," she promised. He nodded and hugged her. Isabel felt even worse about lying to him, especially since he was her brother.
-
The girls were in their bathing suits for some pool party or whatever, and they had been calling Emily for the past twenty minutes. They arrived at Spencer's house.
"I'll try one more time," Hanna sighed, dialing Emily's number. She had a pink top on, and a towel around her waist.
"Why wasn't she at the police station?" Aria frowned as she walked into the kitchen. She had a black and white frilly top with jean overalls over it.
"Do you think she told 'em the truth?" Isabel added, pulling out some cups. She was wearing a black ruffled bikini top and black ripped jean shorts.
"If she told 'em the truth, we wouldn't be standing here," Spencer pointed out. She wore a black and red plaid shirt on and denim blue shorts. Just as she pulled out the lemonade, there was a knock at the door, and Hanna rushed to answer it.
"Em, that was me calling you. Where have you been?" Hanna said as she opened the door. Emily was in her running clothes, and looked quite agitated.
"It's okay. If you told them the truth, we'll figure something out," Isabel promised, walking over.
"No, I would never do that to you guys," Emily swore.
Well, they called all four of us into the station," Spencer replied. "Where were you? We were so worried."
"I didn't have my phone with me yesterday," Emily explained. "And when I got home last night, the cops were waiting for me. But I told them everything that we agreed on. Everything."
"Then why are you so upset?" Hanna asked worriedly.
"Because if it wasn't for me, we wouldn't be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and it could haunt us forever," Emily gulped as they walked over to the couch.
"Em, it's fine. Okay? We've dealt with it," Isabel assured her.
"I saw you guys at school yesterday, and all I could think about was because of me-" Emily began.
"Because of you, nothing. Okay? Nobody saw us, and if we just stick to our story, we are in the clear," Spencer said firmly.
"I remembered something... About that night," Emily started, and she went on to explain someone driving her in a car with a retractable hood.
"That's it? That's all you remember?" Hanna asked incredulously, and Isabel glared at her.
"I found out online that some people forget things because they don't want to remember," Emily continued as they all watched her very closely. "And if this is selective, then anything can trigger it- sights, smells, sounds."
"So the car that you saw, it just looked like the car from that night, or it was the car?" Isabel frowned.
"I don't know," Emily shrugged. "I started to talk towards it because I wanted to look inside, but... I got a text. And the person that sent it to me knows I don't remember what happened." She pulled out her phone, and Spencer took it from her.
"'I bet you remember me'," she read as Isabel looked over her shoulder.
"Guys, is it starting again?" Aria asked, voicing Isabel's thoughts.
"No. You guys, that's not 'A'," Hanna assured them. "Mona is 'A', and she's drooling in her bed at a nut hospital."
"We don't know that for sure," Isabel pointed out, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, we do," Hanna sighed, looking away for a second. "I've been visiting her."
"What?" they all gasped.
"Look, I didn't tell you because I knew you'd think I'm crazy," Hanna reasoned.
"Yeah," Spencer scoffed as they all stared at her.
"She tried to kill you, Hanna," Emily reminded her.
"She's locked up in a room with bars over her windows," Hanna argued. "Trust me, she doesn't know anything that happened that night."
"Yeah, well, someone does," Emily huffed.
"That somebody might be 'A'," Isabel gulped.
"Isabel, 'A' is locked up in a mental hospital, being visited by her," Aria said, staring at Hanna.
"There's something I need to show you guys," Spencer muttered suddenly.
-
The five of them were at that hotel room where 'A's lair was. She was showing them a digital recreation of it on her laptop.
"Ali's shrine is right over there..." Spencer said, pointing to the window. "And then over here she had a row of black hoodies all just perfectly hanging, ready for 'A' to grab one and run." She walked up to a wall and pointed to it.
"Mona," Hanna corrected. "Ready for Mona."
"Yeah," Spencer nodded. She gestured to a closet door. "And there was a zombie costume hanging on the back of that door. Just like the one that attacked Ali on Halloween."
"O-okay, so you've been coming here all summer trying to remember what was in this room. Why?" Emily frowned.
Spencer exchanged worried glances with the others. "We have to tell Emily the truth."
"The morning after they found Mona's body, we came back here," Isabel sighed, walking over to Spencer.
"Yeah, to get rid of everything. I know. You told me," Emily nodded.
"We lied to you," Aria stated plainly.
"We didn't want it to be another thing you had to worry about," Hanna added.
"When we came back here, it was empty," Spencer explained. "The file cabinets, the maps, pictures, Ali's diaries... everything was gone."
"Maybe the police took it," Emily shrugged.
"If the police found out what Mona knows about us, my mom would be in jail," Hanna pointed out.
"Yeah, Ezra too," Aria agreed.
"And Jason," Isabel nodded.
"So who took it?" Emily asked, looking at Spencer.
"Well, there are things that don't really add up," Spencer went on. "Like Mona was with you when 'A' gave Emily that massage." She nodded at Hanna.
"And there's no way that she could have gotten Ian's body out of the bell tower by herself," Isabel added, putting her hands on her hips.
"Wait. You're saying that you think someone was helping her?" Aria frowned.
"If the Black Swan wasn't guilty of something, why would she run from you guys?" Spencer said, pulling up a picture of the Black Swan's costume.
Suddenly, a car alarm sounded, and the girls ran outside.
Spencer's car alarm was going off, and all of the doors were open, revealing the photos strewn all over. Photos of the five of them at Ali's grave, looking hella guilty.
They walked over to the open trunk, and as they did, their phones all beeped simultaneously. Dread washed over Isabel as she opened the message.
'Mona played with dolls. I play with body parts. Game on, bitches. -A'