"I have enough daddy issues of my own. I can't deal with having issues about hers [Aria's], too." -Hanna Marin
(A/n: Thank you all so much for 4k views! Also, shout-out to everyone voting on these chapters. Thank you 🙃)
Curse Spencer, but the girls were back in the school at night, trying to get Ali's journal back.
"Either there's something in that journal that explains why Aria's dad would meet up with Ali the night she died, or we have to believe Garrett's story," Spencer explained as they crept through the halls.
"We couldn't do this at lunch tomorrow?" Hanna complained.
"Do you wanna run into Harold and his rusty bolt cutter again?" Emily asked sarcastically.
"The school basement is creepy at night," Isabel shuddered as they approached the stairs. Why'd she ever agree to this?
"How does this prove anything Garrett says?" Hanna asked once they were walking down the stairs, into the creepy basement. "He was in Ali's room that night."
"Maybe he just made that stuff up from reading her journal," Spencer replied.
"Why? To stop us from thinking he did it?" Emily scoffed as they entered the halls.
"Garrett was shot because he opened his mouth about Byron's blackmail money," Isabel added.
"Kinda makes me believe he was telling the truth," Spencer nodded.
"I really hope it's not true about Aria's dad," Hanna muttered. "I have enough daddy issues of my own. I can't deal with having issues about hers, too."
"I wish I had daddy issues," Isabel mumbled, and Hanna stared at her. "I wish I had a dad." That shut her up.
They finally reached the janitor's closet. Hanna said, "All right, you guys go in. I'll keep watch."
"You hit the switch," Spencer whispered to Emily once they were inside.
"I can't find it," Emily complained, and Isabel stumbled over something in the dark. Suddenly, there was a thump, making them turn around in alarm.
"There's somebody in here," Spencer gulped. A hooded figure rose, making her and Isabel scream. They darted past them, and Hanna, so that before Hanna could even blink, 'A' was gone.
"Hanna, look out!" Spencer yelled, but it was too late. 'A' was gone.
"Did you see anything?" Emily asked as she and Isabel hurried out, too.
"I didn't get a good look," Hanna replied, and Isabel swore under her breath.
"Guys," Spencer called, reverting their attention back to her. Isabel and Emily rushed into the room as Spencer turned on the lights. All of Harold's things were gone, and so was Harold. Hanna also ran in, gaping at the empty room.
"Where's all of Harold's stuff?" she frowned.
"It's like he was never here," Isabel added, looking around.
"Look, there's Ali's journal," Emily said, pointing to it on a bookshelf. She grabbed it and started off. "Come on, let's go."
"No, wait," Spencer called, snatching the book from her. She flipped through the empty pages, and Isabel's breath hitched when she saw the 'A' message on one of them.
'Keep moving, ladies. Nothing to see here. -A'
-
"Soy..." Spencer asked, walking toward the girls. In her hands were five coffees, and she held the soy one out. They were at the Brew the next morning, discussing what had happened. "Unsweetened, no foam." Aria took it the coffee gratefully.
"You deserve a medal," she smiled. Spencer handed each of the girls a cup, and sat down, sipping her own coffee. "You guys, I tossed and turned all night. I'd wake up from a dream about keeping secrets from Ezra, and then I'd fall asleep and I would dream about falsely accusing my dad. Weirdly, both of them ended with my teeth falling out."
"Anxiety dreams," Isabel nodded. "Usually, in mine, I'm falling down an endless void, and then, right before I hit the ground, I wake up."
"In mine, usually there's always a piece of gum in my hair, and I just keep pulling and pulling until I'm bald," Hanna shuddered.
"Academic decathlon," Spencer added, turning her coffee cup around in circles. "I show up to state finals with my underwear on the outside."
"Are you still gunning for team captain?" Emily asked as Spencer looked down at her from her perch on Isabel's armchair.
"Didn't you hear?" Spencer asked. "Brad Langfield got into a bike accident. He's gonna need physical therapy. The very grim upside is that I'm running unopposed." She looked back at Emily. "Are you the only one of us that got sleep?"
"Are you kidding? After last night?" Emily scoffed.
"So everything's gone?" Aria frowned. She wasn't there last night.
"Everything but a fake diary," Isabel said sarcastically.
"We've gotta talk to my mom about where my dad was that night," Aria sighed, not meeting anyone's eyes. "My teeth actually feel kinda loose right now."
Suddenly, everyone's expressions' hardened, and Isabel turned around. Mona was standing there, and Isabel couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. "Hey, ladies. Losing sleep? Me, too."
"What exactly are you talking about, Mona?" Isabel thought, but before she knew it, the words were tumbling out of her mouth as an insult.
"Remember that creepy Harold guy, from the Lost Woods Motel?" Mona replied.
"What about him?" Aria frowned.
"He was at our school, stalking me," Mona scoffed, but Isabel was doubtful. Harold? Stalking Mona? "He bribed the real custodian so he could have the job."
"Why would he be stalking you?" Spencer asked, getting straight to the point.
"I used to talk to him once in a while, and he sort of ran with it," Mona shrugged. "When I told him it was inappropriate, he didn't take it so well. And after what happened at the 10k, I told my parents, and we went to the school administration."
"You think that he rigged that explosion in the shed just to hurt you?" Spencer asked skeptically.
"I guess the police are looking for him now, but Harold's gone completely off the grid," Mona sighed. "I really hope they find him soon."
"You sure it was him?" Hanna scoffed, and Isabel rolled her eyes.
"Who else would it be?" Mona shrugged, almost innocently. "Anyway, I just thought you guys should know." She walked off, leaving them slightly surprised.
"Okay, please tell me no one else bought that," Emily huffed the second she was gone.
"Well, I'm just glad it's over with," Aria agreed. "Meredith thought that we did that."
"So Mona did us a favor. We did not ask for it," Spencer said nonchalantly. "We definitely don't owe her anything."
"I wouldn't call anything that Mona does a favor," Isabel scoffed, clutching her coffee.
Spencer looked over at Hanna, who was silent. "You know her better than any of us, Hanna. What do you think?"
"I think there's more to the story," Hanna shrugged darkly.
-
Isabel stormed up to Jason before lunch the next day.
"What the hell is this, Jason?" she scoffed, pulling up Mona's pity video. He frowned as she glared at him. "I heard that you're supervising her now?"
"Je-" he muttered.
"Jason, I'm not in the mood," she snapped, and he sighed. "Now tell me why the hell you're condoning her craziness."
"Isa, look," he replied, pulling her into an empty classroom so that no one could hear them. "I want to know who dug up my sister's remains, and since Mona obviously knows, and supervising her pity parties will get her to tell me, then I'll do it. Besides, that person might be 'A', or working with 'A', and I want to find them. I want to know who's torturing the girl I love."
"Lemme guess, if she asked you to kiss her to find out who stole Ali's remains, you'd do it in a-" Isabel huffed, crossing her arms and ignoring the second part of his sentence. She stared at him indignantly as he grinned down at her.
"So you don't care that it's Mona, you're just jealous," he teased.
"You didn't answer my question," she whispered, envy filling her up like water.
"Isa, I would never, ever, ever, cheat on you, and I swear it to Ali's grave," he promised, and she believed him. He wasn't lying, and the fact that he swore on his sister's grave only made her trust him more. She sighed as he pulled her into a hug, biting back a smile.
-
At lunch, the girls congregated. Supposedly, Mona was trying to steal Spencer's spot as captain of the decathlon team.
"Maybe her phone was hidden or something," Emily said as Isabel played with her food.
"If she's gonna dip bag into the 'A' bag to scare me off the decathlon team, she's got another think coming," Spencer huffed.
"Is being Captain Brainiac really that important?" Hanna frowned.
Isabel dropped her fork and stared at her. "Uh, yeah it is, if you wanna get into UPenn. I mean, I'm the captain of the girl's basketball team, co-chair of the theatre club, and I placed second in high jump for track and field."
"Whoa, you're almost worse than Spencer," Hanna blinked, and Spencer scoffed.
"Do you know something we don't?" Emily frowned, changing the subject.
"No. I'm just saying, if Mona's back to her old tricks, then maybe we should stay away from her," Hanna shrugged.
"Like sabotaging Brad so she could run against me for team captain? That's so..." Spencer began, and Emily finished her terrifying thought.
"Ali," she gulped.
Suddenly, Isabel noticed that Mona was making a beeline for them, and she nudged Hanna.
"She's coming over here," she muttered under her breath, and they all stared at Mona.
"Hi, Spencer," Mona smiled, actually walking over. "Listen, I just wanted to thank you for being such a good sport. I know that the two of us running for the same position could have caused some tension." Spencer scoffed, yet Mona went on. "I didn't mean to make a big deal of that. I would've called or texted, but..."
"Oh, no, Mona, I got your text," Spencer said, faux sweetly. "Yesterday."
"Oh, I'm not allowed to have a cell phone," Mona replied, shaking her head. "No texting, no Internet. Part of my release terms from Radley."
"No Internet. So how did you post that apology video?" Emily scoffed, but Isabel already knew the answer. Jason.
"The vice-principal said that I could have limited access to the computer lab," Mona nodded. "Homework only, supervised."
"That was certainly calculating, but I wouldn't call it trig," Aria said sarcastically.
"I thought it was the right thing to do, so I asked Jason and-" Mona began, looking down.
"He's helping you?" Spencer huffed.
"He supervised," Isabel said through gritted teeth, still having a grudge against Mona.
"You knew?" Emily asked incredulously.
"Yeah, and I don't condone this at all, but hey, at least he's not cheating," Isabel snapped a little too forcefully. They all stared at her, and she looked away.
"It was my idea," Mona went on.
"We know you were sneaking out of Radley, Mona," Hanna huffed. "How are we supposed to believe anything you say?" Mona looked at them with fake-tears in her eyes.
"Mona?" Isabel asked.
"The doctor said that people might have some trouble," she gulped. "It's just been a little more overwhelming than I thought, you know, to confront the past and work it out with all of you." She paused as more fake-tears filled her eyes. "Can you excuse me?" She rushed off, upset.
"That was part of her act, right?" Aria frowned.
"Yeah, let's go," Hanna muttered, getting up. Isabel soon followed.
-
Isabel, Emily, Hanna, and Aria walked into Aria's room, still disturbed by what Mona had said.
"Jason checks out," Isabel sighed as they walked in. "Apparently, he was working with Mona, but just her Internet nanny. All so that he can find 'A'. God, I'm stupid." She sat down on Aria's bed.
"Hey, he's just trying to help us," Emily assured her, putting a hand on Isabel's shoulder.
"Great. We still don't know who's helping Mona," Aria complained. She then sighed. "I talked to my mom yesterday."
"You look a little green," Hanna nodded.
"Yeah, I've been feeling queasy," Aria replied, frowning slightly. "I don't know, I think the stress is just getting to me."
"What did she say?" Emily asked.
"As far as my mom knows, my dad was with her the whole night," Aria shrugged, sharing a dark look with Isabel. "But she slept through that storm. She could've easily slept through him sneaking out of the house. He knows how she gets after a couple of glasses of wine. I just don't wanna believe that it was intentional."
"So you're saying he wanted her to sleep through the night?" Hanna frowned, and Aria looked at her sadly.
"But it still doesn't mean that he snuck out to meet Alison," Emily said hesitantly. "Maybe he met up with Meredith."
"Were they still together then-?" Isabel asked.
"No, they weren't seeing each other," Aria said loudly. The others gave her a skeptical look. "That's what he told me."
"In the journal entry, he said he promised to meet Alison when she came back from her grandmother's," Emily sighed, changing the subject. "That was the same night she died."
"Maybe he agreed to meet her at a different time," Aria replied in defense.
"No, he didn't. It said that they were-" Hanna began, but Aria cut her off.
"I'll show you," she huffed, standing up. She walked over to her closet and picked up a boot, searching for the pages. Her rustling became more hurried as she realized the pages weren't there. "Guys, the pages aren't in here."
"Check the other boot," Isabel frowned, walking over. Hanna and Emily soon followed as they searched through all of her boots.
"No, I put it in the left one," Aria scoffed.
"You're sure it's this one?" Hanna asked as she threw a shoe over her shoulder.
"Yes," Aria snapped.
"That's quite a mess you're making."
Isabel looked up, and the others stopped rummaging, to see Bryon in the door frame. Isabel was so surprised that she dropped the shoe she was holding, and Hanna glared at her.
"Did you lose something?" Byron asked.
"No," Aria said at the same time Isabel said, "Yeah."
"W- we're just looking for the other one of these," Aria stuttered, holding up the shoe in her hand.
"Oh, here it is," Emily replied as she picked its match from the floor.
"Crisis averted," Aria smiled, taking it from her. She turned back to her dad. "Um, I thought that you had a meeting tonight."
"I canceled it. I have to pack for a conference," Byron shrugged. "I have a colleague who had an emergency. I'm filling in."
"Okay," Aria nodded, almost scared.
"Remember when Mike used to raid your Halloween candy?" Byron smiled at the memory. "You always used to stash it in your snow boots. He never thought to look there. I always thought that was pretty clever." He paused, looking over at the girls. "Well, I'll get out of your hair."
Once he was gone, Aria shut the door and turned to the girls. "He knows."
-
Isabel was getting herself a glass of water, when she got a text.
'Spencer and Mona faced off in a smartness battle. Mona won.' -Hanna