"Are you a speed freak?" -Hanna Marin
Isabel, Hanna, and Emily met up with Spencer in the girl's locker room. Supposedly, she had fallen asleep at the school, on Ezra's desk, actually.
"Hey," Spencer said as they walked in.
"Hey," Isabel, Emily, and Hanna greeted.
"What are you wearing?" Hanna asked, raising an eyebrow. Spencer had gym shorts and a hoodie on, not to mention flip flops.
"It's nothing, I... I had to change," Spencer shrugged. "And this is all I had in my gym locker."
"Did you...? Did you have an accident?" Emily asked in a low tone.
"What? No," Spencer assured her, but she looked close to crazy. Just like when Toby had left her.
"Or are you going to?" Isabel frowned.
"What is up with those shower shoes?" Hanna added.
Spencer sighed. "Can you just forget about the outfit, okay? We have an emergency situation here." She locked the door.
"Is that why you called me at 4 AM?" Isabel scoffed, crossing her arms.
"Wait, what?" Hanna blinked. "Okay, I thought that after we saw Aria lip-locking with the devil went home to calm down and crash."
"I don't know about Spencer, but I certainly did," Isabel replied.
"I... I must've just hit dial while I was asleep," Spencer stammered, picking up her bag. "Look, okay, I know we said we were going to talk to Aria after school, but I really think we need to tell her about Ezra sooner. Like, now."
"What?" Emily scoffed. "Spencer, we can't tell her now."
"The longer we wait, the more dangerous it becomes," Spencer argued.
"And you think it's any less dangerous to drop a bomb like that while she's going into class?" Isabel shot back, staring at Spencer's crazy self. Oh, where had she gone?
"We can't do that to her," Emily agreed.
"Do what? Protect her?" Spencer shouted, crossing her arms. "Ezra spoke to me this morning and I could barely maintain eye contact. Meanwhile, for all we know right now, Aria is hooking up with him in some janitor's closet. How does that not make your skin crawl?"
"It does," Emily sighed. "Look, I know you don't want to keep her in the dark. Okay, but this isn't going to be easy. She's in love with him and she has given up a lot to be with him. I mean, it's going to be difficult enough for her to believe he's even capable of this."
Spencer was silent as the bell rang. Because she knew they were right.
-
Isabel, Emily, and Hanna were eating lunch later.
"Are you gonna eat that?" Hanna asked Isabel, who was eating her fries.
"Yeah, I told you that like five seconds ago," she scoffed as she munched on one. Hanna looked away miserably. "Just take it," Isabel sighed, giving her the container. Hanna was nice, but very annoying when hungry. Best to calm the beast.
"Thank you," Hanna replied, snatching them up. Isabel ate the fry in her hand sadly, knowing it was the last one. "Sorry. I just get... I just get extra hungry when I'm nervous."
"I thought it was sad," Emily frowned.
"I get sad when I'm nervous," Hanna shrugged. "Look, I've been avoiding Aria all day."
"Like we haven't," Emily scoffed. "I finished my Spanish homework in a toilet stall."
"Are you sure this a good idea?" Isabel sighed, putting down her fork. "I mean, what if we tell Aria, Ezra's 'A' and then she hates us?"
"What choice do we have except to prepare for things to get ugly?" Emily said, and Isabel knew she was right.
"Finally."
Isabel looked up to see Aria sit down next to them. Her eyes widened in fear as she exchanged nervous glances with Emily and Hanna.
"Is there some cellular dead-zone that you know about in the school?" Aria asked.
"What do you mean?" Hanna replied innocently.
"Well, I've texted you all like five times," Aria said, setting her book bag down. "Whatever, where's Spencer?"
"I haven't seen her," Emily gulped a bit too quickly.
Aria just sighed. "Okay. Well, we need to find her and talk to her right now."
"What about?" Isabel asked cautiously.
"Right, I think we all know that Spencer's been a little... extra-intense lately," Aria explained, and Isabel's heart sank. How could she not notice that Spencer was still speeding? "And I'd just chalked it up to stress, but she's not just stressed."
"She's strung out," Isabel agreed with her head in her hands.
"You guys, Spencer has a serious problem," Aria added. "All right, and this isn't the first time that has happened.
"What?" Isabel blinked, snapping her head up.
"Two years ago it was enough of an issue that her parents had to ask the school for help," Aria went on, pulling out a file. "Look."
Isabel, Emily, and Hanna opened the file. And what they saw made their eyes widen.
-
Isabel, Aria, Emily, and Hanna decided to confront Spencer about her addiction. Isabel felt awful that she didn't realize sooner. I mean, she was supposed to be there for her, and all she did was get wasted at bars.
"Okay," Spencer said. They were at Spencer's house, ready to talk to her. "Three diets and a regular, right?" She walked over with coke, and saw the looks on their faces. "Oh my God. You guys did it already, didn't you?"
"Did what?" Aria frowned. Isabel looked away pointedly. Now she had two uncomfortable secrets to discuss.
"Nothing," Isabel said quickly. "We're not here to talk about that. We're here to talk about... something else."
"Spence, we're concerned," Aria added.
"Yeah, I know. We're concerned," Spencer nodded, talking about Board Shorts.
"No, we're worried about you," Emily replied, not meeting Spencer's eyes.
"Me?" Spencer blinked. "Why?"
"Are you a speed freak?" Hanna blurted.
"Hanna!" Aria, Emily, and Isabel shouted.
"What?" Spencer scoffed.
"Spencer," Hanna went on nonetheless. "Have you been taking pills to stay awake?"
"S- Where is this coming from?" Spencer stammered, looking between them. "W- What the hell is happening right now?"
"We care about you," Emily said gently.
"Yeah, would you and that's why we're here," Aria agreed.
"Right, this is kind of like an intervention," Isabel nodded.
"Yeah, I know. Yours," Spencer huffed, turning to Aria.
Hanna shook her head. "Spencer, stop. We know this has been problem for you before."
"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Spencer replied slowly. Aria pulled out the file and handed it to her. Spencer stared at it, then them. "Where'd you get this?"
"Ezra," Aria explained. "He's worried about you."
"You're kidding me, right?" Spencer scoffed. "And you three didn't tell her?" Isabel coughed, looking away. "He's 'A,' Aria! Ezra is Board Shorts. He tried to kill Ali and he's been torturing us ever since."
"Spencer, can we please stick to the subject of you for right now?" Emily sighed, not looking at Aria.
"How can you not see what's happening right now?" Spencer sputtered. "He's trying to undermine me. He's being 'A'!" She looked at them helplessly, her eyes landing on Hanna. "Please tell me you see what's happening here."
"Ezra said that he found you passed out in school today," Aria said, and Spencer put her head in her hands. "That you were barefoot, you were in your pajamas, and you didn't even know where you were. Spencer, is that true or is it not true?"
"Spencer? Talk!" Hanna demanded.
"Yes," Spencer finally admitted. "Okay. I slept walked."
"To school?" Hanna huffed incredulously.
"Yes!" Spencer snapped. "And I've taken a couple of pills a few times. And it's not great, I know, but it's not that big of a deal. And Ezra is just trying to make it into a bigger deal than it is because he's trying to get the focus off of himself because he's freaking 'A'!"
"'Not a big deal'?" Isabel scoffed, crossing her arms. "Spence, addiction is real. Take it from someone who has gone through what you're going through right now. Only a couple pills, then only five, next thing you know, you're passed out on your couch with no memory of the night your sister died!"
Spencer stared at her as tears spilled over. She knew who she was talking about, since Isabel didn't have a sister. "Oh, my God. This is brilliant," she said, turning to the others.
"All right, I know that you're feeling cornered," Aria replied as Spencer broke down.
"Oh, God, Aria," Spencer shouted. "Will you wake up? This is exactly the kind of deer in the headlights behavior that almost got you shot in the back of a night club."
They stared at her. "What night club?" Hanna blinked.
"I mean... I am..." Spencer stammered. "Okay, I'm confused, but the point is that I'm not crazy, okay. You just don't see. How can you guys not see what's happening?" She gave them a imploring look, and when they were silent, she picked up her purse. "I can't deal with this right now." Her stuff spilled out before she could leave, and the thing that caught their eyes was the checkbook from Wren.
"Wren?" Aria scoffed, picking it up.
"He's your hook-up?" Isabel added with an incredulous look.
"Why did you just swipe the pad?" Emily added.
"It's not mine," Spencer swore. "I've never even seen that before.
They all stared at her skeptically. Was she telling the truth?
-
The Ambrose Pavilion plan failed, but Isabel didn't help, as she was out drinking at the time.
A few days later, Isabel got a phone call from Toby. Supposedly, Spencer's parents knew about her speeding, and Isabel felt better knowing that Spencer was getting help.