season 3, episode 2
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Labour day weekend had passed painfully slowly for Sophie and the bubbling pit of anxiety in her stomach had only grown more with each day that passed. The blonde had barely eaten or slept in the past three days, however, thankfully for her, the girl had mastered the task of hiding looking like she was on the verge of mental breakdown – which she most definitely was.
She had spent the previous days blankly staring at her phone, jumping every time it went off with a new notification in fear it was from A. besides the overwhelming feeling of anxiety, Sophie was also hit with so much guilt she didn't know what to do. She was lying to Jason – again. Just this time, she didn't know how long she would be able to hold onto her secrets for.
Sophie was currently sitting opposite Spencer, barely listening to the lecture Mrs Montgomery was giving.
"The author goes to great lengths to establish Hedda Gabler as a strong, proud woman" Mrs Montgomery explained as she walked across the classroom, "someone who could never live with the threat of being blackmailed"
As Mrs Montgomery was speaking, Sophie subconsciously started picking at the skin around her nails and pressed her lips together in a tight line. She hated the fact that her situation could be somewhat compared to made up story on a piece of paper.
"But Hedda was pushed to take desperate action" Mrs Montgomery continued, "and whilst she may have been brave, we see it as tragic. What might really be tragic is if some of you don't start taking some notes. Sorry, senior year is not all about skipping classes and dancing for the security cameras at walmart. That's what your weekends are for. You might want to research some of his other plays and see how they were received at the time"
Mrs Montgomery's lecture was interrupted when Emily suddenly let out a gasp, standing up from her seat and bolting towards the door. Her bag was clutched tightly in her hands and her breathing had increased dramatically.
Sophie caught Spencer's eye as the two shared a concerned look.
"Emily?" Mrs Montgomery said, "is everything all right?"
"C-can I be excused?" she asked, clearly upset. However, the swimmer didn't give the woman much room to say anything else as she darted out of the class room.
In an instant, Sophie was standing up out of her seat and following after Emily – the other girls quickly behind the blonde. On their way to the bathroom, the girls ran into a late Hanna who looked nothing less than confused.
"Wait, what's going on?" Hanna asked.
"We don't know" Spencer answered her, "just come on"
Sophie quickly pushed open the door to the girls bathroom, swinging it open. Upon entering the room, the girls found Emily frantically running her hands under the cold tap, her hands shaking.
"Em?" Sophie called out softly, "Em, what's wrong?"
"What's the matter?" Spencer asked, a little out of breath, "talk to us"
Without a word, Emily simply passed Aria what seemed to be a necklace.
"What's that?" Hanna asked.
Sophie peered over Aria's shoulder to get a closer look at the necklace. Threaded onto the small pice of string was white, cubed letters spelling out a message just for the girl.
'Dead Girls Can't Smile'
But the most horrifying fact was that the words were spaced out with teeth. Human teeth. Aged and rotting as if they had been plucked straight from a skull.
For a second Sophie was glad the girls were in the bathroom because she definitely thought her breakfast was about to make a reappearance.
"Are those teeth?" Hanna asked, this time horrified.
"Will you please just get rid of it" Emily whimpered.
"Are they Alison's?" Aria asked as Spencer took the necklace out of her hands.
"My god, I can't breathe" Emily panicked. Sophie walked over to her friend, soothingly running her hand down her back and coaxing her to breathe.
"It wasn't enough to steal her bones now we're gonna get pieces of her delivered to us" Sophie scoffed.
"Guys these probably aren't even human" Spencer dismissed, eyeing the necklace cautiously.
"They're totally human"
"How do you know?" Spencer shot back.
"Because I worked in a dental office Spencer!"
"For two days answering phones" Spencer countered.
"Yeah, and there were teeth everywhere" Hanna retorted, "even the friggin bathroom key was shaped like a cuspid"
The sounds of students nearing the bathroom caught the girls' attention as the five of them briskly scuttered into the nearest stall. Sophie locked the cubical door behind them as they cramped into the small space.
"Guys real or not, this is A working overtime to frame us, first the call to Emily from Spencer's phone, then the cemetery" Aria told them.
"It's all my fault" Emily cried, her face racked with guilt.
"Em, stop" Hanna replied instantly, "no it's not"
"No" Emily shook her head, "that whole night is like a black hole, I still can't figure out how I got to Ali's grave"
"We need to give this to the police" Aria stated firmly, grabbing the necklace out of Spencer's hands.
"We can't" Sophie told her, "we already lied to them about the lake house"
"Yeah, that was a huge mistake we keep digging ourselves in deeper. Burning those photos was one thing, these are teeth, okay?" Aria protested, "We should at least tell out parents"
"Tell them what?" Spencer scoffed, "We have no idea what this A knows, are you ready to explain every lie we've ever told since Ali died?"
"Guys you don't have to protect me, okay?" Emily interrupted, "I can take the blame for all of this"
"Emily stop" Sophie shook her head.
"Yeah, you're not in this by yourself" Spencer assured the girl.
"But if you could remember something else from that black hole besides an old car, that'd be nice" Hanna added on, causing Sophie to raise her eyebrows at the blonde.
"Hanna" Aria warned her.
"What I'm just saying it would be helpful" Hanna defended.
"Can we please just get rid of that" Emily pleaded, looking away from the teeth.
"No, we can't toss this" Aria said, holding the necklace up once more, "this is evidence"
"Look, I'll put it in my locker until we figure out what to do" Sophie suggested.
"Like your locker is safe from A?" Hanna scoffed, "give it to me I'll put it in my purse"
Hanna went to snatch the necklace from Aria's hands, however the petite girl stood her ground, too stubborn to give up the necklace. In the tussle, the necklace slipped out of Aria's hands and plunged into the toilet with a splash.
"Hanna!" Aria gasped.
"This is why we don't have secret meetings in the toilets" Sophie sighed as all five girls peered uselessly down into the toilet.
"Look, I will get it" Spencer volunteered.
"No, wait!" Aria said, putting her hands up to stop Spencer, "you can't just dive in there, these things have sensors"
"Excuse me?" Spencer asked with furrowed brows.
"You just have to be really careful" Aria shrugged.
"Well, if you would like to" Spencer sassed.
"No" Aria denied quickly.
With a sigh, Spencer rolled the sleeves of her top up and crouched down. Her actions were slow as she put her hand into the toilet and Sophie felt like she had to hold her breath.
However, the bell suddenly rang causing Spencer to jump. Unfortunately for the girls, this meant that the sensors were triggered and the toilet automatically flushed. As the water swirled down the pipe, so did the necklace.
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At lunch, the girls found themselves sitting around one of the table in the courtyard, talking once again about the necklace.
"I can't believe we lost it" Spencer sighed.
"It's not like we were gonna hand it over to the cops" Hanna reasoned.
"I wanted to" Aria reminded them, "we could've found out who sent it to us – there were fingerprints on that necklace"
"Yeah, mine" Emily retorted, her head in her hands.
"Besides, the cops won't believe us" Sophie added, "not after all the lies we've already told"
"Hannah, you're gonna have to go back to Radley" Spencer told the blonde.
"What?" Hanna responded, confused.
"You need to make Mona talk"
"Spencer's right" Aria agreed, "Mona's never been working alone, and she's probably still giving order"
"Find out who else is seeing her" Emily urged.
"You know what – you guys ripped me a new one last week for visiting her" Hanna defended, "now you want me to go back there with cupcakes? If we want answers, focus on Garrett"
Yet another piece of information Sophie had yet to process. It turns out that Garrett had been calling Spencer constantly throughout summer, and when the brunette finally agreed to visit him – well, he dropped quite the bombshell.
According to Garrett, he knew exactly who killed Alison and stole her body. Of course, the girls were skeptical on believing the man seeing as he was locked up in jail on suspicion of murdering two girls.
"I will go back to Garrett if you will work on Mona" Spencer compromised.
Silence fell over the girls, and Hanna scoffed before abruptly standing up. The blonde slotted her bag over her shoulder and turned away to leave. On her way back into the school, Hanna tossed her empty chip packet into the trash as she passed. However, before she continue her journey out of the courtyard, the blonde froze.
The familiar sound of a cane tapping on the floor flooded Sophie's ears as she snapped her head in the direction of the sound. Sophie's mouth felt awfully dry as she watched Jenna maneuver her way around the courtyard, her cane often missing a step every now and then.
"Had anybody spoken to her since school started?" Emily whispered.
"No" Spencer answered, "I still think it's really shady that she didn't get back from music camp until the first day of school"
"It's no shadier than Lucas strolling around on a Saturday night at four in the morning" Aria added.
"Maybe that's their witching hour" Sophie said dryly.
"So now we think they're definitely connected?" Emily asked, leaning in, "Jenna and Lucas?"
"Em, you saw them talking to the Black Swan at the masquerade ball" Sophie reasoned, "Mona could have an entire outfield playing for her"
The thought of a whole team of people targeting the girls made goosebumps rise on the back of Sophie's neck and a chill settle down her spine.
"Hey! Watch it"
The girls' heads all shot around at the sound of some sort of commotion. Jenna had bumped into another student as she moved around the courtyard, causing the boy's soda to spill all the way down his shirt. However, he soon shut up once he realized who had bumped into him.
"That's okay, Jenna. Don't worry about it" he said again, his tone having changed dramatically.
"Is it just me, or is she blinder than she was last year?" Sophie asked as she eyed the blind girl carefully.
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"Your mom thinks I'm a basket case" Emily huffed, slamming her locker shut, causing Sophie to flinch at her actions.
The girls – minus Hanna – were standing around the swimmers locket just after lunch as they prepared for their next lesson.
"My mom loves you, Em" Aria assured, "she knows everything that you've been through"
"Can she spread the love around the faculty lounge? I have to take four make-up exams or they're gonna make me repeat eleventh grade"
"They can't hold you back" Spencer said firmly.
"Yes they can" Emily sighed, "I was absent all of April"
"You're gonna get through this" Sophie told her, "you just need a study partner or a tutor"
"Wait why don't you call Ezra?" Aria suggested, causing Sophie to raise her eyebrows at the brunette, "if your first make-up test is English, he could be your tutor"
"Awkward" Sophie muttered under her breath.
"No, it's not" Aria defended.
"Aria, I can't think of him as Mr Fitz anymore, okay" Emily sighed, "I have seen his underwear drawer"
"Those were his socks"
"Why would his socks have a flap in the middle?" Spencer countered.
"I'm texting you his number. He's not teaching now and it's killing him" Aria told them, "Seriously, you would be helping each other out"
However, Aria's train of thoughts seemed to stop as something had caught her attention. Sophie followed the girls eyesight only to be met with a familiar blonde. At first, Sophie couldn't exactly remember who the blonde woman was, but the look on Aria's face soon told her all she needed to know.
"Who is that?" Emily wondered.
"Meredith" Aria all but spat out, her voice nothing but sour.
"Wait, that's your dad's Meredith?" Spencer asked, "that's the skank you and Ali caught lip-locking in the car?"
"If my mom sees her here" Aria started, "what's she doing here?"
"Excuse me" Aria said before any of the girls could stop her from walking up to the woman, "are you looking for someone?"
"Hello Aria" Meredith greeted with a smile, "I forgot you were still a student here"
"Yeah I am" Aria snapped, "what are you doing here?"
"I'm applying for an open teaching position" Meredith told her, "Oh don't worry honey, I won't put you down as a reference"
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"It was weird but we got passed it" Emily explained as the girls stood around her locker. She was filling the girls in on her first tutoring session with Mr Fitz the previous day.
"Wait, are you calling him Ezra or Mr Fitz?" Hanna asked her.
"Neither" Emily said, "it's a lot easier to call him nothing"
"Oh, that's what your dad does, right Aria?" Sophie teased and Spencer snorted.
"Just about" Aria said, rolling her eyes, "this whole 'don't ask, don't tell' things is not working"
"I did that with my mom forever" Emily added on, "but she finally came around. By the time I brought Samara over, they were bonding over arts and crafts"
"I don't think my dad is gonna be scrapbooking with Ezra any time soon" Aria sighed as the girls walked over to her own locker.
The brunette paused to open her locker, swapping out a couple books for their next lesson. However, when she opened the locker there was a small, white envelope taped to the top.
"What's that?" Hanna asked.
Aria shrugged and with a confused look she carefully tore it off. She opened the envelope, sticking her fingers inside and pulled out an earring – one small, dainty circle with a ruby inside.
"Is that yours?" Spencer asked.
Aria didn't answer, instead the brunette looked to the right, then to the left – almost as if she was trying to see if anyone was watching them.
"What's going on?" Emily asked, "who's is that?"
Aria gulped before turning to her friends once more, "It was after I found out about my dad's affair with Meredith, me and Alison we um, we trashed my dad's office. Alison had gotten in my head that my dad was still seeing Meredith and so she convinced me to break into his office at Hollis and then she found these earrings in the couch. I lost it and Ali told me that the only way to get rid of Meredith was to show my dad who she really was, so we trashed his office"
"Oh my god" Sophie muttered once the brunette was finished, "how come you never told us about that?"
"Why would I?" Aria answered, "I felt like absolute crap by the time I got home, and I made Alison promise to never tell a soul"
"Okay, so why is it in your locker?" Hanna asked, "have you been hiding it this whole time?"
"No" Aria cut her off, shaking her head, "no, it's just that, you remember when Ali's mom called us before the funeral and she asked all of us if we each wanted to put something, like a keepsake in her casket?"
"And that's what you put in there?" Sophie asked, her heart had dropped at this point – again. She felt that awful feeling of anxiety resurface in her stomach and she had the overwhelming urge to cry.
"So real teeth or not, that was definitely stolen from Ali's grave"
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The following morning, the girls had gathered in the girl's bathroom and Sophie had since developed somewhat of a migraine. Her brain was absolutely frazzled to put it simply, the overload of information that had been shoved on the blonde in the past few days meant her brain found it hard to keep up.
Sophie stood with her back to the rest of the girls, resting her palms on the cool surface of the basic, hoping the sensation would do something to calm her rapid heartbeat and the throbbing in her head.
"You're still getting them?" Sophie repeated, "that's what she said?"
"That's all she said?" Aria asked.
"Isn't that enough?" Emily shot back.
"No" Spencer argue from her position against the bathroom wall, "that is not enough. You have to go back to Radley, Han-"
Hanna had informed the girls about her latest visit to Mona, and it turns out the girl knew that they were receiving texts again.
"What!" Hanna exclaimed, the loud volume of her voice caused Sophie to wince.
"-Alone" Spencer said firmly.
"It's not so easy" Hanna argued, "Caleb is all over me"
"I don't need to know that" Spencer countered.
"Well, Caleb's not finding dug-up jewelry in his locker" Aria retorted, "whose earring did Ali find in my dad's couch?"
"You're not gonna ask your mom why she's suddenly defending Garrett?" Hanna interrupted, changing the topic of the conversation.
"Guys, one question at a time please" Sophie pleaded, although it seemed her statement went unheard.
"I mean, Spencer, what is that?" Hanna continued her rant, "He probably told her it's time to lock Jenna up"
"She was driving that night guys, I remember. Clearly" Emily added on.
The drastic changes in conversation did nothing to stop the throbbing pain in Sophie head and the blonde only clutched the sink harder, turning her knuckles white.
"We believe you, okay?" Aria assured her, "But honestly, I don't think that you can remember anything clearly from that night. When we picked you up you kept calling me Arlene"
"Guys she can see" Emily stressed, "She's probably on Mona's payroll"
"Mona doesn't have any cash" Hanna rolled her eyes, "they won't even let her have floss"
"Okay, let's just do this at lunch" Spencer sighed in irritation, "I can't be late again"
She turned to leave, the other girls soon following after her. However, when Spencer was only a few yards out of the door, she turned around, flailing her arms around and ushering the girls back into the bathroom.
"What the hell?" Sophie whined as Spencer pushed her back into the room.
"Jenna's coming in here. Where's the earring?" Spencer asked.
"What?" Aria replied, confused.
"Give me the earring" Spencer urged, holding her hand out in front of Aria, "I have an idea"
"What are we doing?" Hanna asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she watched Spencer "Do I get to slap her again?"
"No!" Spencer snapped. Sophie watched in confusion as Spencer took the earring and placed it on the shelf that was placed next to the sink, perfectly visible "Okay, in the stalls. Go!"
Once again, Sophie was being pushed into the nearest bathroom stall as all the girls cramped in. Herself, Spencer and Hanna occupied the middle stall while Aria and Emily made their way into the one next to them.
Spencer held the door shut as they desperately tried to peer through gap in the stall door. Sophie held her breath as she heard the bathroom door open and the silence was soon filled with the sound of Jenna's cane tapping against the floor.
Jenna carefully made her way to the sink, dishing her water bottle out of her bag. Sophie watched in anticipation as Jenna easily turned the faucet on and rinsed out her bottle. The blonde held her breath as she watched the 'blind' girl turn off the taps and move to put her bottle back in her bag.
However, her movements stilled. Sophie watched as Jenna Marshall reached out, picked the earring up off the side and raised it. Then, she lowered her sunglasses, inspecting the earring over.
Sophie's eyes widened and her jaw fell slack as she watched the scene unfold. The blonde stayed frozen as she watched Jenna put the earring back right where she found it before fixing her sunglasses and moved to exit the room. Once again, the soft sound of her cane tapping filled the room and the door swung open.
Once the girls were sure they were alone, they stepped out of the stalls.
"I knew it" Hanna exclaimed, "that's it, I'm going for way more than a slap"
"Hanna, stop" Spencer said.
"Why?" Sophie scoffed, "I think she needs more than a slap"
Noticing this, Spencer's gaze drifted over to Aria.
"Don't look at me" Aria defended, "I'm ready to hang a sigh – bitch can see!"
"She doesn't know that we know" Spencer told them.
"She will in a minute" Emily countered.
"No, we don't let her know that we know" Spencer told them, a smirk evident on her face. "Not yet. We can use this, and we will"
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word count: 3628