2010
"You move in circles hoping no one's gonna find out."
"Why are you smiling?"
Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Jo were huddled in the pristine kitchen of the Hastings' home. Textbooks laid open in front of them, completely untouched; they had been invited over to study. But they were more focused on one another as they discussed the day. Aria had a lazy smile on her face as she looked down at her lap.
"A saved my relationship," she breathed.
Hanna snorted, not buying into her childish happiness. "Yeah, well, A tried to kill me."
"Because A thought you saw her," Spencer clarified, flipping through her chemistry notes, mindlessly. "A knows now you didn't."
Jo's phone rang, making all of the girls jump. They looked at her with a spooked expression as she fished her mobile from her pockets. She checked the caller ID, relaxing slightly when she realized it wasn't their tormentor. "I should take this. It's my dad."
The other girls let go of the breath they were holding as Jo stood from her stool and walked outside. She took a few steps to be safe from eavesdropping before accepting the call. "What the hell do you want, sewer rat?"
"You owe me." He deadpanned. There was a loud clank on the other side of the line, resembling the sound of a dropped soda can echoing off the walls. "And thanks would be nice, minus the name-calling. It was I doing you the favor, not the other way around."
She watched as the barn door opened, Melissa and Ian walking out. They were dressed exceptionally well for the standards of this town as they made their way to the main house. From across the yard, Ian paused to look at her. He smiled slowly before waving, following Melissa inside. Jo grimaced and waved back, returning her attention to her phone call. "Thank you."
She rubbed her temples. Dealing with him any longer would result in an aneurysm, she was sure of it. "You'll get your money at the dance if you never call me again. I have a reputation to uphold."
"Yeah, it's real spotless, I hear." He scoffed while the sound of a wrapper being torn open filled the speaker of the phone. Jo pulled it away from her ear as the loud sound pained her. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."
Jo rolled her eyes as he ended the calling, stuffing her phone in her pocket and heading back into the house.
The girls were sleuthing through the mountain of cardboard boxes holding Ian's belongings. Spencer looked up as Jo closed the door behind her, twisting the lock back into place. "Who was that?"
"Riley," Jo told her. "He wanted to know the password to the family desktop. What's that noise?"
Spencer wouldn't let it go. "I thought you said it was your dad."
"I thought so, too," Jo simply said. It was tiring, she'd admit, to have A and her friends prying. Although, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Lying came too easily and burying the truth even more. "It was Riley calling from my dad's phone."
"Maya and Emily are up there," Hanna told her, explaining the quiet giggling they could hear from upstairs. She flipped through old comic books, nodding to the other boxes. "Grab a boxcutter. We're going through Ian's things."
She sat back on the couch, knowing better than to put her hands on his belongings, as she thought back to Rita's words: I thought my daughter knew how to wipe down fingerprints. That sly son of a bitch would come after her with hellfire and brimstone if he knew she and her little friends were snooping. He would always end up on top—a lot like Alison in that way. "Is this the best idea? How the hell are you going to explain yourself if he walks in?"
"He's having dinner in Philly with Melissa's friends," Aria explained as she read the old newspaper with Ali's face on the front page.
Aria pulled out an old camcorder. She looked it over before deeming it useless and placing it back in the box. From the couch, Jo was frozen. The memories flittered through her mind like an old grainy movie. She was fifteen again, in lust and over her head. She didn't think about it twice when the boys watched her through the open bedroom window, Garret's parallel with her own. She thought it was worth it for the adrenaline rush as she took off her shirt. Little did she know that harmless little home movie would grow, causing her to do everything in her power to prevent a premiere.
She pushed the thoughts out of her heading, focusing on a mantra instead: one battle at a time. She could only try to shut so many people at once.
Emily tip-toed downstairs, Maya trailing behind with her hand clutching at Emily's. They all smiled at one another as Maya gave the girls hugs. As she made it to Jo, she paused for a minute before leaning in just the same. Jo smiled as she thought back to the fleeting thought that she once had that Maya was A with being the only one to know about the drugs in the bathroom. But the only thing she had ever been guilty of was loving Emily in a time that didn't want to let her.
With one last kiss, loving and pure, Maya left Spencer's home and Emily. Emily closed the door softly behind her, making her way beside Jo on the couch. She leaned her head in the older girl's lap as Jo brushed her fingers through her hair. "I don't even know how to thank you, guys."
"Where are they sending her anyway?" Spencer asked as she taped another box closed, realizing there was nothing to be found within his stuff.
Emily sighed, "Someplace called True North."
"Shit!" Jo breathed before she had the time to stop herself. Emily shot up with a bewildered look in her eyes.
She rushed out, "What? What does that mean?"
"It means they sent Betsy Berger there for huffing spray paint," Hanna explained. The other girls shot her a look that said she should've kept her mouth shut. Emily was already deathly afraid of losing Maya and Hanna sealed the coffin. "She came back as a drummer in a gospel band."
Jo reached over and smacked Hanna's arm. "Don't listen to her, Em. She's going to be just fine. It's not like she needs to have some 'Come to Jesus' talk for smoking a little weed."
Jo soothed Emily, who still looked unsure with her words. "Betsy Berger was just going off the deep end, that's all."
Aria nodded in agreement. "She's amazing, Emily. You don't have to worry."
From the coffee table, her phone vibrated, shaking the glass with a loud buzz. She opened the new message, reading out loud for all the girls to hear.
Don't say I never gave you anything. Turn on your computer. -A
The girls bolted from their positions to Spencer's position as she flipped it open to a new email. All that was inside was a single video file. Spencer clicked it open, the chilling face of Alison DiLaurentis appearing on the screen. She was taunting as she spoke to the camera.
"This is the same video Detective Cooper showed us." Emily gasped.
"I wish they were more mature but," Alison smirked in a low tone, one for seducing. "We don't have much time. I have to get back before they wake up."
The camera panned around, focusing on the face of Ian Thomas. He was grinning as he lured her closer. The camera tumbled to the ground as Alison was shown gripping the earth. Emily cried out as the sounds of an indistinct struggle took place off-screen. Jo wrapped her arms around Emily, pulling her close to shield her from the cruelty of the laptop. Aria, Hanna, and Spencer stared at the screen with slack jaws as the video ended, the screen cutting to black.
Aria whispered, "He pushed her, didn't he?"
Jo rubbed Emily's back as she buried her face in her shoulder. Every rock that turned over in Ali's case seemed to cut Emily the deepest. "We don't know for sure."
"It's obvious, Jo. He's hurting her! You can hear her fighting for her life."
Jo scoffed at Spencer, still not convinced. She had to look at the video from every angle. "If that's what fighting for your life sounds like, I've nearly died a hundred times. We don't know that's what happened."
"It's suspicious, Josie." Aria pointed out. "The Hilton Head tag, the hotel, the text from A about marrying for an alibi."
Jo still couldn't wrap her mind around the last one with the information being fresh. She'd been shocked when Spencer had broken the news to her, even feeling guilty for pushing Melissa back into the arms of a monster in hopes of keeping her from ever coming clean about that night. If it wasn't bad enough, A had to rub even more dirt into the wounds with another instigative text.
"So, what do we do?"
***
She didn't like the plan but then again, hers seemed to fall apart just as easily. They wanted to just drop the laptop off, hand it over to the police, and let them deal with the grunt work. Yet, somewhere along the lines, Spencer's laptop had been taken and the video along with it before they had the chance.
The obvious suspect was Ian. He had been the only other person to want that video other than the girls. And as hard as Jo wanted to keep from going against him, the evidence of his role in Alison's death was becoming monumental by the day. It seemed she was helping a murderer rather than just Ian Thomas, and that stung.
They stood in the middle of the dance floor, waiting for Aria to retrieve Ian's keyring from his coat. From there, Jo would search his office for the laptop while the other girls made sure he didn't leave the gym.
Spencer took a deep breath before squinting her eyes at Jo. "Why do you smell funny?"
Before Jo had time to put together a lie, hiding the half-joint she smoked with her cousin before being dropped off at the school, Aria was back. She placed the keys in Jo's outstretched hand, gaping at Spencer. "Very rude, Spence."
"Give me fifteen and I'll be back," Jo told them as she worked her way through the crowd towards the halls. The loud clacking of her heels in the empty quiet bounced off the lockers while she checked her surroundings. Jo slipped inside his office, shutting the door behind her.
She bent down behind his desk, tugging at the handles of every drawer to see which was locked. Jo flipped through the keyring, testing each one to find the match. "Need some help there, Doc?"
She jerked her head to find Caleb standing in the doorway. In a school filled with black ties and high heels, Caleb was clothed in a flannel and beanie, his long, raven hair virtually untouched. "Doc? What are you, Bugs fuckin' Bunny?"
He crossed his arms as he smirked down at her. God, how she wanted to smack that ever-present cocky look on his face. He acted too much like the other toxic people in her life—the ones she had to get rid of. For his sake, she hoped he cut the shitty charade.
"Doctor," He corrected. "I heard you have the best prescriptions for a good time."
"Looking to score?" Jo huffed as she kept searching for the key.
"I don't pop pills." Caleb sniggered, tilting his head to the side. "I can pick that for you."
"As can I." Jo scoffed as she tugged two bobby pins from her hair. "Do you think I'm an amateur?"
Caleb watched as she bit the glued ends off, "Hardly."
Jo grabbed a stapler off the desk, using it as a makeshift wrench to bend the first bobby pin half. She slid it into the bottom half of the lock before straightening the second bobby pin and curving it in a slight hook. Jo slid it inside the top of the lock, wiggling each pin until she heard a click. She twisted the bobby pins like a key, the drawer sliding open. She peaked at Caleb over the top of the desk, his face a mixture of shock and amazement. "Shut that door, will you?"
He shook his head, pushing the door open wider. "Feeling a draft?"
"I can't explain this right now, but you need to close the goddamn door." She pulled out the brown carrier bag and searched its contents but to no avail; it was empty.
"Where's my money?" He stomped his foot, "I'm running out of patience."
"How threatening. What are you going to do, tell on yourself?" Jo snorted as she reached in her clutch, producing three crisp hundred-dollar bills. She slapped the money in his hand. "Tell anyone, and I'll bury you."
"Is that what you did to your pretty friend?"
Jo slung the bag back in the drawer, kicking it shut. She plucked the bobby pins from the lock and pushed past Caleb in a fury. She marched to the girls' bathroom, her heart racing faster by the second.
Red, that's all she could see. Blood red. Blood staining yellow. Blood staining blonde.
She looked in the mirror, placing both hands on the sink. She watched as her bottom lip quivered and the nostrils of her button nose flared. Did people think she did it? Or was Caleb just being a regular asshole with manipulative tendencies?
She brushed the dirty blonde hair from her face and studied herself. She didn't have the face of a killer. She was pretty with a lovely girl-next-door look. Her features were soft and sweet, the sultriness of her coming solely from her actions and aura. She did grimy things in her life but none that rivaled the weight of murdering someone. She couldn't have done it, no matter how intoxicated she became that night. She didn't understand how someone could fathom the idea that the blood of her best friend was drenching her own hands.
But then again, wouldn't that have been a perfect crime? The pretty girl had the dirtiest secrets. It was always someone close to the victim, a lover or a relative committing a crime of passion, rather than a crazed stranger. At least, that's always what her father had told her.
But she couldn't have done it. Could she?
She didn't want to think anymore. She never did these days. It hurt terribly, leaving her with an aching headache and a tight feeling in her chest. Her mind was too quick and too painful for her anymore. It was all too much.
Jo reached inside her purse, retrieving her mint tin. She turned on the faucet, ready to wash down a few Xanax bars when she noticed it was empty. She panicked as she dumped the contents of her clutch onto the bathroom floor, kneeling to look for anything to take the edge away.
She sat back and let out a frustrated yell, burying her face in her hands. Jo pushed herself off the floor, putting everything back in her purse, and stumbled her way back to the gym, finding Aria standing alone. An agitated feeling flowed through her chest as she felt tenser than she had in days. Jo put a hand on Aria's shoulder, grabbing her attention with a gruff, "Hey."
Aria half-way listened as Jo gave her the revised version of events.
"What about the kid?" She wondered. "How do you know he won't spill? Did you have to pay him off?"
"We have an understanding." Jo shrugged it off. "Kids like him are too sketchy to snitch, anyways. Aria?"
Aria's eyes were zeroed in on the invisible target between Simone's eyes as she chatted up Mr. Fitz. Aria childishly stomped her foot before stomping towards them. "That's it! I'm sick of her ogling him, and I will kick her back to New York if that's what it takes to make it stop."
"Wait, Aria, stop!" Jo grabbed her arm, tugging her back roughly. "You can't do this. This place is filled with kids and parents—your parents."
Aria pushed her off. "Don't tell me what to do!"
"You aren't going to accomplish anything by doing this." Jo reasoned although she didn't want to hear any of it.
"I don't care!" Aria stormed towards them before Jo could get a quick grip on her again. She chased after just in time for Aria to bite out, "We need to talk."
Mr. Fitz looked confused. "Is there something wrong-"
"Dance with me, Mr. Fitz!" Jo blurted out, pulling him by the tie. "C'mon, it's allowed."
She tugged him towards the dance floor, wrapping her arms around his neck. She wanted to blame it on the weed, that if she wasn't high no one would've ever known what she did. But that high was long gone and since Alison's disappearance, she'd been lacking someone to spill to.
"I know about you and Aria." Mr. Fitz opened his mouth to speak but she beat him to it first, "Before you say anything, I am going to protect your secret. Or rather keep protecting it. Even if it means I'm doing incredibly moronic, dangerous things."
"What are you talking about?"
She was rambling; it was too late to turn back now. He might as well get the whole story. "As you are aware, there is a contract with the school that says if I step out of line again, the school can toss my ass to the curb in a hot second. It's the reason you have to turn in those daily slips on my attendance and participation."
"Yes, but how is this relevant-"
"Let me finish." She hushed him. He closed his mouth as she continued. "I don't always want to attend class so, I've learned how to... make friends with people that can change those slips for me. To save your relationship, I called in a huge favor with one of those people. H-he helped me hide those midterm answers—the ones Noel was caught with-in his locker before school began."
It wasn't a foolproof plan. Caleb would jack the system for the answers while Jo skimmed through records for locker combinations. They weren't positive someone wouldn't get caught-be it from security tapes or a faculty member that has a thing for inconveniently showing up early. But with the pretty penny she had paid him and the secrets on the line, it was one shot in the dark she had to make.
When she finished talking and Mr. Fitz said nothing, Jo became antsy. "Say something, please."
"I... uh... is that dress violating dress code?"
Jo waved it off, not caring about the plunging neckline of her blue velvet dress, "Yeah, probably ten codes at once."
Mr. Fitz sighed, his mind churning with all the fresh information. "Why did you just tell me this?"
"Because Noel won't be gone forever and you need to know that. He's going to come back more vengeful than ever, coming after me and you. I just couldn't let Aria get burned. I'm sure you understand the feeling."
He looked stern, "I do."
"So, please, for her sake more than your own, be careful. Right now the only thing hurting you both is a rumor. Don't let anyone get proof," Somewhere under it all, she felt for them as it was all a spitting image of her life behind closed doors a year ago. If only someone had been on her side when she was with Jason, she hoped that things might've taken a turn down a less wicked road. "Because, trust me, that is not a pretty feeling when someone has the evidence to end you."
The song ended, Jo dropping her hands from his neck. Mr. Fitz turned to leave, Jo grasping at his arm. "One more thing, don't let Aria know about this."
"A story behind that, too?"
"Only that even the shameless can feel shame."
He nodded in response as he left. Aria, who had been waiting from the edge of the room, waltzed to Jo. She pulled her in close, eyebrows lowered. "What was that about?"
"Saving your ass, yet again."
"Again?"
"That was a suicide mission, Aria, and you know it." Jo ignored her slip-up as she kept speaking in hope that Aria would forget it as well. "You were about ten seconds away from starring in a viral video until I swooped in."
Aria hummed a quiet thank you as she crossed her arms over her chest, considerably cooled off. Across the gym, Jo caught sight of Emily twirling streamers around her arms.
"What the hell is wrong with her?" She asked Aria as she pointed her out. They walked over to Emily, pulling her from the streamers. She reeked of cheap vodka, giving her the indication that it belonged to the one person that loved it: Hanna. "Jesus, I should be paid for all this babysitting."
Jo pulled Emily to a bench, tugging her slowly into a sitting position. "Em, let's take a seat."
"I'm going to get you some water," said Aria as she walked towards the refreshments table.
"I'm not thirsty," Emily slurred as she swayed in her seat. Her eyes were hooded as she zeroed in on Ian talking to someone on the dancefloor. "Why is he here? He shouldn't be here. He's a killer."
"Emily, hush," Jo commanded. But she didn't listen.
"How come Toby is at home, wearing a LoJack, while this freak can go anywhere he wants," Jo looked around for Aria as she noticed Spencer nearing. Emily seethed, "Do whatever he wants, marry your sister."
Spencer looked puzzled before she took in her body language, figuring out Emily was drunk off her ass.
"Stop talking about this," Jo whispered in her ear, her voice cold. "It's not the place."
"It's not fair!" Emily hollered, so hell-bent on talking. "Where is justice?"
"What the fuck do you know about justice, huh?" Jo spat, getting in Emily's face. The drunk girl scrunched her eyebrows as she watched Jo lose her cool. "You want justice for Toby? Call my dad and tell him about July fourth. Tell him how Toby took the fall for us, for you. There's your justice. Otherwise, sit your ass down and keep your mouth shut. We made our beds, now it's time to lay."
Emily glared at her as she bolted from her seat, marching to Ian. She stuck an accusing finger in his face. "I know what you did—we all know—and you're not going to get away with it."
Jo yanked Emily back, pushing her aggressively into Spencer's arms. "Damn it, Emily! Let it go."
"Spence has it. You and I are going to have a little dance." He muttered, keeping her from leaving with the girls. He put his hands on her hips, swaying offbeat. "What was she talking about, Jo?"
"She's drunk, and I'm not sure."
"Oh, I think you do." Ian objected, leaning in close to threaten her. "You know the eyedrops and heavy perfume doesn't hide the stench. Or, maybe, they do and I'm just too good at knowing the symptoms of being stoned?"
She grounded her teeth, wishing she was still as high as he suspected her of being. She felt like a loaded gun that would fire without warning if she didn't give her veins a filling soon. Jo looked pained as she lied to him, giving the pretenses it hurt to tell the truth. "She knows about you and Spencer. How you guys... kissed last summer after breaking up with Melissa."
"Spencer agreed to keep it our secret. Who else knows about that, outside of your little posse?"
She bit her lip. "No one, Ian."
"You better be telling me the truth," Ian stressed, thinking she just wasn't understanding. "Or someone is going to get seriously hurt."
"Wouldn't dream of lying to you."
He let her go. Jo stumbled away from him to find the girls. If she stayed there for a moment longer, she would blow her fuse and ruin all that she's done to stay on his side. As she walked off, he called out to her, "Domino effect, Jo. One goes down, we all do. Don't forget that!"
a/n:
you guys probably don't read these things (i don't entirely blame you) but if i can get to 145 overall votes, the next chapter will be published the following day!
-b