Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily sat at the Apple Rose Grille in the centre of Rosewood. People walked by the windows of the restaurant and sitting at tables around them, all of them wearing black dresses or tuxedos. Almost all of Rosewood had been at Alison's funeral. It had ended a few hours prior, but the four girls thought it was respectful to wear their funeral outfits in memory of Ali. Their drinks sat in front of them, untouched and sweating, while their minds reeled over the last creepy message from A and Alison's death.
It felt like the whole world had turned on its head. One minute, they were holding out hope that this year would be normal. They would study and go to parties and miss Ali every once in a while, but never did they suspect that their friend was buried just steps away from Spencer's backyard, from the very place they had seen her last. They couldn't believe it. There was nothing else to say about it.
They had barely said a word to each other since they had arrived at the restaurant. Spencer couldn't blame them, her mind was still racing with all of the crazy things that had happened in the last few days. How could it be possible that Alison had sent each of them a message when she had been dead for a year? There was only explanation that Spencer could think of. Alison hadn't sent any of those messages. Someone was messing with them, impersonating Alison. How this person knew all of their secrets, Spencer didn't know, but it didn't scare her any less.
That wasn't the only odd thing, however. At the funeral, Spencer and the rest of the girls noticed that Jenna Marshall had shown up after years of her being gone. Jenna and her stepbrother, Toby, hadn't been in Rosewood since the summer before Ali went missing. There had been an accident, and Jenna had gone blind because of it. Toby had been sent away to a reform school, and everybody knew it was because he was responsible. Except for Spencer and her friends.
"Why was Jenna there?" Aria asked, tapping her fingers on the glass of her soda.
"I guess she's back," Spencer said quietly.
"That cop acted like we were suspicious or something," Hanna said.
That was true too. Spencer had so many thoughts floating around in her brain, but she couldn't forget the way that cop had been looking at them. She understood that the gravity of Alison's investigation had increased tremendously, but there was no way they could be suspects. They had been just as shocked as the rest of Rosewood when Ali's remains had been found.
She was sure they just wanted to review their statements, so she wasn't sure why they all looked so concerned.
"Do you think we looked guilty?" Emily asked, her voice trembling.
"Why would we?" Aria said quickly. "We didn't do anything wrong."
Hanna scoffed. "Except lie about the Jenna Thing," she said.
Spencer leaned forward on the table. "We promised we'd never bring up the Jenna Thing again," she hissed. "It never happened."
"Have you found a way to forget?" Aria exclaimed, a little too loudly for comfort. "I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night—"
"Aria!" Spencer said, cutting her off. "It was an accident."
Hanna sighed and pulled a small silver flask out of her bag. Spencer recognised it from the funeral. They had all taken secret swigs of the liquid inside, but not enough for anyone to notice. They all just needed something to help them get by. It wasn't easy to just sit through the funeral of their best friend. Hanna tipped the flask over her half-emptied glass of soda. Someone noticed behind Spencer, and she turned around to see some old guy glaring at Hanna.
"It's medicinal," Hanna said to the old guy. He didn't quite seem to believe her. "Cramps!"
Spencer rolled her eyes and turned back to the table. Hanna had grown some balls in the time since Ali had gone missing. The Hanna that Alison knew would never have gone drinking in public like that. The only time she ever drank was when Ali got them into college parties and when they sneaked sips from Mrs. Marin's wine bottles. Hanna pouring copious amounts of whiskey into her Diet Coke was either a brash example of her change into Queen Bee or the lasting shock. Spencer wished she could steal a sip from her.
"I don't get it," Emily said suddenly. "How does A know something about me that only Ali knew?"
Aria shook her head. "Ali knew all of our secrets," she said. "But we never knew any of hers."
"I knew some," Spencer said as she took a sip of her coffee.
Their heads all turned toward Spencer. She immediately wished she hadn't said anything. She really hadn't meant to, it just kind of...slipped. The silence that fell over the table was deafening as each of the girls waited for her to continue. "Go on," Aria said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.
"Talk," Hanna said.
Spencer hesitated. She'd never felt comfortable sharing anything Alison ever shared with her. Secrets to Alison were completely sacred, and their secrets was a huge part of why they felt so connected with Ali. Each of them knew that she would never tell the girls any of their secrets, not outright anyway, and they all shared one huge secret that they swore never to tell anyone. So telling the girls Alison's secret just felt wrong.
"I can't," she murmured.
"Spence!" Aria exclaimed. "No, you are not going to drop a bomb like that and just clam up!"
"She'd so kill me if I told you."
"She's dead," Hanna snapped.
Another uncomfortable silence fell over the table. Hanna shrugged and leaned back in her chair. She wasn't wrong, but that had been kind of a harsh response. Spencer debated for another moment before deciding to tell. It wasn't as if Alison would know she had spilled. "Ali was seeing someone that summer," she said into her coffee cup.
"I knew she was keeping something from me!" Emily said. "From us."
Aria looked back at Spencer, her eyebrows furrowed. "Well, why didn't she want us to know?" she asked.
Spencer shrugged. "He was an older boy," she said, "and he had a girlfriend."
"Who was it?" Emily asked eagerly.
"She never told me his name," Spencer admitted.
Hanna rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's only half a secret."
"It's more than you ever got from her."
Aria shook her head, still looking confused. "How is it that Ali told us nothing, and we told her everything?" she asked.
"Because she made us feel like we were a part of something special," Emily said simply.
Hanna smiled. "We were."
It was true. Alison was one of the best friends they had ever had. She had been there for them through every heartbreak or any other bad thing that ever happened to them. While she hadn't been the kindest overall person sometimes, she was always an amazing friend to the four of them. Spencer could feel her heart breaking all over again as she thought about the countless sleepovers and secrets they all shared.
"I miss that," Aria said sadly.
"Me too," Spencer said.
"I miss Ali," Emily said, fiddling with a small purple bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet was beaded and spelled her name out in white letters.
Hanna glanced over at Emily's wrist and chuckled. "I can't believe you still wear that," she said.
"Ali still wears hers," Emily said, covering it with her hand defensively. "Wore."
Each of the girls had one, but Spencer couldn't remember where hers was anymore. It had hurt too much to keep wearing it after Ali disappeared. She just wanted to forget about Alison and the bracelet that bonded them to the secret they swore never to discuss again. She remembered how it felt the night Alison had run away. It was the same sinking feeling she had felt the night of the accident. "When Ali didn't come home that night, I knew something terrible must've happened. But there was always some part of me that thought she'd just show up," Spencer said.
It seemed like the sort of thing Ali would do. Disappear for a few days, then come back to Rosewood like nothing ever happened. Mrs. DiLaurentis would throw a fit and ground her for a few hours, then life would continue on as normal.
"Yeah, I used to think that maybe she'd just run off with some guy," Aria said.
Emily nodded. "She was lying on a beach somewhere," she said, continuing the story.
"Or getting a tan out by the pool with that hot lifeguard," Hanna laughed.
They had been obsessed with this lifeguard at one of the community pools they used to sunbathe at. He had been an older Rosewood boy that flirted with Alison nonstop. Alison used to let him, but she never followed through with dating him. She made it obvious to the girls that she wasn't really interested in him. She just wanted to play a game.
"What was his name?" Aria asked.
"Who cares?" Hanna replied. "Save me!"
They all laughed, and for the first time since Alison disappeared, Spencer felt as if things went back to normal and that Ali could walk through those doors at any minute. They were bonding again, and Spencer knew that she wasn't the only one who was glad for it. She had missed having a friendship like she had had with these girls. It was the only good thing that came out of Ali's death.
The doors to the Grille opened, and a sharp tapping echoed through the restaurant. The laughter slowly faded as the tapping crept closer and closer to their table. Spencer watched as Jenna Marshall shut the door to the Grille, her large, black sunglasses covering her face and the red and white walking stick swaying back and forth on the ground. They watched as Jenna made their way to a table facing the window and sat down, folding her walking stick and placing it on the metal stool beside her.
The girls grabbed their bags and tossed a few bills onto the table. They hurried out of the restaurant as quickly as they could. It was way too weird to think that their worst nightmare would be sitting two tables away. The girls exchanged awkward, quick goodbyes and headed back to their houses while Jenna Marshall stared blankly through the window of the Apple Rose Grille.