chapter two . . .
. . . creepy detective
LAVENDER couldn't help but let out a sigh as she sat in-between Hanna and Aria at Apple Rose Grille. Lavender herself felt so emotionally drained, she just wanted to have a long bath and then curl up into bed.
"Why was Jenna there?" Aria asked as Lavender stirred her drink with her straw.
"Obviously she's back, and she plans on staying." Lavender sighed before she took a sip of her drink.
"And that cop acted as if we were suspects or something." Hanna said referring to the detective which stopped them when they left Alison's funeral.
"Do you think we looked guilty?" Emily asked, looked between Spencer and the other girls across from her.
"Why would we?" Aria asked making everyone turn to her. "We haven't done anything wrong."
"Except lie about the Jenna Thing." Hanna said making all the girls uncomfortable at the mention of what had happened to Jenna.
"We promised we would never bring up the Jenna Thing again, remember." Spencer said in a hushed whisper reminding all the girls the promise they made to each other and Alison.
"Like it never happened." Lavender sighed as she took the flask off Hanna and poured some of its contents into her drink, stirring it with her straw once again.
"Have you found a way to forget?" Aria asked all the girls rhetorically. "I still wake you sometimes in the middle of the night━"
"Aria it was an accident." Spencer reminded her.
Lavender went to take a sip of her drink as she looked at the other people at the grille, but she locked eyes with a man giving her a sceptical look. "It's medicinal." She said as she placed a kind smile on her face, but the man's face didn't change. "Cramps." She said a little harsher, making the man uncomfortable and making him turn back to his own food.
"I don't get it." Emily started. "How does A know something about me that only Alison knows?" Emily asked the question that was on all their minds.
"Ali knew all of our secrets," Aria stated, "but we never knew any of hers."
"I knew some." Spencer spoke up making all the girls look at her, as she wasn't the only one. Lavender knew more about Alison than any other of the girls sitting with her, but she wasn't ready to make that common knowledge as Alison also told her a lot about the other girl's secrets.
"Go on." Aria asked as she looked at her in surprise, if she thought anyone of them knew one of Alison's secrets, she would have put her money on Lavender.
"Talk." Hanna agreed with Aria.
"I can't." Spencer said, regretting that she ever mentioned it.
"Spence. No. You are not going to drop a bomb like that and just clam up." Aria said trying to get Spencer to talk.
"She would so kill me if I told you." Spencer tried to defend herself.
"Well, she's dead." Hanna said shaking her head at the girl. Lavender just sighed as she took another sip from her drink, not really interested in what Spencer had on Alison seeing as Lavender probably already knew what it was.
"Ali was seeing someone that summer." Spencer said finally giving into the peer pressure. Lavender just rolled her eyes as she already knew that.
"I knew she was keeping something from me." Emily said making Lavender remember how Alison told her about the feeling Emily had towards Alison. "From us." Emily quickly corrected herself once she realised what she had said.
"Why didn't she want us to know?" Aria asked confused because Alison was always flaunting the boys she had.
"He was an older boy and he had a girlfriend." Spencer said revealing all she knew of the secret.
"Who was it?" Emily asked, generally curious about who had caught Alison's attention.
"She never told me his name." Spencer said truthfully.
"Okay, that's only half a secret." Hanna said as she rolled her eyes at the girl.
"That's more then you ever got from her." Spencer was quick to defend herself.
"How was it, Ali told us nothing and yet we told her everything?" Aria asked the girls.
"Because she made us feel like we were part of something special," Lavender started, "but unlike you I didn't actually tell her everything, though she always found out even if I didn't tell her." Lavender said as she remembered all the things she had tried to keep from Alison, only one thing stayed hidden from her in the end.
"We were part of something special." Hanna said bumping shoulders with the brunette.
"I miss that." Aria admitted.
"Me too." Spencer said with a sad note in her voice.
"I miss Ali." Emily said sadly as she rubbed the bracelet Alison got for all of them.
"I can't believe you still wear that." Hanna said as she looked at the bracelet Emily had on.
"Ali still wears hers." Emily said quick to defend herself. "Wore."
"When Ali didn't come home that night, I knew something terrible must have happened but there was always some part of me that imagined that she would someday just show up." Spencer confessed.
"Yeah. I used to think that maybe she'd just run off with some guy." Aria added smiling, it would have been such an Alison thing to do.
"She was lying in a beach somewhere." Emily added.
"Getting a tan by the pool." Hanna added.
"With that hot lifeguard." Lavender added, all the girls knowing what lifeguard she was talking about.
"Ah, what was his name?" Aria asked as she tried to remember.
"Who cares. Save me." Hanna replied making all the girls laugh.
"But if we're speaking of that night." Spencer said before turning to Lavender. "You still haven't told us where you disappeared off to."
Lavender just shrugged as she took a sip from her drink. "I had my own summer fling that summer."
"Was it the cute lifeguard?" Hanna asked laughing, as she knew that Lavender had her eyes on him that summer.
"Ah, I wish." Lavender replied as she played with her straw. "Imagine the swimming lessons he could have taught me." Lavender said making all the girls laugh. But it was all cut short as they all heard the endless tapping on the wooden floor as the door opened. They all turned towards it and saw it was none other than Jenna. Each of the girls were quick to pay their share and leave without making a sound.
The all said their goodbyes once they reached outside and went their separate ways, Hanna going with Lavender as she was her ride.
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"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." Lavender spoke out loud as she practiced the cheerleading routine while Spencer practiced for hockey. Lavender let out a slightly aggressive sigh as she messed up what she was doing and started that part again.
"Nice." A voice came from behind the two girls once Lavender finished the routine, correctly that time. Both girls turned around and saw that it was just Emily and Maya walking towards them. "So, I heard you were gunning for varsity captain." Emily continued aiming it at Spencer.
"Well I have a shot." Spencer said as she let a smile spread across her face. Lavender picked up both Spencer's and her bottles and Spencer hers. "So . . ."
"If a Hastings has a shot, she takes a shot." Emily finished as she then stood in front of the two girls clad in activewear. Spencer in her hockey uniform, and Lavender in black leggings and a white tank top.
"Is that a drinking game?" Maya asked confused as the three girls laughed.
"It should be," Lavender said as she stood next to Spencer, "but either way I will be there to cheer her on." Lavender smiled as she took a sip from her drink.
"Spencer this is Maya." Emily said introducing the two people who don't know the others name.
"Oh." Spencer said as realisation feel, as well as her face.
"Yeah," Maya nodded, knowing what was going through Spencer's mind, "new girl who moved into dead girls house." She finished without realising, making silence fell on the group of four. "I can't believe I just said that." Maya said once she realised what she said, and who she said it in front of.
"I can't believe you just said that either." Spencer said blankly before she took a sip of her water.
"I think Brad Pitt and I are missing the same sensitivity chip." Maya joked, trying to lighten the mood but it barely worked.
"It's fine." Lavender said trying to not make the girl feel as bad as she should have. "I mean, we're all trying deal with it." Lavender nodded, as she was still trying to digest that her friend was in fact dead.
"Ah," Emily said as she tried to get back to why they came to talk the girls on their school oval in the first place, "Maya and I are going for some caffeine." Emily said both girls' weakness. "Do you guys want to join?"
"I would kill for a latte." Spencer confessed, "but, um, this is my only time to practice so . . ." Spencer said as she smiled sadly at the two in front of her. Emily then turned to Lavender in hopes that she would agree to join but was also let down.
"As much as I would love a cappuccino, I'm going to have to rain check." Lavender replied as she closed her bottle. "I have to have this down by our next practice and, well, what you saw was all I got."
"I'll hold you to that." Emily said as she pointed to Lavender. "I'll see you later." Emily said to both before she left, with Maya trailing behind.
Once the two continued walking Spencer went back to shooting and Lavender let out another aggressive sigh as she rolled her neck, before continued with the routine.
"They're intense." Maya said as she walked around the goal with Emily.
"If you knew their families you would understand." Emily said as she remembered what the twos family was like.
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Lavender stood in front of her locker, getting her things for her next class as Hanna and Mona stood beside her, waiting for Lavender to be ready.
"Okay." Mona spoke up breaking the silence. "I'm all for boob jobs but when I see those I wanna moo." Mona commented as a girl with said boob job walked past.
"You and me both." Lavender replied honestly as she looked at who walked past. Once Lavender had gotten the needed books, she shut her locker and stood in front of her friends.
"I spy a Sean." Mona stated as she looked passed Hanna and saw said boy.
Hanna smiled at the sight of her boyfriend and turned back to her two friends, "I'll see you at lunch," before walking off with her boyfriend.
"And then there were two." Mona stated, once again, as she turned to the brunette friend. "Now you are you dressing for?" Mona added as she looked up and down her friend's body.
"What?" Lavender asked in confusion as she looked down at her outfit as well. What she was wearing was a far cry from what she was wearing while she was practicing. She wore a denim skirt, and an oversized hoddie, that was tucked into said skirt, with a pair of tan boots.
"No one," Lavender said with a small sigh as she looped arms with the girl, walking down the hallway, people parting like the Red Sea as they walked passed, "but I'm always up for any suggestion you might have. Like any."
"Boy or girl this time?" Mona asked, as it was well known that Lavender was bisexual and sometimes, she liked to play the field.
"Well. . ." Lavender trailed off as she looked at all the students around the two. "Suggestion for both, maybe?"
"Well," Mona started as she tried to think of people that Lavender would be interested in, "Mr Fritz seems like your type." Mona suggested as they walked past said teacher's classroom.
"First of all, its Fitz," Lavender corrected her friend, "and second he really isn't," Lavender stated making the two laugh. "Anymore suggestions?"
But before Mona could suggest any more people for Lavender the intercom went off. "Could the following students please come to the office: Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, and Lavender Morales."
"Oh, someone's been a bad girl." Mona joked as she jabbed Lavenders side. "I'll see you at lunch."
Lavender soon found the other four girls that were to join her at the school's office. But once she joined them Arias phone went off. "Wait." Aria called out to her friends as she looked at the message she just received. "It's from A." all the girls soon walked back to Aria to see what the message said.
"Dead girls walking." Hanna read out from over Arias shoulder.
"Well that's just great." Lavender huffed before she hocked her arms with Hanna, and they all continued their walk to the office.
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The girls sat nervously in the office as Detective Wilden paced in front of them while reading a file. "So, let's see." Wilden said as he looked at the girls. "You," he said as he pointed to Spencer, "thought you heard her scream. And you," he pointed to Lavender, "went after Spencer after you saw she wasn't there."
Lavender just nodded as she remembered the original story that they told the police at the time. "I said that, yes." Spencer agreed verbally, opposite of what Lavender did.
"And when you three," he pointed to the other three girls on the couch, "woke up in the barn Alison was gone. And so was Spencer and Lavender."
"Yes." Spencer agreed again. "I woke up before them when I realised that Ali was missing so I━" Spencer started but Wilden finished.
"━So, you went looking for her."
"And I woke up just as Spencer was leaving and was wondering where she was going so I━" Lavender stated but Wilden also finished what she was saying.
"━Followed her." Wilden said as he took a seat on the desk in front of the girls.
"That's what happened." Spencer concerned once again.
"I got that." Wilden nodded. "So, what's up was this a slumber party or. . ?" He asked as he looked over all the girls.
"Is this an interrogation?" Spencer snapped back as she knew what was really going on.
"No, just a routine follow up." Wilden lied flawlessly. "Why did you all fall asleep?" He asked another question.
"I don't know." Aria spoke up that time. "I guess we were tired."
"Tired? Really?" Wilden repeated not convinced at all by what Aria said. He looked over all the girl once more before he zoned in on who he thought looked like the weakest link. "Is that how you remember it, Hanna?"
"Yeah." Hanna nodded as she knew it was the story that they all agreed on.
"Yeah, you guys were tired." He repeated once again, still not convinced.
"Look we've told you everything that we know, just like we did the night that she went missing." Spencer told him in hopes to get the 'not-interrogation' over with.
"I know," Wilden said as he looked down at the file he had in his hand, "but you see the thing is, it's almost exactly what you said last year. Almost like it was rehearsed."
"Or maybe it's the fact that we remember that our friend went missing like it was yesterday." Lavender spoke up. "How we would go over that night in our head in hopes we could somehow figure out where Ali might have been." Lavender knew that she wasn't the only one who wished she didn't leave or fall asleep that night. Knowing that if she stayed, she might have been able to help Alison. "Maybe that's why we know what we did that night." Lavender finished in a soft tone as she looked down at her lap.
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"He knows we're lying." Aria said breaking the silence that had engulfed the group of girls, while they ate their lunch.
"Lying is not a crime." Hanna stated as she looked over at the small girl.
"It is when you're giving false statements to the police." Spencer said in a hushed voice. "It's called obstruction of justice."
"Oh please. We lied about drinking." Hanna reminded the girls. "What? The truth that matters is that we don't know anything about what happened to Ali that night."
"But . . ." Lavender dragged out as she played with the straw in her drink as she looked at the blonde on the other side of the table, "we all knew someone who might have wanted to hurt her."
"We should have told the police about Jenna's accident the night it happened." Emily said as she played with her earring.
"I wanted to, remember?" Hanna snapped as she looked at the girl next to her.
"We had a chance to do more then tell the truth, we had a chance to stop Ali." Aria remained the girls.
"But we didn't," Spencer said cutting anyone from adding on to the conversation, "and telling the police now about what happened to Jenna isn't going to make her see again. It will just ruin our lives."
"Oh my god, she's back in school to?" Hanna asked rhetorically as the sound of rapping cut through all the noise in the cafeteria. All the girls couldn't help but look over in the direction that Hanna was looking and all saw Jenna.
"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Lavender said under her breath before she took a sip of her juice. Though Aria was quick to get up and walk over to Jenna making that she was unable to hear what Lavender just said.
"What is she doing?" Hanna asked the remaining people at the table.
"If she's doing what I think she's doing, I'm leaving." Lavender said as she looked over all the girls.
"No, you're not." Spencer stated as she remembered how Lavender would say that all the time.
"True." Lavender sighed as she turned in her chair, while Aria lead Jenna to their table. "I'm not."
"So, you're going to between Hanna and Emily." Aria said as she placed Jenna's tray on the space between said girl. "Lavender's right across from you, and Spencer and I are on either side of her." She finished as she placed a chair in the spence Hanna and Emily made.
"Thank you." Jenna said beiges she took a seat. "So, this would be Alison's chair, right?" Jenna asked, trying to make small talk.
"No." Emily answered seeing as no one else would. "We're not even at that table."
"You know she came to visit me at the hospital after the accident." Jenna confessed to the lairs.
"Alison did?" Lavender asked as she sat up straighter. "As in Alison DiLaurentis?" Lavender was hoping that Alison didn't tell her how she really became blind.
Jenna only nodded in reply as she opened her own juice. "Everyone misunderstood Alison, but I knew exactly who she was."
"When did you get back Jenna?" Spencer asked. "I heard you were in Philadelphia at a school for the . . ." Spencer trailed off not knowing how to phrase what type of school it was, ". . . the visually impaired."
"You can say blind Spencer." Jenna said as she nodded. "It's not a dirty word." She joked but didn't answer the question. "Wow. It's so quiet." She said as an awkward silence came over the table. "You guys used to be the fun table. What happened to you girls?"
But before any of the girls could reply their phones went off. They all ignored it hoping that they wouldn't have to see who sent it, but they continued to go off.
Jenna reached across the table and picked up Lavenders phone, "Aren't you gonna get that?"
"Thanks." Lavender said as she took her phone from Jenna's hands and looked at what message she had received.
if only she could see
how guilty you look . . .
━ A
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The drive from Lavenders house to Hanna's wasn't that long and was practically engraved into Lavender mind, seeing as she was Hanna's lift to school on most days. Once Lavender reached the Marin house, she parked her car in front of the house before she made her way towards the front door. Though just as she was about to knock on the door it opened, only to reveal the last person she expected.
"Detective Wilden." Lavender said in surprise and confusion as she put her hand back at her side and took a small step back from the man.
"Good morning Lavender." He said with his smug look before he walked past Lavender, leaving the door open for her.
But before she could take in what she just saw the person she came to the house for was in front of her smiling and ready for school. "Lavender. You're here. Good. Let's go." Hanna said as she dragged the girl back to her car.
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"So, your mum and. . ?" Lavender said in a hushed tone after Hanna told her the reason for the run in, she had that morning. "Wow."
"Wow? What do you mean wow?" Hanna asked as she turned back to look at her brunette friend. The two had not long ago gotten to school and they were waiting for Emily.
"No! It's just I mean . . ." Lavender trailed off not actually knowing what she meant. "Wow." She repeated. "I mean, your mum stills have it, cool." She said as she tried to think of something. "Oh, look that's Bens car, that means Emily's here. Let's go." She said quickly as she walked over to were Ben parked his car, followed by a confused Hanna.
"Looking good Emily." One of the boys in the swim team said as Emily got out of the car. "Looking good too." He said as he saw Hanna and Lavender walk towards them.
"I'm sorry were you talking to me?" Lavender asked sarcastically before he walked away from the three girls. "That's what I thought."
"You okay?" Lavender asked as she walked on one side of Emily and Hanna the other, linking arms with Emily as she did so.
"Not really." Emily replied honestly, shrugging.
"You know I never thought of you as someone who's so comfortable with PDA." Hanna teased as she tried make the situation less awkward then it was.
"Maybe I'm not the person everyone thinks I am." Emily commented even though the girls didn't pick up the second meaning behind it.
"Whoever really is?" Lavender asked sarcastically as they entered the schools building.
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"Okay are we sure the shoes go with the dress?" Lavender asked again as she walked back to her car with Hanna and Mona, both laughing at what she said.
"Yes. Even I would think about doing it with you if I saw you strutting it in that dress and kicking it in those heels." Mona assured her making them all laugh some more.
"And we love the necklace?" Lavender asked as she held up the bag.
"We adore it." Hanna said this time, mimicking Lavender voice. Though the buzz the three girls were feeling after shopping was soon cut short as Hanna and Lavender caught a glimpse of Detective Wilden.
"Relax, you actually paid for that." Mona told the blonde as she gestured to the bags in Hanna's hands.
"Yeah, let's go." Lavender said as she linked arms with the girl and tried to get her to continue walking to her car, but she wouldn't move.
"Um, yeah. I'll be right back." Hanna said before she left her two best friends and made her was way towards the detective sleeping with her mum.
"What's up with her?" Mona asked Lavender as they both watched Hanna walk towards the detective.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Lavender lied as she linked arms with Mona, "but I'm still not sure about the earrings." Lavender said trying to change the subject.