1.14

•

"Careful What U Wish 4"

Aria let out a heavy sigh. "We've got comic books, more comic books... and more comic books." The search of Ian's belongings was going poorly. They had found nothing noticeably strange; the binoculars had been particularly creeper, but not alarming.

"Evidence of geekdom, but not a crime," Hanna groaned.

Then, Emily appeared from upstairs. Her hand was clutched in Maya's, and Halle's heart ached at the sight. Halle tore her eyes away from the happy, in love couple and focused on rifling through a box of Ian's. In one, she found a yearbook. Eager for a distraction, Halle flipped through it. She stopped at the letter 'D', and began her slow and careful search for Jason's face.

She found him on the third page. Her eyes scanned over the unfamiliar faces until she found the one she was looking for. It was one summer and he haunted her still. If she closed her eyes, Halle could still feel his fingertips dancing over her skin, hear his laugh when she said something outrageous about hating Rosewood, see the stormy look in his eyes right before he kissed her for the first time. She could remember it all. Her lingered on her, in her memories... That summer

"Thank you guys so much," Maya said sincerely and began to hug each the girls one by one.

"Of course," Spencer smiled.

"You'll be back soon," Hanna said.

At the door, saying their goodbyes, Emily shared in a sweet kiss with her girlfriend. When Maya has finally gone, Emily was extremely grateful for the four friends in front on her. "Thank you guys," Emily said, "tonight was the best gift anyone could have ever given me."

"Where are they sending her?" Spencer asked Emily.

"Uh, some place called True North," said Emily.

Hanna made a face. "Seriously?"

Worry set into Emily. "Is it bad?"

"They sent Betsy Berger there for huffing spray-paint, she came back as a drummer in a gospel band," Hanna explained.

Seeing her friend's wavering faith, Aria chose to reassure Emily. "Maya's an amazing person, Em. She's gonna be fine," Aria said.

Emily nodded. "Yeah..." She tried her best to sound assured, but her face read uncertain. Instead, Emily distracted herself by turning her attention to what her friends were doing. "Did you guys find anything?"

"Nope." Halle shut the yearbook, keeping a finger slotted in between on the page where Jason's photograph was. "Zilch, nah-dah, nothing," listed Halle, droning out her words.

"We've looked through every box and found a big, fat nothing," said Spencer, frustrated. She was certain Ian had something to do with Alison, but they were coming up empty.

As Aria took to the sofa, she sighed heavily. She went to slouch but her body tensed when her phone chimed. Aria pulled her phone out of her pocket and read aloud her text. "'Don't say I never gave you anything. Turn on your computer. A'."

The five friends hastily moved across the living room towards the kitchen island where Spencer's laptop was. Halle had disregarded the yearbook; Jason was long forgotten. They gathered around the laptop as Spencer got up her emails. The Hastings girl loaded up the video and clicked play.

"If the girls knew I was seeing you, my god, they'd never shut up about it." Alison's voice sounded through the speakers. She wore the same yellow shirt she wore night she was killed and sat on the kissing rock, coyly teasing the person behind the camera. An image the girls had seen before, one that haunted Halle.

"This is the video Cooper showed us," Emily said.

"I wish they were more mature, but... we don't have much time. I have to get back before they wake up... I know you wanna kiss me."

They watched as Alison cocked a smile. The blonde pushed herself from off the rock and reached a hand out for the camera. When she had a hold, Alison turned it. The gasps that left the girls were loud.

"Oh, my god!" Spencer said loudly.

"Come closer," Ian asked of Alison.

Alison gave a chuckle, she liked to think she was toying with her prey.

Ian's hand covered the camera; it got somehow found its way to the ground. Alison's breathing quickened. A moan was heard, followed shortly by rustling and a heavy thud. Alison's hand came into view, her bracelet on her wrist, and grabbed a fistful of dirt. She clawed at it, gripping tight until she couldn't anymore.

"Is she...?" Halle's voice came out quiet, fragile. "Was that how she...?"

The girls watched the video over and over. With a close eye, they combed through it carefully. "She doesn't even look scared," Spencer said.

"Did Alison ever look scared?" Hanna asked.

"Come closer."

Alarmed, Aria said, "he pushed her, didn't he?"

Hanna had other ideas. "All that mumbling and groaning, maybe she was gripping the ground—"

Halle couldn't help herself, it slipped past her lips before a second thought, "wanky."

"—because she was—"

"Looking for a weapon to defend herself?" Spencer snapped.

"Why are you snapping at me? I'm just trying to give your creepy brother an out," Hanna retorted back at her.

"In-law, okay?" corrected Spencer firmly. "Ian is my creepy brother-in-law."

"Whatever he is, he just married your sister and he might be a killer," Aria said.

"And he's sleeping in your barn," Halle pointed out to her friend.

Emily motioned to the screen. "This definitely proves he was with her the night she died."

"And at the kissing rock," Halle added briskly, "wearing Toby's sweater — he's innocent! She was still alive when he left her."

"Can we just watch this video one more time and figure out what they've saying?" Hanna pushed her way to the laptop control-pad.

"No. Please," Emily turned away from the screen, unnerved. "I can't watch this again."

"Yeah," Aria agreed. "Em's right. Let's just give it a rest."

The five of them walked away from the laptop. They sat down in the living room. Halle cast her eyes over the yearbook, now abandoned on the floor. A sudden sickening feeling crossed her and she knew Alison was far from done with them. Halle and her friends were in a circle — no end, no out and never finished.

Emily shivered. "Is anyone else freezing?"

"Freezing? I'm boiling here, Em," replied Halle, pushing her hair from out of her face. From the sweat beads there, her baby-hairs stuck down against her forehead and her shirt felt damp.

"I'll make some hot chocolate," Spencer offered, getting up once more.

"Hot chocolate? What's this, Camp Tamarack?" Hanna questioned in disbelief. "We can't sit around singing 'kumbaya'. We have to hand over that video," said Hanna firmly.

"Exactly," Halle said.

"What video?" Ian's voice came from the door. Five heads whipped around to face him.

"Uh, Hanna rented 'Tootsie' but she left it at home," Spencer lied easily and convincingly.

Ian flashed them a smile. "Oh, well, you're welcome to hang in the barn. Your sister picked some chick-flick on demand," he said to Spencer. "Where do we keep the popcorn?"

"That drawer," Spencer answered, pointing to the top drawer by the cooker.

Halle shot Spencer a look, mouthing, "we?" to her. She rolled her eyes. As she did, Halle noticed the yearbook still on the floor. Her eyes went large and her foot came out to discreetly knock it under the sofa, away from Ian's gaze.

"Oh, okay." Ian moved toward the cooker, going in the drawer for a packet of microwaveable popcorn and giving Spencer chance to edge closer to the laptop. Ian turned and halted Spencer to a stop. "Oh, Emily, you ready to trade your goggles for a field hockey stick? You know, we could use some speed on the offence. Right, Spence?" Ian asked, looking to Spencer for support.

Spencer, caught attempting to close down the screen, put on a fake smile and nodded. "Mm-hm," she hummed.

"Thanks, I'm still into swimming," said Emily, trying to smile away her nerves.

Ian turned his question to Halle next. "What about you, Hal? You ever consider throwing away those pom-poms for a real sport?"

"Ha!" Halle couldn't really fake her smile. She came across dry and annoyed. She thought Ian was an asshole. "I'm still healing from two cracked ribs, so a 'real' sport might be too much for me," she grimaced through gritted teeth, her frosty exterior off-putting to the male.  "I'll stick to my pom-poms."

Ian was visibly taken aback by the tension in the room, confused by it. "What's up? Did I walk into the middle of a chick flick?" he asked. When he got no answer, he understood. "Okay, I get it. No guys allowed." He gave a small chuckle and walked out with the bag of popcorn.

The friends exchanged looks, horrified. They all finally exhaled out. "God, that was close," Aria sighed. Her voice became high and shrill, concerned for her friend. "Spencer, how can you even sleep here knowing he's living in your backyard?"

"We have to give that tape to the police," Halle said.

"Tonight," Emily added firmly.

"And when they ask us where we got it?" Spencer asked them.

"We tell the truth," Halle responded.

•

Halle stood by her locker. She was using it to hide her messages to Jason. She had text him shortly after she received the tulips in hospital and since then, a trickle of exchanges had happened between the two. One time, they had even spoken on the phone. It was after Agent Cooper first showed Halle the video of Alison; Halle wanted to know how his family were holding up. After all, Halle once considered them family.

A cheerleader coughed loudly as she passed, "slut." It was followed by a series of giggles; a group of three girls walked down the hallways, all talking about Halle.

"Damn, what's her problem?" came a voice beside her.

Without thinking, Halle responded. "Thrush."

The boy gave out a laugh. "Cheerleaders get that often?" he asked.

Halle glanced to her right to see a stranger. He was routing through a locker two down from hers. His hair was long and he had deep brown eyes, the colour of dark chocolate. He smiled slyly like he knew all her secrets already and dimples carved into his cheeks out of amusement for Halle's witty comment.

"I'm a cheerleader," she told him.

"Hope you're not that kind of cheerleader," he said.

She went back to typing out her last message and spoke to the boy. "You're new here."

"I moved here about two weeks ago." He held out his hand to her, smiling. "I'm Caleb."

Putting down her phone, Halle extended her hand out and shook the stranger's hand. "Halle," she introduced.

"Halle..."

She saw the cogs turn in his head as he pieced together who she was. Her eyes burned into his and still she shook his hand. "Yeah, the whore in the video."

"I never—"

She dropped his hand and turned back to her locker. "You didn't have to." Halle grabbed what she needed and shut her locker. She gave the new boy a lasting piece of advice, "if you're gonna survive here, keep your head down and don't piss me off."

Caleb chose to follow her on her way to her next class. "I heard you broke a girl's nose."

"Yeah, and I ain't afraid to break a guy's nose either," said Halle.

He laughed. "You're pretty feisty. So why do let them mess with you like that?" he asked.

"I don't, usually. That's why her nose got broken in the first place," Halle replied. "But I promised no more fights, so I'm keeping myself out of trouble."

"How're you finding it?"

Halle smiled. "Painful. There's so many people here that need a slap around the face... with a chair," she joked, half-joked. She looked to her side and saw he was still there. Curiously, she asked, "can I help you with something?"

"No," Caleb said.

"Then, why are following me?" asked Halle. "Please don't tell me it's flirting. Because this—" she motioned to him with her finger, "ain't cute."

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm in here," Caleb said. He stopped outside a computer lab. "This is my class."

"Oh." Halle felt like an idiot. Her cheeks went warm. She felt hot. "Sure, got you."

"Halle—"

"Don't!" Halle cut him off quickly. "Please don't talk. I have to go, somewhere I preferably don't make an idiot of of myself."

•

After third period, Halle headed for the outside courtyard. It was lunch break and as planned, she was to meet up with her friends and go down to the police station to hand over the video. When Halle got there, she only saw Hanna Marin. Sat alone, Hanna was on her laptop roaming through job openings.

"Hey," Halle greeted, popping herself down next to her. "What you doing, Hanna-banana?"

"Looking at job vacancies," answered Hanna.

Halle chuckled. "What? You wanna join the world of the low paid and employed? Why?" Halle asked. "We're all miserable."

"Money's a little tight right now," Hanna confessed to her friend. "You don't think you can talk to your dad at the bank and ask him to give my mom a raise, can you?"

"One: my dad is the head of accounts and finances, your mom works in savings, it's two different departments," Halle explained. "And two: you definitely overestimate my power of persuasion." She gave a shrug and suggested, "I can see if The Grille's hiring."

Hanna's eyebrows rose. "You can?"

"Yeah. I've been thinking of cutting back my hours anyway," Halle mentioned.

"Why?" Hanna asked.

Halle felt a sudden weight on her. A guilt swept in. "I wanna spend more time with Eric," she said. "Last night, hearing Em with Maya... and Spencer saying it must be hard with Eric being away at college, it made me realise it was — it is hard. I'm gonna try and make more of an effort to see him," said Halle.

"Yeah..." Hanna sighed and then asked her, "should it be an effort? Shouldn't it be natural?"

"You have to put in effort, Han, otherwise you get lazy," Halle replied, "I don't wanna get lazy with Eric. I love him." Halle saw Hanna's face fall a little. Halle reached out and placed her hand over Hanna's own. "Oh, but if it's natural with you and Sean, that's great."

Though Hanna smiled and agreed, Halle wasn't so sure she convinced her friend of it.

Soon, Spencer, Emily and Aria saved them from the unfortunate silence that had fallen over the pair. "Come on, you two. You can look at help wanted on the way over. I hear Rosewood PD is hiring," Spencer joked dryly.

"Well, I do have experience with them, just the wrong kind," Hanna muttered sarcastically.

"'Kay, come on, we have to go," Emily told them, "we only have forty-five minutes."

Hanna closed down the online-window, yet as she went to close down her music, she noticed something. Her eyes focused in on the screen. "Wait, hold on. What's this?"

Spencer shook her head and bent down, looking at the laptop. "What am I looking at?"

"How come it shows your music's online when your laptop's on your shoulder?" Hanna asked curiously. She pointed at the screen and said, "look — isn't that your playlist?"

"What?" Spencer was confused; it was her playlist. Perplexed, she scrambled to move her bag around her front and went to pull out her laptop, but instead pulled out a yearbook.

Halle's eyes grew big, twice as big as Spencer's eyes were. Her hand went to her own bag. How had the yearbook vanished from her possession to her friend's?

"Why are you carrying a yearbook?" asked Aria.

"I'm not!" said Spencer fiercely.

"But you are." Instantly, Halle took the yearbook out of Spencer's hand. Her eyes scanned the front. It was the one she kicked under the sofa last night. The very same one she snuck in her bag when the girls weren't looking; the page with Jason on folded down at the corner.

"Where's your laptop?" Emily asked the Hastings girl.

Still looking, Spencer panicked. "It's in my bag, except it's not. This is insane!" She insisted, "this have been plastered to my side all morning."

Emily asked, "what about in P.E.?"

"It was in my gym locker, but no one else had that combo," answered Spencer firmly.

Halle gave them a serious look and stated flatly, "the coaches do."

Alarmed, Emily trembled, "Ian must have heard us last night."

"Well, if he did, he know what's on there," Aria mentioned.

Spencer dreaded her next sentence. "If he has my laptop--"

"He knows we've seen what's on there, too," finished Hanna knowingly.

•

Coming out of the pharmacy, Halle shoved the little white bag into her handbag. She huffed out a heavy breath. She really hated having to ask for her own prescription; the pharmacist asked her questions she didn't know all the answers to and half the time, she didn't see the relevance to them. It was easier when her mother picked them up, then Halle didn't make a fool of herself for not knowing which box to tick on the form and holding up the chatty church-goer who wanted to know too much about Halle's accident.

Under her breath, Halle began to incoherently mutter to herself. "I hate this town, I hate how small it is, I hate the gossiping little hens, I hate—"

"Hey, Cheery."

Halle looked up from her bag and turned her head to the side. There stood the same guy from earlier, the one she made an idiot of herself in front of, holding the handlebar to his bike. Caleb, Halle remembered. It was strange bumping into him again in such a way. She wasn't expecting it. She wasn't expecting him to talk to her either.

"Hey, Stalker," Halle replied, unsure. She glanced him up and down, her eyes landing on the grey beanie upon his head. "Cute beanie,"

The side of his mouth quirked up. "Cute nickname," he acknowledged, amused. "Not a stalker though."

Halle stood up straight, her arms now crossed over her body. "I've ran into you twice now and both times you've started up a conversation with me."

"You're forgetting my reputation is better than yours," Caleb quipped back jokingly, "can't be seen with whore from the video, as you said. Think what it'd do to my business.

"That would be a shame if your reliable and completely legal stop-shop went out of business because of a whoring cheerleader," Halle retorted.  

"A whoring cheerleader without thrush," replied Caleb, smirking. "I'm told the rest of them really suffer from it."

His witty comment even got a little chuckle from Halle — one she wasn't expecting to release. She never expected to find the strange boy from the hallway funny.

Caleb smiled at her and asked, "you wanna grab a chili-cheesedog?"

Continuing on the theme of surprising herself, Halle found herself agreeing. "Thought you'd never ask, Stalker."

"You're buying, Cheery," Caleb replied.

Halle returned his smile. "Deal."

Just as she was about to cross the road, Halle heard her name being called out. She turned around and saw Noel standing there, watching her with Caleb and his bike. Trying to remain casually, he walked over to her.

"Noel, hey." Halle reached up and hugged him tight. When she pulled away, her heels settled on the ground again, Halle said, "I tried texting you when I found out, Eric said you were—"

"Did you know?" Noel snapped at her.

"What?" Halle's brow tightened.

"Did you know?" Noel asked again. His voice was firm with her, his eyes angry. "Did you know about the exam papers?"

"How was I supposed to know?" Halle asked. She said, "I didn't even hear about you getting expelled until Myles told me at home."

"All I know is that I was gonna go to Hackett about Fitz and then those answers end up in locker. You know my combination, Halle," he accused.

"For when we traded notes in Chem." Insulted, Halle drew back from him. "You think I set you up?"

"You or your little friend. I'll give you a clue, it's starts with 'A'," Noel said through his clenched jaw.

Halle swallowed harshly, what was he saying? Was Hanna right? Was Noel working with A? Did he want to hurt her and her friends? For what? Alison?"

"A?"

"Halle, don't play dumb here," Noel said. "We both know you're too smart for that." When he still saw something glaze over her eyes that wasn't recognition, he spoke again. "Aria! Aria, Halle, who else would I be talking about? God, Halle, I was so close to outing her and—"

Suddenly aware of company, Halle cut Noel off in a flash. "Stop! This isn't a conversation we should have here on the street."

Noel eyed Caleb, stood a little behind Halle trying desperately not to listen in but couldn't help it. "Who's this?"

"This is Caleb, he's a... he stuck up for me today," Halle explained.

"Stuck up for you?" Noel was concerned. "What do you mean stuck up for you?"

"It's nothing," Halle said.

"Just a couple of cheerleaders with thrush," Caleb added, said to get a laugh from Halle but only succeeding in confusing Noel further.

Halle sighed and told Noel, "I've been having some trouble with a few of the girls on the team. Slut-shaming and stuff."

"Because of the video?" Noel asked.

"Yes!" Halle got closer and scolded him in a hushed whisper, "and because you started a rumour that a teacher is having it off with a student and they think it's me!"

"You can't be serious," Noel commented, taken back. "They can't think it's you."

"It was serious enough for Coach Rhodes to ask me about it," Halle snapped.

"Halle, I'll sort this, I promise. I'll fix this whole mess for you, just let me talk to Hackett—"

Halle held up her hand to stop him. "Don't. Don't do anything. Forget it ever happened. Forget everything. Don't sort this. And don't tell Eric I've been having trouble either. Don't do anything. Just leave it alone. Please," she begged, "leave it alone, Noel."

Noel's s expression had softened. "Halle..."

"Let's go, Caleb," she said.

Not wanting to get involved, Caleb simply walked with Halle, away from the boy she clearly had something with. The new boy was reading Halle like all her pages were laid out in front of him. There wasn't any reluctance behind it; it was laid bear, not that Halle had much of say.

"So..." Caleb sucked in a breath. He had never felt more awkward in his life. "I'm guessing that's the ex-boyfriend, then."

"No, he's the brother of the boyfriend."

Caleb couldn't help himself, he choked out a laugh. "What? I don't wanna intrude on your relationships, Cheery, but that was not the face of the boyfriend's brother." Quietly, Caleb added, "he seems to really care about you."

Halle glanced back over her shoulder to see Noel was no longer there. A sadness seeped in when she realised he didn't stay to watch her walk away. She turned back around and faced the ground as she walked. "Yeah, he does."

Caleb stopped and offered Halle something her never thought he would offer up so easily. He had seen something private of hers without intention, he could only think of repaying it by intentionally telling her about him. "How about I trade my sad life for yours?"

A small smile cracked onto Halle's face. "It better be really sad, like, Finding Nemo sad, because I've embarrassed myself twice in front of you now," she commented.

"I promise not to leave out any heart-breaking detail," he replied, returning her smile.

Halle nodded. "Okay, then."

•

Halle never hated raising money more. A dance-a-thon was the last place she wanted to be, but it was for the class trip to D.C. and Halle wanted to go to that. It didn't help that most normal teenage activities went up like a nuclear bomb for Halle and her friends as of late.

Also, there was the Ian problem.

With the number '42' plastered to her back, Halle wished she was at home, curled up in bed with Pacha watching re-runs of Friends. Instead, she and her friends planned to break into the coaches office like they were Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. Impossible was the right word, Halle thought.

"You're sure your laptop's in that bag?" Aria asked, referring to Ian's work briefcase.

"There's only one way to find out," Spencer replied, stood with her friends waiting for a ticket to put their coats and bags in the cloak-room.

"Why bring it to school when he knows we're all gonna be here?" Hanna asked.

"Maybe he thought you'd bail out early, go home and snoop through his things," Emily suggested.

"Why don't you?" Hanna said.

"We snooped through his things last night, remember? He likes comic books," Halle said.

"We need the bag," stated Spencer firmly.

Over the microphone, Ian Thomas' voice sounded loud in the decorated cafeteria. Gone were the lunch tables and at the back of the room was a DJ set. Pink lights flashed and purple streamers hung from the ceiling.

"I know you're all eager to get started," Ian said. "But first, the rules, all right? Number one—"

"Don't kill teenage girls?" Halle muttered sarcastically. She turned to Hanna and said, "I really don't wanna be here."

"Number two—"

"What if he's already erased the video?" Aria asked, concerned.

"Well, then we know for sure he's hiding something and we go to the police," Spencer said.

"With nothing? No proof?" Halle was stunned by how naïve her friend was being. "You think they're gonna take our word for it— a group of teenage girls? One who hooked up with the guy when he was her sister's boyfriend, one who has an inappropriate relationship with her English teacher, one with previous history with the police, another who lied to the police about Toby, oh, and the whore who got her boobs out on video," Halle shot at them, "yeah, who wouldn't believe us?"

"Okay, our wrap sheet isn't so good but—"

"Isn't so good? Spencer, Dory from Finding Nemo is a more reliable witness and she has short-term memory loss!" Halle fired back.

"Why are you talking about Finding Nemo?" Hanna asked, baffled.

Halle waved her off. "Something I said earlier."

"Look," Spencer brought them back on topic, "we saw what we saw. Something went down between him and Alison, and he buried her in the yard to shut her up."

"Now let's get the party started!" announced Ian, followed by a crowd of exited cheers and applause.

Stood at the back of cafeteria, the excitement didn't touch the five friends. They were cold to it. They weren't like the rest of their class anymore. They had gone through too much.

After a couple songs dancing (of swaying side to side while the level of anxiety built in their chests), Aria handed Spencer the keys from Ian's coat. Spencer looked to Halle. "Let's go."

As she passed, Halle told Aria, "watch him like a hawk," her eyes firmly on Ian. "SOS if he leaves."

Halle followed Spencer out of the school cafeteria and headed down the series of hallways towards the coaches' office. Spencer slid the key inside the lock, hidden behind Halle as she kept an eye out. Spender pushed the door open. "Keep lookout."

"Okay, just hurry," Halle said. She took her place by the door and flicked on the light. She watched as Spencer rounded Ian's desk and jangled the keys about, starting to try unlocking the drawers one by one. "Hurry."

"Hurry? There's, like, twenty keys on here," Spencer said, trying the next one.

Halle screwed up her brows. "Which ones have you tried?"

"The ones over my hand," Spencer answered, focused hard on the locks.

"Are you sure? Try the little one, those type of cabinets always have a little key," Halle suggested.

"I'll get to it, I have a good method going on here," said Spencer.

The two hadn't even noticed Halle had moved away from the door until they heard a new voice. "Need some help with that, Cheery?"

Halle looked up at the sound of the new nickname she found thrust upon her. There, holding the door open with his hand, stood Caleb. "Stalker."

"I strike again," Caleb said.

Spencer glowered up at Halle from her crouched position. "You had one job — lookout."

"And you couldn't open a drawer," shot back Halle. Realising Caleb was still there waiting, Halle faced him and laughed, putting on a false act, "we were just, uh..." She glanced at Spencer for assistance.

"... just looking for—"

"A chainsaw?" Caleb sarcastically filled their blank. "I can pick that for you if you want."

Spencer stood up slowly and asked, "could you close that door, please?"

Caleb pushed it open further. Smugly, he asked, "feeling a draft?"

Halle crossed the office and tried to shut it, but Caleb kept a firm hold on it. "Caleb," she tried.

"This is way too complicated for us to explain right now," said Spencer.

"What's complicated? I don't live in a cave, I get it," he said simply. He philosophised, "the rich girls steal, the pretty girls lie, the smart girls play dumb, and the dumb girls spend their days trying to be all of the above."

Amused by his theory, Halle flirted, "which am I?"

Caleb cocked a eyebrow up at her, smirking. "You already know."

Interrupting the two, Spencer cleared her throat. "How much will it cost to make you forget that you walked in here?" she asked.

He shook his head and said, "I don't want your money."

"You don't?" asked Spencer in surprise.

"No, I'll keep my mouth shut," Caleb said.

This, too, stunned Halle. "You will?"

"You sound surprised." Caleb smirked, "can't ruin our relationship of nicknames and chili-cheesedogs."

Halle jokingly put her hand over her heart. "Wow, I mean that much to you? Cute."

Caleb couldn't help but smile at her. He laughed. "Shut up and let's go."

"Okay, Stalker, I'm moving," Halle said, hurrying out of the office, laughing as she did.

•

Halle came back into the cafeteria after using the girls' toilets. She scanned the room to try and find one of the girls. When she couldn't, Halle went to turn on her heels to find them elsewhere. A hand curling around her forearm stopped her. Her eyes travelled from the person's hand all the way up their arm until her dark eyes landed on Ian's face.

"Shouldn't you be dancing?" Ian asked her. He said, "I haven't seen much of you tonight."

Halle stepped side to side sardonically, giving Ian a large false smile. "Happy?"

"Dance with me," Ian said.

She gave him an incredulous look. "Are you serious?"

"It's allowed, just for tonight," Ian clarified.

Halle laughed in his face. "Maybe when hell freezes over."

"You're forgetting I know about That Summer, too, Halle," Ian reminded her, making Halle scoff. "One dance."

"Remind me again, are teachers allowed to threaten students? Because I don't think you can," said Halle.

"One dance, before this becomes a scene," Ian said, and Halle redundantly took his hand.

She cringed when she felt his hand on her waist. The thought of the same pair of hands strangling Alison — hurting her — made Halle want to hit something. Someone. She wanted to hit someone, and she was dancing with him.

"Have you heard from Jason?" he asked her.

"Jason hasn't been back for weeks," Halle said. "Not since Ali's memorial. Why would I have heard from him?"

"Come on, Halle, we both know how close you two were That Summer. I was at those parties, too, I've seen some stuff," Ian reminded her. "You and Jason were a thing."

"He was Ali's brother." Halle remained firm on that. Deny, deny, deny, she told herself. "Just her brother."

"I'm sure he'll be hurt to hear you say that, he really did like you," Ian said. "And you liked him, too. At least, you liked teasing him. Don't think I didn't recognise where you were in that video. I've smoked in that shed, enough to recognise it and know who you were with." He smirked down at her, "you and Alison were really alike, she liked to tease too."

"Is that what she did to you?" Halle asked him strongly. She held his stare as she asked him, unflinching.

Ian laughed at her.

"I know about you and Ali, I know," said Halle firmly.

"I don't know what you think you know, but I know about you and Jason, and I could prove that was him in that video." He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear, "what would people say then, hey? When they find out you screwing your best friend's brother. What would the girls on your cheer team say then?"

Halle threw her head back and looked him in the eyes fiercely. "I didn't screw Jason. He was nothing, just a game," Halle said. "My way of messing with Ali, that's all. Now, excuse me, the song is over," she finished.

She dropped her hands from shoulders and stepped away from him. Halle couldn't breathe. She had to get out of there, but as she attempted she felt a pull on her.

"Hey, we need you," Hanna said.

The blonde pulled her to the cushioned seats situated around the makeshift dance floor. There was Emily, sprawled out of one of them; her limps were loose and she could barely hold her head up

"Okay, I'm gonna go get you some water," said Aria to Emily, starting for the drinks table.

"Caffeinated water!" Spencer called out firmly.

"Are you drunk?" Halle asked. She turned to Hanna and Spencer. "Is she drunk? Why is she drunk?"

"Why were you dancing with him?" Emily clumsily held her arm up and pointed at Halle. "Why were you dancing with Ian?" Emily asked, slurring her words.

"Here, water," Aria said. She tried to place a cup of water into Emily's hand.

"I'm not thirsty," Emily persisted.

"No, because you've drank enough," Halle commented. "Who let her get like this?"

"He shouldn't be here. He's not a chaperone. He's a killer!" Emily exclaimed, eyes watering.

"Emily," Spencer warned.

"Married to your sister!" yelled Emily drunkenly.

"Okay, Emily, come with us," Spencer said calmly. "Come on."

Emily managed to get to her feet but instead of exiting the dance, she started to stumble over to Ian. Drunk and slurring her words more so now than before, she told him, "I know what you did. We all know. And you're not gonna get away with it."

"Emily!" Aria yanked her away.

Halle pulled at Emily's arm and tried to usher her out coolly; she was desperate not to make a scene. "Em, let's go."

Ian grabbed a hold of Spencer. "They can handle that."

•

After grabbing their coats and bags, Halle attempted to get a drunk and befuddled Emily down the steps of Rosewood High. Emily crashed down, leaning against the bricks. "Was that tree always there?" she asked curiously, squinting as she tried to focus on it.

"For the two years we've been going to school here? I think so, yeah," Halle responded, pulling Emily up off her feet. "Most likely been there longer, too."

"Here, take these," Spencer said, handing over the car keys to Hanna. "She's not driving."

"No, I'm not taking her," Hanna argued. She shook her head profusely. "If her mom finds out it was my flask, I'm gonna be feeding the bears for everyone!"

"Fine, I'll drive her," Spencer gave in.

"No, I'm not going home," grumbled Emily.

"Just crash out at my place then, okay?" offered Spencer kindly. She looked to Hanna. "You too? I don't wanna be home alone when Ian walks in," she sucked.

"Okay," Hanna said.

"Halle?" Spencer questioned.

"Actually..." From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Caleb and his bike. "I have to— I have to sort something first."

"Okay, I'll leave the door unlocked," Spencer said.

"Get her there safe and give her, like, three pints of water," Halle said, laughing a little while still concerned for Emily.

When the three of her friends had managed to get Emily into the car, Halle turned. Her heels clicked over the parking lot as she made her way over to him. With a soft smile, she spoke. "Hey, Stalker."

Caleb faced her, looking up from the bike chain he was messing with. "Cheery. How did the dance go, then?"

"Poorly. They really should mention you actually had to dance at a dance-a-thon," She jested.

"Not spending your time breaking in a teacher's desk drawer," Caleb quipped.

"That's not what tonight was for?" Halle asked jokingly. A silence fell on them both, but Halle chose to break that. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, chewing on it nervously. "So, is the bike done-for or can I get a ride?" she asked.

"On this?" Caleb questioned.

"What else?" Halle asked him.

Caleb stood and climbed on the seat. "Your chariot awaits," he teased. "You'll have to go on the handlebar through."

"Ooh, comfy." Halle dropped him a wink. She gripped on the handlebar and then propped herself up on it, wobbling a little. "Okay, I'm beginning to regret this."

"Better to start now because you're directing me," Caleb said, and he pushed off.

"Wait, what? No—no! No! What do you mean?" Halle screeched.

"Well, I can't see," said Caleb, laughing loudly.

"No— go right! Right! Right! I said right — listen to me!" screamed Halle wildly. Her head fell back in laughter. She squealed in delight, both laughing chaotically as she tried to direct him. "Now left—left!"

"You're really lucky Rosewood's a dead town because if this was a city, we'd be dead," Caleb joked as he carried on peddling.

"By the end of this, we might be!" said Halle, still laughing, much louder louder than she had done in a while.

Halle was pretty sure she and Caleb would wake up all of Rosewood with their manic laughter by time she got home. Yet she didn't care. Halle was laughing — the real deep kind. She was sure she even snorted at one point, which only made Caleb laugh harder.

Halle ended the night happy — on a high. It something she hadn't ever expected to do, and she let herself think that maybe she wasn't so far from a normal teenager after all.

•