2.15

•

"A hot piece of A"

With A's cellphone in Spencer's hand, the five decided to go back into the greenhouse and search for more evidence. If A lost their phone when Hanna hit them with a car, maybe they dropped something else while they were alone with Emily. The girls also needed to collect the box of Alison's.

Ducking low, scanning under the bench-tops, Aria asked, "But how hard did you hit him, her, it?"

"Didn't run like a her," Emily commented.

"I thought it was an animal," said Hanna.

"It was," Spencer said firmly.

"Is," Halle corrected.

Eyes frantically searching the greenhouse, Emily asked, "Okay, where's the box?"

Glass crunched under Halle's shoes. She shone the flashlight over to the far side of the outbuilding, hoping to see it, but there was nothing.

"You guys, this phone is locked," Spencer called out.

Emily turned on them, heightened in annoyance and panic. Her throat still hurt from where A had the scarf strangling her. "And where were you guys? I thought we were supposed to meet up here. Wasn't that the plan?"

"I'm so sorry, Em," said Aria sincerely. She broke off into a high-speed rant, "I— I dropped a huge bomb at home, my parents wouldn't let be go anywhere — I had to climb through Mike's window!"

"And Toby came in and totally cornered me with all these questions about why I was acting this way," Spencer added, justifying her own tardiness. "And he would not leave without any answers, and Halle was honking the horn."

"Why didn't you just leave?" Emily asked Halle.

"The plan was for me and Spencer to come together," Halle defended strongly. "I had no idea about Toby, and—"

Taking a break from ruining at her cuticles, Hanna finally snapped. She closed her eyes and threw out abrupt, "Kate's moving to Rosewood." She let out a loud sigh after, her lungs deflating as she shared the news. Her friends suddenly stopped their bickering and all whipped their heads around to stare at Hanna, shocked and confused.

"—What?" Both Aria and Spencer spoke over each other, saying the exact same thing.

"Yeah," Hanna stated. Her head went up and down like a bobble-head, still shaken with the news herself. She took shallow breaths and worked herself up as she told them, "Yeah, my dad and Isabel got married, and now they're looking for a house here in Rosewood. So, now I have one more than one monster in my life, okay? I win!"

"No, you don't," said Emily incredulously. "I was almost killed! These are not highlights, Hanna, this is glass in my hair!" she yelled.

"Okay!" sighed Hanna loudly. She pinched the bridge of her nose, angry with how it all turned out and how they were all now turning against each other.

While Aria moved, flashlight held up to Emily's head as she plucked out the glass, Spencer pointed out the most obvious outcome of tonight. Exclaiming to get her point across, Spencer said, "You guys, can you talk to me for a second? I'm holding A's phone in my hand. What are we doing with this?"

"Something— before A knows we have it," countered Halle.

"Stand still," Aria requested of Emily, routing through the girl's hair for shards of glass.

Suddenly, eyes lit up with an idea, Spencer said, "Hanna, call Caleb!"

"Why?" asked Hanna.

"He's the best way that we can get information off of this phone," Spencer gave. She held the phone in her hand like it burnt, like she was touching a part of A.

"No! Leave him out of this," Hanna argued back.

"But he's our best shot at tracing this back to A," reasoned Spencer, her voice going into a hushed whisper towards the end.

"There are other people," Hanna insisted defensively. "We'll take it to a phone store tomorrow."

"Hanna, this is A's phone!" yelled Halle, irritated. She didn't want Caleb involved either, but this was A and they couldn't just go to anybody.

Spencer scrunched up her brows, baffled at the suggestion. "The phone store?!"

"Well, then call technical support!" shouted Hanna. She was remaining strong in persisting against the idea of getting Caleb involved. "We can have someone in Pakistan do it!"

"Hanna!" Emily scolded loudly.

Trying to play middle ground, Aria said, "Look, this can't wait until tomorrow."

"Once A realises it's missing, it's—!"

"I get it, okay?!" snapped Hanna, cutting Emily off in the process. Her neck and chest welled with rage, reddening with each heated comment. "But this phone is connected to Jenna and Officer Garrett. Caleb already already has bad history with her and the police — We're not going there!" she screamed.

"Okay! Okay!" said Halle, hands up to try and defuse the situation. Her ears hurt, the insides swelling as the shouting became muffled. She tried to focus on the words around her, a tight knot in the centre of her forehead.

Aria rose her voice against Hanna, ignoring Halle in middle. "Hanna, but if he can find something that finally nails the two of them together—"

"At least consider it," said Emily, as Spencer threw her hands up behind her head. Frustration was rising high in the greenhouse, and Spencer took up most of it.

"Hanna, come on," said Aria. "Think this through."

"I am," defended Hanna.

"Okay, you done thinking?" Spencer finally caved, snapping. "Cos' we're running out of time here." She looked directly at Halle for answers. "Wait, is Caleb still crashing with Lucas? Where's Lucas's house? I will go over—"

Hanna shouted furiously, "Spencer, stop giving us orders, we're not your flying monkeys!"

"Okay, guys, guys!" Aria waved her hands about, attempting to calm the situation. "There's gotta be a way that we can get Caleb to help without—" Aria cuts herself the second the phone started to ring.

Spencer's eyes widened, as did they others. She pushed it towards Aria and said, "Answer it."

It kept on beeping, and Aria snatched it from Spencer. She whipped around and held it out towards Emily. "Answer it, answer it."

"Why me? I've got glass in my hair!" Emily shrieked.

"Ughh, I'll answer it!" grumbled Hanna loudly, fed-up with the screeching around her. She grabbed it from Aria rather aggressively, snapping at her friends. "What do you want me to say? Shall we tell them that we have the phone?" she asked.

"They'll know that when you answer the phone," said Halle, baffled by the question.

"It's blocked," Hanna stated, glancing down at the flashing screen.

"Well, duh," Halle said. "A's not gonna reveal herself through caller ID, Hanna."

The glass above them shattered suddenly. They all jumped back, gasping, as the shards came crashing down. Extremely panicked and rushed, Emily declared, "I've got Caleb's number, I'm calling him!"

"Go!" said Spencer, hurrying them along.

•

Not longer after, the five found themselves gather around in the Hastings' kitchen. Caleb stood by the counter, learning over his laptop with the smashed phone belonging to A plugged into it. Aria, Emily, and Spencer circled around him, watching the screen as Caleb attempted to access the data. Halle was rooting through the medical supplies, looking for rubbing alcohol to clean her cheek, while Hanna distanced herself from the entire situation.

"What's that number?" asked Spencer, pointing at the screen.

"Tells me how much data's currently loaded on the phone," Caleb answered. "It's a lot," he commented after.

"You mean like photos, videos...?" questioned Emily.

Caleb gave a scoff. "It's definitely more than Angry Birds." Hearing a wince across from him, Caleb looked up to see Halle wiping away at her cheek, cleaning the small amount of dried blood there. There was only a scratch underneath, from where the branch hit her face, but enough to warrant cleaning. "What happened to your face?" he asked her.

"What happened to yours?" Halle threw back sarcastically, causing him to shoot her a fake smile back; their humour matched. "I ran into a branch," Halle said. "Cut my cheek." It was the truth. Halle told him no lie there; she was already telling a huge one when it came to the phone. Halle gestured her head towards the fridge and asked, "Spence, do you mind?"

"No, no, go ahead," Spencer said. Her eyes darted back to the laptop, not seeing Halle help herself to the jar of pickles in her fridge. She asked Caleb, "And how long will it take to download?"

"We're not there yet," Caleb told her. He found Hanna sat silent, chewing her nails at the far side of the kitchen island. "Hanna," she said, grabbing her attention.

"Hmm?" Hanna looked up, eyes on him.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Hanna quietly.

Knowing he wasn't getting the full-picture, Caleb suddenly became more bothered when he noticed how withdrawn both Hanna and Halle were being. One was refusing to even contribute while the other ate sliced pickles from a jar. "Alright," said Caleb, "can somebody tell me whose phone this is or—?"

"We can't," Spencer said. "Yet," she added. "The less you know right now, the better."

"Okay..." He drew out the word before he shot back at them, "Well, then can somebody at least tell me why Emily smells like a bag of mulch?

"Wait." Aria remained zeroed-in on the screen. "Something just came up," she said, and Caleb glanced down immediately.

WARNING! TRANSFER INTERRUPTED

"Crap," he said, hearing a chime on his computer as two windows opened up.

DATA REMOVED

"What just happened?" Spencer asked.

"Phone got bricked," Caleb said. He started typing away, eyes more focused than Halle had ever seen.

"Translate, please," Emily requested.

"The owner shut down the phone from their computer," Caleb explained, him trying to figure out how to approach it now. He continued typing, trying to stop whatever the owner was doing remotely from affecting his own files.

"What, so we lost everything?" said Spencer, her voice high and shrill.

"We never had everything," Caleb said to her. "I have some files, but they're locked, and they're probably corrupted."

Then room filled with disappointed sighs. Halle, with a mouth full of with pickle, mumbled out a short, "Bummer," before she carried on chewing.

Caleb noted the distress — the tone of urgency in the girls — and offered, "I can try and retrieve what I have, but it's gonna take a while. Are you sure you want me to work on this?" he asked.

The three closest to him all spoke in unison. "Yes!"

Admittedly, he was a little taken aback by the certainty in their voices. Caleb glanced over to Halle, who only gave him a shrug, then he cast his eyes to his girlfriend. "Hanna... Are you alright with this?" he asked.

Hanna took in all the serious looks her friends were given her, realising she was outnumbered massively. She pressed her lips together and gave a little nod. She clearly wasn't entirely on board, but Hanna agreed either way.

•

Painful wasn't a word Halle would often use when she described her relationship with her father. Neither was tense. However, that was how the distance between them felt. Halle's back tightened with the thought, wincing whenever she felt the stormy atmosphere swallowing up all the trust that once there. His fairness had vanished, Halle could tell by the way he barely stood to be around her any longer than he had to.

Nick Brewster worked late most days that week. He had been taking less work home and spent more time at his office at the bank to avoid the inevitable. Yet, he knew as well as Halle did that it had to arrive eventually. it all had to come to a head at some point.

The lights in the kitchen was on when he arrived home, and Nick ventured into it not expecting to find Halle at the island. Surrounded by a large mountain of schoolwork, Halle took notes for the latest assignment set Mrs Montgomery. She had a pen between her teeth for easy access; her chicken-scrawl squashed in the margins and above the words of the book. Her head lifted when she heard someone enter and a small smile came onto her face as she noticed her father was home, letting the pen fell from her mouth.

"Hey," she greeted softly.

"Hey," said Nick. Noticing the quietness of the house, he asked, "Where's your mom?"

"Picking up Riley from dance, said she's gonna get a pizza on the way back," said Halle.

Nick put his briefcase down on the counter-top. When he turned back, he was met with the littering of items on the counter around his daughter. "What are you doing in here?"

"I needed a space to... do all this," she sighed, gesturing to the scattering of textbooks and her laptop. "Apparently, my bed isn't the best place. My new therapist said I need to disassociate--" stressed Halle, sarcastically mocking it with bunny-ears, "work from where I sleep, thinks it may help my sleep pattern. Whatever that means." After, she huffed, sick of being told everything she did was wrong or bad.

Nick nodded along. "Sounds reasonable."

"It is until mom comes in and starts talking at me," Halle jested light-heartedly, receiving a warm chuckle from her father as a response. Wanting another, Halle joked, "Then, I have to disassociate work from the place I eat."

"There is that," he remarked, agreeing but not chuckling again. Having not seen her that morning, Nick noticed the scratch mark upon her cheek. He nodded towards it. "How'd you get that?"

"Oh—" Halle hand went up to her cheek. She felt the thin line scabbing under her fingertips. "I went on run with Spencer through the woods, hit myself on a low branch," Halle told him. It wasn't even far from the truth, and it felt enough like the truth where Halle didn't feel like she was lying. Although, it did nothing to ease the guilt of keeping something from the man in front of her.

Slight amusement crossed Nick's face. He raised his brows in question, dubious of her reasoning. "You went for a run? ... Willingly?" He saw her nod, and Nick did the same after. He moved across the kitchen, grabbing a short glass from one of the shelves and then the bottle of whiskey from a low cabinet. "Hal, I've never known you to run anywhere willingly. I'm not even sure you'd run if someone tried attacking you," he commented.

"No, I'd fight first," Halle quipped back, which only caused her father to glower at her. "It's fine though, I cleaned with an anti-septic at Spencer's," she said, referring back to the small scratch on her cheek.

While he poured the dark amber liquid into the glass, Nick mentioned to his daughter from over the island, "You know there was a time where we didn't have secrets."

"You think I'm lying to you?" Halle asked.

"Are you?" he asked back. Nick put down the bottle and picked up the glass, bringing it to his mouth. He took a sip, waiting for her answer.

"I did go running in the woods, and I did go with Spencer," Halle said to him. It was truthful, but it still carried uneasy in her stomach.

"And you did hit your face on a branch," Nick concluded, "just like you stumbled on that shovel, out by that barn."

Halle cast her eyes down, guilty.

Nick took a deep breath before he said what he did next. He couldn't quite believe he was saying it, but it was weighing heavy on his chest and started to constrict his relationship with his daughter. He felt it souring, like their trust was near to expiration. "You never looked or sounded more like Alison than you did that day," said Nick, and Halle was immediately ashamed. She was the moment she did it, but it was worse now. She had let it fester. Nick said to her sternly, though it pained him, "I didn't even recognise you."

At first, Halle struggled to hear it. Coming from her dad, it stung violently and cut deeper than Halle had known a comment to before. She'd heard it from Jason and from her friends, but it was brutal to hear it said by the person who had always been on her side, unwavering.

Her voice was small, kept low and quiet. "I know, and I'm sorry." Halle said to him, "I know I haven't made it easy on you or mom, but I'm working on fixing it. I was so close to fixing it, Dad," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I know I let you down."

"In no way whatsoever did you let me down," Nick told Halle, surprising her greatly. He then hit her with the worst thing she ever heard, "But you did let yourself down."

Halle let out something halfway between a dry laugh and a sob. "That is so much worse," she grimaced.

"Yeah, I've been sitting on that one for about a month," admitted Nick, slight amusement in his voice. The two shared a smile over the counter, his over the rim of his glass, meeting each other on mutual ground once more. They both felt them slip back into their old selves, and her dad's smile was enough to cure any aching in Halle's chest put there by his absence caused because she was cruel.

"I've missed you," Halle confessed.

Nick Brewster rounded the counter, going towards her. His arm came up and cradled her head as he leant down to press a kiss to it. "I've missed you too, Hal," he said, smiling as he did so.

Halle rounded her head, looking up her father with stern determination in her eyes, meeting his reassuring gaze. She told him strongly, "I'm gonna do better, I promise."

His smile turned soft. He pressed another kiss to her head, making Halle grow closer into his touch, happy. Her phone ringing broke the sweet embrace. Halle's eyes glanced over to her mobile and sighed, "It's Spencer."

"Go on, answer it," said Nick. "I'm going go change before your mom gets home." He moved away and went to leave the kitchen. Nick looked back to see Halle already had the phone in her hands and lectured in jest, "Just no running in the woods."

Chuckling, Halle said, "You got it." She waited until her dad had left the kitchen before she answered the call, bringing the phone to her ear. "Spence, hey—"

"Can you get out now?" Spencer asked the second she could.

"Tell me what you want, and I'll let you know," Halle returned sarcastically.

Spencer groaned, "I wanna go snooping around Jason's house."

"And why would we do that?" asked Halle. She said flatly, "Jason's been out of town for weeks now." It had been less than thirty seconds since her father left the room before Halle started lying again. Halle closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. She told herself Jason had been out of town — in and out — but he was staying at the Edgewood whenever he was back.

"God, you sound like Aria," Spencer muttered, irritable. "She really believes Jason has been out of town."

Sucking in a breath, Halle opened her eyes and asked, "Can you ask someone else? I'm swamped in homework right now." At least that wasn't a lie, thought Halle.

"No," Spencer said. "Emily's got community service, Aria is on house arrest, Hanna's spent all day drawing me with a pointy hat and wart on my nose — you were literally my last point of call."

"Why was I last?" Halle questioned, not sure if she should be offended.

"It's not like you actually listen to me when it comes to Jason," Spencer shot.

"I would if it made any sense," Halle returned.

"If it's a male helping Garrett and Jenna, don't you think the obvious way to look would be at Jason? He was friends with Ian and Garrett, he was in their creepy club. He had motive," Spencer said firmly.

"Spencer," Halle began seriously. "We all had motive." She peered out of the kitchen, listening in as her dad went upstairs. She thought about her mother and how Alison hung a bipolar diagnosis over her head that summer, playing on her emotions. Or her brother, who was manipulated by Alison with his sexuality used against him. Halle even thought about her relationship with Alison — how hurting Alison wasn't ever far from her mind. Sighing, Halle said, "Everyone Alison ever came across had motive."

There was a deathly silence on the other end of the call. The truth rung loud and hit the both of them close to their chests. Clearing her throat, Halle said, "Look, Spence, I gotta go, see you later." Halle didn't even give Spencer the chance to reply before she ended the call. She snapped the top down and tossed the flip-phone aside. Her head fell back and she pursed her lips together, repulsing at the thought of how she wanted to hurt Alison.

Halle could've have... That Night.

Her phone ringing brought her back. She shot her eyes down to the device, collecting it up again. She flipped it up and saw Jason's name flashed across her screen. Against her better judgement, Halle declined and threw the phone down again. At her weakest, Halle's eyes went to the glass on the side. The amber liquid tempted her. Halle had drank in a while, not to ease the pit inside. Before she knew it, Halle snatched up the glass. She downed its contents, grimacing at the flavour but enjoying the calmness that came in afterwards.

•

Secluded and stood off to the side of the hallway, away from any watchful eyes or burning ears, four of the five gathered around a stolen manuscript. Emily had taken it from her community service gig at the helpline centre. The words sounded too familiar. It applied directly to them — to A — so Emily took it. She snatched it up and hid in her bag to show to the girl the following day.

"'I almost got caught tonight. It's gone, and I can't get it back. I might as well be dead.'?" Spencer questioned the words she read aloud. It rang alarm bells in her head too, coming to the same conclusion as Emily had done.

"Tell me that does not sound like A's helper," Emily challenged rhetorically.

"They let you keep this?" Spencer asked, panic rising.

"No, they don't know I have it," said Emily.

"Let me see," Halle said, taking the letter straight out of Spencer's grasp. As she leant against the doorway of an empty classroom, opposite Aria, her eyes flitted over the page. It did sound alarmingly like A's helper.

"I told you we should've looked around Jason's house yesterday," Spencer shot at Halle.

"And done what? Add breaking and entering onto our wrap-sheets too? In case you forgot, Spencer, we're all kinda on borrowed time when it comes to petty crimes," Halle quipped back. Distracted by the printed words, Halle absently said, "Besides, he's out of town right now, he's in Georgia."

"How do you know?" Emily asked, which was also the question Spencer was about to ask by the look of her arched eyebrows.

Halle looked up, confusion on her face for a moment. She didn't understand the reaction until she realised what she had said. Playing it off, Halle asked them, "Have you seen him around town recently? Seen his car in the driveway once?" They gave her no response, and Halle added, "No? Then, that's how I know."

"Okay, so I have good news and I have bad news," declared Hanna, finally joining them in their corner.

"Have you see this?" Spencer asked. She snatched the paper right out of Halle's hand, causing the cheerleader to glare and suck her teeth, and Spencer thrust it out in front of the blonde.

"Are you kidding?" Hanna's mood instantly dropped as she took the manuscript. She remarked, "I woke up to it, Emily taped it to our bathroom mirror."

Spencer began, "We knew that it wasn't Jenna in the greenhouse, but now it looks like it—"

"It was her drone," inserted Emily strongly. She was confident in her conclusion, firmly believing in what she had found was part of the A-puzzle.

"Okay, I think that we should all be working at this crisis hotline," Spencer told the group. "I mean, if A's helper calls back, we could—"

"Nnnn... No." Aria interrupted her, her voice quieter than usual. She hadn't been herself since Fitz told her parents about them having a relationship and understandably, the Montgomery family didn't take it well. Halle was oddly proud when she heard Mike punched their ex-teacher. "I can't work at a hotline, I'm on lockdown," Aria said, causing her friends to sigh. She added in defence, "I can barely even pee without a chaperone."

"Halle?" Emily asked, eyes pleading.

"Er, no, I'm busy," Halle said.

"Doing what?" asked Spencer, sceptically looking at her.

"Doing anything but working at a crisis hotline," Halle countered back dryly. She rolled her eyes and gave a serious answer, "I have Cheer."

"Wait—" Hanna suddenly shot up, eyes on Aria, "you're still coming to my surprise party, right?"

"Nope," said Aria, pronouncing the 'p' more prominently. "Not unless you're throwing it in my closet," she wittily put in after.

Just as the five went to walk off, Caleb's voice came from a doorway across the hallway. "Hey guys, you got a minute?" he questioned. He stood, hands resting on the frame; the classroom behind him was empty. He had been working in it alone, and they all knew what this meant.

One by one, they followed him as he retreated back into the classroom. Caleb went to his laptop, it placed on a student's desk, and he leant over to show them what he had found. He informed, "I finally cracked one of these files, and then with one came two..." He loaded up the first for them, unsure of what it was but hopeful they would.

On the screen, the five dolls sat upright on a dresser. Halle had yet to erase the animatronic voice of it from her head. She thought about what a doll made her do — what she did across her father. It brought up shame and stirred up terror within her. If that was what a china-doll could do, what could a person?

Caleb noted the shifty glances between the friends and the silence that was more telling than if they had spoken. He sensed their disappointment and stood up straight, arms folded over each other. "But I'm guessing that wasn't what you were looking for," he stated.

Hoping for, Halle corrected in her head. The small voice at the back of it was nagging at her and it morphed into Spencer's knowing voice. Hope breeds eternal misery, and Halle knew in that moment she was right.

"What are you looking for?" Caleb snapped.

"No, this is..." Spencer tried to string together a sentence that wasn't laced with disappointment but failed mid-speech. She began again, reassuring, "This is really great. Could you please forward this picture to all of us?"

"What else did you find?" Emily asked curiously.

"A video," Caleb said. His eyes went up to Halle who was standing off to the left. "But I don't think that's what you're looking for either. It's of you," he finished, looking back at Halle.

Halle pointed to herself, surprised. "Me?"

Caleb nodded, his lips pressed tightly together. "Yeah." He said, "It might be easier if I show you..." He leant over the laptop again and loaded up another window, pressing the space-bar to play it.

The image was dark, barely able to be made out. Halle squinted, trying to make out what it was supposed to be. Red back-lights appeared on the screen, giving some clarity to the video. There was rustling sound and then the red hues shut off with a car engine. The door to the car open and a dark figure, who they could only assumed was Halle, climbed out, shutting the door after her.

"Where are you going?" Aria asked, eyes focused on the screen.

Spencer was disgusted, her lip snarling upwards. "It's one of Ian's creepy videos, isn't it? There's another one of you." She sounded sympathetic, and Halle could almost relax at it until she saw the date in the bottom of the screen.

"I feel sick," Halle declared. She suddenly felt very light-headed, faint at the thought. Halle had done such a good job at hiding her secrets again, keeping them close to her chest, and now it was unravelling at a rapid pace. A didn't even have to do anything. This was all on Halle.

Picking up on it, Caleb's guilt ate up at him. "I think we should stop this." He reached out to pause it, but Spencer had wafted his hand away.

"No — this is something," Spencer argued.

"Spence, we can hardly see anything," Hanna mentioned, motioning to the laptop. The video was in total total darkness. More rustling of leaves was heard, a brushing of wind also passing through the bushes.

"Can we just turn this off—?" Halle's own question was cut off by the gasps of Aria and Emily. The three who had been previously stood behind them, arguing with each other as Caleb was in the middle, whipped their heads around.

A light had came on and revealed the outside of the Edgecourt motel. Halle reached the door to room 1-1-6 and it had been opened by Jason DiLaurentis. From the angle of the camera, they were able to see the smile of his face and how greeted Halle with a sweet kiss.

Emily kept her intense gaze firmly on Halle as she reached out her hand and paused the video on the pair kissing. "Jason?" she asked.

Halle's head was tilted back, her staring at the ceiling. She tried to recollect her thoughts. Wondering if she could lie her way out of it, Halle realised her silence was only making worse. The right heel of her boot tapped repeatedly against the floor, foot bouncing anxiously. Her hands went damp. It made Caleb want to crawl up and disappear, unfortunately having put Halle in the tight, difficult spot with the girls.

"You're kissing Jason again, since when?" Hanna looked perplexed. The blonde genuinely thought it was over between the line. She was mildly impressed by Halle's ability to hide a secret; at least, Hanna knew hers were safe with Halle.

"You said it wasn't anything," Emily recalled. She pointed to the screen. "Is this why you and Eric broke up?"

A single regretful glance from Halle gave the girls the answer, yes.

"Oh, my god — Halle!" Emily exclaimed. "You promised to stay away from him, he's dangerous."

"He's not," Halle pleaded with them, to get them to see. "You just don't know him like I do."

"Clearly, we're not sticking our tongues down his throat," Spencer fired out harshly.

"No, you just do that with your sister's boyfriends," Halle snapped back at her fiercely. It caused Caleb's eyebrows to shoot up, shocked at the bluntness between friends.

Anger crossed over Spencer' face. She pointed at Halle accusatory and said, "You're doing it with our dead friend's brother, who — by the way— was part of Ian's home movies. Or at least the one of you. Don't you remember that, when your breasts were on every screen in the computer lab?"

"You think I forgot that?" Halle's voice raised. "I got whore painted on my gym-locker, Spencer, I think I remember."

"How long has this been going on?" asked Aria.

"Probably since the kiss," shot Spencer.

"Shut up," Halle threw out furiously, "you don't know anything."

A scoff left the Hastings girl. "Clearly."

Halle took a deep sigh and revealed, "We've been meeting up at the Edgewood motel since the night we got arrested."

"Yeah, because nothing's hotter than us being arrested with his sister's murder weapon," Spencer sarcastically hissed. "You screw in Ali's bedroom too, or just seedy motels?"

"Wasn't so seedy when you were getting it on with Toby?" Halle retorted, making Spencer clamp her mouth shut. "And if it makes this—" she gestured between the five of them mockingly, "any easier for you guys to swallow, Jason and I have never... We've never..." She avoided their gazes as she told them, "Had sex." She cringed after, her throat tightening. She snapped her eyes up to them and explained, "Yeah, Jason was a part of the NAT club when he was in high school — that yearbook was from his senior year."

"But those videos of us weren't!" Aria instantly stepped up to argue with Halle this time around. She waved her arms about, more high-rate than before. "What did he do, Halle? Tell you were special, is that it?"

Halle lit up with anger. She rolled her eyes and countered, "Like you have any legs to stand on in this argument. Aria, you're banging a teacher, you can shut up." A sharp gasp suddenly left Halle. She shot up and her hand flew to her mouth, realising what she had blurted out in front of Caleb. "Aria, I—"

Aria's eyes watered as she stared at her friend, betrayed by the outing of her relationship. "It's bad enough having to deal with this at home, but I could really use a break from my friends thinking it too."

"I'm—" Halle cut off her own apology. She wasn't sorry, not about how she felt towards Mr Fitz — she had never liked it. "Look, I love you guys. I love you, Aria, but... I've never felt good about you and Fitz. But because he makes you happy, and you love him, I got over it. We all got over it, so why can't you do the same with Jason?" she asked.

"You love him?" Aria asked lowly, making all their friends listen in for answer.

"I could," replied Halle honestly. She heard the scoffs and said, "I told you I could've That Summer. And, yeah, maybe I lied about what we were. Maybe we were a little more involved than I originally let on — okay, maybe a lot more. It was stupid of me to get that close, but I did and I hurt myself when I hurt him. I could've fallen for him." She bit her lip anxiously and added, "And I could again."

"We can't trust Jason," Spencer stated once more, causing Halle to groan. "What happened That Summer ruined our lives and we still don't have any answers, neither does he."

"He's a different person now," Halle defended. "He's not the same person from back then, Spencer."

"But he's still got secrets from then. Let's just get to class," Spencer said, not having much else to say. She awkwardly spared a look to Caleb and thanked him for helping before she and Aria walked out of the classroom. Emily glanced at Halle before she, too, exited without a word. Hanna remained, not because she was on Halle's side but rather she wanted to speak with her boyfriend.

Caleb curled his hand around Halle's wrist to stop her leaving as well. He pulled Halle to a halt. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know it would be so..."

"Tense," Halle put in, and he nodded. "It's okay, you didn't know what you'd find out. Me, on the other hand--" Halle's eyes drifted out to the hallway and didn't see any of her friends. She said regretfully, "my mouth always gets me into trouble somehow."

•

The drive up to Spencer's lake-house was quiet. Halle had been fidgeting the entire ride out there, drumming her thumbs on the wheel and chewing at the inside of her cheek until she tasted metal. She was running late, having been unsure if her friends would want her there. At one point, Halle had pulled up at the side of the road and debated turning back around.

Somehow, Halle got there. She convinced herself that hiding was worse than showing up. It was Caleb's birthday after all; he would want her there. She parked up behind a number of cars and shut off her engine. Halle sat in silence for a while, listening to the distant sound of the party. Resting her head against the steering wheel, Halle took several deep breaths, preparing herself for the night.

She looked up and pulled down the sun-visor and slid across the plastic cover to the mirror. Halle checked her appearance once over and was content. Nodding, she inhaled deeply. "Now or never," she said.

Halle had plastered on a false smile on her face as she entered the lake-house. The music was loud, but she barely had chance to recall which song it was before Hanna brushed by her, with Spencer swooping in after the other girl.

"Hanna! Hanna!" Spencer was pleading with Hanna to stop and listen. She clutched at her mobile, the screen lit up with an image Halle couldn't make out.

"—Oh, um, Han," Mona battled for the blonde's attention, too. The dark-haired girl stood curled into Noel Kahn's side, making Halle's brows crease together wondering when on earth that happened. "Did you really order twelve pizzas with green peppers on 'em?"

"No," Hanna said shortly. She was rushed off her feet. Hanna whipped her head around to face the newly-formed and heavily affectionate couple. "Why?"

"Well, that's what you got," Noel told her.

"—And Noel's allergic," Mona said while Halle spoke also.

"—He's allergic." Halle's eyes met with Noel's. She offered him a small smile, her cheeks feeling warm suddenly. Halle hadn't realised she spoke aloud and was now slightly embarrassed.

Spencer glowered at the couple, her too wondering when that happened, while Hanna was immediately fired up and asked Halle bluntly, "Where have you been? I thought you'd be here ages ago."

"Sorry — but I'm here now, and I brought cupcakes," Halle offered kindly, holding up the covered tray she walked in with. She was immensely thankful that everything fell back into place, even if it was just Hanna so far.

"I need to talk to you," Spencer said, lowing her voice. She gave Halle a serious look and added, "I've been trying to talk to Han—"

She was cut off by Hanna's shrill panic. "Caleb's almost here! He's early!" She darted between her messages and her two friends, her words laced with alarm. "Who comes to their own surprise party early? I haven't even hung the banner yet!" she said loudly.

"Hey, I'll do it," Noel assured. He then kissed the top of Mona's head, making the girl smile widely out of affection, before he went off.

Halle's eyes found Mona's own ones and the pair shared an uncomfortable silence. They both tried to smile through the uneasy feeling, not quite knowing what to say. Halle and Mona never really had much in common, but Noel was now the most notable thing they did.

Spencer saw a moment and grasped at it. She rushed in and thrust her phone up at the blonde. "Hanna, will you please just look at this picture? Halle—" She looked between them, trepidation in her voice. "A has been here, A has been in this house."

Snapping, Hanna's hands formed tight claw as irritation swept over her features. She shot out, "I can't deal with this right now. Okay, why is this phone not working?" asked Hanna, jaw locked, angrily pressing at the keys. She tried to move away, but Spencer was persistent.

"The dolls were up there!" said Spencer. "My attic might be A's secret headquarters. Please—" She gripped at Hanna's shoulder and attempted to direct towards the staircase, "both of you, just go upstairs, look at that wallpaper..."

Hanna span around, flustered and now bubbling with anger. "That wallpaper has been up there for two hundred years, it can wait another day!" Then, she stalked off.

Spencer looked to Halle, huffing. "Halle, please— Oh, good, finally!" Spencer almost lit up the second Emily walked into the party. She grabbed at Emily's jacket and said, rushed, "You're here! You have to come up to the attic with us."

"No, no, wait," Emily said. She met Spencer with eyes of dread. "I think I just made things worse with Lucas."

"—Lucas?" Halle questioned. The vertical crease between her eyebrows was permanently placed; she was in a constant, swirling state of confusion.

"I think he knows that I knew it was him on the phone," Emily revealed, and Halle's bewilderment hit an all-new high.

"Okay, we've got to get him out of here," Spencer said firmly

"Easy there, Captain Kirk," Halle abruptly said, and her friends looked at her, their eyes already wide with panic. "Are either of you gonna fill me, or am I just supposed to read minds all of sudden?"

"Lucas is the one who phoned the crisis hotline," Emily stated.

"And A's been in this house, the photograph of the dolls was taken here," Spencer filled Halle in.

"He's working with A, Lucas is A's helper," Emily inserted.

"And you think Lucas is the one who tried to kill Em in the greenhouse? And who Hanna hit with her car?" Halle asked cautiously, which caused them to nod. It was a lot to absorb, but Halle had to it quickly. The sense of a rush was dawning over her. "Okay, we need to find Hanna, then," Halle agreed.

"Will one of you please speak to her?" Spencer begged, almost tearful. "She's not listening to me."

"Where is she?" Emily asked.

Catching sight of Mona, Spencer rushed over. "Mona — hey," she mustered up a polite smile when Mona faced her and asked, "have you seen Hanna? Do you know where she is?"

Halle, tempted, glanced back at the refreshments table. The many bottles of alcohol were calling her name sweetly. Her dry mouth was crying out for a taste and fingers itched at her side for a drink.

"Yeah," said Mona brightly. "She and Lucas just went to set up the fireworks."

Halle's eyes went large; the drinks were forgotten. "What? Where?" She could pick up the heightened panic settling into each of her friends, joining them together in shared terror.

"At the pier across the lake, they took the boat," Mona informed them. She noted the quick realisation steep into all three's features, panic-stricken expressions and anxious stares. "Did they need permission?"

Her question was left on deaf ears. They sprinted over to the window, and Spencer yanked up the cord, retching the blinds up. Through the glass, they saw in the misty darkness the little boat leave the pier, with Hanna and Lucas in it.

"Call her, before she's lost service," Spencer ordered, and Emily instantly grasped her cellphone out of her jacket-pocket.

"It ain't quick enough," Halle mumbled. In a split-second decision, her body knew what she was doing before she did.

"Halle!" Emily yelled after the cheerleader seeing her flee for the door. The two ran after her, spotting Halle ridding herself of her own jacket and starting on her shoes as she approached the tiny pier. "Oh, god, she's gonna jump! Halle!" She chased after her, boots loud against the wood of the pier, and her hand firmly wrapped itself around Halle's wrist, yanking her before the plunge.

"We have to go after Han— She's with Lucas," Halle tried to escape the grasp.

"What are you gonna do? Swim in the lake until you find her? You could drown!" Emily raved hotly. "Don't be stupid, Halle."

"Come on, we can see from the left side of the lake," Spencer reassured. "Hurry, we can see her from there."

The three ran around the wild shrubbery, treading over the dirt bank. With the darkness, the surface above the lake was totally black. It was impossible to see past five feet and sound didn't carry far, blocked by the frozen fog looming over the water.

Halle called out loudly, "Hanna! Where are you?"

Stood at the next clearing, slightly further up the lake, Spencer led them to the edge. She squinted to see, crying out for their friend too. "Hanna, answer me!"

"Hanna!" Halle tried again. Panic rose in her throat with an acidic taste, burning the back of her mouth. Heart racing, Halle felt the blood rush to her ears and her hands began to shake.

"Hanna!" Emily screamed. Frantically, she said in apprehension, "I can't see anything, can you see anything?"

"No, I can hear things, and that's enough," Spencer fretted over Halle's constant calls for their friend.

"—Hanna!"

"Hanna!" yelled Spencer. "Answer us!"

"Okay, let's get in the car. They're probably at the pier," Emily suggested, rushed and filled with dread.

"No, Emily, it's a winding road," argued Spencer strongly. "By time that we get around, they could—"

"Okay, well, we have to do something, okay?!" Emily screeched at her.

A muffled cry carried over the water, swallowing most of it. It was distant and quiet, but it almost sounded like a scream. Nervousness turned to fear. Halle whipped her head around to her friends and asked, "Did you hear that? —Hanna! Hanna!" she started screaming hysterically back at the lake, pleading to hear something else.

Spencer met her in the same spot of terror and grew louder. "Hanna, answer us!"

"I'm calling the police," said Emily, panicking. She grabbed her phone and started to dial the emergency number.

"Go inside — go!" Spencer ushered Emily back up the lake-house, knowing she would get better service there.

"Hanna! Hanna!" Halle's throat was scorched, her cries travelling across the shoreline but lost in the fog. Still, she tried, desperately pleading. "Hanna!"

Muffled chatter began to swirl around the pair, who stood at the water's edge. Floods of onlookers had come out of the house and now watched. Halle and Spencer eyed the shoreline with peeled eyes, intensely staring. The surface broke, and Hanna gasped for air.

"Hanna!" Halle's cry tore her throat, making her taste acid. She broke into a run, her legs treading through the water as she made for her soaked friend. "Hanna!" The drowned blonde screamed as someone touched her, fighting back. "Han, it's me— it's me, it's Halle!" said the cheerleader over her, pulling her by the ringing wet clothes. "Spencer — Spencer, help!"

"Oh, my god!" Spencer tried helping them. Hanna had collapsed into Halle's arms, clinging for safety and something solid. "Han, what happened?" Spencer joined them, "Hanna, come here. Are you okay? Where's Lucas?"

Holding onto Hanna tightly, Halle called out for help, "Somebody get a blanket! Hurry, please!" She continued comforting her shaking friends, "I got you, we got you. Han, you're safe."

"Is she okay?" Emily came fleeing down the bank. She crouched down next to the three. Hanna was clutching at Halle, settled between her legs as Spencer surrounded them.

"She swam back," Spencer said, hugging the two wet girls.

Mona's voice cut through the crowd. She and Noel appeared with dry clothes but wet hair and bodies. "What's going on? Why's everybody out here?"

"Where were you?" Emily asked them.

"We took a dip," Mona said innocently.

"What?!" Halle was horrified, holding a dithering Hanna.

"Uh, nice night for it," Noel gave as an accuse, shrugging after. He met Halle's angered gaze and changed his reaction. "I have a jumper in my trunk, you can have it."

"Get her damn blanket. Please," Halle added at the end, not wanting her raging disappointment to tarnish her need.

Spencer got closer to Hanna, whispering. "Is Lucas still out there?"

"Hanna," Caleb's voice made them turn. He came through the crowd, overly concerned, shocked by the sheer volume of people. "What's going on?" he asked.

Over her shoulder, Hanna gave awfully pained smile and said, "Surprise."

•