2.18

•

"A Kiss Before Dying"

The blueish glow of the laptop screen illuminated four faces. Caleb sat at the Hastings' kitchen-island, decrytping the same video file he had been trying to for the past week. He worked with Spencer, Emily and Aria loitering over his shoulders while Halle fiddled with her own device. Every so often her hand would venture out and pick up her phone, itching to check her messages. Eventually she put it down only to pick it up five minutes later to repeat the process.

"Turn the volume up," Aria said.

"Can you make the view full-screen?" asked Emily.

"Maybe make it lighter," suggested Spencer. "The picture seems really dark."

"Alright, that's it." Caleb reached the end of his polite courtesies and snapped. He told them, "I've officially stopped taking requests." Realising the lack of space he had — the three hovering over him and judging every move he made — Caleb stopped typing. He said, "Can you guys, like, back up a little bit?"

"Oh, so now you wanna make a request," Halle sarcastically quipped back, her lips curved up into a teasing smile. Caleb rolled his eyes at her, enjoying the wit, but went back to his laptop.

Defensively, Spencer said, "We're not even standing that close to you."

"Really?" Again, Caleb stopped his typing and challenged Spencer with a dry tone. "Then how do I know that you had a cheeseburger for lunch?"

Realising he was right, Spencer took a step back and let him get on with what he was doing. Aria, on the other hand, was still leant closely in. "Haven't we already seen this before?" Aria asked.

"Uh, yeah, but look here," Caleb said. He paused on a single frame and the girls came back around him to check.

"That's the box Jason gave me of Ali's— Sorry, Halle." Aria's eyes had gone up to the cheerleader, who was opposite them, leaning with her elbows up on the island. The group had actively gone out of their way to avoid mentioning Jason for the past couple of days, since they got the last instalment of the video. They didn't know Halle had since seen him — or that he was back in Rosewood.

"You guys can say his name, I ain't gonna flare up," Halle said coolly. "I have my emotions totally under control." Nobody said anything to that; they simply moved on. If Hanna was here, Halle thought. Hanna would've made some funny, borderline stupid comment about Halle's emotions never being in-check, and Halle would've rolled her eyes but loved it all the same.

Spencer said to Caleb, "I still can't see what's inside of it though."

"Just give me a second," Caleb replied, him still working on it.

A cellphone ringing cut through the kitchen. Glancing down at it, Emily sighed, "It's Hanna." Emily hated doing it, but she declined the call.

"Um," Caleb struggled to disassociate from his girlfriend and tried to continue, "We may be able to get a clear shot if I—"

Her phone ringing startled Halle. Her eyes darted down to screen, her heart in her throat thinking it could be Jason. It was Hanna instead, but that did nothing to ease the queasiness either. "Hanna," she said, rejecting the call like Emily had done.

Caleb started again, "If I—"

It was Aria's phone that went off this time around, and Aria declined also. "It's Hanna."

"If I play it out frame by frame—" Caleb was cut off by his own cellphone going off beside him. He glanced down at Hanna's picture lighting up his screen. He chose not to answer it, and they all sighed with deep guilt. "Uh, I can maybe blow up the image, but then—"

Finally, Spencer's phone rang. She pointedly shot, "Guess we know who's low-man on the totem pole." The ringing got to her and Spencer was the one to cave. "Yeah, I can't take this anymore." She withdrew herself away from the island and answered the phone a short distance from the group. "Hey, Hanna," she said, more chipper and smiley than the stormy atmosphere in the kitchen.

Halle moved from her spot to stand next to Caleb, finally acknowledging what was in front of her. The video. The night Alison disappeared. Everything led back to that night and equally Ian's home movies, too. The NAT Club was ruining her life. It had done silently and behind closed doors since That Summer and abrupt forced itself into the open with A.

She went to fold over the island in disgust, but her phone chimed next to her. Halle's spine shot straight, shoulders tight and back tense. She glanced down at the screen and picked it up. She flipped the phone up and read his message.

Can we meet?From: Jason.

His name on the screen spelt out disappointment and unlived romance. Wasted potential and pleading glances, that was all Halle thought when he came about again. She was to blame. She started the fight.

"Hey, Brewster."

Halle felt suffocated. Her lungs collapsed in on themselves, sucked dry of air the moment she saw Jason. It was torture. A swirly, tight mess inside of her chest barely contained as she continued to struggle with every paralysing feeling he caused to her. She was bruised by love —blue with his hands on her body, yellow with the memory of that summer —and Halle craved each painful touch.

Before she knew it, Halle carried herself over to him. Feet walked fast before she could argue, and she made for Jason. Halle rushed in and threw her arms around his neck, crashing into him. Her body collided with his hard, and Halle clung tightly to him.

"Please, just keep holding me," she whispered, mumbled by his jacket. All her hopelessness left her and the familiar ache of her lonely heart replaced by the fullness which was Jason's arms wrapped protectively around her. He kept her steady. Jason was Halle's safest place.

Jason found a way to manoeuvre his hands up to her face. Concern flooded him, and Jason had to make sure she was okay. He held her head within his hands, cupping her face delicately. His green eyes met her mesmerized gaze, and when he did, Halle broke into a wide smile.

"You came back," she said.

"You asked me to," Jason replied easily, returning the smile. He gazed down at her, lovingly. He brushed her curls from out of her face, appreciating Halle in all her happy glory. "You sounded like you needed to talk."

Her smile faltered, this was it. "I do, we do," said Halle. Slowly, her arms fell from around his neck and dropped to his chest, eyes full of doubt. "I need to ask you about That Summer... about Ian Thomas."

The joy from his welcome home vanished off his face. He removed his hands from face, withdrawing from her. "Why do we need to talk about Ian? I thought we moved past that time in our lives."

"But we're not, Jason," Halle argued.

"Ian is dead," Jason defended, his stare instantly hard. "Ian confessed, it's over. I wanted to move on —find happiness here, with you," he said, gesturing to her with an open hand. "That's why I came back."

"But it's starts with Ian and Alison, it all does," Halle reasoned.

"And it ended with them, too," he returned. Jason shut her down, quick and stubborn. It was like the topic of Ian Thomas burnt him and he did all he could to avoid that fire as if he knew this delicate thing with Halle was still flammable. He threw out at her purposefully, "Is it me or did you not ask me to come back, Halle? Did you not say that your missed me?"

"Yes, but—"

He pleaded with her, "Then why can't you let it go?"

Defeated, Halle gave her last try, "Because I can't... Because it's Ali." Her voice shook, weak and trembling as she used the nickname for the first time in a really long time. It only felt right to say it now. The foggy memory of her childhood best friend haunted her and was letting Halle destroy every relationship she had.

Lying to Hanna. Fighting with her brother. Blackmailing her dad.

Jason took a step back, disappointed. He created a physical space between their two bodies, symbolic of the growing distance he felt pass through them. His hands had no use, no longer holding her face, so he shoved them into his jean pockets. He said, "You either want this or don't, which is it?"

Halle opened her mouth, wanting to say it but wouldn't.

He let out a sharp wince, backing further away. "You just can't say, can you?"

And Halle couldn't.

Sighing, it took a lot of energy for Halle not to reply. She shut down the screen and put it aside. Still, her eyes were trained on it, cursing herself as she danced on the edge of line between yes and no.

Caleb was looking at the phone, too. He commented knowingly, "He still trying?"

"What?" asked Halle, brows creased at him.

"Hanna told me you broke things off with Jason," said Caleb. "You didn't have to do that for the group."

"God, nosy much?" Halle shot back. She gestured to the laptop and quipped, "You're decrypting that, not me, Stalker."

With a smug smirk, Caleb replied, "Cheery, minding my business isn't exactly how I got here."

"I can tell," Halle said, smiling a little with him.

SMASH.

Halle's and Caleb's heads whipped over as Aria's shrill voice cut through the room, "Emily!" While unscrewing a water, Emily's elbow had knocked off a glass from the counter, causing it to shatter on the floor.

From across the room, Spencer scolded them in a low whisper, "You guys, shut up — Sorry, Hanna," she went back to the phonecall and apologised, "I really have to go." The moment she ended the call, Spencer was on the bickering two. "You're kidding me!" she exclaiming, throwing her arms out in frustration.

Aria began, "I'm sorry, she was—"

"—Sorry," Emily said sincerely.

Cutting in, Caleb gained their attention. "Hey!" He raised his voice to stop them from arguing. "Ladies," he said, trying to cool the tension. They were all feeling it, but it didn't have to become a fight.

He went back to typing, working on one section of the video. Halle watched him work closely, trying to concentrate on what he was doing and how he was doing it — which keys he pressed to do what.

"Is that a driver's license?" Spencer asked curiously. She and the girls were all hovering over Caleb again, leering as he worked.

"Yeah," answered Caleb, zeroing in on it. That night, the card was in the box that Jason gifted Aria. He tried to clear the image by increasing the pixels through his programming.

Noting the mass of dark hair, Emily asked, "Is that Melissa?"

Aria said, squinting at the screen, "I don't know. It could be Jenna, it's just kind of hard to tell."

"Hold on," Caleb said, typing still.

The work he did paid off. A once blurred screengrab from a video became a clear shot of driver's license. Alison's piercing blue eyes were unmistakable. A chill crept up Halle's spine. Even in an image, they peered into Halle's soul like they knew all her dark secrets.

"It's Ali," Spencer stated.

"But Ali already had a fake ID," Emily reasoned.

"And it definitely wasn't this one," Aria put in.

Pulling back slightly, Halle voiced her own concern. "Why would she need an ID that didn't look like her?"

•

Side-stepping, Halle and the girls were stood in line for cafeteria breakfast. Halle reached for a water and a fruit box, settling on that. While the girls noised over buffet station and chose their own fixings, Hanna made conversation purposefully. "So, what'd you guys do last night?"

"Oh, we studied for a Chem test," Aria replied, mustering up a smile for the blonde.

"We were to Spencer's for help," Emily added. She gave a solid reason for the phonecall, covering their backs.

"Halle?" Hanna was looking at the cheerleader expectantly.

Halle glanced up from fiddling with the plastic flap of the fruit box. "Hmm?"

"What did you do? Last night?" Hanna asked.

"Oh—" Halle shrugged and lied well, "I stayed home, hung out with Riley."

Spencer tried to change the subject and mentioned, "So today is doomsday, huh?"

Hanna's head shot around, panicked. "Why? Did you see her?"

Reassuringly, Emily said, "Han, maybe Kate wants to start fresh."

"The last time I gave her the benefit of the doubt, I ended up blowing chunks on my chunky heels," Hanna remarked back dryly.

"And Isabel's dress," Halle reminded, which caused Hanna to roll her eyes.

"Haven't forgotten." Worried, Hanna scanned the school cafeteria for her new step-sister from hell. She was on high-alert, constantly looking over her shoulder. "Oh, my god, is that her?"

All of them turned fast. "What?"

Facing back to the food, Hanna shook her head and said, "Nevermind."

Seriously, Aria comforted, "Hanna, come on, you need to relax."

"I would be if you guys were doing a better job keeping a lookout," shot Hanna, irritated with them.

"Hanna," Spencer defended strongly, "I never got a good look at Kate to begin with. The only time I've ever seen her was across a crowded church."

The group walked over to a free table in the far corner of the cafeteria, hoping to get a better view of the entire room. On the way, Hanna spied something weird with Spencer's outfit. "What's hanging out under your sweater?" Hanna asked curiously. "Is that a dude's undershirt?

Caught out, Spencer stilled for a moment. "Maybe." She continued on to the table and sat down, saddened by the reminder. She told them, "It's Toby's." Then, she noted the pitiful looks her friends were giving her when they joined her at the table. "You guys, do not look at me like I'm one of those dogs with wheels for legs, okay?"

"Oh, I'm not," Halle returned with a sarcastic smile. "They have a new lease of life. You — I pity," she said, eating her first peach slice.

"Just because you're done crying over Jason doesn't mean I am for Toby," Spencer fired back, making Halle suck her teeth in bitterness.

The mention of Jason hit her like a truck. She was taken out, winded. Yet the feeling was familiar; gasping for air after Jason was almost homely warmth to Halle now. "I wasn't allowed to cry over Jason, remember?" Halle zeroed in on Spencer and replied, "And you got Em to tell Toby there was someone else, honey, imagine what he's wearing under his sweater."

"Have you spoken to Jason yet?" Hanna asked softly.

Halle stopped her snarkiness and looked towards Hanna. She dropped the attitude and went quiet. "No, I haven't seen him. I don't even think he's back," she lied, popping another peach slice into her mouth. She hoped the food would force her to think about her lies before they fell out of her mouth. As she chewed, she moved the conversation along, asking. "Em, when is your mom coming?"

Emily broke out into a large grin. "Tomorrow," she brightly answered. "I'm really excited."

A timid voice came from over their shoulders, "Hanna?"

Turning, Hanna was faced with a nervous Kate. She was dressed immaculately, with a smart shirt and blazer. With her arms keeping her folders close to her chest, Kate anxiously looked to Hanna for reassurance.

The surprise only lasted a moment before the uncomfortable reminder swept in, ruining Hanna's mood entirely. "Kate." Hanna really tried to smile genuinely, but her true feelings settled just beneath the surface. "Welcome to Rosewood High."

Kate smiled dazzlingly. "Thanks." Her whites were a stark contrast to the muted yellow tones of the school cafeteria. She glanced towards the five girls all sat around the circular table and gave a little wave. "Hi, I'm Kate. We haven't officially met yet."

Halle didn't miss the tiny eye-roll that escaped Hanna, who was annoyed already at how Kate was going to play nice with her friends despite being hideous to her.

"Hey, I'm Aria," said Aria politely, speaking first.

"Emily," said the swimmer with a small smile.

"Spencer," the Hastings girl introduced.

Finally, it was Halle's turn. As per normal, she was the least welcoming of the group. She didn't like change, and she most certainly didn't like new people, especially those who had hurt her friends. Halle waved her hand in a short sort of way. "Halle," she said, a pressed and disingenuous smile on her face. After, Halle received a grateful glance from Hanna, which Halle gave a warm one back.

"So, I got my schedule," Katie announced, "and first period, I have history with Mr Barocas."

"Oh, yeah, Mr Barocas. He's easy, everybody likes him," assured Aria kindly.

Smiling, Kate appreciated the niceness. It soon faded when Kate noticed the intrusive stare Spencer was giving her. Hanna picked up on it too and decided to take charge, playing friends with Kate. "Um, I can show you where it is," claimed Hanna. "I'm actually in that class, too."

"Yeah, Kate, um, have we actually met before?" Spencer asked, her eyebrows arched up in question.

Kate was silent for a long moment before she raised her her finger and answered. "You're right. We have, at the wedding." There was another pause before Kate plastered on a smile and said, "It's nice to have met you all, bye."

Sighing, Hanna got up from her seat. As the blonde reached for her purse, Halle stood too. "Hold up, Han," Halle said, "I'll come with, I have Spanish near there." She shot the others a grin, grabbing her bottle, and added, "Catch you guys later."

Banned together, Halle and Hanna walked side by side down the hallways. They led the way, with Kate following closely behind. Hanna kept glancing behind her, making sure it wasn't just a fever-dream and Kate was actually there. Then, she decided to ask a niggling question she'd been wanting to ask Halle. "So, you weren't at Spencer's last night, were you?"

"Why?" Halle asked, appearing baffled as a cover. She hoped by avoiding giving a definitive answer, she wasn't actively lying to Hanna. She would hop over the truth and claim she never lied in the first place, just danced around it.

"Because Aria and Emily were, and Spencer lied saying she was with her family," Hanna raved, a layer of annoyance breaking through her nerves.

Again, without actually lying, Halle replied, "They said they studied Chem, Han."

"Yeah, but what if we're being left behind?" Hanna asked, her voice kept small. She was worried, panicking that she could be an outsider with the only friends who ever really understood her. Her usual bright smile was wiped from her face and was replaced with frown lines and miserable eyes.

Halle stopped at hearing the deep worry laced throughout Hanna's words. She smiled at her friend and reassured her light-heartedly, "That could never happen, baby, we're the two best players." Leaning forward, Halle planted a kiss to her friend's cheek. "I'll see you at recess, save me seat?"

"Yeah, sure," said Hanna, smiling back at her.

A couple hours later, and Halle found her way back to the group. Joining Aria, Emily and Spencer in the courtyard, Halle was prepared for the bad mouthing of Kate and the falsehood of niceness the new girl was putting across, but the others had something else in mind. They were fixated on the lateness installment of Alison's mystery, and it wormed its way to the forefront of conversation.

So, Halle took her seat and the table. She listened, but was clearly bored. Her thoughts interlinked Alison and Ian with Jason. Then Jason took up his space, it growing bigger the more she grew to care. Yet her brain always circled back to Alison and that night.

It was like Halle was stuck, still and not moving. She was frozen in time, her memory locked behind a glass door. Halle swore there was something she was forgetting. It niggled at her, but Halle pushed it down and committed to her story. They were at the barn. Alison arrived later. They listened to music and danced. When they all got tired, they went to sleep. Next thing they knew, Spencer was waking them up saying she couldn't find Alison.

"Who knows what she needed it for," Aria commented, as Spencer inspected the image of the fake ID.

"She was seeing Ian, maybe they used it together," Spencer suggested. "So maybe Ali found a loophole, like a way to fly under A's radar."

"What, by being someone else?" Aria asked, baffled.

"Yeah, the brunette on the ID," Spencer claimed, showing it to them again.

"I don't know," Halle remarked, "Ian was attracted to her because she was Alison, I doubt she'd use it for him."

"But he was with Melissa, and kissed Spencer," Emily reminded her. "Maybe Ian's type was brunettes."

"I think Ian's overwhelming type was underage girls, two of three — and his movies — wins the majority," Halle quipped. "But...yeah, brunettes, I guess," she added, rolling her eyes afterwards.

Halle was still sour over Jason not telling her the truth about Ian Thomas — or refusing to tell her anything at all about him. This was the one thing she craved off Jason. Halle needed this, if they were going to work out anyway. Ian Thomas was still screwing everything up for her, and she gave it the final helping push.

Loud chatter directed the four across the courtyard. Noel Kahn stood boastfully chatting himself up to a group of jocks, them all laughing as he wore a cocksure grin that took up half of his face.

Emily's nose turned up. "Ew," she said. "I was never his number one fan, but I can't even look at him now that he's with Jenna."

"He's been going through girls in this school like they're Kleenex," muttered Aria through her back teeth.

"Who cares that he's a player? He's A's new eyes," Spencer told them strongly.

Glaring, Halle commented, "It's so frustrating. It's like he wants to be seen as a bad guy."

"He and Jenna are always just out of reach," Aria put in. "If we could just get close enough to—"

"Wait," Spencer jumped in, having a light-bulb moment herself. With her eyes wide in realisation, Spencer posed, "What is Ali wasn't trying to get away? What if she was trying to get closer?"

"What do you mean?" asked Emily.

"By creating an alter-ego so she could get close enough to investigate," explained Spencer. "Maybe even to expose A."

"Hey." Hanna's voice came from behind them, gently breaking up the conversation.

"Hey," they chorused together, jumping slightly back in surprise.

Peering behind her, Emily asked, "Where's Monster?"

"Who?" Hanna asked, confused.

"Kate," Halle elaborated.

"Oh, she's at orientation, and she's being freakishly nice to me," Hanna told them, bewildered by the switch in how Kate was treating her.

"So why do you look like that?" Spencer questioned the blonde's panic-stricken face.

"Do you think that Caleb still has that video file somewhere?" she asked them. Hanna looked between her friends, eyes landing up on Halle because after their conversation earlier, she trusted her the most. "Because A thinks he does."

"W—What are you talking about?" Aria asked, playing lost.

"I got a text saying to call off my 'techno-boy-toy'," revealed Hanna, clearly distressed.

Halle wanted to confess, but Spencer got in there first and stopped the cheerleader in her tracks. "A maybe just got their wires crossed," Spencer suggested simply.

"Yeah," Aria agreed. "Maybe they're just, like, a step behind or something."

"Since when is A ever a step behind?" Hanna shot back, just as the bell started to ring. It was deafening, watching every scrap of joy being stripped from Hanna's face as the bell chimed. She felt her friends were slowly slipping through her fingertips, and Halle stayed quiet and let the blonde think such a dark thought.

•

By the next day, the disgruntlement of change that was Kate still clung to the group like a bad smell. It was becoming the worse part of Halle's day, having to tolerate Kate for her love for Hanna. To Halle, it didn't matter how freakishly nice Kate was being to Hanna and them, Kate was still the evil step-sister who's wicked fingers manipulated a plan to sour the idea of Hanna in her own father's mind. But for as long as the sweetness lasted, so would Halle's thin layer of false goodwill, even if it set her teeth off.

Plus, Halle still had the Jason situation to deal with. She couldn't go putting herself in another tough spot with people she cared about.

"So, you moved her from Baltimore?" Aria asked, trying to get to know the girl sat with them.

"Yeah, so I can still go home on weekends and visit my friends," Kate answered, smiling nicely. She even shared one with Hanna, who even returned it in hopes the bitter feud was over.

"That's nice," Emily mentioned.

"I don't think I could do it," Halle mentioned. "I'd really struggle leaving these losers behind," she jested, stabbing her salad leaves with her fork.

Chuckling, Aria joked back, "All right, Queen of the Losers."

"Queen, really?" Halle faked pleased shock, pointing towards herself. She said sarcastically, "How kind, Deputy Bitch." The two shared broad grins, laughing lightly with each other over their lunch, as Hanna and Emily enjoyed the light jibes.

However, Spencer was too invested in solving Kate to join in. She was hell-bent, never relenting on Kate. "Do you have any family in Maine, by any chance?"

"No." Kate stuck to the polite front she was radiating. "No, all in Maryland."

Still, Spencer persisted. "Have you ever been to Maine? The northeast harbor area?"

It was putting the girls off their lunch. So much so that Aria cleared her throat as to steer Spencer from her questions and signal to somebody else to ask some.

Emily stepped in. "So, Kate," she began, "will you be joining any clubs or sports teams?"

"Yeah, I was actually thinking off—"

"Debate!" yelled Spencer excitedly. She cut Kate off fast, interrupting with a triumphant clap before she ended with a firm point.

Looking quite taken aback by the abruptness of Spencer, Kate dropped her smile. She said quietly, "Orchestra."

"Sorry, I just, um, thought I must have seen you at a debate," Spencer replied, which made Kate chuckle nervously. Yet, Spencer still wasn't giving up. "Are you sure that we haven't met before?"

"Pretty sure," said Kate.

Reaching her limit with Spencer, Halle was reminded of the time she told Toby that Spencer was like a terrier: once she bit, she never let go. Lowly and said through a clenched jaw, Halle grumbled, "Let it go, please."

Kate's own front was wearing thin yet her politeness remained. "So I'm gonna head to class early and introduce myself to the teacher," she said. "I will see you all soon."

All of them chorused a, 'bye,' and watched Kate retreat away from the lunch table. It was only a matter of seconds before Hanna turned on Spencer with a furious rage. "What are you doing?!"

"I know her," Spencer insisted, confident despite the rebuttal Kate had been giving. She was suspicious and letting everyone know. "I know I know her. I just don't know where I know her from."

"Can you back off?" snapped Hanna. "I'm not gonna let her complain to my dad that my friends are giving her the fourth degree."

"It's the third degree," corrected Spencer.

"Whatever — just stop giving her degrees, okay?" Hanna retorted back firmly.

Something Hanna said struck a cord with Halle. Maybe it she stopped giving Jason degrees, never easing up on him, then Halle would get want she wanted. Halle also had an answer to the question he asked her. It was in that moment — sat around a table with a pissed off Hanna and Spencer with the cogs rapidly whirring in her head — Halle decided she had to meet Jason.

Taking herself to him took a lot. Halle bit back her stubbornness and forced her spite to hide behind her back, concealing a lot of frustration. She knocked on the front door and waited. Halle counted to twelve before the door opened and Jason answered.

"I want this." The answer felt heavy on her heart before, keeping it close for only her to know. Now it was released, Halle was lighter and her chest rose up and down as she hyperventilated at her confession. But Halle persisted, "I want you, I want us, but you need to give me this."

Jason inhaled deeply, closing his eyes briefly, before he stepped aside. He let her walk in and closed the door behind them. In silence, they entered the bare home and met under the warm glow of living room light. He asked her, "Where do you wanna start?"

"Ian Thomas," she answered, without missing a beat.

"This isn't about Ian Thomas," said Jason. He shook his head while rounded her, perching himself on the back of the sofa. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to reply.

"No, but it's about how him and his home movies," Halle retorted firmly. There was an intense fire behind her eyes, a determination to get answers this time. "The one the police have of Alison the night she died and the one you took of me." Halle went to him, stepping into his space; so close that her legs touched his knees. She reached for him, fingers coiled through the belt loops of his jeans, with pleading eyes staring straight into his. "I need you to give me this, Jason. I need you to tell me about Ian.... and the NAT Club."

His brows furrowed the second that club passed her lips. He was so calm; his face gave nothing away except the glint of confusion in her eyes. There was a storm brewing behind the green, one she would've missed if Halle didn't know him so well. "How do you know about NAT?" he asked.

"Alison," answered Halle honestly. "She left a key to Em the day she got back and it led us to a storage unit, and in it was hard-drive. It had these videos on — mine and others. Everyone's secrets were on there." Halle told Jason, "And Alison was gonna use them, but somebody killed her first."

"Ian killed her," Jason stated, a steely gaze bearing into her.

Halle stopped herself from shaking her head, but her silence gave away the little confidence she had it that being the truth. She pressed her lips together and thought on all the lies. She had double-crossed herself finally, forgetting every one she told. Halle could no longer keep up, so she settled with a glimmer of truth to say.

Breathing deeply first, Halle shared, "All I know is, somehow, Ian got that video of me." It was a question but she was begging for an answer. Halle needed to hear the truth from him as well — as much as he wanted it from her — but Jason wouldn't give it to her. He felt him tense under her touch and then, it hit her. While he stiffened, her body went limp.

"God." she dropped her hands, stunned. Halle blinked several times, trying to force the words out of her mouth but it stung. The ache returned, and Halle tore herself far back from him, disgusted. "You're not gonna even deny it, are you? What was I?" She unleashed on him, "A trading card for you to hand in because you were done? Was I your ticket out?"

"NO!" Jason's voice rose in a fierce rebuttal, "No, my god, no!" He stood and made his way to her, cupping her cheeks. He forced her to meet his firm eyes, full with his sincerity. He kept a tight grip on her, long fingers threaded through her curls as he stared down at with piercing regard. Jason told her, "Halle, you were everything to me That Summer, you were the only real thing in my life at that time. I told Ian to back off — to stop with the filming, that I was done with it all — I told him to stay away from you."

"And yet somehow he got that video," Halle fired back. She tried to escape his touch but Jason kept her in place. She attempted to evade him, batting him away, but one hand found her cheek again, and he didn't let up.

"I don't know how it he got it, okay? I don't— I don't have the answer you want." Jason pleaded with her, but somewhere between his earnest feelings for her and his unflinching commitment to keeping them solid, he sensed a shift. Jason let up and dropped his hand. He changed himself, eyes darkening as he sensed the switch. "You know, it's kind of like you want me to say the worst thing you can think of — so you have a reason to walk away, so you can give up on us and be justified."

"That's so unfair," she argued.

Jason shot back at her, "If that's how you felt, why did you ask me to come back?"

"Because I missed you!" she cried at him, scorching her own throat. Halle threw her hands up in defeat. "I don't know what to do here, Jason, because you won't tell me the truth."

"What about you, then?" Jason threw back at her, causing the crease to appear in between Halle's brows. "You never even told me about That Night."

"What night?" Halle asked, confused. She didn't know where he was going with this — what he was getting at.

He held her gaze and said, "The night Ali died."

Halle's jaw locked. "If this is just some—"

"You found me that morning, before anyone else," Jason cut her firmly, and Halle stopped arguing. "Spencer heard a scream and got up to look for Ali."

"Yeah, and she came to the barn and told us," Halle recalled well, rehearsed like when she told the police. "We helped look and when Spencer went to tell her parents before we got your mom, I—"

"—You came and found me," interrupted Jason. "But you didn't go to the front door, you went to the backyard and found me passed out on a deckchair. How did you know where I was?" he asked.

"I— Uh," said Halle, stumbling. She racked her own brain for the answer but struggled coming up with one. She didn't know. Her mind drew a blank. There was no memory of why she knew; she just did. "I must have walked through the pathway, and I— I don't know," she floundered. "I don't— I don't remember much of That Night, just the next morning."

"Try to remember," Jason urged, and Halle snapped.

"I don't remember!" she yelled. Her skin was burning up, blood pounding in her ears. She had balled her hands into tight fists and dug pink half-moons into her palms. Blowing out a heavy breath, Halle failed to calm herself but said, "I think we're done here."

"Halle—"

Only, Halle didn't wait to hear him out. There wasn't even a micro-second of hesitation before she took off in a furious rage. She flew out of the DiLaurentis house and slammed the door shut with a thunderous bang. The slam of the door shocked her, jumping at the loud collision. Halle froze, jarred. A sudden sting came across the centre of her forehead and caused her to groan. Now light-headed, Halle managed the porch steps before something came to her.

"What did you do?"

It came back muffled. The glass door keeping her memory locked away shattered, and Halle's head seared. She tried to focus but only could make only a few words, swirling in and out.

"This never happened... Go back... listen to me... I'm gonna fix it..."

Halle stumbled. her hand reached and grasped at the banister of the porch, legs caving from under her. She heard the dripping of a tap and whipped her head around. She went to move but whined as her head throbbed again. Panic set in, blood rushing upwards and hands sweaty, Halle remembered.

Her heart was beating fast. She panted, chest heaving as sweat pooled around her neck. Her arms ached, heavy and sore. Halle was flustered, hot and flushed in the face. Her breathing was shallow. She only took sharp breaths. She did everything to recollect as much oxygen as she could, gasping for air. At her feet laid a large rock, red smeared over its rough edge.

The churning of her gut told her to run. It told her to be wary more so. Halle was scared, terrified in the dark. Each second she flinched at the wind on her bare arms, interchanging glances over her shoulder. Halle was on borrowed time here, fearful of being caught.

She had managed to carry the rock over to the back porch. She knew there was a tap by the wall and she'd need it. She wasn't expecting to find Jason passed out there, though. Blacked-out, he laid motionless on the blue deck-chair, an arm hanging over the edge with his hand in the grass.

"Jason!" Halle hurried to his side. Her wobbly knees collapsing to the ground and her hands clutched at his fallen hand. "Jason," she whispered, panicking. She started tapping his face, trying to wake him. She shook his shoulder and pleaded with his unconscious form. "Oh, my god, Jason —Jason, please." She threw her head down against his shoulder and started to cry. "Please, Jason, I really need you right now. Please," she whimpered out pathetically.

Halle blinked and shook away her darkened vision. She didn't want to see this — remember it. This wasn't what happened. She didn't remember this. Halle didn't do it.

But Ian Thomas said she played her part.

The running water didn't wake Jason either. Halle stood only a metre away from his body while ran the hose over the rock, washing away the red. She shuddered at the cold, recoiling at every sound. The rustle of leaves, wind passing through trees, a break in the storm above. As thunder clapped violently over head, Halle watched the crimson wash away and trickle down into the grass. She had to figure out how to get rid of that.

A flash of last glance came to mind. Frozen at the bottom of the porch, in front of the DiLaurentis house, Halle remembered looking back at Jason. She left him there alone that night, but she found him first the next morning. Her eyes shot over to the the entrance to the yard. She was compelled to go back to the scene, but a hand on her wrist stopped her.

Halle muttered something under her breath, incoherent and buried beneath mumbled ramblings, as Jason tried to get her to look to him. She brought her eyebrows together, furrowing them, while she went over what she did that night.

"Halle— Halle, what's going on?" Jason had chased after her, wanting to beg her to stay, and came out to find her feet digging up the same spot. His hands found her cheeks and held her in place. He searched her face for any clues, hoping to read her, but was taken by the jitters. "Halle, you're shaking," he said.

Confused, Halle met his fearful gaze. She seized up. It didn't make sense. The blood on the rock and cleaning it, finding Jason and leaving him. It looked so bad, and the unlocking of that night was still happening. Halle didn't remember leaving the barn yet she remembered this. All her memories of that night were untrustworthy, fogged with weed and hazy with alcohol, but there was a lingering thought that stuck once it cleared.

And then realisation glistened over her dark eyes. "I set the sprinklers."

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