1.13

•

"Know Your Frenemies"

Halle left early the next morning, grabbing a lift with Spencer. They had planned to grab breakfast out that morning at a place in the centre of town with Emily. Only Spencer had other plans when she got there — one that included making a suspicious phonecall in a Southern accent.

"Hi! I'm planning a surprise visit for my husband and he cannot stop talking about the room he had on his last visit. Can you pull up that reservation?" Spencer said politely to the woman on the other end. "His name is Ian Thomas."

In a whisper, Emily leaned in and asked, "why are you doing this?"

"Because she thinks Alison was with Ian the weekend before she disappeared," Halle answered. She took a large bite out of her warm croissant and mumbled out, "I heard all about it in the car on the way here."

Spencer covered the microphone on her cell. "Do you remember how Alison was acting when she got home from visiting her grandmother? All giggles and tan?" she recalled.

"Yeah?" Emily was confused to what the point was.

"Ali hated old people," Spencer countered. "And Ali's grandmother lives in Georgia. Hilton Head is in South Carolina, she was lying to us."

"So what? Alison lied more than she breathed," Emily stated.

Halle pointed at her. "Fact."

"You think that was enough to make Ian wanna permanently shut her up?" Emily asked Spencer.

"Wow, I thought you'd be happy to hear it was anybody but Toby," commented Spencer.

"It wasn't Toby," Halle spoke flatly.

"All Toby wanted was for me to believe him and I didn't," Emily said, ashamed. "Halle did."

"Because it ain't Toby," repeated Halle, with a shrug as she picked up her coffee cup to take a sip.

"Toby lied about a lot of things, too," Spencer reminded both the girls.

"If lying was a crime, we would all be in jail," retorted Emily. Her brows rose as she made eye-contact with the FBI agent that had been on Alison's murder case. Emily put on an act, smiling at the woman. "Agent Cooper," she greeted. "Good morning."

Agent Cooper returned the smile and came to stand by their table, the one just outside the little patisserie shop. "Hi. Beautiful day, huh?" she said, a coffee in hand.

"Ain't no place like Rosewood," Halle claimed, her words sarcastic and her smile tight.

"I'm sorry to hear about what happened last week," the agent said to Halle. "We offered to look into who hacked your school's system, but I was told it wasn't even a police case?" she spoke with curiosity, going high at the end as though it was a question.

"I don't see why the FBI would even offer," Halle replied.

"You're a friend of the deceased, the video dated back That Summer, right? It could have been the same person videoing you that videoed Alison," Agent Cooper replied.

"It wasn't." Halle put on a false act. "And it was resolved, no need to make it a police matter. It was a stupid, little prank."

"Still, could ruin your life that prank," the woman commented. "But your principal handled it better than I've ever heard a school do before. Many girls are less fortunate than you when it comes to revenge porn, it ruins lives."

"If you count word of mouth, it still has — ruined my life," Halle said.

Desperate to find another topic, Emily was more than thrilled when they saw Hanna climb out her mother's car. "Looks like someone traded in her wheels for heels," she called out with a smile.

Hanna was beaming widely, radiant as she finally got her cast off. "They're flats, but they are Ferragomos," she boasted.

"Look at you, baby's back," hollered Halle, then whistling as Hanna walked to them laughing.

Quietly, Spencer spoke into the phone, "thank you," before she ended the called.

A blissful sigh left Agent Cooper and she said, "the food in this town is to die for. I'm missing it already."

"Are you going somewhere?" Hanna wondered aloud.

"Came here to find the person that killed your friend. Toby Cavanaugh may be out on bail, but he's not leaving town and we have solid case against him," the agent explained. "So unless you have a reason for me to stay."

Hanna couldn't think of any. She was happy enough to have no more cops or federal agents sniffing around with what happened the summer Alison went missing. Smiling widely up at the woman, Hanna said, "well, I guess we'll see you around, then."

Agent Cooper looked over the girls and told them, "you girls take care," before she walked away

The very moment she was gone, Emily leaned in closer to Spencer and whispered, "what?"

An alarmed look had fallen over Spencer's face, and she said, "Ian was definitely at Hilton Head the same weekend Ali was."

"Maybe we do have a reason for Cooper to stay," Emily replied, and a chill came over all the girls.

The conversation of Ian and Alison at Hilton Head didn't drop. It continued, now with Aria to complete the group. All members knew everything the others did, apart from all their own secrets (they all kept them to themselves, though slowly they came out).

"Agent Cooper's not some small town cop who's gonna arrest Spencer's brother-in-law because Ali carved his name in a tree," Hanna said, while she and her friends took to a table in the school cafeteria.

Aria agreed, "yeah, a tree that's no longer there."

"No one knows that but us," Emily added.

"And Ian," Spencer said.

"And A," said Halle, plopping herself down in one of the plastic chairs.

"Noel led us to that tree for a reason," Spencer brought up.

"Is A...? I mean," Aria corrected herself, "is Noel trying to help us find Ali's killer?"

Halle still refused to believe Noel was A. She was adamant he wasn't, not after all she and him had been through. Strongly, Halle said, "Aria, less than a week ago, my boobs were on every computer screen in this school. A month before that, A hit Hanna and me with a car. A isn't helping us!"

"How could Noel even know about Ian and Ali?" Spencer asked them.

"Let me ask you this, how does A know everything?" Halle countered back. "If A knows all our secrets, is it really hard to believe that Noel may know about Ali and Ian without being A?"

Aria scoffed. "Have you ever noticed how Noel is always around?"

Halle paused. She thought for a moment. Noel was suddenly there when they were talking about him in the hospital; he was Halle's hero when he pulled the plug to stop the video; he was even there to offer Halle a way out of not telling Eric about the video. Noel was always there, somewhere, somehow. At times, Halle thought maybe that was justfor her.

Over the shoulders of Aria, Emily noticed something. Her eyes fell on Aria's brother Mike and Noel chatting together in the outside courtyard. "Are they friends?" she asked.

Turning her head, Aria saw it too. Her face paled. "No."

Spencer said, "Hanna's right about Cooper. We need to find some kind of proof."

"Thank you, Veronica Mars," Hanna said sarcastically.

"That proof maybe be boxed in your kitchen," said Emily, referring to all of Ian Thomas' belonging now in the Hasting's kitchen ready for him to move in with Melissa, now they were married.

"Do you think he'll miss a box or two?" Halle asked.

"He doesn't even know what's there and what isn't," replied Spencer.

"Hey!" The group was cut off by Maya St. Germain. She stood over the table, smiling expectantly at Emily.

Emily stood up and greeted the girl with a kiss. "Hey," she said, and her friends began to fawn over the couple showing affection so publicly to each other now.

"Um, are we still on for later?" Maya asked. "You know, now that your dad's gone?"

"Yeah, my mom know how my dad feels about us," Emily answered.

Maya gave a nod. "In other words, she'll tolerate me."

Emily smile softly and reassured, "she's spending the day in the city, okay, so you'll be safe, I promise."

"Don't worry, Maya," said Halle, "Mrs Fields is still tolerating me, too."

"She loves you!" Emily defended firmly.

"Now," Halle argued. She said, "your dad was my biggest fan back then, he was key to my now-success with her. I think sport swayed it for Mrs Fields in the end."

"Noted," said Maya. She then asked jokingly, "any positions open in the cheer team?"

Halle smiled and joked back, "I'll ask."

Curious, Spencer looked between the couple and asked, "so, what's later?"

"Um, studying," Emily said.

"Is that code for girl-on-girl code for romance?" asked Hanna teasingly.

"No, Hanna, we're actually studying," laughed Emily.

"But your friend is a romantic," Maya informed them.

"Is she?" Spencer was highly interested, just at the rest of them.

"Oh, yeah," Emily nodded her head eagerly. "Um... walks in the rain, picnics by the lake, dancing naked in the candlelight," she listed.

Halle smirked. "Interesting, hmm," she said, dropping Emily playful wink.

Emily was laughing. "I'm just kidding. We go to dinner and a movie just like you guys do," she said.

"Well, she's not entirely kidding," Maya told them, "Emily would love to do all those things."

"Okay," Emily gasped at the revelation. She started to push Maya away. "You've shared enough." Pushing her girlfriend away, Emily was flushing terribly, but she was happy. She mouthed an "Oh, my god," to her friends.

"Bye, Maya!" Halle called out, hand in the air as Emily proceeded to jokingly usher Maya further away from the table. Halle and the girls started to laugh. "They're cute, real cute," she said.

•

By the lockers, Aria asked both Hanna and Halle, "do you wanna grab a coffee after school? I could use a study buddy," she said.

"Can't, I have practice," Halle answered, putting away her books into her locker.

Hanna said, "ah, I would, but I have physical therapy," gesturing down to her ankle.

"Hey," Emily joined them and said, "I just heard that Toby's here?"

"What?" Halle asked.

"Would they let him come back to school?" Aria asked, panicked and eyes widened.

As she asked it, Toby Cavanaugh was escorted down the hallway. He had to police officers by his side and looked rather ill from all the stares.

"Hey, freak coming through," a student shouted.

Halle glared over to where she heard it come from. "Oh, what an ass."

"Back off," an officer said, when a male student blocked Toby's path. The student attempted to square-up to Toby, trying to incite the violence out of Toby, but Toby had none. Toby was gentle, Halle knew that. The officer remained calm and told the hallway of students to get to class. The student refused. "Step back," warned the police officer, and the boy did eventually.

Toby continued his walk to his locker. He stopped, his eyes sad. On his locker, the word 'KILLER' had been wrote. Spencer had joined her friend just as Toby opened his locker and she took a hold of Halle's arm to stop her from helping him. "Don't," Spencer whispered, "don't draw anymore attention to yourself."

So, at the side-lines, Halle watched a helpless Toby collect his textbooks before shutting his locker. Everyone was watching him. The same male student stepped in the way again, when Toby was about to leave without much trouble. "Murderer," the boy spat at Toby.

This time, Halle couldn't stop herself. Neither could Spencer. She stepped out from where her locker was, from out of her friend circle, and came to Toby's defense. "Wanna back off? Let him through," she said strongly, her dark eyes hard.

"Let's go," the officer said, pulling Toby away. Toby didn't even get to thank Halle, like he ached to do, before he was dragged away by the two policemen.

The problematic student turned his anger on Halle. "He's a murderer," he said, "know your place. He murdered your friend," the boy added when he began to walk away.

"Know my place? Come say that to my face," urged Halle, and the boy waved her off. "You're lucky I've got cracked ribs 'cos I'll—"

"Halle!" Mr Fitz yelled at her to stop.

She faced him. "What?!" She, too, found herself yelling in the hallway. Students were yet again drawn to Halle. This time it was for another reason. Now they watched closely as her and Mr Fitz argued, in front of the whole school.

"Classroom, now," he ordered.

Halle huffed. She rolled her eyes and slammed her locker shut with a loud bang, making Spencer duck her head out of the way. Mr Fitz had stood aside and let Halle pass him. He saw people still loitered around, watching. He shouted, "everyone move, get to your classes. You have places to be — move!" He waited and watched them dispersed before he entered into his classroom, shutting the door after him. He found Halle leant against the far wall, by the windows.

She put her hand up to stop him. "Don't," she said. "I don't need the lecture."

Mr Fitz didn't pay her any mind. He continued with how he planned it in his head. "You think fighting is going to get you anywhere? You're already under a big, bright light right now," he said

"You mean the video. God, you're just like everyone else. That's all they see, all anyone sees. The bitch who was friends with Alison," she remarked, "that hates everyone so much that she even talks smack about her dead friend."

"I never thought that," Mr Fitz tried to defend but it only angered Halle more.

She screamed at him, "don't lie to me!" Halle inhaled sharply. She felt her head go light as her breathing quickened far faster than it had been, not since the video played out. She let out the breath shakily, trying to steady herself, repeating to her teacher, "don't lie to me."

Mr Fitz remained calm for her. "I just want what's best for you."

Halle scoffed. "And what's that, then?"

"Stopping you from getting into fights for one," he said.

"Why does everyone get so involved in my business? I don't need you to protect me!" She yelled, "I'm perfectly fine on my own!"

"Are you?" Mr Fitz shot back, "because last month, you were crying on this floor, having a panic attack, Halle. You certainly aren't fine on your own."

"Well, that's my business, nobody else's," said Halle firmly.

"I just want to help you," he offered.

"Well, stop! Stop trying to help me!" Halle shouted. "I don't want your help, you don't get to play the hero with me. I'm not that girl."

"I'm not—"

"You have a hero-complex, Mr Fitz, but this is one damsel that ain't in distress," Halle said loudly. "I don't want to be saved, I don't need to be."

"I'm sorry you felt I was—"

"Don't apologise," Halle cut him off. "Don't apologise now for it. That's who you are. You're the type of guy that doesn't let a girl walk out of your classroom when she's told you she's fine, and that's fine. It's great for you and maybe some other girl that wants your help, but I don't," said Halle strongly. "I don't."

Mr Fitz said, "you were having a panic attack, I couldn't let you leave."

"Still!" Halle said, "you're that guy, but I'm not that girl."

A sigh left Mr Fitz, and he said, "one day, you're gonna be too tired to fight anymore."

"Well, that day hasn't come yet," countered Halle. "So, I'll keep waiting, but until then I'm gonna carry on the way I am," she said, reaching the door.

"You'll kill yourself if you keep it up, Halle," Mr Fitz regrettably told her.

With the handle in her grasp, Halle halted. She took in her teacher's words and turned back. "Maybe, but it's worked for sixteen years and I'm not the one who's dead," she said, and left the classroom.

•

At the end of the day, Halle headed straight for the girls' locker room. Cheer practice was beginning to get more serious; they had longer practices and went over the drill countless times until it was fluid. In a way, Halle was grateful. She liked putting all her concentration into one thing; she didn't have much of an escape. Cheerleading was that.

Until it wasn't.

Halle walked into the locker room and her team were staring at him instantly. Confused, Halle made her way to her locker, and then she knew why they were staring at her. On her locker, not unlike Toby's, red writing defaced it. 'WHORE' was written on it in red lipstick, and so the laughing and whispering began.

"I heard she's sleeping with Toby, didn't you see her defend him today?"

"But she's dating Noel's brother."

"What a slut."

"Noel did say a student was sleeping with Mr Fitz."

"I'm not sleeping with Mr Fitz!" Halle snapped at them harshly, stunning the rumours silent. "I'm not sleeping with Toby either, so I suggest you keep your traps shut if you know what's good for you," threatened Halle, "because unlike the girl that had to sneak behind my back to write on a locker, I ain't afraid to take my fight to someone's face, if needs be."

"All right." Coach Rhodes came into locker room, clapping her hands once to grab the attention of her team. "In the gym. Girls!" She rounded the corner and questioned the aisle of girls. "Why aren't you out in the gym?"

Quickly, Halle opened her locker door and hid the vandalism from her coach. Halle didn't want any trouble for the team; she knew the only way to win competitions was as a team — problems had to solved herself, outsidethe locker room.

"Halle, you're late," Coach Rhodes stated. "You good?" she asked, and Halle knew deep down it was because of the video.

Halle nodded and said, "yeah, fine."

"Good, get your uniform on, fast," said Coach. "The rest of you, out for warm-up."

In the gym, after all the girls had warmed up and stretched, Coach Rhodes plucked up her clipboard and addressed the team. "All right, Sharks," she said, "running through basic liberties. My flyers are Grace, Halle and Louisa. In your stunt group, ladies." She watched as her team got into their groups of four and readied themselves over the mats. "Okay — 5, 6, 7, 8!"

Halle was flung up by the three in her stunt group, like the other three girls. She punched her hand in the air and held her position. "Good, good—" Coach Rhodes watched each flyer carefully, "good, hold your cores. You needed to be able to hold this for five seconds without faltering. Keep your balance, ladies!"

"Looks like Toby screwed the balance out of her," muttered one of the girls, when Halle came down to the ground, getting laughs from people around them.

"He's definitely the guy in the video," said another girl.

"Again," announced Coach Rhodes. "This time, I want you to raise both arms. Flyers, you gotta keep those cores tight."

"I bet Toby likes her tight," commented someone in Halle's own stunt circle.

"Keep your mouth shut," barked Halle, "or my fist will be in it."

"Ooh, scared," mocked the girl, laughing with a few girls stood on the side.

"Is your arm okay, Sophie?" called out a girl from the side-line. "I sure hope you can hold the cradle, wouldn't want Halle to crack another rip," she joked, and people laughed.

Halle bit the inside of her cheek, hard. Mr Fitz's words floated around her head. She wasn't in the position to pick fights right now, not after the video.

Coach Rhodes started to count. "5, 6, 7, 8!"

On eight, Halle was flung forcefully up on purpose. She crashed down to the floor with the others and landed on her side, crying out in pain. Halle fell with a hard thud and the sound of bare thighs hitting the ground echoed loudly. She swore she heard a crack, but Halle was too angry to care.

"Are you okay—?" Coach Rhodes cut herself off the moment she saw Halle lunge at one of the girls in her group, knocking back the other girl. "Hey! Hey, hey, hey! Break it up!" Coach Rhodes pulled Halle up by her uniform from off the girl after Halle had thrust the girl's head back repeatedly against the floor. She tore them apart and yanked Halle up off her while a few girls helped the one Halle hit up. "What is going on?" Coach Rhodes asked her team in fury. "Anybody? No? Then, get over yourselves, ladies. Grow up!" she yelled at them. "Fix your ponies and do it again. Do it like we've been doing before, you know how to do this without dropping anyone."

"I might catch something," the same girl muttered, trying her hair back properly.

Halle's jaw clenched. "Bitch, you better—"

"Halle, bite your tongue!" Coach Rhodes yelled. "Sophie, watch your tongue!"

"I'm trying but she'd making it real hard," Halle said.

"You're a slut," accused the Sophie-girl. "You shouldn't be doing scales, you should be shooting another porno."

"Yeah, well, your boyfriend would pay to watch me, he won't touch you with a ten foot pole," countered Halle fiercely.

"You—"

"Enough!" Coach Rhodes practically screeched at the both of them to stop. "You're supposed to be a team."

"She's been playing tag-team with quite a few others for a while now," Sophie shot, flipping her hair over her shoulder boastfully as her friends giggled.

"That's it!" Halle grabbed at the girl's ponytail, yanked Sophie's head down and in one swift move, kneed her in the face. This time, everyone heard a crack and blood gushed from the girl's nose.

"Halle!" screamed Coach Rhodes. She hurried to help Sophie, who stood holding her nose, sobbing while it bled profusely.

"Is it broken? Is it broken?" Sophie panicked, balling her eyes out.

"It's not broken, I don't think," said the coach. She told one of the others, "take her to the nurse's office, keep her nose pinched and don't tilt her head back whatever you do. Practice is over!" she said loudly as Sophie was ushered out by her friend. Coach Rhodes faced Halle and said firmly, "my office, now. The rest of you, practice is over! Go home!"

Halle, with an ice-pack presser to her side, was sat in the coaches' office. She was there a while before Coach Rhodes returned. Coach had a hold on her clipboard; the blue sleeve to her jacket was coated in dried blood. She placed the clipboard down on her desk and then went over to the water dispenser, filling up to plastic cups for both her and Halle. "How's the side?" she asked.

"Burning," said Halle.

"Get it checked out when you can," ordered Coach Rhodes. When she returned to the desk, she mentioned, "you haven't asked about Sophie."

"I don't care," said Halle, accepting one of the waters from her coach. Bitterly, Halle spat, "I hope it's broken."

Coach Rhodes gave a sigh and sat down at her desk. "I saw your locker."

"And?"

"You don't have to act so tough. I can help you," coach said. "I can report whoever did this to Principal Hackett."

"So I let them know it gets to me? No, I don't think so," said Halle, waving off the idea immediately. That wasn't in her list of plays.

"I'll talk to them, then," offered Coach Rhodes. "I'll tell them it's not acceptable on my team."

"Don't bother. I quit," Halle told her.

It took Coach Rhodes aback. She clasped her hands together over her knee and asked seriously, "do you really want to do that?"

Halle shrugged. "It's my life. Cheering is my life, but..." She paused to take a breath and then continued. "For as long as I can remember I've wanted to be a cheerleader. All my life. My mom was a Shark when she was here. At my mom's work, there's a photo of me aged four on her desk with her pom-poms. This is what I was bred to do, it's in my bones," she said helplessly. "I thought it was a dream when I got on the team. I was so happy, but that's all it was. A dream." She looked up at her coach and said, "I broke two ribs and we have qualifiers soon, Coach. I can't heal and catch up on the routine when my team thinks I'm a whore. It's best I quit, for everyone."

"Halle, these rumours..." Coach Rhodes cleared her throat. She was uncomfortable, shifting in her chair. "I heard the girls before... I don't know— there's a rumour, Halle, a very serious one." She said, "saying Mr Fitz has been having an inappropriate relationship with a student, and the rumour is that you're the student."

Halle choked. "What?" Her eyes went large. She must have been staring at her coach as though she had grown another head. Halle shook her head profusely and denied it. "No. No, that's not true."

"I've been hearing a lot of things in gym class, and Mr Sheldrake said he saw you and Mr Fitz on the day of the storm, alone," Coach Rhodes mentioned delicately.

"Because I had a panic attack, not because I'm sleeping with him. Coach, it's not true," Halle repeated firmly. "I don't know what Mr Sheldrake saw but it certainly wasn't that!"

"And today? I heard Mr Fitz had to step in."

Halle scoffed. "Because he doesn't want me starting fights in the hallway. Look, after the day of the storm, when Mr Fitz calmed me down from a panic attack, he's been keeping an eye on me. Just like you're gonna be keeping an eye on me after today," she explained. "It's nothing inappropriate."

"Have you heard anything about Mr Fitz and student at all?" Coach asked her, and it stunned Halle silent.

Pressing her lips into a thin line, Halle shook her head. "Nope, none."

Coach Rhodes sighed. "I'm sorry, I just had to ask you."

"Why me?" Halle knew the answer already though. She said, "it's because I got my boobs out on camera, right? Because a group of girls called me a whore? They wrote it on my locker so it has to be true, right?" Irritated, Halle exploded, "I'm not a whore, Coach!"

Calmly, Coach Rhodes said, "I never believed you were. That video — Halle, you were clearly intoxicated. You didn't know what you were doing. As far as I'm concerned — as your coach, and as a woman, you're the victim. You don't deserve this. I wanted to take this to the board of governors. I wanted to fight this for you," she assured. "I got into it with Principal Hackett over it, too, let me tell you that."

Guilt took over Halle. "I'm sorry, I never wanted to cause trouble for you, Coach."

The coach placed her hand over Halle's and told her firmly, "you have nothing to be sorry for, okay? Nothing. Except maybe starting a fight in my practice," she added, and Halle let out a chuckle. Coach Rhodes smiled and said, "you owe me a practice."

Halle nodded. "Yes, Coach."

"And you need to stop with the fighting, Halle. I can't have you on the team if you knee my other girls in the face." Supportively, Coach Rhodes continued, "also no more talk of you quitting. You're the only one that can land a triple flip. I need you on this team, and you need this team just as much." Sighing again, coach finally gave in. "Alright, you can go home. I'll see you tomorrow."

Halle stood up and went to the door. When she reached it, Halle turned back and asked, "did I really break Sophie's nose?"

"It's nothing to be proud of," coach scolded her.

Trying her best to hide the smile itching onto her face, Halle said, "so that's a yes?"

•

Halle sat on her bed, legs laid out with her laptop on her lap and pacha's head rested on her feet. She had seen a few posts online about what happened at practice; the cheer-team's page was flooded with messages about Halle. One even went so far as to mention the video, which then led to a thread of comments about that.

Ping

An email notification popped up at the bottom of her screen. An unknown sender.

As she clicked on it, her bedroom door opened. In walked her dad, still in his suit from work only the tie had been loosened around the collar. "Hey, Hal."

"Hey, Dad." Halle did her best to smile. When she got home, her mother didn't know about the fight at practice. Halle only assumed it must have been her dad that Coach Rhodes called, but there Halle's dad stood without a shred of anger in him.

"I had a feeling he'd be up here with you," said Nick Brewster, gesturing his head towards the dog sleeping comfortably next to Halle.

"Always is," Halle replied. "How was work?" she asked.

"Good, yeah. How was school?" he said.

Yeah, he knew. Halle was doomed.

Putting on a false smile, Halle said, "good, nothing really happened."

Her father nodded, a knowing look in his eyes. He glanced at the books on her bed. "So, what's all this, then?"

Halle sucked in a breath. "Gatsby. Mr Fitz wants our notes on a couple chapters."

"Any good?" he asked.

"He's pretty much the American Dream. A rags to riches kind of guy, and he's quite the charmer. He's a little sad, too," Halle said. She flashed her dad a smile. "You'd like him."

"Sounds good. Er, Halle..."

Oh, god, here it comes, Halle told herself.

Nick moved to sit himself down on the edge of his daughter's bed. Racking his brain on how best to make this less awkward, he never noticed Halle lowering her laptop screen so he wouldn't see.

"Coach Rhodes called me," he said. Nick's eyes stayed on his daughter now, watching her face closely. "She said some of the girls on the team are giving you a hard time... over the video," he added.

"It's just teenage girls, Dad." Halle put on her best act. "I'm tough. Nothing I can't handle."

"Yeah, that's why I worry." Nick gave a stern look. "She told me you broke a girl's nose."

"So I did break it? I knew it!" Suddenly aware of her father's glare, Halle slouched and her grin dropped. "It was accident."

"Really? Your knee accidentally collided with a girl's face, that's the story you're sticking with?" he asked her seriously.

"I don't know... is that something you might believe?" Halle asked him, her right brow raised in question.

Nick gave a chuckle. "I don't think so."

"Then, no." Halle sighed and said, "she was being a real ass, she deserved it."

"Now, that I believe," Nick said.

"So, you're not mad?" Halle asked, confused at his calm composure.

"Oh, no, I'm mad, but when has shouting ever gotten anyone closer to what they want?" Nick managed to give her a small smile and said, "just try to keep your anger under control. If you feel the need to punch or knee something, I'll put up a punching bag for you." He glanced around her room and pointed to one of the corners. "That might be a good spot."

Halle laughed, "I might take you up on that."

"Just no more fights at school, or anything else that's gonna mean me speaking to your coach or principal," he said. "Especially since I only just convinced your mother to ease your grounding."

"Okay," she nodded.

Nick stood up from the bed and reached down to press a loving kiss to Halle's head. "I love you sky-big, Hal," said Nick sweetly. He hid the pain in his chest from where it had suddenly began to ache with worry for her again.

"I love you sky-big, too," replied Halle.

When he reached the door, Nick stopped and turned back to his daughter. He asked, "you'd tell me if something was going on, wouldn't you? You don't have to think you're alone," he said at the end.

"I know I have you — and mom." A weight fell on Halle's heart to lie to him. She never wanted to tell her father more than a white-lie, but she was lying now to save the truth from killing him.

She said, "if there was something, Dad, I'd tell you."

"Okay, just know that me and your mom are here if you need us," said Nick, and then he left, shutting the door behind him.

When she heard the door click, Halle raised the screen again. On there were her emails and the latest one — from the unknown sender.

SLUTS GET WHAT THEY DESERVE. I CAN'T WAIT TO BREAK YOU LIKE YOU BROKE HER NOSE. --A.

Halle went to grab a pillow to let out a scream, but she never reached for it. The sound of her phone chiming had stopped her. She glanced at the mobile and saw it was a message from Spencer. Deciding it would be better to see her friend than to muffle her screams into a pillow until she passed out, Halle closed her laptop.

She was going to Spencer's. On her way down the stairs, her brother caught her. "Hey."

"I ain't grounded," Halle stated blankly.

"No, that's not it." Myles stood at the top of the stairs having just come upstairs himself. "You spoken to Noel?"

"Wrong brother, I'm dating Eric," Halle said, attempting to leave again.

"Funny, I thought that when you told me it was Eric you were seeing," Myles retorted.

Halle huffed. Her nostrils flared. "Are you gonna get to your point? Or are you gonna continue bashing my relationship?"

"Both," Myles answered. "I'm kidding— Hal, it was a joke!" he defended. His hand grabbed Halle's arm to stop her leaving. "It's just Noel might need a friend right about now, he got suspended today."

Eyes widening, Halle's jaw slackened. "What? Why?"

"He was caught with the mid-term exam answers in his locker, three tests worth," said Myles. "I thought you said he was smart."

It confused Halle. "He is..."

It wasn't until Halle was in Spencer Hastings' kitchen that she underrated fully what had gone on. A had planted the exam answers in Noel's locker to stop him the from outing Aria's secret relationship with Mr Fitz. If anything, it made Halle a little sad for the boy. Yes — he decided to blackmail a teacher, but the relationship was anything but appropriate and legal. Noel didn't deserve it, so she shot him a quick text.

"I don't know who I'm afraid of," Aria said, "A, the bitch to who tried to flatten Hanna and Halle — or A, our new frenemy."

"Frenemy?" Halle scoffed. "Speak for yourself. I have two more weeks of physical therapy because I slammed a chair down on a computer to stop A from playing that video of me."

Still, Aria smiled. Spencer called her out on it, "what?"

Wishfully, Aria said, "A saved my relationship."

"Yeah, well, A tried to kill me," Hanna shot back.

Spencer explained, "because A thought you saw her, and Halle got the video shown because—"

"I got in the way," Halle droned. "I'm collateral."

"But A clearly knows now that you didn't," Spencer added, none of them saw her. The door opened and Spencer instantly went into their cover. "So the, uh, laws of cosines is the extension of the Pythagorean theorem to the arbitrary angles around—"

"Uh, English please," Hanna said.

Melissa Hastings was the reason why the girls went about pretending they were studying. Dressed nicely, she said, "it's nice to see the posse together again."

"Ha, the posse?" Aria asked, cautious. All the girls were curious to the sudden niceness shown by the elder Hastings-sister.

"This is me being playing nice, Aria," said Melissa, smiling. "Spencer and I have called a truce."

"A truce or spontaneous appeasement?" Halle muttered, not buying it.

"A truce," Melissa clarified.

"Oh, well, I'll play along," said Hanna eagerly. "How does it feel being married?"

"It feels like I don't have to try so hard all the time, like things are settled," Melissa answered blissfully.

"That's how my mom felt before my dad met Isabel," Hanna commented.

Melissa chuckled. "That's one thing I don't need to worry about is Ian looking at other women."

"Just teenage girls, then," Halle mumbled under her breath so nobody would hear her.

Halle tried to busy herself by nosing in the fridge when Ian Thomas showed his face in the kitchen. She didn't speak again, only held her hand up when the couple left for date night. Emily arrived just after and Halle shut the fridge, a can of soda in her hand. All Emily's friends looked at her with knowingly smiles.

"What?" Emily asked.

Spencer was beaming as she told Emily. "There is something I need to show you... in my room."

"No, wait." Aria smiled wide, too. "I think she should find it herself."

"I agree, but first..." Hanna stood up and went to Emily. She tussled the swimmer's hair and unbuttoned the top few buttons of her shirt. "There, now you can go," Hanna said.

Halle came to stand next to Hanna, hugging the blonde into her side. "Go. Have fun."

Emily was confused but not for long. The four other girls remained downstairs and were soon smiling at the giggles that travelled down the stairs. Maya was waiting for Emily in Spencer's bedroom, a goodbye surprised Emily's friends helped put together for her.

"You know, I'm official jealous of Emily's love life," Hanna claimed. She and the other were routing through Ian's boxed left cluttering the living room.

Halle agreed. "I miss that part, when it all happens for the first time," said Halle dreamily.

"You missing Eric?" Aria asked, making conversation.

It stunned Halle a little. She wasn't thinking of him, not then. Eric never had all of Halle's first. Her first time, yes, but he never got the part of Halle no one else got. Jason had that.

"Must be hard with him at college all the time," Spencer said.

"Yeah, Eric... Yeah, it is," Halle lied.

Selfishly, she loved Eric but never fully, never in the way she wanted to love and be loved in return. She thought if she allowed herself to do that, she would be vulnerable. Halle didn't like being vulnerable. So, she chose a boy, one with a solid future and from a good family, and she showed him the parts she wanted to him to see and kept the dark, cracked parts to herself.

Once upon a time, she gave those broken parts to Jason and he gave her his. Eric came close to seeing them, too. Noel even closer. But Halle never dared to share those parts of her again, not after the damage she did to herself —and to Jason. She'd never show them again.

•