1.20

•

"Someone To Watch Over Me"

The next day, Halle casually strolled into the kitchen while on the phone to Emily. She held the cellphone to her ear and carried on chatting away, even with her family in there having breakfast together. Luisa Brewster was sat at the breakfast bar with Riley, helping the girl with her homework while Riley ate her coco-pops; her father, Nick Brewster stood leaning against the kitchen counter as he ate his own cereal, the plain sort his wife bought; and Myles sat with his headphones in, oblivious to anything but the screen he was smiling at.

Halle busied herself with getting a drink. "So, they just went in and raided her bedroom?"

"That's exactly what they did," Emily said, over the phone. She had been out for an early breakfast with Spencer and came back to the police conducting a search warrant. Halle hadn't even seen the police cars until Emily rung her and she decided to look out her bedroom window.

"Did they at least have the barn on that warrant?" Halle asked. She grabbed the orange juice from the fridge and placed the carton down on the side, kicking the door closed. It made her mother grind her teeth and glare, not that Halle noticed. She was too busy enthralled in her conversation with Emily and getting a glass to notice.

"They did, but that's just because that's where Ali was last seen," Emily explained. "It's not for Ian, they're gunning for Spencer."

"Well, it's something," Halle said, trying to see the positive. She poured herself a drink, keeping the phone between her head and shoulder, and then asked, "How was she when you saw here?"

"Shaken," Emily replied. "Scared."

"I think we all would be if the police started ransacking our bedrooms, too," Halle replied dryly. After taking a sip, Halle's eyes met her mother's unimpressed ones and Halle knew she was in for it again. "...Yeah... Hey, Em, I've gotta go, I'll see you later."

"Your mom?" Emily asked knowingly.

"Yeah, it ain't looking great for me on this end," Halle answered, eyes not leaving her mother's face, who was growing more agitated by the call.

"Good luck," Emily wished.

"Thanks."

"Bye."

"Yeah — Bye, Em." Halle pulled the cellphone from her ear, ending the call by flipping the screen back down to a shut. She looked to her mother expectantly. "Yeah?"

"Check the attitude," scolded Luisa briskly, giving her daughter a hard stare. "What's this talk of police?" she asked.

"Well, Mother," Halle settled in close, smirking across the kitchen-island and said, "you don't have to worry about Veronica Hastings telling you where you're failing in parenting since, you know, Spencer's now a person of interest in Ali's murder."

Nick Brewster looked up from his cereal bowl. "Come again?"

"The police served a search warrant for Spencer's bedroom 'cos she's now the lead person of interest in Alison's murder," Halle told them bluntly. She enjoyed the stunned looks across both of her parents' faces and smirked devilishly.

"You can't be serious," Nick said.

"But that's ridiculous," agreed Luisa.

Myles had pulled one of his earphones out and made the snarky comment, "Hey, at least Halle's not the most screwed up of the lot."

Halle picked up the glass of orange juice and raised it to them in a sort of mocking cheers. "Still got time," she said. "But congrats, enjoy that while it lasts," she added, referring to her older brother's remark. "Won't be long with how it's going for me."

And with that said, she walked out of the kitchen with the glass in hand.

•

Sat at lunch with her friends, Halle shared in Hanna's happiness. The blonde had been telling her friends how well it had been recently going with Caleb and whipped out her cellphone to show them just how well it was going. On the tiny phone screen, shone a diamante-encrusted owl pendant which Hanna was particularly pleased with.

"Oh, it's so pretty, Hanna," Aria complimented, holding the phone in her hands. "When did give it to you?"

"Oh, he hasn't given it to me," Hanna said. Briskly, she added, "Not yet. I found it."

"You snooped," Halle said flatly.

"No, I wasn't looking for it," Hanna defended, with a simply shrug, "but I found it, and I took a picture and then I just put it back."

"So, you snooped," Halle repeated, smirking a little. "Unintentionally, of course."

Emily was now holding the phone, her brows up in confusion. "Why an owl?" she asked.

Hanna smiled to herself, content in his own bliss. "It's symbolic."

Looking up to her friend, Emily asked, "Of what?"

"Of our first night — in the tent," Hanna said, the corners of her mouth twisting up as her cheeks started blush pink.

Halle gave Hanna a questioning look, cocking a right eyebrow up at the blonde. "You didn't? You slept with him," Halle said in realisation, her friends then picking up on it also. Halle gasped, grinning widely, "Yes, you did! You totally did it." Halle smirked, shooting her friend a wink. "Hoe."

"So, the owls?" Emily asked, even more curious now. "How does that link with that?"

"We heard owls," Hanna explained, now flushing a brilliant shade of red.

Aria giggled and said, "Swooping down to carry off their prey?"

Hanna had enough of their joking and put a end to it. "Okay — you cannot stomp the romance. Owls and tents and s'mores are all part of that night." Wishfully, she sighed, "Every perfect minute of it."

Giving the blonde a mischievous look, Emily hinted, "Have you two had another opportunity?"

"Uh, not since he went in the guest room," said Hanna. She grinned one more, it becoming a happy pattern. "But we do have plans."

All of them were smiling. They were sharing in Hanna's joy, and it affected each of the girls. Halle only wished all five of them were there as she spared a glance to the empty seat where Spencer should have been. She cursed the Rosewood PD for taking that from her — from them. They all could never be normal teenagers at once; something had to get in the way.

Aria spotted something strange across the cafeteria. Paige McCullers and Sean Ackard — together — laughing as if they were flirting. "When did that happen?" Aria asked, making the girls glance over.

Hanna noticed the uneasy look on Emily's face and reassured, "Oh, Em, don't worry about it. It's totally cool. I mean, the break up was way messy, but Sean's a good guy. And he should be happy," Hanna said maturely. A beaming grin spread across the entire bottom half of her face. "Everyone should be as happy as I am."

"Alright, Toothy, keep smiling like that and I might need sunglasses," Halle countered teasingly, chuckling lightly with Aria. Briefly, Halle flickered her gaze over Emily; the swimmer was clearly hiding something in her quietness.

Suddenly, they were interrupted. Spencer Hastings threw herself down at the table, in the chair Halle had previously noted as empty. Alarmed, Emily instantly picked up, "Hey, are you okay?"

Aria voiced her own concern, similar to Emily's. "Yeah, we didn't think you were coming in today," she said.

"I had to be some place other than my house," Spencer complained. Already, students and faculty alike were starting to stare. Everyone knew Spencer had been named a person of interest now and that morning, the school had been gossiping about the search warrant.

"The cops still there?" Halle asked. She sighed and remarked, "Don't fancy having to go through Breyers to get into my own house."

Spencer shook her head. "They came and went."

"They actually took things?" Aria asked nervously.

"Not so much," Spencer answered. "My mom says that they did it just to shake me up."

Curiously, Hanna asked, "What'd they take?"

"Um, things from my jewelry box, stuff from my closet, a couple pairs of shoes," Spencer informed them.

Concern came over Hanna. "Wait, not the Tory Burches."

"Hanna," Aria scolded, glaring.

Yet, it got Spencer to chuckle, which none of them had heard since the police started investigating her for Alison's murder. All of them were grateful for that. Spencer assured the blonde, "No, trainers."   Her tone then dropped to a serious one, telling them, "They wanted my laptop, but my mom said no. It wasn't on the search warrant and they couldn't have it." Spencer then pre-warned them, "Look, you guys should know, there's a chance they might try to pull this on you."

Emily sat up. "Search our rooms?" she questioned.

To this, Spencer helplessly offered them a shrug. "My mom says it's a possibility." She gave them all a sorrowful look. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not your fault," Aria immediately put the idea of Spencer's apology.

"Yeah," Hanna agreed quickly.  "We know who's responsible for this."

Halle explained, "We all know this is A messing with us, she's always messing with us."

"Yeah, well, I wish she would stop," Spencer replied. She groaned and said, "I should've known that trophy was some kind of trap. It's like I can hear A laughing in my head."

Leaning in, Hanna asked plainly, "Does A sound like Jenna?"

Although, Halle didn't always agree that Jenna Marshall was capable of all that A was doing to them. She was blind, for god's sake! Jenna did have the strongest cause to hurt them. After all, they hurt her first.

Spencer's cellphone dinged. An eerie chill came over the table; the girls sat ridged in their seats, awaiting A's countdown to the new doomsday. Halle's throat went dry at the thought. In the last week, she had gotten more texts. Why? What had A got install for her? A had already ruined her life. There wasn't much more Halle could give. Still, A tortured her — and her friends.

The Hastings girl turned her phone over and vast relief crossed her face. "It's my mom," Spencer told them, and the group released a collective breath. "She wants me to home him." She looked up at her friends hopefully. "Walk me out?"

"Sure," Emily said, smiling soft.

•

Lunch the next day hadn't gone over so swimmingly. There were no smiles. No happy, beaming Hanna. Just romantic dreams crushed with an iron fist the moment Aria and Emily broke unwelcome news to the blonde, after overhearing Caleb's phonecall — one he didn't want to be heard on.

Adamant, Hanna refused to believe it. "You got it wrong," she said.

"We heard what we heard, Hanna," Aria said, her voice both soft and strong to comfort her friend but still get the message across.

"No," Hanna shook her head and said again, more firmly this time, "you heard what your heard, but it's wrong."

Emily was less soft and more serious. She said, "He was talking to another girl, and there was a lot of history there, you could tell."

"Okay, what happened to being happy for me?" Hanna snapped. "Where'd all that go?"

Spencer began, "Hanna, we want you to be happy—"

"Well, then you shouldn't tell me this because it's not true!" Hanna barked in frustration. No one was listening. Nobody understood. She dropped her voice, feeling far too exposed. "Not after we..."

Sensing her friend's distress, Halle spoke up. She defended both sides of the argument, not wanting to get into it with either of her friends. "We just have to find Caleb and ask him about what you heard, it's not that hard."

"Halle, they heard wrong," Hanna argued profusely. "He could've been on the phone with his foster parents or something — or his social worker. You don't know," she snapped again at both Aria and Emily.

Aria sighed, giving in, "Okay, maybe we didn't hear it right."

The same couldn't been said for Emily; she wasn't dropping it. "Hanna," started Emily, "we heard what Caleb said and you have to know the truth."

"We don't know the truth," Halle tried to defend. Caleb wasn't just in Hanna's life; he was in Halle's, too. He was a part of Halle's life, having wormed his way into an unlikely friendship with her. A part of Halle wasn't just defending him for Hanna. Selfishly, she was defending Caleb for herself. Her own selfishness was coming out now. Her own fear of betrayal leaked out of the cracks of Halle's trust, previously smashed by Alison DiLaurentis.

Emily kept her eyes on the blonde across from her at the lunch table. "I think he's with someone else and hasn't told you."

"No," Hanna said abruptly. "Caleb has told me everything and I told him everything — Well, not everything," she added to reassure her friends the secrets of That Summer and A was still under lock. "But I told him all about me and what you're saying it's not him." Quietly, she pushed out a tiny, "It can't be."

"Okay, guys," Spencer attempted to cool down the tense atmosphere suffocating the table with a gentler approach, "maybe we are being a little bit paranoid."

"Exactly!" Halle was extremely thankful for Spencer's being back. She didn't feel so insane when Spencer was there helping defend Caleb. It gave Halle more hope. "With all that's going on, we're looking at things too closely when we don't know everything. We don't have all the pieces, like the other-side of that phonecall."

Spencer nodded in agreement. "We're getting theses details, but we just can't see the big picture," she explained, referring to how the group nowadays immediately jumped the worst conclusion without knowing everything.

Maybe Spencer should have applied that with the trophy, Halle thought bitterly, still feeling like her own home in a warzone.

Aria's hand flew out and touched Halle's shoulder. She shuddered, eyes large, and gestured behind Spencer and Emily's heads. "Guys."

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Halle didn't need to look to know who it was. She heard that sound in her nightmares now. Each tap getting louder and louder and louder until Jenna's cane came hurling towards Halle's face in a violent rage.

Slowly, Halle did follow her friends' gazes. Her eyes went straight to the neck of Jenna Marshall, quickly spying the jewelled-owl. It hung around Jenna's neck, resting on her chest proudly.

A pale, sick look crossed down over Hanna's face. The happiness had gone. The unwavering trust she had put in Caleb had gone.

So had Halle's.

In the corridor, just before after registration, the lingering betrayal of Caleb hung over them like a rain cloud. Hanna hadn't spoke much. She was glued to her phone, trying desperately to get a hold of Caleb so he could prove all this to be in their heads. Only issue was, it definitely wasn't in their heads. Jenna had the pendant Hanna found in Caleb's bag, the one she thought was symbolic of their night together.

Aria Montgomery's face said it all in full. She walked over to the others, away from where Hanna stood by a wall with her fingers typing fast at her phone keypad, with a gloomily look in her eyes. She was deflated, defeated and down-right frustrated. "Caleb's not picking up," Aria said to them. "She's going to send him a text."

"What the hell's going on?" Emily asked, eyes serious. She was baffled at how quickly it all went south, just when Hanna at last happy.

From her leaning position on the lockers, Spencer commented, nauseous, "Either it's exactly what it looks like, which is bad enough, or it's something worse."

"Couldn't it just be two pendants that look exactly?" Emily asked naively.

Sadly, Spencer said, "Dream on."

Emily clenched her jaw at that response. "If Caleb hurts Hanna, he's a dead man. Not Literally," she said, on seeing the questioning looks she received from Aria and Spencer.

Halle stood next to Spencer with forehead pressed against a locker. The cool of the metal was soothing the raging headache. She rolled her head, turning to see Emily out of the corner of her eyes and said strongly, "No, literally. He's a dead man."

"Halle—"

"I don't want your pity," Halle instantly cut Emily's soft voice off. "Save that for Hanna." Picking up her head, Halle raised it to send sad look over at the distraught blonde. Things weren't looking great now, and she hadn't found out the truth yet.

By time she did, Halle had sat on her anger for so long she was permanently in a sour mood. Her boss had even mentioned it after Halle's attitude was gradually seeping into her work. Halle almost even had a burst up with a customer who wanted to be complimented over an order. At that point, Halle's boss stepped in and took over that specific table.

It was the right time for Caleb Rivers to show his face, but it was the time he chose. She was clearing the long bench-table when he walked in and presented himself in front of her.

"Hey, Cheery," he said, in attempt to greet her like he normally would. He noted how she didn't look up from where she wiped down the wooden surface; she was angry with him also. He sucked in a breath and asked, "Can we talk?"

"I'm busy, I'm at work," Halle said monotonously. Still, she hadn't looking up from the spot she was cleaning.

"I can wait," Caleb offered. He really wanted to speak with her. "When's your break?" he asked.

She gave a half-hearted shrug. "I don't know."

"Halle, please." Caleb quickly turned to pleading with her. He began with, "I know you're mad—"

"Mad?!" Halle finally snapped up to face him. She was overwhelmed with anger, immediately jumping down his throat. "Mad? I'm furious!" Suddenly aware this was her place of work, she lowered her voice but still remained frustration with her tone. "Not only did you make an idiot out of me, but you made one of Hanna — and I could hit you for that," Halle said strongly.

"Then hit me," Caleb said, gesturing to himself. He just wanted Halle to listen and forgive him

"I can't!" Halle exclaimed at him. After, she let out a defeated sigh. "I can't," she said again, hurt. "You acted like you cared about Hanna, you acted like you cared about me. I thought we were friends—"

"We are!" Caleb interrupted firmly.

"Are we? Because it sounds like you were all about making a quick buck on us for Jenna Marshall," Halle spat.

"I never spied on you," he tried to argue.

"Oh, I suppose I should be thankful for that," Halle retorted, sarcastic and bitter. "You're a jerk for what you did to Hanna."

Caleb continued, "I know I messed up, but I stopped it the moment—"

"Don't." Halle cut him off. She shook her head, scolding him. "Just accept you were a jerk, don't try and justify it. You're a jerk."

"You're right," Caleb said, nodding. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, so am I," Halle countered back dryly.

He tried to get through to her again. This time, Caleb appealed to their friendship — the one he liked having. "You were my first friend in a really long time," he said.

Halle looked at him. "Yeah, you were mine, too. Guess I should take this as a reminder why I don't do friends."

Caleb shook his head and said, "I don't think that's who you are."

"Well, I didn't think this was who you were," Halle returned. She went back to cleaning the table, eyes on the wood when they were fighting to look back at the boy.

"This is not me giving up," Caleb clarified for her, "this is me giving you space."

From the corner of her eyes, she spied him turn to leave. Sucking in a deep breath, she stopped him. Halle called out his name. "Caleb—" She couldn't bear the thought of him being alone right now. She sighed and asked, "Where are you going? I'm not gonna let you sleep on a park-bench," said Halle forwardly. "You can stay at mine, I have a couch in my bedroom."

"I can't — your parents," he explained.

"They won't know," Halle said. She knew exactly how that turned out for Hanna when A threatened to tell her mother, but Halle was already in enough trouble with her parents anyway. "I've been sneaking out for years, I can sneak you in. Just..." Halle paused for a moment to take a short breath, "Hanna can never know."

"I think I've hurt Hanna enough to do that to her," Caleb mentioned.

"Should've thought of that before you made her care about your ass," Halle told him. "Or me." She gave him a warning stare and said, "I finish in an hour, sit."

•

Gathered in the girls' toilets, three of the girls greeted Hanna with sympathetic smiles. Halle was leant back on the wall, her foot up against it. She stood up straight the moment Hanna walked in, meeting her with a sad, "Hey." She made the mistake of drawing it out far too much for it not to sound pitiful.

"Where were you all morning?" Aria asked, having not seen Hanna in class.

"Walking," answered Hanna. She spoke with a tone of sadness lacing all of her words. She stopped in front of them: Aria, Emily and Halle and sucked in a shaky breath. "Just walking."

Cautiously, Emily asked her, "So it's true?"

Hanna gave a nodded and pursed her lips. "Yeah, it's all true." She spared a glance to a guilty-looking Halle and mentioned, "I know he wanted to speak to you. Did he?"

"Uh, yeah," Halle replied, nodding softly. "I'm sorry, Hanna, I really am," offered Halle, not knowing much else to do to fill in the gaps. She was helpless in the situation. They all were.

"What did he say?" Hanna asked, her voice almost inaudible.

"Just... he apologised and explained things. I called him out on a few things and called him a jerk," Halle told her truthfully. She didn't want to hurt Hanna, but Halle knew each word was like a dagger in Hanna's bruised heart.

"Too right, he is a jerk," Emily said, agreeing.

Clearly not wanting to talk about it, Hanna moved along the conversation. "Where's Spencer?" she asked, noting the absent member.

"Oh, she stayed home," Aria stated.

The door to the toilets opened, and the sound of familiar tapping started. Using the stick, Jenna Marshall blindly walked into the bathroom heading towards the sinks.

Sighing, Aria pulled at Emily's arm and said quietly, "Come on."

"Yeah, let's go," Halle whispered back. Still, she hoped Jenna felt the burning glare in the back of her head.

Realising first that Hanna wasn't budging, Emily turned to her. "Hanna?" she question in a whisper.

"I just wanna talk to her," Hanna said simply.

With the sound of heels approaching, Jenna's ear picked up and she stopped. "Hello?" she called out. She sensed someone behind her, stood frozen. So, Jenna turned. "Yes?"

Hanna had burnt out. Her patience had worn thin and anger had taken its place. Everything that had happened to her — every bad thing — over the past couple of months all amounted in that moment, and without a second though, Hanna raised her hand.

SLAP.

Her hand collided with Jenna's face with loud smack. Jenna gasped, both pained and shocked. The darkened sunglasses flew from off Jenna's face and landed on the tiles. Hanna was too shocked at what she had actually done, as were her friends who all had their mouth hung open and eyes wide.

On realising she couldn't chicken out, Hanna coolly collected the glassed up from the floor and placed them into Jenna's hand. She remained strong, though a shaky breath escaped her. "This is Hanna," she said. "In case you couldn't guess."

It was down with confidence, wavering at the end with slight uncertainty. Hanna didn't feel good slapping a blind girl, but the slap was good. There was a level of satisfaction that came with her hand coming into contact with Jenna Marshall's face. Halle wished she could have done it herself, but was proud at the fact Hanna's threat wasn't empty. Then, they left the toilets, leaving Jenna alone with glassy eyes and stunned look across her face.

•