2.03

•

"My Name Is Trouble"

Halle waited at her locker. Her eyes fixed firmly on the girls' toilets across the hall. She had been stood staring for the past two minutes. When she saw a girl  finally come out, Halle instantly slammed her locker shut and made a beeline for them. She pushed open the door and smiled on seeing her friends in there: Emily by the sinks; Aria, Hanna and Spencer each exiting a cubical.

"We have got to find a better place to do this," Aria stated. "Somewhere preferably with a fan."

"And decent air-freshener," remarked Halle, turning her nose up the funny, stale smell that came from the school toilets.

"Good luck," Emily said sarcastically. "We're gonna have to dig a tunnel under the school."

"Uh, not with those hands," Hanna was appalled by her friend's dry skin. "You need some serious moisturiser," she said.

"Because that's the most important issue here," Halle shot.

Spencer was busy reading over the letter Emily had received from the scout at Danby College. She said, "This letter isn't that bad, Emily."

"It's bad," Emily replied shortly.

"Won't your mom be impressed that the scout even took time to write?" Aria asked.

Halle gave Aria a look. "Do you even know Mrs Fields?"

"Here, use this." Hanna was too concerned with Emily's dry hands and interrupted the conversation. She handed Emily a large tube of moisturiser from her handbag and said, "It cost more than my purse."

"—She's like Em on speed, five times the average dosage," Halle continued, staying on the actual subject. "It has to be 'sign on the dotted line' for Mrs Fields to be impressed."

"Exactly," Emily said. "Guys, this is a 'maybe' letter. My mom needs to see something real, something that says 'let her stay in Rosewood, we want her, don't take her to Texas'." Finishing up with the moisturiser, she passed the tube over to Halle.

"Em, there's other colleges," Aria offered.

"Yeah, other scouts will want you," Spencer reassured.

"When?" Emily asked snappily. "My mom's already packed up the whole kitchen. She keeps telling me how much I'm gonna like the rodeo," she put in, annoyed.

"We'll think of something, okay? We won't let you go to Texas," Halle comforted, passing over the moisturiser now to Aria.

Accepting it, Aria picked up on the growing noise outside of the toilets. The clatter of students had increased, getting slowly closer. "Let's just do this later, okay?" After using the cream, she handed it back to Hanna.

Hanna put some on her hands and began to rub it in, asking, "Um, what about after school?"

"I can't today, I've got field hockey," Spencer said.

"I have swim practice," Emily added.

Halle said, "Cheerleading."

"I'm starting my class at Hollis," Aria stated.

The girls eyed each other at Aria's confession. Spencer was the one to wonder aloud, "Is Jackie gonna be teaching it?"

"No, no, this is not about stalking," Aria defended firmly.

"Okay, stalker," teased Halle with a dry chuckle. It was if she was saying 'who-are-you-kidding' to her friend.

"It's not!" exclaimed Aria. "If Ezra says it's over between them, I believe him."

"And her?" Halle questioned. "A woman's mind is much more complex than the next Neanderthal male. A deadlier weapon, too."

"It's not like that," said Aria.

"So, you're just gonna hang around campus with binoculars?" Hanna laughed, still confused to why Aria suddenly picked up a class at the local college.

Seriously, Aria said, "I'm following our therapist's orders on having separate time, okay? It's an extension course." A slight smirk came across her face. "If I happened to bump into Ezra, that's just a bonus."

"Oh, nice bonus," Spencer commented with a smile.

"Stalker," Halle mouthed dramatically, bemused by her friend's antics. Halle was never one to follow a boy around or make a fool over herself. She never chased a boy — not once — and she was proud she never had to result in taking a class just to 'bump' into someone.

Hanna was less pleased with it all. She sighed heavily and sardonically remarked, "Yeah, great, everyone's got a life except for me."

"I thought you were gonna go to the mall with Mona," Aria reminded her.

"Stealing moisturiser is not a life, it's a hobby," the blonde fired back. "It's getting really boring."

Spencer snatched the tube from out of Hanna's clutches. "You stole this?" she lectured.

"No, it's a sample," Hanna answered, rolling her eyes.

"Hmm, a sample comes that large?" Halle asked, smirking knowingly.

"Generous store," Hanna justified.

"Generous security," shot Halle playfully, sharing a small amused smile with Hanna.

The door opened and interrupted the girls from the secret meet-up. A female teacher walked, stopping when she saw the five of them together and giving them a stern look. It was like everyone in the school knew they were supposed to be having separate time. Selfishly, Halle still blamed all their parents for that. Even if the therapy did help her.

•

It was monthly date night for Halle and Eric. He had come back home for the night and took her out for dinner in Mr Chung's Chinese, the same restaurant they went every date-night when out in Rosewood; there wasn't much else. She was seated opposite him filling in her boyfriend with the latest in her life. Halle still hadn't managed to figure out how to slip into the conversation about her diagnosis. Halle hadn't want to yet.

"So, then Dr Sullivan suggested we have separate time away from each other, which of course I took—"

"Terribly," Eric finished knowingly. He smirked and said, "Bet you caused hell in that house."

"I was a terror," Halle admitted. "I made Riley cry."

Eric dropped his smirk. "You did what?"

"Please don't me feel even more guilty that I do over it," Halle said, pleading with her boyfriend. "I already feel like the worst human-being on the face of the earth because of it, and I'd rather not relive it for you."

"Okay, then we won't talk about that part," accepted Eric easily. He took Halle's hand from where it rested on the table and pressed a tender kiss to it. He kept a hold on it, sharing a smile with Halle when he entwined their fingers. Eric moved past it quick enough. He picked up his drink, raising it to his lips when he spoke again. "Noel said you really like this Dr Sullivan," he said. "I have to admit, I was to surprised to hear that my girlfriend was going to see a grief counsellor through my brother and not her, but, you know, what can you do?"

Halle's touch slackened in his hand. She rolled her eyes at him and said, "Please don't tell me you're jealous."

"Should I be?" Eric asked her.

"Of Noel? No," said Halle, shaking her head with a smile on her face. This time she was the one who raised their hands to her lips and kissed the back of his. She peppered a few kisses there, looking across at him through thick lashes. "There's no one else."

Eric smiled. "No one compares to you."

"Bet," said Halle, smirking proudly at her boyfriend. She let go of his hand and picked up her chopsticks again to continue eating.

Her smile was dashed quick enough when Eric said, "Noel also mentioned that Jason moved back."

Halle nodded and cleared her throat. "Yeah, yeah, he did."

"In that house?" Eric shook his head in disbelief. "I could never do that."

"Do what?" she asked.

"Move back into that house — Alison's house," he said. "That place is like a haunted house in this town. And to move in there alone? The guy must be crazy."

"Or lonely," Halle offered.

"Lonely?" Eric laughed and said, "Don't go getting soft over him, Halle. If Jason DiLaurentis is lonely, it's because he made himself that way. He's a creep. He was by the end of high school, too. The guy gave up on everything when he got involved with drugs. He played soccer and lacrosse, and then he threw it away for, what? Drugs? All anyone remembers about him was that he was loaded — that and Alison," Eric added, picking up a spring-roll from the middle of the table.

Halle watched him with an intense stare. She ordered a side of spring-rolls for herself after Eric said he didn't want any. Now they were in front of him, he changed his mind and helped himself. She bit her tongue and breathed out, hoping to relieve some of the frustration she had over him eating her food. As well as the Jason comment.

"It's a shame, he could have really done something with his life," Eric mentioned after he took a bite.

"He's twenty-one, he can still do something with his life," defended Halle, her brows knitted tightly at her boyfriend's comment. "He's got all the time in world to figure it out."

"In my opinion, you gotta have your life plan sorted in high school," Eric explained. "They tell you all the time that what you do in high school really shapes your future. God, if I did what Jason did and threw it all away, there's no way I'd be getting that internship at the DA's office. I doubt I'd even get into UPenn if I hadn't got it all mapped out."

"But you were — still are — a party boy, Eric," Halle reminded.

"Yeah, but I never voiced it like Jason did," Eric replied. "I kinda feel sorry for the guy. He had no real friends at the end of senior year, just people that used him for a party or drugs. You should know that, you've been a few of his parties." He lectured, "I say have your fun, go to parties, experiment and all that, but keep it on the down-low. What you decide now, that's all leading you up to your future."

Halle sucked in a sharp breath. "Wow, you sound like my mom," she said, a tone of sadness within her voice. "She's been planning for my future from the moment I picked up her pom-poms."

"And it's a good future," Eric told her.

She laughed dryly at him. "You think Rosewood's a good future?" Halle looked at Eric — really looked at him. "That's what you want? The house at the end of the cul-de-sac?"

"I wanna be like my dad," Eric said, confident in his words. He was confident in himself. "I'm gonna be a Judge by time I'm forty. And if you're a big time defence attorney and then Judge in a town like Rosewood, you're known, you're respected. You get the best of everything. If it's a house at the end of cul-de-sac, who cares? It's the best you can get in Rosewood."

"Rosewood's not the best you can get in life, though," Halle argued. "Do you seriously wanna live and die in Rosewood? Stay here your entire life?"

"Your parents did it, mine did too," Eric said. He shot her a broad grin and kissed her hand again. "We're gonna be just like them, baby." His phone ringing interrupted their sweet moment. "Sorry," he said, pulling it out of his jean-pocket. "Ah, it's work, I'm gonna have to take this." Eric got up from his seat and left, putting the phone to his ear as he answered the call.

It was just as well that he took the call because ten seconds later, Halle's phone began to ring also. Spencer's name flashed across her screen. Halle flipped up her phone and held it up to her ear. "Spence?"

"Where are you?" Spencer asked immediately. She sounded frantic; desperation shook her voice. "Are you at home?"

"No, I'm at dinner with Eric," Halle said. "Why? Is everything okay?"

"No, I was walking home from field hockey and I saw Jason," she panicked through the phone. "He was being really creepy and then I saw the curtain move in the upstairs bedroom."

"So?"

"So?" Spencer raged, "someone else is in that house!"

"It could just be the wind, Spencer," Halle attempted to reason.

"No, it could not just be the wind," snapped Spencer. "Halle, the window was closed. There was somebody else in that house, in that upstairs room, and it could be Ian!"

Halle sighed, rubbing her temple as she felt a stress-headache coming on. "Did you have to jump straight to the Ian-place? Are you even sure of what you saw? You could have imagined it moving, we're all desperate for answers and minds wonder," Halle calmly said.

"I know what I saw," Spencer defended sternly. "There's a murderer next door to us, my parents are in New York, and all I have to defend myself is a hockey stick!"

"Have you spoken to Toby? He's working for Jason, on that fence," Halle said, trying to come up with anything to distract Spencer off the scent of Jason automatically being a bad guy because he moved back into that house.

"I haven't told him any more than I don't want him working for Jason," Spencer told her. "I don't want him involved with this."

"I get that. Look," Halle sighed and said, "I might be able to get away little earlier."

"What? No, it's date night," Spencer argued. "Stay with Eric. I'm gonna call Emily right after this and see if she'll stay over tonight."

"Spencer, you called me," Halle reminded her.

"That was when I thought you were at home," said Spencer. "I'm not ruining your one date night you have with Eric. Enjoy yourself. But come over mine after?" she asked, still a little terrified.

"Of course, I'll be there when I can," Halle said. "Stay inside," she advised firmly, "and lock the doors." Catching sight of Eric walking back to the table, Halle told Spencer, "Okay, Eric's back— I gotta go. Lock the door, Spence." Then, she ended the call. She looked up and smiled at her boyfriend. "Is everything okay?"

"I gotta head back to the city, new development in the DA's case," he said apologetically. "I'm so sorry, but I have to go. I can drop you off home."

"Sure, let me grab my coat," Halle said, standing up from her chair.

Eric felt incredibly bad. "I will make it up to you, I promise," he said firmly. "Next date night is gonna be a date weekend. We'll go up to the cabin and spend the entire time with our phones off, just being together."

Halle reached her hand out for his face and cupped it. She stroked her thumb over his cheek and said softly, "It's fine, Eric, and you can't do that. You can't switch your phone off for five minutes, but that's okay. You're shaping your future right now."

"I'm shaping our future," Eric corrected. He leaned in and kissed her. "Love you."

"I love you, too."

•

The entire ride to her house, Halle went over the prospect of her future. Their future. It scared her half to death. She had only just turned seventeen, and she was supposed to have her entire life planned out? How could she? Halle could barely get her own prescription without sweating profusely from panicking. There was no chance she was ready to start thinking about the future — a future that wouldn't be her present for hopefully another ten years.

Halle kissed Eric goodbye and saw him drive away this time. She pretended to be going home, but when he pulled off around the bend, Halle started for the Hastings' house. Halle went through the back gate and walked up the garden path towards the backyard. She overheard Spencer on the phone as she reached the backdoor. Halle put her hand on the handle on twisted it, pushing the door open.

"Where was Jason the night Ali was killed?"

BANG.

Spencer gasped loudly. She whipped her head around at the sound of the backdoor slamming shut. Halle stood there speechless, frozen without knowing what to say.

"Spence? Spencer?!" Emily's voice sounded panicked on the other line.

"It's fine, Em, it's only Halle," Spencer said, her on the phone. She gave Halle a questioning look as if to say 'why do you have to be so loud', but when she saw Halle hadn't moved, Spencer felt uneasy. "Em, I'm gonna go. Everything's fine, speak tomorrow." Spencer ended the call and slowly put down the phone. "Halle?" she questioned. "Are you okay? Why are you back early from your date?"

"Jason didn't kill Ali," Halle spoke.

"We don't know that," Spencer said. She was relaying the same conversation she had only just wrapped up with Emily. She told Halle firmly, "Someone's in that house with him. I think it could be Ian."

Halle didn't respond to Spencer's speculation; she went onto what made Halle slam the door in the first place. Firm in voice, Halle said, "I found Jason that morning, Spencer, and he was passed out. He had been for hours."

"You don't know that for sure," Spencer said.

"And you don't know what you're saying for sure, either," Halle returned. "We can't go around accusing everyone of Ali's murder— or helping in Ali's murder," she briskly added before Spencer could argue. "This is his sister we're talking about. We're talking about Jason killing his sister. He didn't even see Ali after she met us."

"How would you know?"

"Because I saw Jason That Night!" snapped Halle furiously.

Spencer pulled together her brows, a serious look crossing over her face. She was making sure she gave Halle the chance to be crystal clear with what she was about to say. "You mean you saw him when we realised Alison was missing? You mean when you saw him when you went looking for Alison, right? When you found him passed out? Right?"

"That wasn't the only time I saw him That Night." Halle confessed for the first time aloud, "I met Jason That Night. Before I came to yours, before I met your guys at the barn, I went to see Jason."

"Why?" Spencer asked.

"There's a reason why Jason trusts me, why I'm closer to him than the rest of you, why I put myself forward to talk to him," said Halle. "It's because... That Summer... I was a lot closer to Jason than I made out. We were friendly."

"What do you mean 'friendly'?"

Halle inhaled forcefully. "Do you remember that day at the lake, and Ali made that snarky comment about me overdosing? And I said I didn't feel well? Well, I lied. I was gonna home, but I bumped into Jason." She began reasoning, "You've gotta understand I was so angry Ali in that moment, and I just wanted to get under her skin — mess with her like she did with me. So, I got high with Jason... And continued to do that for the rest of That Summer."

"So, when Ali found your lighter in his room?" Spencer pieced together.

"He didn't just pick it up. I must have left it there." Halle confessed, "I just wanted to mess with Ali. It was never supposed to be anything more."

"Was it more?" Spencer asked, eyes wide.

Quickly, Halle noted the fear in her friend's eyes and lied. "No! No, it wasn't," said Halle. "I just played him, the way Ali taught me too. And That Night, it all came full circle. Ali was... Ali knew. She caught on fast, and she was hinting at it as much that day Jason confronted her about messing in his room."

"You played with Jason to get to Alison? That's ridiculous," Spencer replied.

"It worked, didn't it? She made a show of giving me back the lighter, joking about maybe Jason and I were more, then saying I would never do that to her." Halle got closer to her friend and pleaded her case convincingly, "Don't you see? Alison was planning to ruin me and turn your guys against me too. And that video—" she stopped abruptly.

Spencer gasped, her jaw dropping. "Oh, my god, Jason's behind the camera."

"I was drunk," Halle tried to defend.

"Halle!" Spencer exclaimed in shock. Then, something clicked and the cogs in Spencer's brain locked in a conclusion. "Can't you see? This is motive."

"Jason didn't kill Ali!" Halle maintained strongly. Her voice grew louder in frustration.

"But Jason could have helped Ian to," Spencer persisted. "I remembered something tonight. That Summer, when Jason threw one of his parties, Ali came over and she super upset over something. She was crying. She said it was about her grandma, but I didn't think that was it at the time, and I don't think it was now either."

Halle thought on what Ian said in the church — about Alison going to Spencer's the night of Jason's party. "When was this?"

"The night Emily slept over, you cancelled last minute. It was after he cornered her about stealing that comic from his room," Spencer said.

"That party..." uttered Halle in realisation. It was the one Ian spoke about, the one in another of the videos.

"I think something happened to Ali that night," Spencer explained. "She said there wasn't enough locks on her doors. I think Ian was there, and she tried to blackmail him and Jason, and—"

"That ain't what happened, Spence," Halle said, cutting her off.

"How do you know?"

"Because I was at that party."

She wasn't originally planning on going. Halle was supposed to be going to a sleepover at Spencer's, but lied to both her parents and friends about where she was really going. She entered the house, seeing the DiLaurentis house far more messy than Jessica had ever let it get. The house was usually spotless.

Halle was in the kitchen, getting herself a drink when Jason found her. His hands came to rest on her waist; his index-fingers threaded through the loops on her jeans. "Hey, you," he said. Jason let go of her, letting her back away to lean against the kitchen counter. "I didn't think you'd come," he remarked.

"I wasn't going to, but..." Halle sighed and said, "I wanted to apologise for the other day, laughing when Alison made that joke about you. And I don't do apologies, so can you please forgive me before I look like an idiot?"

Jason gave her a smile. "Already forgotten."

During most of the night, Halle was tucked into Jason. At one point, after he got high and then returned to her, Halle moved to sit on the kitchen side. Jason stood in-between her legs; one hand holding hers, with interlocking fingers as her arm came over his shoulder, them both chatting with some friends of his.

At some point, Alison had left the sanctuary of her bedroom. She jumped each time someone yanked at her doorknob, and she had never been more grateful for a lock in her life. Alison wasn't ever planning on leaving her room, but she got thirsty and needed a water. She came down the stairs, thankful she had waited long enough that party-goers were too spaced out to notice her.

Rounding the hallway, Alison stopped the second she hit the doorway to the kitchen. Her face fell. She was met with a sight she didn't want to see. Alison suspected it, but now it was confirmed.

Halle and Jason. Jason and Halle. Either way, it was Alison's worst fear.

Somehow, Halle must have sensed the piercing gaze of a DiLaurentis because when she turned, her eyes locked onto her best friend immediately. Alison looked utterly broken, with tears flooding her eyes. A smug smirk etched itself onto Halle's face and she bit her lip. Halle knew she had won. Yet, she wasn't quite done rubbing salt into Alison's fresh wound.

Halle put aside her drink and brought her other arm around Jason, resting her chin on his shoulder. An unsuspecting Jason smiled in response before he turned his head to plant a kiss to Halle's cheek. To anyone else, they would have looked like a couple — everyone thought she was Jason's girl — but to Alison, it was the ultimate betrayal.

That was the night Halle finally got back at Alison, and Alison decided to ruin her for it.

It was clear for Halle to see now. She knew it was because of her and that she couldn't hide it anymore. Also, Halle had Jason to think about. She had to protect Jason, where she failed to back when she broke his heart. "She was crying because of me. I was at that party, and I was at that party with Jason."

"With... Jason?" questioned Spencer slowly.

"Spencer, you ain't the only one who thought of hurting her," Halle confessed earnestly. "And I didn't just hurt her with Jason. The night of that party, Ali and I fought. She text me to meet her, we got into a huge screaming match and I hit her."

Spencer's eyes went large. "You hit her?"

"You may have thought about hitting her, but I actually did," Halle answered her. "I slapped her."

Halle left the safety of Jason's hold to go meet Alison. In the DiLaurentis backyard, Halle waited for Alison to show her face, hugging Jason's jacket closer for extra warmth. It was late — well past three in the next morning. Halle had been in Jason's bed when she got the text asking to meet. She only assumed it was when Alison was sure that Spencer and Emily were asleep.

The sight made Alison scoff the second she laid eyes upon Halle in her brother's jacket. It seemed that time away had flushed out all the tears and anger stewed away more prominently. Vengeance bought out classic Alison, but Halle was ready.

This was one bitch to another.

"Hurts when people mess you, don't it?" Halle asked first.

"You seriously think you can be me?" Alison asked, approaching her best friend. "I made you."

Halle's brows knitted together, a tiny crease forming in the centre. It was never what Halle was expecting to hear. "Excuse me?"

"You did this to teach me a lesson, but you liked it," Alison said knowingly. "You liked acting like me in the kitchen. That smirk. You liked playing with him, didn't you?" Proudly, Alison told her, "You got that from me, but I'm still number one."

"Well, congrats, Ali, you made a monster," Halle replied sarcastically. If this was how Alison was going to react, Halle didn't want to hear it. Halle had played the game, and now she was done. "The monster gets to walk away from you."

Alison grabbed at Halle's arm, yanking her back. "You don't get to walk away from me."

Forcing her arm out Alison's tight grip — fingernail marks now bedded into her skin — Halle threatened, "It won't take long before they all see what you're really like, too. You'll be alone, Ali."

"You're nothing without me," Alison screeched. "Everything you are is because of me. Without me, you'd still be that shy, little girl dreaming of her mom's pom-poms. I," Alison stressed, pointing at herself confidently, "made you a cheerleader. I made you a fighter. I made you a friend."

"You didn't," Halle began strongly. "I did that all on my own with no help from you."

"I gave you those girls!" shrieked Alison, enraged with the girl acting so indifferently at the argument she caused.

This time Halle wasn't indifferent. She snapped and a bit back, "We are not yours to give — or have! We ain't your dolls, Ali!"

"Guess again!" yelled Alison furiously, the vein in her neck protruding purple through her skin. "When they find out what you did — and they will find out, believe me," she said dryly, "who are they gonna side with, huh? You, who played Jason in some sort of childish game to hurt me? Or me, the girl betrayed by her best friend? You won't stand a chance," sneered Alison. "By time I'm done with you, I'm gonna have you on your knees begging for me to—"

SLAP.

Halle couldn't stop it. It happened before she had chance to blink. Her right hand came up and collided sharply with Alison's face. Alison's gasped in pain; her head sent swivelling at the impact. When she looked up at Halle, Alison was clutching her red face and her lip was bleeding. With that look of hate, in that precise moment, Halle started counting down the days until Alison would finally destroy her.

Spencer tried to swallow all she was being told — how Alison and Halle were far from the besties they always presented as. It reminded Spencer how good of a liar Halle was, as well as Alison. "She never said anything," Spencer spoke.

"Ali spent the rest of That Summer trying to find a way to bring me down, and then she found that video," explained Halle. "All she had to say was that it was Jason filming and you guys never would have forgiven me for it."

"But if nothing happened—"

"Would you forgive me?" Halle cut her off, quick. She stared Spencer down, their eyes locking in an intense hold. "Would you forgive me? If something had happened, or hadn't, would you forgive me? Because I don't think you would, Spencer," answered Halle bluntly. "I don't think anyone of you would because that's the kind of hold Alison had on us. She tortured us and still we stayed. Still we loved her. Still we called her our friend. She wasn't our friend." After, Halle claimed with vast confidence, "She was A, just Ali had the balls to do it to our faces instead of using a phone."

In the deathly silence that followed, Spencer was left with no choice but to agree.

•

In a secret meet-up, Halle found herself in Emily's car. They were parked around a corner, hidden from the main-road, when Hanna unloaded the latest in her dad being back in town.

"You gotta stay out of it," Aria advised the blonde.

"No," Hanna was firm in her reply, "but if ends up hurting her—"

"Hanna," Aria began, "I tried protecting my mom and it completely blew up in my face."

"Courtesy of A, not you, Aria," Halle stated. The cheerleader had no opinion on the matter, but spoke only out of support of her friends. Halle felt Hanna wanted to tell her mother, so Halle backed that decision by putting down Aria's suggestion. "You stayed quiet," Halle reminded Aria, who sat diagonal to her in the front-passenger seat.

"And A did what he did," Aria argued.

"But it's safe to assume that A doesn't know about this, yet anyway," Halle said. "You let it fester, then maybe."

Strongly, Aria said, "A didn't mess with your parents, Hal."

"No, just uploaded my breasts onto every screen in the computer-lab," Halle shot back.

Aria gave a heavy sigh. Halle was right, and they both knew they shouldn't be arguing over what A had done and to whom. So, Aria looked back to Hanna and said, "All I'm saying is, you gotta let them work it out for themselves."

After keeping quiet for a while, Emily finally raised an open envelope up for her friends to see. Halle picked up on it first and asked, "What's that?"

"Read it," Emily said, holding it out.

Aria took it in her hands and began to read, with Hanna peering over the car-seat to read also. A hum left Aria as she scanned the top of the letter before she started reading it aloud. "... 'If you continue as Rosewood's MVP and anchor until the end of the swim season, we can offer you a full scholar'— No way!" Aria suddenly exclaimed, rushing with excitement. "Em, the scout changed his mind? This is amazing!" She looked back down at the letter. "Wait—" Her eyes shot up again, "that means you don't have to move."

"Wait, wait, wait, let me see that," Hanna said, taking the letter right out of a flustered Aria's hands.

"So, what'd your mom say?" Aria asked eagerly.

"She hasn't seen it," Emily said, facing directly ahead.

"Why?"

Gradual realisation settled into Halle. She saw Emily's face and automatically knew what it meant. Halle told the others, "Because Em hasn't mailed it yet."

Emily sucked in a shaky breath, "Yep."

"What?" Aria understood what the two were saying, but didn't quite believe it. She snatched the letter back from Hanna and started to read it again.

"Wait, Em, did you write this letter?" Hanna asked for clarification, getting only a guilty look as a response from Emily. "Oh, my god!" Hanna marvelled. "You are a total rock star, Emily Fields!" Excitedly, Hanna was beaming as she did a bounced up and down. "You are totally getting me into Harvard!"

Halle narrowed her eyes at Hanna's happiness and said, "You're aware that's not how that works, right?"

While Hanna was very clearly impressed, Aria wasn't. She shook her head, alarmed, and told Emily clearly, "Emily, I would not mail this."

"Oh, I love it," Hanna disagreed, all for rebellious Emily. "Here, let me see if I have an extra stamp," she said, encouraging it with a passion when she went rooting through her handbag.

"This just feels really wrong," Aria mentioned.

"Says the girl taking an art class with Jenna Marshall," Halle quipped.

Hanna shot Aria a look, still searching her bag, and added, "I hope your first assignment is how to make a weapon."

Briskly, Aria pointed out, "Okay, I never said I was staying in the class." She shook her head, waving off her friends, and said, "Whatever. I'm still working that out." She looked at Emily seriously. "Okay, once your parents read this—"

"Oh, big deal," Hanna cut her off. "She changed a few works."

"Like could to 'can' and 'potential scholarship' to 'full scholarship'." Halle sarcastically said, "Sure, but it's just a few words, right? Means nothing."

"But she'll do it," Hanna reassured. "It's like Alison used to say -- 'you're not lying, you're just pre-telling the truth.'"

Halle felt her stomach lurch. Hearing Alison's words regurgitated like that — like Alison was still running the show — wasn't what Halle needed that moment. For the time being, she had managed to convince Spencer to cool it with the Jason-route. But it wasn't always going to be like that. Once the next revelation comes out, Halle's secret would no longer be safe. The promise Spencer made not to say anything until Halle was ready would reach its end, and it didn't ease any of the guilt weighing heavy on Halle's conscience.

All the lies Halle told to keep her afloat — to keep Jason a secret would unravel. Eventually, Halle knew the truth would out. She just had to make sure it came from her — on the terms she wanted. Her only hope was her friends understood.

Somehow, Halle wasn't so confident with hoping.

•

An SOS originally brought Halle Brewster to the Hastings' household. She thought the lie was up — that Spencer went back on her promise and decided to tells the group about Halle's summer with Jason. Relief washed over Halle the moment she realised it wasn't about her. It was sick thought, especially since the real reason were Spencer's suspicions around Melissa meeting with Ian. Halle shouldn't feel relieved, but she did. Even more so, when the conversation turned to Jenna Marshall.

For once.

Hanna was lost. Her brows creased together as she stared directly at Aria, in the darkness of Spencer's bedroom. "So, wait, who's Anita?"

"No one — me — I was, okay," Aria answered bluntly. She thought it was easy to follow, but her lousy lies were proving to be a challenge to understand for the blonde, mainly because they were strung together with zero logic. "I only said that because I didn't want Jenna to know I was there."

"Well, yeah, but she did know," Hanna pointed out.

"Only after I said something," Aria defended, causing Hanna to roll her eyes. "Well, I had to," Aria insisted.

"It's obvious Jenna would know your voice," Halle shot. "Bitch may be blind, but her hearing works just fine. Bitch has got 20/20 hearing now, apparently," Halle bitterly muttered after.

Aria sighed heavily and said, "I thought it was safe."

"No," Spencer spoke up from her permanent spot by her window, the one facing the barn in her backyard. "Anita was safe. Aria is not."

Defeated, Aria confessed to them, "I feel like I just made things worse. If Jenna is A, I totally rattled her cage."

"It's not like she could hate us more, right?" Halle assured sarcastically, "We only blinded the girl, no biggie."

"You know, you're really comforting me," Aria fired back, to only receive Halle matching her sarcasm by blowing a kiss in response.

Suddenly, Spencer left out a gasp. She jumped back, shielding herself out of view of the glass. In a quiet whisper, Spencer stated, "She's on the move."

After the immediate fear settled, Hanna let out a shaky breath and stood up. "I'm ready," she declared.

"Let's do it," Aria agreed quickly, scared if she sat on the adrenaline too long, her determination would vanish.

The girls didn't have to worry about sneaking downstairs as Melissa was already outside. They did have to be careful afterwards. Subtly was something the group had yet to master, but there wasn't a step-by-step manual on how to handle things. More often than not, there was no plan.

Tonight, there was a semi-plan.

Following Melissa, cautious to stay back and not get caught, the four made their way towards the back-gate of the Hastings' residence. Spencer led the way, keeping low, with the three behind her. They all hid behind some full bushes, desperate to stay out of sight.

"Is it him?" Hanna asked, in a hushed whisper. Each of the girls were eagerly eyeing the car pulled up outside, just before the turning for Halle's driveway. Melissa stood crouched, leaning forward to talk to the driver on the opposite side of the car. Hanna poked Halle's side and asked, "Is it Ian?"

"I can't see, Hanna," Halle replied irritably. She didn't like being poked. "I can see the same as you."

"I can't tell," Spencer said, squinting to see into the dark car.

"Of course it's him," Aria said strongly. Confused, she asked, "But whose car is that?"

The driver then got out; medical scrubs wore visibly in a shade of blue. Hanna's whole demeanour changed as panic rushed forward onto her face. "Wait, that's not Ian."

"Is that Wren?" Aria asked, a mix of shocked and bewildered.

The one-word confirmation came from Spencer. "Wren," she said confidently.

"He's in on it, too?" questioned Halle, as they saw Wren hand over a bag to Melissa that was stashed in the trunk of his car.

"What's he giving her?" asked Aria curiously.

"Probably painkillers," Spencer suggested, trying to make sense of it.

Hanna lit up with instant shock. Her eyes went wide as she asked, "Melissa does drugs?"

"No, not for her," Spencer said. "For Ian. You fall from the bell tower, you're gonna need more than an ice pack," she retorted.

"Wow, only Melissa would ask the guy she dumped to help the murderer she married," Hanna commented, openly judging the elder Hastings sibling.

Not realising how loud she got, the other three shushed Hanna. In hindsight, they shouldn't have done that, as both Melissa and Wren whipped their heads around towards the bushes. The girls briskly duck down, hiding themselves behind the shrubbery. They stayed down and hidden until they heard the click of a trunk. Then, slowly, they peered out from over the top of the bush, watching Wren drive away and Melissa search the bag.

While the three focused in on watching Melissa, Hanna caught sight of something else off in the distance. Her eyes locked onto the DiLaurentis house and the light on in one of the front bedrooms. A silhouette moved past the curtains, and when Hanna's friends finally picked on it also, the pit of fear only increased. For the first time, sharing in the surrounding alarm her friends gave off, Halle felt the same where Jason was concerned.

Jason came back for a reason, and Halle dreaded the answer to why.

•