•

"A Person Of Interest"

The next day, after she and her friends handed in the blood-covered trophy, the police came for the girls. Whereas they were perfectly comfortable in watching Ian Thomas being dragged away by the cops, they weren't in them being. It always turned sour and made them out to be the ones in trouble.

In front of the whole school, the five were escorted out of the courtyard and into police cars, all the time questioning if Alison had them all fooled. The reason why this was happening to them was because of Alison, and in being friends with Alison, they invited bad things to happen to them. Halle's mind went to what she told Mr Fitz.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people.

Yet, this wasn't just a bad thing. It was a very, very bad thing. They all thought taking that trophy to the police would be worth it. It wasn't. It was just another mistake. Rat's blood. The trophy had rat's blood on it, and then came A's text to torture them further.

RAT ME OUT,
YOUR BLOOD'S NEXT.
--A.

It was a clear enough message for the girls to understand. So, when it ended up with them each in interrogation rooms, opposite a detective, the girls knew what to say. Or what not to say. Veronica Hastings sat in on each of the girls' interviews with the police. All of the them were well versed in their lies, but no one was better prepared than Halle. She was far much poised than the others. After all, Halle had been lying the longest, and Alison taught her. Halle knew how to tell a lie and she knew how to tell it well.

"The video was sent to us by an anonymous source," Halle told the detectives. "Probably by the same person who sent it to you. You should look into that," she added, eyes dropping down the the lack of notes the detective was making.

"It was sent to you?" asked Detective Breyer curiously, though he had already heard it before from the others. Halle was the fourth one in and her story hadn't differed from theirs.

"It was loaded onto Spencer's laptop," answered Halle, "and this time we saw who Alison was talking to and it was Ian."

"Ian Thomas?" questioned the detective.

"Yes. He told Ali to come closer and she did," said Halle. She further informed him, "Ian and Alison were together the weekend she went missing."

"And how do you know this?"

"We had our suspicions that Ali wasn't telling us everything when she got back Labor Day," Halle recalled . "She said she had a golfing day with her grandma at Hilton Head."

"Couldn't she had just done that?"

"Her grandma lived in Georgia, Hilton Head is in South Carolina, and Spencer called Hilton Head," replied Halle. "She spoke to the desk clerk, and Ian lied to Spencer. He said he never went That Summer, but he did. Ian stayed at Hilton Head last summer... with Alison."

Detective Breyer settled in closer, leaning on the table in the interrogation room.  He said, "This is what I don't understand. Ian was a star athlete, right?" He allowed Halle to nod, following along with what he was saying. "Popular guy, dating a beautiful woman like Melissa Hastings. You really think he would risk all that to be with Alison?" he asked. "She was barely fifteen."

"Well, maybe he had a thing for younger girls," Halle retorted, only hoping Veronica Hastings did her best to hide her reaction. Mrs Hastings was acting as her lawyer now; she couldn't be seen to be shocked at anything Halle said, even if it was shocking.

"Why would you say that? Were there other younger girls he was interested in?" asked Detective Breyer.

Halle didn't have to think before she answered. She knew Spencer needed protected, and Halle would never betray that bond. "No," she said.

"I understand from looking at your previous statements, you've been interviewed by the police over Alison's disappearance more than your friends," mentioned the detective. He glanced down at the file and pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it down in front of her.

"This is your statement from last summer, when Alison went missing. That's your signature, isn't it?" he said knowingly. "You remember saying that?"

Halle looked down at the paper. Her eyes caught onto the last few words printed on the lines. He means nothing. He is nothing. She looked up, caught out. They were moving onto Jason. The interview was about Jason now. Trying to seem indifferent, Halle settled back in her chair and said, "Yeah, from what I remember, that's what I said."

"I understand you're close with Alison's brother," Detective Breyer said.

"As close as any of us would be," Halle said. She smiled small at the detective. "We grew up together, our families used to have a barbecue every Fourth of July."

Detective Breyer nodded and reached back into his file. One by one, he then placed down a series of photographs. Every interaction. Every meeting. Every conversation. Every touch or smile or glance was captured and laid out in front on her. All the moments Halle seemingly had with Jason in private were put on the table, frozen forever in picture form, and presented to her in the interrogation room.

Hastily, Veronica Hastings informed her, "Halle, you don't need to answer anything you don't feel comfortable answering." She looked towards the detective with hard eyes and asked, "What is this? What exactly are you insinuating with your line of questioning here?"

"Nothing," Detective Breyer said. He steered away from what he had previously gotten at, but with the game unraveling against her, Halle knew she had to offer up something.

"I reached out to Jason," Halle claimed.

For a moment Halle scolded herself to speaking out, why did she have to be so impulsive all the time? In her mania, she always had to win, even if it meant screwing up her own story. It would have been better if she had just stayed quiet, but that wasn't something Halle was capable of doing in that moment.

Or ever.

Halle said, "When I knew Jason was coming back for the memorial, I reached out to him. He's Ali's brother after all and like I said, we grew up together. I think somewhere in our grief... we found a some comfort in knowing we weren't the only ones still grieving. No one else knew her like we did, you know? No one knew her the way her brother and best friend did. So, yeah, I did meet up with Jason. Several times, as you can see, but it's nothing like that." She finished with a smile, enough to show the detective she was confident in what she just said. She had to be — it was her statement now.

"You're claiming that this didn't spark until the memorial?" Detective Breyer questioned.

"Yeah," Halle said. "I am." She saw the slight pursing of the man's lips and asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no," he assured. "You answered all my questions. Perfectly," the detective added, almost scornfully as though he had hope to catch her out. That was what the pictures were for. "You'll be available for more questioning?" he asked.

"Of course. The girls have nothing to hide," said Veronica firmly.

Halle's eyes went back down to the photographs. In some, Halle genuinely looked happy. She was smiling. Often, Halle felt as though she didn't smile properly unless she was with Jason and seeing it, proved that feeling to be right. Halle knew in that moment that it was because of Jason. He was the only one she never felt the need to lie to; he knew the dark, broken parts of her heart and she knew his. His demons were her demons; they danced hand in hand with other. Jason had seen her at her ugliest, when she was cursing him out with the words, "I was just using you."

She still wasn't over that.

Neither was he.

Then, Detective Breyer made a show of collecting the images back up until Halle could no longer see herself with Jason. That glimmer of happiness gone with them. To be asked about Jason in a police interview should be mortifying. She should feel guilty over it. But Halle wasn't. Strangely, in that moment, she didn't feel guilty about Jason at all. That was when the pit of sickness formed deep in her stomach, and Halle realised she no longer felt guilt over the first lie.

•

Gathered in the police station, the parents of the girls tried their best not to worry. Although, it didn't work; the parents were past the point of pure, unimaginable panic by now when it came to their daughters and the police. They had been involved with the police far too many times for it to be coincidental now. This was a pattern for their girls, and they were starting to catch on.

Ella Montgomery mentioned to them, "Pam just stepped out to call Wayne."

"Are they being charged with something?" Ashley Marin asked Veronica Hastings, irritation lacing her tone. She thought it was unbelievable the girls have been dragged through an investigation again. "Conspiracy to commit an honest mistake? Sorry, haven't they been through enough?"

Some part of Luisa Brewster agreed with Ashley's frustration. Yet, the woman felt a pang in her heart when she looked at her daughter nowadays. Luisa was losing her daughter, she was sure of it, and she would definitely lose her if this ended badly. She turned to Veronica and said, "Halle can't go through any more of this."

Veronica Hastings sighed and said, "I know, but the girls are free to go."

"I'm still trying to process this," Byron Montgomery said, lost over why the girls were even brought in for questioning. It baffled him — the show the police put on of arresting the girls at school and detaining them.

"It appears out daughters have been victims of a cruel joke," Veronica relayed to them. She then pulled Luisa aside, when the others had formed another conversation, and told her, eyeing Halle and the girls, "I think you should talk to Halle about Jason DiLaurentis."

"Why?" asked Luisa. She was stunned, completely caught off-guard. A police station was the last place she thought the conversation of Halle and Jason would be brought up again — and by Veronica Hastings. Luisa Brewster was being cornered by Veronica Hastings, with something she had her own issues with Halle over, and Luisa's composure began to waver for the first time since she got the call to come down to the station.

"How many times has Halle met up Jason?" Veronica Hasting asked curiously. "Ones that you know of," she added after.

"A few, why?" Luisa asked, seemingly oblivious to her daughter's comings and goings. Halle was a good liar. She had been for years, something her mother was only starting to pick up on. Luisa knew about Jason — had rough idea on her daughter's friendship with him —but she wasn't aware it was something others in the community were picking up on also. Luisa Brewster definitely didn't want parenting lessons from the Hastings.

Across the station, the girls were now finally joined at last by Spencer. The Hastings girl was the last to be questioned by the police out of them. Halle was busy eyeing her mother and Spencer's mother the moment Spencer came over. Halle knew it was about the photographs, but she was just trying desperately to get a read on her mother's face so she knew what to expect when the appearances wore off.

An irritated Aria spat, "Whoever said 'the truth will set you free' never met A."

"Jesus," Emily said.

Sarcastically, Halle muttered, "He won't help you."

"No, it's from the Bible," Emily stated. "Jesus said it."

"Still won't help us," Halle remarked. Her mother had a stormy look in her dark eyes, and Halle knew she was doomed. She rested her head back against a wall and closed her eyes briefly, no one was going to help her explain this one.

"Then Aria's right," Hanna agreed with a groan, "because that bitch is going straight to hell."

Nervously, with her body caved in and her arms crossed, Spencer told her friends, "I wasn't completely honest in there. I should have been, but my mom was right next to me and with the Wren thing, I couldn't bring myself to say that I also hooked up with Ian."

"That has nothing to do with Ian," Aria comforted her, confident in her words.

"I lied about it too, Spence," Emily reassured.

"Ditto," Halle said, raising a hand. She straightened her neck and looked to her friends. "We all lied about that one, Spence."

Hanna gave a shrug and offered, "You know, sometimes, telling the truth does more harm than good."

"Who said that?" Spencer asked.

Regretfully, Hanna admitted to the group, "Alison."

That was when the wave of guilt engulfed Halle. Seeing her friends panicked and scared brought it all back, and reminded Halle why she had the secret in the first place. The pit in her stomach gaped wide again and she felt physically sick, riddled with anxiety. Her stomach was in knots and she only knew one way to ease it. "Guys, I need to tell—"

"Hey, Emily." A man in a cop's uniform came up to the girl. He interrupted Halle with a large grin, greeting them all in the nicest way. It was a shock, considering where they were.

"Garrett?" Emily questioned, startled by his presence there, especially with him dressed in uniform.

Aria was shocked, too. "You're a cop now?"

Garrett Reynolds was Emily's neighbour. He lived across the street, a couple houses up from the Cavanaugh house, and was always nice to the girls whenever he saw them. "Look, uh, sorry they're putting you through this," he said, still living up the reputation they had given him of Emily's friendly neighbour.

"Officer Reynolds?" Detective Breyer, the one who questioned each of the girls, called for Garrett's attention. It meant he wanted Garrett to stop talking to them and to head over to his senior.

Joking to reassure the teens, Garrett said, "Probably wants a refill on his coffee and another jelly doughnut." He gave a small chuckle and then left, walking towards his boss.

Hanna was admiring from afar. She hummed and said, "He looks good in a uniform."

Just as Halle was about to make a comment, her mother clicked at her. "Halle, come on. Now," Luisa Brewster insisted. "Say goodbye and let's go."

"Jeez, wouldn't want to be in your car ride home," Spencer mentioned.

"I wouldn't look forward to yours either," Halle shot back, eyes briefly glancing to a stoic Veronica Hastings. She let out a strained, nervous laugh and said, "Good luck," with Spencer met with her own mumble of the same.

•

They had barely pulled out of the police station's car-park before Luisa Brewster was on Halle about Jason. Halle had to deal with the excruciating sound of her mother's heels clicked against the ground, each step made Halle feel physically sick, on the walk to the care. Her mother hadn't said a word; she met Halle's nerves with silence when they left the station. The moment the woman broke that silence, Halle knew her world was about to have a harsh, new reality.

"I told you about Jason," Luisa scolded suddenly. She was seething. Her cool, collected composure inside had vanished into thin air the moment she knew no one was around to see. She started raving hotly as she drove. With one hand firmly gripping the wheel, the other flew around as she screeched at her daughter. "I told you — I told you, Halle! We talked about this! We talked about this when you were in the hospital!"

"I know! I was there for the conversation, remember?" Halle shot back, not quiet as loud as her mother's raised voice. "It was me in the hospital!"

"You—" Luisa looked to her daughter with fierce, angered eyes, them almost black in colour now, "you told me it was nothing! You told me it was just drugs—" The woman scoffed dryly, eyes now back on the road. "Just drugs — do you hear me? Like, that's the least of my worries — drugs!"

Halle clenched her jaw, "I don't have a problem with drugs."

"But you did! You went to Jason for drugs, remember? At least that's what you told me, unless that was lie too!" Luisa yelled. A heavy sigh left her body, and she deflated in the seat. On the verge of tears, she asked her daughter, "Why, Halle? Why do you always find yourself in the middle of all this trouble?"

With her forehead now resting against the cool window, Halle stared aimlessly out of the car. She counted the streetlights they past, her mind drifting away slowly from the conversation. It was boring her now. Her deep breaths fogged up the window and she reached up a finger to draw a heart. "Bad timing. I guess," Halle gave her mother, with a careless shrug. She didn't care. Staring at the lopsided heart on the glass, Halle sliced her fingertip down it.

That was not the answer her mother wanted. The sarcastic comment made Luisa's head snap around. She went to start shouting again, but stopped when she saw Halle's sunken face reflected in the window. Luisa hadn't realised how distant Halle was. Sighing again, Luisa diverted her eyes forward. "You promised your dad you wouldn't do this," she said.

A sniffle came from Halle. She did care. A tear slipped from her eye and she moved her arm up to wipe at it with her sleeve. Her voice shook as she spoke and was quiet. "Yeah, and I broke that, I know. I'll take the punishment, ground me, whatever."

Luisa softened. "Halle," she said. "Halle, look at me."

Halle rolled her head around and met her mother's face. She was blankly staring, dead behind her eyes. "I know I'm not who you need me to be right now, but I just need you to give me break because I'm kinda going through it," Halle admitted.

Seriously, Luisa asked, "Are you on something?"

Instantly, furious tears rushed forward in Halle's eyes. "No! No, I'm not on something. I told you before, I'm not on drugs!"

"Well, how am I supposed to know?!" The shouting started again. Once more, Luisa irrupted at Halle. "I didn't know you were doing drugs in the first place, Halle! I never thought you would do that to yourself, put your body through that! And then to hear it from Veronica — Veronica freaking Hastings — that you lied to me! I just stood there like an idiot as she told me all the things I'm missing as your mother — how you're seeing Jason when I told you weren't to— Veronica Hastings, Halle! I looked like an idiot!"

Halle scoffed, even though she wanted to sob. "Of course, that's what this is about." Halle said, "I just told you that I'm going through some stuff and you're accusing me of taking drugs..." Halle saw her mother's eyes flicker over her. The woman was taken back, not expecting the tone of disgust from her daughter. "Tell me, what would you actually do if you found out I was a bigger screw-up than you think I am? What would you do then? Would you even care or is it just appearances to you?"

"Of course I care!" said Luisa firmly. She was grateful they were were almost home, them pulling up to the driveway. She put on the brakes and clamped down the handbrake, instantly facing Halle after. Firmly, Luisa said to Halle, "Of course I care and you're not a screw-up. You're just having a tough time right now."

Shaking her head, Halle told her, "You don't care unless I'm waving pom-poms and going to UPenn with Eric, other than that I'm invisible. God, mom, you never even knew I was stoned out of my brain all last summer."

"We can take you to a rehab clinic," Luisa tried desperately. She threw her head back and then it shot up again, eyes darting to her daughter's face, eager to pass blame. "Was it Jason? Was it him that got you started on drugs?"

"For God's sake — no! Not everything is about Jason! Why can't you accept that some things are one-hundred percent my fault!? Your daughter ain't perfect, get over it!" Halle yelled furiously. She got out of the car in a huff, slamming the door shut angrily.

"Get back here, we're not done!" Luisa shouted. She had gotten out of the car after Halle, raging herself.

Stalking up to the house, Halle threw back, "Well, I am!"

Luisa charged up the driveway and porch after her teenager. Halle had swung the front door open and went for the stairs immediately, ignoring her father in hallway. Nick Brewster got up from the couch the moment he heard the car pull up outside and was waiting for her.

"Halle, I'm not done with you!" Luisa fumed, the door slamming shut behind her.

Halfway up the stairs, Halle span around and faced her parents with a hard glared. She yelled at them, "I don't want to hear it — from either of you! I screwed up, I know! I did drugs, I saw Jason, I took a blood-covered trophy to the police station because I thought Ian used it to kill Alison — okay!? I know it sounds crazy — I know it is crazy — but I did it and I don't want to talk about it!"

"You don't get to make that decision, Hal," Nick Brewster said, calm as he always was. "The police are involved, you accused a man of murder."

"The police have always been involved, Dad, that ain't new," Halle raged. "Whether you listen to me or not, I believe Ian had something to do with Ali's disappearance That Night — and I know he was seeing her That Summer. Can you just believe me this once?" She was begging that much of them, with a tone of urgency in her voice. "I'm not asking for a lot, just for you to believe me on this, please." In her desperation, she looked to her father. "Please, Dad, can you just believe me?"

Nick Brewster was torn. He wanted to believe her. He really did, but his sensibility told him he couldn't. "You promised me you'd try and let Alison go," he said regretfully. It pained him deeply to watch the hope drain from Halle's eyes as she stared at him. "You promised."

Her lip quivered. Halle said, "And I meant it at the time, and I tried. I did try — I tried to get them to not take it to the police, but I thought this would be the end of it."

"You thought a trophy with rat's blood on it would prove Ian killed Alison?" Luisa asked in disbelief.

"Well, I didn't know it was rat's blood then," snapped Halle bitterly.

Her father sighed. He really didn't want an argument. "Just go on upstairs, I'll bring you up something to eat in a bit after your mom and I have talked."

Instead of fighting back, Halle bit her lip and turned around. She climbed up the stairs, dragging her heavy feet to her room. She didn't even get inside the safety of her bedroom walls when her phone chimed with a text.

IS YOUR LIFE FALLING APART YET? REMEMBER, HAL, I KNOW SECRETS NOT EVEN YOUR FRIENDS KNOW.
--A.

•

Despite the previous night's chaos, Halle woke surprisingly chipper. Her parents were confused at first, but settled on it being a ploy to win back their trust. However, it wasn't going to be that easy for Halle to worm her way back into their good books. Not that she cared. Halle had moved on past last night. When her brother asked her about it in the car on the way to school, it seemingly appeared as though she forgotten all about it and was clueless. Her brother thought Halle just she didn't care.

"Hey, Em," Halle greeted. She startled her friend; Emily stumbled over some paper she had picked up from off the floor. "What's that?" Halle asked, indifferent to what it actually was but curious either way.

Emily chose to tuck the note back into the book from where it fell, hiding it away from prying eyes. "It's from Coach Fulton, about my times," said Emily.

Walking over with Hanna at her side, Spencer carried on her conversation, "I can't believe this is happening."

"Do you want us to talk to them for you?" Hanna asked.

"No," Spencer answered.

"Who?" asked Emily curiously, picking up at their arrival at her locker.

"Spencer's parents think she's nuts," Hanna said abruptly, blunt and straight to the point.

Spencer rolled her eyes and corrected the blonde, "Unstable."

"Join the club," Halle uttered dryly.

"And why should they believe me?" Spencer asked. "I mean, we have no proof. I'm the girl who cried wolf," she complained.

"Yeah, and the wolf is living in your backyard," Hanna remarked, not helping.

"Right — Which is why I need to get into room 2-1-4," Spencer claimed seriously.

"2-1-4?" questioned Halle, her brows raised at the number.

This time it was Hanna who rolled her eyes. It was common for Spencer to get carried away and hung up on any detail, and it seemed this was another. "Spencer thinks Jenna has a room at the Edgewood Motor Court," she explained.

The colour visibly drained from Halle's face. "Edgewood?"

"Did you say 2-1-4?" Emily asked.

Spencer nodded, eager. "And I saw the bag that Ian gave her. It's in the room," she stated.

"Okay. I think we need a take a break from playing Charlie's Angels," Hanna commented. "I don't wanna spend another night with the Rosewood PD."

"Edgewood," Halle whispered lowly. Her brain was in overload. What would Jenna be doing there? That wasn't a place to hide something. That was a place where people had affairs. Or met with their best friend's brother to get high.

"How many people do you think have been murdered here?"

Jason gave a laugh. He was sat on the edge of the bed, amused at Halle's inspection of the motel room. It was a simple room: one bed, two bedside tables, a set of drawers with a crappy TV on it, and a small bathroom connected with one of those bath-come-showers. It was bad, but that was because it was cheap. They were only using it so they could spend the day getting high together without people seeing.

"It would have been closed down if someone was murdered here," Jason said.

Halle shot him a look, quirking up her brows at him. "You think? Because I don't think any place in Rosewood would close down if someone was murdered."

"Sleazy motels don't count," he said plainly.

"Well, that's bullcrap." Halle moved to rest on the set of drawers. She leant against it, looking to Jason who sat across from her. "Small towns are always gonna need sleazy motels, where else are people supposed to cheat on their partners?"

Jason laughed again. "Or get high with their best friend's brother."

Halle smiled. "Exactly."

"I like getting high with you," Jason said suddenly. He looked far too casual as he said it: leant back on his hands and a soft smirk on his face. "I like spending time with you, actually— What?" He chuckled at her sarcastic expression and said, "I'm serious, you're more fun to high with than my friends."

"Ali said you don't have friends, just people who use you for a place to get trashed," Halle countered back.

His smirk dropped. "Ali would say that, all her friends are scared of her."

Halle's eyes went cold. "You think I'm scared?"

Jason took a deep breath and told her, "Sometimes, I don't think you're scared of anything, and if I'm being honest, that scares me."

This time it was Halle who laughed. "Me? I'm scared of everything," she confessed. "I'm scared of the future, I'm scared of failing my parents — my mom, especially. I'm scared of disappointing my dad, though. I'm scared of missing out on being a flyer and not landing a flip, I'm scared of losing friends now I've got them — Hell, you're right, I'm even scared of Alison." She gave him the saddest of smiles and repeated her confession, "Like I said, I'm scared of everything."

For a moment, she caught Jason looking at her. Not just looking, but gazing. He was gazing at her, and in that second, it was obvious. It all seemed so plainly, embarrassingly obvious to Halle. This wasn't Jason and Halle, Alison's brother and best friend. This was Jason and Halle. Just the two of them. Two perfect halves colliding, and it was surely going to ruin them.

He stood up and crossed the room. Jason stood in front of her, so close that his chest was touching hers. He was taller than her, so she had to look up at him when he moved some hair from out of her face. He was looking down at her, his stare more intense that any she had ever felt before this one.

Halle knew Jason's eyes were green. Alison's were blue, but she knew Jason's eyes were green. Other than that, Halle would have said Jason and Alison look almost identical before. If you saw them together, you'd assume his eyes were blue too. But now, as she was looking at him and he was looking at her, Halle really noticed how green they were. For the first time, Halle knew in her soul that Jason's eyes were the most beautiful shade of green.

And so, she kissed him.

"You in there?" Emily asked. She shook Halle's arm and pulled her out of her memory. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just a little out of it," Halle replied. "What did I miss?"

"Just us taking a break from playing Charlie's Angels," Hanna said.

But that didn't last long. "Hey!" Spencer had noticed Garrett Reynolds in his uniform and called out for him. Without saying another word to her friends, she jogged off in search of getting more information out of Officer Reynolds.

"There goes Lucy Liu," Hanna said jokingly.

Halle stood watching Spencer disappear around the corner and said wishfully, "I'm so Drew Barrymore."

•

Two days later, and it was date night. As usual, Halle sat opposite Eric at Mr Chung's Chinese restaurant. She played with her food, creating a large dip in the mountain of egg-fried rice and pushing the same king prawn around her plate. Her days had taken a complete shift since Spencer mentioned the Edgewood Motor Court. Now, Halle couldn't stop thinking of Jason.

And his green eyes.

They had been there half an hour before Eric finally bridged the the subject of the police. "Are you going to tell me what's going on? Your mom said you accused Coach Thomas of killing Alison?" he said, it sounding more like a question than the statement it was. Halle was actually glad he mentioned it; she didn't like the feeling of it lingering over them all of their dinner.

"Just a misunderstanding," Halle muttered, eyes on her plate.

"Halle."

She heard Eric say her name seriously and looked up. "Really, it was," she said, "it was a misunderstanding."

"You accused your friend's brother-in-law of having it off with Alison, in more than one way," Eric said lowly. He cared about appearances, too. "You turned in a trophy with fake blood on it."

Halle dropped her fork suddenly and glared at her boyfriend. "Okay — it wasn't fake blood, it was rat's blood."

"So, what? Someone bludgeoned a rat and put the trophy in the prop box for you and your gal-pals to find?" Eric asked her, trying to make sense of it all.

"Maybe!" Halle snapped. She realised what she said and sank lower in her seat, quieter now. "No... I don't know... All I do know is that already feel crazy enough and I don't need you making me feel any crazier."

"You're right, I'm sorry," Eric said sincerely. "Let's just enjoy our food."

The bell of the restaurant sounded, indicating someone had walked in. Halle's eyes drifted to the door subconsciously and found Jason. She didn't know he was back in town. He met her gaze and tried to smile but couldn't on seeing who she was with.

Eric turned his head to see Jason at the counter. He looked back at Halle, noting her sudden quietness. Eric asked her, "Should I be worried about him? Your mom thinks I should be worried about him," he explained.

Halle scoffed, of course she hinted as such to Eric. Yet, Halle smiled reassuringly at her boyfriend and said, "My mom thinks a lot of things, none of them are helpful... But no, Jason's not an issue."

Even as she said it, Halle knew it wasn't true. She wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe Jason wasn't an issue, but that was a lie. She supposed, when her eyes met with Jason's again as he was leaving with his takeout and saw the green, some lies were easy to tell than others. Halle found some solace in her lies. They were her friend and knew her intimately in the way only Jason did. In some weird, twisted way, Jason and Halle's lies were the same and entwined in thorned tangles around her heart; with every beat she was pierced by him.

Maybe that was why she found herself at Edgewood later that same night. It was the first place she drove after datenight finished. Somehow, Halle just knew he'd be here, and she needed to cut the tangles around her heart and take the thorns out of her flesh. She needed to be clean of Jason. She wanted him off her, and then she could fully give herself to Eric — because Eric was a good guy. He was the guy you'd married, the type you'd settle down and live a white-picket fence life with.

Jason wasn't that, her mother told her so.

Her feet carried her to their usual room before she thought about it. She wasn't even sure he's be there, but Halle raised her fist and knocked, only stopping to breath when she had done it. All the feelings of confrontation dipped out of her brain the second the door opened and Jason stood in front of her.

"I..." Halle opened her mouth to speak but realised she didn't have the words. "I don't know why I came, I don't even know why I'm here."

"You wouldn't be here if something wasn't missing," Jason replied easily.

Guilt seeped into her, and she looked up to meet his eyes. She felt powerless against the green. "Can we just sit and talk? Not about us, but talk. Like we used to," she pleaded.

Jason motioned back inside the motel room. "I still have some noodles if you wanna share," he said, smiling softly at her.

Halle nodded, pulling her bottom lip up and chewing at it. "That sounds nice," Halle said, and walked around him into the room, him shutting the door after her.

Her mother could never know about this.

•

SOS
From: Spencer

When her phone chimed and she saw it was an SOS, Halle dropped all she was doing. The bright light of her phone screen broke up the darkness of the room. She saw the light from the outside parking lot was on and gave some light into the room, from where the curtain fell un-shut. Leaving now meant leaving Jason alone. She had some regret over it.

Jason was sleeping soundly in the armchair of the motel room. He didn't look particularly comfortable and she was sure he wouldn't thank her for the sore neck he'd have tomorrow, but Halle's heart thumped dramatically in her chest at the sight. Pounding loudly, she was sure it would wake him. She couldn't wake him because then they'd have to talk about last night. So instead, she kissed his head and left him asleep. Halle sent him a text when she was in her car.

Sorry I had to leave.
Thanks for tonight.
I missed us.

She hoped that would suffice.

She knew wouldn't, but still she hoped it would.

Halle was the last to arrive at her own house. When Halle pulled up on Bridgewater Terrace, Aria and Hanna were already there, near the turning-off point for Spencer's driveway. That was where Halle stopped her car. The two girls crossed over to meet Halle the second she parked, instantly asking her questions when she got out.

"Where were you?" Aria asked. "We were waiting for you."

"We expected you to be here," Hanna said.

"I was out with Eric," Halle lied. "It was date night." It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

Emily came jogging over, joining them in the huddle. "What's going on?"

"Did she send anything else?" Aria asked.

"Just the SOS," Hanna answered, equally as confused at the rest of them over Spencer's latest text.

From where they stood, near to the front of the Hastings' house, they could see a police car parked out front. "You don't think—?" Halle didn't get the chance to finish her question before their phones went off. Slowly, each of them pulled their mobiles from out of their pockets, seeing a new text awaiting them.

"'Breaking news, bitches'," Aria read, her brows scrunched up in confusion.

"'--Spencer Hastings now a person of interest--'" Emily continued.

Hanna's eyes went large. "'-- in my death'," she said.

Her stomach turned over and a heaviness sunk Halle down as she read over the text. She felt sick as she finished it off. "'A'."

•