chapter six
there's no place like homecoming
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Gwen followed Spencer into Aria's room with Emily and Hanna behind her. Hanna sat on Aria's bed as Spencer pulled Aria's earphones out of her ears. "Hey," Spencer greeted her as Aria groaned. "What are you doing?" She asked. "An intervention." Gwen responded as she stood next to Spencer. "We bought takeout and rag mags." Emily said, throwing the magazines onto the bed.

"But, you cannot have any of those until you get out of these sweats." Hanna said as she patted the side of Aria's leg. "Why, what's wrong with these?" Aria asked as she sat up. "Nothing, except for they are starting to become a second skin." Gwen responded. "Well, they're comfy." Aria responded. "Yeah, so are mom jeans and platform flip-flops." Hanna remarked. "Plus, how are we gonna help you choose a homecoming dress if you don't try some on for us?" Emily asked.

"Oh, that's easy. I'm not going." Aria told them. "What? What do you mean you're not going?" Gwen asked, frowning. "Yeah, you can't just not go." Spencer added. "What are you doing instead?" Emily asked. "I don't know, guess I'll just read these and then inhale a gallon of chunky monkey." Aria responded, flipping through the magazines that were next to her.

"Hey, look, cutting yourself off from the rest of your life is not gonna help your parents." Spencer spoke softly. "And besides, they still might work it out." she added. "They're barely speaking to each other." Aria said sadly. "Aria, people get angry and they blow up but it doesn't mean that it's over." Gwen said. "Gwen, they didn't blow up over her dad missing their anniversary, he slept with one of his students." Hanna scoffed. "Sorry," she whispered to Aria.

"She's just saying, things can look over on Friday and by Monday all is forgiven, some things just take time." Emily added and Aria smiled at her sadly. "Yeah, maybe." she said. "Okay, so you're coming." Spencer said excitedly, moving Aria's legs so she would get up. "Come on." Spencer said. "God," Aria groaned. "I'll think about it." she said, standing up from her bed and Gwen taking her spot.

"Well, if you're not coming, can you at least cast an absentee ballot?" Hanna asked, making everyone turn to her. "What? I need her vote." Hanna said, defending herself. "Hanna, stop already, you've got homecoming queen locked down" Spencer groaned. "Really? You can rig the election?" Hanna asked, making Gwen scoff and shove her shoulder. "Sorry, i have enough to do already, thanks." Spencer responded.

"I'm head of the committee, half of which is sick out with the flu, so I'll be restocking the ice and refilling the hummus bowl. And trying to look cute for my first official date." Spencer complained. "With Alex?" Emily asked. "Wait, you're bringing him to homecoming So this is real?" Aria asked and Spencer shrugged her shoulders as she blushed. "Look at her blush!" Gwen exclaimed happily. "Stop." Spencer demanded playfully. "Damn, now I have to come." Aria laughed.

"But, seriously, you guys, he's not gonna know anybody there. So can you just do your best to make him feel included?" Spencer asked. "No, we were planning on freezing him out." Hanna joked, making Spencer roll her eyes. "Alright, moving on," she said, looking at Emily. "Em, who are you gonna bring?" She asked. "I think I'm gonna go stag." Emily answered.

"I will, too." Aria said. "Why don't you guys come together?" Gwen asked. "Oh, you'd make such a cute couple." Spencer joked. "How did I just go from wearing mom jeans to being Samantha Ronson?" Aria asked with a laugh, making the others laugh as well. "Who cares who anyone goes to this thing with? I mean, it's just a dance. You should bring someone who you have fun with." Hanna said.

Gwen gave Hanna a look. "I might wanna go with someone, I just don't want people thinking it's mean more than it does." Emily said as she took a seat. "Are you and Ben back together?" Spencer asked. "No. No, of course not." Emily responds. "So... who's the mystery dude?" Gwen asked but Emily didn't get a chance to answer. "I'm starving." Hanna said, reaching for the fortune cookies and quickly opened the bag before cracking open a cookie.

Gwen noticed Hanna's brows furrow. "What's wrong? Bad fortune?" she asked jokingly. "Yeah, Confucius says, 'Stop being such a drama queen'." Spencer laughs with a mouthful of food. "'Lions and Tigers and bitches, oh my! There's no place like homecoming. See you there, A.'" Hanna read out. The girls shared looks before Spencer grabbed the bag and opened all the cookies and they were all the same.

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Gwen sighed as she leaned back into her seat. She was currently sitting next to Hanna in a circle of people. It was a group called 'Sexercise' that Sean was in, and Hanna didn't wanna go alone, so Gwen offered to go with her, to keep her company. "So, my parents are going out of town this weekend and I thought maybe you could stay the night. I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I'm ready...to do it." Sean said. "Sean, I'm not ready. I made a commitment to myself...a commitment I wanna honour." Amber responded as the two of them stood in the middle of the circle.

Hanna sighed and rolled her eyes, sharing a look with Gwen. "Good, nice work, you guys. Sit down." The teacher said and Sean and Amber sat down. "May I have two other volunteers, please?" He asked as he looked around before stopping on Gwen. "Gwendolyn, you want to give it a go?" he asked, making Hanna snicker, making Gwen look at her with a glare before looking at the teacher. "No." She answered with a tight lipped smile. "Come on, get up. You can be the instigator." He said, making her sigh as he turned towards a boy and pointed at him.

"Lucas!" he said as gave the boy an encouraging smile, making Gwen look over at him, two of them locking eyes before he looked away. "Uh, no, I'm really more comfortable in an observational role during Sexercise." Lucas said, trying to get out of this. "Come on, you two. Let's go." They both got up and Hanna just chuckled but looked away when Gwen glared at her.

"So, you want to come up to my room?" Gwen asked and Lucas sighed before shaking his head. "I can't do this." Lucas said with a shake of his head. "But you make me so hot." Gwen said dryly as Hanna let out a laugh. "No." He laughed. "I mean, I can't do this with you." he said before turning to the teacher. 

"Girls like her don't approach guys like me unless they have deep-seated self-esteem issues and a serious drinking problem." he said, making Gwen sigh. "Just play along, Lucas." The teacher instructed him. "This is embarrassing." Lucas said with a sigh, making the teacher look at him. "Why?" He asked. "Because I don't need to know how to rebuff the advances of a genetic splice between Barbie and Shakira." Gwen smiled at Lucas. "It's just never going to happen."

"The point of this is to be prepared for the situation when it does arise..." Lucas cut him off. "Mr. Mazzara, let's look at the facts. I have the upper-body strength of Screech, and I spend my weekends playing Wii... alone. I think my virginity is pretty well safeguarded." he said but the teacher didn't care what Lucas was saying. "Both of you, start again." He told them. "So, you want to come up to my room–" Gwen started but Lucas interrupted. "Yes!" he said, happily, making Gwen, Hanna and Everyone start to laugh and Gwen smile in amusement at Lucas.

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"That was the worst thing I've ever been to." Gwen complained as she sat across from Hanna in the cafeteria. "I know, but thanks for coming with me." Hanna said as she reapplied her lip gloss before Spencer sat down next to Hanna, scaring her slightly. "Way to sneak up on people." Hanna scoffed as she put away her phone, which mirror on the back she was using. "Sorry." she apologised. "Look, can you get it today?" Spencer asked her. "Get what?" Hanna asked. "Jenna's file." Spencer responded.

"No, they cancelled my shift at work." Hanna explained. "Well, go in anyway. It's a therapist's office, pretend you're having a nervous breakdown." Spencer suggested, making Gwen laugh. "She will if Heather Prerez wins the homecoming queen, she won't have to pretend." she said, making Hanna playfully glare at her. "Hanna, Gwen, I'm serious." Spencer said.

"That file might be our only chance to find out what Jenna knows about that night, and if she and her creepy step brother are planning revenge–." Spencer started but Hanna cut her off. "Spence, I'll get it. Why the panic attack?" she asked. "Is this because of the fortune cookies?" Gwen asked. "It's because Toby Cavanaugh, who's never had a date in his life, just bought two tickets to homecoming." Spencer informed them. "So, Jenna's coming too." Hanna said in realization.

"Well, 'A' did promise to see us there, right?" Spencer asked just before Mona walked up to them. "Hey Han, Gwen," she happily greeted them, making them smile back at her as she sat down next to Gwen. "Spencer." She greeted her. "So, is it true, you're taking the country club's towel boy to homecoming?" Mona asked, making Gwen feel bad for Spencer. "His name is Alex. And yes, I am." Spencer reasoned back, snappily. "Knock it off Mona." Gwen said, making Mona to her.

"What?" she asked, all innocently. "I think it's cute she's taking her cinderfella to the ball." She said, "Can you go get me a fro-yo. With sprinkles?" Hanna asked her. After a moment of staring, Mona got up and walked away. "Wow, that was exactly the reaction I wanted to avoid." Spencer said. "Don't pay any attention to her, she's just insecure." Hanna said. "Like a pitbull, why are you two friends with her?" Spencer asked. "Once you get to know her, she's really funny." Gwen said, smiling softly. "And, she's always been there for us." Hanna added. "Even if it's just watching Hanna try on shoes." Gwen joked.

"Look, she's a good person, she just talks tough so people will forget what a geek she used to be." she added when suddenly Spencer kicked her in the shin, making her groan. "Ow, okay, you need to chillax or I need to start carrying a tranq gun." Hanna said as she was kicked as well. "Shh." Spencer said, staring at someone, making them look to see her looking at Toby Cavanaugh. "What is that?" Hanna asked, as the three of them stared at his tattoo but Toby soon covered it.

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"You look beautiful honey." Sophia said as she stared at her daughter. She had taken the night off to help Gwen get ready for homecoming. "You think so?" Gwen asked as she pulled on a long scarf to cover her shoulder slightly. "Yes," Sophia answered. "I'm glad I don't have a date." Gwen admitted. "Really?" her mother asked as the two of them walked down the stars into the living room. "Yeah. you taught me that I don't need a man to make me happy." she said, smiling at her mom.

Her entire life she knew her mother to be independent, never having a boyfriend, she only focused on Gwen and her career, she inspired to be like her mother. "Well, I'm glad I've taught you something." she joked, making Gwen laugh before posing for her mom to take photos, so she could send them to her grandparents. "You should get going, don't wanna keep the girls waiting." Sophia said before hugging her daughter before she left the house and got into her car, driving to the girls.

Once Gwen arrived she handed her ticket over and found the girls, who were standing around with their dates. "You look stunning." Hanna said as Gwen joined them, "Thank you," she said, before looking at her friends. "You all look beautiful. Where's Aria and Emily?" she asked. "Not here yet. But, Gwen this is Alex, Alex is this Gwen." Spencer said, motioning to the boy by her side. "Nice to meet you." she greeted and she nodded. "You too." Alex said, before Hanna noticed Aria arrived. "Hi, there she is." she said as Aria stood beside Gwen.

"I was worried you were gonna bail." Spencer said. "No, no, I'm ready to have a fantastic time tonight." Aria said, smiling. "With no date? My, how the mighty have fallen." Mona joked. "I don't have a date either, Mona." Gwen said, standing up for Aria. "Whatever, she can share my date." Hanna offered. "Yeah. I have no problem with that." Sean said, smiling. "Yeah and mine." Spencer added, motioning to Alex. "Yeah," Alex shrugged. "Hey, I'm Aria." she said, introducing herself. "Alex, nice to meet you." he said. "You too." she responded.

"Unfortunately, you have to work before you can play. 'Cause you've got the first shift at the beanbag toss." Spencer said as Aria moved towards the beanbag toss area. "You're a hero." Spencer called out to her. Soon enough Hanna and Gwen had walked off as Sean went to talk to some friends of his and Spencer went to talk to her sister. Hanna, Mona and Gwen were standing at a food table.

"Ugh, that's awful. Is that Becky Newman?" Hanna asked as the three of them stared at someone across the room. "It looks like her hair got in a fight with her face and they both lost." Mona said, making Gwen laugh just before someone took a photo of them. "Yearbook pictures. Hey." he said, greeting Gwen and Hanna. "Hey, nice boetie." Gwen said, smiling at Lucas. "Oh, thanks," he said, looking at it. "It's my grandpa's," he added before turning to Mona. "Hey. I'm Lucas." he introduced himself. "Great. Can you be Lucas over there?" Mona asked, pointing somewhere else.

Lucas just chuckles, "Um..." he trailed off, looking at Hanna and Gwen. "I'll see you around Hanna, Gwen." he said. "Yeah, see you around." Hanna said. "Have fun." Gwen added before Lucas left. Hanna rounded on Mona. "Rude much?" she asked. "Am I In a parallel universe? Or did you two just engage in conversation with Hermie? Isn't that what Alison called him?" Mona asked, making Gwen clench her jaw. "He is not a hermaphrodite, okay?" Gwen snapped. "He's a nice guy, saying hi to him is not a crime." Hanna added.

"It should be." Mona responded. "You didn't bust your ass to become Rosewood's 'It girls' just to make chit-chat with shim." she added, making Hanna look at her as Gwen sighed. "If you, Gwen and I start slipping, we're gonna be right back at the bottom again." Mona continued. "Yeah, well, I'm starting to think I've lost a few things on the climb up." Hanna admitted.

"Look, you can go kamikaze if you want, but I will cut your ripcord before I let you drag me down with you." Mona told them before handing Hanna a drink, and Hanna gave her a fake smile before Mona walked away. "Is it just me or is she starting to forget that she was in the same position as Lucas?" Gwen asked and Hanna nodded

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Later that night, Gwen stood with Spencer and Hanna when Aria joined them. "Hey, that was a quick shift. You okay?" Spencer asked her. "No, my claustrophobia kicked in." Aria explained. "Can you find someone to take my place?" Aria asked. "Yeah. alone in a dark booth with Fitz? It's, like, every freshman girl's dream." Spencer joked, making Gwen laugh as Maya joined them. "Hey, Hanna." She said, "Hi." "Hey," "Hey." "Hi!" The girls greeted her. "Um, have you seen Emily?" She asked. "No. I was just about to text her." Hanan said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Hey, don't bother." Aria said, looking at something, making them all look over to see Emily with Toby Cavanaugh walking in together. Holding hands. What. the. hell? Gwen thought as she furrowed her eyebrows. Maya walked off, not before giving Hanna a look, confusing the McKnight girl but forgot about it as Emily came over with Toby. "Hey, guys." she said, greeting them. "Hi," Gwen muttered as the others just nodded awkwardly.

Toby must have sensed the awkwardness was because of him. "I'll go get us some drinks," he offered and Emily nodded before he walked off. Once he was gone and couldn't hear them, they started talking. "You're here with Toby?" Spencer asked. "Either you've got some genius plan of sleeping with the enemy or you've lost your mind." Aria added.

"You don't even know him." Emily said, defending Toby. "What is there to know? Who else would've helped Jenna?" Spencer asked. "He has every reason to hate us, Em." Gwen said softly. "Well, he doesn't." Emily responded. "Emily. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a freaking duck." Hanna said, and Gwen frowned as Emily scoffed out a little laugh. "Wow. I thought at least you'd understand." she said before going to walk away but Hanna stopped her and Gwen, Spencer and Aria let them have their conversation.

After Hanna and Emily's conversation, which ended with Emily walking away with Toby – from what they saw – Hanna joined the girls again. "Did I miss something? When did she start hanging out with Toby?" Spencer asked Hanna. "No idea Spence," Gwen said. "I've never even seen her talk to him." Aria added. "There you are. You keep disappearing on us." Sean said as he and Alex walked over to them, with a random guy as well, making Gwen furrowed her brows, not knowing who he was.

"Yeah, we had to... get ice." Hanna shuttered, making Gwen give her a look. "Hey, wanna dance?" Alex asked Spencer, "Let's do it." she responded, putting her hand in his before he whisked her away to the dance floor, Sean doing the same to Hanna, leaving Gwen and Aria with the guy who had walked up with the boys. He looked between them, before nodding his head to the dance floor, and Gwen looked at Aria, who didn't seem to want to dance, so Gwen walked past him, grabbing his hand leading them to the dance floor.

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"You look beautiful." the guy said as he and Gwen slow-danced, making her smile slightly. "Thanks." she said softly. Gwen then spotted Spencer pushing through the crowd to get to her. "I'm so sorry, but i have to talk to her, if you don't mind," she said and the guy she was dancing with, smiled and shook his head, stepping away, Gwen then followed Spencer to where Hanna and Aria were waiting.

"Okay, so what was so important that you had to take me from my nice dancing partner?" Gwen asked. "I figured out what Toby's tattoo means." she told them. "What?" Hanna and Gwen asked in-sync. "901 free at last? It's September first." she explained. "The day Ali went missing." Gwen said, shocked and Spencer nodded. "Hanna, you've gotta get that file." Aria said to her, making Hanna sigh, "Tonight?" she asked.

"Emily's not gonna believe us without proof, she could be walking into a trap." Spencer said to her. "Can we do it after they announce the homecoming queen? please?" Hanna begged and Spencer scoffed. "Okay, fine. Fine. I'll get it." Hanna said, "But Gwen, you're coming with me." she said and Gwen nodded. "Alright." she said. "Keep an eye on Emily until we get the file." Spencer said to Spencer. "Wait, what about me?" Aria asked as they were about to leave, making them turn back to her.

"Keep an eye on Sean," Hanna said, "What?" Aria asked, confused. "I can't exactly tell him where I'm going. If I make something up, he'll want to come with me. Just keep him busy." Hanna said as she and Gwen turned to leave. "How am I supposed to do that?" Aria asked, making them stop, again. "I don't know, just figure it out." Hanna shrugs before she and Gwen leave.

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"Hi, can I get a cab to Rosewood High School, please?" Hanna asked over the phone. Gwen would drive but she's had some of the punch which was definitely spiked by Noel Kahn and she didn't wanna get into an accident so they went with the safe option, a cab. "Great, thanks." Hanna said before hanging up. The sound of footsteps made them turn to see Lucas. "Hey," they greeted him.

"The homecoming queen is leaving?" he asked, referring to Hanna. "Nominee, and yeah, sort of." Hanna replied. "Isn't that kind of like Han Solo abandoning the Millennium Falcon?" Lucas asked. "Uh, honestly, I have no idea." Hanna said. "Yeah." Gwen replied. She may not seem like it, but Gwen loved those movies, because they were her moms favourite as well, she grew up watching them on movie nights. "Why are you leaving?" she asked.

"Got enough photos for the yearbook." He responded while shrugging his shoulders. "You only came to take photos?" She asked, confused. "Yeah." he responded. "And to cast my vote for you." He said to Hanna, making Gwen look between them. Lucas went to walk away but Hanna stopped him. "Listen, um, I left a check for the band at the office where I work. Would you mind driving us there and back?" She asked, pointing to her and Gwen.

"It's either that or watch the new 'Hoarders' episode with my parents, so yeah." He said, before taking his jacket off and giving it to Hanna. "Here, uh, you look cold." He said as he handed her his jacket, and she took it. "Thank you, let's go." she said as she and Gwen walked towards the parking lot, Lucas behind them.

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"Hanna, tell me why they locked the elevator again?" Lucas asked as they entered a hallway through a staircase door. He sounded puffed out, making Gwen feel bad, but he didn't have to follow them. Hanna reached the door that she needed to get through, Gwen stood behind Hanna as she opened the door before she turned to Lucas. "Can you wait here? We'll only be a couple of minutes, okay?" she asked as Gwen moved past Hanna into the office. "Oh, yeah, take your time. Hoarders always has, you know has–" Lucas started but Hanna entered the room and shut the door as he was mid-sentence.

"Okay...." Gwen trailed off as she followed Hanna to where they kept the files. They didn't know what they were meant to be looking for, so Hanna decided to call Spencer. "What is it?" Spencer asked, "Hey, we're looking through the entire 'M' section, and there's no Jenna Marshall." Hanna tells her. "Well, check under Cavanaugh. Uh, she's Toby's stepsister. Maybe his dad adopted her." Spencer said. "What–" Gwen went to ask but her phone died. "Crap, it's dead." Gwen said before she and Hanna tried looking under 'C' and they found a folder but not Jenna's. It was Toby's. Hanna and Gwen shared a look before pulling it out and looking at its contents, which made Gwen want to be sick.

They quickly left the Dentist's office and went back to the school. Once they arrived. Gwen and Hanna waved over the girls, who noticed that they were back. The girls joined them, Hanna gave Lucas his jacket back and hugged him before the girls went off into an empty mirror room for privacy. "Is that Jenna's file?" Spencer asked as she locked the door. "No. it's Toby's." Gwen answered. "Turns out Jenna wasn't the patient. The therapist had her come in for one session to see how she felt about Toby being back home." Hanna explained.

"Oh, my god." Aria let out. "Well, what else does it say?" she asked. "Well, the dates prove that he wasn't away at school on September 1st. He was right here. In Rosewood." Gwen informed them. "What else?" Aria asked as she grabbed the file from Hanna."See for yourself." Hanna said. "Session 12, August 15th..." Aria trailed off as she read the file, Spencer reading over her shoulder. "So that's what Ali had on him?" Spencer asked, shocked.

"It's enough to want her dead." Hanna said. "And us." Aria remarked. "Emily." Aria realized, closing the file and handing it to Hanna before grabbing her phone out of her purse, trying to call her, but she wasn't answering. "She's not picking up." Aria said. "Text her." Spencer said. "If she isn't answering phone calls, she won't answer a text." Gwen muttered, as Aria began to text Emily. "We have to find her. Come on." Hanna said, as the others nodded before they exited the room, not knowing that someone was eavesdropping on their conversation.

The girls ran through halls and ended up in the cafeteria, still no sign of her. "Where is she?" Aria asked. "Maybe they've left." Gwen said. "Get away from me!" they heard, making them turn to the sound of where it was coming from. "That's her." Spencer said before they ran in that direction.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter <3 | sorry i've so inactive with this story, i didn't have any pre-written chapters after i'd published chapter 5, and i've been busy with other stories, but i promise i'll update this book more