chapter two
the jenna thing
⎯⎯⎯⎯

The girls had gone to The Apple Rorse Grille after the funeral. "Why was Jenna there?" Aria asked. "I guess she's back." Spencer responded. "That cop acted like we were suspects or something," Gwen said. "Do you think we look guilty?" Emily asked. "Why would we be? We haven't done anything wrong." Aria answered her. "Except lie about the Jenna thing." Hanna and Gwen spoke up. "We promised we'd never bring up the Jenna thing again, remember? It never happened." Spencer said.

"Have you found a way to forget? I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night." Aria admitted as Gwen looked over at Hanna, who was pouring alcohol from her flask into her drink. "Aria, it was an accident." Spencer let out. As Hanna was screwing on the lid to her flask, she and Gwen saw an old man staring at her from across the restaurant, giving her a judgmental look. "It's medicinal." Hanna said to him, a smile on her face, but he kept looking. "Cramps." she deadpanned, making him look away and Gwen to chuckle as Spencer looked back at the man with a frown on her face before facing the girls again.

"I don't get it," Emily started. "How does 'A' know something about me that only Alison knew?" Emily asked. "Ali knew all of our secrets, but...we didn't know any of hers." Aria said, as she just realized. "I knew some." Spencer confessed, making them look at her. "Go on." Gwen encouraged her, but Spencer said nothing. "Talk," she demanded. "I can't." Spencer denied. "Spence, no, you are not gonna drop a bomb like that, and just clam up!" Aria responded, frustrated.

"She'd so kill me if I told you." Spencer said. "She's dead." Hanna deadpanned, making the girls look at her, which caused her so sigh, but raised her brow at Spencer. "Ali was seeing someone that Summer." Spencer confessed, making Emily look at her. "I knew she was keeping something from me... from us." Emily corrected herself. "Well, why didn't she want us to know?" Aria asked.

"He was an older boy, and he had a girlfriend." Spencer explained. "Who was it?" Emily asked. "She never told me his name." Spencer responded. "Okay, Spence, that's like, half a secret." Gwen told her. "It's more than you ever got from her." Spencer scoffed. "How was it that Ali told us nothing, and we told her everything?" Aria asked. "Because she made us feel like we were part of something special," Emily responded. "We were." Hanna smiled softly at her.

"I miss that." Gwen said softly. "Me too." Spencer added. "I miss Ali," Emily said, playing with a bracelet on her wrist, one that Alison had given her, and the others but they don't wear them anymore. "I can't believe you still wear that." Hanna remarked. "Ali still wears hers," Emily responded. "Wore." She corrected herself quickly. "When Ali didn't come home that night, I knew something terrible must have happened, but there was always some part of me that imagined someday she'd just show up." Spencer admitted.

"Yeah, I used to think that maybe she'd just... run off with some guy." Aria added. "She was laying on a beach somewhere." Emily spoke up. "Or getting a tan out by the pool with that hot lifeguard." Hanan laughed, making the others laugh as well. "Ohh. Yeah, what was his name?" Aria asked. "Who cares? 'Save me!'" Gwen imitated Alison, making the girls laugh until the door to The Apple Rorse Grille opened and the sound of a cane tapping on the floor, made them go silent.

Aria tapped Hanna on the shoulder and pointed over at Jenna, making Hanna look at her, slowly the rest of the girls looked at her as she walked past them and to a table as the girls shared a look before grabbing their purses and getting up to leave and going their separate ways.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Gwen, Hanna and Mona were leaning against the lockers outside the English classroom as Aria exited it, making Hanna and Gwen look over as Mona texted on her phone. "Okay, I am all for boob jobs but when I see those, I wanna moo." Mona said as someone walked past them with a massive boob job, making them laugh. "I spy a Sean." Mona said, motioning over Hanna's shoulder, making her look over her shoulder then back at Mona and Gwen.

"I'll see you two at lunch." she said before walking off, leaving Mona and Gwen. "I'll be back, I've gotta get something out of my locker," Gwen smiled at Mona who nodded and leaned back against the wall as Gwen was off towards her locker down the hall. Gwen opened her locker and looked around for the one thing she needed. She silently cheered when she found her pencil case on top of her books. As she shut her locker an announcement went off over the PA system.

"Will the following students please come to the office? Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Gwendolyn McKnight and Hanna Marin." The guy said, and the girls looked at each other as the hall was empty besides them. Aria's phone went off, as the other girls began walking to the office. "Wait." Aria said, stopping the girls, making them look at her as they slowly began walking over to her. "It's from 'A'." She added. "Dead Girls Walking." Gwen read out, making them all share a look before walking to the office.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

The girls were seated on a couch in a room in the office, when Detective Wilden walked in. "So let's see," he started as he pointed to Spencer before looking back at the file in his hands. "You thought you heard her scream," he read. "I-I said that, yeah." Spencer answered. "And when you four woke up in the barn Alison was gone and so was Spencer?" he asked the rest of them. "Yes, I woke up before them, and I realized that Ali was missing, so I–" she was cut off.

"So you went looking for her."  Detective Wilden said. "That's what happened." Spencer said. "I got that," he responded. "So what's up? Was this a slumber party, or–" he asked. "Is this an interrogation?" Gwen asked. "No, just routine follow-up," he answered. "Why did you guys all fall asleep?" he asked, like it was a crime to sleep or something. "I guess we were tired." Aria answered. "Tired? Really?" he asked like he didn't believe them. "Is that how you remember it, Hanna?" he asked, looking at the blonde.

"Yeah." Hanna answered. "Yeah, you guys were tired," He said. "Look, we've told you everything that we know just like we did that night she went missing." Spencer said. "I know, I know, and you see the thing is, it's almost exactly what you said last year. Almost like it was rehearsed." he accused, making Gwen furrow her brows. "Like Spencer said, we've told you everything we know." Aria said to him.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

"He knows we're lying." Aria stressed. "Lying is not a crime." Hanna remarked. "It is when you're giving false statements to the police, it's called obstruction of justice." Spencer responded. "Oh, please! We lied about drinking. But the truth that matters is we don't know anything about what happened to Ali that night." Hanna said. "We also know about someone who might have wanted to hurt her." Spencer  said. "We should have told the police the truth about Jenna's accident, the night it happened." Emily said.

"We wanted to, remember?" Gwen said, meaning her and Hanna. "We had a chance to do more than just tell the truth, we had a chance to stop Ali." Aria said. "But we didn't, and telling the police now about what really happened to Jenna isn't going to make her see again, it'll just ruin our lives." Gwen responded and the girls went silent but then they heard tapping. 

"Oh, my god, she's back in school too?" Hanna asked, making them look over to see Jenna before they shared a look, Aria then got up and walked over to Jenna. "Jenna?" Aria asked, "Hey, it's-it's Aria." She greeted her. "Do you... wanna come sit with us?" she asked as she took a look back at the girls and shrugged. "Sure," Jenna responded. "Okay," Aria muttered as she took Jenna's tray from her and let her hold on to her shoulder as she walked Jenna to a seat.

"So you're gonna be between Gwen and Emily and Spencer's right across from you." Aria explained as she walked over and sat Jenna's tray down. "Thank you." Jenna thanked her. "Yeah, and here's a chair." Aria said, grabbing a chair from a table behind them for Jenna. "So, this would be Alison's chair, right?" Jenna asked as she sat down. "No. We're not even sitting at that table." Emily responded.

"You know, she came to visit me in the hospital after the accident." Jenna told them as she folded her stick, shocking the girls. "Alison did?" Spencer asked. "Mm-hmm." Jenna hummed as everyone stared at her, "Everyone misunderstood Alison, but I knew exactly who she was." she said. "When did you get back, Jenna? We heard you were in Philadelphia, a school for the... visually impaired." Spencer asked. "You can say blind, Spencer, it's okay." Jenna assured her as she grabbed her orange juice from her tray. "It's not a dirty word." she teased.

The girls were quiet as Jenna took a sip of her drink. "Wow. It's so quiet." Jenna remarked. "You guys used to be at the fun table," she said before taking a sip of her drink. "What happened to you girls?" she asked before she laughed. 'our best-friend died, that's what happened' Gwen thought as she stared at her tray of food, not feeling that hungry anymore as she thought about the night of the 'Jenna Thing'.

FLASHBACK

The girls were laughing and hanging out in Emily's room, trying on clothes they had gotten that day. They all passed around tops and held them against themselves and showed the others. "What about this?" Gwen asked Hanna as she held up a tank top to herself as Hanna sat on Emily's bed as Alison tried something on behind her. "It suits you." Hanna said and Gwen wasn't able to respond because Alison's mood changed.

"I can see you!" she yelled as she rushed to Emily's window and slammed her hands against Emily's desk and stared outside. "Oh, my god! I can't believe it!" she exclaimed as she turned to face the girls, who were confused. "Who was it, Ali? What did you see?" Emily asked. "He was in that tree spying on us, I'm so creeped out!." Alison exclaimed. "Who was it Ali?" Gwen asked.

"It was that perv, Toby Cavanaugh." She told them. "Are you sure?" Aria asked. "Yes, I'm sure! He was right there1" Alison exclaimed. "I bet he saw us all naked." Alison said. "Wh... should we tell someone?" Gwen asked. "I mean, we could..." she paused before smirking. "But I have a better idea." she said.

Soon enough the girls were walking through the backwoods on Emily's property to get to Toby's. Alison had an idea to let out a stink bomb in the garage. "Are we sure he's not in there?" Aria asked. "He's not, okay?" Alison  snapped quietly. "You've got the lighter, right, Spence?" Alison asked Spencer as they continued to walk.

Emily walked up and grabbed Alison's arm to stop her. "Let's wait a second." she said. "What, Emily?" Alison asked, annoyed. "I don't wanna do this." she admitted. "Fine. Go back. You're on your own." Alison told her.  "Okay, maybe, Emily's right, we should just call the cops, they'll take him in." Aria said and Gwen nodded in agreement.

"Where's the fun in that?" Alison asked as she smiled and laughed till she noticed the girls looked like they didn't wanna be there. "Girls, Toby Cavanaugh is a freak and we need to teach him a lesson." Alison told them before tuning to Emily. "If he thinks he can come and spy on while we're in your bedroom, Emily, he needs to know that this little domain is no longer a safe little hideout." Alison said. "I mean, who knows what he does in there all day that little freak!." she added. "Are you sure that it was Toby?" Spencer asked, not wanting to do this. "Yes! And it's a stink bomb, for god's sake! We're not nuking the place. Now, let's do it." She scoffed before walking towards the garage door before turning half-around.

"Give me the lighter." she demanded of Spencer, who hesitated before walking up and handing the lighter to Alison, who took it and lit the end of the stink bomb before she opened the door and looked into it before throwing it in, but she was still looking inside until she gasped and shut the door. "Let's get out of here." Alison said, leading the girls away. "Run," Emily said and the girl rushed away from the garage.

But suddenly the lights inside the garage blew up, making them all scream in shock and turn to see the garage on fire. "Ali, what did you do?" Gwen asked. "We have to get out of here." Hanna remarked. "Come on, let's go." Emily said, and they rushed off.

PRESENT

The girls were brought out of their memories when their phones rang, in sync, making them all look at their phones, not wanting to grab it and when they didn't they just continued to ring as Jenna reached out and picked up Spencer's phone and held it out to her. "Aren't you gonna get that?" she asked, making the girls share looks before taking their phones and opening them to check the messages.

UNKNOWN ID
If only she could see how
Guilty you look...
⎯ A

Gwen put her phone back down on the table before pushing her food away from her, not that hungry anymore.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

"Okay, people, let's take out seats." Mr. Fitz said as he wrote something on the board as the girls separated and sat in their seats just as Mona walked through the door. She stopped once she noticed everyone was already sitting down, she turned to Mr. Fitz. "Am I late?" she asked. "It's-It's Mona, right?" he asked. Mona smiled. "That's right, Mr, Fritz." she answered as he put her phone away, causing the class to laugh at her mispronunciation of Mr. Fitz's name. "What?" she asked, embarrassed. "Take your seat, Mona, please." Mr. Fitz asked sheepishly.

Mona walked to her seat beside Hanna, who leaned over to her. "It's Fitz, not Fritz." Hanna explained to her. "Oops." Mona whispered with a laugh. "If the mockingbird represents the idea of innocence," Mr. Fitz started as he handed out sheets. "What characters are innocent?" he asked. "Take a second, jot down your ideas. We'll discuss." he said before moving back behind his desk. Gwen looked up from her paper at the sound of footsteps, seeing Aria walk in, placing something on Mr. Fitz's desk before walking to her seat.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

The next day at school, Hanna and Gwen were walking towards the front of the school before they noticed a crowd around Ben, Emily's boyfriend's car, making them walk over as Emily opened the door and got out. "Lookin good Emily," a guy said to her, before he noticed Hanna and Gwen. "You're looking good too." he said to them. "I'm sorry, are you talking to us?" Gwen said with a scoff before she, Hanna and Emily began walking away. "You okay?" Hanna asked her. "Not really." Emily responded, making Gwen frown. "You know, I never thought of you as someone who'd be so comfortable with PDA." she said. "Maybe I'm not the person everybody thinks I am." Emily responded. "Who is?" Hanna scoffed as the three of them entered the school.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

"Okay, so we're sure those Madames go with the dress?" Hanna asked, for what seemed like the millionth time. Gwen, Hanna and Mona were walking through the underground parking lot of rosewood mall after a day of shopping. Mona laughed. "This sounds totally gay, but if i saw your struttin' it in that dress and kicking up those heels, I would think about doing you." Mona responded, making Gwen laugh. "And we love the necklace?" Gwen asked, holding up a bag she was holding. "We adore it." Mona and Hanna answered.

Hanna then noticed someone, making Mona and Gwen turn to Detective Wilden. Gwen rolled her eyes, this was serious unprofessional behaviour. Mona turned back to Hanna. "Relax, you actually paid for that, let's go." Mona said as she began to walk again, but Hanna was still not moving. "Um, yeah. I'll be right back." Hanna said before walking over to Detective Wilden. "What is his deal?" Mona asked Gwen as they walked to the car and waited for Hanna. "He thinks one of us girls either killed Ali, or knows who did it." Gwen informed her. "That's crazy." Mona said, shocked. "I know." Gwen muttered, watching Hanna talk to Detective Wilden.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter <3 i love Mona, Hanna and Gwen's friendship