I still stood there, in a stated of shock, this really couldn't be happening right? I mean A kept their mouth shut this long, why now and why this secret.

"Erica, sit down please." Mum asked of me and I did so. I gulped slightly. Mom slid across some papers.

"Someone sent these to me this morning." I looked at them. There were photo's of Jason and I out on our date and at the park. They spoke volumes.

"Can you explain these?" Dad pointed to them and I straightened a little, I refused to show them my weakness.

"What is there to explain?" I shrugged.

"Erica, these look like you're in a relationship with Jason Dilaurentis. Which can't be true because he is like seven years older than you and you're sixteen."

"I..." the door opened and shut. Aria and Mike walked and we looked at them, them I would falter at my armour cracking and tears welled up.

"What's going on?" Aria wondered

"Aria take your brother upstairs please." Dad told my sister.

"Not until I know Erica's crying." Mike refused and came over to me

"Mike, go upstairs with your sister now!" Mom ordered . I looked up at Mike and nodded, he and Aria made their way upstairs.

"Erica how long has this been going on?" Dad questioned but I didn't answer him

"Answer me, Erica!" Dad ordered and I refused to back down to the likes of him.

"I don't have to answer shit." I sneered at him "I wouldn't tell you about this if you were the only person here so kiss my ass."

"Erica, do not speak to your father like that." Mom argued

"like he can get so high and mighty about a forbidden relationship. You want answers I'll tell them but only to you. You i can trust to at least hear me out first." I folded my arms

"No absolutely not." Dad denied but I could see Mom was thinking about it, She was the mor rational one out of the two, despite what had happened with Dad

"Byron maybe you should." Mom sighed

"She's pitting us against each other." I snorted

"You do not need my help for that, just have another leggy blonde walk past you..."

"Enough Erica." Mum snapped. I sighed deflated. Mom muttered something to him and he huffed leaving the room.

"Why? There are so many nice boys out there so why him?" Mom wondered. I bit my lip trying to think of how to phrase it.

"He makes me feel safe and loved." I answered. i cleared my throat to continue "Before we started dating, before we even knew there was anything between us. I was going through some dark stuff and I was in deep waters. One night I was at a party and it didn't end well, he was there and he got me out of it."

"What happened?" I shook my head

"It was bad, I've dealt with it since then. I'm leaving it at that. But because of what happened I started spiralling and I was apart of this vicious cycle that I kept going back to what was triggering to me in the first place." I continued to explain as best as I could without rehashing old things that had happened and I wanted to keep in the past.

"Why didn't you say something."

"I had my reasons." I told her "The spiralling went on for a couple of months, then Jason found me, again at a party but he stopped me before I could get any worse and we kissed. I t was totally random and we were both drunk but I remember everything stopped, the negativity stopped and I felt safe, comforted like nothing in this moment was going to hurt me.

I thought it was a fluke, the drink talking but I held on to that, then it happened again when I was sober and it was the same again. He felt the same we started dating. We never went further than kissing I just want to make that crystal clear. We both knew it was wrong but we didn't care because what we got out of it was much more.

Then Ali disappeared, that morning we had an argument and we were mad at each other, we didn't get to mend things because Ali disappeared and there was everything that came with it." I was silently crying by now

"That was a year of hell. Dad cheating and asking us to cover it up, Arguing with Jason, him leaving then us running away. All that time I had to sit at the table and smile, pretending that everything was okay and I wasn't falling apart on the inside." I furiously wiped the tears away

"We talked things out after the memorial and well the pictures speak volumes." I shuffled them around a little 

"I don't expect you to completely understand this, not even I do because like you said there are plenty of boys out there. But none of them makes me feel like Jason does." Mom was silent

"You can go to your room now, Erica." I stood up and smartened myself then began to leave when I turned back

"I get you don't like this. I kind of expected it but i want you to know something else."

"What?"

"I will fight tooth and nail to protect him, even if that means going against you." I turned back and headed upstairs On the top step Aria and Mike and Aria there. I stepped past them and went to my room.

-------

"Grounded but what am i supposed to do about my study groups and tutoring?" I question, this was ridiculous and uncalled for, this was all Dad's doing the cheating hypocrite.

"You can do them here but you can only go to and from school." Dad stated

"Toby can't leave his front porch, why do you think I go to him." I folded my arms and rolled my eyes

"You're tutoring Toby Canvanaugh?! Yet another secret." Dad glowered at me

"That wasn't a secret, jackass. Everyone knows I'm tutoring him in most of his classes." God the sight of him made me want to do things that I would probably get arrested for assault. Not murder he's not worth that amount of jail time.

"She's right, everyone knows." Mom added

"I thought we're supposed to be united in this." mom sighed and turned to me

"Go upstairs, please." Huffed and did so. Aria was at Emily's With the others. I was there via video chat seen as i was practically under house arrest like Toby. We were all catching each other up on what happened since the swim meet.

"Okay, so your sister's pregnant. How did that happen?" Hanna wondered

"i figured pretty much the usual way." Spencer replied

"Yeah did no one tell you about the birds and the bees?" i tried to joke but I wasn't really feeling it

"Whatever jail bird." Hanna retorted

"It's not really a 'how' question, it's more of a 'why' question." Emily brought the conversation back to it's main point.

"Well Melissa could have gone maternal but I doubt it." Spencer said

"Ugh it's creepy" Hanna shivered "So what do you think this means?" Hanna was referring to a note that Toby had slipped her in a French book.

"I don't know but Toby wanted us to have it. There, it's in braille." The three of them were focused on a different laptop.

"And for those who can't see, what does it say?" I complain over the video

"Hang on give me a sec. Do you wanna see this Aria?" Spencer wondered

"No i can see just fine from here." I heard her. Okay so apparently A had been using something that Hanna's mom did against Hanna and, she had to sabotage either mine or Aria's date. For whatever reason it was Aria's date and she almost got caught with Fitz. A directed Aria to Hanna and Hanna spilled. Now Aria is all pissed at Hanna.

"okay the first letter is B...then A...."

"do you think it's gonna tell us who A is?" Emily thought out loud

"...D. B.A.D. Bad? Is that the whole message Bad?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ems wondered

"It means you got punked. Toby doesn't trust anyone except Erica and do you blame him?" I heard Aria huff in the background. She was defiantly on the freaking pissed train.

"He wouldn't mess with us like this, Aria. He wanted us or rather Spencer to have it for a reason. It's just not gonna be that simple." Emily replied to my sister,

"You'd be surprised at what people are capable of." Aria commented

"Guys we have to figure this out. This might be a joke but it could be real."

"Yo know what guys, i'm gonna go. Say bye, sis." Before I could the call ended and that was it. My mouth opened and shut for a while before I closed down my laptop.

--------------

I got ready for school and was about leave with Aria when I was stopped, by the hypocrite jailer himself in all his righteousness

"What are you wearing?" Dad asked me

"Clothes." I retorted

"Go upstairs and change, please." He had to be kidding right

"Your joking right? My style has never bothered anyone before." I rested a hand on my hip, did he really wanna start this fight, one that he can't win.

"Well that's before we knew who you were dressing up for." my jaw dropped. That son of a bitch.

"Are you implying that I'm a slut." he stiffened straight

"I din't say that."

"You implied it. This is not me dressing up for anyone let alone Jason. because 1 he's not here and 2 I don't need to. I would also go so far as to say that your implication that the way i dress is provocative to others makes you think I want to get other boys attention, which again is not true because that could also mean I intend to cheat on my boyfriend, which I don't. I'm not you. So you can chain me to this house but your not gonna stifle my self expression. Let's go Aria." i walked out and she followed

"How do you do that?" she asked me

"Do what."

"be bold and not let Dad control you. I could only imagine what he would do if he found out about me and Ezra."

"Let's hope it doesn't get to that anytime soon." i reply "As for sticking it to him. Ali taught me."

"She did?."

"You know as well as I do Ali's lessons were more often than not, stupid. However Running rings around people for self preservation well, both of us are masters in that." And these days, it seemed like I was relying on it more and more. Not like Ali but close.

"I know what Dad was getting at and in this situation you have to pick your battles. Unless you know how to bend it back to your control just go with it. Besides I'm not that strong since the whole parents knowing about older boyfriend came out I'm on more offensive than ever. Change of subject. You and Hanna"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine you can listen. What she did wasn't fair. But what Do you expect her to do? Betray her Mom, lose her? If you were in the same situation can you really say you wouldn't have done the same?" She thought about it for the rest of the drive.

----

At lunch, I was starving. I went to get food before saying anything to my friends. When I had what I needed I went to join Emily and Spencer, mere seconds Aria and Hanna joined us. Looks like they made up.

"What is with you and the artful dodger?" Spencer questioned Hanna. I laughed as I started digging into my food.

"Who?"

"Caleb." Emily clarified as I watched there completely amused by the conversation. I like the others were curious as to why she was like now into hanging around with the new guy. I liked Caleb it was just curiosity.

"I thought that thing at the swim meet was one off" Spencer continued.

"It was." Han answered

"We just saw you talking to him."

"Yeah we saw you give him something that looked like a wet oven mit" Spencer stated.

"It was his hat." she replied

"What are you doing with his hat?" I wondered shoving food into my mouth

"First off, eww close your mouth. Second why shouldn't I have his hat?" she screeched her nose at me. That comeback made no sense to me but I couldn't care less to ask for clarification.

"Hanna, maybe you're looking for something a little edgier after Sean. But this guys dark." Spencer rested her hand under her chin. Okay that was over dramatic. Caleb wasn't that bad. I mean sketchy but not horrible.

"He's not that dark." she retorted

"He's dark enough" Spencer spoke

"Well he's not Arthur Dodger, whatever that means." Han shrugged our friend off

"Yeah and he's had it tough. He's cool." Aria and I spoke at the same time. We looked at each other and grinned giving a small fist bump to each other.

"Are you on speaking terms again." Spencer wondered about Aria and Hanna.

"Of course we are." Aria smiled

"Hanna, you need to be careful of that guy." Emily asked of her. Wow this conversation seemed eerily familiar and i don't think it was going to end well.

"Well it seems to me we had the same conversation about Toby."

"Hey I'm on your side here. Don't bring Toby into this." I protest. Then out of nowhere this man comes in asking for Coach Fulton. Turns out he was Paige McCullers' dad and thought Emily got the slot because she was gay, which is completely silly. She got the slot because Paige couldn't do it and she is the best. Mr Fitz handled him like a pro though and led him out of the cafeteria .

"Humm good a defusing situations with parents. On second thought lets bring him home with us." I say to my sister with a big grin. She rolled her eyes at me.

"Funny." she replied deadpan.

----------

I was sat doing my homework, when my phone rang. It was Spencer. I stopped what I was doing to answer the call.

"Hey what's up?" I ask

"Did you know Aria was over at his apartment?" I started to chuckle.

"Yes, why? Is that what you called me about my sister?" I wondered sitting against my headboard.

"Well not completely. I was just on the phone with her when I heard sires, I knew they couldn't be from our house because anything you can hear I can, then we got onto that subject. Anyway how is it on the home front?" she explained then changed the subjected

"A mix between the Ice Age and World War three. My Dad..." I noticed someone was at my door, speak of the devil

"What?"

"Who are you talking to?" he questioned

"Spencer." i held out my phone "Wanna check." he did

"Spencer?....Yes no everything's okay, goodbye Spencer." he handed the phone back to me and he left behind his back I gave him the middle finger.

"That Bad huh?" i went to check that he was actually gone, he was and I shut my door.

"Yeah. Anyway as I was saying my Dad is even more of a control freak than he was before. I didn't tell you this but this morning he asked me to change my clothes."

"He didn't! Why?"

"Because he thought my dress sense was provocative , I then turned it around on him saying he was implying that I was a slut and that I wanted attention from other boys apart from my boyfriend. Then stormed out.

"You have some balls." she drawled but I could tell that she was also amused.

"I do and they're bigger than his. You guys know what I'm like under threat it goes one of two ways I'm shit scared or i'm ruthless."

"Speaking of boyfriend, have you told him what happened?"

"I spoke to him on the way to school from Aria's phone of course. i would not put it past my father to check my phone records." I glance down and my nails nonchalantly 

"What did he say?"

"Well he was freaked out. Understandably, he's staying away for a little longer till things cool down." I answered, thinking back to the conversation with my boyfriend. I left out that our resident stalker had blabbed about the whole thing and was vague about the whole how they found out just that they did.

"You think they will?"

"Well Mom, maybe I think once she lets it settle the fact that despite who he is and how old he is. Jason makes me happy, she'll be less jumpy. My father on the other hand he will probably never get over it. Not that I care, he annoys the shit out of me."

"He's your dad." Spencer tried to reason but that excuse didn't and wouldn't fly with me.

"he's a hypocritical jackass who I wouldn't throw water on if he was on fire." i retorted, then the though of he being on actual fire filled me with a small amount of happiness, that would mean I would be free of his tyrant ways.

"Harsh."

"Yeah well he brings the worst out in me more than A." We continued talking for another hour before we ended the conversation.

--------

The next day I was permitted by the powers that be aka my Mom is awesome to be allowed to go shopping for some new clothes. These however would have to be approved by the board of the judgemental hypocrite also known as my father. Which is why all five of us were in the clothing store now.

"So are you tutoring Toby again?" I wondered looking at Spence.

"Tomorrow while Jenna's at her music lesson." she responded

"Take it." Hanna said handing over a leather jacket

"No you take it." Aria shook her head pushing it back to Hanna, it was both weird and cute at how they were discussing who should have a leather jacket.

"The storm has passed" Spence commented hearing the two.

"What was going on with you too?" Em wondered

"okay so you know how I went to that museum with Ezra." the other two nodded "Well, A tried to get Hanna to ruin it. Actually the bitch gave her a choice my date or Erica's."

"I randomly picked and it was Aria's" Hanna shrugged it off and my head tilted, randomly picking seemed a bit far fetch but whatever.

"Ruin it how though?" Spence questioned

"A gave me another ticket for the museum and a confirmation letter for reservation at Erica's restaurant."

"My god Hanna, why didn't you tell us?" Emily breathed

"Well i tried to stop it. Her mom's car just didn't stall. Caleb iced it to keep it from getting there and that's why I owe him." Hanna explained and now things began to make some sort of sense. Again in a weird way.

"Yeah and he's the one that's been breaking into the vending machines at school. I mean he's practically living there." I added

"In school?" Em asked

"oh, they found his stuff so he's not sleeping there anymore. He's sleeping in my basement." okay that I didn't know.

"Wait rewind" Aria and I spoke, not knowing that part. I had a tone of questions, when did this become a thing for starters.

"Does your Mom know?" Em wondered. I mean seriously what kind of question is that.

"No, but it's just for a couple of nights."

"A couple of nights? Are you crazy?"Spencer deadpanned

"guys." em caught our attention. she gestured to the other side of the shop. We walked over. Jenna was there in some lingerie 

"It has to be perfect. he loves lace." she stated. I grabbed the two nearest arms next to me and yanked them away.

"OK what the hell"

--------

I was going through my closet deciding what to donate and what to keep when my phone started ringing. I answered it, not bothering to look at caller ID.

"Yello." i answered

"Erica, it's me." Toby replied

"Toby, hey how are you doing?" I stopped what I was doing .

"I'm great, in fact I have good news. The D.A is dropping the charges." I screamed jumping around in excitement and what I had just heard

"Shut the fuck up!" he started laughing. Aria came running into my room with Dad but I was in too go of a mood to care about him being there right now. "What happened? Tell me everything." I took the phone away from my ear for a second.

"The charges against Toby have been dropped" I told them

"They said the blood in the sweater was corrupted so with out that they can't do anything." he briefly explained and that made me even more happy now that his name had been cleared

"So you're like really free."

"yeah, I'm going to get this ball and chain off Spencer's driving me." I did a little happy dance

"i'll be right there." I ended the call

"You're not going anywhere." Dad shook his head

"My best friend just got cleared of all charges. I need to see him." In insisted, he was not going to take away my happiness from this moment I would kick his ass if need be

"I said no."

"Please Dad!" I pleaded He stopped mid walk he looked at Aria then back at me. He thought long about it.

"Get in the car then." I squealed and ran out. He drove me to the court house. I waited for a while till I saw him coming out. I jumped out of the car and ran over to hug him.

"You're free!" he started laughing as he twirled me around.

"That I am." he put me down. "Thank you for believing in me, E."

"Bitch please i'm your very own personal cheerleader." I grinned "no one is ever taking that job right?"

"Right."

"Time to go Erica." my Dad called i looked over to him.

"Go, I'll talk to you later okay." he smiled. I nodded and gave him another hug.

"Bye Spencer." I waved at her then went back to the car. Inside I looked at my dad.

"Thank you." I told him sincerely. I think he knew it but he just nodded and drove us home.