chapter eight
please, do talk about me when I'm gone
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The girls were in Spencer's living room, preparing for Alison's memorial that they were doing. Josie and Emily were sitting across from Hanna on one the couches in the Hastings living room when Aria and Spencer came pushing in the personalized pedestal they had gotten delivered. "I was afraid she wouldn't get it done in time for the memorial." Aria said as she and Spencer finished moving the box into the room. "This was someone from your mom's gallery?" Hanna asked from where she was sitting on the couch still.

Aria nodded her head. "Right." she replied as she helped Spencer unscrew the top off the box. "Where is your mom?" Emily asked as she and Josie got up from the couch and went to unscrew the other side of the box so it'd be done faster. "There's an apartment above the gallery. So she's staying there. For now." Aria replied as she was still unscrewing the lid of the box.

"Kind of weird, isn't it? Your mom moving out." Hanna said as she was still reading the blueprints and sitting on the couch. "Yeah, like my dad should have left. That's what you'd expect." Aria snapped back causing Hanna to look up and look at Aria. "Aria" Spencer scolded her as she unscrewed the lid of the box.

Aria sighed, already feeling bad, she turned to Hanna, "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. The whole thing just sucks." she muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. "I know." Hanna mumbled while sharing a small sad smile with Aria. "Did anyone call Shelly Leonard?" Emily asked as she and Josie were almost done unscrewing the lid. She wanted to get rid of the weird tension that was in the air after that conversation.

"Done. I told her that if she plays anything depressing, I will kick her in her cello." Spencer replied to Emily which caused the blonde to laugh. "Oh, what about the program?" Aria asked Spencer. "It's almost done, but we should finish it before Jason gets here." Spencer answered as she handed the screw to Josie. "When is that?" Josie asked. "Tonight, and he wants to see us in the morning." Spencer replies. "Okay, you know what?" Hanna asked as she stood up from her spot on Spencer's couches. "I barely remember Jason." Hanna admitted as she joined her friends who were standing around the crate.

"We didn't know him, he was just Ali's older brother down the hall." Aria reminded her. "Behind the closed door." Spencer added. "With his hardcore punk music vibrating the floorboards." Emily added with a chuckle. "How did he get into an Ivy League school?" Aria asked. "I don't know. It must have been affirmative action for goths and emos." Spencer answered, making Josie laugh. The girls lifted the lid to show them the birdbath. "It's beautiful." Aria commented as they looked at it. The birdbath had six girl figures sitting on the edge of it, resembling the girls and Alison. "Pedestal's already out there next to the bench." Spencer told the group. "This goes up Friday morning."

"Do you think Jason will like it?" Emily asked. "Of course, he'll like it." Hanna as she rested her head on Josie's shoulder. "And years from now, people are going to see this memorial, and that's all they'll ever know about Ali. She'll be the girl that they dedicated the bench to." Aria explained to the other girls. "And we'll all be gone, but Ali will still be remembered." Aria finished as she kept looking at the birdbath. "That's immortality my darlings." Spencer repeated a line they had heard Alison say once.

FLASHBACK

The group of six were enjoying a nice day by the lake. Josie was beside Spencer, laying on her back with her Hanna on the other side of her while Emily, Aria and Alison sat in chairs under the shade. "I wish we could just choose the age we wanted to be and just stay there." Aria spoke up.

"The only way to do that is to die young." Alison informed them. "Leave a beautiful corpse." Alison said as she looked between her friends. "Don't joke." Emily chastised the Dilaurentis girl. "It's not a joke." Alison shrugged, not seeing the harm in the topic of conversation.

"Oh, come on, haven't you guys ever thought about how deliciously tragic it would be to die in some incredibly mysterious way. That would be superior." Alison said softly, as she looked out towards the lake. Spencer rolled her eyes before replying. "Is that really how you want to go, Alison?" She asked the blonde. "Not just yet." Alison shrugged. "Don't talk like that." Hanna told her. "It's gruesome." Aria added. "It's not gruesome." Alison corrected the Montgomery girl. "It's immortality, my darlings." she said, making Josie sigh and share a look with Spencer.

PRESENT

"Where did she get that from? A movie?" Aria asked as she looked towards her friends. "Ali was a movie." Spencer commented.

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The next morning the group was back at Spencer's house, minus Hanna who was late. "You've done a great job, really. Mum, dad, and I are really grateful." Jason told them just as Hanna walked through the backdoor of the Hastings house and into the kitchen, where everyone was sitting. "There you are!" Jason greeted the blonde. "Jason!" Hanna smiled up at the blonde man. "Uh, hey." She greeted as the two hugged. "Sorry, I'm late." Hanna said before she took a spot on the arm of the couch next to her friends.

"No problem." Jason brushed it off. "I was just saying you've done some lovely work on the memorial, I might have done one or two things differently, but we can adjust that along the way." He added, it surprised all the girls, who shared looks at his statement. "Here's a copy of the program for the dedication." He said as he handed the girls a piece of paper, not noticing the looks that were shared. "Oh, I emailed you the program that we worked on." Spencer cut in.

"Right. I saw the draft." Jason nodded. "This just fine tunes it. Uh, let's see. Uh, if Shelly Leonard's gonna play something I don't think we can give her more than three minutes. I remember she's somewhat of a showboat with that cello." He joked, trying to ease the tension. "Then, uh, oh. Is this the picture for the program?" Jason asked as he held up a photo of Alison. "Yes." Emily answered. "It's everybody's favorite." Josie finished Emily's sentence.

"It's the one I would have picked." He said as he looked back down at the photo. "I thought I was gonna be about to get my whole family out here, but you know, at the last minute my mum, um," Jason trailed off as he chuckled softly. "It's crazy talking about this, isn't it? When I think about her, I-I think about you, the six of you, in her bedroom, laughing, keeping secrets." he said as he had a smile on his face as he remembered.

Josie zoned out as she spun her rings around on her fingers. She stopped short on a ring on her right hand, a small plain silver ring. she remembers getting it, it was a birthday gift from Alison. Jason's voice brought her out of her daydream. "I want each of you to speak." Jason said. "I'd rather hear from you than Mrs. Slocomb from the PTA." Jason said but Spencer cut him off. "The PTA was a lot of help." Spencer said to him. "What about the rain?" Jason asked, not even responding to Spencer, making the girls share a look. "The rain?" Spencer asked as she looked at the girls, not understanding what he was on about.

"Forty percent chance before the weekend." Jason reminded them. "They said we can use the school's multipurpose room if we have to move it all inside." Josie informed him. "Great." Jason said as he smiled at her. "People think this dedication is about closure. There won't be closure until they find out who did this to Alison." Jason said sadly. "The cops in this town have been jerking my family around for more than a year. No more of that. I'm here to get some action and this memorial is gonna help me get it." Jason thought out loud.

"Oh, and I'm adding one speaker to the program." Jason added as if he just remembered as he grabbed the piece of paper he handed the girls and wrote another name. "Jenna Marshall?" Emily asked, surprised. "Wait, you want Jenna to speak at the dedication?" Hanna asked, scared that Jenna might say something. "That's right." He nodded. "Why?" Aria asked the question they all wanted answered. "She asked me if she could." Jason added with a small shrug. "Jenna asked to speak?" Josie asked, confused on why the girl who hated Alison would ask to speak. "Is there a problem?" Jason asked the five girls in front of him, confused on why they were making a big deal out of it.

Josie was about to tell Jason that Alison and Jenna weren't friends, but she was cut off by Spencer, "I-It just didn't occur to us that Alison and Jenna were that close." she stuttered out, nervous about this entire situation. "Yeah, I didn't know either but Jenna called, and said my sister was a lot of help to her after her accident." He explained. "Well, concentrate on what you're going to say. Leave the rest of it to me." He told them as he started to place his things back into his bag. "Now, I'm going to have a talk with Detective Wilden and find out why they haven't located Toby yet." He said goodbye to the girls before Spencer walked him out through the front door.

"Did we just get fired?" Hanna asked, turning to look at her friend. "Sssh! Keep it down." Aria hushed Hanna, not wanting Jason to hear them. "Why is he talking to Jenna?" Emily asked as she moved out of her seat to stand slightly between Hanna and Josie. "I don't know." Josie shrugged. "This is turning into a nightmare." Aria sighed. "What else did he say?" Hanna asked Spencer once the girl walked back into the room.

"Nothing." Spencer confessed to the girls with a sigh. "He just kept smiling like he was running for office." she said as she sat on a stool in her kitchen. "Spence, why does Jenna want to speak at the dedication?" Aria asked the Hastings. "Why does Jason what her there?" Hanna asked.

"And why does Jason want her there?" Emily said as she crosses her arms over her chest. "he clearly knows they weren't friends." she added as she looks at her friends. "We can't let Jenna speak," Aria shakes her head. "How are we going to stop her without looking like bitches?" Hanna questions. "How're we going to stop her at all?" Spencer questions as Josie sighs and she shifts her stance next to Hanna. "in case you didn't notice we just got patted on the head and sent off to play." Spencer said to the girls as they all stood around in her kitchen.

"You need to stay on top of him," Hanna speaks up looking at Spencer, "find out what's going on." the Marin girl added as she kept looking at Spencer, making her uncomfortable. "Why me?" Spencer questions. "Because you're the big organizer," Aria pointed out the obvious. "you've got the laptop of all knowledge, and he's going to need some of that." Josie added. "Jenna could get up there, she could tell about the fire and Toby. She could tell about everything," Emily explains worriedly. Spencer sighs. "fine."

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"Can't believe Jason's back in town." Jennifer replied to her daughter as the two of them sat at their kitchen table, Jennifer had gotten home from work about an hour before Josie had returned home. "I know, it's weird that he's the only one back but I understand why Jessica and Kenneth didn't but it's strange to have Jason here and not them, makes me miss ali more." Josie said as she twirled some pasta around on her fork.

Her mother sighed and nodded. "yeah, but hey, everyone is always going to remember Alison, she's never going to be forgotten love." She said as she grabbed her daughters hand with a smile, one that Josie returned.

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"Well, that was painless." Spencer, Emily, Josie and Jason had just finished speaking to the principal. "Not for Principal Hartman." Spencer mumbled. "He means well, but he needs to know who's in charge." Jason told the teens as they followed behind him. "I think we all know that." Spencer mumbled. "Okay, is-is there a problem?" Jason stopped walking and turned back to face the trio. "No. There isn't a problem." Josie was quick to answer for Spencer. "You're Alison's brother. You should have final say." Emily was quick to add. "But you're not the only one dealing with this." she added. "See, there's that closed door again." Jason pointed out. "The secrets of the girls cuddled up in Alison's bedroom. Do you think that means you knew her better than I did?"

"No. It just means we knew her in a different way." Emily corrected him. "She was your sister Jason, but she was our friend, two very different things so we are sorry, we just knew her differently" Josie said to him calmly but Jason wasn't listening, he had caught the sight of Detective Wilden trying to get into a locker. "What are they doing?" Jason asked as he saw Wilden and an officer talking to the Head Janitor. "That's Toby's locker." Emily informed them all as the others saw what Jason spotted. "Detective Wilden." Jason greeted the blonde man, as the group walked towards him.

"Oh, you'll find this interesting." Wilden commented as he started going through the locker. "We're having a lock in Toby Cavanaugh's locker." Detective Wilden informed Jason and the three girls. "Why? Do you think he's in there?" Jason said, which made Josie snort softly making Emily nudge her. "He's a suspect." Wilden replied, but before he could go back to looking through the locker Jason spoke up.

"Well, your investigation better turn up more than Toby Cavanaugh's old gym socks." Jason was clearly annoyed with Wilden. "You made it quite clear the other day you weren't happy with the pace of the investigation. You said you wanted action. I'm trying to give that to you." Wilden said to Jason.

"Yeah, you've got nothing. I realized that yesterday." Jason replied. "You know, sometimes, Jason, we withhold information on the progress of an investigation to avoid any interruptions." Wilden explained to the younger man. "Yeah, the only reason you're tearing this kid's locker apart is because he's not around to object." Jason shot back. "Toby Cavanaugh called your sister's cell phone the night she disappeared. I checked the records. She took the call." Wilden informed the group. "Toby called Alison the night she died?" Emily spoke up for the three girls as shock was written all over their faces, not knowing that piece of information. "He did." Wilden nodded. "Or someone else did using his phone." He added.

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"She tried to pin it on you?" Hanna exclaimed in surprise. Spencer sent out an S.O.S. text to the girls after Jason had left and then she told them about how Alisons tried pinning the fire on Spencer. "That's what she told Jason." she replied. "But why you?" Emily asked. "Because Spencer could stand up to her and she didn't like that." Josie answered, it was obvious.

"God, this is officially insane!" Hanna sighed before she took a seat on Spencer's couch. "Is that what she told Jenna when she was at the hospital?" Emily asked as she took a seat beside Hanna, followed by Josie as she sat on the other side of her, and Aria who stood behind them. "I don't know." Spencer shrugged. "I don't think so, but I don't know."          

"Okay, so, one minute, she's trying to cover it up and the next she's ratting us out to her brother." Aria said as she looked at all of her friends. "Like she wanted Jason to know the fake story in case anything happened to her." Josie said as she stood up and started pacing. "Why?" Hanna asked them. "So, they'd know who to blame." Spencer sighed out. "God, this is still Alison's movie and we are just filling up the screen." Aria scoffed, making Josie sighed and shook her head.

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It was raining the day of Alison's memorial so they moved the ceremony into the school's multipurpose room. The five girls sat at the front on one side of the room while Jason and Jenna on the other, Richie was behind the girls a few seats down, he had shown up for support. Spencer was the first out of the girls to give their speeches but paused as she looked between her friends and the entrance, making them turn to see Ian. "Is that Ian?" Josie asked her friend. "As in Melissa's Ian?" Hanna added, but before the others could speak, Spencer had started her speech.          

Josie came last in line for speeches, after Spencer, Hanna, Emily and Aria. The carmen girl took a breath before getting up, brushing her dress down and as she caught Richie's encouraging look across the room, it was enough for her to smile as she walked up on the stage.

"Alison was my first friend," Josie trailed off as she took in a sharp breath before continuing. "Alison was such a light to be around. When we were younger I remember we used to have these playdates and she'd just be so energetic and happy and I love that I can remember her that way, not the way that people make her out to be or what happened in the past years, I will always remember Alison Dilaurentis as that bright, happy kid that she was when we were younger." Josie finished. People clapping were drowned out as she walked off stage right to Richie and the girls. He had taken her seat with the girls after she went up on stage. They hugged her, knowing this was hurting her as much as anyone, Alison really was her first female friend in rosewood.

After Josie's speech, they got to hear what Jenna had to say, something the girls were dreading. "We think we know who we are, but we don't. Not until something bad happens to us and then all the useless things fall away, and we are left with who we really are. I learnt that from Alison Dilaurentis." Jenna started. "My whole life, I thought I knew who she was, but I found out the truth when she came and talked to me at the hospital. I found out that she was the strongest person that I had ever met and it's her strength that touched so many people. Shaped them, That's her real legacy. That's how her memory will endure in the actions of those she inspired in so many different ways. From all of us, thank you, Alison." Josie and the girls shared a look, Josie sighed and shrunk into Richie's arms.

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After the memorial the five girls and Jason went back to Spencer's house. Richie had left the girls on their own as he went back to his house, to let the girls have a night to themselves after Alison's memorial. "I need sugar." Hanna sighed as they walked into Spencer's kitchen. "Me too," Josie said as all of the girls hummed in agreement. "I'm buying," Spencer said as she walked into her kitchen. "That was my folks." Jason told them, as he walked back into the Hastings kitchen. "They say thanks, and so do I." Jason thanked the group. "You're welcome." Emily spoke up.

"I want you girls to have something." He added as he reached into his jacket pocket. "The police returned this to my family. I think you should have it." Josie's heart dropped once she saw what he placed on the kitchen counter. It was Alison's friendship bracelet. The same one that was in Spencer's room.

"The police gave that to you?" Emily asked as Aria reached to grab it. "Alison was wearing it." Jason nodded. "When they found her?" Josie asked as turned to look at Jason. "After listening today, I just thought you should have it." Jason shrugged. "I'll be in touch." He said to Spencer before he left. "If that's Alison's bracelet, what about the one we found in the woods?" Emily asked. "I don't know." Aria stammered. "Someone made a copy of Alison's bracelet." Hanna stated. "Yeah, and made sure that we would find it." Spencer added.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
sorry this chapter took me awhile to get up, I've been having bad writers block but i'm back and hopefully updating most my books all this week