chapter fifty one
birds of a feather
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"Do we really believe that Jenna was off on a joyride that night?" Aria asked as the five girls sat at a table in The Apple Rose Grille. "Or was it her plan to take Emily to Ali's grave all along." Spencer theorized. "Seemed to me like she was scared of someone." Emily said. "And it seemed like she was blind for five months when she wasn't." Josie pointed out. "For purposes of my head not exploding, can we just say that she is telling the truth?" Hanna asked.

"Well that would mean that we would cross her off the new 'A' list." Spencer answered. "Then who's still on it?" Aria asked. "Lucas?" Emily suggested but Hanna shut her down. "No way." she said. "He might be a little unhinged lately, but he's not capable of digging up a grave." she explained. "Guys, all roads lead back to the black swan." Spencer said. "We know that she was working with Mona, the sketches were in her lair." Spencer explained before Melissa called out to her.

"Spencer," she called out, making them turn to her. "Mom, wants to know if you want anything else?" she asked. "Uh, no. Thank you, mom." Spencer answered. "Melissa looks great." Emily remarked. "Yeah, she's back to being size too skinny." Hanna added quietly as the girls looked at her. "Black swan skinny? Think about it." she suggested. "We know that she lied about when she lost her baby." Hanna explained. "Whoa, back up." Spencer stopped her.

"You think she was pretending to be pregnant for that long?" Josie asked, confused. "No. That's, like, months, there's no way." Spencer denied. "She wouldn't do that to my parents." She added. "Who else could it be?" Emily asked. "Mona started talking again so maybe she can give me some answers." Hanna told them just before Jason walked into The Apple Rose Grille. "Did you really think you could avoid me forever?" he loudly asked Veronica Hastings, gaining attention from everyone in the restaurant. "How could you defend Garrett?" he asked her.

"Let's not have this conversation here." Veronica spoke calmly. "Oh, it doesn't bother you that he murdered my sister?" he angrily asked. "Look, I understand you're upset but this isn't the place–" she started. "Just tell me why you're doing it." he asked, cutting her off. "Everyone deserves a competent legal defense." she answered. "You sure that's the only reason?" he asked, his gaze flickering to Melissa. "Let the process play out, Jason, focus on taking care of your family, and yourself." Veronica suggested.

"Don't worry, I am." he responded before walking out of the restaurant, and Spencer went after him which caused the other girls to as well. They walked out to see Spencer staring at a poster Jason had hung up. It was a reward for $50,000 for anyone who had information about Ali's missing remains. They were staring at it when their phones went off.

UNKNOWN ID
Imagine what I could do with
fifty grand
⎯ A

Spencer read it out to them, causing Josie to fidget with her necklace nervously as they went back to looking at the poster that Jason had hung up.

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"Not only did my dad get a new haircut, but he's also wearing a new aftershave." Aria told Josie and Hanna as the three of them walked through the school hallways. "Sounds like he's got a date to me." Hanna remarked. "Same." Josie agreed. "He smells like baby wipes." Aria told them, making them laugh. "Does your mom know?" Josie asked. "No. It's one thing to say he's going out on a date, it's another to say that it's with Meredith." Aria explained just before Hanna stopped them, spotting Ella up ahead.

"It's better she hears it from you than someone else." Hanna advised as they watched Ella walk into a classroom and the girls gave Aria a look before they split off, leaving Aria to tell her mother. "So how are things with Richie?" Hanna asked Josie. "They're great." Josie answered with a smile. "Where is he?" Hanna asked. "With his teammates." Josie answered and Hanna nodded and the two continued walking through the halls and talking. 

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Josie and Richie were sitting in a secluded place in the courtyard during break. "How's Emily going?" he asked and she nodded. "She's okay, healing." Josie answered before she rested her head on his shoulder. "Heard Jason's asking for a reward for anyone who has information on Alison's missing remains." he said and josie sighed. "Yeah, he came barreling into The Grille and had an argument with Mrs. Hastings about her defending Garrett." Josie explained. "Why is she defending Garrett?" he asked and Josie shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea, maybe because she feels everyone deserves to have a defense but..." Josie trailed off, making Richie look at her. "Jo?" he asked, making her sigh. "We – me and the girls – think it's because he and Melissa.. May have been involved." Josie admitted. "Really?" he asked and she nodded. "Don't tell them I told you that." she said to him and he nodded, pretending to zip his mouth shut and throwing away a key, making her laugh.

"God, I love you." she mused before kissing him, and he kissed back while smiling. She had no idea what she did to deserve him, but she hoped he never left her. "I love you too." he replied back after he pulled away from her, just smiling at her with his dimpled smile that she loved.

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The next day Aria and Hanna were at Josie's place. "Every couple fights." Aria comforted Hanna. "She's right, maybe you both need a little time to cool off." Josie spoke as she sat next to Aria at her kitchen island. "Caleb's not gonna be cooling off any time soon." Hanna responded as she paced. "He doesn't understand why I need to see Mona and it's killing me not to tell him." Hanna continued as Josie watched as Aria set up a dating profile for her mother.

"Maybe you should." Aria suggested. "Maybe I should what?" Hanna asked. "Tell him why you're going there, and about this 'A', this goes for you to Jo." Aria said, glancing between Hanna and Josie. "Wait, are you serious?" Hanna and Josie asked in sync. "Look, if it were me, I would tell Ezra about 'A', I'd have to." Aria admitted and Hanna sighed and walked around Aria before she noticed what she was doing on her laptop.

"Why are you looking at pictures of bald, fat men?" Hanna asked Aria, causing Josie to laugh. "I'm looking for a guy for my mom." Aria answered before she started clicking onto a profile on her computer, "I don't know, I just thought she could try out online dating." Aria explained as she clicked onto another profile.

"She's divorced, she's not desperate." Josie said amused. "You didn't tell your mom about your dad and Meredith, did you?" Hanna asked, making Josie turn to her as well. "Aria..." Josie trailed off and Aria shrugged. "I just thought It would be easier for her to hear If she had already met someone else." Aria reasoned. "Look, Aria your mom's a catch okay? She can meet someone in person, She doesn't have to do it online." Hanna told Aria as Jennifer Carmen walked into the room.

"Oh hi girls." She greeted the girls with a smile. "Hi, mom." She greeted her mom as Hanna shut the laptop. "Okay, what don't you want me to see?" she asked once she noticed the girls were acting weird. "Nothing." Josie answered. "Josie..." Jennifer trailed off, giving her daughter a pointed look, making her sigh before she opened the computer, showing her mom.

It showed a guy's dating profile Aira had clicked on before. "Should I be worried?" Jennifer asked. "I'm trying to find a guy for my mom." Aria explained to her. "Yeah, preferably someone who doesn't look like a grape." Hanna added, making Josie and Jennifer laugh as Aria clicked onto the next profile. "He's... cute, sort of." Jennifer said. "He has a unibrow mom." Josie deadpanned. "Tell your mom to use MainLineMate, it's a much better site." Jennifer suggested before walking off as Josie raised a brow at her, she didn't know her mom was on dating websites. Aria quickly searched up MainLineMate and made her mom a profile.

"Gourmet chef?" Hanna asked as she and Josie watched Aria fill out the dating profile for her mom. "What? She is in my house." Aria answered, making Hanna scoff softly. "Athletic?" Josie asked. "Aria, does your mom even own a pair of sneakers?" she asked again. "Okay, everybody exaggerates on this thing, I read it in cosmo." Aria remarked before she noticed Hanna was still standing.

"Sit down, help me figure out a username." Aria told her and Hanna sat on the other side of Aria. "Um...Oh! How about 'RosewoodGirl'?" Aria asked with a smile as she typed it in. "Lame." Hanna commented. "Artlover?" Aria asked. "Boring." Josie added when suddenly Hanna had a thought as she looked at Aria with a smirk. "I got one. 'HotMama'" Hanna said. "HotMama?" Aria asked and Hanna nodded as Josie laughed.

"I'm trying to get my mom a date with a man, not a frat boy." Aria remarked. "Trust me Aria, this is going to work." Hanna said as she stood up while Josie watched as Hanna typed 'HotMama' into the username on the website. "HotMama." she said as she typed it in.

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"He was there with a court order to talk to her." Hanna told her friends. "So what do you think Mona said to Wilden?" Emily asked. "If she knows that we were at Ali's grave that night–" Aria started. "We'd be in jail." Josie cuts her off as Emily sighs. "You guys, we need to find out who the black swan is, like, now." Hanna said, looking at Spencer. "I think we need to find out when Melissa lost her baby." Aria said.

"Yeah, she's right, Spence, I mean Melissa lied for a reason, we need to find out what it is." Emily said in response to Aria's sentence. "Yeah, but we know why Mona hated us." Spencer said as she stood up from the couch. "Why would my sister wanna torture us?" she asked as she turned to her friends. "Because you made out with her fiance and broke up their engagement." Hanna told her.

"Okay, yeah, but that was me." Spencer responded. "And she knows that we have the video that shows her in Ali's room the night she was murdered." Josie spoke up. "And she fits the costume." Hanna added. Spencer turns and picks up a pair of keys from the table behind her before facing her friends again. "Going to philly." she remarked.

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The girls were currently hidden under a staircase that led to Melissa's apartment building. As soon as she walked away from the building, the girls popped out from their hiding spot and watched her walk away before Hanna pulled her phone out and called Spencer. "Hey Mellisa just left, should we go in?" Hanna asked. "No, just wait. I'll text you when she gets here." Spencer responded. "All right, Roger that." Hanna said before hanging up. "Roger that?" Aria asked, "What? We're on a mission." Hanna responded.

Twenty minutes later and the girls were now sitting on the stairs, waiting for a text from Spencer. "All right, you guys, it's been twenty minutes, we should just go in." Hanna said. "Spencer hasn't texted yet." Emily told her. "She will, any minute." Aria said as Josie sighed. "Let's find out when she lost that baby." Hanna said before the four of them used a key to get into the building and then another key to get into Melissa's apartment.

Aria slowly opened the door as the others looked to see if anyone was looking before entering. "What exactly are we looking for?" Josie as she looked around at the tidy and organized apartment. "Medical records, anything with a date on it." Hanna told them before they all split up and looked around the apartment. "I'm gonna go check the bedroom." Aria said before heading to the bedroom as Emily, Josie and Hanna checked out the main area.

Emily looked through the books on a shelf before helping Hanna and Josie as they looked through the papers on the desk as well before Aria closed the bedroom door, clearly finished looking though it. "Okay, there's nothing in the bedroom." she said as she joined the others. "Is this anything?" Aria asked as Hanna handed her something. "Yeah, her car insurance." Aria responded before putting it down, all of them unaware that Spencer had messaged Hanna

Spencer Hastings
Melissa's on her way back, don't go in yet.

"Melissa bought a pair of chloe boots from saks last week for 900 bucks." Emily said as held a receipt. "Okay, now those I wanna see." Aria said as they continued looking through her stuff. "I wanna find her fake baby bump." Hanna added, making Josie laugh. "Never change Han." she said with a smile as the others looked at her. "What? Aren't you curious? It has to be here somewhere." she said. "Gross." Aria muttered as Hanna went and opened the closet.

"Oh, my god, she's even more anal than Spencer." she remarked, making the girls look over to see Melissa's clothes, which were organized by colour. "I didn't even think that was possible." Emily remarked as Hanna went searching through the closet, which showed a line of shows at the back of it. "Yet it is." Aria said, seeing it when suddenly Emily gasped. "Oh, my god." she said, making them look over to her.

"What?" Hanna asked. "It's Melissa!" she told them. "Where?" Aria asked. "Outside!" Emily answered as she cleaned up what they had been looking through as Aria and Josie looked outside. "Put everything back." Emily ordered. "What do we do?" Aria asked as Josie put everything back where it was. "Put everything back where you found it." Emily answered as the three of them cleaned the desk up as Hanna picked up her bag that was on the chair before trying to clean up before she knocked something over.

"Damn it!" Hanna hissed. "Hanna." Emily scolded before they quickly helped her clean it up as they started to hear movement from outside the door before they also heard Melissa put the key in the door, making them move quickly and hide in Melissa's closet. Josie's hand was covering her mouth, nervous she'd make a noise and blow this entire thing.

They watched as Melissa saw a book on the coffee table, one Emily had left out before putting it back where it was meant to be before heading to the closet, where the girls were, making them hide as much as they could behind the clothes when Melissa opened the closet and pushed the clothes aside in the middle but when Melissa started going through her clothes, moving down near where the girls were, they started freaking out.

But soon she stopped on a jacket, and grabbed something out of it before closing the closet and leaving the apartment, letting the girls relax. They opened the closet and let out sighs of relief of not being caught. "God that was close." Josie said shakily. "Yeah, way too close." Emily added. "Okay, let's just get out of here." Aria suggested. "We need to hang these up." Emily said as she knelt down and picked up clothes that had fallen.

"Wait, you guys, look." Hanna said as she spotted a clothes bag in the closet, one that would hold something important. Emily pulled it out of the closet so we could have a proper look. It was from a costume company. The girls shared a look before Aria slowly opened it, but there wasn't anything there, but Josie spotted something. "Wait." she said, bending down to pull it from the bottom of the bag, she pulled out a couple feathers, ones that matched the black swan dress.

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"It matches the one Hanna found at the masquerade ball." Aria explained to Spencer as Hanna put the feathers down in front of them, the one she found at the masquerade ball and the one Josie found in the bag at Melissa's apartment. They were currently in Aria's room. "You know what they say, if the feather sits." Hanna told her, making Josie furrow her brows, that definitely wasn't the saying. "Hanna, it's the shoe. If the shoe fits." Josie corrected her.

"Whatever, Melissa's 'A'." Hanna said. "Guys, I know that she looks suspicious, okay, but we're still just guessing." Spencer said as held the feathers and walked around Aria's room. "Well, it's a guess I'm willing to take." Hanna told her. "Me too," "Same." Aria and Josie answered. "Fine, I'll go back to Philly." Spencer answered. "Mm-mmm, you're not going alone." Aria said with a shake of her head. "If Melissa is who we think she is, then she's dangerous." Hanna said.

"Like 'probably had something to do with Ali's murder' dangerous." Aria added. "Look, she's not just trying to hurt you, Spencer, she's after all of us." Josie told her. "Well, Em gets off at 8 o'clock, so pick her up, and then we'll all go together." Spencer told them and the girls nodded.

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Josie sighed as she closed her bedroom door before turning around. "Jesus Rich." she yelped, not noticing Richie was sitting at her desk. "Hey." he greeted her, but Josie could tell something was wrong. "What's up? Everything okay?" She asked as she moved to sit on the end of her bed so she could talk to him properly. "You tell me, is 'A' back?" he asked and Josie could feel her heart drop.

"Richie..." she trailed off, confirming his worst nightmare. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked as Josie teared up. "I couldn't have hurt you." she responded, defending her choice to not tell him. "why? What's so bad about it this time?" he asked and she sighed. "Because this 'A' stole Alison's remains." she answered, making him look at her in shock. "This 'A' did that?" he asked and she nodded before standing up, him doing the same.

"This 'A' feels more dangerous and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you were hurt because of me." she cried, making Richie pull her into a comforting hug as she cried, he kissed the crown of her head. "It's gonna be okay," he kept whispering as they stood in her room hugging and soon enough Josie was explaining everything to Richie, she knew the girls would have her head but she couldn't keep secrets from him anymore.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter, welp richie knows about the new 'A'