chapter twenty five
my name is trouble
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The next day at school, the girls were waiting in toilet stalls til the girl who was standing next to Emily had left and once she did, they all walked out. Whoo, we gotta find a better place to do this, somewhere preferably with a fan." Aria said, sending a smile to her friends. "Good luck, we're gonna have to dig a tunnel under the school." Emily said sarcastically. "Uh, yeah, not with those hands. You need some serious moisturiser." Hanna said, getting some out of her bag for her. "This letter isn't that bad, Emily." Spencer said to Emily as she read the letter a college scout had sent to her mother.

"It's bad." Emily corrected as she dried her hands. "Won't your mom be impressed that the scout even took the time to write?" Josie asked. "Here, use this. It cost more than my purse." Hanna said, handing Emily a moisturiser. "Guys, it's a 'maybe' letter. My mom needs to see something real, something that says, "Let her stay in Rosewood. We want her. Don't take her to Texas." Emily rants. "Em, there are other colleges." Josie said, trying to comfort her.

"Yeah, other scouts will want you." Spencer said with a nod. "When? My mom's already packed up the whole kitchen. She keeps telling me how much I'm going to like the rodeo." Emily said, making Josie sigh as they heard people outside making the girls sigh. "Let's just do this later, okay?" Aria said as she used Hanna's moisturiser. "Um, what about after school?" Hanna asked as she looked at the girls.

"I can't today. I've got field hockey." Spencer declines as she passes Emily the letter and takes the moisturiser from Hanna. "I have swim practice." Emily said. "I am trying out for cheerleading, mom wants me to be more involved in school," Josie said as Spencer raised an eyebrow at her, making her laugh. "I'm starting my class at Hollis." Aria said with a smile as the girls shared a look.

"Is Jackie gonna be teaching it?" Spencer asked. "No, no, this is not about stalking. If Ezra says it's over between them, I believe him." Aria said. "So, what, you're just gonna hang around campus with binoculars?" Hanna asked as Aria walked up the mirror. "I'm following our therapist's orders on having separate time, okay?" she said as she fixed her hair and lipstick. "It's an extension course. If I happen to bump into Ezra, that's just a bonus." she continued nonchalantly making Josie snicker. "Oh, nice bonus." she teased with a smile.

"Yeah, great. Everyone's got a life except for me." Hanna complained, causing Josie to turn to her. "You could try out for cheerleading with me," she offered but Hanna shook her head.  "I thought you were gonna go to the mall with Mona." Aria asked with a smile. "Stealing moisturiser is not a life. It's a hobby. It's getting really boring." Hanna replied with a frown as Spencer took the moisturiser from Hanna. "You stole this?" Spencer asked. "No. It's a sample." Hanna said as she grabbed it back as the door to the bathroom opened, making the girls freeze before leaving or going back into the stalls.

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"Did you get in?" Jennifer Carmen asked her daughter as she walked into the kitchen where Josie was standing. "Yeah, they said, I'd make a great addition to the team and they don't care that people I might have killed someone." Josie said with a tight smile before eating some of the food she had made for herself, making her mother sigh. "Your father called again," she said, changing the topic. "What did he say?" she asked. "Honey you might wanna sit down for this," she said, making Josie frown, worried, she sat down at her kitchen island. "Your father informed me that while we were together, he was also with someone else," Jennifer started making Josie sit up straight.

"And that she was also pregnant, he was born sometime in January while you were–obviously–born in October, so he would be your older half-brother." she said, making Josie's eyes-widen in shock. "Are you saying I have a brother?" she asked, voice cracking as Jennifer nodded. "I didn't know until he told me, which was because he got wind that he was in rosewood, he doesn't know where but apparently he is," she said making Josie rest her head in her hands as she mother sighed and kissed her daughters temple as she pulled her into a comforting hug.

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"You have a half-brother?" Richie asked as he watched Josie pace around his room. "Yeah," she said as she nodded. "I just–I have no idea who it could be, I've been thinking about it and it's been driving me crazy." she said as Richie got up and put his hands on her shoulders to try and get her to stop pacing.

"You just need to breathe okay, this has obviously freaked you out, okay," he advised as he pulled Josie to sit down as she kneeled in front of her. "You just gotta breathe, okay you're trying to figure this out in one day and it might take longer, alright, i'll help you but Jo, you gotta relax," he said as she breathed in and out a few times, calming down, before he kissed her forehead in comfort.

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The next day, Aria, Hanna and Josie met Emily in her car, apparently she needed to speak to them. "you gotta stay out of it." Aria said, advising Hanna on how to deal with her parents. "No, but if he ends up hurting her–" Hanna started but Aria cut her off. "Hanna, I tried protecting my mom...and it completely blew up in my face. you just gotta let them work it out for themselves." Aria advised. Josie was quiet, she kept thinking over her newly revealed half-brother but she noticed Emily pulling out a letter. "What is that?" she asked, making Emily hand it to her.  "Read it." she said, making Josie open it as Hanna and Aria leaned forward to read it as well. "... if you continue as rosewood's m.v.p. and anchor until the end of swim season, we can offer you a full schol–" Josie read it out, cutting herself off.

"No way! em, the scout changed his mind? This is amazing! That means you don't have to move!" Josie said excitedly. "Wait, let me see this." Hanna said as she took the letter from Josie. "So what'd your mom say?" Aria asked Emily. "She hasn't seen it." she answered, making Aria and Josie confused. "Why?" they asked in sync. "Because I haven't mailed it yet." Emily said, making Josie's eyes-widen as she took the letter back from her. "What?" she asked. "Wait, Em, did you write this letter?" Hanna asked, making the three girls shocked, and when Emily didn't answer they knew the answer.

"Oh, my god! You are a total rock star, Emily fields! you are totally getting me into harvard!" Hanna exclaimed happily while Josie and Aria frowned. "Emily, I would not mail this." Josie said as she looked from the letter to Emily. "Oh, I love it. Here, let me see if I have an extra stamp." Hanna said as she looked inside her bag. "This just feels really wrong." Aria chimed in as Josie passed the letter to her. "oh, really? and taking an art class with Jenna isn't it?" Hanna asked her rhetorically. "I hope your first assignment is how to make a weapon." she added.

"Okay, I never said that I was actually staying in the class. whatever. I'm still working that out." Aria said, defending herself. "Okay, once your parents read this it's gon–" Josie started but was cut off. "Oh, big deal. She changed a few words. it's like alison used to say, "you're not lying, you're just pre-telling the truth."' Hanna said.

"Hey, does it matter if it looks a little used?" she added as she pulled out a stamp from her bag making Aria sigh. "there's got to be another way." she said as she leaned forward and looked at Emily. "there isn't." Emily said sadly before Hanna dropped the Stamps onto Emily's lap while they sighed. 

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Later, at night Aria, Hanna and Josie had met up at Spencer's place. "So wait, who's Anita?" Hanna asked Aria as they all sat around Spencer's room. "No one. Me. I was okay. I only said that because I didn't want Jenna to know I was there." Aria said, trying to defend herself. "Well, yeah, but she did know." Josie pointed out as she sat on Spencer's bed. "Only after I said something. I had to." Aria replied before letting out a sigh. "I thought it was safe." she added. "No, Anita was safe. Aria is not." Spencer said from where she was standing by the window. "I feel like I just made things worse. If Jenna is "A," I totally rattled her cage." Aria said just before Spencer gasped and moved away from the window

"She's on the move." Spencer whispered to them. "I'm ready." Hanna said as Josie nodded in agreement as she stood up from Spencer's bed."Let's do it." Aria said in agreement as she stood up as well and the girls left Spencer's room, to follow Melissa. They discreetly followed Melissa outside and hid in a bush as they watched her approach a car. "Is it him? Is it Ian?" Hanna whispered. "I can't tell." Spencer whispered back to her. "Of course it's him, but whose car is that?" Josie said quietly.

"Wait, that's not Ian." Hanna said as someone got out of the car. "Is that Wren?" Aria asked, confused. "Wren?" Spencer whispered in shock. "He's in on this, too?" Josie asked as she watched him open the trunk of the car and give something to Melissa. "What's he giving her?" Aria asked. "Probably painkillers." Spencer said as she shrugged. "Melissa does drugs?" Hanna asked, making Josie stifle a laugh, knowing they couldn't get caught.

"No, not for her. For Ian." Spencer answered. "You fall from a bell tower, you're gonna need more than an ice-pack." she added. "Wow. Only Melissa would ask the guy she dumped to help the murderer she married." Hanna said, making the girls look at her before they all gasped quietly, ducking down, as they almost got caught. "Shh." Spencer whispered, making sure the girls didn't talk. As Wren gets back in and drives off, they stand back up, watching as Melissa opens the bag, before noticing someone in  the upstairs window in the DiLaurentis house.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter !! richie comforting jo after she finds out she had a half-brother <3