Ethan's Pov

Me, Spencer and Emily walked inside the house and to say my sister was stressed would be an understatement.

"I feel like whole parts of my brain have shut down. I used to love algebra, or at least I understood it. And now it's a mess" Spencer said.

We put our bags on top of the kitchen counter as Spencer made her way to the fridge.

"Well, it can get really abstract" I shrugged and Emily nodded.

"Yeah, but that's what I liked about it. X's, Y's, Z's, none of it real. I could deal with that" Spencer said.

She handed me a muffin, me nodding at her in thanks, while she gave Emily a yogurt.

"You just isolate the X factor" I said.

"And now I feel like I'm the X factor" Spencer sighed.

I sighed and patted her shoulder, wanting to give her some comfort.

We heard footsteps from upstairs and turned around to see mom coming down and walking towards us.

"Honey, where were you?" Mom asked, worried, while holding a piece of paper in her hand.

"Well, we stopped along the way at Emily's" I said and Spencer nodded.

"It's mostly intimidation, so I want you to stay calm" Mom softly said.

"Stay calm about what?" Spencer asked, confused.

"They served a search warrant" Mom sighed.

Mine and Spencer's eyes widened in shock as mom handed the paper to Spencer.

"For where? For what?" Spencer asked.

She unfolded the paper and I scooted closer to her to read what was on the letter.

"The house, the barn, your room" Mom said.

"My room?" Spencer asked, eyes wide in shock.

She quickly set the paper down and made a run for it to head upstairs.

"No, Spencer, don't interfere. Honey!" Mom yelled, running after her.

Me and Emily looked at each other before setting our things down and running after them, wanting to see what was going on.

We ran into Spencer's room to see a bunch of officers going through her stuff and putting them inside boxes.

"Make them get out" Spencer said, looking at mom with pleading eyes.

"I can't. You're a person of interest in a murder investigation. They're just, they're doing their job, in an especially ham-fisted way" Mom said, shooting one of the officers a pointed look.

"Well, what are they looking for?" I asked.

"Things that connect Spencer to Alison and what happened to her" Mom said.

I sighed in annoyance and tugged on my hair, not believing that my sister is going through something like this.

I heard footsteps from outside Spencer's room and looked up to see Ian standing there.

I glared at him when I saw a small smirk appearing on his face before he began drinking his milk.

"You little" I muttered angrily under my breath.

I tried walking towards him but Spencer and Emily grabbed my arms, pulling me back.

"Don't, not with the cops here" Spencer softly whispered in my ear.

Emily nodded as they both began rubbing my arms, trying to calm me down.

I swear I wanted to punch this asshole in his face until he bled.

At School

Me and Spencer walked into the cafeteria and walked over to the table where the girls were already sitting at.

The girls looked at us and smiled and we smiled back at them as we sat down.

"Hey, are you okay?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, we didn't think you were coming in today" Aria said.

"And we thought Ethan wasn't going to be here either since you two are together half the time" Hanna said.

"We had to be someplace other than our house" Spencer said, chuckling lightly.

"Yeah, I'd rather be here than home" I sighed.

"Are the cops still there?" Hanna asked.

"They came and went" Spencer said and I nodded.

"They actually took things?" Aria asked in shock.

"Not so much. My mom says that they did it just to shake me up" Spencer said, laying her head on my shoulder.

"What'd they take?" Hanna asked.

"Um, things from my jewelry box stuff from my closet, a couple pairs of shoes" Spencer said.

"Wait, not the Tory Burches" Hanna gasped, her eyes wide in shock.

"Hanna" Aria deadpanned.

Hanna blushed in embarrassment and sent Spencer a sheepish smile, me and Spencer had to release small chuckles at that.

"No, sneakers" I said and Spencer nodded.

"They wanted my laptop, but my mom said no. It wasn't in the search warrant and they couldn't have it" Spencer said.

"Bubs, did they search your room too?" Hanna asked.

"No, it wasn't in the search warrant" I said and Spencer nodded.

"You should know there's a chance they might try to pull this on you" Spencer said.

This made the girl's eyes widen in shock. They looked at me and I nodded, confirming that it was true.

"Search our rooms?" Emily asked.

"Mom says it's a possibility. I'm so sorry" Spencer said, her eyes filled with guilt.

"No, it's not your fault" Aria softly said.

"Yeah. We know who's responsible for this" Hanna softly said.

"I should've known that that trophy was some kind of trap. I should've listened to Ethan when he said that the blood wasn't Ali's. And now I feel like I can hear A laughing in my head" Spencer sighed, clearly frustrated.

"Does A sound like Jenna?" Hanna asked.

"Doubt it" I muttered under my breath.

A phone rang and saw that it was mine. I sighed and picked it up to see it was from mom.

"It's mom. She wants us to come home" I said, looking down at my sister.

Spencer sighed and nodded as she picked her head up from my shoulder before looking at the girls.

"Walk us out?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, sure" Aria nodded.

And with that the five of us got up from our seats and walked out of the cafeteria. 

The Next Day

It was the next day and me and the girls were back in the cafeteria.

I'm not sure what the hell I missed, but apparently Emily and Aria think that Caleb is seeing another girl behind Hanna's back.

Right now they were telling Hanna about it but she wasn't buying any of it.

"You got it wrong" Hanna scoffed.

"We heard what we heard, Hanna" Aria softly said.

"No, you heard what you heard but you got it wrong" Hanna said, shaking her head.

"He was talking to another girl. There was alot of history, you could tell" Emily said.

"What happened to being all happy for Hanna? Where'd that go?" Hanna asked, clearly angry.

"Hanna, we want you to be happy" Spencer softly said.

"Well then you shouldn't tell me this because it's not true. Not after we-" Hanna started but stopped.

We looked at her with raised eyebrows, confused as to why she stopped. She sighed and shook her head.

"You just, you heard wrong. He could have been on the phone with his foster parents or something, or his social worker. You don't know" Hanna defended.

"Ok, maybe we didn't hear it right" Aria sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

Spencer nodded, but Emily wasn't backing down as she shook her head.

"Hanna, we heard what Caleb said and you have to know the truth. I think he's with someone else and hasn't told you" Emily said.

"No, Caleb has told me everything. And I told him everything" Hanna angrily said.

"Everything?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

Hanna looked at me for a few seconds before sighing and shaking her head.

"Not everything, but I told him all about me. And what you're saying is not him. It can't be" Hanna said, shaking her head in denial.

The girls looked at each other, unsure of what to say, before Spencer sighed and shook her head.

"Ok, guys, maybe we are being a little bit paranoid. You know, with all that's going on we're looking at things too closely. We're getting these details but we just can't see the big picture" Spencer said.

I nodded, placing my hand on Hanna's shoulder for comfort.

"Yeah, guys, I thought we talked about not judging others before getting to know them. Caleb is a good guy and I know that he wouldn't do something like that to Hanna. I can see it in his eyes that he cares about her and he wouldn't do anything to hurt her" I defended.

Emily opened her mouth to say something but Aria beat her to it.

"Guys" Aria said.

This made us look at her in confusion before turning around to see what she was looking at.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped at what I was seeing.

Jenna was walking into the cafeteria and around her neck was the necklace that should've been Caleb's gift to Hanna.

I know it's the same necklace because Hanna sent me the picture yesterday after school.

When Jenna left me and the girls turned to look at Hanna and we saw her eyes were filled with confusion and sadness.

A Few Minutes Later

Me and the girls left the cafeteria and were standing near the lockers in the hallway.

Hanna was a few feet away from us, trying to reach Caleb, wanting to talk to him about what we saw.

Aria was with her before she turned around and made her way towards us.

"Caleb's not picking up. She's gonna text him" Aria said.

"What the hell is going on?" Emily asked, confused like we were.

"Either it's exactly what it looks like, which is bad enough, or it's something worse" Spencer said.

"Couldn't it just be two pendants that look alike?" I asked.

I still don't believe that Caleb would cheat on Hanna, I refuse to believe that.

I think there's something else going on with him and Jenna, and it may be worse than what the girls are thinking.

"Dream on" Spencer scoffed, shaking her head.

"If Caleb hurts Hanna, he's a dead man" Emily said, her eyes filled with anger.

This made me and the girls look at her, shocked but impressed, never seen this side of Emily before.

"Not literally, I mean...I gotta go" Emily sighed before turning around and walking away.

Me, Spencer and Aria looked at each other before turning around to look back at Hanna.

The Next Day

It was the next day and I was with Aria and Emily and we were walking in the hallways together.

Spencer decided to stay home today and I'm not sure where Hanna is.

"I called her but she didn't pick up. Did she talk to either of you?" Aria asked.

"Radio silence" I said and Emily nodded.

We made our way to Aria's locker and she opened hers up and began searching through her books.

"Poor Hanna" Aria sighed.

"Why do you think Jenna told Caleb to go after her?" Emily asked.

"Because she was the one who wasn't seeing anybody. Target of convenience" I scoffed.

We heard laughter from a few feet away from us and we turned around to see Paige and Sean talking with some other students, all of them laughing and having a great time.

Aria sighed and shook her head.

"I should just pick a boy, someone nice, and just tell my mom that's who I was texting. That'd be the simple solution" Aria said.

"You can just tell her you meant to send that text to me and she'll drop it" I suggested.

"I can't. My parents, especially my mom, know that we only see each other as best friends. They wouldn't believe it" Aria said.

I sighed and gently rubbed her back, trying to give her comfort.

"And besides, there's nothing simple about lying" Emily sighed.

Me and Aria turned around to look at her and furrowed our eyebrows at her.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant lying in general" Emily said.

"Ok. If you say so" Aria nodded, closing her locker.

I sighed and shook my head as the three of us walked away to head off to class.

An Hour Later

Aria received a text from Hanna telling all of us to meet up with her in the girls bathroom.

Of course Aria and Emily are fine with that, but not me, considering I'm a boy.

"Ethan, come on, we're just going to see Hanna" Aria said, trying to pull me inside the girls bathroom.

"Aria, in case you forgot I'm a boy, not a girl. If people catch me they'll think I'm weird" I said, trying to pull out of her grasp.

"That won't happen, everyone loves you" Emily said.

I groaned in annoyance as they both managed to pull me inside the girls bathroom.

I felt uncomfortable and ashamed being here, knowing that this was for the girls only, not boys.

"Oh relax, nobody's here anyways so you're fine" Aria scoffed, hitting my arm.

I playfully glared at her and lightly hit her arm, earning a glare from her and a snort from Emily.

The door to the girls bathroom opened and I sighed in relief when Hanna walked in.

"Where were you all morning?" Aria asked.

"Walking. Just walking" Hanna sighed as she mad her way towards us.

"So, it's true?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. It's all true" Hanna nodded, sadness shown in her eyes.

"Oh, buttercup, I'm so sorry. You don't deserve this. And I swear if I ever see Caleb I'm gonna punch him in the face, again" I said.

Hanna laughed lightly at that and shook her head, smiling at me in thanks.

"Where's Spencer?" Hanna asked.

"Oh, she stayed home" Aria said.

I nodded and Hanna just nodded, smiling slightly.

The door to the girls bathroom opened again, and it was Jenna walking in.

This made me and the girls glare at her, Hanna's glare being more deadly and filled with nothing but hatred.

Jenna walked over to the sink as I looked at the girls.

"Come on" I whispered.

Aria nodded and wrapped her arm around mine as we began walking, Emily following behind us.

But we stopped when we saw that Hanna wasn't walking, she remained where she was, her eyes on Jenna.

"Hanna" Aria whispered.

"I just want to talk to her" Hanna whispered back.

Me and the girls looked at each other before nodding and with that Hanna made her way towards Jenna.

She stood behind her, not saying anything, but Jenna must've sensed someone behind her and perked her head up.

"Hello?" Jenna asked.

She slowly turned around to be face to face with Hanna.

"Yes?" Jenna asked.

Hanna said nothing nor did anything, she remained still and quiet, doing nothing but staring at her.

Me and the girls looked at them, waiting to see what would happen.

Then Hanna lifted her hand and slapped Jenna across the face.

Jenna gasped as her glasses went flying, falling to the ground.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped at what Hanna did. I looked at Aria and Emily and saw that they were the same as me.

Hanna looked at Jenna for a few seconds before walking over to where her glasses had fallen.

I turned around to look at Jenna, only to see that she was still in shock, touching her now red cheek.

Me and the girls looked at each other before looking back.

Hanna had Jenna's glasses in her hands as she made her way back over to her. She grabbed Jenna's hand and placed her glasses in them.

"This is Hanna" Hanna said.

This made Jenna's eyes widen a little as a small frown made its way onto her face.

"In case you couldn't guess" Hanna said.

She turned around and walked away, Aria and Emily followed behind her.

I turned to look at Jenna and shook my head at her before turning around and leaving the bathroom.

At Night

After school finished I went home and as always went to work on homework.

When that was out of the way me and Spencer decided to go on a run together. I can't remember the last time we went out on a 'sibling run' together.

When we decided to get back home it was already night, close to 9pm.

We entered the house and closed the door before making our way into the kitchen.

"Water or juice?" I asked.

"Water, please" Spencer said.

"Coming right up" I nodded.

I opened the fridge and took out two bottles of water before closing it. I smiled and handed one to Spencer. She smiled at me in thanks and took the bottle from me.

"You know, they were worried about you" we heard Ian say.

We turned around and saw Ian sitting on a couch, a cup of scotch in his hand.

"They thought you might have run away" Ian said.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes in annoyance, Spencer doing the same.

"Thank you for your concern" Spencer sarcastically said.

She grabbed my arm and we were about to head upstairs when he stopped us.

"Well, I think I'd understand if you did, though. You know, run away" Ian said.

I groaned in annoyance and gently yanked my arm from Spencer's hold and turned around to look at him.

"You know what neither of us need, Ian? We don't need your understanding" I angrily said.

"Well, we're family. You know, we should act like one. Family protects itself" Ian said.

"When the hell are you gonna get your head out of your ass and understand that you'll never be any family of mine" I angrily spat.

Spencer nodded, looking annoyed and angry just like me.

"Yeah, and I thought you had to protect Melissa and your bundle of joy" Spencer scoffed.

"I do and I will. But right now there's still a window of protection left open for you. We just need to be honest with each other" Ian said.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes at him, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, because you've been completely honest yourself this entire time" I sarcastically said.

"You wanna help me run away, don't you?" Spencer asked.

Ian didn't say anything, he just took a sip of his scotch, making me roll my eyes.

"Oh, that'd be great for you. 'She ran away. She must be guilty'. If I disappeared, that would clean up everything for you, wouldn't it?" Spencer asked.

I grabbed her arm and gently pulled her back over to me.

She was getting closer to Ian and the last thing I wanted was for her to be near that creep.

"Time's running out for you, Spencer. You should take the help that's offered, wherever it comes from" Ian said.

Spencer scoffed and shook her head, while I glared at him.

"Because when they arrest you it'll be too late" Ian said.

He nodded at both of us before getting up and walking away.

I gritted my teeth in anger and fought the urge to throw a glass cup at him.

"Come on, you're sleeping in my room tonight" I said.

"Yeah, ok" Spencer nodded.

I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and led her upstairs so we could head to my room and get to bed.

Late At Night

Me and Spencer were awaken by someone entering my room.

We were peacefully sleeping in my bed. Spencer cuddling to my side with my arm wrapped safely around her shoulders.

We opened our eyes and turned around, only to see that it was mom.

"I'm sorry, kiddos. It's me" Mom softly said.

"Hey, did you just get home?" I asked.

"Yeah" Mom nodded.

She left my door open and walked over to us and I took notice of her facial expression. She looked upset.

"Is everything okay?" Spencer asked.

"I was right. We've got a shot at having the warrant thrown out. That's good" Mom said.

"Yeah, that's good, but there was nothing for them to find" Spencer said.

She cuddled closer to my side and closed her eyes, clearly tired and wanting to go back to sleep.

"They did find something" Mom said.

This made me and Spencer open our eyes and look at her.

We both looked at each other before sitting up from my bed.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I got this back channel. They found some fibers, some threads caught in a bracelet. That name bracelet of yours" Mom said.

"The one Alison gave to us?" Spencer asked.

Mom nodded and I grew even more worried than before.

"The threads match the sweater that they found in Toby's closet. The one with the blood stains" Mom said.

This made me look at Spencer in worry and I can tell she was scared.

"I have to ask you. Did you have that sweater? Did you plant it in Toby's house?" Mom asked.

"Mom, are you kidding me?" I asked in disbelief.

"No. That's the sweater Alison was wearing the night she died. How could I have that?" Spencer asked in disbelief.

"The theory is that she gave it to you that night or you took it from her" Mom said.

"She took it from her?" I asked, once again in disbelief.

"What, you mean like after she...?" Spencer asked.

"Inside their minds, it makes sense" Mom said.

"Well, what about in your mind? What do you think?" I asked.

"I think someone's going to a great deal of trouble to make your sister look guilty" Mom softly said.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped in disbelief and anger.

How the hell can the police think that my sister killed Alison?

Spencer and Alison may have had their bad moments, but they were still friends and I know that Spencer cared for Alison and would never hurt her.

"Mom" Spencer whimpered.

Tears streamed down her face as she lunged towards mom and hugged her. Mom hugged her back as Spencer buried her head in her shoulder.

"It's ok" Mom whispered, rubbing her back up and down.

I don't care if Ian killed Alison or not, because right about now I'm about to kill him.

I sighed and hugged my sister from behind, wanting to comfort her as best as I can.