ꗃ ﹕𝓓𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝓑𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝓜𝐄 . . . . . 𓈈 𓍢 ░
𝖯𝖱𝖤𝖳𝖳𝖸 𝖫𝖨𝖳𝖳𝖫𝖤 𝖫𝖨𝖠𝖱𝖲 ── ༅𓂃👜゛໒ ࣪˖˚

𝒊. 𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘, 𝖦𝖮𝖫𝖣𝖨𝖤 ‧₊˚📱✩
˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚ 𝐈𝐅 𝐀𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐂𝐂𝐄𝐄𝐃, 𝐋𝐈𝐄, 𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍 ── 01𝗑15 ｡𖦹°‧
𝖯𝖠𝖱𝖳𝖸 𝖡𝖮𝖸 𝖡𝖸 𝖭𝖨𝖦𝖧𝖳 𐙚𓏲⋆ ִֶָ ๋𓂃 ⋆ᡣ𐭩

▐ 𝖧𝖠𝖲𝖳𝖨𝖭𝖦𝖲 𝖱𝖤𝖲𝖨𝖣𝖤𝖭𝖢𝖤
    

          ❝ 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓. 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 is Ian? ❞ Aria asked as the group of five make their way down the stairs of Spencer's house.

"Don't worry. He went to Philly to be with Melissa."

"I didn't realize life existed at this house."

"I wanna go back to sleep!"

"Come on, guys, just walk." Aria speed walks over to the island, "You need to see this."

"You know, I'd always hoped my first sunrise would have tequila in it."

"I'll make coffee." Spencer mumbled.

"Well, when it's ready just pour it down my throat." Hanna sighed.

"I thought we were done with this?" Spencer asked as she saw Aria had pulled up the picture of Alison. "I mean, we know the shadow is Ian, right?"

"Aria, if this what you woke me up for...," Sadie glared, a yawn escaping her lips.

"It's important." Aria walks back over with the copy of the picture, "I — I couldn't let it go."

Have you been up all night?" Hanna asked her, eyeing her.

"Maybe."

"Maybe."

"You have. One eye is bigger than the other." Hanna says, "You look like a strung out Powerpuff Girl."

"Stop looking at the eye. Just look at the picture."

"Who's having coffee?"

"Me!" Sadie's hand shot up, "Extra creamer."

"I mean, there's only one place where this picture could've been taken from." Aria holds the copy of the picture out.

"Where?"

"Alison's bedroom."

"No, Alison is in the picture." Hanna denied, "She clearly didn't take that."

"Okay, but somebody in her house did."

"Like who? Her parents?"

"No, her brother."

Sadie's head snaps over to her, "What?"

"Jason."

"You know, my mom, ran into him at the bank." Hanna says and Sadie tensed up since she was keeping that he was in town from her friends, "He's back in town."

"Why?" Emily asked.

"Well, we have to call him."

"Ew, now." Hanna shakes her head, "I am not going to talk to him."

"Me either."

"Sadie and I will." Spencer volunteered herself and the blonde, "We need to know if he took this. Sades, do you know where he's staying?"

The girls turn to look at Sadie who sent them a blank look, "Two bedrooms away from me."

────          ୨ৎ          ────

          𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 Spencer walk up the stairs to the football bleachers, the blonde's lips falling into a smirk as she takes in the sight of her shirtless husband running up and down the stairs, sweat running down his chest.

"Hey." Jason comes to a stop at the top after seeing Spencer and Sadie, fighting off the smirk as he watches Sadie's eyes scan up and down his body.

"Hey, Jason." Spencer greeted while Sadie sent him a wave. "I'm...I'm sorry to interrupt your workout, this can wait."

"Really? It didn't sound that way on the phone." Jason has his hands in the pockets of his grey shorts.

"What are you doing back in town?" Spencer asks him.

Jason's eyes shift from her to Sadie before looking back at the brunette, "Just...taking care of family business. Spencer, why did you come here?"

Sadie rolled her eyes as she pulled the folder out of Spencer's backpack, handing it over to her husband, "This was sent to her."

"It looks like it was taken from the second floor of your house." Spencer tells him as Jason looked at the picture.

"Yeah. It does."

"So, why do you sound not convinced?" Spencer asked him.

Sadie shrugged her shoulders as Jason looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, after Ali disappeared we got bizarre things in the mail. Sympathy cards from strangers, and letters with conspiracy theories about what happened to her." Jason explained, "Sometimes it was photos'. Blurry images of a blond girl running away from the camera."

"Yeah, but that's definitely Ali....and it's in my yard." Spencer moves a little closer to him, "And it was taken the night that she disappeared. I mean, look, she's got the same yellow top on."

"Spencer, they have programs now that make Photoshop look like scissors and a glue stick." Jason tells the girl, Sadie looking around, "Look, I'll tell you what. My family hired a PI. I'll take the picture to him and see what he comes up with."

Spencer nods her head, turning to walk away with Sadie.

"Spencer." Jason calls her back, "Ali's memorial, was the hardest thing I've ever done. I was a jerk. I — I know that."

"Well, that wasn't the term that I would've used, but...it works."

"I'll be there in just a second." Sadie tells her best friend, sending Spencer a soft smile as she walks back the way they came. "Dinner tonight?"

Jason smiled, "Chinese?"

"Nah, I was thinking pizza." Sadie smirked as she leaned up to kiss him before walking back towards where the stairs were, "I'll see you tonight. I love you."

"I love you."

────           ୨ৎ           ────

          ❝ 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀? 𝐇𝐄𝐘. ❞

Hanna turns at the sound of her name to Aria, Spencer and Sadie walking towards her.

"Who are you talking to?"

Hanna hangs up her phone, "My mom."

"Is everything okay?" Spencer asked, opening her locker.

"Hmm? Uh...yeah. Everything's fine."

"Oh, here." Spencer pulls something out of her bag and passed it to Aria, "I forgot to give these to you last night."

"Thank you." Aria hugs her, "Oh, I owe you big time. Are you sure your dad's not gonna miss these?"

"Oh, please. He joined the museum board for networking. The man doesn't know the difference between a Monet and a Mojito."

"Well, hey, how can I get you back?"

"Pay for the extra toppings on my pizza delivery."

"Okay, you got it."

"Oh, and a DVD rental." Spencer says, "Because if I have to hold up in my room all night as your alibi I would like to do it with Jake Gyllenhaal."

"Wait, what alibi?" Hanna closes her locker. "Aren't you both going to the museum thingie?"

"Uh, no..uh....Spencer got the tickets for me and Ezra." Aria lowered her voice.

"You're taking Mr. Fitz?"

"I really wish you'd just call him Ezra." Aria tells her, "Sadie does."

"That's because I unfortunately know him. And can't get rid of him." The blonde smiles, "He's like the gum on the bottom of your shoe that just won't come off."

Spencer laughed at her.

"And yes...he just....doesn't know it yet." Aria laughed, "It's a surprise. I don't know, I — I just figured that a date out of town would give us a chance to actually have a date."

"Yeah. Uh, I get it." Spencer shrugged, "You guys do kinda have the social lives of shut-ins."

────            ୨ৎ            ────

          ❝ 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 that you are happy, I do. ❞ Will stands in front of the kitchen entrance where his little sister was currently making out with her husband, perched up on the kitchen counter.

Jason pulls away from the blonde, groaning and laying his head in her neck, "I thought he was at work."

"I did too." Sadie sighed, gently pushing him away from her and hopping down, "I have to get going anywhere or I'll be late for school. Love you, guys!"

"Love you!"

────             ୨ৎ             ────

          ❝ 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐈𝐒 this called me at casserole? ❞ Emily asked as four out of the five of them were eating lunch.

"That lunch lady has a gift for suspense." Spencer says before looking around, "Where's Hanna?"

"Who cares." Aria's comment get their attention.

"What?"

"I don't know."

Sadie looks at Emily, "How's swim practice going since you're getting back into it?"

"Can we talk about something else?" She asked.

"Okay. I've heard of communal cramps but this is ridiculous." Spencer says, "What happened to all that first real date excitement? I mean, yesterday you were ready to give me tongue for giving you two tickets. You're not into it anymore?"

"No. I mean, yes! Yeah, I'm...so into it, we're..gonna have an amazing time together."

"Okay, so...talk." Spencer sits her bowl down, "What are you gonna wear?"

"I can't decide between my backless or my strapless."

"Got with a red one." Sadie pushes her salad around, "Pull a  Sadie Beaumont. Be bold."

"Yes, she's right." Spencer grinned, "What do you think, Em?"

"About what?"

"What are you looking at?"

"It's nothing." She shakes her head, "Just some girl on my swim team who wants me to disappear."

"What's her name?" Asked Aria.

"Paige McCullers."

"Ugh, I can't stand her." Sadie groaned.

"I know her. We played field hockey together we named a penalty after her." Spencer says, "What she say?"

"Some snarky comment about me being gay."

"Down, kitty." Aria grabs Sadie's arm as she goes to stand up, pulling her back into her chair.

"I will destroy her."

"I'll do more than destroy her." Sadie glared at the table in front of them.

"Mm. Can I help?"

"Guys, it's okay." Emily smiles at her friends, "I took care of it. Anyone thirsty? I'm gonna get a drink."

"Who's this from?" Aria reaches out to grab the square box that Emily pulled from her bag.

"Paige, whatever it is you can have it." Emily tells her, "She's trying to bribe her way to becoming the next team captain."

Spencer laughs as the girls watch Aria pull out a blue bracelet out, made just like the ones that Alison had gotten for them.

"Do you...think they're from the same place?" Aria asked.

"It's possible."

"If they were, maybe the store could tell us who bought the fake Alison bracelet."

"Maybe even the Jenna one." Sadie shrugged.

"And we would know who A is."

Spencer picks up the lid of the box, looking down at the label, "Only one way to find out."

────              ୨ৎ              ────

          ❝ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃 a policy where concessions were made in order to avoid war. ❞ Ella, Aria's mom, speaks as she taught her class which had the girl in it as Sadie wrote the notes from the board, "Who can tell me if appeasement actually worked? Anybody?"

"It didn't." Sadie doesn't look up from her notes as she wrote.

Ella smiled at the blonde who had been taking her son back and forth to school the last couple of days, "Correct, Sadie. Can you tell me why?"

"When the territory was annexed Hitler's aggression increased."

"Look at our smart girl." Ella grinned, the blonde sending her a smile back as she finally looks up, "Would anybody like to share their thoughts on why appeasement did not work? Spencer."

"Because giving in to a bully never works." She answered.

"Can you elaborate on that a little bit?"

"Even if you give them everything that they ask for, it'll never be enough." Spencer says, "Your only choice is to stand up to them. Even if it costs you something."

"Very nice." Ella tells her as the bell rings, "Okay, people, please do not race me towards the door, it hurts my feelings. Term paper is next week. Don't forget."

────               ୨ৎ               ────

          ❝ 𝐍𝐎, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 if I want to eat — Jason? ❞

"You wanna eat Jason?" Spencer asked in an amused tone as the two walk into her house.

"No, Jason." Sadie points at the boy who sat on Spencer's couch. "What are you doing here?"

"Spencer's housekeeper let me in." Jason tells the two girls after hanging up his phone, "Said I could wait for you here. Didn't know I was getting both."

"So what did you private investigator say?" Spencer sits her pizza down on the counter as Sadie just flops down with hers on on her lap.

"Well, the picture...," He pulls it out of his bag, "...is real. And for all I know, I may have taken it."

"What do you mean you may have taken it?" Sadie asked with a mouth full of pizza.

"Ew, Sades, don't talk with your mouth full."

"I honestly don't remember. I'm not proud of it, but that whole August is a blur." Jason says, his eyes casting over to Sadie as she remembered having to take care of his drugged out self back then."

"You were?"

"Are you surprised?"

"Well...it's just to me you were always Ali's strange older brother." Spencer tells him, "I mean, we never saw you. Well, Sadie saw you at times. You were always behind a closed door."

"Yeah." He nods, "Getting high with a bunch of losers. You remember that phony your sister used to date?"

"Ian? Ian Thomas?"

Jason nodded, "We partied that whole summer. After he broke up with your sister, he practically lived at my house."

Spencer turns to Sadie, who nodded to confirm Jason's story as she continued to eat her pizza, "But Ian's a triathlete. He's the poster boy for preppy."

"Poster boy by day and party boy by night. Convincing thought, isn't he?"

────                ୨ৎ                ────

          ❝ 𝐈 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 believe Ian spent that whole summer at Alison's house. ❞ Emily sits in Spencer's kitchen.

"Watching Alison." Spencer spoke with a mouth full of pizza.

"Ew, Spencer, don't talk with your mouth full." Sadie mocked Spencer as she sat on the couch.

"Shut up." Spencer glances at the clock, "Can you be creeped out and eat at the same time? Faster?"

"Why do we have to eat dinner at four-thirty?"

"Because this appointment is at five and it's far away and I don't know how long we're gonna be there. And we all know what happens when my blood sugar drops."

"Okay. Why do I have to eat?"

"Oh, I guess you don't."

Sadie turns to look at the two girls, "Why'd you have to make an appointment for a bead shop?" The blonde asked in confusion.

"Because the shop is in her home. Sounds like she makes dream catchers in her kitchen." Spencer says, "Are you sure you don't want that?"

"I'm stuffed. If I eat any more I'll be swimming in two lanes." Emily joked.

"That's okay. You can have your lane and Paige's lane." Spencer stands up, "Did the coach kick her off the team?"

Emily looks over at her in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"For what she said."

"How do you know the coach knew about that?"

"Because I told her."

"What?" Emily looks at her in disbelief, "You spoke to my coach? Why would you do that?"

"Because that girl has been bullying people since JV and she needs to be put in her place." Spencer says as she gathered the dishes the two used.

"She was, by me, when it happened."

Spencer looks at her, eyebrows pinched together in confusion, "Why are you so mad? I didn't think you'd care if I spoke to your coach. I thought you were fine with people knowing that you and Maya were a couple."

"I am. I'm not upset that the coach knows I'm gay. I'm mad because if I wanted her to know why Paige had said I would have told her myself. I'm not some helpless little lamb."

"I know that, but you're my friend, and I didn't want her to get away with it."

"Well, I can stand up for myself."

"Well, you never did with Alison."

"Spencer!" Sadie's jaw drops, "Why would you say that?"

"Wow. Thank you for making sure my feelings didn't get hurt.

"Emily, I'm s—,"

"I have to go." Emily stands up, "I just remembered I have a test tomorrow."

────                 ୨ৎ                 ────

          𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐃 on the couch with a movie playing as a bowl of popcorn sat on her stomach when the door comes open and Will walked inside. "Hey."

"Hey." Will sits his back down by the door, moving further into other living room, "What are you watching?"

"Remember the Titans. Wanna watch?"

"Yeah, sit up straight."

────                  ୨ৎ                  ────

          ❝ 𝐒𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 shadow in the picture isn't Ian, it's you? ❞ Aria questioned as the girls sat with Spencer in her bedroom, the Hastings girl telling them about the night the picture was taken.

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

"I don't know." Spencer tells them, "I guess, I was scared. And this is gonna sound crazy, but I think that I didn't tell you because...there was always a part of me that wondered if it was my fault. I mean, I wished it and it came true."

"Spence, you didn't mean it." Hanna says from her place next to Sadie.

"It was just something you said in the heat of the moment." Sadie tells her with a soft smile.

"Beside, Ali said stuff to us that was worse much worse, right?" Aria asked before noticing that Spencer was  looking off, "Spence?"

Spencer stands up from her bed, rushing towards her window where the could see perfectly from across the street.

"Oh, my God."

"It's Jason."