.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

♥ 𝐼 𝒲𝒾𝓈𝒽... ♥

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。

I clasp the matching necklace Ali and I got when we were thirteen and smooth down the sheer sleeves of my black dress as I stare at myself in the mirror. I'm not sure who stares back at me. I wish I knew. All I want to do is slam my fist into the glass.

"Scarlett, let's go. We have to leave," Dad calls from downstairs. I try to muster up my fake smile, but it comes out as a grimacing line that fades into a frown.

"Scarlett!" My mother shouts. "Fashionably on time, not ignorantly late, let's go."

I sigh and move to slip on my heals, trying to clasp the diamond strap as I grab my phone. I meet my parents at the bottom of the stairs. My dad is wearing his signature sunglasses he always has on, even indoors, that say 'don't talk to me, don't even look at me.'

"Ready?" He places his hand on my shoulder as my mother urges us to the car. "Rose will be meeting us there." She informs as if one of us asked where she was. Who cares about Rose? Out of all the fucking days this isn't about her.

"Let's just be in and out fast. I have to head to the studio after this." Dad looks to my mother and I with a nod. I would take this rudely if I didn't know he hates large crowds with a passion. Makes him 'claustrophobic and anxious' he says.

"I'm going out afterwards," I respond absentmindedly. Mom is already going on about some earring mishap she had this morning so I tune her out and look out the window watching everything blur by.

Honestly, if this wasn't for Ali, like the hugest send off, pay your respects thing as it gets, I probably wouldn't even go. That and the fact my mother would never let me miss. She's already given me the "eyes forward, chin up, don't let anyone see you blowing your nose or streaking your makeup cause the whole town will be there and there will be camera's" talk. As if I'm supposed to give a shit about all of that today?

No.

What I should be doing is thinking about Ali. But instead? Instead I can't stop thinking about who I'll be seeing there. I can't believe it. I can't even do my best friend in the whole world the proper courtesy of thinking about her on the day of her funeral.

I swallow nauseously. I hate that word. Funeral. It sounds like a forsaken word. Like I should chew it up and spit it out.

I've always wondered why people wore black to a funeral. I mean sure it looks amazing on me, it goes with everything, is supposed to be a slimming color, blah, blah. But if this is "supposed" to be a celebration of someone's life and not a depressing gathering for death then why not pick a different color? Perhaps pink, or even silver. Something brighter, or even the person's favorite color?

But today, today I finally understand why. Cause I can't bring myself to even imagine wearing anything other than black for this occasion. It fits the mood wholeheartedly.

And this most definitely not a celebration. What's there to celebrate? Ali barely even had a life, she was fifteen for fucksake! Fifteen! We didn't even get to get our license together. Get our boob jobs together, which I never wanted by the way but Ali said every woman gets one once they hit thirty. Never got to walk into junior year together... The list goes on.

Suddenly we're here and my parents are getting out of the car as dad opens my door for me. Finally. That car ride was suffocating me.

I breath in the much needed fresh air as we approach the church the time as Emily and her mom along with Spencer and my aunt and uncle. We just stare at each other for a moment while Spencer's dad hugs Emily's mom and my mom makes a b line for her sister before Emily pulls both of us both in for a hug. Spencer takes my hand, squeezing softly, and Emily looks like she's about to burst into tears. I link my arm through hers. Today isn't about the separation we've all faced over the past year. Today isn't about the awkward looks and gossip we've all share about one another...

Today is for her.

Today is for Ali.

♥ ♥ ♥ 

My eyes finally tear away from the casket I've been staring at since Alison's mother Jessica sat us in the front row, wanting us to all sit up here together. I look up to Aria, the only one of us that wasn't here yet. Hanna grabs her hand to gain her attention, since she's the one on the end. I'm next to her, Spencer to me, and Emily on the other side of her. We all scoot down and she takes a seat.

"Poor Ali." Emily says as we all go back to staring ahead. The picture they chose for her is beautiful. She looks so angelic. Her golden hair holding its perfect curls, her lipgloss shimmering, and the simple white tank top she's wearing pulls it all together, making her look so young and innocent.

"Can you believe what a scene this is?" Hanna smiles.

"Alison would have loved it." Aria adds.

"Of course she would." I chuckle. "She always said someday her funeral would be her biggest day..." I trail off. I didn't think it would be so soon though. We joked about faking our own deaths so we could have the flashiest funeral ever and then run away together to California or Paris or something. That's why I imagine she's out there somewhere. Soaking up a tan on a beach or kissing some French guy in front of the Eiffel Tower.

"Popular in life and death." Spencer continues.

Hanna turns to Emily as if it's her turn to speak, but judging by the tortured look on her face... Hanna opens her clutch and pulls out a flask. Finally, some relief around here.

She holds it out to Emily.

"No thanks." Emily declines, of course. "I don't—"

"Today, I think you do." Hanna cuts her off and gives her a small smile.

"If you won't I will." I turn to her, giving her the 'you need it' look. She takes it as Aria's phone goes off. Everyone jumps slightly and quickly turn to her with curious faces. Seems we're all thinking the same thing. Wait... why is everyone else looking like they're on the edge of their seat for a text? Oh shit.

Hanna and Spencer blink at Emily and I as we all wait for Aria to check her phone.

"Anyone we know?" Hanna jokes nervously. I knew it.

"No, it's just my mom sending me a text."

I look at all the girls, their faces written with guilty fear. For fucksakes ladies! Do none of them have any better poker face's?

"Emily and I aren't the only ones who got messages from A, are we?" Aria finally asks the imposing elephant-in-the-room question. I sigh while Spencer and Emily look at each other before loud whispers pick up around the room. Spencer and I look over our shoulders to find the she-devil herself being walked down the aisle. My spine tenses to the point I feel my back will crack in half.

"It's Jenna." Spencer whispers.

"No fucking way." I whisper-shout. Emily, Hanna, and Aria all turn their heads at once. Could they be anymore subtle! I let out an irritated scoff.

I'm the first to turn back around, everyone else following much slower.

I snap my fingers at them. "Okay, stop looking like you've all just seen a ghost!" I scold them quietly.

Kenneth and Jessica join as before we can say anything else and we all scoot down once again. I run my tongue across my teeth noticing it's just them.

"Did you see that Jenna Marshall was here?" Jessica turns to us.

"Yes." I roll my eyes.

"I didn't realize she and Ali were friends."

"They weren't." Spencer answers before glancing back again. I nudge her as the pastor steps out.

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." He begins.

It takes everything in me to not turn around and look towards the back as feel a stare burning the back of my head and my neck prickles.

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

Once the horrible ceremony is finally over, the five of us link arms and exit the church together. Aria with Hanna and Spencer and I with Emily. We head for the parking lot with frowns etched on our faces until someone stops us in our tracks.

"Emily, Spencer... Aria, Hanna, and Scarlett." A man gains are attention causing us to stop and turn.

Why does this guy look familiar?

"Do we know you?" Spencer asks politely.

The man reaches in his jacket. "I'm Detective Wilden," He pulls out a card. Well, the name doesn't ring any bells... "I understand you were all good friends with the victim." My jaw ticks at the word "victim" as Spencer takes the card.

"Yeah, we were." Aria answers.

"I'm gonna need to talk to each one of you." Detective Wilden says.

"We talked to the police when Ali went missing." Spencer tells him. He clearly must be new.

"And I intend to go over every one of your statements." Wilden speaks seriously. What? I don't like his tone. It's as if he's wanting to find one tiny little change in one of our statements. "As this is no longer a missing persons investigation. It's a murder." And he thinks one of US did that? The audacity of him to even be talking to us about this at the funeral!!! Rage begins to fill my body. "And rest assure, I will find out what happened that summer." That statement spikes my nerves.

"And rest assured that will not be happening without a parent or legal guardian present, Detective." I happily snap to inform him. "And it's very odd you're trying to discuss this with us without our parents present and very distasteful of you to so here at the funeral." I raise a challenging eyebrow. "But I can give you my mothers card for her law firm if you would like." I offer with a satisfactory smile. He stares at me for a moment before walking away without another word as Jenna is being helped the car that just pulled up. Wilden stops to lean on a tree after he's distanced himself and it finally dawns on me where I recognize him from...

Oh my God— That's the man Hanna's mom hooked up with!

I shudder as I pull the girls off the side since they can't hide their freaked-out expressions to save their lives. Seriously? One summer of drama camp would fix that right up.

"Do you think he knows about—?" Aria starts.

Hanna jumps in. "No, how could he?"

"He's a creep. And he knows nothing." I assure them as all of our phones go off miraculously at the same time.

We all pull them out. Emily hesitates to read hers, making eye contact with me first before she looks down at it.

"Oh my god." Aria lets out.

"It's from—" Hanna starts.

"I got one too." Emily rushes out.

"I'm still here, bitches." Spencer reads.

"And I know everything." We all read in unison.

"A." I finish, my hand squeezing my phone before jamming my finger onto the off button. As they all start to look at me with panic and horror I take off towards the church.

"Scarlett! Wait—" Spencer calls out.

"I have to pee!" I yell back. It's not like I'm gonna go rip Ali's casket open and see for myself... Well— No.

My breathing starts picking up. Damn it. I step over to the side and clutch my chest. I go to reach out for the wall but I run smack into someone's chest before my hand can make the contact. Hands instantly grab my sides so I don't fall. Welp, at least I don't need to pee anymore.

I freeze, my breathing hitches before stopping all together. I don't need to even have look up to see who I ran into. The strong hands gripping my hips are all too familiar enough for me to know.

"Jason." I mumble into the chest my face is still brushed up against. My cheeks burn and my throat screams for water as I stumble back and almost lose my footing.

"Woah." The grip tightens. I look down to the ground as I try to rip out of his grasp. "Okay, oka-gah, sta-" He trips over his words and finally let's go.

As I leap back, as if he's on fire, I glare at him, finally letting my gaze meet his. Blue locks into hazel. Something in between a sigh and a gasp escapes my lips as I bite the inside of my cheek, hard. Too hard. Fuck.

"I didn't think I'd get to see you— talk to you, as fast as you left." He whispers breathlessly.

"That was my plan." I mutter. I look around trying to see if I can escape, but I guess I've been backing up since he let go of me because my back, and my head, hits the wall. I squeeze my eyes shut for a moment before forcing them back open.

"Are you okay?" He asks, those gorgeous blue eyes scanning my face.

I let out a chuckle. "Did you seriously just ask me that as your sisters funeral?"

His eyes shift to the ground, staring at it like it's the most interesting thing in the world right now.

"Why did you call?"

A cold, sharp pain rushes through my body. "What?" I manage to choke out.

"The other night. Why. Did you call?" He repeats, slower this time, as his voice deepens.

"I-I don't know." I stumble out. "Truthfully I don't." I could kick myself right now. "I hung up so fast I didn't even think you would notice."

He looks up and takes a step forward. "And what would you have done if I had answered?"

I chuckle to myself. That's the question, isn't it? What would I have done? Break down? Screamed? Said nothing?

"Scarlett?" I snap out of it and he's now merely inches in front of me.

"I guess I would've been shocked you even picked up." I grit through my teeth. "Or even just hear you breath." Fire starts burning in my stomach. "To even have any sign at all that you're fucking okay or even had the same phone number at all." I spit out.

"Don't—" He starts, his expression now pained. Oh, lets.

"Don't what, Jason? Hmm? Don't start? Don't go there? Don't do this now? Here. Well what did you think was gonna happen when you saw me? Huh? When do you think is a good time to have this conversation! Huh, answer me!" I'm on the verge of screaming at this point. Thankfully, we're away from any people. I stare at him for a minute. Waiting. For a response. An answer. Anything.

"Yeah. That's what I thought." I let out another chuckle, nodding as I shove past him.

"Scar, wait—" He grabs my wrist and I rip away. Scar. Scar? That does me in.

"NO!" I roar. My vision starts to blur and I can feel the heat practically wafting off of me I'm so worked up now. "No." I repeat calmly. "I'm done waiting." He actually looks a little scared now. Mostly guilty. "I have waited and waited. I waited for my best friend to come back. I waited days for you to answer your phone." I feel myself on the verge of tears but I don't dare to let form, little long fall. "I even waited as I watched your family pack up and leave without hearing a word of it from you." I take a deep breath. "So I've waited Jason. Plenty. More than you know. So screw you and your waiting." His eyes fill with hurt and regret as the corner of eyes dampen.

I turn on my heel.

"I'm sorry." I hear just barely leave his mouth. "God, I'm so sorry." He utters as I hurry away and slam into the bathroom. I slide to the ice cold floor as my phone buzzes. I'm sure it's the girls all wondering where I am at this point.

Poor, pathetic Scarlett. Can't even cry for her own best friend but will cry for the man who left without saying goodbye. It's a good thing Detective's don't see through all your lies about what happened last summer, but I sure do. And you're the guiltiest one out of all of them. Better bury your secrets with the casket.

-A

♥︎ ♥︎ ♥︎

Author's Note: Okay stop, why was I imagining Austin Butler as Jason during this entire scene... ANYWAYS... the Austin Butler obsession is real lmao. If it wasn't Drew, Austin would've been the PERFECT Jason!! (HOLD UP... Meraki Castings moment?!?!)

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and the entire episode's chapters!!! <3

Until episode 2 ;)