Chapter 1

Spencer woke one morning with her stomach in knots. It had begun the day before. She'd figured it had just been cramps, so she took a Midol and tried to push through it. This morning the stomach pain was accompanied by a feeling of nausea and she was pretty sure she had a fever. She knew she shouldn't go to school today, but would her parents actually believe that she was sick, probably not. So Spencer dragged herself out of bed and got ready for school.

Thirty minutes later Spencer was dragging her feet downstairs to leave for school. She could hear the movement and conversation in the kitchen as she descended the stairs. She made out Melissa's voice and slowed, questioning whether she should enter.

"I don't understand why he would just leave me like this. I mean he wanted this baby more than I did, and now he's just gone."

"I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation, Melissa," Spencer's mom reassured.

Spencer began to fume again. When were they going to realize that Ian wasn't going to come home, "Maybe he's dead," Spencer said as she entered the kitchen.

"Not this again," Melissa exclaimed, "Spencer, you just can't let me be happy, can you?"

"That's not it Melissa. I watched him die and I'm tired of trying to explain that to you."

A sharp pain stabbed Spencer in her side and she leaned against the counter for support, but Melissa didn't miss a beat, "Just like he tried to kill you."

"He did try to kill me," Spencer stated still clutching her side.

"Spencer," their mom jumped in, "why are you upsetting your sister like this?"

Spencer was astonished. Here was Spencer clutching her side trying to hide the pain in her stomach and her mother was worried about her upsetting her sister. She couldn't answer that question all she could say was, "I'm late for school."

Spencer turned on her heels and slowly made her way out the door. The pain had subsided, only to be replaced by the knowledge that her mother cared more about her older sister than her.

Hanna applied the last touch of lip gloss to her lips before closing her locker and turning to Aria and Emily, "Has anyone seen Spencer?"

Emily and Aria shook their head just as Spencer came rounding the corner. She seemed tired to Hanna and a little paler than usual. Then Hanna noticed the cringe of pain and how Spencer clutched her side, and she knew something was wrong.

"Spencer," Hanna asked, "Are you okay?"

Spencer groaned, "Melissa and I got into a fight about Ian and my mom took her side again."

"I was talking about physically," Hanna stated, "Does your stomach hurt?"

Spencer looked quizzically at Hanna, "How'd you know?"

"You're clutching your side," Hanna pointed out, "Give me a little credit. I may be blonde, but I'm not stupid."

Spencer leaned her head against the locker door, "You're better than my mom. She didn't even see me nearly double over in pain."

"If you're sick," Aria started, "You should go home."

"Yeah Spence," Emily chimed in.

"Since when has Spencer Hastings taken a sick day," Hanna stated.

Hanna watched Emily and Aria glare at her.

"Hanna's right," Spencer stated, "Besides, going home would mean having to spend the day with Melissa glaring at me like I'm the devil's spawn. I'd rather endure school than that."

Spencer slipped away and Aria and Emily turned on Hanna, "What?" Hanna asked.

"You had to encourage her," Emily said.

"Yeah Hanna, what the hell was that?"

"I was just making a point. Spencer never takes sick days and she wouldn't start now. You know Spencer's way of dealing with things is to push harder."

"Which is exactly why she should go home," Aria stated.

"And what's she gonna do at home? Sit on the couch eating soup while Melissa glares at her. It's killing Spencer to see that her family doesn't believe her. Do you really think Spencer would get any rest being alone with the person who hates her the most right now?"

Aria and Emily couldn't answer to that and Hanna knew that. She was scared for Spencer as much as the other two, but she understood why Spencer wouldn't be able to survive at home. In the end, Spencer was better off burying herself in her studies like she always did.

When school ended Spencer felt horrible. It felt like every movement would send a sharp pain into her side. The girls had tried to get her to go home at lunch when she refused to eat anything and went racing out of the cafeteria toward the bathroom, but she hadn't listened. She couldn't bear to be alone with Melissa longer than she needed to be, which is why she needed a way to avoid Melissa for another hour or two.

"Spencer," she heard a familiar voice call.

Suddenly all of the pain went away and she couldn't help but smile at Toby. He always made her feel better, whether he knew it or not, "Hi Toby."

He came rushing over to her, but stopped just short, "Emily said you were sick."

"It's probably just a stomach bug. I'll be fine in a couple days," Spencer assured him, or was it herself?

Toby put his hand on her forehead. She liked the touch of his cool skin on her warm forehead, "Well you do feel a little warm. Do you want me to take you home?"

"No," Spencer answered, "we're not supposed to see each other and I don't want to get you into trouble. I can drive home. Thanks though."

Spencer turned on her heels back towards her car. She had so desperately wanted to say yes, and she thought about doing it, but it wasn't just her life she had to think about, it was Toby's. If any one of her family members had seen him drop her off, they would have not only grounded her, but gone after Toby as well. That wasn't fair to him, so she had to reject him even though she didn't want to.