Summary: Everyone has something to hide especially four pretty high school juniors Darcy, Manny, Paige, and Emma.
Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Pretty Little Liars is written by Sara Shepard.
Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead- Benjamin Franklin
Imagine it's a couple of years ago, the summer between seventh and eighth grade. You have the best tan ever from lying out next to your rock-lined pool, you've got on your new Juicy sweats, and your mind is on your crush the one who has all of the same classes as you but you won't mention his name. You're eating your Cocoa Krispies just how you like them doused in skim milk and you see this girl's face on the side of the milk carton. Missing. She's cute probably cuter than you and she has a feisty look in her eyes. You think, Hmm maybe she likes soggy Cocoa Krispies too. And you wonder how someone so…..well, so much like you went missing. You thought only girls who entered beauty pageants ended up on the sides of milk cartons. Well think again.
Manny Santos stepped out of her father Durango and she turned to him with a smile. "See you tomorrow Daddy!" Manny shut the car door and she held her red tote bag on her shoulder. She smiled as she stepped onto the soft green grass. She was over her friend, Spencer Montgomery's house for there end of the year sleepover. Manny walked towards Spencer's house and she rang the doorbell. She waited for two minutes and Spencer opened the door. "Hey Spencer"
"Manny 'bout time you got here!" Spencer exclaimed as she let her inside of the house. "We were just waiting for you! Paige was even earlier than you" Manny smiled. "I know I'm sorry guys" Manny walked into the living room as she spotted her other friends.
"Hey Darcy, Emma, and Paige" Manny said setting her bag down on the living room floor. "Aren't we supposed to be going into Melissa's barn?" Melissa was Darcy's older sister, they never got along because Melissa was always acting like she was better than Darcy. Darcy Edwards rolled her eyes at hearing Melissa's name.
"She's still in there getting something's out so we can go in" Darcy was twirling a strand of short brown hair around her finger as she looked around the living room.
"So now that Manny is here, let's talk about the agenda of our little slumber party" Emma Nelson spoke up. Emma who was a little bit chubby was the environmentalist of the group.
"How about we go skinny dipping again. That night was so fun!" Paige Michalchuck said with a giggle. She was the cheerleader/swimmer or the group. Spencer raised a perfect eyebrow with a smile on her face as she eyed Paige who was still smiling. It was a few months ago when the girls had gone skinny dipping into the lake that was near Emma's house. Even though it was freezing cold out that night they still did it because Spencer wanted them t, and none of the girls dared to tell her no.
"And if I recall you enjoyed that activity a little too much Paigey" Spencer murmured. Paige's smile instantly faded and her face drained of color as she looked down. Spencer smirked and she started flipping through her magazine.
"Now that were all here let's go to my sister's barn" Darcy said not even noticing what Spencer had just said to Paige. The girls grabbed there things and they walked out of Spencer's huge house. Darcy and Spencer lived right across from each other so it wouldn't be that far of a walk. Spencer sighed as she carried her bag and she rubbed the back of her neck.
"I am so glad that those construction workers aren't here today" Spencer said glancing at the yellow bulldozer in her yard. Her parents were building a twenty-seat gazebo for their lavish outdoor picnics.
Paige stiffened as she heard her "Have they been saying stuff to you again?" Spencer patted her shoulder as she started to laugh.
"Easy there killer" Spencer said. The other girls started to giggle at this too. Sometimes they called Paige 'Killer' as in Spencer's personal pit bull. Paige used to find it funny but lately she wasn't laughing with them at all. As the girls were walking towards Darcy's house they were suddenly stopped by a very squeaky voice.
"Spencer! Hey, Spencer! Hey, girls!"
Spencer turned to the street. "Not it" she whispered. The girls smiled.
"Not it" Darcy, Paige and Manny quickly followed.
Emma frowned. "Shit" This was a game Spencer had stolen from her older brother, Jason who was a senior at Degrassi Community School . Jason and his friend played at parties while they were scoping out girls. Being the last to call "not it" meant you had to entertain the ugly girl for the night while the other guys got with her pretty friends. In Spencer's version the girls picked out anyone who was ugly, uncool, or unfortunate near them. This time the lucky "not it" winner was Liberty Van Zandt a dork from down the street whose favorite past time was trying to befriend Spencer, Emma, Manny and Darcy. Liberty was perched on her razor scooter smiling at them.
"You guys want to come over and watch Fear Factor?" Liberty asked hopefully.
"Sorry" Spencer said trying to sound upset. "We're kind of busy Liberty"
Liberty frowned. "Don't you want to see when they eat the bugs?"
"Gross!" Darcy whispered to Manny, who then started to pretend to eat invisible lice off of Emma's scalp like a monkey.
"Yeah I wish we could" Spencer tilted her head. "We've planned this sleepover for a while now. But maybe next time?"
Liberty looked down and she sighed as she pushed up her glasses. "Yeah okay"
"Bye" Spencer turned around rolling her eyes and the other girls did the same as Liberty left.
The barn was just right ahead, it was small and cozy that had a big window that looked out on Darcy's large rambling farm. As they reached the barn the girls stopped as they heard giggling coming from inside. Someone squealed, "I said, stop it"
"Oh God,' Darcy moaned. "What is she doing here?" Darcy peeked through the keyhole, she could see Melissa her prim and proper older who was just good at everything, and Eric Capshaw, her tasty boyfriend wrestling on the couch. Darcy rolled her eyes and she kicked at the barn door with the heel of her shoe, forcing it open. The barn smelled like malt balls and popcorn. Melissa turned around.
"What the fu-?" she asked. Then she noticed the others and she smiled. "Oh, hey guys" The other girls eyed Darcy. She constantly complained that Melissa was a venomous super bitch, so they were always taken back when Melissa was friendly and sweet.
Eric stood up, stretched and grinned at Darcy. "Hey"
"Hi, Eric" Darcy replied in a much brighter voice. "I didn't know you were here"
"Yeah you did" Eric smiled flirtatiously at her. "You were spying on us" Melissa stood up as she fixed her long brown hair and her shirt, staring at her sister. "So, what's up?" she asked, a little accusingly.
"It's just ….I didn't mean to barge in ….." Darcy sputtered. "But we were supposed to have this place tonight for our sleepover"
Eric playfully hit Darcy on the arm. "I was just messing with you" he teased. A patch of red crept up her neck. Eric had messy blond hair, sleepy looking hazelnut-colored eyes and grope worthy stomach muscles.
"Wow" Spencer said in a voice that was just too loud. All heads turned to her. "Melissa, you and Eric make the kuh-yoo-test couple. I've never told you, but I've always thought it. Don't you agree Darc?"
Darcy blinked. "Um" she said quietly. Melissa stared at Spencer for a second, perplexed and then turned back to Eric.
"Can I talk to you outside?" she asked.
Eric nodded and he downed his Corona as the girls watched. They only ever drank super secretively from the bottles in there parents' liquor cabinets. He set down the empty bottle and he offered them a parting grin as he followed Melissa outside. "Adieu, ladies" He winked before closing the door behind them.
Spencer dusted her hands together and she smiled as she faced the girls. "There another problem solved by Spencer M. Now let's get this party started!" The girls all cheered as they all sat down on Melissa's bed. "Are you going to thank me now Darc?" Darcy didn't answer her. She was too busy looking out the barn's front window. Lightning bugs had begun to light up the purplish sky.
Emma walked over to the abandoned bowl of popcorn and she took a handful. "Eric is so hot. He's. like, hotter than Craig" Craig Manning was one of the cutes guys in their grade and the subject of Emma's constant fantasies.
"You know what I heard Em?" Spencer asked as she flopped down on the couch. "Craig really likes girls who have good appetites"
Emma instantly brightened as she smiled. "Really Spencer?" Spencer laughed.
"No" she snorted. Emma slowly dropped the handful of popcorn back into the bowl. "So girls. I have the perfect thing we can do" Darcy raised an eyebrow as she eyed her friend.
"And what's that?" Darcy asked as she placed her hands on her hips.
"I was leaving this for the last day of school but I learned how to hypnotize people…." Before Spencer could finish what she was going to say Darcy cut her off.
"Hypnotize? Puh-lease" Darcy said. Spencer glared at her hard and she folded her arm across her chest.
"What you don't believe me?" Spencer asked as she stood in front of Darcy with a scowl on her face. Darcy smiled at her as she placed her hands on her hips.
"I think you're full of it" Darcy replied. Spencer rolled her eyes.
"Guy's just stop it. How do you do it Spencer?" Emma asked not wanting her friends to fight.
"Sorry can't tell you I was sworn to secrecy" Spencer said with a smug smile on her face. Darcy rolled her eyes as she leaned against the wall. "You want to see if it works?"
Manny frowned slightly. "I don't know…." Manny quickly looked down as she folded her hands in her lap as she felt Spencer's gaze on her.
"Why not?" Spencer's eyes looked to the stuffed lamb that was peeking out of Manny's tote bag. Spencer smirked Manny was always carrying around weird things.
"Doesn't hypnosis make you like say stuff you don't want to say?" Manny asked worriedly. Spencer raised an eyebrow as she smiled at her.
"Why Manny? Is there something you don't want you're dear old friends to find out about?" Spencer responded smugly. "And why are you always carrying around the damn lamb puppet?" She pointed to it and it caused everyone to look at it.
Manny shrugged and she pulled the stuffed lamb out of her bag. "My dad got me Lamby Lamb went he went out on a trip. She advices me on things" Manny held it in her lap.
"You're shoving your hand up its butt!" Spencer squealed and Paige started to giggle. "And beside why would you want to carry around something your dad gave you?" Manny's eyes widened as she licked her lips.
"It's not funny" Manny snapped as she whipped her head around to face Paige. Everyone was quite for a few seconds, the girls looked blankly at one another. This had been happening a lot lately. Someone usually Spencer mentioned something, and someone else got upset, but everyone was too shy to ask what in the world was going on.
Darcy finally broke the silence. "Being hypnotized, um does sound sort of sketchy" Spencer scowled at her.
"You don't know anything about it" Spencer snapped. Then her face softened as she looked at the other girls. "C'mon. I could do it to you all at once" Darcy looked around the room at the three other girls as she played with the hem of her shirt. Emma, Manny and Paige exchanged looks at each other not sure if they really want to do it. Spencer always had them doing these crazy things last summer she wanted to try smoking dandelion seeds to see if they'd hallucinate, and then last fall they had gone skinny dipping in Lake Ontario even though there had been a dead body found there. But the thing was they sometimes didn't want to do those things Spencer wanted to do. They all loved Spencer to death but then again they sometimes hated her for always bossing them around and for the spell she cast on them. Sometimes in her presence, they didn't feel real exactly. They felt like dolls with Spencer controlling their every move.
"Pleaeeeeeeeeze?" Spencer asked. She turned to Paige. "Paigey, you want to do it right?" Paige's mouth hung open surprised.
"Um…." Paige's voice quivered slightly. "Well"
"I'll do it" Emma butted it. Paige looked at her surprised.
"Me too" Paige said quickly after. Darcy and Manny reluctantly nodded. Completely satisfied , Spencer shut off all the lights with a snap and lit some vanilla scented candles that were on the coffee table. Then she stood back and hummed.
"Okay everyone just relax" she chanted, and the girls arranged themselves in a circle on the soft rug. "Your heartbeat's slowing down. Think calm thoughts. I'm going to count down from one hundred and as soon as I touch all of you, you'll be in my power"
"Spooky" Paige said with a small laugh.
Spencer began. "One hundred…..ninety-nine….ninety-eight…."
Twenty-two…..
Eleven….
Five….
Four….
Three….
Manny felt Spencer's thumb touch her forehead and she shivered slightly. "Two…." Spencer touched Emma, then Paige. She started to move towards Darcy. "One"
Darcy's eyes instantly opened before Spencer could touch her. She jumped up and ran to the window.
"What the hell are you doing?" Spencer whispered. "You are ruining the moment"
"It's too dark in here" Darcy reached to open the blinds.
"No" Spencer snapped. "It's got to dark in here Darcy"
"Come on. No it doesn't" The blind was stuck. Darcy grunted to wrench it free as she stared at Spencer.
"No. It does" Spencer argued grabbing Darcy's hand. Darcy snatched her hand away from Spencer's and she placed her hands on her hips.
"I want it lighter in here. It's my barn so what I say goes!" Darcy snapped. Spencer took a step back. "You can't always have it you're way Spence"
Spencer barked out a laugh. "I. Said. Close. Them!"
Darcy rolled her eyes and she scoffed. "Took a chill pill" Spencer stepped up to her venom in her eyes.
"You think I should take a pill?" Spencer demanded. The two girls stood there staring at each other for a while. None of the other girls had even opened there eyes from the argument going on.
"Finally, Darcy pointed to the door. "Get out"
"Fine I will" Spencer strode towards the door.
"Good" But after a few seconds passed, Darcy followed after her. The bluish evening air was still and there weren't any lights on in her family's main house. It was too quite outside, Darcy looked around and she heard her own breathing. "Wait a second!" she cried after a moment slamming the door behind her. "Spencer!" But Spencer was gone
When she heard the door slam, Manny opened her eyes and she looked around the barn. "Spencer?" she called. "Guy's?" no answer. She looked around Emma and Paige sat like lumps on the carpet, and the door as open. Manny moved out to the porch. No one was there. She walked to the edge of Spencer's property. "Spencer?" she whispered. Nothing. "Darcy?" Inside the barn Paige and Emma rubbed their eyes.
"I just had the weirdest dream" Emma said. "I mean, I guess it was a dream. It was really quick. Spencer fell down this really deep well and there were these giant plants"
"That was my dream too!" Paige exclaimed. Emma looked at her confused.
"It was?" Emma asked.
Paige nodded. "Well kind of. There was a big plant in it. And I think I saw Spencer too. It might've been her shadow…but it was definitely her"
"Whoa" Emma whispered. The two girls stared at each other with wide eyes.
"Guys?" Manny stepped back inside. She looked very pale.
"Manny are you okay?" Paige asked standing up.
"Where's Spencer?" Manny asked. "And Darcy?" Emma and Paige gave each other confused looks then they looked back over at Manny.
"We don't know" Emma replied.
Just then Darcy came bursting through the door causing them all to scream and jump. She gave them confused looks. "What?" she asked
"Darcy where's Spencer?" Emma asked as she stood up. They had figured Spencer would know where she was at. Spencer shrugged.
"I don't know" Spencer whispered. "I thought….I don't know" There was soon a silence that fell over all of the girls. The girls glanced at each other worriedly. All that could be heard was the hooting of an owl. Paige looked down then she looked back up at her friends.
"I think I want to go home" Paige said. The next morning, the four girls still hadn't heard from Spencer. The girls called one another to talk, a four way call this time instead of five.
"D you think she's mad at us or something?" Emma asked. "She was acting weird all night"
"She's probably at Katie's" Spencer said. Katie was one of Spencer's field hockey friends.
"Or maybe she's with that Tiffany girl. You know the one from camp?" Manny offered.
"I'm sure she's having fun wherever she's at" Paige replied quietly. One by one the girls got calls from Mrs. Montgomery asking if they'd heard from Spencer. At first, the girls all covered for Spencer. It was the unwritten rule. They covered for Paige when she snuck into the house after her curfew, they even helped Darcy when she accidentally left Melissa's brand new Ralph Lauren coat on the bus. But as each girl hung up with Mrs. Montgomery a sour feeling swelled in her stomach. Something was terrible wrong. That afternoon she called again this time in a panic. By that evening the Montgomery's had called the police, and the next morning there were cop cars and news vans camped out in the Montgomery's normally pristine front lawn. It was a local news channel's wet dream: a pretty rich girl, lost in the safest upper-class towns in the country.
Emma called Paige after watching the first Spencer news report. "Did the police interview you today?"
"Yeah" Paige whispered.
"Me too. You didn't tell them about….." She paused. "About The Ashley Thing, did you?"
"No!" Paige gasped. "Why? Do you think they know something about it?" Emma was silent for a while then she finally answered.
"No….they couldn't" Emma whispered. "We're the only one who know. The four of us….and Spencer" The police questioned the girls along with practically everybody in Toronto. It was the summer before eighth grade and the girls were supposed to be flirting with older boys at pool parties, eating corn on the cob in another's backyards, and shopping all day at the King James Mall. Instead they were crying alone in their canopied beds or staring blankly at their photo-covered walls. Darcy had went on a room cleaning binge , reviewing what her fight with Spencer really had been about, and thinking about things she knew about her that the others hadn't known. Emma spent hours on her bedroom floor hiding empty bags of Cheetos under mattress. Paige couldn't stop obsessing over the note she sent to Spencer before she disappeared. Had she ever gotten it? Manny sat at her desk with Lamby Lamb. Slowly the girls began calling each other less frequently. The same thoughts haunted all four of them but there wasn't anything left to say to each other.
The summer turned into the school year, which turned into the next summer. Still no Spencer. The police continued to sear but quietly. The media lost interest. The Montgomery's even moved out of Toronto almost two and a half years after Spencer disappeared. As for Darcy, Manny, Emma and Paige something shifted in them too. Now if they passed Spencer's old street and glanced at her house, they didn't go into instant-cry mode. Instead they started to feel something else.
Relief.
Sure Spencer was Spencer. She was the shoulder to cry on, the only one you'd ever want calling up your crush to find out how he felt about you and the final word on if your new jeans made you're butt look big. But the girls were also afraid o her. Spencer knew more about them than anyone else did, including the bad stuff they wanted to bury just like a body. It was horrible to think Spencer might be dead but…..if she was at least there secrets were safe.
And they were. For three years anyway.
AN: And there is the first chapter to my new story. I know the beginning is like the book, I'm using it so I could get the information so I could get everything correct. I won't be copying everything though trust me. Pretty Little Liars is my favorite book and Degrassi is my favorite show so I combined the two. Hope you all liked it, please R&R.