The next day:

Hanna:

When Hanna woke up she heard her mobile phone ringing next to her ear. Hanna shook her head and yawned. Who would want to talk to her such early in the morning? Her hand reached out of her blanket and tried to grab the phone without even watching it. This proved as not working which made Hanna stand up. She looked at the Display. Her mum. Not really. Hanna answered the phone.

"Hanna, darling. Did I wake you up?"

"No, you know. Like every day I'm going for a run early as fuck. But no problem, mum. So, what's the matter?

"I just wanted to tell you that Pam phoned me. She decided to visit Emily's dad for a while. What do you think about the idea of that Emily could stay with us?"

"Yeah, of course. Great idea. When will she arrive?"

"I will pick her up in about one hour, so fine. Would you make breakfast?"

"MUM. Okay, but don't expect it to be awesome. You know I'm probably even too bad at cooking to prepare breakfast."

"Just do it and thank you. Love you, Hanna."

"Love you too mum."

Hanna hung up and slipped into her warm and fluffy slippers. She was still wearing her pajamas. Kind of annoyed, Hanna went to her wardrobe and pulled out a tiny dress. Some years ago, I would have been ashamed just by thinking of wearing this, Hanna thought while she dressed up. As Hanna saw herself in the mirror, she refreshed her totally messy bun and chose open hair for today.

After having brushed her teeth, Hanna was in a rush because Em and her mum would arrive soon and expected a laid table. Pulling out the plates and cups, Hanna realized that the fridge was almost empty. It was always empty but usually Hanna didn't care. Apart from when she had to solve this problem on her own very early in the morning. Hanna stood in front of the fridge and thought about what to do. Because she didn't find another solution, she walked over to Spencer's and rang their doorbell. Spencer appeared after half a minute but not from inside as Hanna had her expected to. Spencer's voice came from Hanna' back. Hanna turned around and saw her friend wearing sports clothes. She had been for a run, what Hanna had joked about in front of her mother was visible what Spence truly did in the morning.

"Hey Han. What are you doing here?"

"I'm glad to see you too, Spence. But yeah… It's a little complicated. Em will stay with us for some time, because her mum visits her dad and she will arrive in the next fifteen minutes. My mum wanted me to prepare breakfast but our fridge is empty. Okay, there are a few meatballs but.."

"Okay, so you want to borrow food from my fridge because you are too lazy to go to the supermarket."

"Yeah, it sounds worse when you express it like this."

The two of them went into the house, where Spencer grabbed some rolls, eggs and marmalade. "What about butter?" Spencer asked and Hanna nodded her head. After a few minutes Hanna left the house and ran back to her own one with her arms full of food. She laid the table faster than ever before and even managed to boil the eggs.

As she had just finished and wanted to sit down for a moment, Emily and Ashley arrived. Emily brought her bag upstairs and then the girls had breakfast. Ashley couldn't stay because a client had a problem which needed to be solved directly. Hanna rolled her eyes, when her mum left again. All this exercise and then she just left.

Emily seemed to not be hungry because instead of eating she only starred at the roll on her plate. Wondering why her friend wasn't eating, Hanna asked:
"Em, are you alright?"

"What?" Emily started.

"I asked if you are alright." Hanna repeated her question.

"I don't know. No, I'm not." Emily answered. She was downcast.

Hanna got closer to her. "Any problems with your mum? Is it because she didn't take you with her to your dad?"

"I told you about this thing. This gay-thing, right? So, I told my mum as well but she didn't react alike you. She said it was just a phase I'm currently going through and then today she stood downstairs with her luggage. My mum told me she would have to talk to dad face-to-face and the worst about it was that she couldn't watch straight into my eyes, Han. She doesn't accept it."

Hanna was speechless. She had expected that Pam wouldn't mind. This meant she had almost thrown Emily out.

"Emily, your mum will change her opinion on that, all sure. You are her daughter and she won't hate you for your sexuality. "

"Han, don't you get it? She didn't even watch me! I could have been anywhere, she wouldn't care. And you know what? The thing is: Unimportant how much I want to change this part of me, it won't! If I make out with guys, I will still be gay. My mum doesn't understand it. You should have seen her face's expression. She was disappointed at me and I can't do anything. Now, I'm a mess myself and I would have needed her support but she leaves. It's so easy for her to leave and let me sit here.

Her gay daughter. "

"Em.", Hanna interrupted her, "take a breath please. I should say that I understand you and know what to do now but the truth is, I don't. I have never been in such a situation. You're very upset, let us go for a walk and take me serious I'm not the nature guy but this might be a good idea."

Emily agreed although she still looked to the ground. Hanna took Emily with her and they went outside.

"We could pick Spencer up, although she has already been for a run. What about that? If you don't want to, it's okay."

"It's a good idea, Han. Why not?" Emily answered. Hanna was surprised of her reply but they went over to the Hasting's house. Mrs. Hastings opened the door.
"Oh, girls. Nice to see you, I guess you want to meet Spencer. Come in."

Emily and Hanna entered, Spencer was sitting on the sofa reading a book. As she saw Hanna and Emily, Spencer stood up and having talked for a while, the three girls left the house. They strolled along the street. Spencer started a conversation:

"I heard you're staying at Hanna's house for some time, Em. That's great because we can do all our sleepovers there then. No, I'm just kidding."

Emily told Spencer the truth about why her mum wasn't at home and Spencer listened throughout her whole monologue. Spencer wasn't that compassionate but clever enough to see that Emily wasn't in a good mood.

As Emily finished, Spencer hugged her. "You know that we are always there for you, Em. You can talk to each of us and if there will be more problems with your mum in the future, you can stay with us. And please try to smile a little, we will make the best out of it."

"Thank you, Spence. You're so reliable." Emily replied. Suddenly Spencer stopped.

"Guys? Where are we?" she asked. Hanna and Emily turned around to her realizing that they had been so busy with talking that they got lost. "Shit." Hanna murmured. They stood anywhere in the woods surrounded by pretty much nothing. Hanna unlocked her phone.

"We are out of range." Hanna informed the girls. "Spence, haven't you been at the girl guides?" Emily asked but Spencer said:" I was six, Em and honestly I joined them only once."

"What are we going to do now?" Hanna wondered.

Spencer suggested to walk to a small house which she had spotted uphill.

Although Hanna didn't like the idea of climbing, none of them knew what to do instead. The hill proofed as steeper than it looked like. At first everything worked out well and soon they were half the way up.

Because she wasn't concentrated, Hanna made a wrong step. Her left foot slipped away and she fell. Spencer and Emily who were in front of her, managed to get back to Hanna. She lay on the ground, as the they reached her.

"Hanna." Screamed Spencer. "Are you hurt?"

Hanna sat up, she felt dizzy. "I'm not sure. My head hurts."

Spencer knelt next to her: "Can you stand up?" Hanna shrugged her shoulders. "I'll try."

Emily and Spencer helped her get up. "Ouch." Said Hanna grabbing her left ankle. "I must have twisted my ankle while slipping away. "
"Let me see. It's very swollen and red but hopefully not broken. Try to put ballast on it." Emily detected. Spencer let go of her and Hanna tried to walk but directly stopped after one step. A tear ran down her cheeks. "I can't. It hurts too much." She whimpered.

"We will help you to walk and call for help when we are up there. I hope they have got a phone. Don't cry, Hanna. It's not far away anymore. Go for it."

The entire way up to the house, Hanna was crying, unable to walk on her own. Emily and Spencer sat her down on a bunch in front of the house. "I'll stay with Hanna. Ring the doorbell, Spence and ask if we can use their phone." Spencer nodded her head and Emily joined Hanna.

Spencer:

Spencer went to the door and rang the doorbell-nobody opened. She pushed against the door and it immediately opened. "Hello?" Spencer shouted as she carefully walked in. She was surrounded by old woody furniture. She entered a room that she identified as the living room and spotted a phone on a table. Spencer grabbed it and dialed Aria's number. She didn't know why but it was the first one that came to her mind. After some seconds, Aria answered the phone.

"Why are you calling me? I don't want to waste my time by talking to a person like you." Aria was angry.

Spencer was surprised but said: "Aria, it's me. Spencer. Why are you shouting at me?"

"Spence, it's Noel Kahn's number on my display. What the hell are you doing at his house?"

"Not really, so I better hurry up. I have no time for any explanations now but you must pick us up. And please take a first aid kit with you, Hanna twisted her ankle."

"I'm coming, Spence. But please leave his house. The last time I talked to him was at a party where we had a huge argument. He is still pissed at us. I'll be there in some minutes, take care of you."

Aria hung up and Spencer wanted to leave the house as she suddenly heard a key in the back-door's lock. Noel.

She ran out of the house and slammed the door behind her. Inside she heard Noel's upset voice: „Who is that? Why are you breaking into my house? I will catch you, dude!" Spencer ran around the corner where Emily and Hanna where sitting. "Run." Spencer whispered.

"Are you kidding me?" Hanna asked but Spencer took Hanna with her and the three girls hid in a bush. "It's Noel's house and he doesn't seem to be happy. Aria will pick us up. Keep quiet." Spencer explained. Just then, Noel appeared in front of his house.

"Guys." Emily whispered. "Noel has got a gun in his hands and it doesn't seem as if he wouldn't use it." Now that Emily said it, Spencer also saw it. Noel held the gun in his both hands, able to shoot directly when necessary.

"What if Aria arrives now?" Emily asked. "She will be in huge trouble." Spencer answered. Fortunately, Noel was phoned by somebody which made him leave, the girls could hear him talking:
"Yeah, all right. Well dude, I'm coming. I have some problems at my place but…

Okay, I know it must wait. I'll be at yours soon. Bye bro."

Noel looked around for one last time, then went to his car and left. "He didn't say bro, did he?" Emily giggled.

Hanna, who was leaning against a tree said in a monotone voice:" What is Aria doing? Does she even know we were accompanied by a weirdo and his gun?" Emily laughed.

"At least you're still joking, Hannah. So, you won't die in the next few hours. "

Spencer pointed to a road behind them: "Aria is finally there. "

Aria:

Aria jumped out of her car and came over to the other girls. Emily and Spencer stood up.

"Hey guys. What happened, why are you at Noel's in the woods? I didn't know any of you was into hiking and stuff. Oh my god, Hanna. Your ankle doesn't look good at all. It's so swollen and additionally blue. I guess a doctor should have an eye on it but first we should get you to the car. You can't walk, can you?"

"No, I hardly can. It's pretty painful." Hanna answered.

"So, how are we doing this? Can one of you carry her? I mean I don't want her to hurt again." Spencer asked.

All of them looked at Emily. "Seriously? Just because I'm gay, doesn't mean I'm the man of us." Emily said smiling.

"No, of course not. But, Em, you are in the swim team, Aria is way too small and I'm weak." Spencer admitted. Therefor Emily knelt next to Hanna, she wrapped her arms around Emily's shoulders and Emily picked her up. She carried Hanna to Aria's car and sat her on one of the rear seats. "Thank you, Em." Hanna said grateful for not having to go for another walk.

On their way back to Hanna's, Spencer called Wren who agreed to coming over and taking a look on Hanna. As Aria drove in Hanna's entry, Wren was already there. He opened Hanna's door and this time it was him carrying her to the house, where he lay her down on her bed. Aria, Emily and Spencer followed the two of them upstairs to Hanna's room.

While examining her ankle, Wren asked: "How did this happen? It looks very bad."

"Oh, we have been on a hike and I slipped away and when I fell down, I twisted my ankle." Hanna explained her situation.

Wren laughed. "So, you are going on a hike in a white dress? At least you didn't wear heels."

"Actually" Spencer interrupted him. "She wore heels." Wren rolled his eyes and put his strict this-was-very-foolish look on.

"Does this hurt?" Wren asked during searching her ankle. Hanna shook her head. His hand changed its position. "And this?" This time, Hanna nodded her head, twisted in pain. She was visible trying to repress crying.

"Sorry, Hanna. But I need to know if you can walk. So that I can exclude a fracture. Would you please walk some steps?" Wren apologized.

Hanna was so done but forced herself to stand up. As she put ballast on her ankle, she couldn't hold the tears back ones again. She started to walk and stopped after three steps. "Wren, please. I can't walk anymore today. Can you help me?" Hanna asked forced. Wren was directly there and helped her to return to her bed. Hanna sat down relieved. Aria handled her a handkerchief and Hanna swiped her tears away.

"Your ankle is sprained in a very bad way, you have to take care of it in the next days, I will leave an analgesic here for you. If it gets much worse, please phone me and Hanna? You should sleep now because you seem to be really done. It would be better to put your leg up and could one of you girls get her some ice?" Wren finished and left the room.

Emily went to the kitchen and grabbed some ice which she put on Hanna's ankle. She sat down at her bed and covered her with the blanket. "Try to sleep, Hanna." Emily whispered, stroking her head. Almost not able to keep her eyes open, Hanna murmured:" Thank you for carrying me, Em. Thank you for everything. You were in such a bad mood and I made your day even worse. Sorry for that."
"Oh Han. You didn't ruin anything. Let's talk tomorrow." When Emily lay down next to her, Hanna had already fallen asleep. Emily smiled and closed her eyes hoping that Hanna would have a calm night.

Spencer:

Aria and Spencer stood downstairs in the Marin's kitchen together with Wren who was about to leave.

"Wren?" said Spencer keeping him back. "I just wanted to thank you for coming. It was very kind."

"No matter what, Spence. Call me, I mean why am I studying medicine if I don't want to use my knowledge? No problem, I was bored anyway. Good night then."

As Wren wanted to close the door behind him, Aria shouted: "We owe you a favor, Wren." He smiled and the door snapped shut.

Spencer poured some water in a glass and drank it slowly, Aria watched her. "Spence? This might be tactless or maybe I'm mistaken but is it possible that he still has a crush on you?"

Spencer remained silent for a couple of seconds. Then she said: "Yes, honestly I am of the same opinion. He looks at me in this weird way and everything."

"What about you?" Aria asked. "No, actually I don't have a crush on him. He is hot and funny and compassionate and reliable but I want him to only be my friend. I kissed him, I know, but it didn't feel right or long lasting. "Spencer said and had the last sip of her water.

Aria and Spencer decided to go home because it already was very late and they didn't want their parents to worry.

When they stood in front of the house, Aria got on her car and drove away. Spencer walked by feet which wasn't a problem because she lived in the neighborhood.

Spencer just wanted to enter her house, as her mobile phone rang. Beep, Beep. She switched it on- a message. No. Spencer was afraid to open it although she knew who it was from. No, she didn't but she knew which letter would be given as the sender. A. A single A. And she had seen this letter way too often in the past time- the time after Ali's body was found. Spencer shook instinctive when she thought of the funeral.

She didn't want to think of this day or be remembered. But she still opened the message and her fear proved as right.

Hope your break-in wasn't recorded. Otherwise Hanna's mum will have to fuck you out of your problems, bitches. -A

Spencer turned her phone off and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and entered her house. What Spencer hated most about A was that she always hit the currently weakest. Somehow, she also admired how somebody could control lives by such a complex system of always being informed. She sneaked upstairs to not wake anybody up but Melissa already stood in front of her as she reached the bathroom.

"I know Wren's aftershave exactly, Spence. Hope you two had fun." Melissa whispered.

"How can somebody waste his whole time being jealous? You know what, I don't owe you any explanations. But we had to call Wren because Hanna had an accident and it was too late to drive her to the hospital. Now you can go back to sleep or do you want a report of my daily activities? And no, during examining Hanna, Wren and I didn't make out." Spencer hissed.

"Oh sorry. You needn't freak out. How is Hanna doing?" Melissa answered but Spencer turned around and said: "Don't try to seem caring. I know you're not." She lay down on her bed and didn't even take her clothes off. Melissa always managed to let her loose her cool. The last thing that got to her mind before Spencer fell asleep was: What about her did Wren find so likely?