Spencer and Harper were laughing as they strolled through the door to their room. They had just come from yet another "team building" activity for their dorm - volley ball with exercise balls. "Honestly," said Spencer, "Are we in college or kindergarten?"

Harper nodded and said, "Well judging by how those guys from the pre-med program got when they lost, I'd say the latter." Spencer and Harper both collapsed in a fit of giggles, remembering a pack of very over-dramatic boys getting into a shoving match after the first round.

Spencer had surprised herself in the two days of orientation and team building activities. She had found that she was really starting to like having a fresh start. Girls were befriending her, guys were hitting on her (not that she cared), and she and Harper were becoming very close. Harper was silly and kooky, but also driven and intelligent like Spencer. It was surprising to her how well the two were getting along, and although they might never become as close as her and Aria, they could be good friends in time.

"This is ridiculous," Spencer declared as she dropped to the floor. "I still haven't even finished unpacking all of my stuff!" They had been so busy with everything that neither she or Harper had finally gotten everything up the way the wanted in their room.

"I'm too tired," moaned Harper dramatically, flopping onto her bed. Spencer ignored her and kept taking things out of her duffel and placing them on shelves. She only had smaller things now: make up, hair products, school supplies, jewelry, and a couple of photos, some of which were framed. She placed the photos on the shelf next to a bottle of lotion, but she accidentally knocked it over and the lotion came spurting out.

"Shit," she said, trying to move everything off the shelf. "Harper, can you grab me a few paper towels?" Harper quickly dashed to the bathroom and back and went to help Spencer clean up the mess. "It's okay, Harper, you don't have to help," Spencer said as the two of them awkwardly bent over the same sticky shelf. "Can you just move my photos somewhere else? I don't want them to get sticky."

Harper nodded and grabbed the stack, along with the three framed photos. Her eyes immediately stuck on the first one. "This is pretty," she said, eyeing the photograph. "Was this at your mom's wedding?"

Spencer tossed out the sticky paper towels and nodded. "Yup. That's Aria and her little brother Mike on the left, then her dad, then my mom, then me and my sister Melissa."

Harper was shocked to hear about Spencer having another sister; she hadn't mentioned it when they talked about their families. "Are you and Melissa close?" Something dark flashed in Spencer's eyes that Harper couldn't identify.

Spencer stuttered a minute before respond. "Nope, we aren't. But Aria is the best sister I could ever want." It was 100 percent true. After everything that happened between Spencer and Melissa, after the accident, she didn't even want to take that picture standing next to Melissa. But her mother insisted, saying that their tangled problems with each other did not trump the fact that it was a happy day and milestone. If only her mother knew everything that Melissa had done to her. If only she knew the truth.

"You guys don't look alike," said Harper, studying Melissa's face.

"We have different dads," said Spencer, the words leaving her mouth because she could think about them. She had only found out about a month or two after the wedding, and she was livid. All this time she had pegged her father as being the unloyal one, the cheater, but her mother was just as bad. As hard as it was for her, it was 100 times worse for Melissa. She wanted nothing to do with her mother any more and moved to California with her boyfriend.

It was fine for Spencer because she wanted nothing to do with Melissa anymore, either. Not after everything that happened, everything that she did. Not after the accident.

"This from your and Aria's graduation?" asked Harper, looking at the second framed photo. Spencer and Aria were clad in blue caps and gowns standing on either side of a taller, muscular boy with sexy blond hair and a winning smile.

"Yup," Spencer said, swallowing her nerves. She prayed to God that Harper wouldn't ask who-

"Who's the boy in between you guys? He's hot." Spencer didn't respond for a second, and Harper sensed some tension. "He an ex?"

Spencer awkwardly massaged a knot in her neck so she'd have something to do with her hands. "He's actually my half brother on my dad's side."

"Oh," said Harper, not sure how to respond. She felt awkward for bringing it up, but she didn't know why.

"He- he had a thing with Aria a while back," Spencer interjected. "It's kind of weird now when we talk about him." Spencer felt proud of herself for telling the truth. Although, one awkward kiss didn't really count as a thing. But it was still INCREDIBLY uncomfortable whenever Aria and Jason hung out together, especially because-

"Is Aria seeing anyone?"

Goddammit, thought Spencer, what is with all these nosy questions? "Yeah, she's been with her boyfriend for two years," Spencer said, feeling jealous. She cold never admit it to Aria, but she was ALWAYS jealous of her relationship with Ezra. Ezra was perfect- kind, caring, loving. Just like Toby used to be.

And the worst part was, Ezra never had to leave her. He applied for a job here, at Aria's COLLEGE, as an English professor when he found out Aria was applying, and he got the job. The two would never be able to hang out on campus, but they were together.

Harper sensed awkwardness settling into the room. Spencer had turned pale and stiff. She clearly didn't want to talk about anything that had to do with her past, her siblings, her relationships. Harper wasn't sure why; she herself had been an open book over the last few days, telling Spencer about her family, friends, and home town. She didn't know why Spencer wouldn't open up.

Determined to make a connection, Harper looked at the third framed photo. "Cute," she said with a smile, examining the photo. Spencer and Aria were sitting on the railing of that front porch of a house with three other girls. It looked safe enough to talk about. "Are they some of your friends?"

Spencer nodded and whispered, "Yeah, they used to be my best friends."

"Used to be? Where are they now? Different schools?"

Spencer didn't respond and turned pale again. Inside her mind, she wanted to vomit. She hated the fact that she would never be able to talk about them to anyone. How could she pretend that these girls, these girl who knew more about her than she knew about herself, didn't exist? Other than this one photo, she had to pretend that these girls didn't matter.

"Spencer? Are you okay?" asked Harper. "Is there something wrong?"

Spencer sniffled and rubbed her eyes. Don't cry, she told herself. You can't appear weak to her. "They. . . died. In a car crash."

"Oh my God," Harper breathed, shocked by her words. "Spencer, I'm so sorry. I had no idea."

"It's okay," Spencer said with a shrug. She walked over next to Harper and looked at the photo. "It was an accident. Nothing could have stopped it." She sat down and looked at the photo with Harper. The smiling girls in the photograph were sitting on the railing of the front porch of Spencer's lake house. "Aria's on the far left, and next to her is Alison. Then Emily, then me, then Hanna."

Harper looked at the the girls with their bright smiles. "You guys were close," she observed. It might have been a question, but Harper knew that there must have been something deep between them.

"We were," Spencer whispered tearfully. "It's been. . . hard, to say the least."

"I bet," whispered Harper as she stroked the wooden frame of the photo. "I'm sorry for prying." No wonder Spencer never wanted to talk about her past. Harper felt like an asshole for digging.

"It's okay," said Spencer softly. "I'm really tired. I'm going to brush me teeth."

"Okay," said Harper awkwardly. Spencer went to grab her tooth brush and tooth paste and dashed out the door, tears threatening in her eyes. But instead of going straight to the bathroom, she ran down two floors to Aria's room.

Aria was sitting inside, writing in her journal while glaring at her roommate Tammy, when Spencer knocked on the door. Tammy had her headphones in and didn't hear the door, so Aria signed and jumped up to answer it. When she saw Spencer on the other side, staring down at little Aria with her big, puppy dog eyes, she knew something was wrong.

"Tammy?" asked Aria. "Would you mind giving us some privacy for a few minutes?" Tammy rolled her eyes, jumped up from the bed and plowed past the girls out the door, her iPod in her hand. Obviously, she could hear Aria and heard the door a few minutes ago.

Aria closed the door and rolled her eyes. "She always like that?" ask Spencer, sitting down on Aria's bed.

"Yup," groaned Aria, plopping down next to her. "She gives moody artists a bad name. Now what's up?"

Spencer buried her face in her hands and sighed. "I should have never brought any photos with me."

Aria gently pressed a hand onto Spencer's back. "Breath, Spencer, keep breathing," she whispered. It was a problem Spencer had during the last few months; if she got overwhelmed, she would forget for to keep breathing, or start hyperventilating and would end up blacking out. "Just breath, Spence. In and out, in and out." It was scary for Aria, but it wasn't as bad as the semi-constant panic attacks that were finally under control. She would take the random breathing problems over the random panic attacks any day.

"I'm fine," whispered Spencer, pulling away from Aria. "I'm okay. You don't have to do this."

"Spence, I'm always going to be here. I can always do this for you." Aria frowned when Spencer didn't respond. She was always embarrassed of how much she relied on Aria to be there.

"What did Harper see?" asked Aria gently.

"You know that framed photo I have of the five of us, sitting on the railing of my lake house porch?" Spencer sniffled, wiping away a tiny tear forming in her eye.

Aria sighed softly and said, "What did you tell her?"

"They all died in a car crash," said Spencer. "Just like we agreed. And it's not a story, it's the truth. A tragic car accident."

"Spence."

"We have nothing to hide from anyone," Spencer said in a monotone. "We are just two girls whose best friends died in a car accident."

"No, we aren't," said Aria, putting her arm around Aria. "Remember what Dr. Sullivan said? You're more than that."

"Am I?" asked Spencer.

"YES," said Aria forcefully. "You aren't just that girl. You're not just the girl who-"

"Whose boyfriend is a murderer who screwed her over."

It was silent for a second before Aria responded. "Yeah. You're not just that girl. You are so much more."

Spencer didn't respond for a moment, just leaned into Aria's contact. "I'm really lucky I have you, Aria," she whispered. "You're the only good thing I have left."

Aria blushed and bit her bottom lip. "I'm sorry for everything that happened, Spencer. I really am. I wish it hadn't turned out this way."

"You know," she whispered, "That is the first time you have ever said that to me."

Aria looked at her and said, "Did you want me to say it sooner?"

"Don't be sorry," said Spencer, her voice thick. "There's nothing to be sorry for. Nothing ever happened."

"What?"

"We're just going to pretend none of it existed. Ok?"

"Ok," whispered Aria and rested her head on Spencer's shoulder. The two sat there like that for a long time until neither could remember why Spencer came to the room in the first place