Chapter 1
13 years ago; Rosewood, PA.
First day of senior year.
He couldn't believe how quickly his school days had gone by. It felt like only yesterday he had walked through the doors of the elementary school, jumping up and down excitedly whilst holding onto his mother's hand. Back then he was just a little boy with a myriad dreams, looking forward to making new friends and having a merry time.
How wrong he had been. Over the years, school had become synonymous to nightmare. He always felt like people just looked through him, and even if they did notice him, it was to poke fun at him and bully him. He still couldn't decide which one was worse. But it was almost over now. Only nine and a half months, and he was done with this place for good. Besides, senior year was supposed to be the most hectic one, with the pressure of having to decide where to go and what to do with your life for the next four years. Most people cracked during pressure, but not Toby. He had been through enough to know that a little pressure to choose a good college and course wasn't going to crack him. His plan was simple. Get good grades, stay out of the limelight, continue as he always did and get into a good architecture course.
Toby loved desigining and making things. In his spare time he would head down to his father's tool shed and make small things whenever the creativity bug struck. Sitting there, with the smell of sawdust and other similar items calmed his nerves, and this explained why he had rushed there first thing in the morning. He also loved to make small things for his daily use. On his eighteenth birthday, he had made himself a wooden clock by dismantling the parts of one of the existing ones in his house and studying it. Truth be told, that was the only gift he had received that day.
As he neared Rosewood High, he slowed down, taking his time to get to the campus. Loud sounds of cheers greeted his ears, and from the corner of his eyes he could boys and girls hugging, slapping backs and talking loudly. Just the usual scene, nothing new. On entering the campus, he quickened his pace, eager to get to his first class without being teased or taunted. He pulled out his schedule from his pocket and glanced through it.
AP English Language.
Having taken the college level literature class the previous year, his counsellor had suggested that he take up the grammar equivalent for his final year, in order to have an even more impressive profile while applying for college. Noting the classroom number, he pulled his school bag around both hands and made his way there. He was still looking at the paper when somebody who was walking in the opposite direction bumped into him, hard. The paper flew out of his hand, and he looked up to see a towering figure in front of him, glaring down at him.
'Watch where you are going, asshole!'
Toby winced. Considering that he was used to receiving such treatment from everyone, he really shouldn't have felt hurt, but he felt his heart drop a little. What a brilliant start it was. He muttered an awkward apology and bent down to pick his schedule, but a large hand got there first.
'You are in AP English Language?' the boy asked increduously. 'If they let in complete morons like you too, I am completely ashamed to be a part of such a class. Let me see. You are also learning French II. No AP level for that? A different a little too tough for you townie?'
'Give it back to me,' Toby said calmly. It wasn't that he couldn't take on this boy in front of him. After all the long hours at the shed and helping out at the local garage, he was impressively strong, but violence wasn't his forte. His mother used to tell him: when you can solve it by calm words, never resort to using your limbs.
'What did you say?' the boy asked, losing his smirk. Apparently, no one had had the guts to speak back to him before.
'I said, give it to me. That is mine. It belongs to me, so please give it back,' Toby said, inching forward. He wasn't going to actually cause a scene. But there was something eerily unnerving about this guy, and it was making him lose his cool a lot faster than he usually would.
'Don't you ever talk back to me,' the boy said with a glare. He too inched forward. A crowd had gathered around the two of them, and from the looks on the faces of a few, Toby could deduce that they were his friends. If the two of them got into a fight, there was no way Toby was going to walk away on top. Nervousness filled him, and he took a small step back.
'Afraid of a little fight now, are we?' the boy asked, his glare curling up into an arrogant smirk.
'Campbell? Cavanaugh? What is going on here?'
Both the boy and Toby turned around, the former with an expression that read he was afraid of getting into trouble with the authorities, and the latter with relief. His nervousness ebbed away when he saw that the source of the voice was Ezra Fitz, his English teacher from the previous year. He had been one of the most supportive teachers he had ever had.
'Nothing Mr. Fitz,' the boy said. 'I was just checking out Cavanaugh's schedule here, wasn't I?'
Toby nodded at his former English teacher. 'Just a friendly conversation, nothing more.'
'Looked a lot more intense,' Mr. Fitz noted. 'I suggest you both get to class now, the bell's going to go any moment. And Cavanaugh, I'm impressed that you decided to take the AP Language class. You did really well in my class last year, and I'm sure your new teacher would be delighted to have you.'
Toby smiled awkwardly. It was very rare that anybody paid him compliments or spoke highly of him. To say he wasn't used to it was an understatemement. He nodded at Mr. Fitz, took his schedule from the Campbell boy and made his way to class. Of course, he didn't fail to notice that Mr. Fitz didn't pay any compliment to the Campbell boy, who had watched after him with such fury, that if he didn't know better, Toby would have expected fumes to rush out of his nose.
XXX
The classroom was not that big, and after a quick glance around, Toby came to the conclusion that it could seat upto twenty five children, tops. He took a seat right at the front, next to the door, in order to avoid confrontation and leave for the next class as soon as the bell rung. Not surprisingly, he was one of the first kids in class. Sitting down, he slid his bag off his shoulder and pulled the zip open. Peering through it, he extended his hand inside and pulled out a copy of his favourite book, Catcher in the Rye and began reading it. This book had been his favourite since he learnt to read.
'I am taking up five AP classes this year. I would have taken six, considering this is my senior year, but Coach Ramirez named me captain of Varsity field hockey, so I couldn't give up on that.'
Even without looking up from his book, Toby knew who the voice belonged to. Being the smartest and most prolific student in school, Spencer Hastings turned heads as easily as she could recite Macbeth byheart. Dressed in a red plaid shirt that looked great on her slim figure, she was walking upto the window seats, chatting animatedly to her friend. Toby could see that her friend – Aria Montgomery – had said something funny to her by the way Spencer let out a loud laugh that sounded like the ringing of tiny little bells. Her laugh made her whole face glow, but he noticed that they didn't reach her eyes. There was a strange kind of hollowness in them he couldn't quite fathom. He scolded himself for that thought. There was no reason to assume that just because he wasn't genuinely happy, nobody else was either. But something told him that it wasn't just him assuming the worst, because despite his faults, if there was one thing he was good at, it was reading people. And despite the seemingly happy face of Spencer Hastings, he could just say that there was more to her story than met the eye.
Not that it concerned him in anyway. Spencer and Aria used to be a part of Alison DiLaurentis' clique, and they never bothered with the matters of ordinary people like him. From what he had observed, all of them weren't really a group anymore, since Alison had found a new group of people with whom she ruled the world. Emily Fields and Hanna Marin had more or less faded into the background after the group split up, but Spencer had remained well known and popular owing to her stellar academic record and involvement in almost every possible school activity. Toby also felt that there was constant cold war between Spencer and Alison, because the two were always at loggerheads with each other regarding almost every single matter. But Spencer had one arena to herself, one which Alison couldn't even come close to besting her in – academics. And Toby was sure that Spencer used this to her advantage.
It shocked him, just how much he had observed about people who had never even spoken a single word to him. But that's what happens when you had no friends and faded into the crowd- you notice the most minute details of people's lives, some that even they might ignore.
Suddenly, the bell went off shrilly, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked around. The classroom was almost full now, and everyone seemed to be in deep conversation with their friends. His only friend, Caleb Rivers would be studying in a different school for the semester, and he realized that he would be completely and truly alone for the entirety of the semester. To his immense displeasure, he saw that the Campbell boy was in the class as well, as he engaging in a conversation with Spencer. To Toby, he looked quite uninterested in whatever she was telling him, and he felt a twinge of pity for the smart brunette. Before he could turn away, the Campbell boy looked past her and met his eyes. He shot him a threatening glare, as if to say This is not over until I say it is.
Toby looked away quickly, not wanting to incite him further. He didn't understand what he had done to make this boy hate him so much. People bumped into each other all the time, it wasn't a criminal offense. All he wanted was to continue surviving and be left alone. He didn't want any fights or controversies, yet one had found him for no apparent reason.
'Good morning everybody, over here!' Toby looked up and saw that the teacher had arrived. She was dressed up in a light blue dress, and from what he could deduce, she seemed to be in her late thirties. Her smile was warm, and there was a glint of kindness in her brown eyes that reminded him of his own mother. 'I am Carlotta Jensen, and I am going to be taking AP English Language for all of you. First of all, let me tell you that I am very impressed with all your summer submissions, and I am looking forward to reading your final submission which I hope you've all brough today.'
'All of you here are seniors, I had specifically looked into that, because you will all be doing some different kinds of assignments for my class,' Ms. Jensen went on. 'I want this class to be more about discovering yourself, than learning how to write the perfect essay. You will learn how to understand and accept who you are on a deeper level, and how to be more in tune with yourselves. You will explore different shades of yourselves, and the ultimate goal of my class is to help all of you get into college as emotionally healthy, happy students.'
Toby's eyes perked up in interest. Never before had he seen a teacher so interested in the emotional well being of the students. Granted most of them lend their hands to help, but such a personal interest? No. He was quite intrigued by the whole thing and wondered what new things he would learn about himself. He already knew who he was: carpenter, student, loner, outsider. Was there really more to him than that? Only time would tell.
'I have already paired you all up into groups of two. This assignment would be done in four major phases, the first two which will be evaluated for the first semester, and the last two for the final semester. I have taken careful consideration into forming these groups, based on studying your summer assignments and after speaking to your previous English teachers. Some of you with a GPA of above 3.8 have also signed up for tutoring others for extra credit, and I have taken that into account while forming these teams, so that you do not find it difficult to juggle between the two among other things.'
Toby felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. The only person who he enjoyed working with was Caleb, and he was now away for the semester. Whoever he now got paired with would probably be someone who hated him, making everything about the year altogether horrible. What if he got paired up with that Campbell kid? He couldn't imagine having to work with him for an entire year. All those jibes and taunts...they would be plain torturous.
'The first assignment starts off with coming up with ideas,' she continued after a pregnant pause. 'Each of you will come up with a synopsis to an idea you have in mind. The next day, you will exchange your idea with your partner, who will further develop your story, while you develop his or hers. Everyday you will keep switching, until you have a full length plot for both stories. You are not supposed to discuss your plans with your partner, they are just supposed to interpret it and build upon it. At the end of two weeks, you will sit together and make on singular plot from both ideas. After you are done with that, I will initiate the class on what the second phase of the project would be.'
The class fell silent. Such a project had never been created by any of the teachers before. Most of them just asked them to read and review classics or work on complex models. Nervous butterflies danced around enthusiastically in Toby's stomach. Not only was having to work with someone who possibly hated him a daunting thought, but the chance that they might mock his ideas made him feel extremely nauseous.
'I'm going to call out your names in pairs, come over here, introduce yourselves to the class and take a seat together so that you can get to know each other for the rest of the class.'
Everyone looked up in nervous trepidation, Toby more than the others.
'Toby Cavanaugh and -'
Oh no. Did it have to be him first? He braced himself for the next name that Ms. Jensen was going to call out.
'- Spencer Hastings.'
Almost as if on reflex, Toby turned to the right his eyes locked with hers. Judging from the expression on her face, she wasn't particularly excited about the arrangement either. The pure look of displeasure on her face hurt him, even though he fully expected it. Not wanting to maintain eye contact with her after that, he slid out of his seat and walked up to their teacher.
'Ms. Jensen, I had spoken with you earlier,' Spencer began. 'Andrew and I really work together. It is our senior year and we-'
'Precisely why I put all of you with people you haven't worked with before, at least to the best of my knowledge,' Ms. Jensen said. 'Besides, I also work for the tutoring portal, and you have been assigned to tutor Mr. Cavanaugh in French and Mathematics. Like I mentioned before, these arrangements have been made carefully in order to avoid inconvenience for you students.'
'I can handle tutoring him and working with Andrew,' Spencer argued. 'What I don't understand is what does being in senior have to do with anything?'
'So you can get to know the peers you haven't noticed in the past three years.' It was the first time Toby had spoken since their names had been called, and what he said surprised him too.
Ms. Jensen nodded in agreement. 'Precisely. I know you are a capable student and can handle all kinds of different assignments, but just trust me on this. You are going to thank me for this one day.'
'But-'
'Trust me, Ms. Hastings,' Ms. Jensen said, cutting her off. 'You two may take a seat and get acquainted.'
It was so obvious that she too, like many others hated him. Maybe it was better that people saw through him. That way, they had no reason to scrunch their noses in disgust whenever they saw him, for whatever godforsaken reason. Without waiting for her, he turned around and made his way back to his place. All he wanted was to finish senior year without anything crazy happening, and he here was, just one day in, being paired up for a year long project with someone who despised him.
It was the smell of her peach flavoured shampoo that alerted him of her presence next to him. Immediately wary, he straightened himself and subconsciously moved closer to the wall.
'Relax, I am not going to bite you.'
He caught her looking sideways at him, so he turned around to face her. 'Look, I know you hate me and don't want to work with me – it's written all over your face, so I am sorry that you are stuck working with me. If I could do something about it, I would.'
'I don't hate you,' Spencer said incredulously. 'What makes you think that? I barely know you.'
'I saw the look on your face when Ms. Jensen called out our names together.' He paused. 'You looked disgusted.'
'That had nothing to do with you!' Spencer snapped. 'I had other reasons for being pissed. I was under the impression I was working with my boyfriend, so I was naturally quite upset. I wasn't disgusted by you...I am not disgusted by you!'
'Oh.' Relief surged through his body. So he didn't have to spend the rest of the year working with someone who loathed him. Maybe they would even become friends over the course of the year. Fat chance, a voice whispered in his head. Straight across him, behind Spencer, was the same person she called her 'boyfriend'. 'He is your boyfriend?'
'Hey! He is not all that bad. You don't know him like I do.'
'I don't want to either. Gross.'
Spencer's lips almost twitched upwards in a smile, but she stopped herself. She met his eyes, and studied him with the strangest expression on her face. She seemed to be deep in thought. Then, she slid her bag off her shoulder and started peering through its content. 'Found it!' She looked up excitedly, with a book in her hand. 'You can take it.'
'L'attrape-couers.' Toby hoped he had read it right. 'The Heart Catcher?'
'It's The Catcher in the Rye, there's no literal translation,' Spencer said with a small smile. 'It helps to read something you've already read in English.'
'How do you know I've read it?' Toby asked, surprised. Considering the fact that this was the first conversation they ever had, he couldn't fathom how she knew this.
'I have seen you reading it around school.' Spencer looked away. 'You were reading it this morning too, before class.'
He looked at her curiously. They had passed each other in the school hallways and otherwise multiple times through the years, but he had never thought that she had noticed him reading the book, let alone remember it! She turned around and looked at him with big brown eyes that he could tell held many stories. The book was still in her hand and she looked down, flipping through the pages.
'I took AP French last year because I wanted to pursue language studies. Ever since then I've been reading a lot of books in French, including this one. It is one of my favourites, to be quite honest. I can't count how many times I've read it and I've taken AP Calculus and AP Trig. But that doesn't matter now, I'm leaning towards interior designing now.'
'You look like the kind of person who has everything figured out,' Toby observed.
Spencer rolled her eyes. 'Well everytime I think I've figured out something, I get the rug pulled out from under me and end up on my ass.'
'Ce'st dommage.'
She smiled at the French. 'Ce'st la guerre.'
Both of them started laughing, the thick ice between them clearly broken. Sudden warmth filled him, and he felt weirdly happy. He hadn't laughed so honestly ever since his mother had died. Spencer was laughing too, and once again, the sound of her laughter reminded him of tiny little bells ringing together. After a while, they calmed down, and her expression turned somber.
'I am sorry, if I made you feel like I hated you or was disgusted by you.' She looked genuinely apologetic. 'No one deserves to feel that way. And you seem like a nice guy, I don't think there is a legitimate reason to actually hate you, you know?'
Toby nodded in response. 'Thank you. And its okay. I misread you, and I am sorry about that.'
'You're forgiven.'
Silence filled them. It wasn't the awkward kind, where one felt the need to make conversation out of desperation, but one that felt like the comfort of a soft blanket. Toby picked the book from her hand and skimmed through it, trying to read it. Spencer watched him with interest, feeling some kind of solace in the company of the boy she had only seen from far.
The shrill ring of the bell broke their peaceful silence. Spencer tore out a piece of paper, scribbled her number onto it and gave it to Toby. 'Call me if you need anything. I better leave, I have practice next period. I look forward to reading your plot synopsis tomorrow.'
The plot synopsis, right. He had totally forgotten about that. He gave her one of his rare smiles as she slid out of her seat and made her way out of the class.
'Hey Spencer!' Spencer, who was at the door, turned around. 'I am glad we're paired together.'
'Me too.' Spencer smiled, and this time, Toby noticed, it reached her eyes. She turned around and walked out of the class, Aria Montgomery at her heels.
Toby put her book in his bag, closed the zip, ready to head to his next class. Maybe senior year wasn't going to be that bad after all. A loud thud on his desk made him look up, and he saw himself face to face with Andrew Campbell.'
'She's mine.' He pointed in the direction in which Spencer and Aria had gone. 'Stay away from her. This is just a professional arrangement between you two. Don't you dare get chummy with her. If you do, I swear to God, you'll rue the day you were born!'
Without giving Toby a chance to answer, he stormed out of class. Toby felt like tearing his hair apart in frustration. But despite the sinking feeling in his stomach, he felt something he hadn't felt in years.
Hope.
