Hey guys, and thanks for the great response to my first chapter.

Shoutout to missdallywinston because the day you wrote that review, I was actually considering giving up on an original project I've been working on - but your encouragement helped me get back on track. And in answer to a question by the lovely tobyequalshottness, Spoby is indeed canon in this AU, however as you will see in this chapter, it's not quite the Spoby you're used to - but there will be interaction between the two (next chapter, in fact) so I hope you'll stick with it.

Okay. That's all. I'll update when I get ten reviews for this chapter, or by the end of the weekend - whichever happens first. So get reviewing, hit me with your theories, and I'll see you all next time.

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It was still cold outside when Aria Montgomery left for school. She wrapped herself in her thickest jacket, warmed her hands on a cup of coffee, and sat in her car for ten minutes before she worked up the energy to start driving. By then she could just about feel her fingers, and by the time she got to school the worst of the chill had faded.

She'd had a sleepless night, and even her morning cup of coffee hadn't eased most of the tiredness. Maybe if she'd had a cup of Spencer's coffee, that would have been enough to wake her up; but with her coffee it was a fine line between being woken up and being sent into cardiac arrest.

Her friends were already there when she arrived – well, two of them were, anyway. Hanna Marin, looking fabulous as ever, her hair tastefully curled and her makeup perfect. Beside her was Emily Fields, her hair still wet from her morning swim, sipping her green tea and trying to cram for the History test she had first period.

"Morning," Aria said cheerily, sitting down across from them.

Emily looked up, nodded, and went back to her readings. Hanna reapplied her lip gloss and rolled her eyes. "All right, what are you on?"

"What?"

"Nobody is naturally that cheery in the morning," Hanna said, looking at Aria suspiciously.

Aria shrugged, spreading her hands out to indicate that she had nothing to hide. "I guess I just had a good night."

"What were you -"

Hanna stopped talking as her boyfriend walked up. He was all smiles and easy good humor, and he greeted Emily and Aria with a friendly wave, before pulling Hanna to her feet and greeting her in a much more intimate fashion.

"You know what," Hanna said, reaching for her purse and wrapping her arm around Caleb's waist, "I don't care why you're so happy today. Everyone deserves to be happy in the morning."

"Or all night long, on Spencer's nana's couch at her lake house, in your case," Emily teased.

"Hey." Hanna pointed her stick of lip gloss at Emily, giving her a stern look. "We promised we wouldn't say anything to her. Ka-quiche?"

Emily and Aria exchanged a look.

"Do you mean kapeesh?" the dark-haired swimmer supplied.

"Whatever," Hanna said, waving her hand. "My point is, don't tell Spencer. All right?"

"Fine." Emily shrugged and flicked to the back of her book, muttering something about the Russian revolution under her breath as she scanned the index page with her finger.

"Where is Spencer, anyway?" Aria asked, looking around as if expecting their friend to show up from behind the brick pillar near their table.

"Beats me," Hanna said, unconcerned. "But if you see her, remind her that she's meant to be helping me study Chem tonight."

"Sure thing," Aria said, and Hanna and Caleb departed, arm-in-arm.

"So what were you doing last night?" Emily asked, more absent than interested.

"It's personal," Aria replied guardedly. If Emily knew what she'd been doing last night… well, that wasn't a risk she was willing to take. The bell rang, and the two girls got to their feet, Emily still flicking through her book as they made their way to the lockers, while Aria breathed an internal sigh of relief that her friend hadn't pushed the issue.

By the time school ended, none of them had seen Spencer. Aria and Emily had, however, witnessed Hanna slipping into English ten minutes late, her hair messed up and her lipstick slightly smeared. When they gave her questioning looks, she just smiled, shrugged, and turned her attention to the front of the room.

"Have you tried calling Spence?" Emily asked that afternoon as they drove over to The Brew, their usual after-school hangout. "It's not like her to ditch school."

"I've called her twice, and left her three messages," Aria said, shrugging out of her jacket and tossing it onto the backseat. The later in the day it got, the fewer layers she needed. The sun didn't look all that bright, but it was more than enough to cause her to break a sweat – although maybe it wasn't just the sun that was responsible for that.

"I tried calling a couple of times too. Maybe she just got busy or something," Hanna suggested. "If she's not at The Brew, we can always swing by her house."

The other two agreed, but Aria couldn't help a pinprick of worry from stabbing at her heart. She pushed it away as they went inside and sat at their usual booth, and as she sipped on her butterscotch latte she began to feel better. She'd almost finished when the door to The Brew swung open, and she saw a very familiar blue-eyed boy walk through.

"Toby!" she called, beckoning him over.

He paused on his way over to the counter, seeming surprised at being called. "Hi Aria," he said, coming to a stop in front of them. "Emily, Hanna. Where's Spencer?"

"We were hoping you knew," Aria said, sharing a look with her friends. "She didn't show up to school today, so we thought maybe she was with you."

"I haven't seen her all day," Toby said apologetically. "And I'm actually heading off to a job now, so -"

"Sorry," Emily said. "Don't let us keep you. But… let us know if you hear anything from her, all right?"

"Of course." He left them with a smile, bought his coffee to go, and was out of there in under five minutes.

Aria watched the door swing closed behind him, unaware of the fact that in his bag was a mask of her dead friend's face, nestled snugly between a length of rope and a letter opener.

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Well then. What do you think's going on?