Pretty disappointed that I only got one review...thanks to "Guest" for reviewing, and to fieldsl, HKcookie, and pinkcrazyness for the favorites/follows. Now we jump one year ahead, to sometime during season one/two. Not sure when I'll have the next chapter up, but feedback gives me more motive to keep writing!

Chapter 1

One year later

It was a normal, if somewhat dreary, November day when Hanna suddenly stood up from Spencer's couch. "Get out your phones," she commanded, ignoring her friends' alarm. "We're going to make a list."

Aria and Emily complied, exchanging a look of confusion, but Spencer hesitated. Obviously Hanna had just been inspired by some sort of idea, which was strange. Usually it was Spencer who jumped up out of nowhere with some thought that had just occurred to her. It was a little weird being out of the loop for once.

"Can I get some more details, Han?" she asked, but grabbed her phone from the coffee table anyway. "What, exactly, are we making a list of?"

Hanna was already walking over to Spencer's adjoined kitchen. She threw open a drawer and began rooting through it. "God, Spencer," she said in frustration after a moment. "Where do you guys keep your notebook paper?"

"Over by the phone," Spencer said slowly, standing and walking over to the cordless phone on the counter. She grabbed a pad of paper and handed it to her friend.

"Okay, so what's your big idea?" Aria asked once the two girls had rejoined them in the living room, Hanna carrying the pad and a pencil.

"We're going to put together a list," Hanna repeated, beginning to fiddle with her phone, "of all the texts we've gotten from 'A.'"

Spencer felt herself flinch. It wasn't a surprise that Hanna's plan had to do with "A." Lately it seemed like all any of them could think about was their anonymous stalker, who had been sending them cryptic messages for the past two months, threatening to reveal their deepest secrets if they didn't do what "A" ordered them to.

It seemed like the girls were spending all of their time lately either tracking down suspects, trying to keep their families and friends from figuring out what was going on, or jumping through hoops to keep "A" happy.

Spencer didn't like feeling so out of control. The last time she'd felt so powerless was back during the time after Ali disappeared…died. It had taken her weeks to push that memory down, of what she had done that night, to nearly wipe it completely from her mind.

So it wasn't completely out of the blue for Hanna to suddenly get an idea like this. But it did seem a little random, as well as a little annoying, considering this had been the first time in forever that they had all been together and not talking about "A."

" 'Be careful Hanna. I hear prison food makes you fat,'" Hanna was reading off of her phone, rolling her eyes. "Ugh, that's the first one I got."

Emily fidgeted from her seat across the room. She pulled her knees up to her chest and said, "No offense, Han, but I don't think I want to relive all the times that 'A' has held something over my head."

"Yeah," Aria agreed, setting her cell phone facedown on the table. "How is remembering all the times 'A' has tried to ruin our lives going to help us figure out who's doing this?"

"No," Spencer spoke up suddenly, inspired by their protests. It was no secret that the girls were convinced that "A" was at least connected to Alison's murderer, if not the same person. They all assumed that if they tracked down the person behind the pseudo name, they'd find out what happened to their old best friend, too.

And Spencer needed to make sure that they never changed their minds. As long as her friends were convinced that "A" and Ali's killer were one in the same, she'd be in the clear. "I think she's on to something," she said slowly, glancing at each of her three friends. "I mean, 'A' has to be someone we're close to, right?"
"Exactly," Hanna agreed, smiling, clearly thrilled that the smart one in the group was on board with her plan. "It shouldn't be too hard to figure out who else we know talks in that same cryptic, creepy way."

Aria was beginning to nod. "We should find all of the handwritten notes 'A's' sent us, too, see if we can figure out the handwriting."

Spencer sat back against the sofa, repressing a smile as she watched her friends begin to scour their phones, scrolling intently through their messages and grabbing notepads to jot down various messages from their tormentor, occasionally grimacing at a particular taunt or threat.

She pulled out her own phone, too, and picked up a pencil, to not arouse suspicion. And anyway, it wasn't like she was any less desperate to uncover the identity of the elusive "A." Just because they weren't the one to kill Alison didn't mean that they weren't connected in some other way.

"Guys, I'm starving," Emily complained after a solid twenty minutes. "And I'm not making any connections. Can we take a break and head to the Brew?"

"Not now," Hanna said intently. She was sitting on the floor, scribbling on a piece of paper that was laid on the coffee table. "I think I'm onto something."

The other girls glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. More often that not, Hanna's "breakthroughs" ended only in dead ends.

"Melissa made some muffins yesterday," Spencer said, getting to her feet. "I'll grab whatever's left."

"Check for poison before you do!" Aria called, laughing along with Emily and Hanna.

Spencer sighed as she opened the fridge, pulling out the saran-wrapped plate of muffins. Lately, her older sister had been on the top of the girls' suspect list. At times, they seemed totally convinced that Melissa was Ali's killer.

They had no idea that they had the wrong Hastings' sister.

It always made Spencer uneasy whenever the others brought up Melissa. She was too close to home, too close to them figuring out the truth, and it made her uncomfortable.

In a weird, twisted way, Alison's body finally being found, along with the ensuing texts from "A" had brought the girls closer together after a year of being virtual strangers. Spencer had spent most of her sophomore year forcing down her pain and guilt, trying to convince herself that she couldn't possibly have done what she knew she really had by using that energy to win. At everything.

Now she finally had her old friends back. And she wasn't willing to lose them again. They could never know what she had done that night. So she had to do everything she could to keep the focus off of her family.

"Come on, you guys," she called back to her friends, forcing a laugh as she unwrapped the plate. "I thought we were over Melissa as a suspect."

Hanna said something in reply, but her words were drowned out by the sound of Spencer's phone going off. As she pulled it out of her pocket, she felt the familiar feeling of dread before she could even check the screen.

And sure enough, the words "Blocked Number" glowed up at her. Taking in a deep breath, she turned her back to the living room, not wanting the others to see her face once she opened the text.

Stop "digging" to expose me, or I'll expose you. I know what you did. –A

...

Let me know what you think. Next chapter is going to jump to the season two finale, as most of this story takes place where season three would.