Chapter 3: This changes everything...

September 1st, 6pm.

3rd Person POV:
It was slightly later on in the day, around 6pm, the sun was just beginning to set and in Rosewood, a dumb Scarlett was just arriving home after two hours of shopping with her older, shyer, less confident sister, Jessica...

Scarlett's POV:
Me and my sister arrived back home, after two long hours of shopping. At first we had only intended for me to grab a bottle of hair dye, but 24 clothes stores and 11 beauty stores later, here we are.

My name is Scarlett by the way, Scarlett Rivers. I know what you're wondering; what kind of last name is Rivers? Well, it's my dad Caleb's last name if you must know! Besides, I don't like rivers, I don't even like water! Water tastes like air, only worse! Yep, nasty!

Anyway, as I was saying, I am Scarlett. My school reputation is quite strong as I am a very popular girl. Don't ask me why, because I wouldn't know the answer, so there's no point. Every day, random people approach me, asking me for fashion/beauty tips, and I'm just like... How do you know my name? Stalker!?

My best friend is probably my sister, Jessica. Being sisters, we are very, very close and we have been like this since we were toddlers! Anywhere she goes, I go. Anywhere I go, she goes.

I am quite a confident, happy and upbeat person, however my sister on the other hand is the complete opposite! Jessica is shy, quiet and extremely unconfident and negative. I don't know why, because I happen to think she is very fun, cool, pretty and smart, but others tend to disagree.

At school, my main enemy is McKayla. She's really, really rich, so it makes her think she can control us all. No, that's not how it works. She can try and manipulate me, but when she starts using her technical manipulation language, I tend to zone out, mainly because I don't understand technical language.

People always seem to think I am dumb, but I happen to think I am quite smart! I know my ACB's, I know my 243's, I know 1+1 is 11 and I know 5x0 is 50, what more do I need to know, right?

Me and Jessica both hopped through the front door of our beautiful, large house, closing it behind us.

"So, do you want to try on our new outfits...?" I questioned my sister in a very excited and enthusiastic tone of voice, wanting her to join me for some fun.

"Erm, sure. But, I didn't buy anything!" Jessica informed me, causing my bright smile to drop to a frown. "Then you'll try on my clothes." I simply came up with a definite solution, as we both strolled over to the stairs, jogging up them accordingly.

"Ok, I just need to pop to the toilet quickly..." Jessica informed me, hopping off to the tiny, box shaped bathroom at the end of the hall.

"Scarlett, Jessica... Is that you?" We both heard the call of our cool, laid back dad, coming from his bedroom.

"Yeah, it's us. What you up to?" I questioned, arriving at the top of the stairs and turning right, pulling down the door handle and pushing my parent's bedroom door open.

"OH MY GOD!" I pulled a shocked face and immediately slammed the door back closed again, trying to forget what I had just seen.

I can't believe it!? Really? Did I really just see that!? How could dad do that to mum? Many questions popped up in my head, and I couldn't quite think of the answer.

Did I really just catch my dad, cheating!? In bed with... Another woman!?

I simply grabbed my bags and rushed off down the long, skinny hallway to mine and Jessica's shared bedroom, slamming the door behind me.

"No! Scarlett! It's not what it looks like!" I heard my dad, Caleb, shouting from out in the hall. However, I really didn't want to go back out there and face him with some random, naked whore.

I dropped my bags and angrily leapt into bed, trying to prevent any tears from leaving my eyes, just as I heard the sound of my bathroom toilet chain.

"Scarlett...? What's the matter?" My caring sister asked me, with a very concerned look on her face.

"Erm... N- nothing..." I decided to keep what I had seen to myself for the time being.

All of a sudden, just as I buried my face into my pillows I heard a soft chime sound from within my handbag.

I sat up, with my mascara running and hair suddenly in a ferocious mess. "What?" I asked myself, wiping my eyes, reading a rather strange text message from a blocked number.

"What? What's wrong?" My sister seemed to be in a great deal of worry about the reason why I was crying, to which I ignored her.

The strange message read;

'Caleb, Caleb, Caleb... Someone's been a bad boy. I suggest you would prefer to keep this a secret, right? As long as you do exactly as I say, that shouldn't be much of a problem... -A xoxo'.

McKaylas POV:
As per usual, me and my ever so helpful minions were strolling down the high street. We had just finished our weekly clothes shopping and we're heading back home.

I, as you would expect, live in a divine mansion, located not far from the school. Amber and Chelsea on the other hand do not. They simply live in, dare I say it, middle class homes!

I can't believe I'm friends with somebody of the middle class, but until I find some other rich friends, they're all I have.

Most people think I treat my friends like scum, I think I treat my friends how they should be treated... Like staff.

It's not my fault that they all love working for me.

Anyway, we were strutting down the street. As always, Amber and Chelsea were on bag duty. They're never not on bag duty. When I have bags, they carry them for me, that's just how it works!

I marched ahead, leaving the two girls struggling behind me with 50+ bags full of beauty products whilst I happily trod along in my designer wedges. I love life.

"Erm... Excuse me... McKayla?" Amber called, trying to get my attention.

I rolled my eyes, coming to a halt and turning to face her.

"What is it now!?" I raised my voice, not in the mood for Ambers stupidity. "I'm finding it quite hard to hold all of your bags at once, do you mind holding a couple?" She suggested, trying to balance all of my bags on her two skinny arms.

"Yes McKayla, we could really do with some help." Chelsea added, causing my face to turn to a dark frown.

"Fine, I will hold some bags." I reluctantly agreed, taking two bags off of each of them, "you two are useless minions, do you know that?" I exclaimed, turning back and proceeding to walk.

"Minions...?" I heard them both question behind me, in soft and low whispers, which I ignored.

They may be my minions but, the thing is, they don't know they are my minions. If they found out I called them my minions, and that I actually couldn't care less about them, they'd freak!

As I walked along the hard, paving slabs of the sidewalk, I came to yet another pause when I heard my cell phone ping.

'It's probably just Raymond calling to check up on me.' I thought alone in my head, as I hastily tapped in my passcode on my clear IPhone 6S screen and peered at my notifications, in horror.

"A? A who?" I mumbled under my breath, raising my minions' attention. "McKayla...? Is everything ok?" They both peered at the worried look on my face in confusion.

'You torture me, now it's my turn to torture you. Guess who's queen now bitch! -A xoxo'.

Ellie's POV:
It was about 7:30, I was at home studying for the upcoming baseline maths exam. I was sat, perched on my bed, with my book in my hand and my mind deeply engaged in the quadratic formula, when I suddenly heard my phone ping.

I wearily picked it up off of my bedside table and read it with caution...

'Hey Ellie, have you completed your maths revision papers? I'm absolutely keen I am going to get 40/40 on this paper! What about you?'

"Phew!" I whispered under my breath, sighing with relief. Thank god this time it was my friend messaging me, and not some creepy unknown number!

I immediately tapped the reply button and hastily typed with my nimble fingers;

'What a coincidence, I'm doing it right now actually. Question 28. High school work isn't as hard as I thought it would be.'

I then hit send, before dropping my phone on my soft, purple coloured bed sheets and continuing with my revision on Pythagoras' Theorem.

I spoke aloud, "So, if the shorter sides of the right angles triangle are 14.07720cm and 5.18cm, the hypotenuse must be-" I came to yet another pause when I heard my phone ping for a second time, faced down on my bed.

"Oh my goodness, who is it now!?" I dropped my pencil, and angrily picked my mobile up off of my bed and unlocked it, feeling very annoyed that I kept being interrupted!

I slammed my fingers down on the screen, hitting the notifications button, and gasped when I read a message I was definitely not expecting;

'The answer is 15, bitch! Speaking of 15, it's the 15th anniversary of your parents' marriage next week, or should I say your lesbian mother's. -A xoxo'.

I suddenly felt as if somebody had tied a knot in my stomach, as my face dropped from an angry expression to a nervous and worried one.

Who the heck is "A"? How did they know what question I was on? How do they know my parents are homosexual?

I turned to face the only window in my bedroom, making sure that there was not some sort of crazy stalker watching me.

As I peered through the glass, all I caught my eye on was the tall lamp post which brightened up my whole bedroom from the outside, and Caterlina's garden den and her large house, just across the street from mine.

Caterlina used to live opposite me. We used to go round each other's houses every single day. It feels so weird to think that two whole months ago, we were in that den, and- I don't feel the need to go on any further.

Many questions bounced about in my head, before it finally hit me.

The only one who would know those two things is...

Serenity's POV:
I was busy helping my mother cook dinner. She is an amazing cook by the way. She must get it from all the cook books she reads. She reads a lot of books! Did I mention, she works in publishing? My dad does too, he is an author.

I guess we are quite a middle-class family. We don't have too much money, but we don't have too less money. We are doing just fine.

"So, what's next mum?" I questioned, slowly stirring the chicken stir fry around on the boiling hot pan.

"Erm, just add these sliced peppers and onions and carry on stirring it." My mother, Aria, hopped up off of her seat at the dining table and picked up the chopping board, pouring all of the peppers and onions straight onto the frying pan.

"So, how was your first day at school, sweetie?" She questioned me as if I were still a toddler, strolling back towards the table and once again sitting down. She has always treated me like a baby; I guess it is only because she cares about me and wants to keep me safe.

I thought in my head for a few seconds about my answer, before reluctantly replying.

"Yeah, school was fine, mum. Me and Ellie had a good chance to catch up, and we just had fun learning again." I told her, lying through my teeth.

I had decided not to mention the whole thing with McKayla because I'm sure it will all just blow over. I also left out the part about the mysterious "A" message, because I was certain the message was just a wrong number, or somebody playing tricks and I didn't want my mum to get stressed out about it like she usually does whenever she thinks I am in danger.

"Cool, did it take your mind off of you know who, then?" She asked me yet another question, pulling a sympathetic face as I turned to face her.

"Today wasn't at all like school used to be. But I assume I will just get used to it, eventually. I have to, right?" I explained, turning back to the pan and stirring the food continually until it began burning, and I took it off the heat.

"Don't worry hunny, it will get better. I promise." She held open her arms and gestured me towards her, pulling me into a huge, warm, tight hug.

Me and my mother hadn't bonded like this at all since Cat's been gone. Probably because I've just been alone in my bedroom for the past two months, crying. But it felt really good to finally talk to her again.

I slowly pulled apart when I felt something buzzing in my trouser pocket. I pulled my phone out and saw Ellie's face flashing up on my screen.

"I'll be back in a sec-." I told my mother, waltzing away.

I quickly pressed the green answer button, answering Ellie's call as I exited the room swiftly.

"Hello?" I questioned with an intrigued tone of voice, as I wanted to find out why Ellie had called me rather than texted me.

"Serenity, I am really freaking out..." My face quickly turned to a frown, as I jogged up the staircase, with my phone held tightly to my ear.

"Why? What's happened?" I questioned, suddenly feeling very concerned for my friend as I walked down my hallway and into my medium sized, rectangular shaped bedroom.

"Please tell me the truth first." Ellie made me raise an eyebrow, "Are you 'A'? Is this some sort of joke?" Ellie accused me of being some sort of maniac, as I slowly shut my door to avoid my mum hear me shouting.

"No, why on earth would you think that? What's going on?" I queried, eager to find out why she was so upset.

"I just received another message from 'A'." She told me, as I gasped in reply, holding my hand up to my mouth.

"Whoever it is must have been spying on me, because they knew what homework question I was on." Ellie stated, full of anxiousness, causing me to suddenly feel a deep pain in my stomach, fear.

I became terrified straight away. What if someone really was watching her? How? Why?

"What did the message say?" I wanted to know all of the details right away, before having a mild panic attack.

"'A' told me the answer to my homework question, and then it went on to teasing me about my parents." Ellie informed me, making me feel even worse.

"How on earth does 'A' know my parents are gay? The only ones who knew were Caterlina and you. And I rule you out easily, so who could it be...?" Ellie continued babbling on, in an extremely worried tone of voice.

"Caterlina?" She strangely suggested, causing both of us to gasp in unison.

Scarlett's POV:
Me and Jessica were still busy playing dress ups with the new clothes I had earlier bought. Of course I rocked every outfit, but to be honest Jessica didn't look too bad in most of them either.

Speaking of Jessica, I had decided not to tell her what a lying, cheating rat our dad was, because I didn't want to get her involved in something which would just make life harder for all of us.

"How do I look?" I questioned, grinning, as I posed to my sister in my awesome new red, silk dress I had bought, to match my red, velvety hair colour.

I love my hair colour. I died it this colour when I was 14. My mum said I was allowed to dye it, as long as I don't turn into one of those cool, rebel teenagers, who think they're too cool for school because they have a unique hair colour. Or something like that.

"Wow. I'm speechless." Jessica told me, eyeing my up and down. "You look flawless." She told me, being kind as ever.

"Really? Thanks sis!" I smiled, grabbing the final outfit out of my bag and strutting out of the room.

I was heading towards the bathroom to change clothes, when... "Oh my god!" I leapt out of my skin when my dad suddenly appeared in front of me, bearing a very serious look on his face.

"Don't do that!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes and recovering from the scare I just had, however my dad simply huffed.

"We need to talk!" He told me, taking my hand and pulling me into his bedroom.

I knew what he wanted to say. He just wanted to explain to me why I shouldn't tell mum, but I don't care. He cheated, and that's that! I'm not going to let my mum be treated like an absolute idiot behind her own back! Either I tell her, or he simply breaks up with that nasty, trampy little skank.

"What about? You sleeping with another woman?" I let my loud mouth get the best of me. My dad quickly put his index finger to his leaps in a 'shh' gesture.

"Would you keep it down? Jessica might hear you!" He ordered me to keep quiet, to which I obeyed.

"And? What's the matter!? You didn't seem to care a few hours ago when I saw her riding you like a bloody-" He cut me off, holding his hand tightly over my mouth.

"How could you do that to mum?" I questioned, pulling his hand away from my face as a tear slowly dropped from my eye and rolled down my cheek.

"Look, I know it's bad. And I'm sorry, but me and your mum, we've been going through a tough time at the moment, and-"

"And you thought this would help? You've only just gone and made it worse for yourself!" I angrily stated, as tears began flooding my eyes like a wave of sadness.

I strolled towards the bedroom door and grabbed the handle, turning back to face him.

"You may be a dirty cheater, but I don't want to let this hurt mum. So I will keep your secret, so long as you stop seeing that bitch." I told him, being the one making the orders for once.

I yanked the door handle down, pulling it open and slamming it on my way out.

I huffed in anger, before l furiously stomped back to my and Jessica's bedroom, full of rage.

McKaylas POV:
I was at home, in our huge mansion sized house. It is by far the loveliest and most luxurious house in the entire town.

I am so glad my parents are rich! Speaking of how rich they are, my daddy, Noel, gets paid around $4,600 a week, because his is an anaesthesiologist (still have no idea what that is).

My mum on the other hand, Alison, earns about $2,100 a week as a fashion designer. I love my mums clothing line! Whenever she designs new outfits, I am a always the first one to show them off to the world, which is a bonus!

So all together, we have an income of about $6,700 a week coming in. This is excluding the fact that we also share this house with my auntie and uncle.

My aunties name is Charlotte, she is merely a house wife. She cleans up around the clock and helps cook. She's like a maid, but she doesn't get paid, and she enjoys working in the house. I don't know why she can't get a good job outside the house, whenever I bring it up she changes the subject.

Anyway, my uncle, Jason (FYI Charlotte and Jason are brother and sister, not a couple), works as an airline pilot. He's been one for around 10 years now and he earns about $2,500 a week.

So, in total we have an income of around $9,200 a week, which is way more than anyone else around here.

Yep, I know what you're probably thinking, how does everyone in my family have such a high paid job? Well, when they were my age, for some reason they didn't want to stick around in Rosewood my mum told me. So, they all went off to college elsewhere, and got amazing degrees in, well, everything.

Our house is humongous! I've lived here almost all my life because we moved here when I was around 5.

At first we paid for it in instalments, but we finally paid it off for good last year and now it is ours. It is still quite expensive to maintain, around $2,000-$5,000 a month, but it doesn't matter because we still have the other $30,000 to look forward to. Besides, we love this house!

It has a big, golden, grand staircase as you enter, with a beautiful red carpet and large, crystal chandelier. It has 5 bedrooms; one on the ground floor, two on the first floor and two on the second floor. My parents bedroom is the largest one which is on the ground floor. Mine is on the top floor, but it's okay because I have a private elevator to take me down.

Our house also has two living rooms; one for us and one for our guests. They're both beautiful and of high standards, with large, circular sofas in the middle and big staircases leading into them.

In addition, we house our own small, private library on the second floor, along with my own private study (a quiet area for me to go to and meditate for example).

Plus, we have a cool 3D private screening room and 80's restaurant style kitchen/dining room.

Next, we have our outdoor pool and our basement, which holds our own mini arcade and our vault, containing all of our savings.

Finally, we have my own indoor aquarium which we are currently working on. We have already built the structure and ordered the fish, we just need to wait a few weeks for them to arrive.

Anyway, that's enough about my luxurious life! Let's get back to what I was talking about to start with..

I was in my house, chilling in my private study, alone. I was flicking through the pages of my mum's latest fashion ideas and deciding which ones she should go for and which ones to scrap.

Most of them were exquisite of course, but there were the odd few that you wouldn't catch me dead in!

I flicked to the next page and spotted the most amazing dress yet. It was just divine. It had a lovely, shiny, gold, crystal top with a long, flowing gold coloured skirt to match. Gold is my favourite colour FYI.

I pulled an incredibly impressed facial expression towards the dress, tearing the photo from the book and placing it onto the 'Must do' pile.

Out of the blue, I saw my phone LED flash in front of me and I narrowed my eye brows, picking it up off of the table and peering at the shiny, glossy screen.

"Oh my god!" I gasped, leaping out of my seat and turning around to get a glimpse of every angle in the room.

I peered up at the large window pane, which takes up half of the right hand wall, checking for anyone who may be watching me.

I immediately began trembling as I turned my gaze back to my phone screen and re- read the message in fear.

'Omg babe, I totally agree! That gold dress is way better than any of your mum's usual rubbish! I'd totally rock it, wouldn't you? -A xoxo.'

Ellie's POV:
I sat, curled on the end of my bed, cold and scared. I was scared that this "A" person was some sort of stalker, and that they were out to get me.

I jumped when I heard a loud bang downstairs, but soon realised it was just my parents arriving back from their day at work.

I have two mums. My real mum is Emily, because she gave birth to me. However, I love them both the same because I've known them both all my life and they're always there for me as I am their only child.

They're lesbians of course. My first mum, Emily, works as a swimming coach at Rosewood Leisure Centre. She trains young children and teenagers. She has always wanted me to attend one of her classes, but I don't really have much of an interest in sports and I'll probably just make a fool of myself anyway.

My second mum, Paige, on the other hand works as a bar tender at a fancy restaurant down the street, called 'Le Grande RĂªve'.

Emily has long, dark brown hair and caramel skin, however Paige has very pale skin and medium length brunette hair with blonde highlights.

I don't like letting people know my parents are lesbians unless they're really close to me, because some people can be really mean about it! The only person who knows is Serenity, because she is my best friend. Caterlina knew too, of course.

"Ellie, we're home!" I heard Paige call, as I hopped off of my bed and strolled down the flight of stairs just across the hall.

"Mum, you're back!" I enthusiastically leapt down the stairs and pulled my mum into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry we're back so late, the traffic was unbelievable." Emily told me, as I pulled away from my hug with Paige and grabbed Emily, pulling her into a hug.

"Yeah, I had no idea that there were even that many people in Rosewood!" Paige giggled, walking towards the kitchen to start dinner.

"Why? What happened?" I questioned, narrowing my eyebrows as Emily turned and softly closed the front door, twisting the tiny, silver coloured lock.

"I have no idea. All I know is that whatever happened, it must have been serious because I swear, I've never seen that many police officers in my life!" Emily exclaimed, pulling a face.

"Anyway, how was your first day of school?" She questioned, with her arm around me as we both followed Paige into the kitchen.

"It was fine, I guess. I made a couple of new friends I think." I told her, as we pulled out two chairs at the solid oak dining table and sat.

"See, I knew you would." Paige had a quick 'told you so' moment, as she pulled open the freezer and picked out some sausages.

"Bangers and mash for dinner, ladies?" Paige questioned, smirking as she held up a large bag of frozen sausages and a bag of irregular shaped potatoes.

"Yeah, sure." Me and Emily both agreed.

In this household, Paige is like the man of the house. She cooks and takes care of all DIY, however Emily takes care of things such as washing up, clothes and cleaning.

"See, I knew you could cope without Cat." Emily told me, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, I guess so." I smiled, not wanting to tell her about the A messages. Not until me and Serenity have discussed it thoroughly ourselves.

"I'm sure she's fine, wherever she is." Emily added, making me feel slightly better.

Unexpectedly my phone pinged once again, for the fourth time today. It was very unusual for me to receive one text message a day, let alone four.

"Who's that?" Emily asked me, peering over my shoulder to get a glimpse of my mobile screen.

"Oh, it's just Serenity." I once again felt extremely relieved it was not "A".

The message read;

'Turn on channel 1, now! But I'm warning you, you might not like what you see.'

I quickly hopped up off of my swivel seat and rushed into the living room.

"Where are you going...?" My mum, Emily, questioned me with a very concerned look on her face, watching me exit the room, however I simply ignored her and switched on our 42inch HDTV.

I grabbed the small, black, box shaped remote control from the large bookcase in our living room, and pushed my thumb straight down onto the '1'.

A news reports immediately flashed up, as Emily followed behind me.

"What's this?" She questioned, peering at the dusty, LCD screen.

I listened closely to what the man on the news was speaking about.

As I read the headline, I suddenly felt as if something had dropped into the pit of my stomach, and a wave of sadness crashed through me. The huge hole in my heart suddenly felt as if it had been torn completely apart as tears began gushing from my eyes.

The heart breaking news headline said...

Serenity's POV:
I eagerly dashed through the enormous crowds of nosy, ignorant people who were piling up around the entrance of the dark, spooky woods.

All I could see where huge heaps of people and about 5 police cars with red and blue lights brightening up the dark night.

There were about 20 police officers hanging up police lines, reading 'DO NOT PASS' and 'RESTRICTED ZONE'.

At first I had wondered what all of the fuss was about, but then I reached the front of the crowd, and spotted officers guarding the entrance to the woods.

Lots of different people were asking different questions like, "What's going on?" "Who is it?" and "Is someone dead?"

I finally reached the entrance to the forest, which had long, yellow and black police lines blocking it. People were pushing and shoving like crazy, all wanting to know what was happening.

I peered into the pitch black of the woods and spotted two officers, both emerging from the darkness, each holding different ends of a black coloured stretcher.

As they slowly trudged closer with the stretcher in their gloved hands, I spotted a body lying on top and gulped.

The body looked like a child, however I couldn't really tell considering it was placed inside a black body bag.

"Everyone, keep calm." The chief officer spoke through a megaphone, causing everybody to turn and face him.

"WHO IS IT!?" Many people hurled the same question towards him, causing him to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Yes, I can confirm there was a body discovered here tonight." The chief policeman caused everybody, including me, to gasp in shock.

"And I can also confirm..." The police officer began speaking once again, causing the crowd to instantly mute into silence.

"That the body found here tonight..." He slowly said, clearly trying to build up tension between us all.

"Was..." I listened carefully, wanting to find out who exactly had died.

"Caterlina Cavanaugh."

I felt like my whole life flashed before my eyes as he spoke, "No." I whispered under my breath, as tears began rolling down my cheeks.

"No way!" I kept trying to convince myself this was all a dream, however I just wasn't convincing enough.

"My best friend..." I softly said, still caught within the huge crowd, "my best friend is gone?" I finally admitted it, before bursting into tears as I watched the officers place her body in the back of an ambulance.

I felt worse than I have ever felt in my whole life! I felt as if my heart had been violently ripped out of my chest, and from then on, I knew nothing was ever going to be the same again...

I rushed out of the crowd in sadness and decided to pull out my phone, with tears gushing from my eyes like a flowing river, and message Ellie right away, warning her that she will not like what she hears.

However, as I pulled my phone from my right Jean pocket, I was greeted with yet another message, from "A", making me fell 10 times worse than I already did.

It read;

'Omg, I bet you weren't expecting that! But, I was. I knew exactly what to expect. I wonder who killed her? I know who's first on my suspect list. -A xoxo'.

A/N: Thank you so much for continuing to read my PLL: Next-Generation story. I would really appreciate it if you could leave a short review of what you think of this chapter. Please follow and favourite. Thank you :)