Such Hope is a Naught

There should be a universal guideline on how long was enough to wait for someone to call you back and what should you do in the meantime.

It had been few days since she left that message and yet Jason still hadn't called her back. She hated the fact that she kept glancing at the phone every chance she got, hoping that her incoming call screen would pop out or at least an unread message from him. Moreover, she hated remembering how weak and scared she was after Wilden harassing her in front of her house. Because if she wasn't scared, she wouldn't call Jason. If she didn't call Jason, she wouldn't spend her time tossing around in bed, unable to sleep, wondering why he hadn't called her back.

And it only made her wondered if the Jason she fell in love with was a real one or not. Because the Jason she knew wouldn't do this to her. He wouldn't just avoid her like this. When she found out that Jason was actually fine, alive and breathing, she thought maybe Mrs. Dilaurentis was the one that forbade him from having any contact. She had asked his friends and none of them knew where he was. Maybe there was something going on that she didn't know.

But now?

Bianca kept making up excuses why he hadn't called her back. Maybe he was still too busy and he hadn't a chance to call her back. Maybe his voice mail was too full that he just decided to ignore them all. Maybe he still received many sympathy calls about Alison and he had had enough of it and just deleted his voice mail inbox. Bianca knew she could just try and call him again. Maybe this time he would pick up his phone.

But every time she decided to call him again, her fingers refused to follow and stopped moving just as she was about to tap the call button. What if she was wrong? What if Jason really didn't want to talk to her?

Her phone screen barely lighted up when Bianca immediately sat up right and grabbed her phone to check on it, desperately hoping it was Jason. Her expression but then fell when she noticed it was a text from Emily asking them to meet up so she tossed her phone back carelessly. She sighed and rested her head against her knees, as once again disappointment rose inside her. How many times more did she have to grab her phone, thinking it was Jason, only to have her hope shattered again?

This was just not fair.

Once again her phone beeped and Bianca only glanced at it lazily, too reluctant to check. It might be just one of the girls asking why she hadn't come to Emily's. But right now she was not really in the mood to talk about Alison's memorial. Not when her sentiments towards Alison was really low. Because all Bianca could think of when Alison popped up in her mind was that if she didn't get herself killed, Bianca would still be together with Jason. But then her phone beeped again. Bianca rolled her eyes and groaned at her friends' persistence. Honestly, they didn't really have to do every step together. One of them could just fill her in about what they did to the shed. So she grabbed her phone again, ready to fire up a group text to her friends that she wouldn't be coming.

But her latest text wasn't from either of the girls.

Blocked ID: My poor B, waiting for Romeo who'll never come back –A

Before she could stop herself, the phone had already flown out of her grasp and into the wall in front of her. Bianca breathed heavily from anger, staring at the broken pieces of her phones. How on earth would A know about this? That bitch was like everywhere. It was as if he or she could watch their every move because Bianca was certain no one else knew she was trying to get in touch with Jason. Even Spencer only knew that she wanted to contact him but was still afraid about it. She glared at her broken phones, as if daring it to light up and showed another message from A.

Knowing she had to get a new phone because of this, Bianca reluctantly snatched her bag and almost sent her picture frame to the floor. She took a deep breath, trying to control her anger, then placed back the frame to its usual position. A sad smile appeared on her face as she stared into the picture of Jason carrying her on piggyback last summer. The last picture she took with Jason. It was taken four days before Alison went missing and they were lounging in the lake, enjoying the quiet moment without interruption from Alison since she was visiting her grandmother in Georgia. Those were days she still treasured in her mind.

She gingerly touched Jason's laughing face and sighed. Could A be right?

Would Jason never ever come back to her?

Had she lost him forever?


"Please tell me you're the one following us yesterday." Spencer immediately said when she finally saw Bianca walking down the hallway to the locker beside hers. She raised her eyebrow when Bianca completely ignored her question and instead busied herself with her lockers. That was weird. When she left her house a week ago, Bianca was completely like her usual self aside from being slightly jumpy after getting the pizza. "Bianca!" she raised her voice slightly when Bianca closed her locker and turned around to walk away without acknowledging her.

When Spencer grabbed her shoulder, Bianca turned around sharply. Her arm raised, ready to fight back her attacker, only to have Spencer standing behind her. "Oh my God," she exclaimed, "don't scare me, Spence!"

Spencer rolled her eyes, relieved that it was just her imagining things. She really needed to stop reading too much into the situation. Bianca already promised to tell her right away if she suddenly had an urge. And she knew she could trust Bianca to keep on her promise. "Hey, you're the one who's sleepwalking. I've been calling you the whole time," she said, staring at her friend in concern, "something's wrong? Did you not get your morning tea or something?"

She quickly offered her a smile, "no. Nothing's wrong. I was just so tired after the gym and I haven't got a chance to study for next week's material." When Spencer's face didn't change at all, Bianca grabbed her shoulder. "I'm fine. Okay?" she said forcefully and let go of her shoulder when Spencer nodded back. "Do you want to come over and study later?"

"Yes please!" Spencer immediately brightened up. "I totally need to finish my Russian History paper and I can't do it with Melissa around. Why didn't you come yesterday?"

"I had to get a new phone."

Spencer stared at her, disbelief. That got to be the worst excuse Bianca could have made up. "And why would you need new phone?" she demanded.

"Because mine's broken. What's with the third degree?" Bianca asked back with a frown, not liking with how Spencer just shot off questions after questions. It felt like she was trying to accuse her of something. "Well?" she asked again when Spencer didn't answer her question back. Her frown deepened when Spencer grabbed her arm and half pulled her towards the nearest empty classroom. "Seriously?" she turned around to face Spencer, "just because I didn't come to─"

"Someone followed us to the shed yesterday."

Annoyance that started to build inside of her was immediately forgotten hearing that. "What? Oh my God, are you all alright?" Bianca quickly asked, checking over her friend for any sign of injuries. Her mind already formed worst scenario possible happened to her friends. "Did you find out who it was?"

"We're fine, none of us got hurt," Spencer quickly answered before panic overcame her friend's senses. "It was A," she watched as Bianca's eyes widened, "yeah, we got this text. Did you happen to get any text yesterday?"

Bianca read the text from A and frowned seeing the time stamp on that text. That couldn't be right. If A was following the girls to the shed and send that text to them, then how could A send that text to her almost at the same time? She quickly took out her phone and checked the last text she received from A yesterday.

13:28. Blocked ID: Broken heart, broken phone. Careful B, next might be worse -A

13:26. Unknown: Heads up, BFFs. It's open season on liars and I'm hunting... -A

"Something's wrong?" Spencer asked, seeing the frown her face.

Bianca locked her phone immediately and smiled at her friend, "nope. All is fine." She returned the phone to Spencer who still had suspicious look on her face. "It's nothing, Spence," she insisted.

It was better not to spook anyone, either her friends or A. Especially her friends. They were easily freaked out if something suspicious circling on them, just like when that Wilden called them to the office or how they were fidgeting and looking openly guilty whenever Jenna was around. She would tell them, eventually, but she needed more proof.

"How's home?" Bianca suddenly asked, hoping it would take her mind off of A business.

Spencer sighed. "Home is not home when Melissa is around. She's like everywhere! And she always moped or whined, playing the innocent victim, whenever I came to the room. I tried to apologize all the times but she always shot it down."

"Okay, okay, calm down." Bianca said in soothing voice, "I'm sure your parents will be fine after few days. Melissa can't play jilted bride that long, okay?" When she saw Spencer reluctantly nodded, she then looped her hand around Spencer's, "come on. Let's get to our class."

But the scene that appeared when they walked out of the classroom was not what either of them expected. Bianca was stunned to see Toby Cavanaugh made his appearance after a year-long disappearance. She didn't expect even Toby to return back as well once Alison was declared dead, to the same school that expelled him a year ago. But maybe Jenna needed help to get around in the school so they accepted Toby back. When he walked towards her direction, Bianca gave him an unsure smile and a brief nod. She sighed, watching as his expression remained unchanged. No wonder he was the perfect scapegoat for Jenna Thing. Even she was wary of him even though she knew he had nothing to do with the fire.

"He's back too?" Aria hissed when they huddled together watching Toby taking Jenna to a classroom. "When did that happen?"

"Maybe she needs help sending radioactive emails," Hanna said nonchalantly.

Spencer glanced at Toby who just passed them, "yeah, or he may be sending a few of his own. Don't try to shoot me down on this." She quickly added before Bianca had a chance to point out flaws in her theory. Just like she did when they thought Jenna might be A.

"I wasn't going to say anything," she said defensively, "and I don't just shoot down all of your theories, Spence. Just the one I thought was crazy." Even if she wanted not to be suspicious of Toby, he had all the requirements needed to be A. Alison somehow managed to blackmail him into taking the fall and caused him to get kicked out of school and moved away. It was possible that he thought whatever Alison had on him was passed onto them when she disappeared, which was why he harassed them now.

"Hanna."

They almost jumped in fright hearing Wilden's voice behind them. Bianca had to bite back a scowl when he threw her a smirk before focusing his attention to Hanna. She frowned hearing him wanted to see Hanna alone in the office. First he ambushed her in her house, holding pizza as his hostage, and now he did the same thing to Hanna in school. What was he trying to pull?

"What's going on? Why just her?" Aria asked around in panic seeing Hanna had no choice but to follow Wilden to the principal's office.

"Probably thinks she's easiest to crack," Emily said.

Bianca sighed. That one she had to admit it was true. Most of the times when Alison was trying to get them do something wild, like going to a college party for example, Hanna was always the first one to hesitate and panic at slightest change. Which was ironic in her opinion since she was the one with stealing habit now. "She is," she said, together with Spencer.

Wilden was really getting on her nerves lately. She must do something about it soon.


The Kahn brothers' party was legendary among Rosewood High students and anyone would be dumb enough not to attend the party. Eric, the eldest Kahn, started it by throwing the first party of the year when he was freshman. When Eric moved up to New York, Noel continued his brother's tradition whenever their parents weren't around. Which was why even though she was not really in the mood for a party, Bianca found herself parking her car in front of the Kahn's front gate that night. There seemed to be an endless stream of her school friends walking through the gate. She sighed and checked her hair and makeup on her mirror before coming out of her car and joining the others into the party.

It wasn't hard to notice Maya and Emily walking not far in front of her and she also saw Sean's car was already parked which meant Hanna should be inside as well. But she was not in the mood to talk to them. Or anybody for that matter. Making her way into the game room, as she remembered from countless time coming here since Noel started joining his brother throwing parties, Bianca grabbed an empty cup and filled it with whiskey and coke before walking towards the forest behind Noel's house.

There were only few peoples there when she walked towards lines of trees and away from the house. Thankfully they were too busy either getting drunk or dancing to the music or even making out to notice her. Bianca snickered remembering the countless times she and Jason sneaking out from the parties for alone time. Her feet carried her automatically towards that one particular tree not far away from the house, but was hidden enough to attract attention from others. A hint of smile appeared on her face when she noticed that their carving was still there, looking like it was just freshly carved instead. She would have thought one of the Kahns would notice it and removed it by now. A giggle escaped her lips when she remembered how she made that carving with help from Jason. For something that was made when they both were drunk, it came out pretty good.

"Yeah, I thought it was pretty cute so I don't let anyone cut it down."

Bianca turned around in surprise only to find the younger Kahn was standing behind her with a slight smirk. "Noel Kahn away from a party and all by himself," she added after glancing around them and found no one else. Even she could barely hear the music and chatters from around the house from here. Her lips quirked into a smile, "that's a rare sight to see."

"Well, when I saw a pretty girl walking to the forest by herself, I couldn't help but following her too. Since I'm a very protective host and all."

She shook her head, laughing, "and does anyone ever fall for that?"

"This is my house, my party," he said, stepping closer to her until they barely touched, and bent down to whisper in her ear, "anything can happen so long as I wish it." But then the carving caught up his attention again and to Bianca's surprise, he stepped away from her. "I remembered following you two sneaked out in here few times," he then said, nodding towards the carving.

"Naughty, naughty Noel," she teased, "is that what you always do in your parties, peeping on other people?"

"Only when I want to steal the girl."

Her cheek warmed up hearing his blunt answer. She barely even remembered a time when she flirted with someone after Jason or even have another boy interested in her. But then again this was Noel. He sprouted out flirt and compliments as easy as saying hello. His eyes always wandered to other girls even when he was in a date. He changed girlfriends more than seasons changed in a year. She wouldn't be that surprised if that wasn't the first time he said it to a girl. Or if there were another girl in the same situation as hers right now. Bianca was about to leave him and return to the house when a thought entered her mind. There was nothing to lose here. Why would she care about what Jason would think if he found out? He was the one who left her without explanation.

And she desperately needed for a good time right now.

So Bianca stepped forward, closing the distance between her and Noel, and looped her hand around his neck. "Well," she smiled seductively, lacing her fingers on his hair, "this girl is definitely ready to be stolen away." Bianca slowly stood on her tiptoes and ready to kiss him, only to have her lips landed on his cheek. A frown appeared on her face when she pulled her head away, staring at him in confusion.

Noel Kahn, the playboy of her school, had blatantly rejected her advances. Could the night get any worse?

He took her hands that were around his neck and hair and pulled them away from him, but still not letting go of hers when they dropped to her sides. "Is that why you're out here in this particular tree instead of going crazy inside?"

Bianca winched when his remark hit the mark. The only reason why she pushed herself to go to this party was to come to this tree, remembering the good times she was here with Jason and the girls. Back where she had everything. "Touché," she said softly, leaning back against the tree. This seemed to be the story of her life from now on. Somehow she had the feeling that she wouldn't get any new love unless she left Rosewood. "I don't know if I should be glad or humiliated that Noel Kahn won't make a move on me," she said, grinning at him.

To her surprise, he was suddenly laughing hard, "are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much I want to make a move on you?" He shook his head, amused, "If your boyfriend didn't scare me off every time I tried to get you alone in parties, you would fall for me hard, Lexington."

"Well, maybe you should make your move before I have a boyfriend."

Noel snorted, "you weren't even dating back then and he already told me to back down. Remember that Fall when my brother and his friends crashed the party at the cabin? I was going to come over to ask you out but Jason suddenly came to you and the girls and Alison thought he was just there to annoy her. He cornered me after the party and told me you're off limits. I still got shudder every time I remembered it. That dude is really scary if he wants to."

Her eyes widened in response hearing a new side of Jason that she didn't know existed. "Really?" She had no idea that Jason was already interested in her before she even braved herself to flirt with him. Her lips then curled up into a permanent smile.

"Really," he said mockingly repeated her word, rolling his eyes. "Well, if you're done with the past, come inside. It's been boring without you around, Bianca. You're always the life of the party."

She snorted, "I thought that was Alison's job. Or Hanna's. Or Mona's. "

"Nah," he shrugged his shoulder, "Alison is more blowing things out of proportion. Hanna's too hung up trying to get it on with Sean. You, on the other hand, are the perfect spark we need." He glanced at the carving again. "Let me know if you want it gone."

Bianca shook her head with a smile watching Noel returned back to his house and joined the crowd again. She could hear his shout slightly over the music, urging the others to keep drinking until the last drop. When she was sure she was back alone again, Bianca glanced back to the carving. She took out a pocket knife she prepared from her purse, in case she couldn't bear staring at the reminder of her old life. Just as it almost touched the carving of her first name initial, she stopped. Her hand wavered, remembering the time they carved this, before pocket knife dropped to the ground. She rested her head against the trunk, closing her eyes. It's not fair. Jason could go on with his life just that easy and she had to be the one stuck in Rosewood, being reminded of him every day.

Her phone beeped out and Bianca took it out, sighing. Maybe Spencer already finished her Russian History paper and decided to come. Though it was highly impossible even for a Hastings.

Blocked ID: Alone in a party, B? Wait there, let me keep you company. Ain't I sweet? -A

Bianca let out a frustrated shriek before stalking away from the forest. How was she supposed to have a peace of mind if A keep following her? She looked around warily, looking for anything suspicious. But as far as she could see, the nearest person to her was a couple heavily making out in between bushes. A couldn't be one of them since they looked too busy and didn't even notice her there. The party was officially ruined. So instead of going back to the house, she went towards the front gate, ready to call the night.

"Spencer?" she called out, recognizing the familiar back of her best friend. "Hey! I thought you said you're still swamped with the Russians," she grinned, approaching her when she saw nervous look on her face. "What's wrong?"

Spencer shook her head, "no, I just thought the guy back there was Toby." She sighed, "it's just my crazy thought. I remembered seeing Alison threatened Toby at that night so I was just thinking..."

"─that Toby is A?" Bianca whispered. Seeing the surprised look from Spencer told how right she was. "Yeah, that thought crossed in my mind too."

"But?"

Bianca shrugged, "I don't know. I just... I don't have the feeling he is. Don't you think it's too easy? That we knew who A was instantly?"

"Those crime novels you're reading has finally deluded your mind."

"...Maybe," then she grinned, "so done with the Russians?" When Spencer nodded back at her, she grabbed her arm, "well that definitely calls for a celebration. Get A off of your mind tonight. Study hard, party hard!"

Spencer laughed when Bianca dragged her inside the house and into the middle of the dancing crowd. The fear of her teacher would find out she was copying Melissa's old paper disappeared from her mind as she danced to the music. Bianca was right. After all that happened with Alison, Melissa, Wren, and A, she totally deserved this.


Bianca had to admit that it was a good thing they decided to keep planning for Alison's memorial. It definitely helped taking her mind off of Jason for few days. Since someone followed them again when they went to the shed in the morning after Kahn's party, the girls decided that it would be better to build her memorial in public's eyes instead. No more secrets, no more hiding. If someone who killed Alison was still around, it was better to have the memorial shoved into their face every day. Which was why now they were buried under paperwork, meetings, and preparations so they could have the unveiling ceremony before winter came.

Thankfully, everyone they met was very cooperating and even complimenting them for being the best friend anyone could ever hope. The city council even agreed to let them build the memorial around the new bench they were going to put in the park. They would dedicate the new bench to Alison instead of just placing it in the park. The PTA was very nice to help them listing everything they needed to do make the memorial ceremony. Aria had her mother helped to find someone who could make something for a remembrance of their time together with Alison. With their help, Bianca and the girls managed to move the ceremony two weeks ahead of the schedule.

"So no more Wren?" Bianca asked as they walked to meet with the others before they went to the park. Spencer picked her up earlier from the gym because she was too tired to walk that far or drive to the park. Last time she drove herself back from the gym, her foot slipped away from the pedal because she was too exhausted.

Spencer looped her hand around Bianca's arm and confirmed with a sigh, "no more Wren." She glanced to see the dubious look on her friend's face and exclaimed, "really! It's all done and gone!"

"Mm hmm," Bianca took a sip on her tea, giving her friend a pointed look, "that's what you said before you came up to Phily and meet him by yourself, leaving me behind in the school alone after you told me to wait for you so we could go to my house together." She grinned when Spencer hit her shoulder playfully. "Well even though his accent is really to die for, I'm so glad you didn't take Melissa's second hand. That's all I'm asking for."

"Finally!" Hanna exclaimed when they saw Bianca and Spencer walking towards them. She glanced pointedly at the coffee cup Bianca was holding. "Did you just stop by the Brew and buy a coffee for yourself only, B?"

Bianca grinned, turning her body slightly so Hanna couldn't steal her tumbler, "nope. It's a tea, not a coffee. And I just got back from the gym, okay? I need my morning dose of tea."

"Oh yeah, how's that diet going on?" Aria asked, fully aware how Bianca had constantly complained to them every day on how vigorous and evil her personal trainer was since she started the program. She grinned when Bianca only rolled her eyes at her and gave her the middle finger. "Okay, so the city's going to put a new bench here," she said, leading them towards the area where their memorial would be placed. "We'll be planting the flowerbeds and I already gave the fountain design so my mother's artist could commission them ASAP. Oh, there's also going to be a pathway of art tiles."

"Art tiles?"

"Yeah, it can be messages or pictures, memories of Alison," Emily answered.

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Oh, like a nice tombstone," she said sarcastically.

"Hanna!"

Even Bianca looked affronted at how surly Hanna sounded just now, which was rare since she tended not to show too much emotions when they were talking about Alison.

"What?" she asked back, defensively, believing she didn't say anything wrong.

Emily sighed as she looked around the spot where they would build the memorial for Alison, trying to envision what it would look like after they finished. "We should each do a tile," she said quietly. A final message to Alison before they closed that chapter with her.

"You know, I've had Alison's bracelet since the day we found it in the woods," Hanna suddenly spoke out, taking out the bracelet from her pocket. "And I so do not want the responsibility anymore," she said giving each of them pointed look but neither of them wanted to take it from her. It was too spooky to hold something that they knew Alison was constantly wearing it when she was alive. Especially with the way the found it few days ago. "Seriously, somebody take this," she insisted, staring at her friends exasperatedly.

It was Spencer who then grabbed the bracelet from Hanna's hand while rolling her eyes at her friends' antics. "Look at you all, a bunch of babies!" she said, scowling at her friends. "And I'm so disappointed in you, B."

"Hey!" Bianca protested, "you know I always lose things. It's better if I don't get to hold something important like that. Remember the concert fiasco two years ago?"

Everyone automatically winched as they remembered the mentioned concert. They were going to watch Katy Perry concert in Philadelphia with Jason, Ian, and Melissa as their chaperons. Somehow they decided that Bianca should hold the tickets since they used her credit card to buy them, despite her protest. Long story short, when they were in line to get into the concert building, Bianca found out that she brought the wrong bag and the tickets were still in Rosewood. Had it not been for help from her mother's connection, she was sure everyone (named Melissa and Alison) would be furious at her. From that on, no one, not even Jason, would trust her with something important unless there were no other choices.

"Anyway," Spencer spoke up again, gripping the bracelet, "there is nothing that A can say or do to get us into trouble without getting into trouble herself."

"Are you sure it's a she?"

Spencer sighed exasperatedly at Hanna and scowled, "him, her, doesn't make any difference." She suddenly sat down on the bench and took out her laptop, making the others stared at her in confusion as her face looked determined when she began typing. "I'm gonna block all messages from people that I don't know. IMs, texts, emails, everything. Screw A." Her lips lit up in a victory smile when she saw her setting change had been set. "There," she finally said, glancing up to her friends, "who's next?"

Bianca watched as each of her friends gradually followed Spencer's action after a moment of hesitation. Her hand clenched around her phone inside her bags as she thought over the consequences. It was indeed annoying to have A texted them randomly and scared the hell out of them, by exposing their secret or showed that she knew what they were doing. Her old phone had already become the first victim of her anger to A and there was no guarantee there wouldn't be any next. But... Bianca glanced hesitantly at Aria who now called Hanna to do it next. Would it really be that easy to get rid of A just by blocking her texts?

"...B? Bianca!" Spencer raised her voice until she saw the girl focused on her. "Stop daydreaming and block yours too," she ordered.

Bianca bit her lips before releasing her grip on her phone and shook her head, "nah. I already did that."

"What? When?"

"When I accidentally threw my phone to the wall out of anger."

Spencer frowned hearing her answer. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, staring at her closest friend accusingly.

"We've had more pressing matter to deal, remember?" she countered back.

Hanna sighed happily as she was changing her setting. "I wish we had a drum roll for this. Alright, here goes," she said as a new pop up window appeared, telling her that her new setting had been set, and glanced up happily. "We are officially A-proofed," she then declared, closing down the laptop.

"Listen," Spencer said, completely satisfied, "all those messages zipping through the air all around us."

"Yep, and none of them from A."

Bianca snorted, amused to see how relaxed her friends' face right now. "Wow, you all really look like we just won a lottery or accomplished something amazing," she said, grinning as she avoided a swat from Spencer. "Is there anything else we haven't covered yet? Spencer and I will handle the meeting with PTA tomorrow and Emily, you and Hanna can handle ordering the tiles right? Aria already contacted the artist. And we're going to meet again at Spencer's in two days. Anything else I forget?"

Emily nodded. "Don't worry about the tiles. I'll coordinate everyone who wanted to participate and all as well. I think all that's left to do is organizing the program and waiting for confirmation from the speakers, which we can only do after the meeting tomorrow. Oh, have we contacted Alison's family yet to see if they have a request or something?" she asked but more focused on Bianca, knowing she was the closest one to that family after the accident.

But it wasn't Bianca who answered her question first.

"Yep, I already contact Jason and he said he will get back to me after talking with his parents," Spencer answered nonchalantly, putting back her laptop from Hanna's lap into her bag. "I should be hearing from him sometime today."

Bianca stared at Spencer in shock hearing her answer, not realizing her travel tumbler slipped away from her hand and into the ground, splattering its content to the soil. No, she must have heard it wrong. Spencer wouldn't contact Jason like that without telling her first, not when she knew how much Bianca agonized over the night of the funeral service and how she was struggling to summon her courage to contact Jason. She wouldn't do that to her. The others, they might just contact Jason without making sure with her first, because they had no idea how serious she was with Jason. She might expect this accident from them, but not from her best friend.

"You called Jason?" her voice was barely heard as she fought hard for her tears from coming out.

"Yeah," Spencer said while still busy with her bag, completely oblivious to how Bianca's expression had drastically changed and how the other girls were starting to glance between those two warily, "I figured it's better if we know if they give us their opinion about our current plan before we're meeting with the PTA. That way we don't have to go back and forth with them."

Something snapped inside of her as Bianca raised her voice, glaring at her best friend, "you called Jason?!"

Hearing the change in her tone made Spencer finally look up. She startled, seeing the hurt expression in Bianca's face and was about to ask her when she realized what she had just revealed to her. "Sorry," she weakly said, biting her lips and winching when she replayed her sentence earlier in her mind. That did come out worse than she thought. "I─ I didn't mean to have you found out like this."

"Oh lucky me! So I am going to find out eventually," Bianca sneered before scoffing, "and when is that, Spence? When he decided to come here? Are you even going to tell me that if he will? Or do you just let me find it out myself?"

"No! I really am going to tell you tomorrow after PTA meeting. I swear! I just need you to focus on the meeting first," she said exasperatedly, trying to appease her anger. This was not the time and place for Bianca to snap out like this.

"Seriously!? That's your excuse for hiding it from me?" Bianca stared at her friend, disbelief, as her voice rose to high pitched tone. "You know how desperate I wanted to talk to him, Spence! And you just called him like that? Without even asking me first?"

"I thought you don't want anything to do with him, that you want to just move on," Spencer said exasperatedly. And she wasn't really at fault. Bianca hadn't really mentioned his name ever since that day after the funeral. So she thought it would be better that she was the one who called Jason instead, to save her best friend from having her heart broken again. "It's just for the memorial, B," she sighed. "Nothing more."

And it was a good thing that Emily was beside Bianca because she looked like she was ready to maul Spencer on the spot. Emily immediately held Bianca back right before she jumped onto Spencer. "You're my best friend, Spence!" Bianca shouted, her breathing was getting more labored every second. "You're supposed to help me out with Jason!"

"It's just one phone call! Why are you acting like I'm planning to steal him from you? If you really miss Jason, then stop wasting your time trying to find excuses and just call him already! What's your prob─"

"Because he didn't call me back!"

Their eyes widened and their mouths gaped, not expecting that answer bursting out from Bianca's mouth. They watched still in shock as the furious expression gradually diminished from her face and replaced by anguish look, before her hand covered upper half of her face. Emily startled and almost not quick enough to react when Bianca was about to slide down to the ground. She quickly rested her hand over Bianca's shoulder, grasping it tight, so the other girl could lean on her for support.

"I already called him few days ago, asking if he wants to meet again," she whispered shakily, her eyes clenched shut, "I thought he was too busy or─ or something, but..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Spencer asked back in whisper. "If I knew that, I could..."

"Could what? Ask him outright? And then what?" Bianca scoffed, choking slightly in her tears, "this is like last year all over again, Spence. The only difference is that now I know he was avoiding me. He didn't want me anymore."

Spencer opened her mouth ready to tell Bianca that she shouldn't read too much into the situation, to convince her that she just need to wait patiently. She would meet Jason in the memorial after all, and all she needed was to calm down and talk to him then. Because Spencer was sure it was just a simple miscommunication. But she then realized saying those things only made Bianca even more upset right now. So unable to contain her guilt, Spencer stepped forward and ready to wrap her arms around her friend, only to have Bianca shrugged hers and Emily's hand away from her. That rejection felt stung on her hand as Spencer stared at her friend, stunned, "B..."

What happened next was not what she or the others anticipated when Bianca suddenly took off without warning. By the time they managed to move their feet and run after her friend, Bianca was already far away from them.

"Bianca!"

"B, wait!"


O la la Jason, what were you thinking? :O What do you think Bianca would do when Jason finally appeared and talked to her again?

Thanks for the reviews, guys! Seriously, you're just the best :) I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't forget, keep them coming in and I'll keep the chapter coming out ;) Till next time.