Chapter 4

Emily POV

I had decided that going out on the town with Toby wasn't such a bad idea. My mom would certainly like me spending time with him and stop trying to set me up with any other guys, well for a while at least. I think it'll be nice too. He knows I'm gay and plan on only being friends with him. I've actually been texting him and he's pretty cool. That's actually why I'm currently getting. I told him I wanted to explore the town some more that I wanted to see what the locals seem to do. He was free today and happily agreed.

"Hey sweetie," I hear my mom say as she walks into my room. "Where are you off too?"

"I'm going into to town. Actually Toby should be here soon. I decided to call him and take him up in "his" offer of showing me around." My mom's face immediately lighting up, when she hears Toby name.

"Oh well that sounds wonderful." She says proudly with a smile as big as a crescent moon.

"It's not a date mom. Don't get too excited." I explained to her.

"He's a nice guy. Give him a chance you never know what might happen."

"Yes I do know. If we hit it off all we're going to be is great friends." I say honestly. I know this is not what she wants to hear but I feel like I must say it. Any hope she has that I am going to end up with a guy should be gone. It's not going to happen like that, not for me.

Before my mom has a chance to say anything, the doorbell is ringing throughout the house.

"I bet that's Toby now." I say looking at her, trying to see what emotions I can find there. I give her a kiss on the cheek as I pass her by. I don't like fighting with her especially not about my sexuality. That's not something that's up for discussion. I can't change it. "I'm gonna go ok mom. I'll see you later."

"Yeah ok, have fun." She wraps her arms around herself. "Oh and be home by 5."

I look at her curiously. It's not like my parents never give me curfews because they do. It's just that 5 p.m. in the summer that seems rather ridiculous.

"Church. We want to go tonight and it would be nice to go all together our first time as a family." She explains to me.

"Okay, no problem." I nod. There's no use arguing or trying to get out of it. In all honesty I don't mind. I'd like to know who I'll be working with when church functions start up and they need volunteers.

I go down the stairs and open the door seeing Toby standing with a smile on my porch.

"Hi." He greets me.

"Hey sorry for making you wait. My mom was just being well mom." A small huff escapes my lips with a slight roll of my eyes. Toby laughs.

"It's ok," he shrugs his shoulders. "You know if you changed your mind about going out, we don't have to go. Honestly I won't take it personally."

"No Toby, it's not like that. I told you I think we can at least be friends. You seem nice and I know I wouldn't mind knowing a few people in town before school starts. You know aside from the two people I call my parents."

"Soobasically I'm your only resort. Like a pity friend." He says slightly offended.

putting a hand over his chest.

"What? No."

"I didn't think you could hurt my feelings as bad as you just did." He says putting a hand over his chest.

I slightly nudge him when I see he's only mock playing hurt. "That wasn't funny."

"Yeah, yeah I kind of was. Now come on. It's time to give you a tour, Toby style." He leads us off the porch and to his truck.

We spent most of our time driving around town. He pointed out some historical buildings here and there. Mainly showed me the main parks, library, mall, post office, things like that. I know it sounds rather dull be we actually had a good time. We talked and joked. Finally we got off at the main plaza where everyone always seemed to be at. We were going to go down and have some lunch.

"Is there anything specific that you like to eat? Or are craving? Burgers? Asain?" Toby asked as we got off the truck.

"Uh no. No craving of any kind. Go ahead and take us anywhere you want." I told him as we walked side by side down the street.

We continued our previous conversation as we walked.

"Well the kids are sweet if you're really up for it…"

Toby was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Emily! Hey!" I barely had a chance to brace myself before I was engulfed in the arms of a blonde.

"Hanna!" Aria's voice was heard next. "You've only met her once. I don't think she's comfortable with you just hugging her." She tried to quietly reprimand the girl.

"What?" She asked pulling away from the embrace. "We have like an unofficial hugs agreement the moment she saved my life ok. Right Emily?"

"Uh yeah, right Hanna." I said with a small laugh still a little shocked by her actions. Not that I minded, she just caught me off guard. "It's fine." I said with a smile. "Hi Aria."

"Hey Emily."

They both looked at who was standing next to me.

"Oh how rude of me, this is Toby." I said shaking my head at my own manners. "Toby this is Aria and Hanna."

They kindly shook hands. Aria and Hanna gave each other a look that I wasn't sure what meant.

"So does that mean I have to call you hero now?" Toby playfully asked.

"What? No do not call me that." I laughed.

"Uh well I guess we'll see you around." Aria said.

"Ye.." I was cut off.

"Actually we should hang out." Hanna said with a smile. "We have some other friends we'd like you to meet."

"Yeah sure. That sounds like fun." I smiled back.

"Great. Why don't we exchange numbers so I can text you?" Hanna pulled out her phone and I followed.

After we were done we all said our goodbyes with the promises of meeting again soon. When they left Toby and continued on with our night and found a place to eat.

Spencer's POV

It's like they're out to get me. That or someone put a curse on me. Both options were just as plausible in my mind. It was just like my parents, pushing me to do something, pushing me to get involved, another thing to add to my resume and that was all. They didn't really care about the clothes drive, they didn't really care if I made a grand entrance, as long as I was there, that's what they cared about.

Melissa, of course, would be a no show, last minute plans with Wren or some other b.s. excuse. It didn't matter, having her there with me would actually make things worse. I pulled into the church parking lot, there were only about 20 cars parked there. Some of the younger teens probably got dropped off, the rest were outside lugging boxes in from a truck outside.

I walked into the church, the lights were down and the air conditioning was most certainly off. Probably Pastor Ted's genius plan to save money, he was always doing things like that. "Spencer!" I turned around and nearly knocked over a table when I heard my name. I spotted Alison a moment later, sitting in a chair with her phone out, while Abby Weiss continued to fold up shirts.

"Ali? What are you doing here?" This was most definitely not her scene, even more so than it wasn't mine.

"My parents are insane. They made me come here just so that they could have the house to themselves tonight. Ugh, gag me with a spoon. Why are you here?" I shrugged; I didn't even want to get into it. I grabbed a bag of clothes and dumped them on the table in front of me. "Hanna's here." I looked over at Ali and laughed.

"I think you're getting our Hanna confused with someone else." I told her. Hanna, of all people, wouldn't be caught dead at a clothes drive. Or at a church. "You know I was seriously thinking about bailing."

"You? Bailing from anything? Jeez, it's not that bad." Alison snatched the pants out of my hands and tossed it on the table. "Just let the minions take care of that, come on." Ali grabbed my hand and we sat down in the pews.

"How long does this last?" I asked looking up at the clock.

"At least two more hours, do you have to be somewhere?" Ali questioned forcing me to look at her. I sighed.

"Nowhere but laying on my bed sleeping." I mumbled. "Where's Hanna?" I asked.

"Outside, I don't know, she's been acting weird. She's barely talked to me since we walked in this place. Like honestly I might smack her." Alison was all talk all the time, I smiled because I knew she just liked attention.

"I'll go check on her." I told Alison whose face fell immediately.

"Not you too." Ali groaned. I laughed it off, assuring her that I'd be back in a second before I started walking through the pews and heading for the back door. I saw Hanna walking in carrying an armful of hangers, and just as I was about to open my mouth and give her a hard time, someone walked in beside her. I walked to the side and leaned against the back wall, hoping Hanna didn't see me. She didn't, in fact, Hanna was so incredibly into the conversation she was having with the girl beside her that I actually started to feel invisible.

Who the hell was that? Tall, athletic build, dark hair, dark eyes…most certainly someone new to Rosewood. Hanna was walking over towards Alison, this was a disaster waiting to happen. I could see it now, Ali saying something about the new girl being new blood, or worse she'd just spew all of Rosewoods secrets in one foul swoop, typical Ali.

I watched as the three of them started talking, both Hanna and the new girl were facing away from me so I had no idea what was being said. I took a couple of steps closer, should I introduce myself?

"Spencer." I turned around and Aria was standing there holding a box twice her size. I laughed and took it out of her hands. "Thank you, I was about to collapse."

"No problem." I said like it was nothing, which it was. I looked over at Hanna who was laughing along with Ali at something the new girl has said.

"She's dating Toby Cavanaugh, you know." My eyes widened. Toby was older, well older than us. And I've always gotten a weird vibe about him, but whatever vibes I'd gotten they'd never indicated that Hanna would be interested in him.

"Hanna?!" I questioned.

"Wha-…no Emily, the new girl. Hanna and I saw them earlier, they were hanging out." I looked over my shoulder, yep, they were still talking. If this girl was new how did she already have a boyfriend? And why was Hanna parading the girl around like she was a giant Thanksgiving float.

"Have you met her?" Aria asked.

"Who?" I mumbled absentmindedly.

"Emily."

"Honestly, I don't really care to meet her, she's just another girl in this town. She'll love it for a while until she can't stand it, and then she'll want to leave." Aria's face said it all, and the glance over my shoulder told me more. I spun around and I was face to face with the new girl.

"Is that really what you think?" Emily said skeptically.

"Wha-…I…" I could feel my face heating up, that's not exactly how I wanted to make a first impression. "I'm Spencer."

"I know, Hanna told me you'd be here." I faked a smile, this was getting awkward really quick. Aria had bailed and gone over to talk to Ali and Hanna, and I was just stuck here. "Do you do this sort of thing often?"

"You mean get dragged off to a church to sort clothes? Yeah all the time, it's a family obligation." I explained to her. "I'm not exactly religious." She nodded like she had something to say but wasn't going to say it. "I actually think my head might explode just by being here." She was either confused or incredibly weirded out. "And now I'm making myself look like a lunatic…whatever, I'm sure Ali has already told you everything about me already." Emily grabbed a bag and opened it, starting to fold some of the clothes.

"No comment." She said quietly. I looked over at Ali who was too busy talking to Aria and Hanna to notice my glare.

"Actually I'm gonna bail, I've sort of got a headache." Emily nodded and I walked over to my friends with the simple intention of letting them know that I was leaving.

"Wait, you can't leave." Hanna said.

"Yes I can, and I am." I replied.

"Emily seems nice." Ali said.

"Yeah whatever, she's alright. Can I go without you guys narking on me?" I was talking to all of them but I was only looking at Ali.

"You've got my word." Ali said with a grin. "But you also owe me."

"Owe you what?" I asked.

"I'll think of something." Ali said. I decided to just ignore her. I headed for the door without looking back.

"Bye Spencer." Emily waved with a small smile, I returned the gesture, only without the smile or wave.

"Bye Emily."

A/N: Just want to give a big shout out to my partner in this JesterChester. If it weren't for her this story would not be happening.

Thank you to all you who are reading and reviewing. Thanks! :)