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Once Spencer is gone, I let the smile fall from my face. I grab my phone and punch in a number. It rings a few time before someone answers.

"Hey. It's Toby. We need talk about Spencer."


Emily's POV

I pull into the school parking lot about fifteen minutes before the first bell. Hanna and Aria rode with me since we all spent the night together. A night with the girls had made me feel a lot better. But I still feel guilty about getting my friends blackmailed by A.

"I wonder where Spencer is?" says Aria. "She hasn't answered any of my texts, and she's usually at school by now." Aria looks down at her phone, concern written all over her face.

"Maybe she's inside." I say.

"No, her car isn't here." says Aria.

"She probably just got distracted by Toby and his six-pack." says Hanna. Aria laughs, but I can still tell that she's worried.

"Maybe she decided to stay home." I say. "After what happened last night, I wouldn't blame her."

"Spencer's not going to miss school over that." says Hanna. We sit in silence for a few more minutes. They know I still blame myself for what happened at Ali's grave.

"Let's just go in." says Hanna. We get out of the car and start walking to the school. We're almost to the doors when my phone rings.

"Hello." I say into the phone.

"Hey. It's Toby. We need to talk about Spencer." the urgent tone in Toby's voice scares me. I motion for Aria and Hanna to Wait. They walk back towards me.

"Is it Spencer?" asks Aria. I ignore her and continue my conversation with Toby.

"What is it Toby? Is Spencer ok?" I ask.

"Did she tell you what happened to her?" he asks.

"No. Toby what's going on? You're scaring me." I say.

"I'm not sure." say Toby.

"What do you mean you're not sure?" I ask. I'm starting to get frantic.

"I think someone hurt her." he says.

"What!" I yell into the phone.

"I went to her house this morning to take a shower. She was still asleep when I got there and she got really scared when I woke her up." he says

"Is that it?" I ask.

"No." he says. "When I got her to calm down I realized she had a huge black eye and a busted lip. It looked like someone beat the crap out of her."

"Oh my god! What happened?" I ask. Hanna and Aria try to get me to tell them what's going on, but I push them away and focus on what Toby is saying.

"She told me she tripped and hit her face on the floor." says Toby.

"But you don't believe her." I say.

"I don't know." sighs Toby. "I want to believe her. She didn't seem like she was lying. But my gut is telling me that there's something she's not telling me."

"What should we do?" I ask him.

"I don't know. If something else did happen, I don't thing Spencer is going to tell us." he says. "I think for now, we should just keep an eye on her and make sure she's safe."

"Is that all we can do?" I ask.

"I think so." he says.

"Ok." I say. "Is she coming to school?"

"Yeah, she just left." he said. "But she almost stayed because she couldn't cover up the bruise."

"Is it that bad?" I ask.

"It's terrible." says Toby. I can hear the pain in his voice. "Emily?"

"Yeah." I say.

"If she tells you anything. Please call me." he pleads.

"I will." I say.

"And don't tell her I called. I don't want her to think that I don't believe her. Besides, she could be telling the truth." says Toby.

"I won't tell her." I say.

"Thanks Emily." he says. "I have to go. I'm going to be late for work. Please take care of her."

"We will." I say, looking at Hanna and Aria.

"Okay, bye." he says

"Bye." I say, then I hang up the phone.

"What the hell is going on?" yells Hanna.

"Is Spencer ok?" asks Aria. They're both eager to know what's happening.

"That was Toby." I say. "He said that when he saw Spencer this morning she had a huge bruise on her face."

"What happened?" ask Aria.

"Spencer told him that she fell and hit her face." I say. "But he thinks she might be lying."

"Does he think someone hurt her?" asks Hanna. I nod my head. Hanna face turns red with anger and she starts ranting "I'm going to hunt down the son of a bitch that hurt her and rip his…"

"Whoa Hanna, slow down." says Aria, interrupting her. "Spencer could be telling the truth."

"That's what Toby said. He thinks we should just keep an eye on her for now." I say. "Besides, who would hurt Spencer?"

"How about A?" says Hanna.

"Do you really think Spencer wouldn't tell us if A attacked her?" asks Aria.

"Maybe she plans on telling us when she gets here." I say. "If A did attack her, she wouldn't tell Toby because she wouldn't want to put him in danger."

"I think we should stop jumping to conclusions and wait to hear what Spencer has to say." says Aria.

"So we don't do anything?" asks Hanna.

"We make sure she's safe, and wait for her to tell us her side of the story." says Aria.

"Looks like we won't have to wait for long." I say. "She just pulled in the parking lot." we watch as Spencer parks her car in its usual place.

"Come on." says Hanna, as she walk towards Spencer's car. Aria and I trail behind her. We get to her car just as she's getting out. She shuts the door and turns around. She jumps slightly, surprised to see us standing right behind her. She's wearing a pair of sunglasses, but they don't cover the entire bruise and I can still see her busted lip. No one says anything for a minute. Spencer studies us through her sunglasses for a moment, then she smiles.

"Toby called you." she says. I look down at me feet. "It's ok Emily, I'm not upset. He's just worried."

"What happened Spencer?" asks Aria. Spencer sighs then slips off her sunglasses. We all gasp when we see her damaged face. The bruise is huge and dark. And her left eye is slightly swollen.

"Damn Spencer. What the hell happened." says Hanna.

"I told Toby the truth. I tripped. I hit my face on the floor." says Spencer she looks down. "I really thought he believed me."

"You're not lying?" asks Hanna.

"No. I'm not." she says.

"So A didn't do this to you?" I ask. She laughs a little.

"Believe me. This wasn't A." says Spencer.

"So no one hurt you?" asks Aria.

"No. I was by myself last night. No one did this to me." she says. "You guys believe me, right?" we look back and forth at each other. She seems to be telling the truth. Her story made sense.

"Yeah, we believe you." says Hanna. Aria nods in agreement.

"Sorry about all the questions. We were just worried." I say.

"It's ok, as long as you know I'm telling the truth." says Spencer. We hear the bell ring, signaling the being of the school day.

"We better go." says Spencer. We all head to the school in silence. I glance at Spencer while we walk. Like Toby said, she seems to be telling the truth, but something just doesn't feel right. And we're going to figure out what it is.


PLEASE REVIEW. Hope you guys liked the chapter. Please tell me what you think.

-Rin Shade