Four
Peter drove her to school the next day. She sat in the car, arms folded defiantly, and tried to look as though she weren't a sulking teenager. She knew she was failing, knew she was acting like one, but she was too angry to care. As they pulled up to the school, Peter grabbed her arm to stop her from running off.
"Here," he said, offering her the cell phone Veronica had confiscated the night before. Spencer snatched it from his hand. "Don't bother looking for Toby's number. We've deleted and blocked it."
Spencer narrowed her eyes at her father. "Gee, thanks," she commented sarcastically.
"Spencer," Peter halted her yet again. "I know you're feeling vulnerable because of the police, and that's probably why you're drawn to Toby Cavanaugh, but I think trusting him is a mistake you will live to regret. And I love you too much to let that happen."
He smiled at her, trying to offer an olive branch, and Spencer was tempted to accept it. To an extent, he was right, at least about feeling vulnerable and Toby being the only one around able to empathise. The rest was all wrong.
"I'm not a kid anymore," she replied, trying to keep all hostility from her voice. He wouldn't listen to her angry. "I'm old enough to be arrested for a murder I didn't commit. That means I'm definitely old enough to chose my friends. And make my own mistakes."
She climbed out of the car, closed the door gently, and walked away. Still angry, but acknowledging that anger wouldn't solve anything, she went to look for her friends. Emily, at least, would understand. All three were sitting together in the quad, heads close together, and looked round with identical expressions of concern when they saw her.
"Hey," greeted Hanna, hand outstretched to take Spencer's. "I called you last night. Why didn't you call me back?"
Spencer's eyes darkened as she sat beside Hanna and leaned forward to tell them everything that had happened the night before in a whisper. Aria and Hanna were shocked to learn that Toby had spent the night, leading to a brief recount of what had happened over the weekend so that they were completely caught up.
"Wow. Don't your parents know that forbidding your daughter to date someone only makes them want to do it more?" said Aria, lips curved up indicating that she was attempting a joke.
"Spence! I'm so happy for you!" Hanna exclaimed "Apart from the forbidden love thing, although that could be totally romantic. You're like Romeo and Juliet! Star-crossed lovers kept apart from feuding families."
Spencer snorted but was relieved neither of them had echoed her parents' sentiments. Emily smiled sympathetically.
"Do you want to call Toby on my cell?" she asked, and Spencer nodded instantly.
"If you don't mind –"
"Of course not," said Emily instantly. "What are friends for?"
Spencer smiled, relieved, as Emily got out her phone and handed it over. Hanna snatched up Spencer's after a moment, letting out a gasp of excitement, her eyes twinkling.
"I'll get Caleb to work his magic on this and unblock Toby's number. He can disable the GPS while he's at it," she added, "so your parents can't track you down while you have your secret rendezvous's. This is so awesome!"
She leapt up, a happy smile adorning her face at the opportunity to help her friend, and hurried away with a cute wave. Aria grinned at Hanna's optimism.
"She is one of a kind," Emily commented, and Spencer and Aria both nodded their agreement.
"Don't worry, Spencer," said Aria, comforting her friend the best she could. "We'll help you anyway we can. They won't keep you away from Toby."
Spencer smiled, trying to communicate how much their support meant to her in that simple gesture. "Thanks guys. Thank you so much."
She left her bag with them, trusting them implicitly, and headed into a corner, dialling Toby's number. She pressed the phone to her ear, waiting with bated breath as the phone rang once, twice, three times, oh no what if he didn't pick up, four times –
"Hey Emily," came Toby's familiar soft voice, and Spencer let out her breath in a rush.
"Hi, it's me," she replied.
"Spencer? What's going on? I called you yesterday," said Toby, his voice instantly tinged with concern that made Spencer shudder.
"My parents know that you stayed over on Monday," she explained, and heard Toby's sharp intake of breath. "Needless to say, they weren't very happy."
"So, are you grounded?" asked Toby, sounding resigned to her fate. "Because if you are, I'll come over and explain to your parents that I was the one who came round –"
"No, no, don't do that," Spencer said quickly. Too quickly.
Toby paused. "Spencer, what's going on?" he asked again.
She bit her lip, hoping that his feelings wouldn't be hurt by what she had to say. "They think you're a bad influence. They –" The bell rang for class to begin, and Spencer sighed. "I have to go. I'll explain it all later, ok?"
"Ok," said Toby in that guarded tone of voice she hadn't heard since she started tutoring him in French. "I'll speak to you later then."
"Bye." Spencer hung up, not feeling any better than she had before speaking to Toby. She'd hoped that he would say something to make her believe that her friends were right about this all being ok. She'd forgotten that Toby had been in a secret relationship before and it had ended catastrophically. What if he decided she wasn't worth the hassle of sneaking around? What if he decided he'd spent too much of his life guarded and wanted to be open about everything from now on, including who he was dating?
Spencer returned to the table Aria and Emily were standing beside and passed Emily's phone back to its owner.
"Did it not go well?" asked Emily with concern.
Spencer shook her head; not an answer but a denial of the question. "Let's get to class," she replied tiredly.
Over the course of the day, she decided to go and see Toby, speak to him in person, explain the entire situation, but that idea was shot to hell when school ended and she saw her mother waiting for her outside.
"I can't believe this!" she exclaimed angrily. "What do they think I'm going to do if I make my own way home?"
Aria raised an eyebrow. "Exactly what you were planning to do; visit Toby." Spencer glared at her, and Aria raised her hands apologetically. "Hey, I'm just saying."
Spencer groaned. She knew, but that didn't mean she liked it. Apparently, she was just predictable. Turning to Emily, Spencer grabbed her wrist. "Will you talk to Toby for me? Explain?"
Emily squeezed Spencer's wrist. "Of course I will. As soon as I get home."
Spencer nodded her thanks as Veronica walked towards the three of them.
"Good afternoon girls," she greeted with a smile far too wide. Spencer didn't reply, but Aria and Emily made polite greetings just as they'd been raised to. "I'm sure Spencer has told you what happened yesterday, and I would like to ask for you to help us keep her on the straight and narrow –"
"Mom!"
"– by keeping her away from Toby Cavanaugh," Veronica finished, ignoring Spencer's shocked gasp. She fixed her gaze on Emily. "Not that I can see that being much of a hardship for you, Emily, considering what Toby did to you at Homecoming."
"That was an accident, Mrs Hastings," Emily replied frostily.
Veronica looked slightly wrong-footed and turned to Aria, but didn't get a chance to speak as Spencer stormed away, not even saying goodbye to her friends, such was her fury. Veronica had no option but to join her, put off from continuing her speech by the distinctly chilly gazes the two other girls were giving her.
"Spencer, stop being so –" Veronica began as she climbed into the car.
"I can't believe you did that to me!" Spencer exclaimed. "That was beyond humiliating! That was – There aren't even any words for what that was!"
Veronica rolled her eyes as she began to head for home. "Really, Spencer. I thought you were more grown up than this."
Spencer scoffed in disgust. "Don't even try to pull the grown up card on me, Mom. I'm not the one being childish right now."
The statement seemed to silence Veronica. The rest of the drive was stilted and uncomfortable, and the moment the car pulled to a halt outside of the Hastings house, Spencer stormed into the house, slamming as many doors as she could simply to expend her frustration without breaking anything.
However, her anger dissipated quite quickly. She tried very hard to remember that her parents were trying to protect her, even if it was from the wrong person, and that they would apologise when they realised how wrong they were. Well, maybe they wouldn't apologise. They would just buy her something pretty.
Shaking her head, she moved to get her books out –
There was a shout from outside. "Cavanaugh!"
Spencer ran to the window and saw Toby standing on the lawn, turning to face Ian and Melissa, spilling out of the barn. Her heart simultaneously lifted and stopped beating. What was he doing here? Had Emily not spoken to him? Did he not understand why coming here was a bad idea?
She ran through the house. By the time she reached the lawn, her father and Ian were pushing Toby towards the road. He wasn't protesting physically, allowing himself to be shunted, but was talking very quickly to her father, and Spencer realised that he was trying to explain.
"Spencer!" Veronica reached for her daughter. She was standing a few feet away, as though shielding the pregnant, and for some reason tearful, Melissa. Spencer avoided her grasp as Toby's eyes found her. She ran forwards, shoving Ian away bodily.
"Dad, get off him!" she commanded with such authority that Peter was shocked into momentary stillness. The watching police had climbed out of their car, dressed as civilians, but with hands hovering over their belts as though debating whether to pull out their guns. Spencer grabbed Toby's hand and pulled him away from her family, towards the road.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed. "Didn't Emily talk to you?"
Toby nodded. "I thought that if I could explain …" he sighed as he looked back at her family. Peter had gotten over his shock and was walking towards them purposely, followed by Ian. "I guess I was wrong."
Spencer walked slightly faster, keeping them a few paces ahead of her father. With the police watching, she knew he wouldn't be able to touch Toby again, but Ian she didn't trust. Ian was psychotic enough to kill him.
"You should go home. I don't want you to get into trouble," Spencer told him as they hit the road. There, she stopped and faced Toby. "I'll take care of this, ok?"
Toby glanced over her shoulder, and then took her hand, squeezing it. "Ok. I'll be waiting," Toby promised, and Spencer smiled at him, leaning forward and pressing her lips to his.
A second later, her father's hands landed on her shoulders and pulled her back, away. He was glaring at Toby as he pushed her back towards her mother and sister. Ian placed a hand on her arm, trying to propel her in the same direction and Spencer slapped the hand away.
"Don't you dare touch me," she told him in a low, fierce whisper. Something passed across Ian's face, something ugly and brutal that hinted at what he'd done to Alison, and Spencer was momentarily petrified, her indignation turning into ice.
"You are not welcome here," Peter was telling Toby as this happened. The moment passed and Ian turned to face Toby, watching as the police hurried forwards. Without their guns. "If I ever catch you on my property again, I will have you arrested."
"Is there a problem here?" one of the officers asked, and Toby shook his head.
"No, sir. I was just leaving." Before he turned to walk away, Toby's eyes met Spencer's. A current of warmth was sent between them, and Spencer felt the ice left from Ian's expression melt instantly. She smiled at him sadly as he turned and left, head held high. He'd kept his temper, which was more than could be said for Ian and Peter, both of whom the police were looking at dubiously. The way they'd manhandled Toby, and the force with which Peter had pulled Spencer away from him worried them. Veronica stepped forwards, demanding to know what they were doing here in the first place, and they were distracted. Spencer took one look at her father's face and went back inside.
That Toby had come here, for her, to try and fix this for her, meant a lot to her. He'd been so worried that upon hearing Emily's words, he'd come straight over to try and fix this. The sight of him had done her wonders, and hopefully showed her parents that there was nothing they could really do to separate them.
Or, it might have just made them even more determined.
No one came up to speak to Spencer, not that she minded. They must consider her a lost cause, she surmised. Well, she definitely was. And there was no way she was going downstairs, not while Ian was anywhere close by. The reality of her accusations appeared to have only just hit her. Ian was dangerous, and in a more real way than she'd realised. He'd killed Alison, killed her, with his bare hands. What kind of person could do that? How could his brain work if he'd been able to choke that beautiful girl until she stopped struggling?
The morbid thoughts sapped Spencer of her good mood and she struggled to concentrate on her schoolwork, glancing out of the window every now and then at the spot she'd seen Ian's transformation only that afternoon, at the barn he was currently sharing with Spencer's pregnant sister, the barn Alison had left to meet him. It was a little too much to cope with. There was no safety here anymore.
The door was flung open and she turned to make her protests at the interruption, only to see it was Hanna, beaming triumphantly as she hurried into the room.
"You are going to love me," she told Spencer as she locked the door behind her and hurried to the bed, sitting down, and rummaging in her bed.
"How did you get my parents to let you up here?" asked Spencer, sure that after what had happened that afternoon her family would be putting bars across her windows and homeschooling her! They couldn't send her away at least, not while she was under police suspicion, but that didn't mean they would let her associate with her friends.
"I told your Mom I think she's right about Toby," said Hanna, quickly carrying on before Spencer could say anything. "I lied, basically. But think about it! If she thinks I'm going to keep you away from Toby, then she'll be more willing to let you out with me. And then, I can sneak you over to wherever you're meeting him, keep watch, and return you safe and sound! It's a foolproof plan," Hanna proclaimed, beaming at her brilliant plan.
Well, it wasn't a complicated plan, but its simplicity meant that it might just work. Spencer didn't get a chance to process it, however, before Hanna found what she was looking for and pulled out Spencer's phone. Spencer hadn't even realised she didn't have it.
"Caleb said it was a rush job so he didn't get to do everything he wanted to, like upgrade your RAM or something technical like that, but he did unblock Toby's number and programmed it to ring under my name so your parents won't suspect a thing!"
Hanna handed the phone over, proudly. Spencer practically snatched it from Hanna, excited beyond belief. She could contact Toby again. Leaning forward, Spencer wrapped her arms around Hanna, hugging her tightly.
"Thanks Hanna," she whispered, and Hanna hugged her back.
"Happy to help," she replied as Spencer pulled back. "But I still can't believe you lost your virginity on the same night as me and didn't tell me," scolded Hanna, even though it was evident she didn't really mean it by the smile still on her lips. "So, come on. Tell me. We can compare."
Spencer laughed, her cheeks stained a light pink.
"It must have been nice to do it in an actual bed rather than on the ground," Hanna prompted, and Spencer shrugged. Honestly, she'd been so wrapped in the sensations, in Toby, in the wondrous moment that they could have been on the top of an active volcano and she wouldn't have noticed. By the fond reminiscent look in Hanna's eyes, it hadn't bothered her either.
"It's great to see you happy, Hanna," Spencer told her friend sincerely.
Hanna smiled back. "You too, Spence. That's why I want to help. I think we all deserve a little happiness after … well, everything."
They shared sad smiles. Everything went as far back as Alison's disappearance. Knowing she was dead, knowing for sure and believing that Ian had killed her was somehow still easier than the constant wondering about whether Alison was alive or not, safe or not, laughing at them from a beach, or scared and alone in the dark. Spencer decided to visit the grave soon and lay some flowers. Expensive ones. Alison would want expensive flowers.
"All we need to do now is find someone for Emily and we'll be a foursome of couples!" Hanna exclaimed, moving on from the sombre interlude.
Spencer snorted. "Right. Except that Aria can't go outside with her guy because he'll be arrested; my parents will ship me off to Timbuktu if they find me with Toby; and Emily's mother sent her last girlfriend to rehab."
Hanna shrugged. "Minor complications," she said, brushing the matter aside. "Love conquers all!"
Spencer burst out laughing. She'd forgotten what a happy, loved-up Hanna was like, and remembering was wonderful. It truly was fantastic to see Hanna so happy and so determined to fix the lives of her friends so that they could share in her happiness. It gave Spencer hope for an uncomplicated future where the four of them were too happy for their own good and Alison could watch from heaven, laughing at their fairytales coming true.
Hanna left a little over an hour later, after cheering Spencer up immensely and making lewd insinuations about phone sex as her parting words. Spencer laughed as she pulled up Hanna's contact details on her phone, seeing the second cell phone number under Hanna's. She pressed call and waited eagerly.
"Spencer? I thought your parents blocked my number from your phone?" said Toby, sounding confused as he answered.
"Hanna's boyfriend sorted that out for me," Spencer replied, becoming even more jubilant at the sound of Toby's voice. "And she's got some sort of plan to help me sneak out and see you. Apparently, forbidden love is cool to her."
Toby chuckled darkly. "I wish I could agree." Spencer felt her happiness dip a little. "But I'm glad you called, Spencer," he added after a moment's silence. "I've missed talking to you."
Relieved, Spencer lay back against her pillows, relaxing. "Me too. What you did today, trying to explain to my parents' –"
"It was stupid," Toby interrupted. "I should have known nothing would come of it."
"But it meant a lot to me that you tried," Spencer spoke over him. She imagined Toby smiling, which she was sure he was doing. He was quiet for a minute, and Spencer listened to the sound of his breathing. He had something to say, and she was quite prepared to wait patiently.
"If you think that this is too hard, I completely understand," Toby finally murmured, calm and understanding if she agreed. Spencer said nothing. "But I just want you to know that as long as you want me, I'll be here for you. Nothing your parents or the police or anyone else can say or do will change that. I promise."
"Good," Spencer replied. "Because I think I'm going to want you for quite a long time," she assured him, and Toby's sigh of relief was audible over the phone.
When Spencer hung up a while later, she felt that Hanna was right; this was not insurmountable. As long as both she and Toby wanted each other, what could her parents really do? She settled down to sleep, suddenly aware of how tired she was. The past few days had utterly exhausted her, and she hadn't had a full night's sleep for a while. It felt good to be able to relax, to feel that things really would be better in the morning. She believed that right now, and it lulled her to sleep.
NB So, next time there will be more of Hanna's helping hand (I adore Hanna, and I loved her relationship with Caleb which is why I've conveniently written that whole Jenna-Caleb thing out) and the Cavanaugh's support the Hasting's decision. Plus, some Jenna blackmail. Sorry this one's taken a bit longer to update, I hope you like this though!