A/N: I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY YOU GUYS! I haven't forgotten this story, I promise! I could never do that to you guys. I've been really busy however and a little uninspired, but it's all good and fine and dandy now because I'm back. (Well, I never really left, but you know…) Thank you for all of your sweet reviews; I always love to know what you guys are thinking! I'm at the beach again (yay!) so that means tons of new chapters. The faster you review, the faster I update. Just saying ;)


On Monday, I arrive at school and the second I get one foot out of my car, Emily practically jumps down my throat.

"Oh my god Spence, how was it? I mean, I talked to Hanna and she said that you guys were riding on his motorcycle and that you guys got along really well and that afterwards you two went off somewhere and oh my god tell me everything, Spencer Hastings!" she says, in a manner that was very unlike herself. I lean away just a bit, a little frightened by her sudden outburst. As Hanna would say, in her grumpy and irritated morning moods, No one is that happy on a Monday morning.

"Sorry," Emily apologizes, a shy little smile creeping back onto her face. "I just wanted to know how it went."

"It went fine," I reply, throwing my bag over my shoulder and making my way towards the front entrance. "We went with the others to that dinner, and then we stopped and got ice cream. No big deal."

"No big deal?" Emily asks, clearly in shock by my statement. "Spencer, this is a huge deal! This is not only the first time that you two have been a room together and not lunged for each other's throats, but the first time that you actually admit that I was right about Toby!"

I give her a look; one that says, 'too far, Em'. "Yeah, I never admitted to anything. I just said we had dinner and ice cream and rode on a motorcycle. Not once did I add you to the equation, Fields," I tell her, a smirk spread out on my face.

Emily nods, her lips forming into an 'O'. "Right, I forgot, Spencer Hastings and her pride are too high and mighty to admit she was wrong for once," she says, with a laugh. I can't help but to laugh with her as we continue on up the stairs and into the school.

"Did you ever find out anything about your little friend that you met in Hanna's chat room?" Emily asks as we round a corner, apparently heading in the direction of her locker. I shrug with one shoulder.

"Some, but not enough. He's actually a, well, a he, he calls me by my middle name and vice versa, and he's a senior at Rosewood. And has surprisingly good taste in books," I add. Emily just chuckles. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Just the fact that you're actually talking to that guy. I would have most definitely expected it out of Hanna, but not really you."

"What about Spencer?" a lower voice comes from in front of us, and both Emily and I turn our heads in sync to face whomever it is. Toby's leaning up against Emily's locker, a playful smile decorating his lips as he peels himself off of it and stepping forward to meet us. Emily's eyes light up like my nana's lawn decorations at Christmastime.

"What about her?" Emily fires back, good-humoredly.

"I have to make sure my two favorite girls aren't talking about each other," he replies. Emily turns around to look at me, raising an eyebrow, while my face goes blood-red. Okay, so maybe she wasn't lying about him wanting to be nice. Apparently our little night helping Hanna when she really didn't need us there sealed that deal. Toby is looking dead ahead at me, those cerulean eyes of his literally piercing through me as he shoves his hands in his pockets. Right, he wants me to respond to that.

"Well, I highly doubt that Megan Fox is talking about me," I say, nodding slowly. "I didn't realize you two were so close." Emily rolls her eyes, but the three of us start laughing. Usually, I always figured if the phrases 'I was laughing' and 'Toby Cavanaugh' were in the same sentence, the word at would fit nicely in between; never would I have thought I'd actually be able to laugh with him about something.

"Spencer was telling me about what you guys did on Friday," Emily prompts after she's had her laugh, trying to get Toby to talk since I clearly wouldn't.

Toby looks over at me quizzically, and I shrug. "We didn't really do much," he says, finally taking his gaze off of me and putting it instead on Emily. "Hung out with everybody, went to get ice cream after…it's not like we went skydiving or something extravagant, Em."

I rest a hand on Emily's shoulder, leaning forward. "Although next weekend, we plan on doing all kinds of dumb reckless things," I tease, winking playfully in Toby's direction. Emily raises an eyebrow, but it's clear that she finds mine and Toby's interaction pleasing.

"So you guys are getting together next weekend?" Emily asks, looking back and forth between the two of us.

"I guess so," Toby says as the bell cuts him off. "Come on Em, we better get to class." He then looks over at me, a genuine smile on his face. "See you later, Spence."

"Yeah, sure thing!" I say, smiling back at him. We all then turn in the respective directions of our classes and head off, and I can't seem to get Toby's smile out of my head. Damn it all.

. . .

By the time I get to study hall, I've somehow talked to Toby five times already today. It's sort of crazy, I think, that this time last week I was plotting his murder and making it seem like a complete accident and now the two of us are acting like we're best friends. Emily is absolutely eating this up; for her, this is an equivalent to her birthday and Christmas combined.

Emily was right earlier. I'm much too proud to admit that she was right about Toby for two reasons. Reason number one – I don't like for others to get that 'Aha, I told you so' moment because it's degrading and a real downer on self-esteem and whatnot. Reason number two is that I still don't fully trust Toby. Not even Emily can expect for me to suddenly fall head first into Toby's loving arms in a session of trust falling. She knows that I've been at literal war with him since the sixth grade; I didn't just wake up on Saturday morning and decide that all is forgiven and we can hold hands around the campfire and sing Kumbaya in pure bliss.

Settling down in my usual seat in study hall, I pull out my laptop to finish working on a paper that's due in a few days. The second I open it, however, there's a faint dinging noise, signaling that I've got a new IM. There's only one person it can be, and my guess was more than correct when I open the small window.

Jill, to what do I owe the pleasure?

Pleasure's mine, James.

I chuckle as I open up the window that my paper's in and begin typing away, waiting on James to respond back. It's become clear to me that he isn't going to fess up who he really and truly is, so in true Spencer Hastings fashion, I'm going to figure it all out myself. I get halfway through my paper before the small noise sounds, and I come to terms with the fact that this paper isn't going to get edited today, or at least, not in this class.

I take it you're partying it up with all of your study hall buddies. ;D

Most definitely. And you?

Now how in the world do you know if I'm in study hall or if I'm hiding my phone underneath a desk in Mrs. Montgomery's class?

Because I just know these things, James. Accept your defeat and move on. :) And really? Mrs. Montgomery? She'd have to be dead before she let you get away with having your phone out in the middle of class.

Well, since you obviously know more about me than I thought, then yes. I'm a senior. And we're obviously not in the same study hall; I'm the only one who's on a computer. Everyone else is either napping, drawing random doodles on their calculus homework, or trying their hardest to prove a point that they're the most immature in the room.

Really? Are you sure we're not in the same room, because I'm pretty sure that the dynamic in here is the exact same. :D

Pretty sure. I've already my theories as to what you look like, and you're not in here… :)

Theories? Like…?

I'm not telling you. It'll ruin all the fun.

You're so nice, James, I think I just might cry.

Don't cry now, your pretty face will get all messed up.

My pretty face?

Sure.

Whatever you say, James. Whatever.

Bell's about to ring, princess. I'll keep an eye out for you ;)

And I'll be keeping an eye out for people who seem as though they're looking for me ;)

I don't really know how good at timing I am, but as soon as I close my laptop, the bell rings. I put it back in my bag and sling it over my shoulder, hurrying out of my study hall to escape all the circles of hell that reside in there.

Aria is waiting for me in the cafeteria, and I can see that she's slightly troubled. When she sees me, she seems to perk up a little, but not much. My eyebrows furrow as I approach her. "Hey, what's up?" I ask as I stop momentarily to grab a water before the two of us make our way to lunch.

"What isn't?" she retorts, looking up at me with an expression that says I probably already know what the issue is. She lets out a low sigh. "I'm pretty sure Friday night went well for everyone except me."

"Why?"

"Prom's coming up in two weeks and Ezra's practically already backed out of it. What am I supposed to do?" she wails, falling down into her seat at our usual table outside. I sit down next to her, rubbing her back as she buries her head in her hands.

"It's in two weeks, Aria. Things will change. And why are you so bent up over it? I'll probably be going by myself, you can just go with me." I take a sip of my water as I shrug knowingly. Aria rolls her eyes.

"Spencer, let's get real, you'll probably end up going with Toby." The water goes down the wrong way and I cough, spitting it back out. My eyes are watering surely as I continue to cough, struggling for air. I can see Emily and Toby approaching us, both of them having rather concerned looks plastered on their faces. Aria begins pounding me on the back, and finally my arms shoot out as though I'm about to fly.

"I'm good," I say in a strangled tone. "I'm good."

"Are you okay?" Aria asks. "God, if I would have known you were going to choke, I wouldn't have said it."

"Yeah you would have."

"Okay, you're right, but why are you acting like it's the end of the world? It's not like you two hate each other anymore," she points out. "You two have been alone together and you haven't gotten in a fight or died, so I mean, why isn't it possible? Who else is he going to take? Emily's gay, remember?"

"Like I could have forgotten," I fire back. "And Aria, wake up and smell the roses, he tried to kill me just two weeks ago with the whole running me over incident. It's not like he and I are suddenly the straw to each other's berry."

I shoot her a look as Toby and Emily finally reach us, saying 'if you bring this up, it's not going to look good for you, short stuff'. "Are you okay, Spencer?" Emily asks. "We could hear you choking the minute we stepped outside.

"I'm fine," I reply. "Aria just brought up something that's…well, never going to happen and it shocked me, that's all."

"Really? What was it?" Toby pesters, and I have the sudden urge to tackle him. I try not to shoot him daggers as I look up at him.

"Oh nothing you need to worry about," I force what has to be the worst attempt of a fake smile onto my face. Emily shrugs, grabbing his arm and heading in the direction of the cafeteria, mumbling something about food.

As they walk by, Toby chuckles and leans down so only I can hear him. "I'll find out soon enough, princess."


Okay, Toby and his ending lines are rather mysterious and in a way, slightly disturbing. And I'm writing it. I'm so sorry for not getting this up sooner, I've just had a lot of stuff on my mind and it's been hard to find time where I'm free and not exhausted. ALSO WHO SAW LAST NIGHT'S EPISODE?! EEEK. ALL THE SPOBY. Be sure to leave a review as to what you think! (Long reviews make me happy, just saying.) And if you don't, Toby will find you and say something rather cryptic that will send you on a mental wild goose chase. Promise.