Emily's POV

I sit in my car in Ezra's parking lot, drumming my fingers against the wheel and waiting for Aria to come out. I need to fix everything with her, and she hasn't taken her inhaler since she left.

I wait for what seems like forever, and I jump when I hear a scratching sound on the side of my car. When I roll down the window and lean my head out, I'm surprised to find Shadow whining at me, with Aria nowhere in sight.

"Aria?" I call out quietly. I get out of the car and follow Shadow, who runs up the steps and to a single apartment. Ezra's apartment. As I get closer, I hear I notice that the door is hung open and the sounds coming out of the room don't sound good. Aria's sobs echo through the hallway.

"Aria!" I call out, dashing into the room with Shadow behind me.

"What did you do to her?!" I scream at Ezra, shoving him out of the way and leaning over Aria protectively.

"I... I didn't do anything! She was here when I got home and she just started freaking out!" He tells me.

"Aria." I try to reach her, and when she feels my voice, she lifts her head and turns to face me with tear stained cheeks. She then launches to hug me and has a vice grip around my torso. I stand up- and bring her with me- while Mr. Fitz watches.

"What is going on with her?" He asks.

"I really don't know. Just leave her alone, ok?" I tell him, taking Aria from the room and guiding her back to my car, still in an embrace. When I open the passenger door Shadow jumps in and I wait for him to move to the back before I have to forcefully detach Aria's arms and get her to sit down in the car.

"What happened?" I ask. "Did he... take advantage of you?"

"Yes." She cries. "Well, I- I think so."

"What do you mean you think so?"

"It might have been someone else." She mutters.

"How could it have been someone else? It was Mr. Fitz's apartment."

"I don't know, I wasn't sure what was happening. One minute he was.. touching me..., but when I heard keys jingle in the door he disappeared and Ezra walked into the room."

A lump is rising in my throat. It sounds like something a certain someone would do that I haven't told Aria about yet. My phone dings with a text, and I glance down at it.

"-A"

"Aria, there's something Spencer, Hanna, and I need to explain to you." In the little conversations I'd had with them, I could tell that they knew A too, and it's time we tell Aria if A's started harassing her.

Aria's POV

I'm sitting on my bed in a pair of sweats with Spencer, Hanna, and Emily gathered around me at the same time for the first time in over a year.

"Why do you not look surprised?" Emily asks. After Emily pulled me from Ezra's apartment it's like everything bad between us was forgotten.

"I've... gotten a message before." I tell them.

"How do you get a text? You're blind." Hanna remarks.

"Hanna!" Emily scolds her. "She obviously has a phone that can read texts to her."

"Actually, it was delivered to me in person." I tell them.

"What?!" They all ask in unison. I tell them about my creepy encounter in Ezra's hallway, the one I thought I imagined.

"Do you think A was the one in Ezra's apartment? Maybe Ezra scared him off." Spencer says. I play through the event in my head, and realize that, yes, the lock turned in the door before whoever it was stopped touching me. Then Ezra came into the door.

"Maybe." I whisper.

"It's ok, we're going to protect you." Emily says, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. I can tell she still doesn't want me around Ezra, but I think she'll get over it because she knows it wasn't him that tried to take advantage of me. Now I can get over it. But how will I explain it to Ezra? If A is as dangerous as the girls are telling me, him knowing could put him in danger. I push the thought out of my mind, I'll cross that bridge when I get there, and bring myself back to the conversation I'm having with my friends.

"Well at least now we're sure A is a guy." Spencer says. "We know it's not Ali."

"What?" I ask, unaware of their theory.

"Spencer!" Emily snaps.

"We thought A was Ali coming back to torment us." Hanna says.

"Ali is DEAD, guys. Dead. Dead girls don't send texts." I tell them, the fresh reality of it stinging the back of my eyes with tears.

"Ok, we know." Emily says comfortingly.

"So what now?" I ask, not knowing what I want the answer to be. Do we all go back to splitting up and ignoring each other again?

"I don't know about you guys, but I think we need to find out who A is." Hanna says blatantly.

"I don't know Hanna..." Spencer starts to say, obviously using her common sense again. Emily leans against me until our shoulders touch to tell me she's waiting to say anything until she knows what I want.

"I want to find out who A is." I vote. I quickly lose physical contact with Emily and I can tell she's upset.

"You're all going to get yourselves killed." Emily hisses.

"Well I want to stop them before I get raped." I tell Emily, and I imagine what her face looks like right now. She's probably cringing. The room is deadly silent for a few moments because I just used the harsh word that starts with an r. No one wants to accept the reality that that is what almost happened to me.

"Who's in favor of finding A?" Spencer asks.

"Uh, guys?" I ask.

"Oh, we're raising our hands." Spencer giggles. I throw mine into the air.

"Sorry Em, that's four to one." Spencer apologizes.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight." Emily tells me, almost like I'm a naughty child who keeps getting into the cookie jar.

"So where do we start?" I ask. I want to find out who this creep is quickly so I can explain everything to Ezra, I know the next time I see him he's going to ask questions, and I won't tell him anything until A is behind bars.

"Just like the police do, we'll start with a suspect list." Spencer explains. Thank god for Spencer's brain, she'll probably end up doing all the work.

I know it's short, but I feel the need to post something, it's been a while. I have finals coming up and well, they're finals. Review!