"Spence?" Spencer heard a voice at her door, one that didn't belong to a member of her family. She pushed herself off her bed and rushed to open it.
"Emily!" Spencer smiled. "How did you get past the guards?"
Emily then lifted up a pile of papers smiling slightly "Because I brought over your school work."
"Thanks." Spencer said taking the work from Emily.
"You're probably the only person I know who genuinely thanks the person who brought them homework."
"It's not like I've got anything better to so." Spencer shrugged. "If I have to be a social recluse, at least I can be a smart one."
"How did your Dad react when you got home from Toby's?"
"Well I'm now not allowed to go to any of your house's, they took my phone and I'm only allowed to be at school or next to one of my parents sides. And... Wait, how did you know that my Dad knew where I was?"
"I... Well..." Emily stuttered not wanting to say how she knew, but Spencer seen the look in Emily's eyes and managed to fill in the blank.
"Spoke to Toby." Spencer finished. "What did he say?"
"Nothing much. Just that you two were talking, and then your dad showed up."
"Oh." Spencer muttered. She knew that Toby was a private person, but she was hoping that he would have told Emily what had went wrong. Or at least why he decided to become defensive all of a sudden.
"Spence? What else happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"I know you, I know what that face means. And when Toby was talking to me, he had that look in his eyes, the one he gets when he wants to tell you something, but doesn't think he can."
"I can't tell you Em." Spencer sighed.
"Come on Spencer, you can tell me anything. I'm one of your best friends; you can always be honest with me. It's not like any of us are a stranger to secrets."
"It's not that it's bad." Spencer shook her head. "Well I suppose it is, depending on how you look at it. It's just... embarrassing."
"More embarrassing than having your perspective new girlfriend, start dating your best friends, ex boyfriend?" Emily laughed.
"Yes." Spencer shot back. "I... I wanted to... you know..."
"And Toby didn't" Emily asked. "Spence, after everything he's been through, it's not that shocking. And I know he likes you, I can see it."
"It's not just that." Spencer muttered sitting cross-legged on her bed, as Emily done the same. "He said that I shouldn't want to be with him. Apparently I should want to be with someone better than him... He just doesn't seem to get that he's the first person in a long time that makes me feel safe. Or that when I'm with him, the normal problems don't seem to exist. I know it sounds stupid, but when I'm with him it's like... 'A's not a problem, Ian isn't constantly there, the police aren't a threat... I like that."
"Have you told him that?"
"I tried. But he didn't seem to want to listen. Can you break up with someone if you weren't technically ever dating?"
"You don't have to do that."
"Do what?"
"Act like you're not upset. Come on, I feel apart on you and Hanna after Maya and the dance. You can let your barriers down, we're not your family Spence, we will be here no matter what and we won't judge you. You can say you miss him."
"It's been less than a day Em. I shouldn't miss him. But yesterday... it seemed so final. As if he was saying that nothing would ever happen between us. And it makes no sense because he seemed perfectly happy to kiss me, then everything changed in a second. I just... want to know what I done wrong."
"Maybe it wasn't you."
"Who else could it be?"
"What if he honestly believes you deserve someone better?" Emily questioned. "Spence, he's spent his whole life with people looking down at him, people making up stories about him... I mean look at what we did to him!"
"So?"
"So what if he believes some of it?"
"That makes no sense. Who would believe what they know is lies?"
"Says the girl who is never satisfied with anything she does. Spence you believe it when your parents tell you that everything you do isn't enough. I mean you do more AP classes and extra curricular's than the rest of us put together."
"That's different."
"How is it different?"
"Because sometimes it's not enough. Do you have any idea how many people do the same amount of activities as me? Have the same the GPA? Are applying for the same colleges? I need something to make me stand out."
"Why do you need to collage?"
"Because I need to."
"No you don't." Emily shrugged, receiving a glare from Spencer. "And don't look at me like that, I think you should go to college, I mean you are smart enough. All I meant is that going to college isn't a necessity. But you think it is, because you've been brought up to believe that. So why can't Toby start to believe what he's been told his whole life?"
"Because... Because..." Spencer stalled, realising that she didn't have an answer to that question. It registered in her mind that when it came to Toby, she seemed to have more questions than answers. But being Spencer she couldn't just let it lay. "Because it's dumb for him to believe it. And he's not stupid. He even beat me at scrabble!"
Emily fought to hold in her giggle at the fact that in Spencer's mind, Toby beating her at scrabble had to mean that he was smart, why else would he beat her? "Come on Spence, you know as well as I do that it makes sense."
"Doesn't make it easier."
"No, but at least it gives you a reason for what happened." Emily shrugged.
"It still doesn't help."
"I know but..."
Whatever Emily was going to say was cut off by Peter opening Spencer's door and looking at the two girls, as his daughter rolled her eyes.
"Ever heard of knocking?"
Peter ignored his daughter's statement and looked towards the other occupant of the room. "Emily, can you please leave now? Spencer has to catch up on her work."
"Of course Mr Hastings. See you later Spence."
"Yeah, bye." Spencer muttered. She watched Emily leave her room, as her father stood guard at her door, almost as if he was expecting Spencer to smuggle her friend back when he wasn't looking.
"Well I should make a start on this." Spencer said gesturing to the work Emily had brought over. "Unless there's another problem?"
"Don't take that tone with me." Her father warned. "We're doing this for you. I know you can't see it right now, but you will in time. This isn't easy for us either you know."
"What isn't easy?" Spencer asked.
"You know that boys track record Spencer. And don't say that he didn't do anything, because the evidence is there. But I don't want to fight about that, but you have to understand how we felt when we heard about you and that boy. Especially when we seen those photos or found you alone with him in a hotel room. Do you plan on having kids in the future?"
Spencer just shrugged at her father as he continued "If you do, you'll understand how hard it can be to watch them grow up. Know that you're slowly losing your place in their life. I know that I and your mother haven't always been there for you and we are sorry for that, but we never stopped loving you. You know what it was like to lose Alison, so can you imagine the pain we would be in if we lost you? Especially when you don't think we care about you."
"Mom told you about that morning." Spencer guessed.
"Of course she was going to tell me." Peter said, finally sitting down on the edge of Spencer's chair. "She was upset, partly because you were half saying it to hurt her, but mostly because she couldn't believe that you felt any of those things and never told us."
"What was I meant to say?" Spencer shrugged. "When would I say it? No-one was ever here."
"And we should have been, we know that. But we never thought that you felt that way. We never wanted that, because we do love you Spencer. I know we haven't always been the best at showing it, but we are so proud of you. And we have never stopped caring about you."
"No-one would even talk to me after... you know." Spencer trailed off, almost too scared to bring up the Wren incident in fear of stirring everything back up.
"We were upset with you Spencer. Surely you know what you did was wrong?"
"I didn't..." Spencer started to defend herself, but her father held up his hand.
"We'll leave that in the past, and move forward from here. But Spencer, you can't keep hiding things from us. We need to know everything in order to help you. I know that you feel like we're intruding on your privacy, but Spence we're not in a normal situation right now. The sooner we can get you of this mess, the sooner you can get your old life back. And maybe then, you'll start to make the right choices again."
Spencer sighed, reading the subtext of 'you'll go back to thinking that Toby isn't trustworthy'. But despite still feeling a need to defend Toby, she didn't want to ruin what had just taken place between her and her father. So instead, she just gave him a small smile.
"There's a game on soon, do you want to come and watch with me. You can do that later." Peter asked, gesturing to the paper's on his daughter's bed.
Spencer nodded. "I'll be done in a minute, I just need time to put these away."
Peter nodded, and left the door closing the door softly behind him. Spencer pushed herself off her bed and put the papers on her desk, arranging them into their respective subjects. Spencer absently wondered how Emily had gotten notes, considering she wasn't in all of Spencer's classes. Spencer was in what she deemed to be 'casual attire', which for her was a pair of jeans and a white cashmere jumper. She pulled her hair up into a lose bun, while shoving her feet into a pair of dolly shoes that were lying next to her bed. (In case there was ever a fire, she didn't want to have to run out without shoes on.) She walked down the stairs, and paused at the fact that her father wasn't sitting himself. She almost considered running back upstairs to change, when she seen her father look at her and smile.
"Spencer! Are you joining us?"
"I... Yeah, of course." Smiled at her father and then looked towards the other two occupants of the room. "Anthony, Mr Barnes."
"Call me Timothy please."
"Sorry." Spencer muttered walking down the rest of the stairs, paying extra attention to make sure that she didn't fall. She took her normal seat next to her father, who simply smiled encouragingly at her. Part of her hated this situation; it was almost her parents expected her to act like a pawn in their plan for her. As if her life wasn't her own, but in their own way, this was them showing they cared about her. And that meant too much to Spencer for her to chance ruining it.
"I'm going to get a glass of water." Spencer said suddenly "Does anyone want anything?"
"I'll come with you." Anthony said.
"OK..." Spencer replied hesitantly, shaking her head. She then walked into the kitchen and seen Anthony sit down on one of the stools.
"So why did you feel the need to accompany me to the kitchen."
"Because I don't really do sports."
"So why come over to watch it?" Spencer quipped.
"It was something to do." He shrugged. "So why did you skip school yesterday? Secret rendezvous with he who must not be named."
"I already told you, that I wasn't seeing anyone. He was a friend."
"Was?"
"Not a big fan of boundaries are you?"
"Not a big fan of answers are you?"
"Not a big fan of being tolerable are you?"
"Haha." Anthony rolled his eyes at her. "You have a tiff with your oh so secret friend then."
"Why are you so interested?" Spencer snapped?
"I need to know what I'm covering for." He shrugged.
"I don't care about why I need to cover for you."
"I'd have no problem telling you." Anthony said "Actually it might do you some good to come with me."
"Yeah, that'll be worth it. Risk getting caught sneaking out, just so that I can spend a couple of hours getting drunk and making irrational decisions. Not to mention that at most of those things no-one ever thinks ahead, or organises designated drivers or..."
"Alright grandma, maybe you shouldn't come." Anthony laughed causing Spencer to glare at him.
"Safety isn't a laughing matter."
"I never said it was."
"Whatever." Spencer rolled her eyes, and went to make her way back into the living room, when Anthony's hand circled her wrist.
"I'm sorry for upsetting you. You don't need to tell me anything. And if you want I'll stop teasing you about whoever it is that you may or may not be seeing."
"Thank you." Spencer said, shocked at the first genuine thing he had said during their conversation. And at that she felt that she should return the favour. "And at this point, it's most definitely not."
"I'm sorry."
"You didn't even know who it was."
"It's just the social norm." he shrugged. "You sure you don't want to try that party? You look like you need it."
"I'm grounded, remember?"
"So tell them you're meeting me at the library. Or are you too scared?"
Spencer scoffed. "I'm not scared."
"If you're too scared to go, then I won't say anything else."
"I am not too scared!"
"Prove it!"
"Fine, I'll go! But you have to skip the next one if I go to this one." Spencer smirked, thinking she found the perfect way out. She would get to maintain her pride, knowing that he wouldn't skip a party. She knew him enough to know that.
"You're on."
"Excuse me?" Spencer asked, thinking that maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she did.
"I said you're on. You spend this weekend my way at a party, and I'll spend next weekend your way being buried in a book. You can even supervise."
"Fine." Spencer huffed and walked into the living room, and smiled slightly at her father. "I'm sorry I really need to start on my school work."
Peter simply nodded at his daughter, and Spencer made her way up the stairs walking straight to her room, and collapsing against her door as soon it was properly. How was she meant to sneak out on Saturday without her parent's noticing?
Peter watched his daughter walk up the stairs before looking towards Anthony. He may have felt horrible for lying and manipulating her like this, but it was the only way that he thought of to ensure her safety. And he could take feeling guilty, but he would never be able to handle it if Spencer was ever in any pain, especially if Toby was the cause of it.
"Did she speak to you?" Peter asked quietly, not wanting Spencer to overhear.
Anthony nodded. "I don't think she's going to see him again. She seemed pretty sincere when she told me that she wasn't going to see whoever it is you guys don't want her to see."
"Did you get her to agree to go out this weekend?"
"Yes, but isn't it weird that you want her to break your rules."
"I want her to socialise with people that I know. The people she seems to socialise with are not those who will help her in the long run. I need her to be around academically minded people, I need her to associate with people who haven't been in trouble with the police. If Spencer can prove to everyone that she can make informed decisions, starting with those she surrounds herself with, then we have a better chance of protecting her future."
"I still don't get it." Anthony shrugged. "But I guess you know better, you're her parents, and you're both lawyer's."
"We know what's best for her, and something needs to make her see why she can't be around that boy. She's not safe around him."
"I'm sorry to be intrusive, but who is it she's not allowed to see? He can't be that bad. This is rosewood not the inner city."
"Did you see the news about Alison DiLaurentis?"
Anthony nodded "Didn't everyone?"
"Did you ever hear of Toby Cavanaugh?"
"The one who was charged because of a sweater? But then they dropped the charges."
"He's the one Spencer thinks that it's smart to be around."
"But they dropped the charges, doesn't mean that he didn't do it?"
"It could mean they just didn't have enough evidence." Peter supplied. "But the boy has had a sketch relationship with the law for years."
"What do you mean?"
"He set his garage on fire, blinding his stepsister who was in it at the time. Then at the latest homecoming dance, he seriously injured one of Spencer's best friends."
"Did he know that his sister was in the garage?"
"No-one knows for sure, but there was talk that it wasn't an accident."
"So what am I meant to do on Saturday?" Anthony said, sensing that Peter was convinced that the Toby was guilty.
"Just keep her occupied, introduce her to some of your friends that you said are going to Yale." Peter said, then Anthony turned to go back to the kitchen. Now that Spencer was gone, he had no interesting in watching the game. When he was gone Peter turned to Anthony's father "Thank you again for agreeing to this."
Timothy shook his head. "We've known each other for years, and you helped get Anthony into the school, which is better than his last one. And his grades have been slipping, and since your daughter is under the impression that she needs to help with his work, you're not the only who's benefitting from this."
"I know that as lawyer's we should be objective, but that kid just isn't good, and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that he stays away from Spencer. Even if that means lying to her, if it keeps her safe then it's necessary."
Toby had been shut up in his room all day, reading the book that Spencer had given him. He hadn't heard from Spencer since she had left his house yesterday, and while this was what he wanted, he was finding that he wasn't happy about it. He had hoped that when he made Spencer realise that they couldn't be together, that they could at least remain friends. He might even go as far to say that he needed that. He knew that he still had Emily's friendship, but she was busy with her new girlfriend, and he wouldn't ask her to sacrifice that just to make him feel less lonely. As he was sitting on his bed, in his room which now seemed duller since Spencer had been there, he had come to realise how much time he had been spending with Spencer lately. He froze when he heard a chap on his door fearing it was Jenna, but a glance at the clock told him that she was at her flute lesson. He walked up and opened his door, seeing his father staring back at him.
"Sir?"
"There's someone at the door for you."
"Me?" Toby repeated, his mind automatically went to Spencer, but we was almost sure that it wasn't going to be her.
"The girl from next door."
"Oh, OK." Toby replied, side-stepping his father and headed for the front door, stepping outside so that he and Emily were both standing on the porch.
"You're an idiot." Emily said.
"Hi to you too." Toby smiled.
"She likes you, really likes you. And I know you like her, I can see that. When you were talking about her, you seemed... I don't know happier?"
"I didn't say that I didn't like her." Toby mumbled.
"She mentioned that you told her that she should want to be with someone else."
"She should." Toby mumbled, suddenly becoming conscious that they were going into private territory.
"I know that you don't like talking about personal things. I can't really blame you after what I did... but you and Spencer... I care about you both, and believe me it takes a lot to break the barriers you two put up, I just don't think that you should overlook that."
"You said that yesterday."
"You didn't listen." Emily shrugged.
"She deserves better."
Emily let out a small laugh. "Look, Spence is one of my best friends, and if someone did anything to her, I would make them pay. But I don't think you would ever hurt her, at least not intentionally. But right now? Even if neither of you will admit it, you're both in pain. She misses you. Be the man I know you are, and let her know how you feel. What's the worst that could happen?"
"I hurt her." Toby shrugged. "Or she realises that she does deserve someone better, but a little too late. At least it doesn't hurt much just now."
"OK, or you two could end up happy. I've heard that happens sometimes."
Toby shook his head. "Her family hate me, the actually hate me, how could we ever be happy with that hanging over our heads? She wants to make them happy more than anything."
"Not more than anything." Emily shook her head, before walking down the steps. Then turning back to Toby. "If something is important to her, she fights for it. And all I'm going to say, is that she is stuck in her room, because she thought you were something worth fighting for. Don't you think she's worth standing up for?"
"I... I..." Toby started, then let Emily's words sink in. "She won't want to speak to me again."
"Yes she will."
"You didn't see the way she left." Toby replied.
"You didn't see her in her room."
"She can't talk to me. And even if she could, she wouldn't."
"If I can get her to agree to go somewhere to meet you, will you show up? Even if it's not for anything else you owe her an explanation."
"I know." Toby sighed. "If you can get her to agree to it, I'll show up."
"Deal." Emily smiled. Before turning around from Toby and walking away towards her house. She would get them in the same room somehow. Even if they killed her for messing with them, she knew that somehow, Toby and Spencer worked together. And she wanted them both to be happy, and they made each other happier, than anyone else she had seen them with.