As the credits rolled, Emily checked her phone seeing a text from Spencer.

-No record of this girl. Be careful-

She rolled her eyes. The girl was like 15. What did Spencer expect? A juvy record? Public birth certificate?

Turning toward Sydney, she asked if the girl needed a ride home. As expected, the girl declined saying she had a ride.

Making eye contact with Paige, the other girl took her lead.

"Oh cool, we'll wait for you though. It's starting to get dark."

"Oh, you really don't have to! I need to drop off a book at the library anyway and I wouldn't want you to have to wait," Sydney rattled off before quickly leaving the room.

Sighing, Paige asked "Do you want to wait outside the library?"

"No let's not push her for now. She agreed to come over to Spencer's tomorrow. Knowing Spence, that will be provoking enough."

The two walked out to their cars together, the air between them reminiscent of one of their past dates.

"Are you sure you want me to come? I can always say I can't make it at the last minute if you want."

"I'm sure. Partly because I want Sydney to have someone else on her side but partly because I didn't realize how much I missed spending time with you."

After saying their goodbyes, both girls drove home while replaying the conversation in their heads.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The evening had been going reasonably well so far. Emily, Aria, and Paige had managed to divert the majority of Spencer's over-the-top questions and get through two movies before the real interrogation came.

"So like, how come you don't have a facebook?"

"My parents are kind of overprotective when it comes to putting things online, I guess."

It wasn't really a lie. Her moms had discussed privacy concerns and stalkers and cyber bullying at great lengths with her. Back then, it had been annoying and she thought they were overreacting but now that she knew about all this A-drama, she understood it a little more.

"Oh, what about a cell phone?"

Sydney pulled out the cheap phone she had bought, "Just for emergencies."

"But they let you come over her without knowing me?"

"I guess? They know how helpful Emily and Paige have been since I started at Rosewood so maybe they thought it was fine."

"They're okay with you staying late in the library too, though?"

"Well, I mean, they know that things are busy with the swim team now and they want me to meet people and it's easier to do homework in the library and…"

Paige cut in, "Enough, Spencer! We all know how odd some parents are in this town."

Aria sent Sydney a reassuring look before suggesting her and Spencer go make more popcorn.

"Sorry about that. Spencer can be a little intense around new people," Emily told her.

"Yeah, I think the first thing she ever told me was 'I will destroy you,' although I kind of deserved it at the time," Paige commented.

"You know we all have moved on from that," Emily replied, the two sharing a look that Sydney couldn't decipher.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Aria, come on. You can tell she's hiding something. That phone? Perfect burner. If she's someone texting us, we'd never trace it to her! Or if Mona is texting her what to do? Did you see how surprised she was that we knew about the library?

Turning on the microwave, Aria turned toward Spencer. She felt caught between Spencer and Emily—Emily believed that the girl was totally innocent whereas Spencer thought she was highly involved in this mess. Aria herself didn't really know. However, she had learned that the only way to distract Spencer is to give her a more elaborate plan.

"Ok, maybe she is. But if she really is just one of A's minions, what happens when we catch her? A just moves on and we're no closer to figuring this out, right?"

"So we need to use her as bait! Keep being nice to her and hoping she slips up and leads us directly to Mona or A or whoever!"

"Good plan, Spence," Aria said as she took out the popcorn. Hopefully this new plan would give Emily and Paige some time to prove that Sydney wasn't involved in the A-drama, if the girl really was innocent.

The two girls reentered the living room and the rest of the night was much more civil than the earlier outburst.