Liar 10
Paige hadn't slept a wink. Between the crashing sounds outside the house and Aria's reaction to Jason, she was left unsettled. One question spent the night on endless loop in Paige's head. "What would she have done if Jason had wanted to hurt her?"
Paranoia of being threatened had caused her nerves to fray when opening the door to him but not fear for her life. Paige wanted to think she would have successfully protected herself but realistically there was no doubt Jason could have gotten the upper hand without much effort. Had he wanted to end her life, he could have.
Her inability to sleep was further aided by a curious, but unhelpful, phone conversation with Spencer. During the call the brunette had listened with great interest but tended to reply with things like "okay" and "then what". When she did speak her tone gave an indication that she found the information useful but, much like Jason's bolting, Spencer got off the call without filling in any blanks. Being the daughter of a very well respected lawyer in Rosewood had served Spencer well, which only managed to frustrate Paige.
When the alarm went off that morning Paige was already showered, dressed, and downstairs in the Montgomery kitchen enjoying a post run orange juice, coffee, and eating a bowl of cereal. Although her shoulder still bothered her, the gently paced jog had at least calmed her down a little. The coffee was to perk her up because without any real sleep caffeine was her only hope to get through the day.
The excuse to Aria and her mom when they appeared in the kitchen was she had gotten up a short time before and couldn't go back to sleep. From the look Aria had given her Paige assumed the little, white, lie hadn't been entirely convincing but if anyone might understand it would be Aria.
...
Exhaustion kicked in and school was proving a chore. By mid-day heavy eyelids, and Paige's hatred of her science class, made concentrating very difficult. The lessons were always horribly dull and the lab work monotonous; adding sleep deprivation was a recipe for snoring in class.
Sitting alone at her workstation, Paige hoped she could manage to stay awake. Being left to her own devices while mixing chemicals was going to prove a challenge though. Her normal lab partner had been out sick all week. On the plus side, at least, that meant she didn't have to listen to him babble about his favorite sport's team.
Holding back a yawn while turning over the lab assignment, Paige noticed Hanna enter the room and hand the teacher a note. Worry bubbled up as Paige watched Hanna's gaze go from the note in her hand to the back of the classroom. The pair of them locked eyes and Paige hoped whatever was happening that it was far better news than what her imagination was cooking up. Hanna exchanged words with the teacher and then made her way towards the only empty seat in the class, next to Paige.
"Thank god I'll at least get to work with someone I like."
"What are you doing here?" Paige questioned as the blonde pulled a notebook from her bag and opened it.
"It's the last week to drop and add classes. My counselor discovered I was missing a credit. So good-bye free period and hello confusing science class. What are we supposed to be doing?"
Paige handed over the lab instructions to her new partner. "Following these and recording the results."
Taking the paper, Hanna looked it over and shrugged. "I guess it could be worse." Grabbing the first of the liquids on the list, the blonde studied it briefly before pouring it into the glass measuring cup as instructed. Reaching the desired amount she then poured the clear chemical into the glass container that was hovering over the burner.
Paige was impressed with Hanna's confidence with the assignment and pulled back a little to watch her work. Step by step each instruction was followed to the letter as Paige recorded the result of her work. If only the mystery that was overwhelming her was as easy as the basic chemical reaction Hanna was creating.
As Hanna completed the assignment the teacher excused herself. When the door closed behind her the room erupted into chatter. The experiment was time sensitive but since they were done the noise didn't much matter to Paige.
"You think that was the goal?" Hanna asked pointing to the blue fizzing liquid in the glass jar before them.
"Seemed like you did everything you were supposed to do."
"Well, that didn't seem hard."
"Maybe the grade is tied to how we record what happened during each step?"
"I hope you took good notes."
Paige nodded.
"Good. I can't afford to see my grades drop. I'm already on thin ice at home." Hanna's eyes rolled for dramatic effect.
"We can't do any worse than everyone else in here," Paige pointed out. With the exception of a quiet, studious girl and her equally studious lab partner at the front of the room no one was looking to grab an A on this assignment. Fellow classmates were doing everything from making phone calls to chatting about pop culture and sports.
"True. So the girls mentioned some thing went down last night. I'm glad you're okay. Emily doesn't need to face any more tragedy."
Hanna was once again making it very clear her concern but more so her loyalty. Of all the girls, Paige was certain it would be Hanna to trust to take care of Emily if the need arose.
"Students," the teacher said after ducking her head into the room. Like a light switch the whole room fell silent. "Keep doing your labs. I will be right back."
For a brief moment the room snapped back into assignment mode and then went back to chatting after only a minute.
"Just don't end up hurting her. Okay?" Hanna's implication was clear even if the transition was clumsy. "I mean, I've done some stupid stuff when it comes to boys but you had me beat with that stuff last year."
Paige wasn't proud of how she lashed out and would never entirely forgive herself for tormenting Emily as she had. Issues with her sexuality were no excuse for her acts of bullying "I was in a really bad place. I would never."
"Good. Cause as scary as Spencer can be, I can be scarier."
It was a threat but Hanna still managed a smile and a passively, sweet, tone. Despite the polite delivery Paige believed every word of the none to veiled threat. Nodding, Paige smiled back. "I like she's got you on her side."
"Always."
"No matter what?" Paige wasn't sure why the question. Emily was hardly the type to do anything that would be worthy of pushing away such a great friend but Paige wanted to hear the answer.
"No matter what."
"Good, because I can be pretty scary as well."
Hanna smiled again, only this time wider, and it lit up the science lab. The blonde then nodded and turned back to the experiment. "Spencer, told me to tell you she would meet you by your locker after class."
With that added detail the conversation about Emily was over. The blonde had made her protectiveness very clear and delivered the message she was sent to deliver.
Spencer might have been the unofficial leader of their group but it seemed Hanna was the muscle. Arguably one of the school's most beautiful girls, the thought of Hanna growing up to be a bodyguard or a hit woman didn't seem far fetched after the conversation in science lab.
...
"You off to class?", asked the disembodied voice of Spencer Hastings from her place on the other side of Paige's locker door.
Paige pulled the book and binder she needed and shut the door. "Free period."
"Me too. Library?"
Paige shrugged. "Sure."
Walking down the hallway past scurrying students and teachers, the pair remained silent until they reached the stairwell that lead to the library. It was then that Paige found she couldn't take it anymore. "I've held up my end of this by telling you everything I know. It's time to return the favor. What's going on?"
"I'll explain when we get to the library."
Paige had enough of the waiting. Her frustration, her fear, and her exhaustion rose up. "You'll explain now Spencer or I'm out."
Just as Paige raised her voice the door to the first floor opened and Jenna, with her on again off again boyfriend Noel Kahn, came through laughing about something. Noel wasn't the least bit interested in them and kept bounding up the stairs with the grace of an oaf. Jenna, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow as she looked pointedly at both of them before continuing on. It seemed impossible, since Spencer Hastings seemed afraid of nothing, but Paige swore she saw Spencer shiver.
As put off by Jenna's close inspection as Spencer seemed, once the coast was clear, she finally replied in a soft, calm tone. "That's the thing Paige. People don't seem to get out of this, which is why we have to be careful. It's why you have to be especially careful."
If the conversation in the car or Aria's reaction to Jason hadn't been nerve-wracking enough, Spencer's latest warning made things worse. Paige heeded Spencer's advice and waited, hoping to learn the latest piece she was missing.
Thankfully it didn't take long for Spencer to reveal what she knew. As they reached the first landing, after a quick glance of the empty stairwell, Spencer dropped the bomb. "He's my brother. Well, half-brother."
Paige was certain Spencer was talking about someone else. "Jason, is your brother?"
"Yes. It came to light recently and it's not common knowledge."
Paige knew that was code for 'still a giant secret' but that still didn't explain Spencer's confession. "And?"
"You're wondering why I didn't say anything last night? It's not entirely relevant to what's going on and I have no reason not to believe he's innocent," Spencer said as she started towards the next landing. "What reason would he have for playing these games with you?"
Paige was now even more anxious for answers. "I haven't any idea but as much as you trust him; Aria sure looked spooked when she found me alone with him in the house."
"You were just hit by a car and as it turns out it was his car."
"Preciously."
"Any of us would have been nervous walking in and finding you alone with someone you don't know very well."
"But if he has an alibi," as the words came out of Paige's mouth she realized it sounded like she was now the one defending him. Point in fact; she was actually defending her decision to let him inside the house.
"Preciously." Spencer added turning Paige's response back on her.
"So why did it seem as if he was taking on responsibility for what happened? Maybe he's lying about his involvement. Maybe he planned it. Whatever it is, he's not telling the whole story."
"What do your instincts tell you?"
"He's pretty pissed off that someone would set him up. If it wasn't Jason it would seem the person responsible knows or wants to point the finger at him."
Spencer pushed opened the door and held it for Paige to walk through. "How so?"
The question seemed a trap that Paige imagined Spencer's mother, the lawyer, would ask. There was no point skirting around it though, not if she wanted answers. Moving through the door, Paige turned and stopped. "I mentioned to him about me, about thing's with Emily, and her relationship with Maya, and he reacted."
"You mentioned to me last night that he left after you brought it up but what do you mean, he reacted?"
"It wasn't anything too obvious but there was absolutely a reaction. I would compare it to how you looked the night at Aria's when you were trying to piece together what's going on with Emily."
The look Paige was talking about crossed Spencer's face, confirming the comparison. A resemblance Paige had never noticed came brightly into view. Spencer Hastings wheels were spinning same as her brother's had the night before.
"What? I am not seeing it." Paige asked.
"I might be." Spencer said with her thought's elsewhere.
"What?"
"I have to check on something first."
"Are you planning on sharing?"
"I will, once I'm sure."
"Spencer, don't shut me out."
"I'm not, I promise. I just want to be sure of something before I start us down the wrong path."
Paige exhaled, her frustration needing an escape. "It's a good thing I like you Spencer cause under different circumstances we might have ended up hating one another."
"I could see that," Spencer said with a certain nod of the head. "Give me a couple hours."
"In the mean time I will wait patiently for the other shoe to drop." Paige said with annoyed sarcasm dripping from her every word.
The comment went unanswered, as Spencer seemed distracted by something over Paige's shoulder.
"What?"
"Or you could have a chat with Emily." A tiny smirk accented Spencer's suggestion.
Paige turned slowly and noticed Emily walking towards them from the end of the hallway. She was in a pair of tight jeans and a beautiful top that hung on her perfectly. Paige smiled and took in every inch of her.
"Go talk to Emily. I'll be in touch."
Paige didn't exactly see Spencer turn back towards the doorway and disappear. As she turned to thank her, like a magician, Spencer was gone.
"Hi." Emily said as she got within a comfortable distance.
"Hi."
"We've been saying that a lot lately."
"Nothing wrong with saying hello." Paige said with a smile.
The smile was instantly returned. "Nothing at all. Look, about last night. I'm sorry for turning up unannounced and then dumping my drama on you."
"Stop apologizing. Friends help one another."
"I know but..."
"Emily, it's okay."
"Well, thank you."
"You're welcome."
The quick bit of silence grew strangely intimate until Emily looked away. "Where was Spencer off to?"
"She needed to check on something."
"Anything interesting?"
There was no point in hiding it. "Her brother dropped by after you left last night."
"You know about Jason?"
"She told me."
"Why would she do that?"
"He dropped over last night to tell me something about the accident. When I told her. She revealed the secret."
Emily's smile disappeared. "What would Jason know about what happened to you?"
"Jason wasn't in town at the time but from evidence the police have collected, it was his car that struck me."
"Jason's?" Emily's eyes sparked and her body seemed to be ready to leap into action.
Paige had seen this before and was instantly worried Emily would go off half-cocked. "Yes, but…"
"How can we be so sure it wasn't Jason driving?"
The worry on Emily's face dripped with suspicion and that made Paige question why Spencer was so quick to write him off as innocent. "He has an alibi, and the police have confirmed it."
Emily's eyes shifted again. She started to speak but whatever she wanted to say she stopped herself from sharing.
Paige decided to calm down the conversation. Emily didn't need to get worked up. "What motive would there be? He and I don't know one another and to orchestrate an alibi takes a lot of effort."
"Mona managed quite a few remarkable feats while she was manipulating us."
"Isn't she some mad genius?"
"Doesn't matter. I don't like Spencer immediately accepting that Jason is innocent. Someone tried to kill you." The worry on Emily's face was touching. On the other hand, the truth of her words were terrifying.
"Which would seem to indicate they had a motive. I have never spoken to Jason DiLaurentis until yesterday. So unless he needed to score points in a real world version of Grand Theft Auto and I was merely the easiest target, I think he was telling the truth."
"I'm sorry you have all this coming at you."
"I'm doing okay," Paige reminded her. "Please don't worry about me."
Emily nodded and gave a weak smile. "So where are you off to?"
"The library to finish a paper."
"I would come with but I promised coach I would drop in and go over some things with her this afternoon before practice. With you down for the count she needed some extra help and this is my only free period today. Maybe I'll drop by tonight?"
"You know where to find me." Paige said trying to keep her excitement silent even though she was secretly hoping Emily would come over to Aria's house.
"I'll see you later."
As Emily Fields continued on her way, Paige managed to keep herself from turning around to watch her go.
...
The library was quiet, which should have made the work on her English paper easy. Paige unfortunately couldn't concentrate on Jane Austen because her thoughts were bouncing between the information she had shared with Spencer and the conversation with Emily.
"You and Hastings dating now?" Jenna flippantly remarked as she crossed to the stack of books near where Paige was sitting. The dark-haired troublemaker had turned up out of thin air.
"What?" Paige replied back looking up from the same page she had been studying for ten minutes.
"You and Spencer were having quite the chat in the stairwell."
"So?" Paige questioned, not taking the bait.
Jenna's eye's rolled. "Forget, I said anything."
"You really do enjoy just going at people full throttle."
"No point in subtlety. Life is too short."
"You could just say 'hello' or 'do you mind if I join you at the table?'," Paige offered. Engaging in a battle of sarcastic wit with Jenna was probably not the smartest idea but Paige wanted to see if she could go toe to toe and win this time.
"You seem to be mistaking me for a person who has friends."
"And why is it you don't?"
"Alison DiLaurentis." The reply was quick, simple, and pointed.
Paige wasn't sure why she didn't heed the unspoken warning present in Jenna's tone but she pressed on. "You're blaming a dead girl for your behavior? Alison was a very cruel person but she's gone. Why not drop the role-play?"
"Because without it, I would never survive high school. As I recall she was as cruel to you and you adopted the duck and cover tactic..."
A light bulb went on. "And you the barrel in head first."
A knowing smile crossed Jenna's lips. "I will have plenty of time in college to assimilate into tired old clichés and hang out with insignificant idiots."
"You're not giving your current network enough credit. Noel certainly qualifies in both categories." The second the words were spoken Paige felt her foot in her mouth.
Jenna surprised her by letting escape a tiny laugh. "True."
"So do you want to keep snarking at me or would you rather have a seat?"
"Snark."
Paige turned back to her work. "Suit yourself."
"Okay, fine. No need to get all dramatic." Jenna said as she pulled up a chair and dropped the books she was carrying on to the table. "Wouldn't want you to look like a loser with no friends."
"So I'm your charity project now?"
"Those of us who've been victims of Alison should probably stick together."
"Oh, I get it. You never know when you will need an ally?"
"You're catching on. Don't get carried away this doesn't make us actual friends. We are merely two people with similar goals."
The comment made Paige instantly curious. "What would those be?"
"To see the guilty go down."
"Some people I know would put you in that category."
"They might not be wrong to think that. I've done some questionable stuff but no worse than your new circle ever did."
The reference was clearly related to Emily and the others but the reason for it was lost on Paige.
Jenna slid the books in front of her to the side and stared through Paige as she spoke. "You realize they are partially responsible for what happened to my sight?"
"Those girls would never hurt anyone. Not intentionally."
"Kind of like you would never drown Emily."
The air in the room seemed to be instantly sucked out of it. Paige couldn't believe what Jenna was saying. "How do you...?"
"I see all." Jenna said was what amounted to a devilish smile. "Do you deny it?"
"I was in a dark place."
"Precisely, but your new pals didn't have that excuse. Alison might have been pulling the strings but that doesn't mean they don't deserve payback some day." Ire dripped from Jenna's words, "After all, you reap what they sow."
"Whatever Alison might have orchestrated in the past, Mona's revenge against the others was extreme."
"And if you could have gone after Alison for the way she treated you and if you could have gotten away with it. You are telling me you wouldn't have?"
Paige couldn't bring herself to consider the question. "Did you?"
"I didn't have the chance."
"So if you had the chance you would have gone for it?"
"Without hesitation but, I suppose, that's in the past." The weight of Jenna's words hung between them for a moment as she pulled her books back in front of herself and opened one of them.
"Were you and the girls ever close?"
"Never." Jenna said before looking up. "They were lockstep with Alison. She led. They followed."
"Alison wasn't someone you easily stood up to."
"They never even tried."
"Are you sure of that?"
"Look Paige," Jenna said flipping the book closed. "I get you have this thing for Emily and so in your mind she, and her friends, can do no wrong but those four are hardly angels."
"I'm sorry you feel that way. They've always been nice to me."
"Yeah, well, I ended up blind and labeled a bitch so..."
"So people missed judged you. Why not reinvent yourself?"
"After all I've seen, even while blind, I'm not sure I would ever want to reinvent myself."
"For what it's worth I would be willing to call you my friend."
Jenna laughed. "Which makes you foolish."
"I don't think it would."
"Your other friends would drop you in a hot second if you did."
Paige couldn't figure out why she was extending an offer of friendship to Jenna Marshall but it felt like the right thing to do. "Lucky for me no one tells me who I consider a friend."
There was a shifting in Jenna's body language, like she was fighting her own brain. After a moment she opened the book again and looked to the page before her. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"I won't. Besides they might surprise you."
"No, they won't but it will be fun watching them squirm when they find out."
...
The rest of the free period was spent with both of them nose deep in work. Paige managed to get through the next chunk of her Jane Austen reading. Jenna seemed to be occupied with a stack of books and a notepad. When the bell rang they went their separate ways with a nod and only a dash of snark from Jenna. Paige considered it progress.
Not knowing anything about what had turned the brunette against Emily and her friends, Paige decided she would find out. There was obviously a lot of bad blood and considering how kind the foursome seemed she couldn't imagine what would have set Jenna against them.
If Paige was going to be trusting her safety, and Emily's happiness, by placing both in the hands of her friends, Paige realized she needed to know more than just the basics about who they all were.
Unfortunately there wasn't time to go to the computer lab and begin her research. She had another class to get to so Paige packed up her stuff and headed to her locker to swap her belongings. There was no reason to cart around the items she didn't need.
When she reached her locker and opened it a note fell out. Picking it up off the floor, she unfolded it, and then read the cut out words. A chill ran over her as the mismatched fonts spelled out a message she wasn't thrilled to get.
WHY IS IT I ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THE HEAVY LIFTING? – A
Author's Note: Managed to finally get this chapter behind me and in time for the winter premiere tomorrow night. Hope everyone enjoys. There is more coming soon.