Chapter 11

The New Beginning

1 year later

Spencer's POV

A yellow leaf floated down and landed right in front of my foot. Grey clouds covered the sky and the rain came down in a drizzle. The air was getting colder and winder. I held my hand out to catch the raindrops on my hand. My grey hoodie hung over my head to block out the rain. I stuffed my hands back in my pockets and continued my walk down the sidewalk. I continued walking until I stopped at the place I was going to. I stood at the end of his driveway. The only car that is parked in the driveway was his dads green sedan. Every day I would walk by his house hoping that Toby would be there, but each time I come by, he's not there. I don't know where he went. The last time I saw him was last year on Labor Day. We were talking outside of my barn and then he kissed me. That was the last time I saw him. He kissed me and ran. I don't know where he is.

He hasn't contacted me at all. He hasn't sent me a text or e-mail. He hasn't called me or sent me any notice that he's okay. I don't know why I'm still worrying about it. It's been almost a year and I'm still expecting him to run out of his house. I'm waiting to see him run down the drive way with open arms for me. And every day I end up disappointed. Lots of things have changed since the night of the sleep over. Alison has more control over us and I'm slowly drowning in her world. My parents found out about me taking pills again and sent me to a rehab center in Philly. I stayed there for a week. When I got back home I worked extra hard to gain my parents trust and get back on top of things. I did a bunch of internships, I tutored little kids during last school year, and I volunteered at Radley. I'm now back in the same place I was before I met Toby. I work hard to please my parents, but nothing I do is good enough. And now I'm back to following Alison around and I'm not working as –A anymore.

"Spencer," I jumped, and then sighed when I saw who it was.

"Oh, Hey Emily."

"He's still not back yet?"

I looked back up at the house. "No, he's not."

"He should be out of reform school by now. Where would he go?"

"I don't know."

"Has he called?"

"No."

Emily turned, so she was facing me. "Spencer, I know that you don't want to hear this, but you have to stop doing this to yourself."

"Doing what?"

"Coming here and standing outside of his house waiting for him."

"He'll be back some day."

"He's not frosty the snowman Spencer, If Toby wanted to come back to Rosewood, he would've been back by now. He's gone Spencer."

I shook her arm off. "I don't care anymore! Screw him and you know what screw everyone!"

I ran down the sidewalk and ignored Emily calling my name. When I walked through my front door my house Melissa was sitting at the counter reading the newspaper. Melissa and I aren't speaking to each other, because of what happened a few days ago. Melissa started dating this guy named Wren and they were engaged. Over the summer I spent my time fixing up the barn into a loft. My parents and I had an agreement that if I work hard to gain my place back in the family then I could live in the barn. After I fixed up the barn Melissa looked at it and decided that she wanted to live in it with Wren until the found an apartment of their own. My parents allowed her to do that. I did all of that hard work for nothing.

That's not the only thing that happened. One night I was in my room practicing my French. This school year I will be in A.P French, so I wanted to get more practice in. While I was studying, Melissa's fiancé, Wren, came by to see if I needed help with anything. He started flirting with me a little and maybe I was flirting back a little too. It was wrong and I know that. The Wren kissed me, but I pushed him away. I tried to keep it a secret, but what I didn't know is that Melissa saw us. The next day Melissa and Wren broke up. In Melissa's mind I was pushing myself on Wren. I tried telling them that he was hitting on me and he made the move. Neither Melissa nor my parents listened to me. Now my sister isn't saying a word to me. The only thing she does is glare at me, make a grumbling sound, and walk out of the room.

I didn't even try talking to her. I poured myself some coffee then walked up to my room. As soon as I got up there I got my laptop out to check my e-mail. There are four messages in my inbox, but none of them are from Toby. I thought maybe he would send me something. Emily is right. If Toby wanted to stay in Rosewood he would've. Now he's gone and I have no way of contacting him. The last memory I have of him is his warn lips on mine. That's the last time I ever saw him.

1 week later

I looked at myself in the mirror with my green blazer and plaid green skirt. My hair was down in waves and I have half of my hair back in a clip. My backpack is strapped over my shoulder and down to my side. Now I'm ready to go. I walked down to the kitchen and make myself an egg and a piece of toast for breakfast. My mother rushed into the kitchen and stared ranting about how she's running late. After I finished my breakfast, I poured myself another cup of coffee to go. Today is my first day of Junior year. Two more years of high school and I will be out of there.

I met my friends by Hanna's locker. When I saw Hanna I could hardly recognize her. She lost a lot of weight and her hair is lighter. She was wearing more makeup and was dressed more like how Alison dresses. She looks good, but different. All the boys were checking her out when she walked by. The next person I saw was Aria. She's changed a little too. She no longer has the pinkish red strip in her hair. She was dressed in a plaid shirt with a tan colored skirt. Emily walked over to us when she saw all of us together. We didn't hangout much over the summer, because we were all busy.

"Spencer," Aria said, while giving me a hug. "How was your summer?"

"Horrible. I worked almost every day and got nothing out of it."

"I've been busy training to try out for the swim team," Emily said.

"You're going back to the swim team?" Hanna asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm ready."

"Has anyone seen Alison?" Aria asked.

"I imagine Alison is probably in a janitor's closet making out with some guy," I said.

Hanna laughed, "Classic Ali."

"Are you bitches talking about me?"

We turned around and saw Alison standing there. Her blonde hair is in curls and she is dressed in a blue outfit. She was wearing 5 inch heels and it's a miracle how well she can walk in those. Alison had a boy with short blonde hair clinging onto her arm like a monkey hanging onto a tree branch.

"Hey Ali," Emily said.

"You're blushing too much, Em," Alison teased.

"Sorry," Emily smiled shyly.

"How was your summer Ali?" Aria asked.

"It was amazing." Alison pointed to the guy next to her. "This is Sean, my boyfriend."

"Yeah your boyfriend for the week," I mumbled.

"What was that Spencer?" She asked.

"I said I have to get to class."

Aria walked down the hall with me, while the other girls stayed back to talk to Alison. This year I have a feeling it's going to be different. Alison has been parading around town ever since –A/ me has gone away. She's so sure that she's won that she's acting more bitcher than ever. I decided that it's not over. The only reason I stopped going after her is because of my drug problem and I was waiting for Toby to come back. Now I see that he has not returned and I have nothing to wait for anymore. I found my locker at the end of the hallway. When I opened my locker some of my books fell out. Aria bent down to help me pick them up. She's the only one who's noticed how jumpy I've been this morning.

"Russian History," she said. "How many A.P classes before your brain explodes."

"I'm already drowning in there."

"Why what drowning you a B+?"

"I heard that my first paper is due Monday and I've only got two words my name."

"What's going on? Hey, you're not still freaked out about Toby being gone are you? You know you don't have to be around Ali."

"No, it's not just that. It's everything, is there any chance that your family wants to adopt me?"

Aria was about to answer, but the sound of a cane tapping on the floor from around the corner grabbed our attention. Aria and I looked up to see who was coming. We froze when we saw Jenna Marshall turning around the corner. She was wearing her dark glasses and was using her stick to guide her way. She had her arm linked with some guys arm, but not just any guy. My heart stopped and my mind froze when I saw him. He was wearing a tan colored hoodie along with a black leather jacket. His hair is kind of shaggy, but a little short. It's a little darker than I remember. I haven't seen him in a long time. Now there he is guiding Jenna around the school like a blind dog. I haven't seen him in a year and now he's here guiding Jenna around. He came back to guide his stepsister around. I didn't even know Jenna was back. When I saw Jenna my mind flashed back to that night.

The girls and I stood there watching the Cavanaugh's garage bursting in flames. The only thing I could think about was if Toby is okay. Then I saw him coming this way holding a figure in his arms. It was Jenna. Jenna was covering her eyes and crying. What did we do? No, what did Alison do?

Toby glanced at me once with nothing but a blank expression. He stared at me for another second then turned his gaze straight ahead of him. That's all I get from him? A lame glance then he continues on down the hallway? Maybe that kiss we shared burst his interest in me. If I think about it, it makes sense. First he kisses me then he leaves town without telling me and then he doesn't try to contact me in anyway. I watched them continue on down the hallway and my eyes landed on the other girls, who were standing with Alison. Alison looked in my direction and smirked at me. My mind was ragging. What the hell did she do?

The End. Okay, Toby's back. What do you think will happen between them now? Why is Toby giving Spencer the cold shoulder? Next chapter you will find out what Toby's been up to. Also Caleb will be back in the next chapter and will have an encounter with a certain blonde girl. Any ideas on who that will be? I bet 99% will be right.

Okay, thanks for reading please review.