Well, it's time for Viola to make her decision. I got some interesting reviews to the last chapter, so I figured I'd take the time to respond now:
RHatch89 - Well, you'll find out in this chapter - don't want to give anything away, although most of you probably know what's going to happen. Just remember that nothing in this story is permanent...especially in regards to "A" team status.
nick2951 - She's one of my favorites, too! And her motive behind the blackmail is going to become a little more clear in this chapter. Don't worry - I'm not one to make any character purely "evil"...there's always a reason behind everything.
TooSchweddy - Thanks for the review! I wonder if Viola feels the same way...
Chapter 12
"No," I whisper, even though I'm not conscious of saying the word. I imagine leaping up, snatching the picture, and ripping it into a thousand pieces, but by the time my body catches up to my brain, Mona has slipped the photo back into the envelope, stuck it back in the drawer, and locked it firmly with a click.
"No," I say again, jumping up. "You can't show anyone that. You can't." Tears blur behind my eyes. I can't believe that my own sister would blackmail me like this. I pause and try again, my voice coming out shaky and small. "Why would you do this to me?"
Mona's triumphant smirk fades a little. She looks almost uncomfortable. "This isn't my decision," she insists. "I told you months ago, I never wanted you to get involved in this. But I'm not in charge anymore."
I am still furious, don't get me wrong, but the desperation in her voice softens my anger a little. "Prove it," I say, just to be sure, wiping my eyes. "Prove to me that 'Red Coat' is actually a real person and not one of your many different personalities."
She sighs and rolls her eyes, but walks over to the far wall, almost completely covered by various pictures, and examines it. Finally, she pulls a photo down and hands it to me. "This is the only one."
I hold it up to my face and squint. It's dark, clearly taken at night, but I can make out a female figure. Her face is completely covered by shadow, but I see the bright red coat, with the hood up around long, blond hair that may or may not be a wig.
I stare at the picture until my sister rips it back out of my hands and pins it back on the wall with an irritated mutter of, "I shouldn't have shown you that. She doesn't trust you yet."
I sit back down on the old sofa and rest my head in my hands, rubbing my temples to try and relieve a pounding headache. "So this Red Coat person has stolen the 'A' game from you and you're working off of her orders. And if I don't join and play the game with you, everyone in town is going to find out that I was…assaulted by Ian Thomas?" As soon as the words exit my mouth, I feel bile rise in my throat and choke it back down.
In response, Mona roots around in the backpack again, this time pulling out a black hoodie identical to the one that she's wearing. She holds it out to me.
I stare at it, barely breathing. For months, the stupid "A" game has been the bane of my existence. I thought it was finally over, that I didn't have to worry anymore. Do I really want to be a part of the same insane game that, just a few days ago, I was afraid of becoming a victim of?
The logical part of my mind tells me to tell her exactly where she can put that stupid hoodie, to get in my car and drive straight to the police station and tell them that the game has started again, family relations be damned.
But I can't get that picture out of my head. Despite the blurriness, it shows my face, clear as day. It doesn't matter to me that Ian's dead. No one can know about what happened that night. Not until I can leave Rosewood for good and never have to worry about seeing anyone in this gossipy town again.
And it looks like there's only one way to make that happen.
My hand shaking, I reach out and take the hoodie from my sister's hand. Not completely sold on this at all, I pull it on and walk over to the mirror on the wall. Slowly, I reach up and tug the hood up over my head.
My hair is back in a ponytail, so it is completely hidden by the hood. I barely recognize myself. My face is pale and my eyes are red-rimmed. I feel like a completely different person.
So I'm on the A-team. I'm still not entirely sure what this means. Sending texts signed by "A"? Sneaking around outside people's houses and taking incriminating photos?
I won't be hitting anyone with cars or faking deaths, that's for sure. Red Coat can do whatever she wants to me, but I'm not going to physically hurt anyone.
I take a deep breath and stare at my reflection, trying to convince myself that I'm not doing anything wrong. No one is going to get hurt. When I was innocent and knew nothing about "A" or the incident at the grave, I didn't have any control over what "A" was doing. But if I'm part of the team, maybe I can at least make sure that no one else ends up in a hole in the ground.
I feel my anxiety slowly begin to subside. Mona walks up behind me, evaluating my reflection. "You're making the right choice, Viola," she says quietly, putting her hand on my shoulder. I flinch. "Welcome to the team."
…
I'm walking up the front steps to Radley's main entrance a few days later, my eyes on my phone, when I nearly ram straight into someone.
I stumble back and nearly fall right down the concrete steps, but a hand shoots out and grabs me by the arm, pulling me back up. I raise my eyes and see Lucas Gottesman in front of me, the heavy door to Radley just slamming shut behind him.
"Hey," I say to be friendly, even though we don't really know each other and he looks like I just caught him doing something horrible.
"Viola," he greets under his breath, ducking his head and trying to scoot around me.
There is something suspicious about this, I decide, and now I'm the one to grab his arm. "Lucas. What's going on? Are you okay?"
He stops, a few steps below me, and shoves his hands into his pockets a little too casually. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"
I hesitate, stepping down so I'm on the same level as him. "It's just that…I heard about the fire you started. In an empty classroom yesterday. I just thought…"
"Well, you thought wrong. It was just a misunderstanding," he mumbles. "I have to go."
Before a few days ago, I would have rolled my eyes at his weird attitude and let him go. But I'm on the "A" team now. And I don't know very much about what that entails, but I do know that I can't just go around letting people with potential information slip by me. The days of being in the dark are over.
"Wait," I call, and rush down the stairs after him. I reach him just before the gate. "Who were you visiting?"
Lucas turns back to me, looking suddenly angry. "Why do you need to know, Viola?"
His defensiveness pretty much proves it. I raise my eyebrows and say, "You were visiting Mona. Why?"
He glances back at the parking lot, clearly trying to figure out how to get away. "You don't know that," he says, but the uncomfortable look on his face confirms it.
"I'm not stupid," I snap, immediately surprised at myself. Geez. I've been "A" for, like, two minutes, and I've already turned into more of a bitch than I usually am. "I didn't know you and my sister were such good pals. What's going on, Lucas?"
He looks for a second like he's going to run, but finally sighs and gives up. "Fine. I just needed to…make sure."
"Make sure of what?"
"That Mona is really as crazy as everyone seems to think," he bursts out. He grabs my arm and pulls me away from a security guard roaming nearby. "Listen. I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I have a feeling she's faking the whole 'mental' thing."
I can feel my stomach clench. "What?" I ask, hoping that he attributes the inevitable paleness of my face to disbelief that he could possibly think such a crazy thing. "Why – why do you say that?"
His expression hardens. "What sounds better to you, a mental hospital or prison?"
I shake my head, wondering how much he knows. "So you think…you think that Mona is still 'A'?"
I can't tell from his face whether he is surprised or not at the mention of "A." My mind flashes back to the night of the masquerade, when Aria, Hanna, and Emily seemed convinced that Lucas was working with "A."
"I think she's more involved than anyone else seems to think," he says to answer my question. "You need to be careful."
"I am being careful," I say with a sigh, and decide to just throw caution to the wind. "But you do, too. I know that you were working with Mona last year."
I am hoping that I'm wrong – does everyone in this town have to be involved in this mess, somehow? But he doesn't even try to deny it. "I was helping Mona," he repeats quietly, looking around as if expecting her to suddenly appear. "Only for a little while."
"Why would you do that?" I ask, even though I am also doing that, right now. But it's one thing to help your sister. It's entirely another to help a girl you supposedly hate.
"I can't tell you that," he mumbles, shifting uncomfortably.
I go silent as another security guard passes us, then say, "Lucas. You have to tell me. Mona's my sister and I love her, but trust me, I know what she's capable of. She even sent me an 'A' message, once, to keep me quiet."
His eyes go a little wide at this. "Fine, but you can't tell a soul. I'm serious. If anyone else finds out…" He trails off, then starts over. "She blackmailed me into helping her. She threatened to tell the school that I was selling test answers."
That strikes a chord with me, a memory coming back. "Wait a minute. You were the one giving out those answer keys?" I burst into laughter before I can stop myself. "That explains how my best friend mysteriously started getting A's on chemistry tests."
"Macy Littleton?" Lucas asks immediately, without smiling. "Yeah, her and a bunch of other kids. I couldn't risk getting caught, so I helped her deliver some messages, just for a few weeks before she was caught."
I slowly begin to put the pieces together. "So you were going to see Mona to make sure that she's too crazy to sell you out?"
He takes a few steps away, in the direction of the parking lot. I can sense that his trust in me only goes so far. "You better not tell anyone," he says, his voice low and almost a little hostile. "If you go in there and tell your sister what we – "
"I won't," I insist, which is the truth, "A" team or not. "I swear. Thanks for telling me all that." I force a smile and say, hoping my voice doesn't give away that I'm lying, "It's just hard, you know? Finding out that your own sister did such horrible things to people."
"I get it," Lucas replies, nodding, and turns to walk away. He pauses just as I'm starting back up the stairs. "But you should know," he calls, and I turn back around, "I don't think this is over."
I watch him walk away, a feeling of foreboding growing in my stomach. I have so many more questions…just how involved was he? Does he know more about what happened to Alison than he's letting on?
Was all that he told me a ruse, and he's still on the team?
Does he know who Red Coat is?
My mind spins with questions and worry as I climb the steps back up to Radley. It makes me nervous, someone else knowing so much about "A." Mona never told me that she was working with someone all that time. So can I trust that there isn't anyone else working with us now?
I pause, just beginning to open the door when my phone chimes. I pull it out of my pocket and feel my heart skip at the message on the screen.
He knows too much. Make sure he doesn't find out more. -A
...
Thanks for reading! Drop me a review to let me know what you think. I start back to school tomorrow, but I still hope to get a chapter up every other day or so. Next up, Viola carries out her first "A" plan. What do you guys think she'll end up doing?
