Emily POV

"Stop it..." I said with a undertone to my voice, glaring at her.

"Stop what?" She asked, angelically.

"You know exactly what I am talking about." I growled, though it was hard to remain serious when Spencer had her head buried in my neck.

"Your hair smells damn good." She muttered.

"I mean it, Spencer. We have to get ready for this rave. You invited me, remember?"

"Why is it so important?" She questioned, peeling herself away, without any hint of annoyance, just a mellow nature which was decidedly, yet pleasingly, un-Spencer-y.

"I was hoping you'd ask me that." I grinned. "I've been thinking. Cody Linford is a year below us, and tight with Aria's younger brother, Mike."

"So...?" Spencer asked, shrugging, and I smirked, with the knowledge for once in my life I'd outsmarted her.

"So, we need to go so we can monitor what Mike does. He's probably going to meet the girl he was talking about there!"

Spencer looked on the brink of realization, and slowly nodded. "Oh. How do we know he's going to meet the girl there?"

"He hasn't been out of the house since Aria confronted him, as she says. A party would be the ideal way to meet up, don't you think."

The familiar inquisitive fire lit up in her eyes and I knew her ever-present detective side was having a ball with this plan. "Em, you're a genius."

"And don't you ever forget it, Spencer the Tank Engine."

She chuckled, leant in and kissed me. We'd been doing a lot of that in the past hour. My mom had a facial appointment, and as she was safely out of the house, we had been kissing like there was no tomorrow. But all good things must come to an end. She pulled away, a sleepy look of concern on her face. "I have to go home and get changed. These aren't exactly party clothes."

She was wearing a blue cotton shirt with the sleeves rolled up, cropped dark jeans, and had been wearing a black blazer which was currently lying on the floor, next to her leather satchel. A golden anchor locket necklace hung from her neck, and out of curious, I took it gently in my hands and popped it open. Inside was a photo of her and Toby, grinning shyly, on their first date. I intriguedly looked at her, wondering what she would do next.

She glanced down, cupped the locket in her hand, and glanced at me. "Jealous?" She asked, with a smirk in her voice.

"Course not." I murmured innocently, but couldn't help but feel a thrill when she took the photo out and chucked it into my bin.

"You could borrow some of my clothes." I thought out loud. "I've been preparing something but I have a spare shirt."

"What've you got prepared?"

"I'll show you." I smiled with pride, slipped off the bed, and dramatically swung my closet open.

I grabbed a plain white tank top, hung up in the middle of the closet, and wiggled it at her. She screwed her eyebrows up. "What's so special about that?"

I crossed the room in a few easy strides, whisked the curtain shut, and closed the door. My handiwork was shown impressively in the accompanying gloom. The shirt burst into life- shades of splattered orange, splotches of neon green, with stripes of highlighted purple and even a few dashes of bright red in there. Spencer raised her eyebrows in pleasant surprise. "Wow, Em! That's amazing! Where'd you buy it?"

"I didn't buy it." I said shyly. "I made it. I can make you one right now if you want, you can wear it to the rave."

"Awesome." Spencer breathed. "How do you make it?"

I reached into my closet and pulled out a big bulk box of glow sticks. "Crack em open and spill them all over the shirt." I smiled at the simplicity of it. "Here's a shirt."

She grabbed it out of the air eagerly as I laid out newspapers on the floor and handed her a glow stick. "Spray away."

She cracked a purple one in half with childish glee and spilt it over the T-shirt in a circular pattern, then repeated so with a blue and a orange one. I watched daydreaming, missing the suddenly evil look that flashed across Spencer's face. She quickly jumped up and before I knew it, she'd poured the blue one all down my hair. I gasped with surprise. "Spencer!" I yelled in horror.

She giggled mischeviously, scrambling backwards as fluorescent blue goo dripped down my black waves. I tried to wipe it off but the liquid clung to my hands in bright blue strings. I outragedly gazed at her, and then picked up a bright red one, jumping onto the bed as she screamed and tried to duck for cover. But I grabbed her head, snapped the glowstick and poured the goo over her with evil laughter. She screamed even louder, as I let go of her and she simply sank to the ground, laughing so hard her shoulders were shaking in between shrieks.

I laughed too, laughed until my belly hurt and my cheeks ached, until I practically felt sick. Then we got up, found that happily the goo did come off under water, rinsed our hair, kissed, got dressed, did makeup, kissed, called Aria, decorated our shirts that tiny bit more, kissed, and then left for the rave.

Cody Linford's place was transformed. Glowing paper lanterns were hanging from every available spot in his huge front yard, as we could see from outside his house, despite tall gates. As we strolled in, the place was already blaring music, and people were running around and dancing madly in the fading light. Spencer's hand knotted through mine, and I turned to smile warmly at her. She was so forward and brave with all of this- the entire gay thing, even though she'd only realized it last night, she told me. But that was Spencer. Forward and brave about everything. She'd force anyone to accept anything about her, or she'd leave them in the dust.

We voyaged into the house together, stepping past couples making out and a group of too-young looking guys playing beer pong enthusiastically. Aria spotted us, and waved, jogging towards us on her short little legs. "Hey guys. I was just talking to Noah Kahn."

"Noah's at this party?" Spencer asked, immediately wary.

"Yeah, wanted to know if I was going to get into singing. He offered me a place in a band he's starting up!" She grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet with uncontained joy.

"Great!" I grinned, genuinely happy for her. "That's so cool, Aria. Has he written any songs for you?"

"No, he was thinking of starting off by doing a few covers and putting them on YouTube, and then starting off writing once he got enough YouTube subscribers. But I told him I have a couple of songs and he said he'd be really interested to hear them!"

"You have songs?" Spencer asked, interestedly. "They aren't about a certain "A", are they?"

Aria shook her head. "No. And even if there were, I wouldn't show them to him. So, Mike-watching shall commence. He's playing with those guys at the beer pong right now."

I glanced over my shoulder at the young guys and spied Mike's downy brown hair amongst them, juggling two balls in his hands and laughing loudly. Quickly, I turned back and nodded at Aria. "Yeah. We'll chill around here until he will get a text or something. Then he'll most likely move out to go see A."

Aria smiled in agreement. "Exactly. So, guys. Fancy some drinks?"

"Yeah, some Sauvignon Blanc would be nice." Spencer smiled.

Aria looked blank. Spencer sighed. "Whatever's there. I don't think you know what Sauvignon Blanc is, do you?"

"Nah. Em, you too?"

"Yep." I smiled, and watched her go, then turned to Spencer. "What is Sauvignon Blanc?"

"A green-skinned grape which originates from the Bordeaux region of France. Famous for aromatic qualities, with rich notes of capsicum, gooseberry and passionfruit."

"How the hell does a wine have capsicum in it?"

"Well, it's because-"

She was cut across as I felt a tap on my back and whipped around. A tall, and stunningly gorgeous girl stood behind me with a flirtatious smile on her face. She was pale, with red streaks dyed through her straight black hair and brilliant green eyes lined heavily by eyeliner. Her smile was crooked, emphasising the silver stud in her lip, and as my eyes wandered, I noticed the three silver rings in her ear. She was dressed in a cropped top with the USA flag on it, tight black jeans, and a black leather jacket. "Hey, you're Emily, right?"

I looked at her curiously and nodded. "Yes, I am. How do you know me?"

She smiled and the lip piercing rolled distractingly. "I'm a friend of Maya's. We went to rehab camp together. She wouldn't stop talking about you."

I felt a small glow of warmth at her words, and then realized Spencer was hovering awkwardly next to me. "Uh, cool. What's your name?"

"Jordyn. Would you like to dance?"

I opened my mouth and slowly closed it, wondering what to say. My eyes glanced to Spencer and I saw how carefully she was holding herself, how tense she'd suddenly become. As if just to annoy her, Jordyn grinned. "Maya told me you were single, and I'd never say no to dancing with a beautiful girl."

I could tell Spencer was about to lose it and throttle Jordyn, so I smiled gingerly, and shook my head. "Maya told you wrong. Taken. Sorry."

Jordyn didn't seem put off in any way. "I could change that. C'mon. Just you and me."

Her hand reached for mine, and she took a step forward, just as I trotted back. "I'm sure you could change that." I said coldly, now she was beginning to piss me off. "But I don't want you to. In any way. Got it?"

Spencer's eyebrows skyrocketed and she flushed, as Jordyn finally backed off. "Got it." She said simply, and turned on her heel, strolling away.

I watched her go, rolling my eyes. People who don't take no for an answer really irritate me. "She was pretty." Spencer noted, trying her best to look disinterested.

She was doing a pretty shocking job acting carefree. For a start, her arms were folded and she was standing stiff. "Jealous?" I quipped.

"Not at all. Go dance with her. I don't care." She told her shoes, with a terrible air of nonchalance.

"I'm not going to dance with her Spencer." I said, and her eyes twinkled. "I'm not going to dance with her, because I am taken, or would very much like to be, by someone far more beautiful and interesting."

She blushed, and looked down, but with a smile on her face. "You mean that?"

"Why would I say it if it wasn't true?"

She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me, despite all the wolf whistles from the pre-pubescent apes playing beer pong, despite the popular snooty girls who stopped and stared, despite the general air of shock around the small gathering in Cody Linford's hall. We only broke away for air a few minutes later, just so I could give the finger to the beer pong apes and smirk at the snooty girls. Spencer beamed at me. "We really need to get a room." She murmured.

"Can't do that. We're on a survelliance mission." I muttered.

Speaking of that, our subject was staring at us with a look that could only be described as bemused arousal. I stared back at Mike and raised my eyebrows, and he looked away, stepping in front of the table and coughing. I really, really hoped that was a ping pong ball in his pocket. And not what I thought it was.

I heard a surprised sound to our left and turned to face it. Aria's face could only have been described as a look of absolute shock. I realized Spencer's arms were still wrapped around my neck and our faces were still very close together. "Hi." I said cheerily, and Spencer gave a mock-innocent grin.

"So Hanna wasn't joking." Aria whispered, standing stock-still.

"No. Whatever Hanna was talking about, she would not have been joking." Spencer smiled, and I couldn't help but beam at Aria's face.

"Frickin hell, how long has this been going on?"

"About four hours to be precise."

Aria's mouth was still open. "I suppose we should have expected this ever since that truth or dare game with Ali." She sighed.

We both nodded. "Fair enough." Spencer added. "All good with it, Muso?"

"Yeah, but, but, but, Spencer?"

"Yes?"

"You're gay?"

"Bi."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Why wasn't I notified about this?"

"Because I wasn't sure until yesterday?"

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Aria, your brother is a pervert." I said drily, glimpsing him staring.

She looked that way, frowned at him, and he guiltily turned his back. "Is that a banana in his pocket or was he pleased to see me and Em making out?" Spencer asked.

Aria shivered and looked horrifed, while a drunk jock staggered past, making signs at us with his fingers. "Threesome?" He belched.

"No." Spencer and I said together.

He looked at Aria curiously, then raised his thick eyebrows. "FOURSOME?"

"No!" Aria practically shrieked.

"Damn." He pouted, and wandered off.

"We are going to get this a lot." Spencer noted.

"I know." I sighed.

She finally disentangled her arms from me and jerked her head in Mike's direction. Just as we predicted, he was looking at his phone, and then snapped it shut, walking off. We waited ten seconds, then casually strode out into the long garden out the front, pretending to chat.

"So I said to her, "That's so not true Hanna! You're such a bitch! Stop making up things!" and she was like "Uh... Okay..." and I was like "You could just say you couldn't tell me!"... she's probably going to say I told you so." Aria concluded.

I was busy surveying how beautiful Cody Linford's front yard was. Behind us was a small hillock dotted with flowers, leading down the side of the house, and in front of us was the pool. To our right was the house, and leading on from that was the tall iron gate. I chuckled, not really paying attention to what Aria said, but Spencer's expression had turned dark. "That's a police siren." She remarked.

I could tell the familiar wail from a mile off. And right now, it seemed to be coming from outside the house, just a few metres away. We froze, and suddenly the backyard was filled with uniformed cops. Aria whimpered slightly and I grabbed her hand. "Shush, Aria. They're not here for us this time." I confirmed.

They weren't. They ran straight inside the house, guns (?) at the ready, and screams of frightened teenagers followed about three seconds later. We stayed where we were, scarcely believing what we were seeing. Then Spencer, being her usual, curious, wondering self, ran up to one of the windows, dragging Aria and I along. "Spencer, they've got guns!" I hissed.

She hesitated, and in that hesitation, my eyes caught a flicker of movement. Noel Kahn was running, looking panicked, a police officer in pursuit right behind him. I gasped, and my two friends turned to see the exact moment the officer tackled Noel to the ground. Noel's handsome face skidded against the muddy lawn, and he yelled in panic as the officer's gun touched the back of his head. "Don't move, kid, if you know what's good for you!" The man grunted, as Noel attempted to thrash.

I glimpsed Aria's face of pure shock for the second time that evening as she stepped back next to me. Noel moaned as the officer whipped out handcuffs from his belt, and a squad more appeared out from the house. "Suspect apprehended." He reported into his radio, then attached the cuffs to Noel's wrists.

"You are under arrest." The officer boomed, and Spencer gasped, as if she couldn't believe it. "You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can, and will be used against you in a court of law."

The squad reached the officer and helped Noel up, all the while keeping a close eye on him. Mud was splattered down the front of his fashionable polo shirt and jeans, and his eyes were wild and fearful. "I CONFESS!" He suddenly yelled.

"What." Aria muttered.

He thrashed in the police's grip, which only motivated them more to hold their guns close to him. "I confess! I did it! I'm so sorry!"

The cop who'd tackled him looked smug, and one pulled out a tape recorder. "Statement." He affirmed, and moved the recorder to Noel.

"I... I... I sent abusive text messages! I pretended to be Alison DiLaurentis! I threatened people! I blackmailed them! I stole things! I hit a girl with a car! I put steroids in things! I kidnapped someone, I... I HELPED KILL SOMEONE!"

The police looked completely shocked, and puzzled. But suddenly, all these pieces were slotting into place. "Holy shit." Spencer murmured.

One of the police officers cleared his throat. "We're arresting you for the recent vicious attack on a teenage girl."

Oh my god. They think he beat up Tanya. They do, they do. They think he beat up Tanya.

My mind was racing at full speed. Noel's statements seemed to all tie in to the actions of... It seemed impossible. Is he admitting it? No way... Noel Kahn could not be...

"BUT I AM A!" Noel yelled at the top of his voice. "I WAS A!"

He suddenly turned in his handcuffs, taking advantage of the police's bemusement. He saw Spencer, Aria and I standing at the hill. "You... you guys! I'm so, I'm so sorry!" He bawled, tears streaking down his face. "I'm so sorry! SHE MADE ME! SHE MADE ME!"

"She?" Spencer questioned.

And suddenly, perfect timing, as everything was becoming coldly clear, and facts clicked together in my brain, there was a unmistakable gun shot, and Noel fell to the ground with an audible grunt.

My reactions kicked in a second later. I threw myself down, pulling Spencer and Aria, hearing Aria scream loud and clear. Gunshots echoed through my ears and...

everything

slowed

down

I could feel my own heartbeat race with my panic.

The police officers swore and began to run, slowly, slowly, too slowly.

Gunshots seemed to whizz around us, deepening my terror, and I covered my head with my hands.

Spencer was gasping for breath, Aria was crying, I was too scared to even make a noise.

The police officers ran towards us, so damn slowly, as another bullet exploded from a gun, that seemed terrifyingly directly behind us.

And for some insane reason, this made me want to turn, and slowly, so slowly, I turned and gazed behind me, at the plain grassy lawn, furnished with potted plants and lanterns.

And standing on the right, aimed so she would shoot directly past us, practically terrifyingly next to us, was Mona.

Mona, with a pistol in her hands.

Mona, bitchy Mona, gossipy Mona, with her red silk dress and hoop earrings, even clutching her leather handbag.

Mona with the frighteningly dead look in her eyes.

And somehow, I found the courage to speak, raising myself, staring at her, as Spencer grabbed my arm I was propping myself up with, in an attempt to save me.

"Mona." My voice shook.

Her cold, dead eyes turned to me, and despite the childish pigtails she wore, she looked truly murderous. Slowly, slowly, the gun turned to me, and I stared down the barrel with true fear.

I breathed out with difficulty as she stared at me, sizing me up. Her eyes were completely lifeless, eerily like ones of a fish. I expected my life to flash before my eyes. But all I could think was "I'm going to die at the hands of Ali's favourite victim."

The barrel met my temple sluggishly, cold metal chilling my skin, and somehow I did not panic. Somehow I stayed calm and stared back at her with resolve. I knew what was going to happen. And I awaited it without any regrets.

Spencer cried out as she realized what was going on, and Mona slowly turned to look at her, coldly, holding the pistol to my head still. No Spencer, no, don't do anything stupid, I prayed.

And Mona turned again to me, smiled her usual sweet smile, which became instantly sinister with her dead eyes. And weirdly, I noticed, the music was still blaring from the house, despite the screams and gunfire. "Love You Like A Love Song." I looked at Spencer's terrified face and tried to smile bravely to comfort her, to let her know that I was okay.

She didn't seem comforted at all, only gazed at me with a deathly white face and glossy eyes.

And as I heard the police finally tear round the corner with shouts and thumping feet, I looked at Mona, knowing she was A. Everything made sense. And with that, I closed my eyes and awaited a quick death.

And as the gun blasted one last time, echoing again and again, I fell back into merciful, cloaking blackness, just as Spencer and Aria screamed for their lives.

Don't you love my cliffhangers? ;) REVIEW AND THE FINAL CHAPTER COMES QUICKER. I PROMISE IT'S THE FINAL CHAPTER. AT LEAST, I THINK SO. :D I'm so pleased to see reviews by the way, they honestly make me grin every time. All the answers to your questions are coming very soon... :)