Author's Note: Hola mis amigos lindos! I know that a lot of you are still recovering from that shock I recently gave you guys, but I think you'll be pleased with me after this chapter. If not, I don't know who you are, because I'm pretty sure you guys have been begging for this since the very beginning.
I'd also like to share with you my friend Julien's theory, and know I am mentioning this for a reason. So he's a drama freak like I am, and he's noticed that a lot of times in a play or musical, if the ending of the first act is "angsty" (as I made up that word) or ends on a bad note, the ending is probably going to be happy. If it's all cheery and everything, well, you're screwed. The next act is not going to be pretty. Case in point: last year we did Once on this Island, and at the end of the first act, the main character is all happy and smiley and crap. SPOILER ALERT, she dies at the end of the play. Whoopdie-doo. And for the (draining, long) play we did this year, Seussical, the last act ends with an elephant stuck in a tree, a bird whose tail is so big she can't fly, and a speck on a speck on a speck of a clover which is actually a planet in turmoil. Don't ask me how any of it makes sense, because it's Dr. Seuss and he's the only person who's allowed to write anything like that without being accused of being high (though the writers of this musical?...questionable).
And yes, there's a reason I just told you that. Think about it. Think about it again. There's a subliminal message, in case you couldn't figure that out. :)
Chapter Twenty-Eight
There was a knock at the door. It was followed by another knock. Toby went to go get it. He was surprised to see Analeigh.
"Can I come in?" she asked quietly.
Wordlessly, he invited her inside. She sighed, glad to see that at least someone wasn't pushing her out the door. Toby was concerned about her. She wasn't her usual bubbly self.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
She nodded. "Something is really wrong. It involves Dianna and Spencer and both of us." She awaited a reaction. When she didn't get one, she continued, "It's about that fire and how Dianna got into the foster system. I think I know who the person is that set the fire. The person who helped Wren and Melissa."
"Who is it?" Toby asked worriedly.
"It's…" she began, not sure how to break the news. "It's Aria."
"Aria?" Toby asked.
Analeigh nodded. She went in her bag and took out a manila folder. "I found these in her apartment. Look; she had articles about Dianna, her passports included stamps to and from the United States right around Dianna's disappearance, and we all know that she wasn't the biggest fan of Spencer's pregnancy."
Toby nodded. "I know, but they were supposed to be best friends."
"Love makes you do crazy things," Analeigh reminded him.
"Have you told your mother or Dianna?"
Analeigh nodded. "I told Dianna. She wouldn't listen. I haven't told Spencer yet, but I'm sure her reaction will be the same. I'm scared that they're going to get hurt," she said desperately.
Analeigh's brown eyes shone. Toby wasn't sure what to do.
"Well, we need to find some way to protect Spencer and Dianna, right?"
Analeigh smiled. "I knew I could count on you."
Hanna paced around the apartment nervously. She was biting her nails. Spencer didn't really pay any attention. At least, she didn't pay enough attention so she could realize something was wrong.
Spencer sifted through the mail. She passed one thing to Hanna. Looking up, she finally noticed Hanna's nervousness. "What's wrong, Hanna? Dreading that American Express card statement?" she asked as she passed Hanna another bill.
Hanna scoffed. "Spence, it's my Dress Barn and JCPenney credit statement that'll be through the roof." She finally willed herself to sit down across from Spencer. Across the counter, Spencer noticed Hanna's leg was still shaking.
"Okay, we have gone past the point of your plummeting credit score. What's really bothering you, Hanna?" Spencer inquired.
Hanna sighed. "Aria."
Spencer was confused. "You guys were Team Arianna in high school. What happened?"
Hanna shrugged before plucking a pear off of the top of the fruit heap in the fruit bowl. "I don't know. She just seems really changed since high school," she commented.
"People change. They grow. Even though I know Aria hasn't really grown height-wise, she's grown into a woman instead of being stuck as a teenager."
"But she hasn't grown. Something just changed about her. And it wasn't in a good way," Hanna informed Spencer.
Spencer put the pieces together. "When did you notice this?" she asked.
"What?"
"When did you come up with this conclusion?" she probed again.
Hanna was silent for a minute. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't answer.
Spencer looked at her with inquisitive eyes. "Have you spoken to Mona lately?" she inquired.
Hanna looked at Spencer, her eyes telling all.
"Hanna, you're playing into her game!"
"Spencer—"
"No! Can't you see? She's doing to us what she didn't get the chance to do in high school. She's pitting us against each other to make sure things are never the way they were again. It's even tearing us apart, Hanna. After high school, Aria went to Europe and Emily was MIA. The two of us kept in contact. I spoke to Emily after I got out of Radley, but things were never the same. She stuck around Toby and it was too hard to be around her. I felt like you were my only real friend in all of this, but now this is going to pull us apart," Spencer concluded.
"Spencer, don't be ridiculous. Can't you see that everything that's happened to all of us recently happened right after Aria came back?" Hanna asked.
Spencer knocked on the door to Analeigh's house. Analeigh opened, looking at her mother in the eye. It was clear that her face was tear-stained.
"Come in," Analeigh insisted.
Spencer stepped inside the house. She was taken aback by how exquisite it was. It looked even fancier than her own childhood home.
Analeigh waited expectantly for an explanation. When she didn't get one, she said, "Why are you here?"
Spencer thought for a moment, trying exactly to remember why she was here. "Oh…I wanted to ask you a question. It's about Aria."
Analeigh bit her lip, not sure what to say. "She's working with Wren. She's the one who helped set fire to Dianna's house."
Spencer shook her head. She was much gentler with Analeigh than with Hanna. "No…no, it's not Aria. It has to be someone else. It can't be her."
"Spencer," began a voice from behind them both. Spencer turned around and the first thing she noticed was the blue eyes. "Please just listen and put your ego aside for a minute," Toby pleaded with her.
Spencer stared at his eyes and then looked back at Analeigh. Her own expressive, beautiful blue flecks were shining in her eyes. She turned back to Toby.
"Explain it to me," she said.
Analeigh slowly exited the room. "I think Toby would be a lot better at explaining this to you," she said.
Before Spencer had any time to protest, Analeigh walked up the stairs. Spencer avoided further eye contact with Toby for the moment being. She sat down cautiously on Analeigh's couch, right across from Toby. "What did you find out about her?"
"I just know what Analeigh told me. You know, she's a lot like you. She's really determined and persistent. And she's smart," Toby said before showing Spencer the folder that Analeigh had—it was full of all the impeaching mementos Aria had kept from when she did those things to them.
Spencer gasped when she looked inside. There was Aria, with ombred hair, and the stamps to and from the US around when the arson happened. There were all the articles that Aria had clipped about the arson in Dianna's home.
Immediately, she shut it. "This doesn't prove anything, Toby. I'm sorry, but just because she was in the United States around this time and because she saved articles on Dianna's disappearance doesn't mean she was the one who did it," Spencer concluded.
"Spencer, I think you're being—"
"I think you're being delusional, Toby," Spencer interrupted.
"I love you," he blurted out. Spencer opened her mouth to speak, and instead, Toby kissed her on the lips. Spencer kissed him back, missing the way that his lips felt against hers. Within a period of about two or three seconds, Spencer pulled away. She turned away from Toby.
"This wasn't how things were supposed to be," she murmured.
"Maybe not, but this is the way that things are, Spencer. And this is what happened with Aria."
Spencer shook her head insistently. "I won't believe it until she tells me herself."
"Spencer—"
"You should know better than anyone that things aren't the way they seem," she responded sharply, looking him in the eyes. "Things are lost in translation, things are confused. People who are disguised as enemies are sometimes friends in disguise, aren't they?" she inquired.
Spencer got up. She walked towards the door. "Tell Analeigh that I had to go," she said without looking back.
Toby watched her leave and sighed. Analeigh appeared at the top of the staircase and saw Toby and Toby alone. She walked down the stairs. "What happened? Where's Spencer?"
Emily watched Hanna as she spooned out ice cream into two bowls. She listened to Hanna's rant.
"Do you think I'm being ridiculous, Em? I mean, I know Aria is our friend, but hello. People we trusted were plotting against us for years. And it was something that Aria did a long time ago. It was fourteen years ago. Maybe she was sucked into a dark vortex, but I still think that she's hiding something. And maybe Mona is right."
"Wait, Mona?" Emily asked. "You spoke to Mona again?"
Hanna looked at Emily. "What was I supposed to do, Em? She left me a voicemail telling me that she wanted to meet, and when we were talking, she asked for advice on this abstract question which was about as abstract as a brick wall, which was when I figured out that she was talking about Aria, and you know how I told you that I can tell when she was lying, well, when she was talking, I asked if it was about Aria, and she said that it was and I was able to tell that she wasn't lying and it just scared the shit out of me, Em, and I—"
"Hanna! Slow down!" Emily exclaimed. Hanna took a deep breath. "Have you noticed that when you get nervous, you talk in really long run-on sentences?" she asked.
Hanna sighed. "What if Aria really did do it? I believe Mona. I don't know what reason she has to lie on all of this," Hanna concluded. She passed Emily a bowl.
Emily put some whipped cream on her ice cream. "Maybe now, we just need to hear from Aria. We've heard one side, now we need the other."
"But what if she won't even admit to it?" Hanna asked nervously.
"Then she doesn't admit to it. Who do you trust more in this situation: Mona or Aria?" Emily asked.
Hanna sighed. "That's the scariest thing, Em; I don't know."
I was waiting on Wren and Melissa. About fifteen minutes later, Wren showed up.
"Have you spoken to Melissa?" I asked.
He shook his head. "No. And I'm not sure that she should even be involved in this. What if she tells someone?" he asked worriedly.
I shook my head. "We're not getting her involved in this. We just want to make sure that she doesn't talk." I looked at my nails. "I don't think that we should worry about that, though. She can't say anything that would bury us without incriminating herself in all of this," I assured him. "Wren, she would be an accessory to arson or whatever it is. Ask her the legal jargon or term for it."
"I still don't feel that good about making her talk about it. When Melissa gets uncomfortable, she squeals."
I scoffed. "We need to make sure that she's shut up, though. I just don't know how…"
At that moment, Melissa walked through the door. "What did you want today?"
"Just wanted to make sure that you're not going to tell anyone about this whole meeting and what happened," I told her.
"Will you leave me alone, then?" she asked desperately.
I exchanged a look with Wren. "We will if you don't tell anyone about any of this," Wren informed her.
"I despise the both of you. I won't tell anyone," she informed us.
"You're making the right choice, Melissa," I assured her. "I guarantee it."
Do you guys still hate me for making Aria evil? I'm sorry :( but I felt as though it had to be done. Keep an eye out for Part Three, which should come out soon. And I'm sorry if it sucked, but I just realized today that I am falling under the influence of the dreaded writers' block. GAH, I hate it so much :P
So, if you have any suggestions, comments, whatever, you know what to do! Review, por favor, and please follow/favorite me or my story (if you feel like it). -Kayson
And just in case you want to hear my friend's reasoning for why he felt so insignificant during the musical (it's kind of mind-boggling), I'll be happy to tell you in the author's note of the next chapter (it makes me feel pretty insignificant too...the only difference was that I could peck his brains out if I wanted to).
