Hello there. Here's another chapter for you all.
Enjoy and please review!
I do not own PLL.
Belongs to Sara Shepard and Freeform.
When we get to where Mona has the RV we park behind her car. Hanna and Spencer are in Spencer's car while me, Em and Aria are in Emily's. Mona is driving in front of Spencer's, and we are behind her. Then Mona stops by a spot where there is a locked gate, which is where I'm assuming the RV full of all her A stuff is.
"You sure this is a good idea?" I ask before we get out, "What if she is leading us into a trap?"
"Then there is five of us and one of her." Em says.
"Unless red coat has an army of other people on the team." Aria says.
"That is so not helping my anxiety right now, Ria."
"My bad." She turns around from the passenger's seat and gives me an apologetic look, then gets out of the car.
I look at Em in the driver's seat of her car and she slightly smiles, "Just breathe. We got this." Then she gets out too.
I take a deep breath, "I'm so over my head with these girls." Then I open my door and follow their lead.
Aria and Em start to walk to Hanna and Spencer on the other side of the road. I see that they are by the gate and when I look to the side Mona is just getting out of her car with a flashlight in her hand. I have a really bad feeling about all this. Then my name gets called by Spencer and I turn around, she is waving me over. So I walk closer.
As soon as I get to them a noise comes from somewhere down the road, "What was that." Em asks, her voice a bit high.
"It was a bird, a beaver." Spencer says and looks at her, "Do you need to go wait in the car?"
"Spencer chill. It's creepy out here, we are all jumpy." I say.
Footsteps come from behind us and we turn around, Mona walks over and just passes by all of us as she walks over to the gate. We all look at each other and then follow behind her. Aria looping her arm between mine as she pulls me along with Hanna right beside me. Spencer and Em are behind us talking.
Mona unlocks and pulls open the gate when we get to it. It's longer than I expected it to be so it takes her a few seconds to get it fully open as she pushes it to make it open faster. But when she gets it all the way open there's something missing. Yep, you called it, the RV.
"Oh my God." Mona says, shining the light into the gated area and walking inside. "Oh my God it's gone."
"What do you mean it's gone?" Aria says in a pissed voice.
Mona turns around to us, "This is where I left it." She walks closer, "You saw me Hanna. I haven't been back here since, I swear." She looks at all of us, no one buying that she isn't the one behind this. "Somebody stole it!"
"Somebody?" Spencer says.
"Like you?" I get in, "To make yourself look like a victim?"
"Jessie!" she yells, making me jump and my mind goes back to those same memories from the night she took me. "I didn't do this! Stop putting your two cents into everything I say and do!"
"Leave her alone, Mona." Spencer tells her in a mean tone, looking down at me in concern and then looks away. "You did enough damage for a lifetime to make all of us not trust you."
Aria grabs my arm and pulls me away, noticing that now I'm shaking. "Come here."
My mind is screaming my own name over and over in Mona's voice from that night and I can't stop it. "Don't whine."
She gets me to Em's car and has me get into the passenger's seat. "Hey. It's alright." But it's not alright as I gasp for air, because I can't breathe. "Jessie." She kneels beside me and puts her hand on my knee, "Don't let her get to you."
I grip my sweatpants in pain, my chest hurts. I watch the dashboard go in and out of focus for a few seconds, everything fast pacing in my brain. I take deep breaths as she rubs my back in comfort. Eventually I get back to normal and I look at her.
"You okay?"
I take another deep breath and nod, "Yea, sorry. It's just…"
"The way she yelled at you." She nods and wipes away a tear that runs down my cheek, "I know."
"It wasn't me!" Mona's voice yells and footsteps come.
I turn around in my seat, "Guess they don't believe her either." They are walking back over to the cars.
"Hey." Aria's voice comes as I turn back to her and she smiles, "I'll be right back okay?"
I nod, "Yea."
She rubs my leg and then stands up, closing my door and walks towards the back of the car. She grabs Em before she can get into the car and says something that I can't make out because she is whispering. Whatever she told Em is enough to make her not move as they watch Mona walk past Em's and Spencer's car. I can't see where she went until Spencer pulls out of her parking spot and makes the view clear for me to see that Mona is getting into her car.
I look back at the girls and see they are still watching her, seeming to be making sure she leaves before we do. Then I see a weird flashing of a red light and when I look it's Mona's brake lights going on and off. I get out of the car and look at them over the roof, "What is she doing?"
They both shrug and start to walk towards her car. I don't bother to move, because she is probably just making a scene over not being believed. So I rest my arms over the car door that I never closed and watch them walk over. Then a second later Mona topples out of her car head first when her door flies open and lands on her side.
"Oh my gosh!" I hear Em say as they both run over to her. "Mona!"
"Mona." Aria's voice carries and despite everything she has done to me I close the door and rush over myself.
Em and Aria both get to her before I can even take off at full speed and help her to her feet. She is coughing so bad that it sounds like she isn't even able to catch her breath. Then I see Mona's car drive off, like someone else is in it and turns around towards the girls.
My heart sinks when I see that it is making speed to them, "Guys look out!"
They all turn at the same time towards the car and I watch as Em grabs both Mona and Aria and pulls them to the side of the road, avoiding a collision with the car. Em's voice travels from a pained yell and I just have enough time to jump out of the way from the car as it continues to drive past me.
My still bruised stomach hurts as I made that move, but all this adrenaline doesn't have me stop as I turn and haul ass to them. "You okay!" I come to a fast stop as I almost step on Mona and help her to her feet, doing the same for Aria.
"Yea." Her and Mona say.
But the word, "No." comes from Em as I walk closer to her still lying on the ground.
I bend down and look at her, pain all over her face as I help her sit up. "Where are you hurt?"
She puts her hand on her shoulder and holds it, "I hit it against those rocks." She points behind her.
I look at them and they aren't small rocks either. They look like they are the size of my head. "Can you move it?"
She tries to and screams out in pain, then says, "No. It hurts."
"Okay." I look at Aria, "I need help getting her up."
Mona is the one who walks forward before Aria can even take a step and stands closer to me. "I'll help."
I watch her for a second, but don't argue as I ask her to stand on Em's left side to grab her by that arm so that I can lift her from the back. Her right shoulder is the one messed up and obviously we can't touch it.
Once we get her up we bring her over to her car and sit her in the passenger's seat. "We are taking you to the hospital." I tell her.
She shakes her head, "No. It's not that bad."
"Em, you can't move it."
"No." she shows me that she can, a bit of pain on her face as she tries to hold in what is probably the urge to scream out, "I'm fine. For the second it was just too painful to."
I look at Aria who shrugs and I just go with it. So I close the door behind her and look at Mona. Now that her car is MIA she needs a ride, so Aria tells her to hop in the back. Then she looks at me and asks if I rather drive so I don't have to sit in the back with her.
I debate for a few seconds and shake my hand. "No, I'll take the back. My hand and stomach are still triggered by pain and I don't want to risk your lives by driving."
She nods, "Okay." She looks at Mona in the back. "Don't let her get to you."
I nod, "I got it. Don't worry."
She slightly smiles and then we both get in the car. Me doing everything to ignore that Mona is looking at me by staring out the window as Aria takes off.
The next morning Aria texts me saying that Mona text her letting her know that she found her car dumped in the back of the school and is now too freaked out to drive it around. I don't really know why she decided to reach out to her for that, but whatever. As for the reason why I'm getting a text from Aria in the morning of a school day is because I'm still sleeping over Spencer's. It seems safer here to avoid an adult noticing my injuries than it would at home.
Her parents had gotten home a couple nights ago, but haven't even realized I'm here. I guess it's safe to be able to hide things, but I definitely don't miss them not paying attention. But considering that my burn and stomach seem to be better looking compared to last night I'll be going home tonight. Uncle Byron just thinks that I needed some Spencer time since I don't see her as often as I used to, especially compared to Aria so that's why he thinks I've been over here.
When I get downstairs Spencer is opening up some mail in the kitchen. "Good morning sunshine."
She doesn't say anything and doesn't look at me until I get to where she is at the island. "I didn't get in."
"Get into where?" I ask confused.
She hands me a piece of paper and I look at it. It's a letter from the University of Pennsylvania telling her that they didn't accept her. "Mom and dad are going to be really mad."
I look up at her, "I'm sorry, Spence. But there will be other colleges. Your parents need to realize that not every school is going to accept every smart kid that applies."
"That won't sit well with them, you know that. Especially since I'll be the first Hastings not going to this college." She shifts her eyes away from me, "You head to school. I'm gonna wait for Toby to come get me."
"But I don't have my car."
"Boyfriend?"
I slightly smile, "Oh…right."
She smiles, "Hey. Have you applied to any schools yet?"
"Oh." I shake my head, "Not yet actually. I haven't had much time."
She nods, "I get it. But you really should start as soon as you can." She leans her elbows on the island and looks at her letter, "So you don't end up stuck like me."
I put my hand on her shoulder, "You'll get into school. It's U-Pens lost that they didn't take you."
She looks at me, "Thanks."
"Of course." I look at her letter too, "I do have colleges in mind though."
"Yea?"
I nod, "I was thinking maybe NYU or Kean University."
"So either New York or Jersey?"
I slowly nod, "Turns out I don't want to be that far from home after all."
She slightly smiles, "Hey. At least you got a plan."
I laugh, "If all is lost I'm going to have Hollis as my backup."
She nods, "I think that's a good idea too."
"Hopefully I can get a basketball or softball scholarship out of one of them. Be so much easier."
"Your dream is still to go pro?"
"Hell yea." I laugh.
She smiles, "Which will you choose in the end?"
I shrug, "I'll decide if the time comes."
Saturday the next day I come back from practice with no Aria to be found in the house. I had asked her to come pick me up from the school so we could get some coffee since she was the one who dropped me off but she never answered my calls or texts. This usually has me in a panic but then I remembered that she was at her martial arts class that she decided to take because she is afraid of A. I get why she is scared of course, so it's understandable why she wants to teach herself self defense.
I'm more tired than ever from everything that has happened in the last week that I can't deal with anything else but wanting to get some much needed sleep. So that's exactly what I do when I climb into bed without a second thought and pass out. When I wake up again from what sounds like a door slamming it's almost dark now. I got home around twelve and it's now about to be night. I slept for like six hours or more. Talk about being exhausted.
I get up and rub my eyes, turning my lamp on beside me. There are days that I can stand the dark and other times where it scares the hell out of me. I think more recently it has been bothering me since Mona came back from Radley. But I try not to think about her or the fact that I woke up to an almost dark room and get up from my bed. I head to the bathroom and then go downstairs when I'm done. I grab some food from the fridge and get the shit scared out of me when Aria asks if her dad left anything to eat.
I jump so bad that I stub my toe into the bottom of the fridge, "Damn it, Ria."
"Jeez, Jessie. Why so jumpy?"
I turn to her, putting the food on the table and bend down to rub my toe, "Maybe because you snuck up on me? I didn't even know you were home."
"I got home a bit ago." She grabs the Chinese food I set on the table and puts it in the microwave to heat it up. "What have you been up to all this time?"
I sit on the chair at the table, "Sleeping."
"You've been sleeping since you got out of practice?"
I slowly nod, "Mhm."
She gives me a bit of a worried look, "Really?"
I nod again, "Yea."
"So you didn't open the store today?"
I shake my head, "Honestly, I don't have the energy to do anything anymore."
It's quiet for a bit, then the microwave beeps and she grabs the Chinese from it. Then she turns and holds out her hand, "Lets go talk in the family room okay?"
I grab it, "Sure."
We talk for about fifteen minutes. Her telling me about how she saw Mona at the police station after martial arts talking to some cop. She claims it was as a cover-up to eavesdrop on the detectives that were saying something about investigating some place that they think Wilden was when he died. That they think it was a woman because there was high heeled shoe prints left behind. Then she goes on how she went to Spencer's and Hanna showed up with a bird named Tippy that talked. Somehow it sounds exactly like Alison and says the same things Alison did.
"That's not creepy at all." Is all I can say about the bird. "And what the hell is with the name Tippy?"
"I tell you that the bird sounds like Ali and you're worried about why someone named it Tippy?"
I slightly smile, "What can I tell you, my priorities suck."
She laughs, then her face goes slake when she looks behind me towards the window. "There's someone out there."
I turn around and see a shadow, "Don't tell me A is making house calls now."
She gets up and walks to the window, "I doubt it, but maybe I can catch their face."
"Ria!" I whisper.
She slowly creeps open the curtain to the window and then turns to me, fixing up her long black messy hair in her ponytail and then opens the door. "Hi." She says to whoever is at the door.
She opens it up more and from the couch I can see some guy standing there, "Hey. Sorry I showed up at your door. I felt like it was something I should do in person anyway." He hesitates for a second, "Can I come in?"
She doesn't answer right away, looking back at me for a second as I have a confused look and then turns back to him. "Yea, sure."
This guy I have never seen before walks inside and sees me, "Oh, hey."
I slowly stand up, "Um…hi."
"I'm Jake." He stops for a second, "Aria's martial arts instructor."
"Oh." I look at her and see her blushing, "I'm Jessie, Aria's…."
"Sister?" he says, smiling.
I slightly smile and shake my head. The fact that he assumed that when we look nothing alike kind of takes me off guard. "No, best friend actually. But I've known her forever, so basically like my sister."
"That was my second guess." He says, nodding a bit.
Now I feel awkward, "Right…" I look back at her, "I'm gonna go upstairs and start my homework."
"I'll be up in a few." She says.
I look up at him, he's barely taller than me. "Nice to meet you."
He smiles, "Same."
I'll tell you now that I did not get much homework done before Aria is done with that Jake guy and runs upstairs to tell me that Spencer needs us at her house now. Before I go anywhere I ask her why her instructor is giving her a visit and she spills that she accidently kissed him and now he asked her out on a coffee date.
My eyebrows go up. "Well…seems you don't go far from teacher student dating."
She eyes me, "That's not funny."
I slightly smile, "Sorry, my asshole instinct kicked in."
She looks at the pile of homework that is scattered around my bed, "You know what?" she looks back at me, "You don't have to come with me to Spencer's."
"You sure?"
She nods, "Yea. You are so behind on homework that has been piling up all week. It may be Saturday but I think you should try to get something done."
"I can always do it tomorrow. I don't have practice on Sundays."
"No, no do some now. If you keep falling behind on your homework you won't get good grades and you can kiss your sports goodbye."
I nod, "That's a good point."
"Let us deal with A stuff for awhile."
I shake my head, "Hell no, if it's serious I'm gonna be there."
"Okay." She raises her hands and puts them on my arms to keep me from getting up, "But this didn't seem that urgent. So just relax."
I watch her for a second and then nod, "Fine."
"Good." She gets up, "If it's major I'll call you."
