CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
"Aria, sweetheart, you're going to be late for school if you don't leave in the next ten minutes," Byron told his daughter who was still in bed, in her pajamas, "And it doesn't even look like you've tried to get ready."
"I'm not going," she told him, "I'm taking a mental health day. I already told Mom. She said it's fine and she'll get my work for me," she said.
"Aria, you cannot keep skipping school like this," Byron said.
"This is the first day I've taken off since the beginning of the semester," Aria told him, "I've just been staying at Mom's, so you don't know that. Ask her," she said.
"I believe you. But I also don't think you need to be in bed all day," Byron said, "And is there a specific reason you haven't wanted to stay here?" he asked.
"No. Yes. No," she said, "I'm just having some issues that Mom is better at handling than you would be," Aria told him.
"Oh…like…feminine issues?" Byron asked awkwardly.
"No. Like Jason broke up with me issues," Aria told him, "And I don't have a phone, so I can't call my friends to come over and talk so you won't have to deal with a crying, hormonal, teenaged girl," she said looking up at him for the first time since coming home from (not) visiting Jason the night before.
"Call one of your friends on the house phone," he said.
"Like I have their numbers memorized. I don't think I've ever even had to remember someone's phone number. It just goes into my contacts and it's there when I need it," she said.
"Okay. Then call one of them from my phone and have them come pick you up, because you are not staying here in bed all day," Byron told her.
"I'm not going to school," Aria said, "Give me your phone. I'll call someone and have them drop me off at Mom's. It doesn't matter what you tell me to do," she told him.
"Aria Marie, get out of that bed!" Byron shouted.
"Dad, stop!" Mike shouted from the doorway, "She doesn't have to go," he said walking into the room and over to the bed by Aria, "It's not like she's some low-life failure. It's one day. She's missing one day," he said.
"Fine," Byron said, "One day, Aria," he said and left the room.
"Thank you, Mike," Aria said.
"No problem," he replied.
"Um, could I use your phone, please?" she asked him, "Just for a minute?"
"I guess so," he said reaching into his pocket and pulling his phone out. He handed it to her.
"Thanks. I've just gotta make a call and then I've give it back," she said.
"Should I step out? Is it gonna be creepy for your brother to hear?" Mike asked.
"I don't think so, but if you want to leave, go ahead. I'll call you back in, in a minute," she told him. Mike nodded and stepped out of the room.
Aria dialed the only number she did have memorized and listened to it ring. It went to voicemail. She debated on leaving a message and ended up leaving one.
"Ali, where's my phone?" Jason asked from the bathroom. He was getting dressed into clothes Alison had 'borrowed' from Noel's room that seemed to be Jason's size.
Jason finally accepted that Alison was alive when she was still there in the morning with breakfast in bed, because he still was not allowed to move until Dr. Wren came to check on him. And she had more painkillers, but they weren't any that would make him tired.
He so badly wanted to believe that his mind was playing tricks on him because he didn't want to seem like a crazy person and wake up in the hospital talking about how his dead sister was still alive in a house in New York with a team of 'A's. But he was so happy she was alive. He would take her being alive over him seeming like a crazy person any day.
It had been a couple days since the accident and Wren took the neck brace and wires off that morning, and Jason was the happiest person in the world at that moment. Jason wasn't allowed to run around and do gymnastics or anything like that, but he was fine to walk around and do normal day to day things as long as he didn't move his neck too much.
"Check the pants Wren brought you here in," Alison told him, "They should be in there somewhere," she said. Low and behold the jeans Jason had been wearing the night of the accident were folded up on the counter of the sink that took up one entire wall.
"Got it," he said, "It's at 21%, but it's here," he told her.
"I've got a charger in my room. If we don't have the same phone we can stop at the phone store and pick one up for you," she told him.
"I should probably get one for myself anyway, so I don't have to take yours whenever I need it," he told her.
"Sure," she told him, "I don't mind sharing, though."
"Can you rewind and say that again, because I am absolutely positive that Alison Lauren DiLaurentis would never say that to her big brother. Ever. Dead or not," Jason said.
"You heard correctly," Ali said, "But you're the only one I'd share with here. Maybe CeCe."
"Don't share anything with CeCe. Not even a damn thought you have," Jason told her.
"You never hated her this much before," Alison said.
"I was never sober before," Jason said, "She's the one who told Aria or Spencer or whoever it was that you and Wilden hooked up. That I do remember. I was sober for that. I didn't want to think my 15-year-old sister was pregnant. Let alone by some guy the same amount of years older than you."
"But you know the truth now. So, don't dwell on it," Ali said, "I'm gonna go get my charger so you can check your phone, "So, what's the damage?" Ali asked when she came back with her phone charger. She plugged it into the outlet by the bed and Jason plugged it into his phone.
"Countless e-mails. Mostly junk, I'm sure. Thirteen missed calls. Seven from Emily, four from Spencer, and two from Hanna," Jason said.
"Aw, my friends worry about you," she said happy that people cared about her brother. The only friends he ever had were idiots, and dead now. And now that everything came out about Spencer and Melissa being his sisters, he and Spencer became, somewhat close. The butted heads a lot. Not as bad as he and Ali used to. And Melissa didn't seem to care at all.
"Yeah. I've got nothing from Aria or our parents," he told her. He was too upset about that that he didn't notice the one voicemail from Mike Montgomery. Not yet, anyway.
"Any texts?" Alison asked.
"Oh, a shitload," he told her, "Twelve from Hanna. And that's the lowest amount. Then 48 from Spencer, and 68 from Emily. Mom texted a few times. Nothing from Dad."
"Emily seems to really care," Alison said.
"Well, she was with me when it happened and I kinda just disappeared after asking her to get me water," Jason said, "She's probably scared to death."
"Probably," Ali replied, "There's really nothing from Aria? She isn't that spiteful of a person to just not talk to someone for breaking up with her after an accident like that."
"Well, there's nothing here," Jason said.
"Read some of the other texts. Maybe she went through someone else's phone," Ali told him.
"Hanna just wants to know if I'm okay in every text," he said, "Oh, wait, here's a good one from Hanna, 'Was it like one of those time warp things? Is that why you aren't answering anyone?'," Jason read. That made both Ali and Jason laugh. Hanna could be funny without even trying to.
EMILY: Hey, are you okay? Where are you?
EMILY: Hey, where are you? Are you okay?
"Literally, the same text just the wording is in a different order," Jason said, "I think I should text her back. Let her know I'm okay, at least. She was with me."
"Don't tell her where you are," Ali told him, "Tell her you're at that one guy's house. The one in Virginia. They'll believe you."
JASON: Hey, Em, sorry I haven't texted back. Just laying low for a while with a friend in Virginia.
"Good Lord, is she writing you a novel?" Alison asked when she saw the text/essays she had sent Jason.
"I'm not gonna deal with those right now," he said, "I don't have time for that," he said.
"Jason, why is Mike Montgomery calling you?" Alison asked.
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked looking back at his missed calls. He had a missed call from Aria's brother.
The first place his mind went to was Aria. Something happened. Something was wrong with Aria. But then he thought, why would Mike call his sister's ex-boyfriend if something happened to her. Ella maybe. Possibly Byron, but probably not. But not Mike. Jason put the phone to his ear to check the voice mail. It wasn't Mike's masculine voice, but Aria's feminine voice he heard on the other end of the phone.
VM: So, not that you would care or anything, but I don't have a phone anymore. I kind of broke it when I threw it at the wall. Long story. I just wanted to tell you that just in case you ever did want to get ahold of me you won't be able to. You would have to go through one of the other girls. Also, we have your keys. Em had to follow the ambulance in your car. She may have told you that already. We don't know what to do with them. Can you just text Em. She has them right now. Anyway, I hope you're safe wherever you went. Bye.
"Everything okay?" Ali asked.
"Yeah," Jason replied, "Just a lot of texts to go through," he said.
"That wasn't a face that said 'Man, I have a lot of texts to go through'," Alison said, "You look heartbroken right now."
"I guess I am a little bit," he told her, "I'll be fine," he said.
"Jason- "
"I'm starving. Is there anything to eat around here?" he asked trying to change the subject. Ali decided to leave it alone for the time being. He hadn't eaten since early that morning. Alison had told him that nobody aside from her and Wren knew he was at the house. And there were a lot of people coming and going. She had shown him on her laptop the night before.
"Why don't we get out of here," Ali said, "There's this diner down the street. I know you'd really like it," she told him.
"You're allowed to leave this place?" he asked.
"I'm not in prison, Jase. I can come and go as I please," she told him, "And after we eat, we are going to the mall to get you some clothes. And a phone charger," she said.
"I have to get a phone too," Jason told her.
"Why? You already have a phone," she said.
"It's not for me," he told her.
"Okay, well I'm sure we can find one. There are, like, three phone stores at the mall."
"But I hate shopping," he whined. Alison had turned him into a whiner. He had never been one before, but since he got to New York he had been complaining about a lot of things. Now shopping was one of them.
After shopping for hours, and Alison was satisfied that Jason had enough clothes, they stopped at the phone store. Jason grabbed a charger for himself and then went to go talk to the guy at the counter about getting a new phone. Ali stopped him before he could get there.
"Jason, there are tons of unopened, unused phones back at the house that I know won't be missed," Ali told him.
"Okay, but I think it would be safer to get a legit phone from a store, where the 'A-Team' doesn't live," Jason said, "Either way Aria won't be able to open the box of the phone until Caleb does a through inspection of the thing," he told her.
"Hanna's boyfriend?" Ali questioned.
"Yeah. He and Aria are pretty good friends. He's a damn good hacker. He'll check and make sure there is nothing on this phone that shouldn't be there," Jason said.
"Then it's probably a good idea to get a phone here," Alison said.
The next day Aria saw Spencer at school. They were both standing at opposite ends of the hallway. Spencer looked so sad and scared and confused; much like Aria felt. She just didn't want to show it. Spencer saw Aria and started walking in the opposite direction. Aria started weaving through the path of students clogging the hall and followed Spencer into the girls' bathroom at the end of the hall.
"Spencer, is everything okay?" Aria asked, "I know that you're in there," she said knocking on the door to one of the stalls.
"I'm fine," Spencer said from the other side, sniffling.
"No, you're not," Aria said, "C'mon. Open up the door," Spencer didn't say anything, "Look, I don't know what happened with you and Toby and I hate what it did to me and Jason, but I am willing to talk about everything. I mean, we're kind of in the same boat, just on opposite ends."
"I'm really sorry about Jason and what I did the other night," Spencer said, "I didn't think he would get that upset and break up with you," she continued, "But I'd rather not talk about this through a stall in the girls' bathroom. Or at school in general," Spencer told her," There was a long pause before Spencer spoke again, "Uh, can you come over to my house later tonight? Around 7:00pm? We can talk then?" Spencer asked.
"I'll pick up Chinese food?" Aria asked, but it was more of a statement.
"Yeah," Spencer answered.
"Okay," Aria said, "I've gotta leave now, though," she said. She was sure that's what Spencer wanted. She wanted to be alone when she left the stall.
"I'll see you later then," Spencer said.
"Later," Aria replied before leaving the bathroom.
When she got to her locker to get her books for biology, which she also had with Caleb, there was a package. It was the same size as her Bio book but had more depth. It was wrapped in brown paper. There was nothing written on it, but she assumed it was for her considering it was in her locker. She unwrapped the box and inside there was a phone, still in the box, and an envelope. The envelope had 'ARIA' written across the front. She knew that handwriting. She had always made fun of him for how terrible his handwriting was. He said that's why he always used computers when he needed to write something.
Aria walked to the trashcan across the hall and threw the brown wrapping away. She put the box and envelope into her purse and walked to her biology class. Nobody could say their teacher's name correctly, so they just called him Mr. K and when she got to Mr. K's class the room was mostly empty aside from three other kids. One of those kids being Caleb. He must have noticed her walk in because he moved his bag from the stool beside him, like he was saving that seat for her. She was just wondering why he was there so early and not with Hanna. It was kind of perfect that he was there, though. She needed to talk to him.
"Hey," she greeted and sat down on the stool beside him setting her purse on the black table in front of them.
"What's up?" he asked.
"How did you know?" she asked.
"I don't know," he said, "I just knew," she shrugged his shoulders.
"I just need a favor and then you'll be my favorite person for like…a week," Aria told him.
"Okay. What is it?" he asked.
"Backstory. I broke my phone and my parents won't buy me a new one. I just found this package in my locker and it had a brand new, unopened phone in it. Strange, right?" Aria said, "I just thought I'd asked if you would check it out before I do anything with it, so it doesn't explode in my hand or something," she said.
"One, I won't let you turn the thing on without you letting me check it out," Caleb said, "Two, is this something 'A' related?" he asked.
"I really don't think so," Aria told him, "It also came with a letter, which I haven't read yet, but the writing on the front is 100% Jason's. I would know it anywhere," she told him.
"Read the letter. Tell me if it's legit," Caleb told her, "If it is, I'll take the phone and go through it. Well, I probably will anyway, because that is a nice phone. Whoever bought that spent a pretty penny he told her, "This will be fun to go through. Even if it's not from Jason, but it's a safe phone…you've got a free phone out of it," Caleb told her."
"Well, there's an upside to it, I guess," Aria said.
"I do hope it's from Jason, though," Caleb added quickly. He examined the outside of the box. He wasn't stupid. He wasn't going to open a box if he didn't know where it really came from. He trusted Jason. If it was from him he would open it. But the curiosity would most likely get to him and he'd open it anyway.
Aria opened the envelope and there were three things inside. A letter, a key, and…a credit card? She decided to start with the letter. It would probably explain the other two items.
Aria,
I'm sorry. That's really all I know what to say right now. I kind of disappeared on you all at the hospital, but it wasn't by choice. I told Em that someone was after me and wanted me dead. I was right. Aria, I love you and I don't want you to worry. I'm safe. I'm in a safe place. I promise. But I can't tell you where I am. I wish I could. I want to see you so badly, but I can't right now. I will come home as soon as I can. You may have noticed that I got you a phone unless it hasn't arrived yet. I had it sent to your dad's address two days ago, so it should be there by now. If it is, I'm sure Caleb already has his hands on it. If you got that phone that means you got this letter and the other two things in the envelope. As for my keys, just keep them safe for me. I'll get them back when I come home. But if you'll notice there are only five keys on the keyring instead of six now. The one you now have is for the house I just bought. And that card is for you. I'm not even going to tell you how much is on there because you'd probably get mad at me. But I want you to decorate that house for me however you want to. I now you have all your ideas. I know how good you are at that stuff and I suck at it. And I put the address of the house at the bottom because I know you have no idea how to get there. Please tell the other girls I'm okay and to stop blowing up my phone. Also, if you ever want to drive my car instead of your crappy one, I don't mind. I love you, Aria and I'll see you soon.
-Jason
"You okay over there?" Caleb asked.
"Yeah, why?" she replied.
"You've been crying since you started reading that letter," he told her, "And I can't deal with that," he said.
"No, I'm good," she told him, "It' totally legit. The phone, I mean. Jason sent the phone. He sent the letter. There are things on the letter not even 'A' would know. And 'A' knows all," Aria told him.
"Alright, cool," Caleb said, "I'll get to work on this after school," he told her.
"How long will it take do you think?" she asked.
"A day or two," he told her, "But since it's you I'll make it fast and make it a day," he said.
"You're awesome," she said, "I should buy you lunch or something," she told him.
"Works for me. My girlfriend doesn't even buy me lunch," he said.
"Thank you," Aria said.
"No problem."
AN: New chapter!
So, I have the new storyline going for Jason. He will be back and forth with Alison in NY and Aria in Rosewood, but, I'm not sure how/if he's going to be on the A-Team though.
I kind of love Aria and Caleb's friendship.
Sparia are getting back together. Or at least having dinner together.
I forgot to add it in the chapter and I really don't want to go back, but Jason will not be putting the return address, for obvious reasons.
Who put the package in her locker if he sent it to her dad's house? (which member of the 'A-Team')
And I need more ideas on who AD should be. And when should Alex Drake come in. I am thinking early season 5 or late season 4. Possibly put her on the 'A-Team' and Jason thinks she's Spencer or something. IDK
Ideas are welcome!
PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
