Chapter 53 - later that night

Aria's pov

"First things first, Alison knows we have her diary and she wants it back." Spencer said and I placed the diary onto the coffee table, Emily looked at me since I told her that I'd tell her when I find out what Alison wrote about Byron.

"Alison was blackmailing Byron for money about his affair." I told her.

"Well that explains how she was able to stay hidden in New York." Spencer said and we all looked at each other.

"That, plus CeCe and Noel were helping her stay MIA." Maya pointed out.

"Who has her diary according to Alison?" Chloe asked as I rested my head against Ezras shoulder.

"Well she just showed me a text from 'A' that mentions us having it... she made it pretty clear that she wants it back." Spencer said and we all went quiet, the only thing anyone could hear was Oliver quietly babbling to himself.

"So let me get this straight. This girl bullied everyone from you guys, to the school and your parents, faked her death with people helping her. All while knowing you guys were being tormented and knew who was behind it... and was more worried about herself? And then falsely accuse you of killing her, all because you won't bend backwards and go back under her command?" Caleb asked a little shocked. Spencer, Emily and I nodded our heads.

"Yeah, pretty much." I said and Toby looked at the diary before picking it up.

"Why does she want it so bad?" He asked and flipped through the white post it notes.

"Does Alison know anyone named Courtney that you know of?" Chloe asked as she read some of the entries with Toby.

"No." We said and Toby held up the diary.

"Well she definitely knew a Courtney, she lives in Brookhaven." Chloe added and Toby looked over the entries again.

"But why is Courtney the only one who doesn't have a code name? There's Suzy clueless, hefty, mermaid, and Jane Bond. Like we all know Alison would call Hanna heft Hanna so we know that it's Hanna." Toby said confused, Spencer and I shared a look with Emily before looking back at Toby.

"Well the fact that I had my phone on airplane mode for most of 9th grade I'm gonna say I'm Suzy clueless." I said as I took Oliver from Ezra and he wrapped an arm around my waist.

"How did that happen?" Ezra asked amused and I shared a look with Spencer.

"I thought it meant no one can message me unless I'm awake or something." I said and he chuckled.

"Did Alison write Courtney's last name?" Emily asked, Toby and Chloe shook their heads. I grabbed my phone and went online to check Alison's friend list, and saw no one.

"Caleb, don't you have that laptop that can't be traced?" I asked and he nodded before going to grab it.

"What are you thinking?" Ezra asked, taking Oliver back when Caleb handed me the laptop.

"Alison has ways of keeping things hidden. And if my theory is correct, she's probably friends with Courtney online." I said and logged into Alison's profile, I went into her friends list and searched the name Courtney.

"Spence, how possible is it for anyone to have.. um I don't know a doppelgänger?" Ezra asked, looking at the screen with me and Spencer shrugged.

"Well one study said that there's 1 in 135 chance that a pair of complete doppelgängers exist. Why?" She asked and I turned the laptop around to show everyone.

"That is NOT a doppelgänger... that's a twin! Fraternal twin maybe but still a twin." Maya said as they looked at the picture of Alison and Courtney.

"I'm literally done with this whole mystery, it's giving me a headache." Spencer said and I gave Caleb his laptop back.

"Before I forget, here you go." Caleb said handing me a box.

"I swear these better be the tater tots SOMEONE made me miss out on." I said and opened the box to see a bunch tater tots.

"Those were all of our leftovers together." Chloe said and I gave her a look.

"They're still tater tots and I'm probably going to eat them all before we get home." I said and Chloe shook her head smiling at that.

...

Ezra came back and got back into bed from putting Oliver down for the night as I did some last minute homework.

"I know that you probably don't want to talk about this... do you know where your applying to yet?" He asked softly as I snuggled into him and finished the last of my homework. I really didn't want to talk about it, but I also knew we did need to have this discussion.

"NYU." I said as he took my hand in his, and I intertwined our fingers.

"Is that your dream school?" He asked and I nodded. I knew that if my dream school was in California or anywhere in the country, he'd tell me I should go.

"Yeah, plus it's close to home. There's also either Southern California or NorthWestern in Chicago." I said, hoping this conversation would end already.

"Why don't I pick you up for lunch tomorrow?" Ezra suggested, changing the subject as I snuggled into him and looked up into his eyes. I have a feeling he sensed that I wanted the conversation about college to end, he's always able to sense when I have a sneeze coming.

"I'd like that." I whispered as he kissed my nose before kissing the top of my head.

"I thought you'd might." He murmured into my hair and I could tell he was getting as tired like me.

"Before we go to bed, I'm going to go get a bottle of water. Do you need anything?" I asked, looking over at Ezra and he shook his head.

"I still have mine from last night..." He said as I leaned over and brushed my lips against his.

"Yell if you do need anything." I whispered, he chuckled as I broke away and made my way out of our room. Quickly heading downstairs, I grabbed a water bottle and double checked that the doors were locked before heading back upstairs and decided to check on Oliver.

"Please sleep through the entire night." I whispered to him as I watched him sleep. He sneezed in his sleep as I started walking out of his room and into mine and Ezra's room. As I entered our room, I saw Ezra was fast asleep and there was plenty of space on the bed behind him.

"I could move baby."Ezra mumbled sleepily as I slipped my arm over his chest, careful not to go anywhere near his scar.

"Shh, go back to sleep Ez." I whispered, as I fell asleep.