Chapter 54
Aria's pov
Spencer and I were at her locker, so she could grab her stuff for French class. None of us had said a word about what we learned about Alison and Courtney since last night, I checked the time on my phone even though I know it isn't lunch yet. I put my phone in my bag and glanced over towards Alison, we were supposedly her best friends back then and she never told us about Courtney or anything else. And how could she just blackmail someone who at the time was my father and would willingly call my mother to tell her? I know I should have told Ella myself... I just didn't want our family to break up, even though it broke anyway.
"Don't do it. I know you want to snap at Alison, I get it Aria." Spencer said quietly as I kept glancing over at Alison, who was talking with Hanna and Naomi down the hallway.
"No, Spencer you don't. She wasn't blackmailing your dad for $5,000 about some affair and threatened him to tell your mom about it, not caring if it hurt you or not. And she didn't date your man." I snapped quietly and realized I wasn't fully over the fact that Alison and Ezra dated.
"I thought you were over that and forgave him?" She asked and I nodded.
"I honestly did forgive Ezra, but I didn't forgive her. She could have told us about him and everything else, but as usual she didn't." I said and Spencer nodded.
"Well if it helps, she got my man sent to juvie." She said and I rolled my eyes.
"He wouldn't have gone if we told the cops the truth." I pointed out and she gave me a look.
"He took the blame instead for us, and also to get away from Jenna." She reminded me just as two police officers walked into the hallway with the principal, who pointed down the hall.
"What's going on?" I whispered to Spencer, who was checking her phone.
"No idea, Toby didn't send a warning of any kind." She said and we looked down the hall to see them stop at Mona's locker.
"NO!" She screamed, she ran towards us and slammed me into the locker when she noticed that I was watching.
"I can make your worst nightmare come true bitch!" She screamed as an officer grabbed her. Without missing a beat, Mona bit the officer and ran off.
"Are you okay?" Spencer asked and I couldn't speak. I can't have Ezra get hurt again.
"Ezra's home alone..." I whispered and she pulled out her phone.
"Nothing is going to happen to him, I'll call Toby and see if he can have someone stay by your place. Wasn't he coming here to have lunch with you?" She asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, he's planning on taking me to Rive Gouche." I said, knowing she's just trying to calm me down.
"Rive Gouche, that's a pretty romantic place isn't it?" She asked and I nodded again, not really being able to speak.
"Search everywhere for her!" We heard, I felt my stomach turn to knots and I couldn't breathe.
"Take deep breathes Aria. In and out, in and out, in and out. Good, keep it up and close your eyes." She instructed and I closed my eyes while continuing my breathing. As started to feel a bit better, an image of Ezra getting shot at home made my eyes pop open and I couldn't stop the tears.
"I need to go home! Ezra needs me!" I cried and Spencer pulled me away from my locker as I tried to open it.
"Aria, look at me. Breathe, Toby is having someone go to him right now. Ezra is safe, no one is going to hurt him." She said and I took another deep breath, before I could say anything the fire alarm went off.
"Come on." She said, she took my hand and I followed her along with everyone else in the hallways towards the exits. As everyone started pushing and shoving as they ran out of the building, I lost grip of her hand and I felt a hand go over my mouth. The person started to get me farther away from Spencer and everyone else.
"Stop struggling." I heard as they led me through the crowds, until there was an empty hallway and I started trying to fight back. I saw who it was as they slammed my head into a locker before tossing me in a janitors closet. I tried to elbowed them but they placed an oxygen mask over my mouth and I couldn't get it off, no matter how hard I tried.
"I'll tell Ezra you said hi." He said as everything went black, but not before I got a look at the person.
...
Spencer's pov
I stared at the entrance of the school, trying not to cry in front of everyone. Even though I lost grip on her hand, I knew Aria was right behind me. It wouldn't take her this long to come out.
"Maybe she went to find Mike." Chloe suggested and I shook my head.
"Mike was out front when I got out, that's how I knew she wasn't with me anymore. He asked where she was after awhile, he thought I knew she hadn't come out." I said.
"Where's Aria?" I turned to see Caleb, the second he saw my face they could tell something was wrong.
"I... I lost Aria." I said, my lip trembling. Chloe pulled me into a hug just as Toby came up... with Ezra.
"I don't know where she is... she was right behind me. People started pushing and shoving... I don't think this is a normal case of getting separated in a crowd." I managed and Ezra's eyes widened as he looked at the school and it strangle got a lot warmer.
"Aria..." he whispered as we turned around to see the school starting to burn.
"Aria!" Ezra yelled and tried to go into the building, but Toby and Caleb held him back as some students looked over at us.
"This was all Mona's plan!" I cried and they looked at me.
"She knew Aria would go to the cops about her shooting Ezra, she resisted arrest and then disappeared! Now Aria's missing, and probably still freaking out!" I cried and Ezra looked confused.
"Aria Montgomery is still in the building, we believe this is foul play. Mona Vanderwaal may have something to do with this." Toby said into his walkie talkie, I covered my face with my hands and groaned.
'This is why you shouldn't tattle. -A'
"Damnit!" Ezra said went by a tree, before any of us could say or do anything he punched it.
"Get him some ice, Aria isn't going to be happy that you're injured again." I said as Caleb went to go find someone who might have ice.
"I need to go find Aria." Ezra said, we held him back as he tried to go towards the school once more.
"We're going to find her, but you can't go into the building." I told him and he stared at the building.
"My gut is telling me she's fine... but I don't know if I believe it, not until I see her." I said and Ezra looked at me.
"What did you mean when you said Aria was still freaking out?" He asked.
"When the officers came to arrest Mona, she slammed Aria into the lockers and said 'I can make your worse nightmare come true.' And right now, her worst nightmare is you getting hurt again." I said and he looked back at the school.
"Where's Aria and Maya?" Emily asked coming over and we shared a look with one another before looking back at the school.
"I'm going to go ask people if they saw anything when you lost Aria and if they saw Maya." Toby said and we nodded as he walked off, radioing in about Maya as well.
...
Aria's pov
I slowly opened my eyes when I felt the temperature rising faster and noticed that I was no longer in the closet but in the hallway. I started coughing as smoke entered my nose and mouth, how the hell did I get out here?
'You're not going to win this way Mona.' I thought as I coughed and tried getting myself to stand up. I noticed someone within the smoke that was building up.
"Aria?" I heard and Maya appeared.
"We need to get out of-" Maya started to say but we heard some sort of explosion and more flames came. We looked at each other then at a window, there's only one way out of here.
"It's either jump or burn." She said and I took my sweater off, I held out my hand for her. Flames started towards us and we looked at one another.
"There's no time to count!" I said and we ran towards the window. I held my breath, bracing myself...
