Thanks for reviewing the last chapter. Here's another.
As the hours on New Year's Eve ticked by, the closer they grew to a new year. Everybody inside is getting all hyped up for the new year. That or most of them are drunk by now. It's 11:59, which means sixty seconds until the New Year. Toby managed to escape the large crowd of people and ventured off onto the balcony The chill of the late night air hit his skin, causing it to turn pale. He could hear the roars and screams from other people's parties down below and across the streets. He walks over to the edge of the balcony and leans his body over it. Going into this New Year without his best friend just doesn't seem right to him. Spencer should be here.
"49, 48, 47, 46, 45!"
Toby could hear the muffled voices of everyone inside chanting down to the new year. He wondered how the world could possibly go on without one person here. One person who meant so much to him and still does. He dug through his pocket for his wallet and dug out a picture. It's a picture he took of her on her fourteenth birthday. Her eyes are sparkling and her brown hair is flowing beautifully in the wind. That smile on her face is unlike any other. For once, she looks so happy. Maybe she wasn't. Now that he's getting a good look at it, her eyes look tired and her they appear to have dark circles under them. How could he have been so clueless to notice that she was still in pain?
"Well, Spence," he said, looking up at the stars. He thought that maybe if he talked to the sky, it's possible Spencer will hear what he has to say. As if somehow it would bring her back.
"I made it through my first semester in college. After I finish up my second semester, I'll be onto the police academy to start my training. This year has been intense, but it's hard knowing that I started this year with you by my side and I'm ending it without you," his eyes started to water again.
"I just want you to know that you were the best friend I've ever had. You brought so much joy into my life and I wish I could've done a better job of returning the favor. I feel like it's my fault you're gone. I-I should've done a better job of protecting you and I'm sorry," he sniffled. "I'm so sorry I failed to do that, Spencer. Because of that, I feel like I failed you. The only new year's resolution I have for next year is a chance to see your face again. I just want to hear your voice. I just really miss you."
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Happy New Year!"
He heard everybody shout. Pretty soon, the sky was lit up with hundreds of fireworks bursting through the air. There were so many colors and designs. Spencer loved fireworks. Toby stares down at his picture of her.
"Happy New Year, Spencer," he leaned down to kiss the image as if she were actually here. "I love you."
"So, that's why you didn't want to go home this Christmas."
The voice behind him startled him. He jumped around to see Emily standing right outside the door. She's wearing a gray hat over her long, black hair. The small smile on her face turned into a sad one. Toby stood there not knowing what to say.
"You heard all of that?" He finally asked.
"Not all of it," she said while walking over to join him by the ledge. "I came out here to check on you and couldn't help but overhear you saying her name. This Spencer girl, who was she?"
Toby sighed, "in the town where I grew up, I lived down the street from this family. They had a daughter and I sort of looked after her. Spencer's mother died when she was very young and her father was not a very nice guy. He would hit her and one day, he almost got her killed in a car crash. Spencer was a very close friend of mine who I grew to care about very much."
"Were you afraid to go back home in fear of running into her or something? I don't understand. I would think you would be happy to go back so you could see her again."
"Spencer is the reason I can't go back."
"Why?" Emily asked. "What happened to her?"
Toby looked up sadly, "Spencer Hastings is dead. Her body was found in the woods behind my house."
As if on cue, all the fireworks stopped shooting up all at once. The sky grew dark and quiet again. Emily looked at him sympathetically.
"Oh, Toby, that's horrible. Was she murdered?"
He shook his head, "the police think she killed herself. Ever since I found out, I blamed myself for her death. If I was a better friend to her and did a better job of protecting her, she might still be alive right now."
"Toby," Emily touched his shoulder. "It's not your fault."
He nodded sadly, "but I feel like it is."
"Did you love her?" She asked. "Spencer."
A stray tear rolled down his cheek, "she was my best friend."
Emily moved her hand down his back, "I'm so sorry for your lose."
"Thank you," he attempted a smile.
"What was she like?" She asked, and he looked at Emily. "If Spencer was this really important person in your life, she must've been really great. I'm kind of intrigued to hear about her."
Toby chuckled and looked up at the starry sky, "there are no words to describe her. Spencer was without of doubt the most unpredictable girl I've ever met. You never knew what she was going to do next. One day, she would be asking me to kiss her just to know what it's like. The next day, she'd be trying to trip me in a puddle of mud."
Emily laughed, "she sounds like a handful."
He laughed too, "you have no idea. I wish you all could've met her. I have this strange feeling in my gut that if you did know here, you two would be the best of friends. It's too bad that day will never happen."
They were so close. So close to getting Spencer out of this hell hole. Now, Toby is under investigation after somebody spread rumors about him sleeping with one of the inmates. Of course, the inmate he's suspected of sleeping with is the one he's trying to help get out. Toby has never had sex with Spencer before, but he can't really deny the fact that he's sort of seeing her. If only, there was some loophole out of this mess.
Spencer was walking into the cafeteria when she heard about it. One of the girls in the room came up to her and said something snarky.
"Just look at Spencer, slutting it up with the guards."
She freaked out when she first heard people say that to her. Now, she's wondering how the guards found out. If could've been her own fault when she demanded to see Toby at 2 o'clock in the morning. Toby said he was able to cover that with her just simply wanting to ask him if there was any way she could get out early. Wilden seemed to buy it until somebody's loose lips decided to squeal. Who would rat her relationship with Toby out to the other guards? Then, one person came to mind.
This afternoon, Spencer will be on dryer duty in the laundry room. Samara will also be down there folding clothes. When she entered the room, Samara was already in there with one other girl. A redhead. The redhead was waiting for Samara to stack the clothes on a cart so she could deliver them upstairs to the restrooms. Spencer quietly walked into the laundry room and quietly got started on putting the clothes from the washer into the dryer. As soon as the redhead left with the cart full of towels, Spencer slammed the door to the dryer shut. In one swift move, Spencer slapped the wash rag out of Samara's right hand, grabbed hold of her wrist, and pinned her back against the washer. Samara looked truly terrified.
"Why did you tell the guard about me and Toby?" She demanded.
"What?" Samara asked, confused.
"You told Wilden that I was seeing Toby. How could you do that to me? Was it because he was working on getting me out of here?"
"What makes you think that I'm the one who told Wilden?"
"You're the only person I told about us. You and Paige. Paige is already out of here, so she wouldn't care too much about me leaving. That leaves you. Why did you tell the guards?"
"I didn't," Samara said.
"Don't lie!"
"Spencer, I swear, it wasn't me who told."
"How else would somebody find out?"
"I don't know," Samara sighed defensively. "Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you two would start tonguing each other whenever you thought nobody was looking. Maybe Wilden figured it out when you started screaming at the guards to bring him to your cell. I'm really sorry that your relationship with Toby got out, but let's be honest here. You two were pretty careless when it came to sneaking around."
Spencer slowly let go of her wrists and backed away. Samara lowered her hands after smoothing them through her blonde hair.
"Toby is being suspected of sleeping with me," Spencer said. She shook her head, "and we never did. We never hooked up. Not like that."
"How are you going to convince Wilden that there's nothing going on between you two when there really is?"
"Well, if the rumor is that Toby slept with me. Maybe if I can honestly say that never happened, they'll believe that we're not a thing."
"Okay, but you still don't know who ratted you out. You have to be careful."
"I know," Spencer said. "I think the only way to do that is to end things with Toby. As long as I'm in here, we can't be in the same room."
"Hastings," Officer, Fields gestured towards her. "You're wanted in Wilden's office. You have some questions to answer."
Spencer nodded, "okay."
"Please tell me that what I'm hearing Isn't true, Cavanaugh," Wilden shook his head. "I really don't want to believe that you slept with one of the inmates. That doesn't look good for you, this place, or for me."
Toby sat in one of the chairs behind Wilden's desk tapping his fingertips together. What is he supposed to say? "No, I never had sex with Spencer, but I'm sort of seeing here." He can't tell them that. He's just going to have to convince Wilden and everybody else that there's nothing sexual going on between them. This was probably another reason why Spencer wanted to keep her distance. Judge William will be the one asking the questions today. William sat in Wilden's chair while Wilden took the chair by the window.
"Now," William began. "Mr. Cavanaugh, how would you describe your relationship with Spencer Hastings?"
"I would say it's business. On Wilden's request, I was the officer who was assigned to tend to her and keep an eye on her. I've always done my job when it came to her."
"Wilden," William looked at him. "Is it true? Did you assign Toby to keep a watch on Spencer?"
Wilden nodded, "Yes, that's true."
"I see," William turned back towards Toby. "Last week, I was told that Spencer woke up the guards early in the morning and demanded to see you. Can you explain that?"
"Spencer is a very closed off girl. She doesn't react well to the other guards. It does sound strange, but Spencer called me because she wanted my advice on getting out on probation."
"That's another thing that's true," Wilden said. "Spencer won't listen to the other guards, but she seems to react well to Cavanaugh."
"Why do you suppose that is, Mr. Cavanaugh?"
Toby shrugged, "maybe I give off a gentle yet still firm tone."
"I see," William mused. "And, have you have performed sexual activity with her?"
"No," he said quickly. "I've never hooked up with anybody here. Whoever you heard that from is not telling the truth."
Just then, Officer Fields brought in Spencer. Her hair is tied back in a messy ponytail and she's in her usual orange jumpsuit. Toby kept his head forward while they brought her into sit in one of the chairs. What is she going to tell them? She's a much better liar than he is, so maybe she can get herself out of this mess. If they do get caught, it would be his own fault. She kept trying to warn him and he didn't listen. He ignored reason and went with whatever is heart wanted.
"Cavanaugh, why don't you wait out in the hall while we question Spencer?" Wilden suggested.
He nodded then stood up to walk out of the office. After Toby left the room, all eyes were on Spencer. She sat in the chair with her hands folded together in her lap.
"Do you know why you're here?" Judge William asked.
Spencer shrugged, "because you guys are accusing me of sleeping with the guards."
William went on, "we were told by somebody here that they saw you with officer Cavanaugh."
"Well, of course," Spencer smirked and crossed her arms. "Just assume it's Spencer ya know slutting it up and all."
"Don't be sassy, Hastings," Wilden scolded.
She rolled her eyes and the judge asked another question, "you never performed sexual activity with officer Cavanaugh?"
"No," she said rather harsh like. "I've never even performed sexual activity with anyone outside this prison. The only guard here who has been harassing me the whole time I've been here is Garrett Reynolds. He's the one you people should be questing."
"Officer Garrett Reynolds resigned a couple weeks ago," Wilden said.
"Huh," Spencer mused. "That explains the lack of bastard-activity here."
"So," William began. "You never had sex with Officer Cavanaugh."
"No, I think it's rude and little sexist for you all to think that I would try to "slut my way out of here,' cause it seems to me that's what you all are suggesting. I just wanted to know if there was a way for me to get out on probation. Now, you're accusing me of sleeping with officer Cavanaugh? What's next? Are you going to request that I take a pregnancy test to see if I'm carrying his child?"
William looked at Wilden, "I think we're done with questions here. We'll look into this more and see what we can come up with. As for your request to get out on probation young lady... You've earned it."
"What?" Spencer said, a little shocked.
Wilden took his seat back after Judge William stood up.
"You're getting out on probation," Wilden said. "Tomorrow at 12 pm."
"What changed your minds?"
"The fact that the rumor of officer Cavanaugh sleeping with you came from one of the other inmates. It sounds like they only said that to try to prevent you from getting out early out of jealousy."
"Who started this rumor?" She asked.
"Cora," Wilden said. "She said she saw officer Cavanaugh banging you in the laundry room."
"Well, that's a lie," Spencer said. "Officer Cavanaugh and I have never been together like that."
Spencer was escorted out of Wilden's office and back to her own cell. When she passed by Toby, she kept her head down and eyes forward. A small smile spread out across her face. She's finally getting out of here and soon. Things are looking pretty good for her right now.
Yay! Spencer's getting out on probation! That was a close call for them. Of course, Cora was the one to sell them out. Now that Spencer is getting out, what will this mean for Spoby? Will she go back to Rosewood? Maybe she will end up meeting Toby's friends after all. Thanks for reading. Please, don't forget to review. (:
P.S. Happy Holidays!- Xox.