Pretty Little Liars: Paying the Cost

Chapter 4 of my Pretty Little Liars story.

Reviews

Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)
Parent12D: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it :) Not first met but yes, first kiss ;) Yes indeed and well, it was more a business dinner. Not necessarily, it could still be one person, after all, there was a reasonable gap between the two messages being sent. Well, we can only wait and see, something is certainly not right about it :) Yes well, there's good reason for that, as this chapter will show :)
Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, yes indeed :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars or its characters.


Season 1: Episode 4

"It, it can't be, them…" Hanna whispered.

Aria shook her head. "Jenna...Toby, what, what are they…?"

"I thought Toby was in some sort of reform school?" Spencer whispered. "And Jenna, didn't she have a place at some school for, for the blind?"

Emily bit her lip. "I guess they're back, but…"

She felt awkward, guilty even, the others noticed and all three felt the same. After all, they knew exactly how Jenna had ended up the way she was, it was their fault after all, that The Jenna Thing happened. They remained rooted to the spot, their minds falling back to that terrible incident.

***Memory***

It had all started roughly a year ago, a few days before Alison's vanishing, when Ali and the girls had been getting dressed in Emily's room, all trying on each other's clothes and such. Alison had been looking at herself in the mirror, when all of a sudden she had cried out and claimed she had spotted Toby Cavanaugh peeping through the bedroom window while the girls were getting dressed.

Alison began ranting about Toby being a pervert and that he probably saw them naked. When Aria asked if they should tell someone what just happened, Alison said that she had a better idea.

Alison's plan had been to go to Toby's house to set off what she claimed was a stink bomb in the garage (which was Toby's hangout at the time). Aria, Hanna, Emily and Spencer didn't think it was a good idea. Emily wanted to go back and Aria suggested telling everything to the cops, but Alison wasn't willing to change her mind. When asked by Spencer if she was sure that Toby was the one spying on them, Alison said that she was completely sure.

The other girls didn't have the courage to stand up to Alison, who eventually managed to persuade them.

Alison told the girls that she simply had planned a harmless prank to teach Toby a lesson and assured them that no one was inside. She got a lighter from Spencer and lit the stink bomb. After opening the garage back door, Alison looked quickly inside and then she threw the stink bomb into the garage. She immediately closed the door and she told the girls to run, without saying what she had just seen inside. The girls were running while the stink bomb, which had turned out to actually be a firecracker, caused an explosion and the garage caught fire. As the girls stopped and turned around to see the fire, they heard a scream coming from inside the garage: it was Jenna, who would end up blind due to the explosion. The girl then, afraid, ran away.

***Memory***

The girls shuddered at the memory, recalling how they had all considered talking to the police, but Alison had pretty much strong-armed them into saying nothing and then, after confronting Toby about something, he ended up confessing that he was the one who set the garage on fire, resulting in him being sent to a reform school.

They all stepped back, up against the lockers as Jenna and Toby passed, watching awkwardly. Then, just after they turned the corner, their phones buzzed. They all checked and their eyes widened and, after some comparison, realised they all had the same message.

"Well, well, looks like you all saw a ghost, I guess your sins have come home. A."

Now they all felt sick to their stomach, somehow A knew about The Jenna Thing.

XXXXX

Before they even had a chance to pull themselves together, the PA system crackled to life and the Principal's voice spoke through.

"Emily Fields, please report to the Principal's Office."

Emily shared a look with the others before making her way there. Reaching the office she knocked on the door and entered.

"Ah Emily." The Principal greeted her.

Emily swallowed. "Y-yes sir?"

She noted briefly there was someone in the other chair, back to her.

The Principal smiled and explained. "We have a new student starting today, we're hoping you'll be able to show her around."

"Oh, um, of course." Emily replied.

Any further reply she may have had was lost in her surprise when she saw that the new girl turned out to be none other than Maya.

XXXXX

Ryan grimaced as he tried to focus on his work. It wasn't easy as once again sounds seemed to be muted, but even if they hadn't been, he was too anxious to focus properly.

'I just don't...I don't know what she has planned…' He thought. 'It can't be just a coincidence that she's here.'

He was thinking about the teacher, the very one he had been anxious about since he first noticed her starting at the school. Luckily the bell rang and he was relieved as he began to pack up, but before he could reach the door she spoke up.

"Ryan Ericson." She said. "Could you hold on a moment place."

Ryan froze, but swallowed and stayed, on edge and anxious, turning to face her once they were alone.

"Ma'am?" He greeted carefully.

She smiled. "Is everything alright, you've been a little...distracted in class lately."

"I'm...I'm fine." He replied. "Really."

With that he politely excused himself and left the classroom and tried to stay calm, to his relief sounds seemed to be travelling normally again. Walking down the corridor he found himself walking past a familiar looking girl.

"Hi Ryan." Aria Montgomery greeted him with a smile.

Ryan returned the smile and greeting and made his way to his locker while Aria walked with Spencer.

"You seemed quite happy to see Ryan Ericson?" She noted with a smile.

Aria just gave a short laugh. "Well, we're gonna be seeing a lot of each other. Now that we're onto the group part of our English projects, Mr. Fitz paired the two of us up to work together."

"Oh, well, good for you." Spencer said, before biting her lip awkwardly. "I'm, working with Toby, in another class...God, I don't even know what to say to him."

Aria grimaced, knowing exactly what Spencer meant by that.

With it being lunch time Emily smiled lightly as they stopped outside the cafeteria.

"So, that's the grand tour I guess." Emily stated to Maya. "What do you think?"

Maya just smiled. "Well, it's kinda big, bigger than my last school."

Emily nodded, just listening to Maya as she continued to talk about some of her past. Their time spent around the school had been rather fun, it had certainly drawn them closer and left Emily asking questions.

'What the hell is wrong with me, I've not felt like this since...no, I shouldn't be feeling this, I'm with-' She thought quickly.

"So, Emily, what do you think?" Maya asked suddenly.

Emily started and bit her lip, embarrassed. "Wh-what?"

Maya just laughed a little, stepping a little closer. "I was asking-"

"Hey, Emily."

They both turned to see a tall boy with a normal build, short black hair and brown eyes, fair skin and dressed rather well and was smiling warmly.

"Hi Ben." Emily greeted her boyfriend, Ben Coogan. "Oh, this is Maya, she just started here today."

Maya greeted him warmly. "Hi there."

Ben nodded in greeting too and Emily had to remind herself again, she was dating Ben, they were happy, all the confusion she was feeling had to be pushed away.

Before they could say anything, shouting got their attention. They all turned to see they weren't the only ones, so many were watching as Hanna was looking shocked and horrified as she argued with another boy, blonde hair, blue eyes, light skin. Her boyfriend Sean Ackard.

"Sean, I don't know what you are talking about!" Hanna cried as she followed him as he stormed away.

Sean scoffed as they rounded a corner, now out of sight. "Don't play games Hanna, I can't believe you'd do this to me!"

"What am I supposed to have done?!" Hanna demanded.

Sean turned to her, furious. "Oh, so you've forgotten this already!"

With that he practically threw something at Hanna, she managed to catch them and looked, her eyes widening in horror as she saw several pictures of herself, in varying states of undress, all clearly taken from her own webcam.


End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.