Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the characters I create for the purpose of this story.
Angie walks into the small living room where Alice sits nursing her bruised hand.
"Serves you right. What were you thinking?" Angie says raising her hands in emphatically.
"You know me and PDA's. I was just showing Jackie my 'affection' ." Logan chuckles at her statement and receives a glare.
"Jackie Molina. Of course. It had to be her. I knew it was a bad idea allowing you to come here."
"Allowing me to come here?" Alice says dropping the ice pack as she stands to face her sister. "Since when do you 'allow' me to do anything?"
"Since you continue to make foolish decisions that impact your life and the life of my nephew."
"Stop being overdramatic."
"I'm not being overdramatic. We do not need anymore enemies. And you going out and slugging Jackie Molina just bought us one more. How do you think we can find our sister when we have to watch our backs as well?"
"Jackie is no threat."
"Says you. What about the one that trashed your car? For all you know Jackie was the one behind that. Don't you understand how dangerous this is getting?"
"I'm not scared." Alice states.
"Being scared has nothing to do with it. Anyone, if they really wanted to, can dig up dirt on us and hand it over to the police. I don't know about you but I prefer mom not having to visit us in prison."
"We aren't going to prison."
"Why because the great and all knowing Alice Palladino says so? The more enemies we make in this town the worse off we will be."
"I don't have to stay and hear you jump off on another tirade." Alice pushes past Angie, but is jerked back.
"I'm not letting you destroy your life or your son's. I won't."
Alice pulls her arm away from her sister's grasp.
"You are not here to be my babysitter."
"No I'm here to knock some sense into you. Its been over ten years the chances of…"
"I don't want to hear it."
"You have to!" Angie turns Alice around to face her. "It hurts me to think that our little sister may be gone for good, but I don't want to lose you too."
Alice remains silent.
"Fine, Alice. I'm done." Angie says, letting her hands drop to her sides. "I'm taking Lucas with me."
"No you're not." Alice states, coming out of her thoughts. "He's my son."
"When you get a grip of your sanity call me." Angie says, ignoring her sister's words.
"You know I can't leave. Not now." Angie pauses in her stride to Lucas's room and faces Alice.
"The only thing you are doing here is tempting some psycho in an all out war. And Why? Because you want to help the sister of the woman that made college almost unbearable for you."
"Melissa wasn't so bad."
"Oh yeah I'm sure the rather racy photos of you she post on every male bathroom on campus was just her way of welcoming you to campus." Alice rolls her eyes.
"Why you let this idiot here," Angie points in Logan's direction. "take pictures of you in lingerie is beyond me."
"You're just mad it was the same lingerie you bought and hid from mom all through high school."
"Not the point here." Angie says, "But while we are still on the subject. You still owe me lingerie."
"Its funny how you can weave the enormous amount of debts I have with you in every other conversation we have."
"Forget about that and listen to me when I tell you to stay away from Spencer and her whacked out family."
"I can't she's my student." It is now Angie's turn to roll her eyes.
"Aside from the whole student teacher thing. Stay away. I don't want you wrapped in whatever drama is going on at the Hasting House."
"Can't."
Angie clenches her fist in frustration.
"Why the hell not?" Angie asks growing increasingly more irritated at her sister. Logan decides to back away quietly and check on Lucas. No way was he going to get in the middle of this.
"She needs help."
"And you're just the one to do it." Angie says sarcastically.
"Yes."
"Veronica is a lawyer and far more equipped than us to defend her daughter in whatever she did or didn't do."
"I have to help her." Alice says with much conviction in her voice.
"Why? Why?" Angie asks then continues motioning to herself, "I'm your family! And I'm asking you to stay away."
"She's family too."
"Just because you empathize with her situation and the 'whole no one understands me' mentality doesn't make her family."
"This does." Alice says handing her a paper she pulled out of her purse.
Angie sits down on the couch in shock while rereading the contents of the tattered piece of paper in her hands.
"How?" Was all Angie could muster to ask.
"I had my suspicions, but it was until a few days after coming here that I was able to get enough for a test."
Angie tries to wrap her mind around the whole situation. All these questions swirling around in her head did not help matters.
"It started off as a scheme to somehow pay Ian back for everything he did to me and I ended up…"
"…finding our sister?" Angie supplies.
"Yes."
"Does she know?"
"No one besides the three of us know."
"You told Logan before you even thought to let me in on this discovery?"
"He was there…you weren't." Alice declares.
"I was….whatever it doesn't matter all that does matter is getting our sister back."
The loud doorbell interrupts the conversation. Logan is at the front door before the sisters.
A gentle breeze greets Logan as he opens the door to….no one. Logan crosses the threshold and glances down the street. His feet stumble upon a black gym bag on the ground before him. Logan hesitantly picks of the bag and makes his way back inside.
"Who was it?" Alice asks curiously. Logan closes and locks the door behind him.
"Just tell me this isn't yours." Logan says dropping the bag on the small table by the door.
"Where did you find it?" Alice asks cautiously.
"On the doorstep."
Logan's fears are confirmed when she all but runs to the bag. Alice opens the bag to find her workout clothes and shower kit. Angie starts to worry when Alice pulls out what appears to be a note.
Alice's face turns pale white upon reading the note.
"What's wrong? What does it say?" Angie asks. Alice wordlessly hands her the piece of paper.
Don't bother looking for it. I have it now. All you can do now is sit back and watch the news. Enjoy life as a free woman while it lasts.
Logan turns on the TV to the 10 p.m. news broadcast.
"It was just moments ago when police unearthed the body of Ian Thomas in the woods not far from his home. Sources say the police were tipped off by an anonymous source. They are currently interviewing close friends and family at this time. We will bring you the news as soon as it comes….."
Logan shuts off the TV. Silence envelopes the entire living room.
Angie is the first to break it. "I'm calling James. With any luck he'd know how to fix this."
"How is he going to get my sweater back?"
"He told me once that he had a cousin in the police department. His cousin might be able to find out if the sweater was turned in as evidence."
The whispers and shocked looks Spencer has gotten as of late continued even though the police had officially cleared her of Alison's murder. Once the rumor mill got hold of scandalous news they really beat it to death. No pun intended. Apparently the gossip gals whispering in the corner never picked up a paper or watched the news.
A small smile appeared on Spencer's face when she saw Ms. Palladino scold the girls away from the doorway to her classroom.
Spencer couldn't help but think there was something she was missing about the whole thing. Ms. Palladino did appear to be one of the few that believed in her innocence. While others she had known practically her whole life believed she should be locked up in a cold, damp cell for the rest of her life.
Still there were questions. Who was trying to warn her about Ms. Palladino? How does Ian fit in all of this? Is it foolish to think Ms. Palladino was not out to get them?
The knock at the door momentarily interrupted Ms. Palladino's lesson on Italian writers. James peeked through the doorway and waved her over. His normal easy going demeanor replaced by a serious mien.
"Wow he's hot." Mona exclaims as the teacher walks over to attend to the unannounced visitor.
"What are you doing here?"
"Angie, something is up." James whispers. "My cousin said they found your sister's sweater on that Ian guy. They're on their way here."
"Great." Angie runs her hands through her hair.
The girls look to each other in confusion. Something was up. Their teacher appeared disconcerted at whatever news this mysterious guy gave her.
"Alice was thinking it be better if you guys switched back before they got here."
"No." Angie dismisses the idea right away. "Go to the house and take Lucas to my grandmother's. Stay with them until I get there."
"I don't like this." James whispers.
"I don't either." James gives her hand a reassuring squeeze before slipping out the door.
Angie manages to gather her composure before addressing the class.
"Change of plans. We will be having a surprise essay test." An audible moan is heard from some of the students as they take out supplies. She goes on to explain the essay assignment.
"Extra credit for anyone that can use more than the three titles I gave you to articulate your point."
The loud beep emanating from her pocket alert Angie to a new text message.
First I destroy your little sister then I come for you. Orange isn't really Spencer's color. Don't tell her I said that.
Angie was too worried about the implications of the message to think about how the person got her number.
Angie looked up from her phone to see Spencer trying to concentrate on the assignment, but failing miserably as were her friends. Angie takes a deep breath before walking over.
"Spencer." Spencer looks up. "You need to call your mother."
Spencer looks at her in confusion. "Why?"
"Just do it." Angie says at the same a loud knock turns her attention to the door. Two uniformed officers are at the door. Angie walks over.
"We need to speak to one of your students."
"Can this wait? We're in the middle of a test."
"No ma'am. We need to speak to Spencer Hastings." The whispers start at the mention of Spencer's name.
The girls look on concerned. No doubt they found something else to accuse Spencer of. This was getting old real fast.
"I'm sorry but it will have to."
"I'm going to have to ask you to stay out of this if you want to avoid criminal charges."
"Unless the law has changed you can't question her without a parent present."
"The principal is notifying her as we speak. We need to take Miss Hastings to the office now."
Angie turns to Spencer. "Spencer."
"I knew this was a bad idea." Alice says pacing around the room. James had just left with Lucas a few moments ago. He stayed long enough to rely Angie's message to her.
"Just calm down." Logan says.
"Calm down? You want me to calm down when my sister is going to go down for something that wasn't her fault." Alice says waving her arms in the air.
Logan grabs a hold of her hands and guides her to the couch.
"Ace, you need to calm down. Everything is going to be fine. Trust me."
Relief washes over Spencer's face when her mother walks through the doors.
"I'm glad you called me."
"I'm glad you came." Spencer admits. Veronica Hastings is momentarily distracted by the commotion going in the other room.
Angie swiftly walks out of the other room.
"They didn't question you without me, did they?" Veronica asks.
"No."
The principal and the two cops walk over to them.
"We apologize for dragging you down here, Ms. Hastings. I was a bit of a misunderstanding." The principal says.
"Misunderstanding?"
"Yes. A sweater we believed to belong to your daughter was found near your son-in-law's body. A Miss Alice Palladino has assured us that the sweater in question was hers. Therefore there is no further need to question your daughter at this time."
"Wait, what?"
"Come, Spencer. Lets go home." Veronica Hastings says ushering Spencer out of the room.
Angie arrived at her sister's house completely drained. She thanked her lucky stars that she chose a different career path. Teaching was all fun in theory, but when it came down to it, it was not her cup of tea. She have to give her mother and sister kudos for jumping in head first. It takes an exceptional person to motivate and cultivate young minds like that.
It was in the middle of her musings that she noticed Alice sitting on the wooden rail of the white gazebo.
Angie sighed. She wasn't all too thrilled when she found out Logan snagged the Delaurentis house. They were teetering on dangerous territory living there even if it was only a month to month lease.
She walked towards her sister and noticed her medium frame shaking. Fresh flowing tears replaced dried tears on Alice's tear stained cheeks. Angie joins Alice on the wooden rail.
"I sit here and think about how close we came to losing her." Angie wraps an arm around her sister to comfort her. "And we would have never known it."
Angie picks up on Alice's train of thought.
"While I'm glad our sister is alive I can't help but feel sorry for the young life that was lost."
"Its hard to feel sorry for someone when you know what a terrible person they were in life."
"What are you talking about?"
"I found this hidden under the floor boards in Lucas's room." Alice hands over a black leather-bound book. Angie's fingers trace over the fancy white lettering. Alison.
"You found the girl's diary." Angie says opening the book before closing it once again.
"She got her kicks by making other people miserable."
"She was a teenage girl. It comes with the territory. Plus I remember a certain teenager who glued Susan Tangers heels to the floor to keep her from asking Ezra to dance." Angie says placing the diary back in her sister's hands.
"Its not about teenage hormones and prom queens. She went on and on how our sister and her friends were her creation and nothing more. She reveled in having power over them."
"A little overzealous and power hungry. Nothing more."
"You acting pretty nonchalant over this. This girl terrorized our sister."
"Alison was not some elementary school bully. Plus I can almost guarantee our sister stood up to her."
"I just hate reading it and to know that I wasn't there to help her."
"We've terrorized enough bullies in our day, sis. I think its time to hang up those bully-crushing heels."
A small chuckle escapes Alice's lips before turning serious again.
"There is still a bully out there, Angie."
Angie sighs. "I know. I keep seeing that text in my mind. This whole thing unnerves me."
"Me, too. On the brightside we do have a slight advantage."
"What's that?
"There are two of us. Which, so far, is something this person is unaware of."
"We could use that to our advantage."
"Good to have you back, Thelma." Alice says with a smile. Angie chuckles.
"Never really left, Louise." Angie reponds.
"All the Thelma and Louise stuff aside, I do want you to know that having you with me makes all this easier to deal with." Alice says pulling Angie to her in a warm embrace.
"Always and where ever you need me."
It was not long after their conversation in the backyard that they decided to head back inside.
Angie handed Alice a brown coffee mug and sat down next to her on the living room couch.
"I still remember the look of horror on her face when you told her you had an uncle that could rub her out if she so much as looked at our baby sister funny."
"What? It worked."
"She nearly wet herself the day he showed up at school on career day. Never seen someone so scared to take a chocolate chip cookie from a baker before."
"Best part of cutting class." Alice says taking a sip of her coffee.
Logan walks into the room carrying a duffel bag. He drops it on the small coffee table without a word.
"Mind getting your smelly workout clothes off the table." Angie says scrunching her nose.
"Its not my clothes." Logan says opening the bag and stepping back so the girls could peer into it.
"Where did you get this?" Alice questions. Angie picks up a large stack of bills.
"Officer Garrett paid me to leave town." Alice snatches the money out of Angie's hands.
"Its going back."
"Come on, Alice. Think of what we could do with the money." Angie states.
"More importantly, Ace. Think of how much more we can squeeze out of him."
"We are not squeezing anything out of him. Too risky."
"She's right. Plus from what Alice has told me I think it would be in our best interest to acquire information rather than money."
That's it for now. Sorry about the long wait. In response to .dreamers' review, I am a Gilmore Girls fan. However, I really wasn't thinking about it when I wrote it into the story. Funny how things happen huh? Well anyways hope you forgive the long wait and look forward to another chapter. Hopefully sometime soon. Until then let me know what you all think of this chapter. Please review. It makes me tons of happy.
Until next time,
Ancient 85