Hey, it's really late but I just wanted to get this chapter up before I went to bed. Excuse any mistakes please, I really have no energy to go through and read the whole thing. Thanks and enjoy.

Spencer sat in history continuing to take notes of everything the teacher said. She knew that senior year was on of the most important. Even though the year had only just begun she didn't want to start off on a bad note. College was the next step in her life and she'd be pissed if she didn't get into the school she wanted. Ever since A had entered thier lives at the beginning of junior year it was hard to focus on school. It was like they were always to busy looking over their shoulder instead of finishing math homework. Spencer didn't know if A was going to follow her to college. It would be difficult for the anonymous person keep track of all four of them if they were in different places. But, she didn't doubt for a second that A could figure something out. No matter what they did A always seemed to be one step ahead of them.

Suddenly, Spencer's phone began buzzing and she slowly put her pencil down. Usually, if this was any other situation she would just leave the text message unread. But, it was unlike her friends to text her during class if there wasn't an emergency. They all knew how stressed she was about college and didn't want to cause more by distracting her in class. She felt her heartbeat pick up as she reached down into the pocket she kept her phone in. After a quick glance to the teacher she pulled out her phone and opened the text, it was from Emily.

SOS, girl's bathroom

-Emily

Her heart drop as she finished reading the text and slowly placed the phone back into her pocket. Whenever one of them sent out SOS it usually meant that something was seriously wrong. If Emily was in the girl's bathroom, Hanna and Aria were probably there, too. Spencer looked at the time to see that there was still a half an hour left of class. Ignoring the urge to stay until the end of class she raised her hand. After about a minute the teacher noticed her and asked her what was wrong.

"Can I please use the bathroom?" She said in the sweetest voice she could. If he said no then that meant she wouldn't be able to go see Emily. One of the girls could be in danger and she'd be stuck in class. The panic began to rise in her as her teacher seemed to think about it for a second.

"Well, I guess you can, hurry back." He answered while waving his hands towards the clock. Without looking back she quickly stood up and practically ran out of the room. As she made her way through the halls she couldn't help the panic that continued to rise in her. Did this mean that A was back again? It felt like a sort of vacation with A being gone. Even though there was the stress of trying to figure out what they were planning. She knew that since A had been silent for so long that whatever it was had to be big. Her thoughts drifted back to what happened to Maya as she rounded the corner. The poor girl had been pushed down a flight of steps and had her leg broken in two places. She was in a wheelchair for a whole month and Emily walked around blaming herself. Spencer didn't think she could handle something like that happening, again.

When she finally reached the entrance to the bathroom she burst through the door. Aria and Hanna stood by the sinks looking upset. Emily, who was pacing back and forth, had the look of confusion on her face. She moved farther into the bathroom and ran her fingers shakly through her hair. Something was definitely wrong.

"What happened?" Spencer said when Emily finally stopped pacing and looked to her. She tried to gather her thoughts but it just seemed impossible. The locker had been Paige's, she just couldn't wrap her head around it. Why would Paige do this to them? Was she A? When Aria realized that the other girl was going to answer, she stepped forward.

"Hanna's phone was missing this morning so we went looking for it. We called it but we could hear anything so we gave up and started our way back to first period. When we were about to turn the corner we heard rings coming from a locker. We eventually found which locker it was coming from." Aria whispered. Spencer was quiet as she waited for Aria to continue. "We've been standing in the bathroom for the last ten minutes trying to figure out why Hanna's phone was in Paige McCullers' locker." Aria finished as Spencer let out the breathe she was holding. She tried to process the information but it was just to much to handle.

"Why would she want Hanna's phone? Do you think she's A?" Spencer asked, shaking her head. There was no explanation as to why Paige would do this to them. Spencer knew that the other girl was a little extreme, but why torment them.

"I don't get how she could be A, it just doesn't add up. I don't even think I've ever had a conversation with her before." Hanna whispered, obviously getting upset by the whole situation. Emily didn't contribute to the conversation and continued to just stare ahead. She had been on the same swim team with Paige since freshman year. She felt betrayed.

"Paige can be a little intense sometimes but is she really capable of murder? Whoever A is has to have some connection with Alison and her death. Did Paige even know who Alison was?" Spencer asked after checking the time on her phone. There was only fifteen minutes until second period started and she knew they had to get back soon. They all stood in silence trying to figure out if Paige had any connection to the blond that had been murdered. All of them knew that Alison was a vicious person, so it was hard to pinpoint all the people that had hated her. She made eniemes with practically half of the school, suspects were everywhere. Even if Paige was connected to Alison some way would that be enough to accuse her of murder? Spencer could remember a time when they had all been suspicious of Toby, too.

"Oh my God!" Hanna yelled suddenly, bringing everyone out of their thoughts. "I remember Mona mentioning something about Paige before. I didn't really think much of it at the time because Alison was a bitch to everyone. But, I think she said that Alison refured to her as 'pigskin' or something. I can't really remember." Spencer's head snapped up as she heard Hanna mention the nickname. Her memories instantly went back to the day she had seen the huge bruise on Alison's back.

"Alison mentioned that nickname before. There was a bruise on her back one day and when I ask what happened she told me she was kicked in soccer by 'pigskin'. If that's Paige then they obviously had some type of violent past with eachother." Spencer whispered, filling the others in on what she remembered. If Paige really was A then they needed to think of a plan before anything bad happened. For once they had the upper hand in the situation and Spencer knew they had to think fast. they needed to know more about Paige's past before they could draw any conclussions. If they could get Paige to open up about whatever went on between her and Alison then they might have a better idea. Did whatever Paige go through with Alison make her angry enough to kill the blonde? She knew that Emily was going to have to be the one to talk to Paige. Spencer looked over to the dark haired girl who still seemed to be in shock.

"Em, you're gonna have to talk to Paige and try to find out more. Tell her that you need to ask her something after school about the swim meet. We need to act fast before she finds out that we know about the phone" Emily looked at Spencer in disbelief even though she knew the other girl was right. When Spencer saw Emily's face she quickly continued. "I promise that we'll hide somewhere by you, we won't leave you alone with her. If she tries to do something we'll be right there to help you. You're the only one of us that has a reason to actually need to talk to her. It would look suspicious if anyone else did it." Spencer said which seemed to calm down Emily a bit.

"Alright, I'll text her in eighth period and ask her if she could meet me by the pool after class. You guys can hide in the locker rooms so she doesn't see you. I'll just tell her that I need to know something about swimming. I have her number already so that won't be a problem. Coach made everyone exchange numbers on the team at the start of the season." Emily whispered, knowing that this plan could go horribly wrong. She was finding it difficult to actually feel fearful towards Paige. The girl just seemed so sad sometimes and Emily couldn't really see her hurting someone. Paige was so focused on swimming that it didn't even seem like she would have time to single handedly ruin people's lives. Paige never failed in confusing Emily.

Before any of the other girls could reply the bell rang, startling all of them. They all walked out of the bathroom and stopped before separating to the different places they needed to be.

"We'll meet up by my locker at the end of eighth period and make sure Paige is gonna show up. We have to get to the pool before she does so you guys can hide in the locker room. I'll stand outside and wait for her to show up. When she does I'll see what information I can get out of her." Emily said and everyone nodding their heads in agreement. They all separated without another word and headed off to where ever they had to be. All four of them knew that they weren't going to be able to focus on any school work now.

It felt like forever before eighth period finally rolled around, Paige thought as she tapped her pencil nervously. She had stopped at her locker before this class to exchange her books and the phone was gone. Which meant that someone knew the combination to her locker and took the phone. The text she had received earlier was nothing compared to the feeling she got when she saw that the phone was gone. Nothing bad had happened yet, she figured that the text was just an empty threat. She had done what the person asked so why was the person still bothering her. Mona passed by her in hallway and the girl seemed perfectly calm, not even noticing Paige. If Mona wasn't even acting suspicious then she had no way of confronting the girl, there was no proof. Paige sighed and put her head down, blocking out the voice of her teacher. She felt herself starting to fall asleep but before she could drift into unconsciousness she felt a vibration. When she realized it was her phone her head shot up and she felt her mouth go dry. She quickly reached into her pocket, not even caring if the teacher took her phone. as she opened the unread text her hands began to sweat.

Hey it's Emily Fields. I was wondering if you could meet me by the pool after school. I have a question about the swim meet tommorw.

-Emily Fields

Paige's eyes widened in suprise. Emily wanted to meet her by the pool after school and ask her about swimming. There's no way the other girl knew about the phone, she hadn't been caught. So, she figured that this wasn't some sort of trap. Paige knew that Spencer would probobly just confront her face to face and demand she give the phone back. Whenever Emily had a question about swimming, Paige noticed that she would always come to her first. Most of the team did, too. Her team mates would always be coming up to her in the halls asking her about practices and times. Usually, that was the only time the team actually tried to talk to her at all. Paige looked at the clock and shook her head, there was only ten minutes left. So, she pulled her phone back out and hesitently typed out a reply.

Sure, I'll be there.

-Paige

After erasing the text about three times she decided to just give a simple reply. Right as she put it back in her pocket the bell rang and everyone quickly stood to leave the room. She grabbed her books and followed everyone else out into the hallway, making her way to her locker. Paige took her time putting the books she needed into her school bag. She didn't want to seem to eager and show up before Emily had even gotten there. After about ten minutes of stauling she slowly made her way over to Rosewood's pool. She knew that it was probably a bad idea to meet up with Emily instead of just going straight home. Hanna might not have even noticed that her phone was missing yet and Paige could've just gotten away with it. But her heart won over her head as she made her way into the dimly lit room. Her nostrils were hit with the strong smell of chlorine as she walked to were Emily was standing. Paige felt her breatheing catch, it usually did whenever she saw Emily, as she tried to compose herself better. Emily was smiling lightly at her and was shifting from one foot to another slightly.

"Hey, Paige." The darker haired girl said when Paige was standing infront of her. Paige couldn't resist looking Emily up and down before her eyes rested on her face. The other girl didn't seem to notice, she was staring at the water rippling in the pool. The way the dim lighting reflected off Emily's face made her even more beautiful than she already was. Paige realized after a few seconds that she'd been staring and not saying anything.

"You had a question about swimming, right?" Emily turned away from the water, making eye contact with Paige. She knew that her friends were close by hiding in the girl's locker room but she didn't feel threatened by Paige at all. It was actually the opissite, she sort of felt calmed by the other girl's pressence.

"Yea, I um just needed to know if coach wanted us there eariler than usual cause it's our first meet. I can't really remember if she mentioned it or not." Emily already knew she was going to ask that, thinking of the question in sixth period. She figured that it seemed believeable enough and Paige would probably know the answer.

"I think she mentioned that we could just show up at our regular times." Paige said while nervously playing with the strings on her hoody. Emily knew that this was her chance to bring up Hanna's cell phone missing.

"Thanks, I guess it just slipped my mind. It's been sort of stressful lately. Hanna's phone went missing today and she had me running all over looking for it." Emily stated as she tried to act as casual a she could. Paige stiffened when she heard Emily mention her blond friend's phone. Emily didn't seem to notice because she just continued talking. "We didn't find it but I'm sure that it'll turn up somewhere. She's always losing her phone actually, when Ali was still around she used to hide it from her all the time." Emily finished saying, she knew at this point that Paige might be onto her. Even though Alison has been dead for awhile now Emily still found it difficult to talk about her. She was in love with the girl when she was still alive, despite how awful she treated everyone. Nobody knew about her infatuation besides the other three girls. She had told them about it a few days after she had just come out. Paige stood still, not knowing how to reply. Did Emily know something? After a few seconds she just nodded her head and Emily looked back to the water.

"I think, if I remember correctly, that she was on your soccer team one year. Did you guys ever talk?" Emily asked when she realized Paige wasn't going to say anything at all. Paige tried to decide if she was going to tell Emily a little about her past with Alison. It's not like she had to tell Emily about the letter, she could just leave that part out. But, she didn't want Emily to start asking to many questions and get her to acidentaly say something she didn't want to say. She figured it would be best to just deny ever knowing Alison at all.

"We never really talked at all actually. She was just another person on my team, she..." Paige's sentence was cut off when she heard a loud bang echo from the locker rooms. A couple seconds later Spencer emerged, along with Hanna and Aria who seemed to be trying to hold her back.

"Don't play dumb now, Paige! We know you took Hanna's phone and we know who you really are!" Spencer yelled, still being restrained by the other two girls. Paige felt her blood run cold as she realized that this really was just a setup. How did they know she took the phone, had A told them? Was this the sabotage A was talking about? Paige didn't know what to say as Emily moved over to Spencer, too. Eventually, when Spencer calmed down enough, all three of them turned towards her. Paige put her head down, there was no way to even explain herself without having to tell the girls everything. She knew that there was no way she was going to tell Emily about her feelings for her. So she decided to just keep denying everything. It was three against one.

"I didn't steal Hanna's phone, Hastings. And what do you mean by, 'who I really am'?" Paige said trying to keep her voice as calm as she could. Spencer had a way of making her loose her temper like no one else could. Before Spencer could even open her mouth again, Emily slowly stepped forward.

"Look Paige, we already know that you took the phone. It was ringing inside your locker and all three of us heard it. Why'd you do it?" Emily whispered, moving to stand right infront of Paige. For someone that had been supposedly stalking them for over a year Paige seemed pretty inincent. Emily just could see Paige as being a killer, there was just something diffrent about her. Paige didn't answer for a few moments as she played with her hands and stared at the ground. Behind Emily, the other three girls stood still waiting for an answer out of the girl. Paige sighed when she realized that there really was no way for her to get out of this. It was obvious that A had set her up at this point, but why? The phone that was in her locker was now gone so she couldn't even return it and just apologies. After a few more minutes of silence Spencer couldn't wait any longer and moved towards Paige.

"You killed Alison, didn't you? You had a grudge against her and you murdered her. When that didn't satisfy you enough you decided to start toutrueing us. Don't try to deny it anymore, you're caught Paige!" Spencer yelled, getting angrier and angrier by the second. Paige stepped back a little suprised by the amount of hatred in Spencer's eyes. It was clear to Paige at this point the Spencer would do anthing for her friends.

"What the hell are you talking about? I didn't kill Alison, what does that have to do with me taking a stupid phone?!" Paige yelled as she moved back towards Spencer, refusing to back down. Before either of them could take a swing at each other Emily stepped in between them the best that she could.

"Alright that's enough. Guys, just take Spencer out of here. I'll talk to Paige." Emily whispered and Hanna gave her a hesitant look. "It's fine, I promise I'll yell if I need help. Just wait outside." They stood there for a few more seconds until beginning to head towards the doors. Spencer seemed to struggle against Hanna and Aria but she could break free. After realizing she wasn't going to break free she let them drag her out the doors and into the hallway. When Emily saw them finally leave the room she turned back towards an angry looking Paige.

"Answer honestly. Why'd you take Hanna's phone?" Emily whispered as Paige refused to make eye contact with her. Paige felt her blood still boiling from her confrontation with Spencer. The other girl had accused her of killing Alison and tormenting them. Why would that have anything to do with her taking a phone? Paige didn't know how to answer Emily's qeustion. A had deffiintly sabatoged her.

"Look, this may sound strange but I got a letter in my locker telling me I had to steal Hanna's phone. They said if I didn't they would..." Paige couldn't bring herself to say the words out loud. She knew that Emily was gay and wouldn't have a problem with it but Paige could barely even except it. She figured that Emily didn't have to know everything. "They said I would pay the concecences. So I took it and put it in my locker, it was gone the next time I came back." Emily stared at Paige in suprise. She didn't know if she was extremely relieved that Paige wasn't A or worried because A had Hanna's phone. Emily heard the hesitation in Paige's voice when she didn't reavel what the concecennses were. But, she decided not to push, knowing they all had secrets that they wouldn't tell.

"Alright, so did you have a past with Ali?" Emily asked and all Paige did was nod in return. They stood there for a few minutes before Emily looked back at Paige. "I think we really need to go somewhere and talk. There is a lot you have to know." Instead of waiting for Paige to reply Emily took off to the doors she knew her friends would be standing behind. Before she could push the door open she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. Quickly, she took out the phone and opened the message.

You girls are destracted way to easily.

-A