"Cece Drake?" I asked Aria over the phone.

"Yes!" she hissed. "Do you know who she is? Because she was too much like Ali…it was scary. She said she dated Jason…back in Cape May?"

It suddenly dawned on me that I knew exactly who she was talking about. "Cece Drake…yeah I remember her…clear as day, and it wasn't yesterday- that's for sure." How many years had it been since I'd last seen her?

"She said she was an old friend."

"Yeah. Of Ali's. She was like…" I searched for the right term. "She was like Ali's best vacation friend. She seemed to tell Cece everything. She obviously did if she knows all this dirt on you guys."

"What about you?"

I thought about it for a minute, and how when I wanted to go to play in the ocean with my older siblings- she had sunk to my height, and carefully and plainly said that now- my Als and Jay- were hers.

"We never really hit it off." I said nonchalantly. "Cece was always too intense for my liking."

Just then I heard Jason's car starting up, and I knew he was going to pick up our 'Dad' from the airport.

"Oh okay." Aria sounded.

I watched through my window as the car drove down the street, and I had thought I'd have gone with him, but suddenly, I really didn't care.

"Yeah well. I'll text you later- you're going to visit Mona right?"

"Right. I'll update you soon."

"Bye."

"Bye Mads." And we hung up.

Cece Drake. She was so much like Ali…what if I ran into her in town now?

I was just curled up in the corner with my kindle when I heard a car pull into the driveway. I stood and dropped the device onto my chair and hurried downstairs, fixing my hair and clothes to look like the perfect daughter for him when he walked in. I'd have to fill the gap of Alison whenever I saw my parents- which meant acting as though I was two daughters…if that makes sense, which I doubt it does.

He hated the girls- especially Hanna, after that night when she called home to say Ali was still alive…and they'd found her body three days later. Not only my parents, but I had been so full of hope myself, all the way across the country. My mother had emailed me about Ali, about Hanna…and then three days later to drop the bombshell on me that my sister's corpse has been located. I don't think my 'father' ever got over that- for Hanna instilling such hope into the rest of the family, only for it to be torn down days later.

The door opened and in walked Jason with a suitcase, and then our dad with another.

"Dad!" I grinned, putting on a show.

"Hey baby girl." He went forward and hugged me. "My Alison."

I widened my eyes but whispered, "It's Madeline…Dad. Madeline."

"That's what I said." He pulled away.

I smiled weakly. "Yeah." I said quietly. "Of course." I breathed in deeply, and then said, "I'm actually going over to the Montgomery's place to study with Mike right now so-" I grabbed my book bag conveniently off the couch and then exited the house and began to walk to Aria's place, the wind against my face only made it worse, and I kept wiping back little tears.

He wasn't even my birth father, but he was still my dad- because he was the dad who raised me, who thought I was actually his child, and accepted me for it. It was almost as bad as Mom, how he functioned without my older sister in his life anymore.

I was doing homework with my boyfriend at his place for a few hours, and even after the sun went down we were still in his living room, looking at a textbook, laughing and learning at the same time. We looked to each other and Mike looked into my eyes and said, "I love you so much." I blushed and whispered, "I love you more." And just we leant in to kiss, my phone went off. I pulled back in aggravation, wanting to ignore it, but knowing it'd keep going off until I picked up.

I rummaged through my bag until I pulled it out and looked at the caller I.D.

"Who is it?" Mike said, setting the book aside and scooting closer to see.

"Spencer."

"Are you going to answer?"

I sighed. "Spencer?" I asked, putting the phone to my ear.

"Mads- something's happened."

I listened and then stood up and shouted, "What?!" A look of panic crossed over my features and Mike stood too.

"Mads, what's going on?"

"How fast can you get home?"

I looked at the clock. "Pretty fast, why?"

"I need you to be there when I pull in."

"Got it." No one was home anyway, my dad checked into a hotel- he couldn't stand to be in that house anymore.

"See you soon…sis." Spencer said and then I got the dial tone. I closed the phone, shoved my things into my bag and headed for the door.

"Madeline, what are you not telling me?" he grabbed my wrist and suddenly I stopped and looked up into his concerned face. "Jason got into a car accident."

He gaped at me. "Will you be alright, walking home?"

"It's not far, I'll be fine. I'll see you at your game tomorrow at six. Remember- I'm your personal cheerleader." I kissed him on the cheek and then started sprinting home. I managed to get inside and put my things down and catch my breath by the time I heard the car doors outside. I opened the door and saw the damaged car and yelled out hoarsely for my brother, as if I'd just been ripped apart by a shredder. Spencer carried him inside and parked the car in the garage, and I set Jason on the couch, worrying like crazy.

"I have to go pick up my car…but…if anything happens- don't hesitate to call." She looked as frightened as I did.

"Thank you Spence…what would we do without you?"

She smiled and then she was gone.

I went back into the den where Jason lay drunkenly and I shook my head then went over and knelt on the floor beside him, taking his hand in mine firmly.

"Jason…when I came back…you swore you'd be different this time. And you were…but tonight…that was stupid of you. I get it Jay. Garrett is being released, Cece is back, and all the evidence against the only suspects of our sister's murder is being thrown away. But you don't see me giving up, or anyone else. You don't see me drinking and driving, trying to be thrown in jail. I need you Jason, you're not just my guardian- you're my big brother." I stumbled across the last few words as my vision went blurry. "Just because Dad is back now doesn't mean you can pass me off to him. I want to stay with you. Jason, I love you more than anyone else in our family…you can't do this to yourself…or to me…it's not fair." I had thought what he'd said to Mrs. Hastings the other night would hold true, that he was looking out for us…but tonight it didn't seem like that at all.

I began to cry, and then I felt a squeeze on my hand. "Maddie…" Jason looked down at me ashamed.

I smiled through my tears and said sniffling, let's get you to your bedroom. You'll be able to fall asleep easy there." I helped him upstairs and onto his bed and just as I was about to go, he grabbed my hand and held me back. "Maddie, I'm sorry."

I climbed onto the bed with him and he took my hand and said, "I'm sorry for being such a disappointment as a brother."

"You're not." I admitted. "You're amazing…you probably should leave first thing tomorrow to get your car fixed across state borders though."

He grinned slightly. "Yeah…" he muttered drowsily, and before I knew it, he was passed out.

The next day during lunch, long after Jason had gone, I found Toby waiting for me by the front stairs.

"Hey Toby." I said cautiously, having Spencer warned me earlier about Toby on a rampage about lying to the police.

"Where's Jason?" he demanded.

"Nice to see you too buddy." I joked.

"I'm serious." He growled, and spun me around to face him.

"Mads?" Mike came running towards me away from his lacrosse team when he saw my best friend treating me so roughly. "Is everything okay here?" he stood in between us and Toby muttered something and then I looked from how different my friend was acting all of a sudden, and then to my boyfriend.

"What? Yeah. We were just chatting…I'll see you around Toby…C'mon Mike." And the two of us walked back to the team, where the rest of the guys teased me about being such a big shot's girl, and that I should keep an eye on him. It was funny, not uncomfortable in any way- but I kept looking back to the empty spot where we'd left Toby, and wondered why was he so uptight about this.


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