The Jenna Thing
Kelsey shifted in her seat, trying to put herself in a position that prevented her dress from riding up. Sighing she gave up, refocusing her attention on the other four girls. It had been a long time since the five of them had gone out together. "Why was Jenna there?" Aria asks the question that been lurking at the edge of each of the five girls minds.
"Probably to celebrate Alison's demise," Kelsey mutters darkly, "or she's back in town."
"That cop acted like we were suspects or something," Hanna mused, causing Kelsey to bite the bottom of her lip. Were they?
"Do you think we looked guilty?" Emily questions, her voice filled with worry.
"Why would we?" Aria retorts, "we haven't done anything wrong."
"Except lie about the Jenna thing," Hanna counters, causing Kelsey to shift in her seat once more.
"Seriously can we quit it with the Jenna thing, as far as I'm concerned it never happened," Kelsey hisses, lowering her voice to a whisper.
"Have you found a way to forget?" Aria asks in return to Kelsey's words, "I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night."
"Aria, it was an accident," Spencer interrupts her, trying to put the matter to rest. Kelsey eyed Hanna as she poured the liquid from her flask into her drink, Kelsey reaches out her hand taking the flask from Hanna.
"It's medicinal," Hanna explains to the old man watching them, as Kelsey takes a swig of the liquid wishing that it was powerful enough to make her believe the Jenna thing never happened. "Cramps," Hanna adds as she takes the flask back from Kelsey.
"I don't get it, how does A know something about me that only Alison knew?" Emily questions them and Kelsey placed a hand on her forehead, almost not wanting to know the answer to that question.
"Ali, knew all our secrets, but we never knew any of hers," Aria says, almost bewildered at the revelation.
"I knew some," Spencer states, her eyes trained down on the coffee mug she held in her hands.
"Go on," Aria urges her, as the four girls stared at Spencer waiting for her to reveal something about the girl who kept all her secrets from them.
"Talk," Hanna encourages, as Spencer's lips stay sealed.
"I can't," Spencer argues.
"Spence, no you are not going to drop a bomb like that and just clam up," Aria snaps, determined to hear the truth.
"She'd so kill me if I told you," Spencer tries to explain.
"God, Spencer she's dead," Kelsey snaps, annoyed at the fact Spencer had brought something up and refused to share. Emily sends a disapproving look at Kelsey's words, but Kelsey just shrugged it off.
"Ali was seeing someone that summer," Spencer finally confesses.
"I knew she was keeping something from me," Emily states, "from us," she corrects herself quickly.
"Well, why didn't she want us to know?" Aria asks in confusion.
"He was an older boy and he had a girlfriend," Spencer replies, causing Kelsey to smile it was just so typically Ali.
"Who was it?" Emily asks eagerly.
Spencer shrugs, "I don't know, she never told me his name," she admits.
"Okay that's only half a secret," Hanna tells her, as Kelsey hums in agreement.
"Its more than you ever got from her," Spencer retorts.
Aria shakes her head slightly, "How is it Ali told us nothing and we told her everything?" she questions them.
"Because she made us feel like we were part of something special," Emily says, her words ringing true for all of them.
"We were," Hanna adds smiling.
"I miss that," Aria admits.
"Me too," Spencer agrees.
"More than anything," Kelsey sighs.
"I miss Ali," Emily confesses, her eyes travelling down to look at the purple woven bracelet she wore.
"I can't believe you still wear that," Hanna comments.
"Ali still wears her," Emily tells her, "wore," she corrects herself quickly.
"When Ali didn't come home that night, I knew something terrible must have happened, but there was always some part of me that imagined someday she'd just show up," Spencer tells the rest of them, her words almost regretful.
"Yeah, I used to think she'd just run off with some guy," Aria admits to them, causing them to smile at the thought.
"Run off to some exotic island, waiting just long enough for her return to be legendary," Kelsey muses, a sad smile at the thought.
"Laying on a beach somewhere," Emily says sadly.
"Or getting a tan out by the pool with that hot lifeguard," Hanna says, bringing a true grin to each of the girls faces.
"What was his name?" Aria asks, the memory coming back to her.
"Who cares?" Hanna questions shrugging, "save me." The two words caused a laugh to escape from each of the five girls lips. The door opening to the grille and the sound of a stick clanking against the ground, killed the laughter. The five girls sat uncomfortable and disturbed trying not to think about Jenna being so close. Sharing a look the girls grabbed their bags each parting ways in a different direction.
Kelsey pads down to the kitchen, carefully pulling the milk out of the fridge and groaning when she saw it was off. She stepped over to the rubbish dropping it in. The sun shone through the windows that lined up behind the kitchen and Kelsey flinched. She wished she had stayed at Thom's last night at least she might have had coffee. The slam of the front door caused Kelsey to jump, and the sounds of heavy feet on the wooden floor, made her duck down behind the island counter without thought. She had no idea who could possibly be in her house. Maybe it was just Noel she reasoned with herself, but he didn't have a key and she hadn't left the front door open. Had she? The footsteps drew closer, "Kelsey?" a familiar male voice yells out.
"Troy," Kelsey says in surprise standing up to find him on the other side of the counter.
His eyes travel to the floor up to her, "Great hiding place," he comments, handing a coffee over to her. Kelsey takes it thankfully, before her eyes narrow in suspicion.
"You're back," she states, her studying him. His blonde hair was unkempt and his blue eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn't slept in a while, or he was on something. Crumpled dress shirt and stained jeans, he'd run out of money Kelsey decided.
"I heard they found Alison's body," he says.
"Don't you dare try and say something nice," Kelsey snaps, or pretend that's why your back she adds in her head.
Troy shakes his head, "Wouldn't dream of it," he assures her.
"Wilden wanted you to call when you got back in town," she informs him, watching his reaction carefully.
Troy's eyes meet her own, "Did he?" he questions, "what for?"
Kelsey shrugs, "How should I know? He's working on Alison's case."
A hint of something flashed in Troy's eyes before disappearing again before Kelsey could identify it, "I heard," he comments, before shaking his head, "I going to have a shower," he tells her. Kelsey watches him retreat, pondering whether he knew something.
"So how was it, hanging with the four girls again?" Thom questions her as they walk into school together. Normally Kelsey got a ride from Noel to school, but Thom's mother had been concerned and had insisted on taking her to school. Kelsey wondered if that's what it was like to have a mother who cared.
"It was," Kelsey begins searching for the right word, "familiar, I suppose," she mutters.
"Well you were best friends," Thom reminds her.
"The key word, being were," she reminds him, flicking her hair over to the side.
"Doesn't have to be that way," Thom counters, causing Kelsey to roll her eyes.
"What are you my therapist?" she questions teasingly, her eyes finding Noel in the school hallways. "I'll see you later," she tells Thom, heading over to Noel who was leaning against her locker. "You're not going to ask how I am?" she questions him playfully.
Noel grins, "Not anymore I'm not," he assures her.
"Good," she replies, "cause I'm fine," she assures him, bringing their lips together to meet in a kiss.
"So you talked to Carl yet?" Noel questions her, as the separate.
Kelsey sighs, "My brother's back in town and its probably not a good idea when he's around," Kelsey explains to him, not to mention she already had police problems with Alison being dead.
"Afraid he'll find out?" he asks her.
Kelsey shrugs, "Something like that." In truth it was more for the fact, that her and brother were far too alike when they needed money, they both did what their father had taught them to do.
"Besides, we could do something normal for a date, eat dinner, go to movie," she says laughing as she catches the look in Noel's eyes, "that really does sound awful doesn't it?"
"Not if its with you," Noel replies, placing a finger under her chin.
"Ever the charmer," she counters, closing her eyes trying to come up with something for them to do. "I have an idea," she claims, "these guys I know."
"Should I be concerned about all these guys you know?" Noel interrupts his tone playful.
"Yes," she responds laughing, "they hold these races on the outskirts of town, we should go," she suggests, her eyes twinkling.
Noel grins at her words, "Now that does sound more our speed," he agrees.
"I'll get in contact with them," Kelsey tells him, as the bell rings sounding the beginning of school. Noel places a quick kiss on her lips, before they head in different directions to class.
"Will the following students please come to the office, Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin and Kelsey Pattrick," the announcement stops Kelsey's approach to class. Kelsey heads over to where the other four girls are standing, preparing to walk to the office with them. She ponders the reason why they're being called as Aria's phone goes off.
"Wait," Aria tells them as they begin to walk, "its from A," she tells them.
Kelsey heads over reading over Aria's shoulder, "Dead girls walking," she reads out loud.
Kelsey watches Wilden look over the papers nervously as she sat on the arm of the office's couch with the four other girls. "So let's see," he begins, "you thought you heard her scream," he says pointing at Spencer.
"I said that yeah," Spencer replies to him.
"And when you four woke up in the barn Alison was gone, and so was Spencer," he question the other four girls.
"Yeah I woke up before them and I realized Ali was missing," Spencer explains to him, "so you went looking for her," Wilden finishes for her, taking a seat on the office's desk.
"That's what happened," Spencer confirms.
"I got that, so what's up was this a slumber party or?" he begins to ask them before Spencer interrupts, "is this an interrogation?"
"No just a routine follow up," he assures them, "why did you guys all fall asleep?" he asks them, as if the concept of such a thing happening was unbelievable.
"I guess we were tired," Aria seeks to explain.
"Tired really?" he says in disbelief, "is that how you remember it Hanna?" he question switching his attention to the blonde girl.
"Yeah," Hanna agrees.
"Look, we've told you everything we know just like we did the night she went missing, there's nothing new to add," Kelsey snaps, disliking Wilden's style of questioning.
"I know and you see the thing is, its almost exactly what you said last year, almost like it was rehearsed," he says.
"Like Kelsey said we've told you everything we know," Aria tells him, breaking the silence his words had left.
"He knows we're lying," Aria comments as they all sat around a table in the cafeteria.
"Lying is not a crime," Hanna argues.
"It is when you're giving false statements to the police, its called obstruction of justice," Spencer informs her.
"Oh please," Hanna scoffs, "we lied about drinking. Look the truth that matters is that we don't know anything about what happened to Ali that night."
"We also know about someone who might have wanted to hurt her," Spencer reminds them.
"Spencer," Kelsey begs, wishing she hadn't brought that up.
"We should have told the police the truth about Jenna's accident the night it happened," Emily says regretfully.
"I wanted to, remember?" Hanna reminds them, raising her eyebrows.
"We should have stopped Ali," Kelsey mutters, her mind almost straying back to that night.
"But we didn't, and telling the police now about what happened to Jenna isn't going to make her see again. It'll just ruin our lives," Spencer concludes, her argument sound to the girl's ears. The sound of a cane hitting the ground draws the girl's attention across to Jenna, making her way into the cafeteria.
"Oh my god, she's back in school to," Hanna declares in disbelief.
Aria stands up making her way over to Jenna, "Jenna, hey its Aria, do you want to come sit with us?" she offers to the girls dismay.
"Sure," Jenna agrees.
"Okay," Aria says, taking Jenna's tray out of her hands.
"Thanks," Jenna says in response. Jenna places a hand on Aria's shoulder as Aria leads her to the table.
"So you're going to be in between Emily and Hanna, and Spencer and Kelsey are across from you," Aria informs her, placing the tray down.
"Thank you," Jenna says.
"Yeah and here's a chair," Aria tells her, grabbing a chair from the opposite table and placing it in front of the table for her.
"So this would be Alison's chair right," Jenna comments as she sits down.
"No, we're not even sitting at that table," Emily quickly responds. Kelsey glares at Aria as she takes her seat back, the last thing she wanted was to have to stare across at Jenna while eating.
"You know, she came to visit me in the hospital after the accident," Jenna tells them, folding up her cane.
"Alison did?" Spencer questions in disbelief.
"Mmm-hmm, everyone misunderstood Alison but I knew exactly who she was," Jenna claims, her words carrying a darker meaning.
"When did you get back Jenna, we heard that you were in Philadelphia, a school for the," here Spencer hesitates, "visually impaired."
Jenna smiles, "You can say blind Spencer, it's okay its not a dirty word," she reassures her, opening her juice and taking a sip. "Wow so quiet, you guys used to be the fun table," Jenna comments, "what happened to you girls?" she says, with a laugh added at the end.
Flashback
The six girls laugh and joke playing around with different clothes as the music blares in Emily's room. Alison threw on a pink top, admiring herself in the mirror, giving Emily a smile that the four other girls missed. Her smile died as she spots something, "I see you," she yells marching over to the window, "oh my God I can't believe it," she hisses turning back to face the other girls.
"Who was it Ali? What did you see?" Emily asks, worry evident in her voice.
"He was in that tree spying on us, I am so creeped out," Ali replies her voice full of disgust.
"Who was it?" Spencer questions her.
"It was the perv, Toby Cavanaugh," Alison informs them.
"Were you sure?" Aria asks her.
"Yes I'm sure, he was right there," she retorts, "I bet he saw us all naked." The girls stare horrified at the thought.
"Well should we tell someone?" Aria questions, trying to discover what to do in the disturbing situation.
"I mean we could," Ali replies, before a sly smile overcomes her features, "but I have a better idea."
The fireworks raged across the sky as Alison and her friends tiptoed their way to the Cavanaugh backyard, led by Alison of course. "Are we sure he's not in there?" Aria's question, referring to the shed that was just ahead.
"He's not okay, you got the lighter right Spencer?" Alison questions.
Emily grabs Alison's arm, "Let's wait a second," she says worried.
"What, Emily?" Alison snaps, turning to face her.
"I don't want to do this," she confesses, worry making her shift where she stood.
"Fine go back you're on your own," Alison tells her, waving her off.
"Okay, maybe Emily's right. We should just call the cops. They'll take care of it," Aria suggests, almost beginning to doubt whether this was a good plan.
"Where's the fun in that? Girls, Toby Cavanaugh is a freak, and we need to teach him a lesson. If he thinks he can come and spy on us while we're in your bedroom, Emily, he needs to know that his little domain, is no longer a safe little hideout," Alison explains to them, her eyes travelling to the shed, "who knows what he does in there all day, the little freak."
"Are you sure that it was Toby?" Spencer questions her.
"Yes," Alison hisses.
"Come on girls, it's a stink bomb," Kelsey tells them in support of Alison.
"Exactly we're not nuking the place, now lets do it," Alison encourages them, walking up to the door of the shed. "Give me the lighter," she demands of Spencer, Spencer pulls it out of her pocket passing it to Alison. Alison lights it, throwing in through the door taking a look around before slamming the door. "Run," she urges the girls as they follow her out of the driveway. Glass shattering, causes them to scream and turn back to see the shed on fire.
"Ali, what did you do?" Spencer asks her, voice full of fear.
"We have to get out of here, come on let's go," Alison tells them, forcing the girls to move away from the burning shed.
The five girl's cellphones go off one after another, Jenna reaches out, picking up Kelsey's phone and handing it to her, "Aren't you going to get that?" she questions. Kelsey takes it hesitantly as the four girls pick up their phones and read the new text.
If only she could see how guilty you look… - A
Kelsey waved to Noel as he drove off. Turning back to face the driveway she was surprised to find her brother walking out their front door, with Wilden striding beside them. She stood where she was, watching them carefully. They weren't talking loud enough for her to hear, but whatever the conversation was about it looked intense. Kelsey took a step closer, wondering if she could figure out what they were talking about before they noticed her. Unfortunately her heels hitting the concrete drew Troy's attention, "Hey Kels," he calls out, alerting Wilden to her presence.
Kelsey smiled, walking towards them, "Hey, Detective Wilden," she greets as she approaches them.
"Hello Kelsey," he replies, "Troy we should do this again," he says.
"Anytime," Troy responds his tone tense.
Wilden nods, "Would love to stay but I have dinner plans," he informs them.
"What a shame," Kelsey mutters sarcastically.
"Bye," Troy waves, giving Kelsey a cold glare. As Wilden drives away, Kelsey turns to face her brother.
"What was that?" she questions.
"Two old friends catching up," Troy informs her.
"Yeah see you and him never seem like two old friends catching up," Kelsey counters, keeping her voice level.
Troy shakes his head, "Call it whatever you want, but there's nothing wrong with having a cop as a friend," he replies, his words pointed.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Kelsey snaps in response hands on hips.
"It means that I talked to Cory," he retorts, causing Kelsey to look down, "yeah he told me all about how you and your boyfriend have been doing some work for him. Real nice Kelsey. I mean I send you more than enough money to live on, hell I give you more money than I have half the time, what could you possibly need extra money for?"
"Maybe I just like nice things," Kelsey counters.
Troy glares at her, "Not buying it," he grabs her arm, looking her in the eye, "are you still sending money to dad?" he asks her.
Kelsey shakes her arm out of his grip, "And if I was?" she asks him.
"Don't," Troy says, a warning tone to his voice.
"He's our father," Kelsey reasons.
"He left us," Troy reminds her.
"Because he had to," Kelsey snaps her voice filled with annoyance at Troy.
"Yeah, who's fault is that?" Troy questions her, his voice acidic. Kelsey glares, walking past him no longer interested in this conversation. "I talked to Cory, you're not working for him anymore," Troy informs her, causing her to turn back.
"You had no right," she argues.
"Yeah, try I'm your legal guardian," he replies to her.
Kelsey scoffs, "If you were, you'd actually be here instead of out making money in god knows what way."
"Money you have never not taken," he reminds her.
"Being here is more important than money," Kelsey mutters quietly, but she knows he hears her.
"Yeah I think that if I was here all the time, we'd come to hate each other," he says to her, his voice as quiet as her own.
"We already do," she responds tiredly.
"And I repeat, who's fault is that?"
Kelsey sits on the edge of her bed trying to study as the rain poured down outside. Looking up her eyes glanced over the photo wall above the headboard of her bed. As always her eyes found the one photo of her and Alison she had left up there, now that she was dead, she was almost tempted to take it down. But she couldn't. Sighing she hopped off her bed, pulling out the box of old photos and keepsakes she kept under there. She paused before she opening it, wondering if now was really the time to take a trip down memory lane. Her eyes crossed to the rain pouring down outside her window and decided maybe it was. She pulled the lid off the box, a picture of the six girls together the first thing she sees. She pulls it out, and spots the thing hiding under it. The bracelet Alison had given all of them so long ago.
Flashback
The six girls sit at the Grille laughing together, as they sipped their cold drink on the sun soaked day. "I got you guys something," Alison declares.
"What's the occasion?" Spencer questions, as Alison handed out pouches to each of the girls.
"You'll see, open them," she encourages each of them. The girls smile and quickly open the gift Alison had given them. A woven bracelet that had each of their names on it.
"We'll be friends forever," Alison promises them, as they place the bracelets on their wrists.
Kelsey sighed fighting the memory away as she places the bracelet back in the box. It was filled with memories that's why she had never opened it. She makes a move to put the lid back on before her eyes catch a familiar mop of blonde hair in the corner of one of the photos. It was the one photo that had never been up on her wall. Jason and her sat back to back both laughing at some old forgotten joke she could no longer recall. She couldn't even remember who had taken the photo, Alison no doubt, after all she was the one who had given it to her. She put down the photo, quickly returning the lid to the box. Jason was Alison's brother, that's all he was to her she reminded herself. Besides she had Noel now.
A/N Yay another chapter pretty soon after the first, I'm really getting back into this writing thing :) Thanks for the support for the first chapter.
Don't forget to review :)