Can You Hear Me Now?
"How bad did you mum bust you for wrecking Sean's car?" Emily questions Hanna as the five girls walk across the grassy park, a gentle breeze blowing through their hair.
"Okay I did not wreck it, I damaged it," Hanna corrects her.
"Oh yeah, it was totally only damaged," Kelsey says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Hanna sends her a look, "Oh shut up Kels, and for your information everyone's actually being really mature about it," she informs the girls.
"I see," Kelsey mutters, dropping her bag on the bench the girls had been heading towards and had finally arrived at. "Would you stop it?" Hanna retorts, "we're acting like grownups that's all." Kelsey rolls her eyes, giving Hanna a smile to let her know she was only joking with her.
"Okay so the town is going to put in a new bench," Aria explains to them, drawing their attention to the reason they had gathered here, "we'll plant the flower beds and there's going to be a pathway of art tiles."
"Art tiles?" Spencer questions, taking a seat on the wooden bench.
"Messages, pictures, memories of Alison," Emily tells them.
"Oh," Hanna coos, "like little headstones."
Kelsey held back a laugh, "Hanna," Aria scolds the blonde girl.
"What?" Hanna replies.
"We should each do a tile," Emily encourages them.
"You know," Hanna begins, ruffling in her purse, "I have had Alison's bracelet since the day we found it in the woods and I don't want the responsibility anymore," she says, holding up the bracelet and holding it out to Aria.
Aria stares at her, her arms crossed, "I don't want it," she informs them, almost backing away from it.
"Seriously, somebody take this," Hanna demands. Kelsey sighs before taking it from Hanna, bending down to stuff it in her bag where she would hopefully forget about it.
"Look at us," Spencer comments, "a bunch of babies. There is nothing that A can say or do to get us into trouble without making more trouble for herself," she claims. Kelsey bit the bottom of her lip, unsure if that were really true.
"Are you sure it's a her?" Hanna questions, catching on to Spencer's use of the word herself.
Spencer shrugs, "Him, her, it doesn't make any difference," she says, pulling her laptop from her bag. Kelsey stands up taking the seat next to Spencer, as Spencer begins to type.
"What are you doing?" Kelsey asks curiously, peering over Spencer's shoulder.
"I'm going to block all messages from people that I don't know," Spencer says simply, "IMs, texts, emails, everything. Screw A." Kelsey smiles with Spencer as her new preferences are set.
"Give that to me," she demands, taking the laptop from Spencer, the thought of ridding her life from A to good to pass up.
Spencer stands up spotting Mr Fitz riding past on his bike, "I spy with my little eye something that begins with F," she says, leaning back to watch their English teacher.
"Hey, Mr Fitz," Hanna calls out, waving to him a sly smile on his face.
"Looking good, Mr Fitz," Spencer calls out.
Aria sighs and turns taking the laptop from Kelsey, "My turn," she sees, glancing up to look at Ezra. Mr Fitz looks back at them in confusion as he rides on.
"There are teachers that you don't want to see on a bike and there are teachers that you do want to see on a bike," Spencer comments.
"Here, here," Kelsey agrees.
"I would not want to see Mr Glory on a bike," Hanna replies.
"Ugh," Kelsey says, "I can't believe you would even bring that up," she complains, shaking her head to get the image out. Emily sits beside Aria taking the laptop from her.
"Ah, Mr Fitz," Hanna sighs.
"Hanna," Aria says suddenly, "isn't it your turn," she gestures to Emily who had just finished setting her preferences.
"You talk to Ben?" Spencer questions Emily, as the girl stands up.
"Nothing to talk about," Emily shrugs.
"So you're really done?" Aria asks in surprise, pushing her windblown hair back behind her ear.
"Its okay, I'm fine," Emily assures her.
"Okay, if you say so," Aria replies, turning back to Hanna who was just about to finish.
Hanna sighs happily, "I wish we had a drumroll for this," the girls all smile at her words, "alright here it goes," she says, hitting the enter button, "we are officially A proofed."
"Listen," Spencer begins, as Aria closes the laptop, "all those little messages zipping through the air all around us."
"Yep and none of them from A," Aria says satisfied.
"This feels like a good thing," Emily comments, taking the seat next to Aria.
"Could be," Kelsey agrees, though secretly inside she was unsure, it wasn't as if A had only left her messages electronically.
"Of course it's a good thing," Hanna says, "out of mind out of sight." The girls all smile thinking about life without A as a piece of paper blows in the wind towards them. Aria leans down to pick it up, showing it to the four other girls. Kelsey stares down at the missing picture of Alison. Ding dong the bitch is dead, it read in red writing. The five girls glance around nervously as Kelsey grabs the paper from Aria scrunching it up in her hands angrily. They all take another glance around before picking up their stuff and quickly walking away.
Kelsey twirls her coffee cup around the table, unconcerned if the coffee spilt or not. A knock on the door startles her, "Come in," she calls, not interested in getting up to open the door. Thom walks through struggling to carry his heavy bag full of books.
"Aren't you going to be late?" he questions Kelsey who was still in her dressing gown.
Kelsey looks down at herself sighing, "Probably," she murmurs, staring down at her reflection in the coffee. Thom takes the seat across from her placing his bag on the table.
"Are you alright?" he asks her.
Kelsey glances up him before shaking her head, "Yes fine, just late night you know. I think I might skip first class," she tells him, smiling as she takes a sip of her coffee.
"As long as you're okay," Thom replies, eyeing her suspiciously.
"Aha," Kelsey nods, "perfect," she assures him, "shouldn't you be getting to class."
Thom gazes down at his watch before nodding, "Yeah, I'll see you at lunch?" he asks her.
Kelsey nods to the affirmative, "Now go," she encourages him. She watches him retreat back out the door, before pulling picking up the piece of card she had placed face down on the table. Need to talk, meet me at our spot tonight. Love Dad. Normally Kelsey would have jumped at the chance of seeing her father, but with A around she just didn't trust it. In fact she wasn't entirely sure what to do.
Flashback
Kelsey holds her coffee cup in her hands, tightening and untightening her grip on it. "Come in," she calls as someone knocks on the door. The door opens to reveal Alison, and Kelsey hesitates from where she sits on the stairs, tempted to run away from her. "What do you want?" she asks her cautiously.
Alison advances taking the seat next to Kelsey, "I think I might have overreacted," she admits, "its just I care about you Kels, we're like sisters remember," she says kindly, bumping Kelsey's shoulder.
"If that were true, you'd understand why I can't turn my father in," Kelsey retorts.
Alison sighs, "Kelsey don't you get it, your father is in and out of your life all the time. You deserve better than that, and if going to jail makes him see how important his family is, then isn't that worth it," she tries to explain to the red haired girl.
"No," Kelsey exclaims jumping up, "he's always here when it counts."
Alison stands up, "Then I won't ask you to turn him in," she says kindly.
Kelsey blinks, "Are we still friends?" she whispers the words afraid of the answer.
"Of course," Alison promises, "we're sisters remember. Just promise me you'll remember that even sisters have differences of opinions."
Kelsey shrugs unsure of what her words meant, "Of course."
Kelsey throws her phone back in her pocket, ignoring the various texts from everyone about where she had been all day. Maybe she should have just blocked everyone. She pulls her jacket closer as she sits down on the picnic table at the old forgotten park, glancing around nervously. Before Alison's body was found she never worried being out alone this late, and now she wasn't so sure it was a good idea. She wrung her hands together nervously, wondering if she should have come earlier, she just assumed tonight meant after dark. A car pulling up draws her attention, and she shields her eyes from the headlights as someone gets out. "Dad," she squeals happily as she recognizes the figure, running up to him and hugging him.
"Hey little bear," he greets her with the old nickname.
She steps back, pulling the envelope full of money out of her bag, "I assume you came for this, I tried sending it but I don't think I'll be able to do that anymore," she rambles on, unsure of how to skip the A topic.
Her father blue eyes that match her own stare down at, "That's not why I came, I heard about Alison. I wanted to make sure you were alright," he corrects her.
"Oh," Kelsey murmurs, "of course you are, you're always here when it counts."
"Not always," he replies, "I should have been there when she disappeared."
"You couldn't, I understood then and I do now," she assures him.
Her father shakes her head, "I know and you shouldn't."
"Hey," Kelsey greets the girls cheerfully, walking into the classroom.
"You're cheerful," Spencer comments, "where were you yesterday?"
Kelsey shrugs, "Just wanted a day off," she says simply, "what are we talking about?"
"I had dinner with my dad last night," Hanna informs Kelsey.
Kelsey's eyes widen, "Really Hanna that's great, how'd it go?" she questions her friend.
Hanna smiles, "It was great, incredible really," she tells them.
"Where'd your dad take you?" Emily questions Hanna, like all the girls pleased at how happy Hanna was.
"Jollyrogers," Hanna answers joyfully.
The four girls laugh at her answer, "The lame amusement park," Aria says.
"Okay it is not lame, we didn't go on a tilt a whirl, we walked around and talked and I told him about what's going on," at this the girls share a nervous look, "some of what was going on," she corrects herself, "and he listened. He wants to take me to a real dinner tonight, he said he has something to tell me. I don't know I think he wants to spend more time with me, maybe summers in Maryland."
Emily grins at her friend's words, "Seriously?" she questions, excited for Hanna.
"Would you go?" Aria asks her.
"Well I wouldn't move away, not forever. I don't want to leave my mum alone but I would like to see my dad more," she confesses to them.
"That's great Hanna," Kelsey says quietly taking her seat, as the bell rings her cheerful mood had fast disappeared.
Kelsey turns the key walking into the house, jumping in fright when she sees Troy standing beside the door. "What the hell Troy," she scolds, "you almost gave me a heart attack," placing a hand on her heart.
"I saw who dropped you off last night," he tells her, his voice low.
"Stalker much," she growls at him, not prepared to get into this argument with him right at this moment.
"Kelsey, dad is a fugitive if you get caught helping him you're screwed," he hisses at her.
Kelsey rolls her eyes, "Oh, this is so not about protecting me," she retorts.
"Yes it is Kels, that's what its always been about," he argues.
Kelsey sighs, sinking down onto the steps, "Well if it makes you feel better, he won't be getting money from me anymore," she tells him, "what it is with us, why is that every time we talk we fight?" she asks him.
Troy shrugs sitting beside her, "Cause we're so alike," he informs her.
Kelsey laughs, "Yeah I suppose we are," she agrees, "but I mean dad's never coming back, so me and you we're all we've got. Maybe we should try a bit harder to remember that," she suggests, her voice almost a whisper.
"I'll try, if you do," Troy agrees, placing an arm around his sisters shoulders for what was probably the first time in years.
"Deal," Kelsey agrees.
Kelsey makes her way over to Spencer's house after receiving the S.O.S, nervous about what it could be. As she arrives she sees the other girls, with only Hanna missing. Spencer directs them upstairs, not yet explaining what was going on. As Kelsey steps into Spencer's room she sees Hanna, but her eyes are quickly caught by something else. It won't be that easy bitches – A. The words were written with lipstick across Spencer's mirror with a colour Kelsey recognized.
"Jungle red," she says stepping forward.
"Alison's colour," Emily says, as the four girls step forward as well.
A/N - I feel awful not only have I not updated in ages, but this is also a shorter chapter than usual, forgive me, I'll make sure from not on to update more regularly. At least once a week :) Thanks so much for the support for the story, its just amazing.
GetTraught- Thank you so much, I'm so glad you like the story, especially since its so close to what you were thinking of doing :) I'm glad you like Kelsey, she's definitely one of the more complex characters I've written or maybe thats just her relationship with her family. I definitely plan on continuing this and I hope you'll keep enjoying it :)