Chapter 19: The End

January. The beginning of a new year and a new semester: The semester Aria and Hanna were going to attend school after playing the biggest game of catch-up. Aria stepped out of Hanna's luxury car, her plaid flats holding her up on the pavement. Rosewood High School, especially with all the students hovering around, was overwhelming, but Aria, after going through the school with Spencer over winter break, was ready to conquer her first day as a high school student—and she was able to be a senior along with the rest of the girls, thanks to Spencer dedicating her time to Aria (and sometimes Hanna, if she needed it) to get her through most of what they could in the time they were given.

Now she smoothed out a crease in her baby-blue dress and pulled her beige cardigan closer around her. "I don't know if I like this," she murmured, tugging at her clothes. "Did my mom ask you what you wore and bought me the same things?"

Hanna glanced up and down at Aria's fashion choice for her first day. "I think it's cute!" she chirped, linking her arm with Aria's as she caught sight of Emily and Spencer in front of the concrete steps.

"That's what I thought." Aria rolled her eyes and made a mental note to buy her own clothes instead of letting her mom decide what she wanted her all-grown-up daughter to be like. In fact, living with the parents she barely remembered was confusing, to say the least.

"Your mom and I have your room cleaned up. All of your toys missed you," Byron explained as they drove to Aria's old but new home. Aria wanted to make a snarky comment like, "Then why didn't you just send them over? That way you could have gotten a guest room," but she pursed her lips and nodded instead.

Ella turned around in her seat so that she was facing Aria. "Are you excited to be home?" Her brown eyes glinted hopefully, powerfully; Aria began to sense the desperation her parents were feeling to please the daughter they left behind.

Aria wasn't sure whether to shrug or shake her head, so she just smiled. "It's definitely going to take some time to get used to."

Since that day, her parents had been catering to her like she was one of her fragile porcelain dolls. It wasn't until she asked her parents about bringing Mike home and away from boarding school that her opinion of them soured.

"He belongs there, sweetie," Ella had said while putting the new set of clothes she'd bought for Aria away. "He was being such a bother to his teachers—it was the principal who recommended it!"

It was that moment that Aria had realized there was a dangerous pattern with her parents: They couldn't keep children that weren't close to perfect. Was it possible that there were other Montgomery children? Aria wouldn't know because they would have been shipped away.

Feeling overwhelmed and flustered all of a sudden, Aria had stepped outside and made a call. A few minutes later, she was in front of his door.

"Thanks for letting me come over." Adjusting the purse slung over her shoulder, Aria stepped past Ezra into the foyer she vaguely remembered. "This will be quick, I promise."

Though all she really wanted was to escape her parents for a while, she had other pressing matters that she might as well get done to avoid going home. "I just wanted to give you the ending to your book," she explained. The last time she saw Ezra was the day he met Mona slitting her wrists open then drove her back to Radley.

Ezra's shoulders tensed and he shoved his hands in his pockets, awkward. "I decided not to write it."

The journal Aria had tugged out of her purse felt heavy in her hand. "Oh." She began to shove the journal back into her bag. "Well… That's it, I guess."

That was the last time she had spoken to Ezra. She guessed it was weird to have a friend more than a couple years older anyway.

But Aria still hadn't wanted to go home, so she pulled out the new smartphone her parents had gifted her with and called Hanna.

"Hey!" Hanna piped. "Perfect timing. The nurse just gave me my phone."

Sighing, Aria didn't have to say she was feeling down because Hanna already knew: "What's wrong?"

Chewing her lip, Aria glanced down at her bare fingernails, probably bland next to whatever color Hanna was wearing now. "I just left Ezra's and… It was weird."

Hanna sat down on her favorite couch and jabbed at her bowl of strawberries. "Why?"

"It just was. Suddenly I was aware of everything: how he must think I'm insane after the last time he saw me, and the years between us. It's not common for people our age to be friends with people in their twenties, is it?"

It was Hanna's turn to bite her lip. "Some do… But no, I don't think it is. Do you want to be friends with him?"

The more Aria pondered it in the car she was driving despite not having a license yet, the more she let the truth peek out. "I don't think so… He was just some nice guy who wanted to do me a favor and expose more truth and understanding to the world, I guess."

It was good while it lasted, she supposed as the engine roared to life and she drove away for the last time.

As Hanna and Aria approached Spencer and Emily, Hanna double-checked her bag to make sure her lunch and snacks were all gathered together. She was feeling better, but still had moments of relapse where she wouldn't eat for a day. The uncomfortable, irritating sensation of an angry stomach called her back to the pantry, though. Mostly, she had accepted that it was good that she was eating again. But a part of her hated her for it. Hanna was having trouble ridding that part.

Right now, that part told her to dump the carrot sticks in the trash and skip her afternoon snack. After all, a few less calories couldn't hurt, right? Recognizing this train of thought, she mentally slapped herself across the face. It was these excuses that brought her to Radley in the first place.

She kept in contact with Caleb, of course, keeping him updated with her treatment and school and friends. He was much more comfortable to talk to than Sean, her ex-boyfriend that she had a nasty fallout with when she came back.

When Hanna settled in her room, setting Dot next to her pillow and rearranging the makeup at her vanity desk, she sank into her comforter and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. It was like she had been on a prolonged vacation she didn't want to go on. To be back home was the only thing she could have asked for for Christmas. Now that she was, she guessed she was getting nothing this year.

Pulling out the phone she also missed so dearly, as Radley had given a few minutes once a week for anyone to use their cell, Hanna opened her contact information and saw the dozens of names listed. Naomi, Riley, Lucas, Jenna… Sean was at the very top of the list, one of the emergency contact numbers as well. Pulling air into her lungs and holding it there, she began dialing as she let it pass through her lips. Calm. Collected. Serene.

The number went to voicemail. "Hey, Sean… It's Hanna. I'm back from rehab, and I want to see you. Call me back, please." She tried to contact him two more times that day and he still didn't answer.

In short, Hanna was leaving Lush after a therapeutic shopping spree when she saw Sean with a group of his guy friends on the other side of the street. Hanna had confronted him, and he had told her all about how he didn't date psycho girls. "I was sick," Hanna had explained, appalled and disgusted by the man she had desperately wanted to be her boyfriend for years. He had then told her that the only reason he had expressed concern to her mom was because Hanna was becoming too bony to handle, and wasn't seeing things that weren't there a symptom of being crazy? In the end, Hanna had broken a heel crushing it into Sean's toe, but it was worth the pair of Manolos.

Caleb was a good friend, and trustworthy, and she had Spencer, Aria, and Emily. She didn't need anyone else, especially anyone that made her turn to the dangers she'd faced, and she deleted all of the contacts off her phone except for those that truly mattered.

"Hey," Spencer said while encasing Aria and Hanna in a hug. "It's our two brave warriors prepared to conquer the day."

As Spencer focused on herself and how she wanted to be in Rosewood, she went back to school as soon as she could, which was the following Monday. She was expecting judgment, but when she went to the debate club meeting that was always held on Mondays, she was blocked out. Because of her her history with drugs, and not considering her rehab, she couldn't be a part of her favorite activity anymore.

The loss was devastating, and though Spencer had more time to focus on schoolwork, debate was her break from everything else. So when Emily was released, Spencer asked her if she could teach her competitive swimming.

"I can't believe I never thought of swimming before!" Spencer exclaimed as she pulled herself over the ledge of the pool, breathing heavily. As therapeutic as field hockey was, swimming was new to Spencer, and she felt refreshed.

"You were pretty good out there!" Emily praised as she took her hair out her cap and squeezed out excess water.

Hungrily, Spencer gazed at the lane of water. "A couple more laps?" she asked, and didn't even wait for Emily's response before diving in—even though it wasn't the diving end of the lane.

"Spencer!" Emily shrieked, afraid for a second, but Spencer was far from stupid, and she knew not to dive steeply in. She waved quickly when she came up for some air, then furiously sped away as though she was in need of burning out all of her negative energy.

When winter break came and all of them were out of Radley, Spencer spent her time helping Hanna and Aria study. With all the things she was busying herself with, Spencer noticed how the craving for anything that would give her artificial power had rarely popped up. It looked like Spencer had found her balance where she wasn't overwhelmed to the point of turning to prescription medicines. But it was still a part of her, that tense, stressed-out, spiraling teenager. The motivation to stay out of that whirlpool forced her to pick and choose a few things in life rather than doing it all.

One time, she had gone to the store to buy some notebooks and folders for Aria and Hanna when she ran into Toby. "Hey!" she said with a smile. "How are you?"

Toby wasn't in his uniform, so Spencer guessed he was off duty. "Just leaving, actually."

Spencer was confused, and shifted the bag to her other hand. "Where?"

His lips were lightly pursed together. "Rosewood."

It turned out he had quit the force last week, and wanted to pursue his passion for architecture on the west coast. "It's someplace new, someplace I think I might like to be." So Spencer hugged and thanked him for all he had done, and he expressed how lucky they were to have avoided living in opposing jail cells.

"We're ready to study hard!" Hanna chimed, squeezing Aria's hand. "Even though deep down, I really hate school. It's from all of those TV shows, I swear." She acknowledged Aria. "You're lucky you haven't been brainwashed by the media."

When the bell rang, Emily hopped down from the concrete ledge she was sitting on and took Hanna's arm, as they had the same class first period. Spencer took Aria to show her where her first class was, even though Aria insisted that she knew where she was going; but Spencer wasn't going to let her old/new friend get swept into Rosewood High just yet, not until she was confident she had her footing.

As Emily and Hanna strolled down the halls, some people giving Hanna glares or awe-struck stares, Emily's heart skipped a beat when she saw the dark skin, a color she loved, complimented by the purple beanie on her black curls. "Hey, Maya," she greeted her like she would any friend, except the implication was more.

"Hey, Em," Maya said in singsong, her shoulder brushing Emily's as they passed, sending a shiver up Emily's spine.

Ever since she and Maya had reunited at the pool, she had told her parents that she was going out with some friends when she was only going out with Maya. One time they went to the lake during sunset and snacked on ice cream. They'd sneak kisses when they were sure no one was looking. Sometimes it frustrated Maya, but she understood that it was better than Emily being locked up again. Emily was still figuring out how to bring up her sexuality to her parents without unearthing the bad memories surrounding it.

Fortunately, all four girls had the same lunch period, which they were used to having anyway. As Aria slammed her locker shut, she met everyone else at Emily's and felt her pulse race under the silver necklace dangling around her throat.

By the lack of people in the hallway, it would be the first time she'd walk into a room full of her peers later than the rest of them. They might stare, whisper, laugh at all of them. Aria would be able to see it because no one would be shoving her around on their way to class. She thought she was nervous returning to a society she couldn't remember being a part of, but this was just as nerve-wracking.

Hanna held her hand, and Spencer did the same. Emily held Spencer's and Hanna's so that it became a circle. "We can do this," Hanna encouraged them. "Not many people get to say they escaped Radley and were completely sane."

As they made their way down the hallways of Rosewood High, Aria thought maybe Spencer could feel her elbow quake in hers, as they had locked arms to bring each other support. But she rolled her head around on her neck to ease up the tension, and strongly held her chin up, so that when they entered the cafeteria—

Some people glanced up and acknowledged the Radley survivors with eyebrows raised in curiosity, or lips curled in disgust or disbelief. But no one pointed, no one laughed. They got to an empty table and Aria let go of her breath. She hadn't noticed her fingers were trembling until she took out her salad from her lunch box. Hanna reached out to her and placed her hand over Aria's, giving her a pacifying smile.

When Spencer set her tray down at the lunch table a few minutes later, anxiety produced wrinkles in her forehead that were enough to make Hanna prod, "What just happened between us walking in here and now?"

Inhaling aggressively, Spencer put her fingers to her temples and stared at someone behind Hanna, provoking Hanna and Aria to turn around in their seats.

"Did you see—" Emily began to say anxiously as she sat down, but was interrupted by Hanna.

"Alison?"

The Queen Bee of Rosewood was back in school as well. "When did she get back?" Hanna asked, still in disbelief that the blonde was strutting across the cafeteria.

"I have no idea," Spencer replied, and stopped chewing her bottom lip before it became irritated. "I haven't seen her since last year…"

As Aria curiously watched Alison, the blue eyes that had angered her as a child landed on her, and Alison halted near the cafeteria line. Aria continued to watch her classmate out of the corner of her eye as she grabbed a flavored water bottle and bolted out of the cafeteria.

"Why had Alison gone to Radley?" Emily whispered.

Aria kept her eyes trained on the corner Alison had disappeared around. Sparks of memories from the summer flickered: Alison keeping her lips sealed most of the summer, until Aria snuck a peak at her diaries and thought maybe she was there to hide an unplanned pregnancy. But nothing ever happened to confirm that; Alison was as flat as can be. Even when Aria confronted her in the woods, Alison didn't reveal a single thing, other than that she was racing to the train station to escape from—what? If it was enough to send Alison fleeing…

But Aria sent those thoughts into the back of her head, where she left them to rot. She pressed her top and bottom eyelashes together, heavy with mascara, and instructed her brain to keep those thoughts chained up tightly.

She wasn't going to let Alison send her away again.

A/N: Despite the title, this is not the last chapter. Keeping reading...