Hey guys it's been awhile, hasn't it? opps! well...

Ok so a couple of things: I suck at spelling, hahaha. Okay seriously if you catch anymore mistakes, tell me! I'm only 15 so yeah i'm going to use that as an excuse on why I suck at writing. Okay! Well, thank you sooooooooooooo much for the awesome, amazing, reviews! c: Honestly I don't deserve these comments! Okay, well I hoped you liked it. And okay~so~ if i gave you a hint of who this -A is, it would probably spoil the whole entire thing! But, don't worry you'll find out soon ;) and if anyone wanted a flashback of when Toby joined the A team-this chapter is for you!

Chapter Twenty One

Her fists furiously banged against the door, all her rationality fading away, probably along with her sanity. She didn't know what she was going to say, or do. She didn't plan out her actions at all, really. She wasn't thinking this through—six hours of sleep, and seven cups of coffee, will do that to you, though. As her hands became lonely, knocking on the door, her vocal chords decided to join in. "I know you are in there!" screamed Spencer. Although, this wasn't necessarily true. It was a Saturday evening for goodness sakes, Aria could be anywhere. Although it's not like she had many people in the city to spend time with. Hanna was off getting her nails done with her friend of hers, Emily was with Paige babysitting Noah, and then there was Ezra; the culprit. The person she was really here for.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door flied open, and there stood a perplexed Aria wearing only a pink robe, and her wet hair gathered up into a towel. "Spencer?" asked Aria, not sure how to greet her friend. Usually, on any other occasion, before everything got so messed up that is, Aria would simply crack a joke, and tell her to come in. Although, this wasn't like those old occasions. Things were different now. "Wha—what. Why—come in!" stuttered the tiny girl, as she stepped aside, allowing a pathway for Spencer to enter.

Hesitantly, Spencer stepped into the apartment. Looking around, nothing's changed—not one thing. Technically, it's only been a couple months since she stopped by, but usually Aria would change it up a little every so often. She supposed it was because of Aria's new found information that she couldn't have children. Perhaps, she wasn't really up for redecorating. But, that wasn't why she was here. "Where's Ezra?" asked Spencer, looking around the place, as if to find him hiding in the corner. Her voice was stern, and urgent—definitely nothing close to warm and eager to see her old friend.

"Why?" asked Aria, quite shaken, as she closed the door behind her. "Spencer," said Aria, looking at her with squinted, conflicted, eyes. "I'm glad you are here—and all. But, why…are you here?"

Spencer gulped, not willing to meet her friend's eyes. It occurred to her for a second that if the texts were coming from here, they could possibly be coming from Aria, but, she didn't believe that to be true. Aria was never a threat, she didn't lie to her out of resentfulness and vengeance, she did it out of love, protection. She was trying to protect Ezra; everything she did was to protect him. Spencer knew how it worked. Ezra was the one to be punished—the threat. Still thinking quite irrationally, Spencer told her friend the truth of why she was really here. "I got a text…from A."

"What!" yelled Aria, a look of panic washing across her still damp features.

Spencer was hesitant at first, maybe it wasn't too good of an idea to tell Aria what she thought, but decided to continue nevertheless. "Yeah. And I went to the police. They tracked the I.P. address—well I tracked the I.P. address to here. Well around here. And you two are the only ones who live around here."

"Wait, what, what are you implying?" asked Aria, clearly offended by what Spencer was saying.

Spencer took in a deep breath "I'm pretty sure It's Ezra."

Aria stood there, gaping at her, in udder shock that she could suggest such an absurd thing. Her facial expression didn't change at all as they stood in silence, for however long. Aria's eyes blinked a few times and her mouth altered up and down before she said anything back. "You think…Ezra sent you something? Spencer… he—why. What proof do you have?" she seemed oddly calm about it all.

"I—it's just, I know he's someone not to be trusted, and it tracked back to here…" Spencer was starting to realize as the words fled out of her mouth, how little evidence she had. But who else could it be? It had to be him! By default!

"Are you like on drugs or something? Do you actually hear yourself right now?" scoffed Aria, pulling her robe closer into her. "Ezra's not even in town! He's in Boston for a business meeting. He's been there since Wednesday!"

Spencer's face fell, along with her eyes. She bowed her head down, as if she was feeling ashamed. Ezra wasn't even in Pennsylvania? Then who could it possibly be?

"Spencer…you…can't. You aren't a detective. I thought we covered that in high school" said Aria, collecting herself back to a state of tranquility she was in when Spencer arrived. "Spencer," said Aria, softly, touching her arm.

Spencer immediately reacted to Aria's touch by flying backward, almost tripping over herself. Her panicked eyes met Aria's for a brief second, before they fled downward. "I should go" muttered Spencer, under her breath.

"wait!" argued Aria, stepping in front of her. "You got an A text? …what did it say? Did Em or Han get one?"

Spencer looked at her friend, conflicted to tell her what it said. The concept of truth and honesty, it was always ambiguous to Spencer. She never knew who to trust after everything with Toby happened. She knew she could trust her friends. She never doubted them. Until a few weeks ago when Aria broke that circle of trust she had formed, once again. She knew why Aria kept the secrets—she did it for the same reasons Spencer wouldn't tell anyone about all the horrible things Toby's done. Although, Spencer wasn't Toby's wife, living him with him, she was far from that. But, perhaps she needed a friend. She needed someone to talk to about this, someone who understood. "It said that I was being a bitch or something, and that he or she or it, or whatever, was back. And—I—I don't know what to do. I only got one text, but I just. There's so much at stake. It's not only my life anymore" broke out Spencer, for the first time since she got the text letting her tears cascade.

Aria stood on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around her taller friend in a warm embrace, as Spencer broke into a gently sob.

"It's going to be okay" soothed Aria.

…

"Where's my mommy?" asked Noah, for the fifth time during the duration of being at Emily's abode. He was a mama's boy, that was for sure.

Emily smiled sadly at him, scooting away from her cuddled position in Paige's arms so that the little boy could sit with her on the couch. She patted the empty spot next to her, gesturing for him to take the spot. He did. "She'll be here soon. She was just doing some things that I'm sure you would find incredibly boring" exasperated Emily, in a very over dramatic matter.

"Like what?" asked Noah, curiously.

"Like…" Emily's tongue stalled in her mouth, truthfully she wasn't too sure of Spencer's whereabouts, she was very discreet that morning with her plans for the day. All Emily knew was that Spencer was just in a desperate need for a baby sitter.

Lucky for her, Noah became bored with waiting for an answer and asked another one. "When will my mom be back? I want to go home!" whined Noah.

Emily puffed out her cheeks "I don't— " and as if coincidentally, there was a knock at the door. Emily let out a sigh, smiling lightly at the boy and ruffling his hair, before stepping up to answer the door.

"Spencer!" exclaimed Emily with relief. "Hey!" she stepped out of the doorway, letting her friend inside.

"Mommy!" exclaimed the little boy with a smile as he ran up to her, hugging her legs. Spencer slightly bent down, settling her hands in his messy brown hair. A hint of a smile ran up her face at the presence of her son.

"Hey baby. Were you good for Emily?"

"He was an angel" answered Paige, who was now coming up to join the group. "Seriously" pressed Paige. "You sure got lucky with such a lovely little man."

"I sure did" said Spencer, but her voice was distant—wrapped in other thoughts revolving around the chaos creeping back into her life, again. But, Emily didn't seem to take notice.

"He was seriously great though Spence. You might have to be a little more careful when watching him, someone just might snatch him away!" said Emily, playfully, as she squatted down to the little boy's level—whom was standing next to his mother, one of his hands still wrapped around her leg—and poked the indent in his chin, affectionately.

Spencer knew that when Emily said someone that she was implying herself, and that she was clearly joking, at that, but just the thought made her cringe. After a pause, she forced a overdue laugh. "Yeah," agreed Spencer, uneasily. "Well," said Spencer after a moment's pause, "We better get going!" exclaimed Spencer, as happily as she could. "Hanna just texted me that dinner's almost done, and how we need to get home before Caleb eats it all."

"Sounds like Caleb" laughed Paige, along with Emily.

Spencer nodded with a light laugh of her own.

Noah looked up to his mother "Caleb's at home?"

"Yeah, he's going to be eating dinner with us" said Spencer.

Noah let out a squeal of delight before saying "Well, then let's get this show on the road!"

Spencer let out a small giggle before rolling her eyes "Well, I better listen to king Noah's demand, before it's off with my head" Spencer gestured to Alice In Wonderland one of Noah's favorite movies. "Thanks for watching him" said Spencer, as she began to look through her purse for his wallet.

Emily rested a hand on hers "Spencer no! You are not paying us! We had a blast."

Spencer rolled her eyes, but she didn't argue. She simply just did her farewells and then hit the road. There was no point in arguing with Emily about this.

…

Dinner ran smoothly. Noah was so occupied in Caleb's story about how he had dissected a dead mouse at his volunteered job at the Philadelphia nature center, that he didn't even seem notice Spencer's absence from the second part of dinner.

She had snaked her way down to the parking lot; telling Hanna that she had forgotten her purse in her car. She didn't like to lie. But, how would Hanna react if she told her who she was really meeting? Here's a hint: on the borderline of psychotic; asking why she would ever involve herself with him again, what the hell she was thinking in talking to him again, all the questions she wasn't prepared for—questions she didn't have answers to.

She had been avoiding most of his calls all day. The last time she spoke to him was this morning, when she told him they were taking her phone, it seems like that was forever ago, but since then he has called her six times, none of which she answered to. She didn't quite know why she ignored his calls. Maybe it was to make him suffer, deal with the unknowing pain like she had, maybe she didn't really trust him all too well even though the evidence pointed elsewhere, maybe she thought it was none of his concern, maybe all of the above. Yet, she was meeting him in the parking lot on this dreadfully cold evening.

She spotted the familiar face standing idly in front of the path that led to the park area behind the apartment building. She jogged over to him, wanting to get this done as soon as possible. Besides, even if she wanted to take her sweet ole time, she couldn't—she told Hanna she was fetching her purse. Therefore she had approximately seven minutes to talk to Toby. There was no doubt that she would need to be quick.

He waved to her, but she didn't return the wave. The smile—that she couldn't determine whether or not was fake—faded as she got closer to him. "We have to make this quick, Hanna thinks I'm getting my purse."

He didn't argue with this. "What happened?"

She looked up at the sky—grey, which was to be expected, it was early October. The skies were getting greyer and greyer with each passing day, preparing for the long winter ahead. "That they can't really do anything about it" said Spencer, feeling regretful the second the words left Spencer's mouth. Was she being too quick to trust him? "If I get anymore…they can build a case though" said Spencer, almost in a warning tone. If it was Toby, maybe he would stop then. Besides, it was true anyways.

A few familiar facial expressions washed past Toby's face—anger, annoyance, a certain protectiveness. "What the hell? So, you are just supposed to wait around until someone decides to hurt you, until they'll do something. God dammit, I hate the cops" muttered Toby, as he shook his head. Spencer sighed. She felt the same way earlier—but she didn't want to agree with him. She didn't want to really have the same opinions. Maybe what he did to her in high school still kind of stung—a lot.

"I don't know. I mean maybe they are right. It was one text. Plus, the officer I talked to seemed pretty nice. He seemed to want to help. He even told me when we went to lunch about how he'll help look for this guy with me on his day off." That was a lie, he didn't really say that. Maybe, she wanted to make him jealous. Although, her plan seemed to backfire, Toby didn't even flinch at the pronoun of he mixed with the phrase when we went out to lunch.

"If he likes you so much, why isn't he looking for this guy right now?" pried Toby. He seemed pretty upset, and angry. Almost as upset and angry she was. It made her feel even more conflicted. She felt a little bad that she hadn't called him back all day. Maybe he was just trying to help. Maybe he wasn't the one behind this.

Spencer let out a shrug, not knowing what to even say. Her mouth was flung open, but her vocal chords seemed to be taking a nap.

"I'm going to find this guy. I swear to you, I will."

Spencer sighed, meeting his eyes, with hers. "Toby, you can't…how are you going to be able to. You don't even know where to start."

"Well, give me the I.P. address. I'm going to find this person, Spencer" promised Toby, looking directly into those mocha brown eyes. Their eye contact was becoming dangerously too long for both Toby and Spencer to handle. The two flickered their eyes away fearing that their eye contact would open up all the suppressed feelings inside them.

"I…don't have it right now. It's in my purse…which actually isn't in my car. It's upstairs. And I can't." sighed Spencer, peering up at Toby for a mere second before adverting her eyes once more "Just leave it alone, and don't worry about it. I'll figure it out."

"I'm not going to do that"

Spencer was about to ask why before realizing that they would just fall into another fight. So, she told him she would talk to him tomorrow—meet him somewhere—have him come over—do something in which they could discuss this further. He seemed to agree to this, not pushing for anything more, or anything less.

He let her go back up to her apartment, watching her until she was out of sight. But, the saying "out of sight, out of mind" didn't apply to him all too well. He spent the rest of the night thinking about her, about Noah. He spent most of his nights thinking about them. He often went back and thought about all the possibilities. All his doubts and regrets, and how if he never joined this sick team, things could be different.

The late August air was thick and heavy, he was becoming impatient waiting for his father to pick him up from the train station. He wasn't surprised that his father was late, though. His father didn't want him coming home—presumably like the rest of Rosewood. Toby wasn't too fond of coming home either, though, or at least that's what everyone called it—home. It wasn't home to him, really, though. It hasn't been for a long time, probably since before his mother died. All sense of 'home' had gone away with his mother. Hell, the reform school was probably more of a home to him than his house back in Rosewood. At least the people there treated him fairly.

He wasn't very eager to go back to the torment he had once lived in. Sure, Alison was missing, or whatever, but still, her posse was there. Probably still acting as they did when Alison was around, maybe Spencer Hastings became the new leader—it only seemed fitting. Aria Montgomery, she could possibly be the one to take over, but Toby doubted it. She didn't have the motivation, the leadership qualities, the bossiness and manipulative qualities both Alison and Spencer shared—not that he liked Aria or anything, he definitely had his reasons to hate her. There were other members of the group too—Emily Fields and Hanna Marin—but they were too naïve to take over the throne. Emily was sweet, and caring, he actually almost liked her, and Hanna was just a pathetic chubby wannabe that Alison had taken in, certainly not fit to take over the position as the new queen bee. Spencer was only the suitable choice, really.

Finally, his father pulled up in his out dated ford fusion. He didn't even come out of his car to give his son a hug, he simply just popped the trunk open, so Toby could put his luggage in the car.

He took his seat in the passenger's seat, slamming the door behind him. He greeted his father shyly, but his father only mumbled in reply. Toby knew his father wasn't happy to see him, wasn't pleased with him coming home. He didn't want him to come home. He would probably let him rot away in this place for all eternity if he could. He couldn't imagine how his step-mother would be treating him, if this is how his biological father was acting.

He cursed Alison and her posse for forcing him to take the blame for their malicious prank. Maybe if they would have done the noble thing, and took blame for what they did, things would be different.

But, they didn't.

When he arrived home, his father didn't have much of a conversation with him. He told him to take his things up to his room, and get ready for the lunch Elizabeth—his step mother—was preparing. Elizabeth didn't even greet him hello when he walked in. Everyone was acting like nothing happened, like he hadn't been gone for nearly a year, that perhaps he was just away for a weekend. It sickened him. What did he ever possibly do to deserve any of this?

Lunch was awkward and eerie. His father asked if he was glad to be back, and if he was going to be a better man now. Toby had said "yeah" to both questions, because what was he supposed to say? Elizabeth asked if he learned anything resourceful. And he told them about how he apprenticed with a carpenter, except he could tell they both didn't really care all too much. They were both absorbed in something far beyond him.

At the end of the dinner he realized what they were in such deep thought about: Jenna. She was coming home today, too. They had to go pick her up at the train station later that day. She was coming home from the school of the blind, or whatever—how wonderful. If he could remove anyone from Rosewood, It would be Jenna. He despised her more than anyone or anything.

His parents told him to behave, and that he could go out and hangout with his friends if he wanted to—as if he had any. They probably just wanted him out of the house when Jenna got home. So, they could celebrate her home coming without him—not that he would ever want to celebrate that, anyways. They were probably going to stop at some fancy dinner on the way back, and buy her some new expensive snow globe, even though she wouldn't be able to see it.

Poor thing.

Once they were gone, Toby simply kept doing what he had been doing since he got home—sitting in his room, drawing, and listening to The Smiths on repeat. Maybe things weren't so different after all. This is what he did every single night before he was sent to reform school. His parents always praised Jenna, and he was always pushed to the sidelines, hiding out in his room all day and night, with not a friend in the world. Some would call him a loner, but he liked it this way.

Hell, maybe things would even be better. Maybe Jenna would just leave him alone, for good, and he could finally get his own tranquility. He would finally be able to enjoy his life again—well the best that he could with an abusive step sister, and hateful parents.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

Later that night, halfway through the song "The Charming Man" he heard a loud banging, knocking sound, coming from down stairs. Growing tired of listening to the banging, he fled downstairs, and to his front door.

There stood a short brunette, with a made up face, and sporting in a light yellow sundress. She smiled widely, clearly not feeling as awkward as Toby. "Hello, Toby! Welcome back to Rosewood!"

Toby was a little confused. What was really going on here? Was she really here for him? She was probably here for Jenna. He imagined that word had gone around that she was coming home. "Um, Jenna's still not back yet. My parents went to pick her up—"

"Stop right there. I'm not here to see Jenna, I'm here to see you" said the short brunette, a tiny, coy smile rising on her glossed lips.

Toby furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't even know this girl…did he? She sort of looked familiar, but he could not match her face with a name. "Um, who exactly are you?"

"Well, I guess you could call me the welcome committee. But, Mona Vanderwaal."

Toby furrowed his eyebrows, the name rang a bell, but the girl in front of him definitely did not the image in his head. "Wait…you, you're that girl that Alison and her posse used to pick on, right?"

She seemed hesitant at first, embarrassed maybe, but nodded stiffly at the question. "I was. But, now things are…different. I'm a completely a new person."

"You don't have to say that again" mumbled Toby, doing another once over of the girl in front of him. She certainly had gotten a makeover of some sorts.

"May I come in?" asked Mona. Toby was caught off guard. She wanted to come in? He barely knew her for god's sake. But, for whatever reason, he nodded. She followed him inside the foyer, and they stood there for a moment, staring at each other in an eerie silence.

Toby looked at her perplexed. What on earth was she doing here? Visiting him? Didn't she know what he had done? "Um…what exactly do you want?" asked Toby, skeptically.

"It's not what I want, it's what you want" answered Mona, a coyness in her voice, matched with a vicious smirk.

"What is that exactly?"

"Justice. Just like me. We are a lot alike, Toby, both manipulated. Both pushed and stomped on by Alison and her little annoying posse of liars. We both deserve a lot more, than we have."

Toby looked at her with squinted eyes, and furrowed eyebrows "What are you—what are you talking about? Justice? Me deserving more? Haven't you heard what I did? Why I was sent away to reform school?" asked Toby, letting out a dry sarcastic chuckle, at the idea.

"I know the truth, Toby. I know you didn't do it. It was Alison and those little liars. I know you didn't hurt your step sis. Hell, I know she was actually the one to hurt you" said Mona, with a dark twisted laugh of her own.

Toby took a step back, gaping at her. "How—how do you?"

"I know everything, Toby" she rolled her eyes, in annoyance, of his ignorance. "I know that the people of this town deserved to be punished. They can't just push us around, and expect us to sit back, and take it. No, we're going to retaliate. Beat them at the game they started so long ago."

Toby stared at her blankly, agreeing with every word she said.

"…so what are you going to do?"

"Well," a smile crept on Mona's face. A horrifying devilish one. A smile so vicious and dark, that Toby should have known how morbid the girl really was. "That's why I'm here. I'm giving you the chance to serve yourself the justice you deserve."

Toby stood there for a moment, feeding on her words. He quickly snapped out of it, shaking his head back in forth. "No, no, no thanks. I'm not the type for revenge" he shook his head, dismissing the thought.

"But, Toby. This isn't revenge…we are just serving a little justice, is all. Don't you want to stop them? Stop them from going around, acting like they are better than everyone else? We aren't doing anything wrong, really, only defending ourselves from them. We need to show them that they aren't in charge anymore—or else who knows what will happen. They've already gotten you sent away to a reform school, what's next if we don't stop them? We are protecting not only ourselves but everyone in Rosewood. Those liars have it coming for them. It's just a few pranks here and there, it's not like we'll be ruining their lives."

"…what do you want me to do?" asked Toby after a deep sigh, and little time to think about Mona's proposition.

Mona smiled darkly. "Befriend Emily Fields…then we'll talk" and just like that, she was gone, and the beginning of the destruction of his life begun.

Toby chuckled under his breath as he remembered Mona's words—"It's not like we'll be ruining their lives"—right. He should have known better. He shouldn't have trusted her. But, without a friend in the world, and the whole town hating him, Mona's proposal seemed nice—better than the life he was living, but he was so, very wrong. Allowing Mona Vanderwaal to enter his life was the worst decision he's ever made.