Chapter Eleven - Thinking Hopeful Thoughts

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Aria's POV

'"Okay, so what do we do now? Ignore Mona? Push her off a ledge?" I tense up and Hanna sees. "I was only kidding.." I nod, still tense. The thought has only just sunk in. I killed someone.
I killed Shana, and now, she won't ever be able to grow up. have kids, or graduate high school. All. Because. Of. Me.
I don't know how I'll be able to deal with the guilt of all of this.
"Well, I don't know. I guess just deal with her, face her, tell her to stop or something. I don't know; didn't really think about that," Toby says.
Great. We're screwed.'

.:Spencer's Point of View:.

"Well, we are surely screwed." Emily voices my thoughts. I sigh, and lean into Toby's chest. Whenever I get stressed, or anxious, I can't help but be, as Toby calls it, 'cuddly.' I like being close to him, so that I know that he's there. I mean, I know he's there, but I mean, there there. There for me, to comfort me when I need him. Which is exactly why I brought him, because I knew that this conversation would be a stressful one. I felt Toby move so he could lean down to my ear.

"You okay, Spence?" He whispered. I shook my head as the girls talked about something involving Mona. I wasn't really paying attention. He lightly kissed the side of my head. "You want to go back to the loft?" He asks. I nod my head. It's not the girls stressing me out, it's just everything that's been happening. A, Mona, my pregnancy, it's really getting too much. I'm about a pinch away from breaking down and having a panic attack. "Okay." He says. Then, to the girls, "Hey, we're going to head out." They nod and say their goodbyes, and we walk out of the house towards the car.

When we got to Toby's place a little bit later, I couldn't help but feel drowsy. He noticed, and ended up carrying me bridal style all the way inside, and into the bedroom, where he took off my shoes and helped me get into one of his shirts so that I could be more comfortable. Toby then took off his shoes and got in the bed with me. I rested my head on his chest as he pulled the covers over our bodies. It was still pretty early, only around 1pm, so we just lied there, thinking.

I don't know why I was so emotional. I think it had to do with my pregnancy hormones, but I wasn't entirely sure. I also don't know when, but at some point, I must have started crying because I feel Toby brush his hand across my face, brushing away the tears.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asks. I nod.

"Yeah. Just everything that's going on, I'm just a bit overwhelmed," I admit. He nods.

"Take a nap, it'll help," Toby tells me. With that, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

.:Aria's Point of View:.

Ali sighs once Spencer and Toby leave. "I just don't know what to do." She says.

"Ali, I really think you should just get a new number and not tell anyone or something." Emily suggests.

"Let's just ignore it. Mona can't do much of anything if we aren't paying attention to her," Hanna says. Alison tilts her head, thinking about it.

"Mm, true. Okay, meeting over." With that, we all leave, each of us petting Pepito's head as we leave. I tell Mrs DiLaurentis goodbye, then exit the house, driving back home. Ezra will understand that I'll visit him tomorrow. But, it's time to face the music. The hard part? Coming up with a lie.

When I get home, I open the door to be met with my mom, and Zach, standing there, with their arms crossed. "Hey," I greet innocently.

"Why did you run off like that? Without even an explanation? You were gone for hours!" My mom exclaims. I close the door behind me.

"I got an SOS call from Ali." I explain. It was still partially the truth; I did get an SOS text from Ali, after I visited Ezra. I see Zach raise his eyebrows.

"And that SOS took three hours?" He asked, doubtedly.

"Yep! Anyways, gotta go - Homework needs finishing!" With that, I rush upstairs. I seriously don't feel like explaining this all to them; I just need to lie down for a bit, to clear my head of the stress of the past few days. Or years.

I just can't comprehend everything that's been happening. In summary, a creepy girl was stalking me for more than 2 years, one of my best friends is pregnant with Toby Cavanaugh's kid, I'm in love with my ex-English teacher, who is recovering from a bullet wound, and Hanna is probably going to rebound onto Travis. Wow. What a life.

A few minutes later, there's a knock on my door. I roll my eyes, but say, "It's open!" anyways. My mom walks in and shuts the door behind her. She sits down on the edge of my bed, and I sit up, leaning against the headboard. "What's up?" I ask.

She sighs. "Honey, what were you really doing while you were gone? SOS calls from your friends usually don't take that long," she explains.

"..It was a long emergency.." She looks like she doesn't believe me, but drops the subject anyways and we start talking about the Engagement Party for her and Zach. I don't know how I feel about him.. He just doesn't seem right. But I'm glad that my mom is finally happy.

.:Next Day:.

I was at the Brew with the girls, discussing Spencer's 'predicament,' when suddenly Emily stopped talking.

"Don't look now, but Mona just walked in.." We all turned around, and Mona was ordering something at the Pick-Up counter. We looked back at Emily, and she looked ready to face-palm. "Guys! I said don't look now!" She whispered. I heard footsteps, and there was Mona, standing at the edge of the table.

"Can I sit here? There are no more seats left," she asked. I looked around, and saw that she was right. Spencer and I shared glances, before I reluctantly moved over in the booth to make more room.

"..Sure.." I said, and she carefully sat down next to me. Hanna gave me a look, and I could tell she was trying to say, 'What the hell is wrong with you?!'

'What was I supposed to do, say no?'

'Yes!' She nodded her head rapidly. Someone cleared their throat, and I looked to see that it was Mona.

"So.. How are things?" She asked.

"Good."

"Great.. That's great," she said awkwardly, glancing down at her coffee. Then she sighed. "Listen, it's not you I'm targeting," she says.

"What? What are you talking about?" Spencer asked.

"I only hated you because you were friends with Alison. I'm against Alison, she treats me so bad.. It hurts. It may not seem like it because I'm 'bitchy Mona,' but it does."

"What do you mean? Is that why you've got that whole army thing going on? And why you're so nice to Mike?" I asked, referring to her dating my brother. I didn't like it, but Mike was happy with her.

"Yeah.. I really do like him. It's Alison I hate." She explained. I leaned back in the booth, and thought about this. Where was this coming from? All of a sudden, coming clean? Mona?

"Oh.." Hanna whispered.

"So that text to Ali was from you?" Emily asked. Mona nodded.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I just told you why." She raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to stop with the Ali thing?"

"Maybe. It's in the past, but I still hate her guts for it. She was a bitch to so many people.. For so long. She can't just go around giving her apologies because she had someone after her. If it set her straight, then she deserved it. If it didn't, then she should rot in hell." Mona said simply. I bit my lip. I understood where she was coming from. Ali was a bitch. But she seems to be getting a lot better. She got a dog, she's nice to her parents, nice to Jason, to us, and she doesn't use that sarcastic Alison DiLaurentis smile anymore. If she smiles, it's genuine.

"She really has changed, Mona," Emily tells her. She nods, narrowing her eyes, whilst taking a sip of coffee.

"How do you know? She's an awful good liar, if I'm to be honest."

"She doesn't do the famous Alison smile anymore," Hanna said, voicing my thoughts. I smiled. Mona nodded.

"She hugs, and doesn't strangle," Spencer added.

"She hasn't called anyone a bitch since she got back," Emily said.

"And, she says thank you now," I finish.

"Alright.. I won't go after her anymore.. But if I see something that's famous Ali DiLaurentis, I'll call my dogs on her," she jokes. We smile, and she leaves the Brew.

"Well.. That was unexpected!" Hanna said. We all nod in agreement, and go back to our conversation.

.:Author's Note:.

This seemed shorter than usual, but it has the normal 1,500 words.. so I don't know. Thank you for reading, and I'm sorry it took so long to update!

-ImAliAndImFabulous0218