The loud clock hung above the classroom chalkboard was irritating Spencer. She had ten more questions for her English test, all on the first twenty-four chapters of "The Catcher and the Rye." She had already taken her AP Chemistry test, it was easy basics that she knew she did well on. She knew she would probably ace this test, but her anxiety always was carried around with her. Someone behind her was clicking their pen loudly, and she made a tight fist around her pen.

She also had Emily in this class, she was sitting two seats behind her. They never had really talked, besides small talk like at the Brew. Hanna was sitting across the room, Spencer sat all the way to the right, Hanna all the way to the left. Even though she was hungover and woozy, she still pulled off a pink blouse and a black skirt. She even managed to curl her hair into short loose curls, her makeup fresh and innocent. Hanna had her face pressed into her paper, as if the answers would just appear on the page.

Mrs. Montgomery was their teacher, Aria Montgomery's mother. Aria was also in this class, she was a short girl with an edgy style that somehow always looked good on her. If there was one girl in the school who could pull off cheetah prints with zebra prints all in the same outfit, it was Aria.

The clock ticked again, another minute gone. Spencer read each question carefully, and she finally read one question that caught her eye.

Which of these quotes was said by Holden?

"Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules."

"That's a deer shooting hat."

"I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of terrible, terrible fall. . . ."

"I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot."

As soon as she read the last choice, she circled it sloppily with her black pen. She could no longer hear Holden saying that quote, she could only hear Toby's husky voice say it to her. And then she saw his grin, his shrug, his mysterious eyes…

Another tick on the clock. She snapped back into action, answering the rest of the questions with ease. After this bell, it would be lunch, and she knew Hanna would want all the juicy details of Toby, but she also wanted to keep the whole "Helping him with his loft," thing to herself. She knew Hanna would instantly start assuming things were going on between them if she did mention it, but… maybe there was? She couldn't stop wondering if Toby really had been flirting with her, and half of her hoped he had.

What time was it? She looked up at the black clock. 12:59 PM. She had fifteen more minutes until the clock rang for lunch. She finished her test, so she stood up and everyone looked at her, knowing she was the first to finish as always. She set the paper down on Mrs. Montgomery's desk, and her teacher smiles at Spencer, her long brown hair evenly parted on each side of her shoulders.

Spencer walks back to her seat, and she sees Hanna's "Smart-ass" stare at her, and Spencer kept herself from laughing. Hanna's pen shook in her hand, and she looked like she was about to pass out. Oh, Hanna.

Minutes passed, and Spencer sat with her back leaned into her chair. She stared at the book in her bag, remembering some of the small details from that morning with Toby. The way he pushed his hand through his hair when he was about to say something, the way he looked at her and listened to every word she said. The way he laughed at her small dry humor. It was uplifting to know she could see him again after just one more class.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and Spencer grabbed her leather bag, throwing it over her shoulder. Hanna stood up also, walking her test up to the front desk like the rest of the students. Spencer walked to the left over to the door, and waited for Hanna. She grabbed her small teal bag, and she met up with Spencer, pushing her shoulder into hers. "Really, Hastings? Finishing first every time?" Hanna asks, walking around Spencer. Spencer smiles, and she laces her arm through Hanna's crossed one, and they walk together to lunch. "You know it's just a part of me, Hanna. I get straight A's, and anything below a ninety percent makes my parents blow their top."

"Yeah, I know trust me I've seen it." Hanna replies. Hanna was very popular, and the guys in the hallway moved easily out their way, Spencer smiled at some of the wide mouthed younger teen boys. "Hanna, you complain that you need a boyfriend, but you could have any of these guys, their goggling over you."

Hanna shrugs as they reach the lunch room. "Yeah, that's true, but I want myself a daring bad-boy." She says. Spencer is almost shocked. "Really? I thought you'd want some big jock."

Hanna shakes her head. "No, I really have a thing for the bad boys. Like there's this one guy in my science class"-

"You mean Human Bio class?" Spencer corrects. Hanna gives her an irritated look. "Never mind, continue your story." Spencer says quickly, and Hanna chirps along, "His name is something hot, I think Clyde, wait, no… C…. Caleb! Oh, that's it!" She says.

Spencer almost laughs, she is shocked. "Caleb, as in Rivers? Hanna, I like stray dogs too, but sometimes they bite."

Hanna slips into lunch line, Spencer behind her. "Well he's had his shots!" Hanna throws back, grabbing a plate. She looks down away from Spencer. "I'm sorry, Han. I mean, if you like him, then I approve." She apologizes, touching Hanna's shoulder. Hanna sighs, and she nods.

"I know, I'm sorry I got all dramatic. I just… he treats me differently than all the other guys, you know? He's not drooling over my skirt and staring at my boobs, he is actually competitive and he sasses me… I was hella pissed at first, but, I don't know…" Hanna stops, as she grabs an apple from the lunch line, and bites it hard.

Then, Hanna's eyes widen, and she swallows hard, yipping, "Oh my God! I almost forgot! Hotty with the body, some explanation please Spence!" She says, kind of loudly.

Spencer shushes her, lowering her voice. "His motorcycle was ruined, so, I gave Toby a ride home"-

"Wait! Toby? You know Toby Cavanaugh?" Some heads turn as Hanna says his name. Spencer feels utterly confused and out of place. Once heads start going back to their meals, Hanna says quietly, "Toby went here for a few days I think, he's Jenna Marshall's step-brother, no kidding right? But people say his sister…" Hanna turns around, and then looks back down as she grabs a sandwich onto her plate.

"Say his sister did what?" Spencer asks. Hanna looks at Spencer, and whispers, "Molested him. Jenna got sent away for a while, but now she's back at school, but no one knows where Toby is now."

Spencer sighs, and she feels a pit in her stomach. Spencer grabs an apple, and then orange juice. Hanna stares oddly at her. "Are you not hungry?" She asks. Spencer sighs. "I lost my appetite."

"Wait, do you really think this is the same Toby I'm talking about?" Hanna asks. Spencer shrugs, and she says honestly, "I don't know." She really didn't want to believe that was true, because if it was true, she was partially forever scarred. That was terrible, she felt bad for Toby Cavanaugh.

Spencer and Hanna paid for their lunches, and sat down outside at this small table. Spencer then awkwardly catches the small Aria Montgomery's gaze, and she sees Aria is sitting by herself at a small table. She has a large book sitting next to her tiger stripped skirt. Spencer almost felt bad for her.

Hanna asks Spencer as they sit down, "Did you and Toby, you know, kiss?" Spencer gags as she is drinking her orange juice, and sets it down. "No, no!" Spencer coughs. Hanna raises an eyebrow. "But you want to?" Spencer gives her the look, and Hanna raises her hands up innocently, "Whatever, just saying."

Spencer looks across the yard, and sees Emily Fields standing with her plate in her hand. Two guys are standing in front of her, and she can tell Emily is uncomfortable. Spencer feels like she owes this to Emily, and she stands up, strutting over to the two guys.

"Excuse me?" Spencer says. The two guys turn to Spencer, whistling. Spencer steps in front of Emily, and Emily has a surprised look on her face. "Don't you two have football practice, or did you lose your balls?" Spencer snaps, placing her hands on her hips. The guys smirk, and the walk away, embarrassed.

Spencer turns around at the shy Emily, and Emily slouches. "Why did you help me?" She asks. Spencer smiles at Emily, and she suddenly asks, "Would you like to sit down with me and my friend? We have plenty of room." Emily sighs, and looks at Hanna, who is eating her sandwich slowly.

"I don't want Hanna to get mad," Emily begins, but Spencer interrupts, "No, Emily, she is completely chill, she'll like you, I promise." Emily seems unsure at first but finally nods. Spencer leads Emily back to her seat, and Hanna raises an eyebrow, but then smiles at Emily.

"It's Emily right?" Hanna asks, as she sits down. Emily nods. "Nice skirt." Hanna says, winking. Emily blushes, she was such a conservative girl. "Thank you." Emily and Hanna continue to talk, Emily begins to open up more as they talk about Calvin Klein and Gucci purses. Spencer feels proud to allow them to meet, because the rest of lunch they would not stop laughing about some girly TV shows.

When the bell rang, Emily and Hanna both made a face of disappointment, and Emily stands up. "Thank you guys, for talking to me." Emily says, smiling. Spencer nods, and Hanna adds, "No, thank you! Come sit with us anytime, Em!"
Hanna calls her Em already, and Spencer knows they will be close friends. Spencer watches Emily leave, and Hanna and Spencer hug, Hanna begging her to text her later. And Spencer goes off to her last period class, feeling slightly left-out. But she knows she did the right thing letting Emily sit with them, she was a sweet girl. Maybe they had truly made a new friend, but Spencer would have to wait and see how things would work out between all of them.

It was a relief when she heard the last bell finally ring. She grabbed her bag from Mr. Sears AP French 4 class and headed out. She slipped past most of the students as they crowded the hallways, and she felt her heart racing in her chest. New York sounds blasted as she escaped the claustrophobic building, horns of cars and singing birds.

She walked into the parking lot of the school, and she clicked her car keys to unlock, and heard her Toyota Highlander. She saw the headlights flash, and she walked to her car. She was actually excited to see Toby again. Maybe she could actually have fun for once in her boring life.

She drove her car hurriedly out of the parking lot, escaping the gazing eyes and the loud teens. She made a right turn to the Brew, excitement growing impatient in her stomach. She was nervous though, she barely knew him, but she felt like she had known him longer than anticipated. And now she was actually worried. She kept thinking about what Hanna said, about his step-sister molesting him, and she didn't want to believe that could be true. She would feel terrible to ask him about it, because she'd be invading his personal life.

But it didn't stop the curiosity in her system. She still wanted to know, maybe he was living in the Brew because he couldn't stand living with Jenna. And that would be understandable.

Finally, she saw the Brew coming into view in front of her. She smiled, and her worried disappeared. It was almost 2:39. She had plenty of time to do homework later, it could wait. That was the first time she actually thought that, and it made her even surprised.

She parked her car near the staircase outside of the loft. She left her bag in her car, and brought her phone instead. She looked up at the loft from near the stairs, the one window was covered by what seemed like two blue curtains. It was the same blue color of his eyes.

Spencer climbed up the stairs, each step growing more anxious and intense. What if he was joking and he never wanted her to come? What if he wasn't even here? But these questions didn't stop her as she knocked three sharp times on the red door. It was silent for a few seconds, and she reached her hand up to knock again. But it opened as she did so, and she brought her hand back down quickly. Toby stood in front of her, a smug smile on his face.

"Mi casa es tu casa." Toby says, opening the door wider. Spencer peers inside, and she sees white paper lied out on the floors, the walls blank, and a huge bookshelf sitting in the middle of the room. Toby had blue paint under his cheek, and he wore the same thing she saw this morning, but his black shirt had some of the same blue paint splattered on it.

"Are you sure you'd want my help?" Spencer asks. He cocks his head. "I mean, we just met,"

Toby smiles, and he holds out his hand. Spencer gives him a curious look. "It's a handshake, Spencer, you know, people do it when they don't know each other, and this will seal that we will know each other, right?" He asks, his eyes mysteriously questioning her own logic.

She reaches out her hand, slipping it into his. His hand is warm, strong and muscular. He shakes her hand gently, and then lets her hand go, and she's still frozen. "Come on in, I don't bite." He says. Spencer rolls her eyes, and she steps inside, looking around.

Toby closes the door behind her, wiping his hands on his shirt. "What do you think?" He asks. Spencer breathes in the fresh paint scent, and she nods, turning away from him. "It's roomy. It's nice." Spencer says. She sets her phone and car keys down on a blue table set against wall. The kitchen was small, and empty. There was an old white refrigerator in the kitchen.

Spencer notices there is an old vintage record player in the corner of the loft, a door next to it, probably his bedroom remembering his blueprints. Music flowed evenly out of it, and it sounded like an indie band. It was a mixture of piano, violin, and guitar. The voice was of a man with a raspy but deep voice.

Spencer turns around, and she places her hands on her hips. "So, where do we start?" She asks. Toby looks at her, then at her jeans. "What?" She asks. Toby shakes his head, placing his hand under his chin. "You can't paint in that nice shirt." He exclaims, walking over to her. Spencer feels her cheeks grow hot and blush.

"No, I'm fine." She says quickly. Toby shrugs, and then he walks past her, his presence making her legs shake. He goes near the record player, and he opens the white door in the hallway, and he slips inside. She sees that there is a black bed in the center of the room, and she lets her eyes wander as she stands in the middle of the empty room.

Toby returns, closing his door behind him, carrying some piece of clothing in his hands. She sees it's a blue shirt with long sleeves, one of his shirts. He walks up to her, tossing her the shirt. She catches it, and raises an eyebrow at him in disbelief. "You want me to wear this?" She asks.

"Unless you'd like to ruin your probable expensive shirt, be my guest." He says, a mocking smile on his face. She rolls her eyes, and she begins to unbutton her blue blouse that had her tank top underneath. She throws her blue shirt onto the same blue table that had her phone on it, and she pulls his shirt over her head, pulling it down on her jeans. She realizes the sleeves go easily over her hands length, and she has to push the sleeves up.

She turns around to see him looking at her differently than usually. She crosses her arms stubbornly. "What are you looking at?" She asks. He looks at her eyes, and he says simply, "You." Spencer can't help but feel her face flush with embarrassment. She felt out of place, but safe here.

Toby even seems embarrassed, and he clears his throat, and he walks over to a blue paint bin, and he picks up a large paint brush, slipping it around the rim of the bucket, clearing it. He walks in front of Spencer, and he hands her the paintbrush. "Okay, so, by the time you leave here today, you will have made a great accomplishment and goal." He says.

Spencer laughs, and she grips the paintbrush. "And what accomplishment and goal is that?"

He leans over the paint bucket, and grabs himself a large paintbrush, and strokes the paint evenly onto the white wall. "Your accomplishment: paint this whole wall. Your goal: To stay as clean as possible. Simple enough?" He asks, turning to look at her. She nods obediently.

He begins to paint the wall easily, and Spencer walks over next to him, and she dips her paint brush in the light blue paint, almost white, but blue. She slips it against the white wall, stroking it gently up and down. The top of the wall has already been painted, a ladder standing near the kitchen entrance. Spencer reaches up, and connects her strokes with the ones that had already been made by Toby.

He is quiet as he concentrates on his half of the wall. Spencer eyes him, and sees his strong hand she had shook was now a gentle precise artist at work. Each stroke he took was even and concentrated, not once but out of place. Spencer found herself just in awe with it.

Toby makes a face as the song playing changes, and he sighs, putting his paintbrush back into the bucket. He walks over to the record player, and he lifts up the tonearm of the record player. He places the large disk into a white paper slips, and he pulls another out from the door under the desk the record player sat on. He placed in another vinyl disk, and gently placed the tonearm back down.

Music began to flow out again, with a quiet piano, and Spencer recognized the tune easily. It was the song "Another Story" by The Head and the Heart. He had a good taste of music. She couldn't help but mouth the words as she painted. He painted next to her, and she guess he saw her mouth the words, because then he asked,

"You like this song?" He asks. She nods, looking at him as she paints. "Who doesn't?" Toby seemed surprised, his eyes widening slightly. "I'm surprised you listen to the band." He says, his voice quiet.

"The Head and the Heart, right? I listened to this one song in my car once and was obsessed with it, I think it was called, Winter Song. It's a great song." The music kept playing, and Toby smiles as he paints. "You're the first person I've met who actually listens to them, I'm quite impressed." He says, his voice happy.

Spencer laughs, and she shoulders him with her own shoulder and he looks at her. "You never know what you may find in other people." She says, looking back at her paint job. He smiles, and doesn't say anything. She feels an itch grow on her face, and she itches it with her thumb.

Before she realizes it, she has paint on her forehead. "Crap!" She exclaims, holding her hands out in front of her, the paintbrush in one hand. He looks at her quickly, and she crosses his arms and smiles when he sees she has paint on her forehead.

"Mission failed, Spencer!" He says, laughing. She frowns at him, and she tries to wipe her free hand on her shirt to remove the paint on her hands. But Toby sets down his paintbrush, and he touches her chin with his hand. She freezes, and looks up into his eyes.

"Here," He says, and he uses his thumb and strokes it across her forehead, dragging the blue paint away. She keeps her eyes on his concentrated eyes, before he moves his thumb off her forehead, but keeps his other hand under her chin. She stares into his eyes, her world combining with his.

He stares back at her, a bit too long, and he steps closer to her. Suddenly, her phone rings loudly from across the room. Spencer groans, and Toby quickly removes his hand from her chin, as she walks over to her phone. She couldn't help but feel overly disappointed. Damn it. Damn it.

She answers her phone. "Hello?" She snaps, her paintbrush still in her hand. "Spencer Jill Hastings, where are you now?" It's her mother. Spencer sighs. "I'm at the Brew." She says, a half honest answer. "Well get home now! It's almost 3:30, I expect you home in five minutes!" Her mother commands, and Spencer hangs up.

She nervously grabs her blue blouse, and Toby walks up to her, staying behind her. "Is everything okay?" He asks. Spencer sighs, turning around. "It's my mom, she's expecting me home to possibly ground me." She says angrily.

Toby says, "Oh, why would she ground you?" Spencer looks at him, and she says nervously, "Because I drove home under the influence after I dropped you off. My parents, they just… it's complicated." She says, putting her hand on her forehead.

Toby's eyes look worried, actually worried, and he touches her under elbow. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks. Spencer shakes her head, and she grabs her car keys. "I actually have to go, um…" Spencer feels rushed. She grabs the bottom of her shirt, and is about to take it off, but Toby stops her by saying,

"No it's fine, keep it." Spencer gives him a thankful smile, and he says, "Wait!" as she grabs the doorknob. She turns around, and he grabs a piece of paper from the kitchen, writing something down. He goes over to Spencer, handing her the small slip of paper.

"I really enjoyed your help, you can email me anytime." She takes the paper, and nods. "Thank you, Toby." He nods. "Do you think we could do this again sometime?" Toby asks. Spencer sighs, "I'll have to email you tonight, I don't know with my parents"-

"No, I understand. I'll see you later, I guess?" He asks, as she opens the door. Spencer nods. "Yeah, see ya." And then she leaves, his hand holding the door open for her as she rushes down the stairs. So many thoughts were running through her head, so many questions, but his heart was not one of them. She liked him. There was no denying that now, and she had to come back. And she didn't have to turn around and look to already know that Toby is probably already watching her leave.

As Spencer enters her car, and begins to drive away, she can't get rid of the goofy smile that is on her face. Despite all the crap going on in her life, Toby was one of the good pieces in it that she wanted to, hoped to, keep.