IV.

Here's a question even the great Spencer Hastings can't answer: are you smarter than a charity case? I'll give you a hint. The answer is no. You're not. ― A

Spencer Hastings was not used to being confused. But as she read and re-read the text message sitting in her inbox Friday afternoon, she couldn't help it.

First off, she had no idea who had sent the message. She'd mastered the art of deciphering texts based on style, grammar and punctuation. But this 'A' person had covered their bases; perfectly punctuated and grammatically correct, this text could have come from any of the English buffs in Hastings Hall.

Second, Spencer couldn't process the idea of someone being smarter than her. It was simply impossible. She'd held the highest GPA in all of her classes since kindergarten, and now some mystery person was telling her she'd been usurped? By a "charity case," no less?

Spencer viciously typed out a text: "SOS. Meet in my room ASAP."

Not even five minutes later, Spencer's best friends arrived at her dorm, phones still in their hands.

Mona Vanderwaal and Aria Montgomery looked equally disheveled and out of breath. Mona took a seat on the edge of Spencer's bed, while Aria settled into the plush computer chair by Spencer's desk. "What's going on?" Aria asked, waving her phone. "You haven't sent out an SOS in ages."

The last time Spencer had called out for help, it was because she'd needed help deciding on a dress for some banquet in their second year. Needless to say, the situation at hand was much more serious. "Listen to this," she said, and read the text message aloud. "Apparently, someone's taken over my top spot."

Aria frowned. "That's impossible, Spence."

"I thought so too." She shuddered. "I'll be a laughing-stock if people find out I dropped in rank. And imagine what my parents or my sister would say. Especially if I really am getting beat out by some Goodwill-wearing, Salvation-Army-shopping scholarship geek."

Mona twirled her dark curls with her finger, thinking deeply. "Well, can't we find out who it is and ― I don't know, ask them to bomb their next couple of tests for a good price?"

"Or," Aria said, "we could save our money and just drop whoever it is down a few notches on our own."

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you've got a devious plan cooked up, Montgomery. Elaborate."

Aria bit her lip. Twirled a little in the chair. "I could get into the school's academic database," she offered shyly. "I know my mom's info."

Spencer lit up. "Aria, that'd be amazing."

"And illegal as hell," Mona said.

"That doesn't matter right now," Spencer cut in. "Aria, can you really do that?"

She shrugged. "It's worth a shot."

The girls all hovered over the computer while Aria typed in her mother's log-in information. Ella Montgomery was the head of the English department at Rosewood Academy, and as such, she had access to all the academic records of the students at the school. For someone so brilliant, Aria's mother had deceptively simple passwords for everything. Once, Aria had deleted a particularly unflattering teacher's note from her mother's email by guessing that the password was "swordfish."

When Aria got into the database, she quickly found the rankings for fourth-year students. Sure enough, Spencer Hastings was now #2.

Sitting in the top spot was a blond, green-eyed girl that Spencer had never seen before on campus. Right away, Spencer could tell she wasn't a rich girl. She had little make-up on, and her hair ― while pretty ― was definitely not professionally done. On top of all this, she didn't have a last name that rung any bells. Her name was as basic and nondescript as she was: Marin. Hanna Marin.

"Who is she?" Mona asked, equally baffled.

Aria studied the ranking information. "Hanna Marin. Cavanaugh Hall. GPA on a 100-point scale: 99.88."

"Impossible." Spencer shook her head. She read her own stats, nostrils flaring. Spencer Hastings, Hastings Hall, trailing this Hanna girl almost imperceptibly with a 99.85 GPA.

"Fix this," Spencer demanded.

Aria got typing, changing individual grades just marginally enough to drop Hanna down a few spaces. But Spencer was ruthless. "Drop her down to a 70," she said. "I don't want to risk a charity case comeback."

Mona frowned. "Spence."

But Aria keyed in a few more numbers and, just like that, Hanna Marin was wiped from the top 10 all together. Spencer moved up to #1. All was right in the world again.

"You're a life-saver," Spencer said, hugging her friend.

"That's what friends are for," said Aria, laughing.

While Spencer and Mona went back to checking their own phones, Aria checked her own ranking: not too far down the list, she sat at #15 with a 96.5 GPA. Mona was not as far down as Aria expected, sitting at #40 with an impressive 88.0.

At last, Aria typed the name she was most afraid to see: Michael Montgomery.

It was even worse than she'd anticipated. Her brother was at the very bottom of the rankings list, with an unbelievable 10.75 GPA.

"What's wrong?" Mona asked, peering over Aria's shoulder.

Aria logged out of the database, slamming the laptop shut. "Nothing," she said. "Just covering my tracks. Don't want to get busted."

Mona nodded, understanding, and went back to texting. Aria pretended to do the same.