PLL belongs to Sara Shepard and ABC Family.

I do not take credit or own.

By the way...sorry for the long wait.

By the end of the day Alex had left the dance without telling Spencer, which she swore was because of Melissa (who was chosen by the school to give out the crowns), Aria had to keep Sean company because Hanna had disappeared, and Emily took off with Toby. It also consist of Sean and Hanna winning Homecoming King and Queen, except Hanna was no where to be found. Now when it came to Emily and Toby I didn't think anything of it but Aria and Spencer were freaking out. I mean I get Toby is a bit weird but I didn't see what was so bad about them leaving.

Now if you're all wondering what happened in the booth with Fitz, it was weird. When I walked in he just stared at me. Then he composed himself. "Is there something I can help you with Jessie?"

"Uh." I clear my throat. "I'm supposed to be replacing whoever was helping you."

He nods and looks towards the back. When I look over towards the wheel you throw the bean bags through I felt heat of anger fill my face. "Thanks for the help Amber."

She smiles at me and all I wanted to do was punch her again. Seeing her always made me mad these days. Especially because of yesterday when her, Riley, Rachel, Carly and Zander had came around the Sports Store. I was so ready to throw them out, but the look Carly gave me when she saw me was priceless. It seemed she didn't know I owned the store, so after she composed herself she acted as if she had no idea who I was. Zander actually said hi to me, it was awkward. But while Zander was looking around for whatever he needed Riley, Rachel and Amber did what they do best, annoyed me.

It was a slow day so I had been in the middle of playing on my Nintendo DS when they walked in. I was so not in the mood to be a friendly sales person to them so when they walked up to me I did my best to not look up from it.

"How's it going Four Eyes?" Rachel says.

I inhale and try to stay calm. "Fine." I still wasn't looking up. "Can I help you with something?"

"Oh no. Just waiting." Riley says in her usual fake sweet voice.

"Fantastic. Can you wait somewhere else."

"Aw peewee. Why so rude?" Rachel butts in.

"I'm busy."

"You're such a dork, Brant."

"Thank you." Someone snatches my DS. "Hey!"

"Petey is going to love this." Amber says. I walk around the counter and try to grab it from her. But she holds it up above her head where I can't reach it.

"Give it back."

"Orphans can't afford stuff like this."

"Shut up."

She smiles. "So did mommy and daddy Hastings get it for you?"

"If you must know." I say through gritted teeth. My temper now rising. "I've had this before I moved back to Rosewood. So get your facts right before you start running your mouth."

She smiles and gets closer to me. She had to lean a bit to be right up in my face. "You think you're better than everyone now just because you got adopted by one of the richest families in Rosewood?" I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't say anything I would regret later. "Don't think that will save you from getting pounded."

"Jessie."

We all look over. "I got what I need." Zander says. I give Amber a mean look and walk back behind the counter to ring up his stuff. "Thanks." He says when I'm done. He could barely even look at me. He grabs his stuff and starts to walk away. "Amber give her back the DS."

She looks at me with a smile and slams it back onto the counter. "See you around Spick." They all start laughing. "You know I never understood how you could be one. You're as white as me."

If anyone else was wondering this fact then let me explain. Both my parents are Latino Hispanics but my dad is half white because his dad (my grandpa) is white. Hence why my last name is Brant. I have the same light color skin as dad did, and Jeff was a bit darker like my mom. Honestly though, Jeff and mom were barely darker than us. Had this been anywhere else it wouldn't have been such a big deal. Common sense is that there are different types of Spanish speaking nationalities and it's just a stereotype that they are all dark skinned. But once Rosewood finds something out about you they either turn it into a good thing or it can be switched around on you.

"Don't forget the red hair and green eyes." Riley adds, laughing.

I roll my eyes. "You guys are so immature."

"Oh yea?"

"Yes." I say in an attitude.

"How so?" Rachel asks, leaning up against the wall with her arms crossed.

"Just because I'm Hispanic descent doesn't mean I have to have the same features as the rest of them. Someone who speaks Spanish doesn't mean they will have dark skin." I give them a look as they were ready to crack up. "And there is such a thing as blending races."

"Oh that's right." Amber says, nodding. "Your dad felt bad and took your Spick mother in. How cute."

I lunge at her from behind the counter and Zander was just able to grab me and hold me back. I was fuming with rage as they cracked up and left. Zander just gave me an apologetic look and took off after them.

Coming back from that thought I watched as Amber was still looking at me with a smile. "See you on Monday Mr. Fitz." She bumps me on the way out "Finally trying to fit in?" She whispers as she looks me up and down then walks out half laughing. As much as I hated her I had to do my best not to laugh myself. She says I'm trying to fit in, well she was wearing a dress too. That had to be the funniest thing I've seen all day.

"Jessie?" I look to Fitz. "Can you finish cleaning up the bags from behind the wheel?"

I nod. "Sure."

I give him the bucket when I'm done. "How are you enjoying the dance?" He asks.

I shrug. "It's okay."

He nods. "Good."

It got awkward after that. For about fifteen minutes it was really quiet. Well except when people came around to toss the bags, and the time when Andrew came to let me know he had to leave. Oh and when Sean came looking for Hanna. But eventually he tried to break the ice.

"Look." I turn to him. "I know you have a hard time being around me since that talk we had." I shuffle my eyes around out of feeling awkward. "But I told you that I'm here if you needed to talk. Why avoid me?"

"Mr. Fitz. I don't know how to act around you. It's weird."

"But why?"

"Because it is. You saved my life. I appreciate it. But that was the worst day of my life and all I do is dream about it. That includes the part you pulled me out of the car. So every time I see you that's what I remember and it's hard."

He watches me for awhile. Then walks closer. "Have you talked to anyone about this?"

"Not often."

"Maybe that's the thing. You barely talk about how you feel and that makes it harder to coup."

"Here we go again." I think to myself. "Everyone repeats themselves on this talking about it thing. Why can't they get I don't want to." Is what I wanted to say but I kept that to myself.

"It doesn't have to be me you talk to." I hear him continue. "But doing so with someone at least once a week should help get you on track. I've seen you struggle the entire time so far, and that's because you are distracted. Your grades are slipping and I know you can do better. I've seen your grades from last year, they were pretty good."

I look at him. "If you had stayed in touch with me after it happened. What would you have done?" His face drops. I know I took him off guard with that one. But I was curious.

He shrugs. "Honestly I don't know. But I think we could have possibly become friends."

"Hey Jessie." I look to the opening, its Spencer. "Have you seen Emily?"

I shake my head. "No. Haven't seen her since she first walked in."

She nods. "You can close up this booth Mr. Fitz. Mr. Stuart said he'll come take over in about a half hour with Miss Marks."

"Thank you Spencer."

She smiles. "Noel's looking for you by the way. Says you owe him a dance."

I roll my eyes. "Doesn't he get I hate to dance."

She laughs. "May have to grill it in his head more. But I'd just get it over with. No harm in a dance."

"Unless it's me of course."

She smiles. "It's not a big deal."

"I have two left feet."

"Everyone has a flaw. Don't let it control you." She smiles and walks away.

"She's not wrong."

I look at Fitz. "Yea well. I prefer not to embarrass myself." I start to walk away.

"We are going to talk more on Monday." He says.

I look back at him. "Maybe." Then I walk out.

I ended up in the girls locker room. Not sure how I got here without noticing it but I did. I honestly wanted to leave now. I didn't see the point in staying. The point of coming was for Andrew but he left, so why should I stay?

"You okay?" I look up and see Luna.

I nod. "I'm good." Then smile. "You look amazing."

She was wearing a silver spaghetti strapped dress that just barely went below her knees. Her hair was in a bun and was wearing sparkled makeup. Leave it to Luna to shine. Always the center of attention.

She smiles. "So do you." She sits next to me on the bench.

"So you following me?"

She smiles a bit. "I saw you helping Mr. Fitz. Noticed you were upset when you walked out of the booth. You sure you're okay?"

Besides the girls (not including Hanna) and the Montgomerys, Luna is the only person I told about Fitz. I'm glad I did because she has the best ways of getting me out of situations with him. Once she was passing by the classroom after the bell rang and noticed he was trying to get me to stay so we could talk, she acted like she was having an asthma attack so I could take her to the nurse. That actually scared the crap out of me but after yelling at her for a bit she managed to cheer me up. Another time she "accidentally" bumped into him when he caught me at my locker one day after school. In the confusion of his and her papers/books being scattered all over the place I was able to slip away. Aria was there that time and did her usual "You should talk to him." speech. She thinks it's better to talk than to avoid because it may help me more. On the other hand I'm comfortable just ignoring him all together.

I hear the sound of snapping fingers and Jessie being said from what felt like a million miles away.

I look to Luna as I see her fingers snapping in front of my face. "Jessie?" She says again. She looked a little concerned. "Talk to me."

"I'm fine." I try to put a believable smile.

"Bull." She says. "I can see it all over your face. You look like you're on the verge of exploding."

"Don't worry about..."

"Stop saying that. I'm not the only one you tell to not worry. Every time someone wants to help you give them an excuse on why you don't want to talk or act like you're okay. Everyone knows you're not. So why not take advantage of the help people try to give you?"

I watch her for a minute. "Because then it will be more real." I say.

"What do you mean?"

"I know my family is gone. I do. It just sometimes feels like a dream and every time I talk about it, it just makes me remember that it actually happened. I don't need to be reminded all the time that I'm an orphan."

She looks at me with worry. "We don't try to talk to you to remind you that you're an orphan Jessie. We are worried about you. You never talk and when that happens you break down. Not just for a few hours and you're done. Sometimes it's days. Who wants to see you go through that on your own? That's what friends are for."

"It's just hard to talk about."

"I know." She says. "But no harm in getting things off your chest once in awhile."

I'm quiet for a second. "I guess. It's just a little hard to let out your feelings when you know whoever you're talking to isn't doing the same."

"Who's that?"

"Spencer, Aria...all four of them."

"Because of Alison?"

I nod. "But I think there's more to it than that."

She nods. "It could be. But don't hold it against them. They haven't had as much time as you have to let it sink in."

"Time doesn't always help Luna. I've had time but still doesn't feel real."

From there she at least got me to leave the locker room even if she didn't get me to talk. As we headed back to the dance is when we heard Sean and Hanna's names being called for King and Queen through the hallway. When we walked in Sean was standing up there by himself. Poor kid looks embarrassed and mad at the same time.

He caught sight of me and walked over. "Where's Hanna?"

I shrug. "I have no idea."

His face got pissed. "She made such a big deal to go together and she's not even here."

"She's somewhere around here."

He was so mad that he didn't even want to stick around. "Just tell her I left. Someone else can give her a ride."

"But you came with Noel. What about him."

He thinks. "If they don't want to leave now could you take him and Abby home?"

"That's his date?" He nods.

I get a picture in my head on how my car is. "Me and Aria in front and space for three in the back." I think to myself. Then I nod "Yea. I can take them."

"Thank you." He puts his hand on my shoulder. "I owe you."

I nod. "You will if I do take them. Right now you have to see what they want to do."

"Oh right." I half laugh. "I'll be right back." And he walks away.

Few minutes later he's back and tells me that Noel and Abby were good with leaving early. The dance was almost done anyway so there was no point in sticking around longer. Now I just had to find Hanna so I could let her know Sean left and that she needed to get another ride.

After walking around for awhile I ran into Aria. "Where's Hanna?" I ask.

"Looking for Emily."

"Still?" She nods. "Maybe she left."

She nods. "Probably." But the look on her face was awkward.

"Well tell her Sean left."

"He left?"

I nod. "He was mad that she ditched him and left him looking stupid when they called them." She wasn't even paying attention anymore. "Aria?" I say in a mad tone. I was getting aggravated now because lately she seems to not listen when I talk.

She looks at me. "What?"

"What's going on?"

"Nothing." I give her a look. "Nothing Jessie, honest."

"Now who's hiding something?"

"I'm not..."

"Don't lie okay. I can tell. You've been keeping something from me since Alison's funeral. At first I thought it was just you trying to keep your distance because it was too hard to talk about, which I understood. But now all you do is whisper and act like everything's okay with you when I know it's not. All four of you do it and I get it, Ali's death struck something. But sneaking around, being weird when others are around and flinching every time your cell rings is not normal."

She's quiet for a long time. "Look." She starts. There was a bit of anger in her voice now and that got me a little pissed, because there was no need in getting upset. "I know you get what I'm going through but I don't see you talking to me about what happened with your car accident either." That took me off guard so my mouth dropped a bit. "You waited almost seven months to tell me about it. Seven months Jessie. That's close to a year and that only happened because I came back. So sorry I don't feel like talking to you about my friend dying." I clench my jaw out of anger as she starts to walk away. "Who by the way." She turns around. "Was a friend you hated."

Now my temper was at the surface. "First of all..." I had to contain myself from yelling. "I apologized a million times for not telling you about the accident. If I could go back I'd find a way to tell you, but I can't. So stop being such an ass about it." Her eyebrows slant into an angry V shape. "Second..." She crosses her arms. " Everyone hated her Aria. Don't get mad at me and try to make me feel guilty about that just because I'm easier to blame." We both glared each other down. "You know what. Maybe I'll skip on sleeping over."

"Fine!" She half yells. "That's your specialty anyway. Running away and avoiding things because you can't handle it."

I take a deep breath. "Would you rather me stay at you house then? Okay. I'll yell while your parents are around."

"Doesn't make a difference. That's all they do these days anyway. Why not add to the disaster I call a home!"

That right there really hit me. I saw all her sadness and anger turn into tears. I didn't even think twice as I pulled her into a hug. This is what I liked about our friendship. No matter how mad we got we were still able to turn off the argument to comfort each other.

"Let's go okay? I'm over this dance." I say.

She nods and we left. I would have said bye to the others but they weren't around. So I just left them all a text. Adding to Hannas about Sean. I hope she could get a ride.