Do not own PLL.

Owned by Sara Shepard and Freeform.

Reviews appreciated, but please don't be mean about it if you don't like what I write.

Thanks.

It's Monday and has been over two weeks since Ian went missing, but still nothing on what happened. Alison's brother, Jason moved back into their house next to Spencer's. Maya's family was living there at the time that they found her body, but then they left when she was sent off to the rehab place and just never came back. We don't even know what happened to her, her and Em never got back in contact with each other.

According to the press Ian's disappearance is that he ran off on Melissa, and the girls tried to help him cover it up by saying he was dead. Mostly this theory was going around because he had taken out thousands of dollars from his bank account and now he is nowhere to be found. I mean, I guess in the police and public's eyes this makes sense. But if you know the girls as much as I do (especially Spencer and Aria from knowing them since we were kids) then you'd know that covering up a lie for Ian by saying he was trying to kill Spencer so he could frame her for Alison's murder and then got thrown off the tower to his death was a bit weird.

Now during the time they were supposed to not have contact with one another I found out that they were still sneaking around to see each other when they could. I decided that I was going to be a good friend and not tell anyone about it. I mean, I get their impulse to wanting to see the people that are going through the same thing they are after everything that's happened.

The only reason I found out though is because it started getting to the point where they'd forget they made plans with me at a certain time and never meet up. They gave me excuses every time, until they ran out of them and told me Saturday. Which only come out because Aria was late to getting me from practice since Aunt Ella's car wouldn't start and I let her barrow mine.

"You know I almost got you into deep shit right now." I tell her when I meet with her at the Grille.

"How?"

"I came home from practice and knocked out. Your mom got home sometime later from food shopping and was wondering why I wasn't with you."

Her eyebrows go up. "What did you tell her?"

"That I forgot and came home to sleep off my exhaustion from practice."

"Jessie, you are a life saver."

"I think she thought I was lying."

"I wouldn't see how. It's a realistic excuse. You woke up early for school that is six hours long on top of an extra two hours of running around. Plus you literally go from having gym class last period then head straight to basketball, sometimes you even go to work. I think she'll get that doing that five days a week is enough to tire anyone out."

"Yea true, but you still have to tell me when you're going to make me your back up."

"I'm sorry, I forgot."

I watch her for a minute. What I wanted to say next was not going to make her happy, but I said it anyway. "Have you thought maybe separation from them is a good idea?"

She gives me a confused look. "What? Why would you say that?"

"Because it's like you don't get a break from each other. You have other friends too, you have me. Just humor your parents for a bit and actually hang out with me rather than making it an excuse to see them."

"I thought you wanted to help?"

"I did...I do, but now that I know you've been sneaking around for this reason I noticed that I've see you less since you started to disobey the doctor's orders to make a point."

"We are hanging out now."

"Aria, this is us trying to stick to the plan of you pretending to having plans with me."

She gives me a warning look.

"I'm not trying to start a fight. But we live in the same house and I mainly only see you at school, which isn't really hanging out because it's school. Then at night I'm too exhausted from basketball to have a full conversation before I fall asleep. Does that seem fair?"

She hesitates for a second, then shakes her head. "I guess not."

"At least give me long enough to ask how your day is going, or gush over how Andrew did something amazingly cute that particular day."

She starts laughing.

I smile. "I mean, we didn't even get to talk about how awkward it was to have your mom take over for Fitz as a full time teacher today."

She nods. "Yea. It was a bit weird wasn't it?"

"A bit? I mean I love her and everything, and she's a good teacher. But you can't compare her to Fitz."

She slowly nods. "True that."

"But seriously though." I take a bite out of my Cesar Wrap. "Give me a couple days a week that we get to fully hang out if I'm able to function after practice, without interruptions from the others and I won't complain about our arrangement again. You just have to give me a heads up if you're going to dip. That's all I ask. I only did it today and that was no easy task trying to come up with a coverup."

She smiles and nods. "Okay."

"The same with the girls, because I can't even get time to hang out with Spencer or Emily anymore because they get busy too."

"We'll both talk to them."

I nod.

"What about Hanna?"

I look up to her and take a sip of my Pepsi. "What about her?"

"You made conditions for all of us but her. Are you guys not cool anymore?"

"Oh." I shake my head. "No, we are fine. I've just never been as close to her as you guys."

She nods. "True."

I half smile. "Hey. You'll be at my last game of the season on Friday right?"

She smiles. "Of course. Wouldn't miss the last round of the championships."

Our agreement went well all week after I'd get out of practice. Tuesday and Thursday we hung out all day, not a peep from anyone. Wednesday we went out to eat and chilled for a couple hours, maybe a bit more. Then Friday comes and I'm both pumped and scared as hell.

Last year we lost first place for the championship by two spots. Since I was going through a lot with my family dying I hadn't been in school all through February. So I wasn't there to help at the last games of the season. I always feel bad that I let them down and risked the championships by bailing like that. Thankfully though, we got farther this time since we are one of the last two teams, so we wouldn't be third. But getting this far I wanted to not come in second either.

As for the boys, they didn't make it to the championships so they've been done for awhile. However, Andrew boosted up his known status by a lot. He's a better athlete than he thought he was and managed to become one of the top shooters. I was so proud of him that we took the one day I was off that weekend and headed off to Camelback so he could teach me to snowboard. He's been asking me all winter and I always gave him a reason why I didn't want to go. This time I figured I better give in and what better time than then? But I'll tell you now that I'm a better skater than I am snowboarder. However, that didn't stop me from having a good time.

So when we get onto the court after a bit of practice we walk to the middle of it and wait as Tori gets in the circle to jump for the ball. All of the fans are going nuts in the Rosewood gym as we wait for the jumpers and Ref to get ready. She's the tallest on our team and almost always gets the ball. Just our luck though that she isn't able to get it this time around as her nerves seemed to get to her and got a bit anxious. She jumped too soon for the ball.

Long story short, the team we are playing is even better than the team that we lost to. So the game is overkill on both sides. All of our energy is on this game and all have some amazing blocks, shots and plays. So when we get to five minutes left of the game we are tied up at seventy-five.

It's full out competitive as we go back and forth on points in the last five minutes. They get three points then we get two. They jump for another three but Tori blocks it and rushes down the court for two, we are winning by one. Then the other team gets a layup in for two when Rachel isn't able to block her girl as they pass the ball from halfway down the court. Three minutes left...two minutes, then one. On that minute we are up by three, ninety to eighty-seven.

I have the ball as I get up to the three point line and shoot. Someone slams into me just as I'm shooting it and makes my finger tips hit the ball a bit weird as it leaves my hands. Thank God Tori is near the hoop and manages to assist my shot by tipping it in with her fingers. I try to catch my balance as I'm heading back down to the floor, but I land so hard that I hear a crack from my ankle and fall.

"Aaahhhh!" I yell in pain. Tears start to fill in my eyes and I grab my ankle.

The whistle goes "Foul! Two shots!"

Screams go through the whole gym from excitement.

I feel the happiness as I hear those words and I want so much to get up and jump for joy. I fail though when I try to get to my feet and fall back onto the floor from the pain of my ankle, making it shoot up my entire leg. I know that it isn't a good sign, especially when I see coach running over to me with the athletic trainer behind him.

Now the other girls start to surround me.

"Jay, are you okay?" Kelly kneels down next to me.

"My ankle." Is all I'm able to say through gritted teeth as I try to hold back the tears. But that didn't work so well, they just continued to slip down my face even with all my efforts not to.

When the trainer gets to me I'm in so much pain that it's hard to keep my emotions to myself. I do my best though by looking around the gym to keep myself distracted. I see everyone looking at me, silence spreading through the entire place because they were looking at me in concern. Some people have on shirts with our mascot on it, or just the name of the school. Others have shirts of the other teams stuff on. Posters are in some of their hands or face painted in the colors of their school. I've never actually taken in the crowd like I am now. Usually I'm the one constantly on the court or too busy helping coach on the sideline cheering everyone on whenever he gave me a break. So it's pretty amazing how much team spirit the fans have.

It takes a few minutes for them to get me to my feet. My ankle wrapped in tape with ice and I can't walk, so coach has to pick me up. Clapping from the fans come to my ears when he carries me off the court. I can just make out Uncle Byron standing by the bench.

Coach puts me down. "Your uncle is going to take you to the hospital."

"No, no I'm fine." I'm now doing everything to hold in the urge to cry again. "I want to watch the game."

He shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Jessie, but you can't even walk. You need to get checked out."

"Coach, we need someone to shoot for number two." The Ref says as he points to me.

He looks at the girls who are surrounding us. He has a thinking face on, probably trying to figure out who else has a good foul shot record besides me. "Rachel." He says. "Go take the shots."

She looks just as shocked as the rest of us. "Seriously?"

He nods. "Now all of you go, keep your heads up." He turns back to me and smiles. "Great game, Jessie. Bring that attitude back next year."

Uncle Byron gets in front of me and picks me up. "Come on, kiddo."

I wipe tears out of my eyes. "Bye, coach."

"See you in class on Monday."

The first thing I notice as he walks me to the car (that Aunt Ella had went to get as soon as they were told I had to leave) is that not only is Bobby (who had school) and Mike (who these days was always MIA) both missing, but Aria isn't here either. She promised to come and yet never showed up. I'm not sure whether to be pissed that she missed the most important game of the year, or relieved that she didn't have to see me get hurt.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Aunt Ella asks when she opens the back door of the car.

"I'm..." I grit my teeth. "Mmmm." Uncle Byron accidentally knocks my foot against the door as he tries to get me inside. I grip his shirt so I won't scream out.

"Oh my God. I'm sorry, Jessie."

"Mhm." I say calmly in response and try to smile through the pain. Then I turn to Aunt Ella once I'm successfully in the car. "I'll let you know how I feel once I hear what the doctor says."

She half smiles, gives me a kiss on the forehead and closes the door. Then she hops into the passenger seat.

I look down at my feet and notice my basketball bag, so I bend down to get it and start looking for my phone. When I get it out I immediately text Aria. "Thanks for showing up."

She never answers and that really pisses me off as it adds to my anger when I walk out of the hospital in a cast and on crutches. Thankfully though, I found out that we won the game by five points. So I was feeling a bit better.

"We won!" I yell just as Aunt Ella opens the car door when we get home.

She smiles and Uncle Byron turns to me in his seat with an excited look on his face.

"That's wonderful!" She says and gives me a hug. "They didn't let you down."

I shove my phone in my pocket and slowly get out. "I wish I could have seen the results."

She closes the door and they help me get to the back steps from the driveway. "I'm sure they'll give you the play by play when you get to school on Monday."

We head inside and I go over to the couch in the family room. Aunt Ella helps me stretch out and props my leg up onto a pillow. "I think it's best if you sleep down here tonight." She says.

"I'd agree, if the bathroom wasn't upstairs."

"Oh...right."

I half smile and she goes to get me a cup of water so that I can take the pain medicine they gave me. Then she sits in the open space on the couch, Uncle Byron joins us and sits on the chair next to us.

"Our kids aren't home." He says.

"Aria said she'd be at the game today." I say when I look to see if she answered back.

They both watch me. "She had an appointment with the therapist today." She says.

"I know, but it doesn't take two hours. She should have only missed the first half of the game."

"I'm sure there's a good explanation." He says.

Then speak of the devil, Aria is calling me.

I hesitate for a minute "It's Aria."

"Tell her to get her butt back home." He says.

I pick up the phone. "What?" I say in a bit of an attitude.

They both give me a sad look, then get up and leave the room.

"I know you're mad." She says.

"What gave you that idea?" I say sarcastically.

"Just hear me out."

"I'm tired of your excuses, Aria."

"Will you listen to me?"

"Now you want me to listen? When it has to do with an excuse on why something we had planned didn't work out is when you want to talk to me?"

"Damn it, Jessie!" She yells at me. "This is important." I go to interrupt but she goes so fast I have no time. "Ian's dead."

I roll my eyes. "So I've heard."

"No. I mean there's proof that he's really dead. We found his body."

My mouth drops and I'm speechless for a second. "You what?"

"I'll tell you everything when I get home. But right now can you let mom and dad know that I'm on my way home, I had no service for awhile. They need to meet me at the police station."

Uncle Byron wastes no time to head over there while Aunt Ella stays with me. For a couple hours we watch some tv in the family room and she makes a celebration dinner for winning the game. Then not too long later we hear the front door open, but no one walks in.

Uncle Byron's voice is loud enough to come into earshot of the room as he asks. "So let me get this straight." He says. "You found Ian?"

"Yes." I hear Spencer.

Aunt Ella gets up and goes over.

"How?" He says.

"Okay. It's a long story, but Spencer had a suspicion that Melissa was meeting Ian." Aria says.

"But you said..." he tries to get but she interrupts.

"Yes, we said he was dead, because he was! But obviously no one believed us. Anyway, short story is we followed Melissa and Wren out to some abandoned farm in the woods about an hour away and his dead body was in there."

It gets dead quiet (no pun intended) for about a minute. I can't take it anymore so I get up, crutches and all to head to the door. When I get into the hallway the door is wide open and they are all standing on the porch. When I get closer Emily notices me through the gap in between Aunt Ella and Uncle Byron.

"Jessie." She says.

All four girls peak around my aunt and uncle while they turn around.

"What happened to you!" Aria half screams and pushes through her parents.

I get to the door now and slowly make sure I don't trip over the little step down to the porch.

"I was upset you didn't come to my game so I kicked a brick wall." I say it so seriously that the girls don't know how to react. My aunt and uncle on the other hand are tring to hide a laugh.

"Are you nuts?" Aria says, giving me a confused look.

"Don't judge me. You're the one sneaking around and finding dead bodies."

She opens and closes her mouth a few times before saying. "But...you broke your foot because..."

"It was a joke."

Her face goes blank.

"You used to be good at figuring out my lies."

"You're such an ass." I can tell in her voice that she's getting mad.

"Aria, language." Her mom says.

She looks at her, "But she is."

All the girls are looking at each other in shock. Then they look at us as we stare each other down for a few seconds, not seeming to know what to do.

"Well you broke your promise. So I guess me being an ass makes us even."

I think we both must have looked pretty pissed, because the tension got to the point where no one said anything for awhile. We just watched each other in anger the entire time. I could slightly hear someone shuffling their feet in the awkward moment. Someone else's deep breathing was visibly loud in my ear. Then I noticed it's me and I calmed myself down.

Finally Aunt Ella breaks the silence with, "Would you girls like to come in?"

They all nod awkwardly in agreement, but Spencer can only stay for a little because she wants to check on Melissa. I insist we go upstairs so I can lay down and not have to worry about coming up later. So Uncle Byron comes up with us to make sure I'm settled in okay, then he goes back downstairs.

We all sit in silence for what feels like ever, until Spencer decides to walk over to me and I ask. "So your parents just let you up and leave after the police station?"

They are all quiet for a few seconds, then Spencer starts. "We wanted to be together after what we saw."

I slowly nod.

"So what really happened at the game?" She sits at the bottom of my bed and helps me readjust the pillow under my foot when she accidently moved.

"The girl that was blocking me decided to ram herself at full force into me in the middle of a shot. I was in the air, so when I came down from the hit I landed on my ankle."

They all give the Ouch face. Hanna's sitting on Aria's bed and Em's leaning up against her bed on the floor. I'm still a bit ticked off with Aria so the fact her expression is sympathetic doesn't really ease my anger.

"That sounds painful." Em says.

"You have no idea."

"So you barely got to play?" Hanna asks.

"No, I did. It was the last minute of the last quarter when it happened."

I tell them how the game went and explain piece by piece the last few minutes of the game. When I get to describing the fall and how I heard my ankle crack when I hit the floor they gave me that face again. When they find out we actually won the game they are thrilled.

"You definitely deserve to be the champs after what you went through." Emily says.

Then I asked them how they managed to find Ian. They don't hold back once they figured out how to start. Apparently they are practically spies and did their own investigations without anyone knowing. Spencer was sneaky by looking at her sister's cell phone (not something I agreed with but was impressed that it solved the Ian problem) and saw that some unknown number was texting her and they figured out that it was Ian. From there they found out that Wren was involved when they saw Melissa sneak outside to meet up with who they thought would be Ian.

Once they saw Wren, Spence went to talk to him (he's now a doctor at the hospital in the next town over) and he told her what was going on when he found out that Ian tried to kill her. They tricked Melissa into taking Wren with her to meet up with Ian so he could check on him for "medical reasons." Her and the girls were contacted by him during the afternoon today and they followed him to wherever Ian was, finding his dead body.

Now I know why she didn't come to the game, sure as hell wasn't at a therapist meeting. I had my suspicion on why the meeting was so late, but I let it slide.

"You guys could have gotten yourselves killed." I say in not only a serious voice but a mixture of concern and anger.

They all look at each other and then at me, not seeming to know what to say. I didn't mean to sound upset but they really could have died trying to figure this out and that would have broken my heart. I could not handle losing my friends on top of losing my family a year before.

"It's like you try to put yourself into a dangerous situation. That was really stupid of you." I add.

"You don't get it, Jessie." Aria says.

I give her a look, trying not to yell at her. "I do." I say calmly. "You wanted to prove everyone wrong, that you weren't lying. I get it, but for all you knew you could have been putting yourself in harm's way to get to the bottom of it."

"Well we didn't." Spencer says. "We are fine."

I give them all a look because I can tell they are holding something back. I can't explain it but something isn't right. However, I just nod. I'm not in the mood to start an argument, and being in this cast isn't helping my temper.

My phone buzzes and I see that Andrew is calling me. He was at the game, so he obviously saw what happened.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"Broken ankle." I lean forward towards my foot as an itch comes around, but with my cast I can't get to it. I give Spencer an annoyed look and she half laughs. Then she walks over to Aria's desk and grabs a pencil from one of the two drawers that are mine.

"Aw, babe. I'm sorry." Andrew says.

"Things happen."

Spencer walks back over to me and lets me know that she is going to slip the eraser side in between the open part of the cast where my toes are. I try to hold in a laugh because of how ridiculous it sounds, but I motion with my hand which way to go anyway.

"Do you want me to come over?" He asks.

A knock comes to the door and Aunt Ella walks in with a plate of snacks and Aria's dinner. "Thought you girls would like something to eat."

"I'd love that." I say to Andrew. "But I'm exhausted. Probably going to head to bed soon."

Aunt Ella gives me a look then realizes I'm not talking to her. She smiles and places the tray of food on the window seat. Then she hands me a cup of water and a pill that she wants me to take to get some sleep.

I smile and mouth the word "Thanks."

She smiles back and then leaves.

"Then if you are up to it I'll pass by tomorrow." Andrew continues.

"Sounds good."

"Okay, I'll let you go."

"Alright, goodnight."

"Night. Oh, and congrats on the win."

"Thanks, babe."

"Love you."

"I love you too."

I hang up and they all have that Awww look. Normally I'd say something but I'm too busy noticing that Spencer hit the spot that was itchy.

"Oh my God, right there." I say.

They all laugh at me.

"You have no idea what relief is until you can't reach an itch while in a cast. It's so freaking annoying."

I pop the pill into my mouth and gulp down some water.

"I second that." Hanna says.

"And we'll take your word for it." Emily adds, pointing to herself, Aria and Spencer.

From there they eat whatever Aunt Ella gave them and I quickly realize that the medicine is making me sleepy faster than I hoped. About a minute later I'm out.