Disclaimer: Still don't own it
I am sorry for the extremely late updates with this fic but with me being sick all last week, the long hours at my job, and other factors; it was hard for me to even write. I plan to get back to updating this story once a week and we are in the final arc of the story. Anyways, a shout out to Paraddicted for the pre-read as always!
Technically, these weren't dates.
That is what Spencer was telling herself as both she and Mona were hanging out in her bedroom on this Friday night.
The shorter teen was spending the night and it would be just the two of them since the rest of the Hastings were out of town. Both were eating pizza in the room and watching some Netflix on the television that Mona had brought over from home. While Spencer was dressed in her traditional pajamas, the other teen was in something a little sultrier; a long red nighty that caused Spencer to blush slightly. It was a more casual night for them and the usual subject of the A Game was put on hold so that they could just have some fun. They had been engaging in small talk ever since the shorter teen had arrived as well as their collaboration on a coming class project; dealing with the First World War. Even though they were ahead of the class with their grades, they wanted to maintain their lead even more.
It had been an interesting week to say the least as there had been some interesting events that had happened. The first was that Emily started focusing more on her swimming and seemed to be doing a slight break from Alison; which was not going over well with the blonde. It also appeared that the teen was also hanging out with Paige more; which had been the plan all along and it was nice seeing it come to fruition. Alison didn't know about that and Spencer had been tempted to reveal it to her in order to further cause a break within the group. Mona however had talked her out of it since letting the relationship grow between the budding couple could help them down the line. Letting the tension rise in the group was more fun to watch rather than letting things blow up for a quick thrill.
Hanna was hanging out with Caleb more; mostly in secret though and when she wasn't involved in activities with the group. The great thing about that was the fact that Mona and Spencer had nothing to do with it, content of staying out of the relationship for the time being. As for the Aria front, Spencer was handling that through quiet as well as subtle threats against the teen and her teacher boyfriend. So far, there hadn't been much of a response since Aria had been hiding her emotions well at school. They knew that she was hanging out at Ezra's apartment every chance she got; using lies to make it that she was somewhere else. If Alison hadn't been so distracted by what was going on, the blonde would probably have figured it out a long time ago. It was kind of amazing on what was happening under Alison's nose and a testament that the blonde was not that good at multi-tasking; one of the more important qualities of a good leader.
One really good piece of news was that the surveillance on them had dissipated over these last few days. No longer was the group closely scrutinizing them and the two could now go out again to do operations. From what little they had seen, it seemed that the group was now paying close attention to Jenna Marshall and Shauna; even following her on occasion. What the group didn't know, though Spencer and Mona did, was that the blind teen had more than a few allies that they did not know about; some even in the police itself. Sooner or later, Jenna would use those allies to make things difficult for Alison and her friends. While Alison might be safe from harm because of her parents, the other girls were not so lucky; especially when it came to law enforcement. Aria would not stand well once her relationship with her teacher came out; depending on who decided to release the news. So far, it had been in Mona and Spencer's best interest to keep the news hidden though Jenna might not want to.
Thus things were on the verge of becoming tense.
"So I was thinking that maybe we should plan another getaway; possibly to Philly or New York for a school assignment," suggested Mona as the movie they had just watched concluded. It was still too early to head to bed just yet.
"Is now the best time? With all that is going on, I don't think getting away right now is the best thing to do," Spencer told the girl as she poured herself another glass of soda. The teen had brought up the ice chest into her room so that they didn't have to go downstairs to the kitchen that much.
"Well maybe not right away; but I have this feeling that we are approaching the final arc in the game," said the shorter teen with a thoughtful smile. While there wasn't a whole lot of basis for her statement, Mona couldn't help but have a gut feeling about it.
"Really? I keep thinking that we are just in the middle with no end in sight," remarked the other teen with a shrug. While she was still enjoying herself, Spencer could not help feeling that this was never going to truly end until Alison was dead.
"There is an ending to this Spencer and you just need to have a little faith. Things are going well and all we need to do is to keep up the pressure until Alison snaps," Mona said to her friend as she switched out the DVD for another movie. They had planned on viewing two this evening; a cheap romance and then an action one.
"Well my parents have connections in New York so we'd be able to get a real good place to stay," Spencer said, thinking about it. The city had some real nice hotels that while expensive, were affordable for her and her family.
"So does my mom; I've only been to the city once and that was a long time ago to visit the museum there. We caught the train and stayed overnight before coming home the next day," informed the shorter teen as she recalled the memory. Her mom had planned the trip as a birthday present after no one had come to Mona's party.
"Truthfully, I would rather go to Washington D.C. more than anything else. Ever been there?" inquired the taller teen as she leaned back to watch the new movie. While Mona was sitting on the edge of the bed, Spencer was sitting in her chair.
"No; though I have always wanted to go," answered Mona as the opening scene started to play. It actually felt nice to have a normal conversation about something other than the A Game.
"Then we'll do that; during Christmas Break maybe," suggested Spencer as she thought that the time after the holiday was the best time. During that period, her parents were always busy and she was usually home alone.
Mona was about to comment how that sounded good to her when there was a sudden pounding coming from the front door downstairs. Both teens looked at one another in alarm as the pounding continued and Spencer stood up first; grabbing her hockey stick in the corner. Mona however, went straight to her purse and pulled out a stun gun which she got through her more nefarious connections. Spencer did a double take at seen her friend holding the weapon but as the banging continued; she went back to the matter at hand. Both teens headed slowly downstairs with Spencer taking the lead since it was her house. Mona would serve as backup in case there was a threat from the person at the front door. Though the porch light was off, the downstairs one was still on so they had no problems seeing where they were going. Once they were downstairs, the teens made their way to the door with Spencer looking through the window; seeing a familiar face.
Surprised, the teen opened the door and found Aria standing there; breathing hard as if she had been running. Even more surprising was that she looked to be covered in blood and there was tears in her eyes as well as smeared mascara. She was wearing a pair of black sweat pants and a grey Hollis sweatshirt that had bloodstains on it. Before Spencer could even ask why her former friend was here, Aria rushed Spencer and grabbed her by her shirt; slamming the taller teen against the closet door and forcing her to drop her weapon. Mona rushed to Spencer's defense, trying to break the two up since there was no way she could use her stun gun at this range without hurting her friend. Aria was practically screaming as she held her former friend against the wall in what looked like pure rage; clearly angry about something. For a second, Spencer considered that the teen knew the truth of her and Mona being A.
"What the Hell Aria?" Spencer demanded to know as she was finally able to shake the shorter teen free. They both stood there huffing as Mona moved in between the two in order to separate them; though Aria was still glaring at the both of them.
"So which one of you did it? Tell me now," demanded Aria as she clenched her fists. For the first time in a while, both Mona and Spencer were genuinely confused on what she was talking about.
"We don't know what you are talking about," Mona said to the angry teen and had to raise her stun gun as Aria suddenly took a step towards them out of fury.
"Bull; it's not enough that you harass me and my friends, but to attack me and Ezra is going too far," seethed the shorter teen as she just stood there and was more than upset. Both Mona and Spencer stood there agape, totally surprised by what they just heard.
"We didn't do anything Aria; we have been here all night and don't even know what you mean. What happened?" Spencer practically demanded to know. For her former friend, who was usually the gentle one, to come over and confront Spencer like this was completely out of character.
"Someone tried to break into my place and Ezra was shot; he's in the hospital hurt and I know A is behind this. You are A," accused the teen and before Spencer could try to deny it, Mona stepped in since her friend was not ready with a good lie.
"We are not this A you are talking about Aria; we never have been. I don't know what Alison has been telling you but we are innocent of whatever lies she has been saying. We also have been here all night and did not attack you in any way. We are not the enemy and I am sorry that you had to go through this tonight; I really am and we are willing to help you if you let us," Mona said gently to the teen; putting her hand on Aria's shoulder.
For a brief minute, it seemed that the former friend might take Mona up on her offer; looking like she was calming down. Then all of a sudden, the teen jerked as if Mona's touch was iron hot and practically shoved her away. Aria took one last glare before storming out of the house and to the running car that was parked right in front of Spencer's house. Sighing, Spencer went to shut the door and then locked it again; seeing if there was anyone else out there. From the brief glimpse she had, the teen almost swore she saw Emily and Paige in the vehicle that Aria had just left in though she couldn't be completely sure. After making sure the rest of the house was secure, both the teens headed back up to the bedroom to discuss what just happened. While Spencer went to her computer to see if there was anything on social media about the incident, Mona checked her laptop for text messages between the girls.
"Was your offer genuine?" Spencer suddenly asked after a few minutes of silence, curious. She couldn't see anything from social media on Ezra Fitz being shot and decided to check the local news sites to see if the story was there.
"A little; the only person I want dead is Alison and don't want any real civilian harmed like that," answered Mona as she read the current texts happening between the girls. Other than the idle chatter between the girls, it was silent which was the usual case when Alison was out of town; visiting family in South Carolina.
"Well I still can't believe I just witnessed that; I have never seen Aria get that angry before and fly off the handle like that," commented the taller teen with traces of disbelief in her voice.
"From what I have observed, both Aria and Mr. Fitz seemed to really like each other; thus anyone would go ballistic like that if their love was harmed," stated Mona from her laptop as she closed it. No matter where she looked, there was nothing from anyone on what just happened.
"I guess you are right; my parents are a testament to that. The only thing that comes up in my search is an attempted mugging of a Rosewood Teacher in Philadelphia that happened just a few hours ago. There is very little information other than it happened just outside a poetry reading in one of the local bookstores," informed Spencer as she skimmed over the news story. There weren't a whole lot of details but the incident was still being investigated.
"Which begs the question on who is behind it and was this a random mugging," Mona said to her friend as she leaned back against the headboard of her friend's bed.
"I don't know; my gut is telling me that this is connected to everything though," stated the other teen as she checked to see if there were other news stories about the event.
"So is mine; I am wondering if Jenna has decided to be more bold in her little ventures," the shorter teen said as she contemplated on what their next move would be. If people were getting hurt, then this meant that there was a serious escalation in the game.
"Well we know that she had Shauna tear up Emily's room looking for the evidence that you planted. We also know that she has been stalking Cece and tried to mow her down with a car the other night. This could be just another escalation on her part," Spencer stated and was starting to get worried about the whole thing. While they wanted there to be a war between Alison and Jenna; it was never meant to go this far.
"I agree and I think we need to move up our endgame before someone other than Alison ends up in a coffin. I also think we need to warn off Jenna or somehow put a leash on her so that she no longer goes too far," suggested the other teen as she closed her eyes. She was starting to get a little winded from what had happened in the last hour.
"That is going to be more complicated than we want since as far as Jenna knows, we are not involved in this in any way. If we go after her as A or try to force her to do what we want, she will wonder if there is another player out there instead of a sympathizer," Spencer said to her friend as she went over to join Mona on the bed. As she lay down next to the other teen, she took her hand clasped in the other teens.
"I agree; so far Jenna just thinks that there is someone out there just helping her. If we start doing what we do with the other girls, she'll know it is us through the process of elimination," said Mona as she slightly blushed at the warmth of her companion's hand. Though there were neutral people with high intelligences out there, the only ones relevant to this were on either side of the conflict.
"This is why we might want to consider using Toby as a way to control Jenna or at least have him calm her down. We still don't know where he stands on all this since we kind of been ignoring him," Spencer said and Mona thought about that; nodding her head in agreement. The older teen seemed to be doing his own thing and staying out of the whole conflict.
"That sounds like the best thing to do for now; should we confront him as A or ourselves though?" asked the other teen as she placed her head on Spencer's shoulder as a pillow. While they didn't really talk about this new stage in their relationship, it was more or less granted that they would be affectionate when they were alone.
"We go to him and voice our concerns; maybe even tell him that we feel threatened by the conflict going on between his stepsister and Alison. Toby is a good guy and he might be able to tell his sister to tone it down; or even threaten her since we now know she is afraid of him," Spencer answered as she rubbed her girlfriend's hair lovingly. It was recently discovered that Jenna was keeping Toby at a wide distance out of fear though the duo had yet to determine how other why.
"That sounds good to me; we'll stop by where he works after shopping tomorrow. We'll even swing by the hospital to see how Mr. Fitz is doing," stated Mona, happy that they had a game plan for tomorrow.
Spencer was about to comment when there was another knock coming from below.
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