Disclaimer: Still don't own it.
Toby neutrally sat across from the two teens.
Nursing a cup of coffee that Spencer just handed him, he was struggling to maintain his neutral demeanor in front of Mona.
He was only here out of curiosity more than anything else; responding to the invitation that Mona had sent him. Ever since he had taken the exit exams and gotten his GED, the young man has been working on getting his contractor's license so he could work his own jobs. It was going surprisingly well and there was a general lack of hurdles in his way; especially from his father who seemed happy his son was doing something with his life. The man had been encouraging as of late along with his stepmother, which was a sign that things were improving within his own family. It had been such a trying year for him that he was happy that things were working out; despite all the drama that was happening behind the scenes. Toby was doing his best to stay out of it all though it wasn't easy.
He knew full well that there was some sort of secret war being conducted by Alison and other parties in Rosewood; though he did not know for sure who all the major players were. He did know one of them was Jenna, his stepsister, who was living with her girlfriend Shauna despite their young age. Both his parents and Shauna's guardians had approved the living situation for some reason; both living off some huge inheritance that the dark-skinned girl had received from her deceased parents. Truthfully, Toby was fine with Jenna no longer living in the house and was quite happy that she was out of his life. It also allowed him to stay out of the mess though there was the occasional favor he was forced to do for his stepsister. While they were small and not too much trouble to preform, it was only a matter of time before he caught Alison's attention.
So far, the blonde had left him alone though she knew full well he was back in town. He did notice that a few of her friends following him on occasion, not sure why, but there had been no direct confrontation so far. When he first arrived back in town after leaving juvie, he had been surprised by the number of major changes there had been. The fact that Spencer Hastings no longer being a part of the blonde's group, after being kicked out, was a major thing in his opinion since it left a large hole in the group itself. He knew full well that Alison had chosen the brainiac to fulfill a key part of her posse and it had yet to be filled; which was a narrow list to be sure. He was rather happy about that since he thought that the teen was too good for Alison's little group to begin with; though the circumstances of her leaving were sad. It was also sad that she was now being isolated by the blonde as well.
Though her being friends with Mona seemed to have benefitted her greatly.
"Thank you for coming; we weren't sure that you would accept our invitation," Mona said to the young man as they sat facing one another. They were presently at Mona's house with her mother out of town for the afternoon.
"I almost didn't; I am here because I am curious," Toby stated though he was being polite about it. He never had much contact with Mona when he was still in Highschool though he saw firsthand Alison's bullying of the teen.
"And we appreciate that; we were wondering if we could use your help on a specific art project for school. We are not that good when it comes to construction and could use the assistance from someone good with his hands," stated the shorter teen with a smile as Spencer sat down next to her on the couch. Toby noted the closeness the two teens seemed to be emanating; remembering seeing something similar when Jenna and Shauna were together.
"That is all?" Toby asked, slightly surprised since he assumed that the two teens wanted to involve him in something nefarious. Given their known hatred for Alison and her friends, he assumed that they were going to ask him to do something against her.
"Of course; did you think there was something more?" inquired Spencer, acting as if she was surprised by what he was saying. Both she and Mona had scripted this precisely in case the young man was suspicious of them.
After letting Wren inside the house, he had forgotten something in the house and left his keys in the car outside, the two had gone over strategy after he had left. It was decided that the two would subtly approach Toby by asking him for help on something else; a class project that was for extra credit more than anything else. Through working with him on the assignment, they would feed him information as well as other things so that he could be a potential ally. They knew that they were taking a risk since Jenna and Alison were bound to notice; thus the need to make sure everything they were doing with the young man was out and in the open. Since the little project required it being constructed outside, it would easy to display that was why he was suddenly hanging out with the duo. The task right now was getting him to agree to help them; which Mona could help with.
"With all that was going on right now, I just assumed that this was about Alison or my stepsister for some reason," the young man truthfully said to the duo. He was kind of relieved that they were asking him something that was more benign than something else.
"Contrary to popular belief, both me and Spencer are doing our best to stay out of what has been going on behind the scenes. Like you, we are simply focusing on our lives and futures outside of this town," Mona responded in mock anger as a way to convince Toby to help them; by making him feel guilty for accusing them of something wicked. It seemed to work as he appeared to be outwardly guilty of what he just said.
"I understand what you mean; I also want to focus on a future outside of this town. What did you have in mind?" Toby asked them, putting a mental blank slate in his head. Hopefully, things could move on from the awkward subject.
For the next few minutes, they describe to the young man on what they wanted built; a small desk meant to represent the one from the Oval Office in the White House. It was to be part of an assignment from their history class and on Presidential policies during the Second World War; which was one of the topics that they chose. The two teens showed Toby pictures of the specific desk as well as how they wanted him to build it. They also requested that he build it outside the Vanderwaal house so they could take pictures during the process; which the assignment called for. After writing down everything they wanted, Mona handed over some money for materials as well as to pay for labor; being extremely generous in the process. The young man was grateful for the money and promised them that he would start today as well as get him something in a few days. After he left, the two teens went upstairs to change for their trip to Ezra's apartment to break in while the teacher was still in the hospital.
Mona had found out that it was Shauna that had shot Ezra; though it looked to be more of an accident that anything else. Apparently, the teen had tried to break into an office the teacher had in the city and had been caught by Ezra; with Aria by his side on a secret date. Shauna had overreacted when the young man tried to rush her, thus the gun went off. He took two bullets to his side and had been in critical condition for most of the week before being declared stable. Aria had been reported at the scene and had been found by his side as he had been bleeding out; before ditching the police for some reason. Spencer assumed that was when she was met by Emily and Paige, then coming here to confront the two teens. Her former friend was still not talking to her while trying to maintain a neutral stance at school and occasionally glared at Spencer as if she were to blame. The teen still tried to maintain her innocence but Aria wasn't listening.
Mona managed to find out all of this through Lucas; who had contacted the former team member in the aftermath of the attack. Lucas had spotted Shauna running away from the scene, having been in the city with his parents for a fancy dinner, and saw the gun in her hands. She had been wearing a black hoodie at the time and he had only saw her face after she had pulled back her hood after getting in her car. Lucas had confronted Mona and wanted to know if she had been behind this, which her friend had adamantly denied. She had managed to convince the teen male that it was all Jenna and that it was all part of her war with Alison. What Mona couldn't explain though was why Shauna went after Ezra in the first place as well as why she would break into his private office in the city. It was also puzzling to Mona on why Ezra Fitz maintained an office in Philadelphia when he was a simple teacher; thus proving that there were still mysteries in Rosewood that even Mona did not know about.
Somehow, Jenna had come to find out that Ezra Fitz was connected to all of this; though it was still unknown why. At first, Mona and Spencer believed that maybe Shauna was simply following the couple in order to spy on them after learning of their relationship. It was only because of Lucas as well as Mona's investigative skills that they knew that Shauna was stalking the teacher; hacking into Jenna's cell phone and reading her texts. From those texts, though cryptic in nature, there was some sort of connection between Ezra and Alison which caught the duo by surprise. If this was true, then they needed to refocus their attention on him to see what info he had on the blonde. So it was decided that they would pay a special visit to the teacher's apartment though they really wished they could break into his private office. However, since that particular scene was too hot at the moment because of the shooting, they would have to get to it later.
"So other than learning that his last name is really Fitzgerald and that his family is wealthy, was there anything more that you found out about the guy?" asked Spencer as she dressed into a pair of jeans and t-shirt for going out tonight. They planned to dress casually for a movie that just happened to be playing around the corner from where the apartment complex was.
"No; I have not found a single connection between Alison and Ezra Fitz anywhere. I and Lucas also never saw him with her when we were spying on Alison back then. I am hoping that there is something in his apartment to shed some light on all this," Mona told her friend as she finished putting on her sneakers; which was what she wore for night operations. She was also wearing darker clothing though not straight up hoodie since that would arouse suspicion.
The plan was rather simple but effective in the long run. Taking advantage of the fact that there was no school tomorrow, due to a teacher holiday, Spencer was staying over at Mona's house since her mother was out of town. From there, they would head to the movie and then sneak out in one of the side exits that would allow them a route to Ezra Fitz's apartment without being seen; Mona had secured the keys to the theatre as well as all the security codes so that she could knock out their cameras at key times; especially the alarms on the emergency exits. They were also making sure that Aria and the rest of the girls were staying away by tracking their phones; the entire group being over at Alison's house for the night. Emily was at a swim meet though in New York thus out of town for the weekend. Jenna and Shauna were also out of town; in New York as well since Shauna was also a member of the swim team.
This meant that there were no obstacles to deal with.
"It seems that every time we have a finger on what is going on, a wrench gets thrown at us to prove that we really do not," the taller teen stated as they headed out of the room and towards the car parked out front. They were using Spencer's car tonight since it would blend in a little better in case they had to leave the apartment in a hurry and couldn't clean up before.
"It was to be expected that there would be setbacks at some point. We do know what to do though and that is what is more important," the other teen assured her friend as they climbed inside the vehicle. After buckling their seatbelts, the two drove to their destination; arriving there after about ten minutes.
They parked on the side of the street; a little ways down from the theatre but close to the apartment complex where Ezra lived. Checking their phones on the locations of their enemies, the two walked casually to the theatre as if they had no other plans. They made a show of having polite conversation and making jokes while they passed various people; all whom were minding their own business. The theatre where they were heading had just opened up and was specific towards foreign films more than anything else. The movie the teens were going to was a Korean movie depicting the Japanese invasion of the nation during the 1600s. It was in subtitles though the teens had been practicing their Korean for a while now; promising to visit South Korea together at some point in their lives. Since the movie was going to be showing for a while, they had the chance to come back for real and see the whole thing.
They paid for their tickets and entered the theatre; heading over to the snack bar to get some soda and popcorn. The theatre itself was not as fancy as the main one in town; though it still had red carpeting and a more 1950s look to it. While they were technically wasting money, the two teens needed to maintain the illusion that they were here only for the movie. After thanking the cashier and taking their food, the two headed inside one of the smaller screening rooms; available to seat about fifty people. Inside the dark room, there were only a few people and the two strategically seated themselves in the back where the emergency exit was. They were out of eyesight of the few other attendees and the light of the exit sign was out; as well as the light outside. Mona had also electronically disabled the alarms so they could get out as well as get back in without anyone noticing. They would have to traverse a few alleys in the dark in order to get to the back entrance of the apartment building.
Once the movie started, the two made their move. Putting their food and beverages down, the two teens moved quietly to the exit; opening the door and heading outside. It was dark in the alley and there was a slight chill in the air, Spencer wrapping herself tighter in her dark colored jacket. They moved quickly through the darkness, looking to their sides to make sure no one was looking. The two teens were also paying attention to make sure that they were not as well as had not been followed to the theatre; even though all known parties were being tracked. Given that they were caught unaware by Ezra's role in this whole thing, Spencer had brought up the fact that there could be more players allied to either Alison or Jenna that they did not know about; thus Mona was now going through all their communications to see if they were talking to anyone that she did not know. It was easier to do with Alison than Jenna since the blind teen had been out of town for a while; maybe have met people during her absence.
It took about fifteen minutes, but the girls made it to the apartment building without encountering anyone. Taking out a key she had made, Mona unlocked the back door and they made their inside without any trouble. The main hallway was empty as the two walked up the stairs to where Ezra lived; though they made sure to make as little noise as possible. There were no security cameras of any kind and no one seemed to be lining the hills; which helped the girls greatly since stealth was key here. They were not residents and there was a chance that someone could call the police on them if they were discovered. They rounded a corner when they noticed someone standing outside Ezra's apartment and were surprised on who it was since she was definitely a major player in all of this. They watched as the person appeared to be trying to pick the lock of the apartment door; wondering what they shout do next.
It was Cece Drake.
Please Read and Review; also a shout out to Paraddicted for the pre-read!