Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Actually, it wasn't just Aria entering the apartment.
Spencer was surprised to see that Emily was with her and the two closed the door behind them; making sure the door was locked back up.
As Spencer and Mona stood in the closet, watching the new arrivals through the crack, each found that they were holding their breath. The space was tight and they did their best to push up against the back of the closet the best they could; trying to stay out of view as much as they could. At some point, Mona had to let go of the breath she was holding and made sure to keep it as quiet as she could with Spencer doing the same. Given the dirty laundry inside the closet as well as a layer of dust, it was hard not to gag at the slight stench the space was emanating. Both teen's heartbeats were beating hard and hoped that the visitors wouldn't come to the closet; thus risking being discovered. Even with them using some of the hanging clothing as a shield, they would obviously be seen given a proper glance inside. That would lead to some uncomfortable questions that they wouldn't want to answer; though their minds were already trying to come up with a believable excuse on why they were here in the first place.
"Thank you for driving me here; also for covering for me as well. I didn't want to explain all this to Alison," said a grateful Aria to the other teen as she locked the door behind them. She threw her purse onto the small couch and went over to the refrigerator to grab a drink.
As Mona and Spencer watched Aria as well as Emily move throughout the apartment, they were secretly praying that neither teen would notice the desk. While Mona had done a good job of putting everything back the way it was before the new arrivals had entered the apartment, there was still some disorganization around it; which would have definitely been noticed if it had been Ezra if it was him. Given that Aria was more than familiar with the place, there was a slight chance that she would notice too; which caused Spencer and Mona's heartbeat to race every time she moved near the desk. It was a good thing that they had not disturb that much when searching the other aspects of the room or Aria would have realized that someone other than herself had been in here recently. While there was some risk that Emily might notice that something was off and say something, it was doubtful since she had never been here before.
"I understand; I really do. How is Mr. Fitz?" asked Emily as she took the soda from the other teen and joined her at the couch. If they could, Mona and Spencer would have sighed since it was obvious they would be here a while.
"Ezra is still recovering but he thinks he should be home soon. I met his mother and that woman can be annoying," answered the teen as she sighed and leaned back against the couch. Even though they were here for a particular purpose, she needed to get away for a few minutes.
"At least he is still alive; so are you and I don't even want to imagine what would have happened if that thief had taken a shot at you," stated the teen with concern; remembering what had happened that night. She had been out with Paige when Aria's frantic call came in.
"It wasn't a random thief; it was A or one of her henchman, I am sure of it," said Aria adamantly as she suddenly became angry. Both she and Ezra had been on a date with him about to show her something before coming upon the person in black trying to break into his office.
"Do you still think it was Spencer? I really do not believe it was her since she was at home at the time," Emily said as she looked around the apartment. It was the first time ever she had been in an older man's place other than family.
"Not anymore; I guess I was just confused because the person in black was her build. I want to apologize but I just can't trust her and Mona. They may not be A, but they are still suspicious," stated the shorter teen with a shrug and Mona narrowed her eyes at that. It seemed that the posse was still weary of them despite she and Spencer trying to look innocent.
"I am at the point that I can't really trust anyone anymore because of everything that has happened," Emily told her friend sadly; feeling genuinely troubled by the thought. Before A, everything in her life had been a lot simpler.
"I get what you mean; the more I find out about Alison, the less I want to be her friend," Aria told Emily and the two teens hiding in the closet could hear the sincerity behind the words; making them happy.
"I don't think we can just ditch her though; like it or not, she is a part of our lives and we can't just cut her off like a limb," reasoned the other teen and Mona frowned at those words; wondering if she should reveal more tidbits to Emily. It seemed that the revelation about Alison's secret trysts just wasn't enough so far.
"A mutated limb though; we also know that Alison has so much sway that if we left her, we'd end up like Spencer with who knows how many pranks being made against us," stated Aria as she yawned.
It had been a long day with school and then going to visit Ezra in the hospital; also having to deal with his mother as well. So far, the older woman had bought that she was just another student who was concerned about her teacher; not suspecting that she was in a secret relationship with her son. When the teen had arrived home after confronting Spencer and Mona, after she watched Ezra being taken away to the hospital, she had went straight to her room. Truth be told, she had been physically and emotionally exhausted after what had happened; even ignoring her parents for the evening. She had hidden the bloody clothing under her bed that night and then disposed of them as soon as she had the chance; even getting Emily to help. Only she knew the truth of what had happened and had supported her friend when she had needed it; with Aria supporting Emily on her friendship with Paige behind Alison's back.
Thus they could confide in one another when they needed it.
"Are we still going through with breaking into Jenna's house with Hanna? I still think it is just too risky," Emily said as she got up and stretched her limbs in order not to get cramps. She had spent the last few hours in the pool with Paige for private practice.
"We have to; if Jenna is A, we should be able to find it out in her apartment. I am just glad that we didn't tell Alison since she'd probably screw it up," muttered the shorter teen bitterly. The last time they had let their blonde leader in on one of their plans, it had not worked out so well given that she nearly got them arrested.
"If she is A then she might see us coming a mile away; literally," argued the other teen as she looked over at the clock. It was getting late and she needed to make it home for curfew; something her mother recently imposed for some unknown reason.
"But this is our only option; we can't go through the rest of highschool looking over our shoulders. We have to end this one way or another because next time it might be one of our family members that will get hurt," Aria told her friend adamantly as she also concluded that it was getting late. The two teens then got up with Aria going to grab what she came here to get in the first place; her favorite t-shirt that she had left in Ezra's dresser drawer.
"I am starting to wonder if we should just go to the police. If people are getting shot then we are taking a risk by not going to them so that we can prevent another thing like this from happening again," mused Emily out loud; though it had been brought up before. Even Paige had suggested it when she told the teen about what had happened with Ezra.
"We both know why we can't go to the police; because of Alison, if anything comes out about her then it risks us getting blamed as well. Alison has made us be stuck with her with all the bad acts she has done over the years," countered Aria as she grabbed the shirt from the dresser; stuffing it into her shoulder bag. She then took her and Emily's drinks and threw them into the empty blue recycle can in the corner next to the refrigerator; having made sure to empty that and the garbage when she last visited the apartment.
"I know; but at some point we might have to at least go to our parents. They have the right to know since their lives are also now in danger," reasoned the other teen and Aria shook her head in agreement. They headed over to the door and then left the apartment; making sure to lock the door behind them.
After a few minutes had passed, Mona and Spencer slipped out of the closet.
"Well that was interesting," Mona commented; amused as she dusted herself off and vowed to take a shower when she got home. Spencer also made the same promise given that she smelled like the closet now from being in there for so long.
"I know; it might be too risky to let them break into Jenna's placer without finding anything since they might think it is someone else. They might even look back at us again," stated Spencer with a slight worry in her voice. Mona had a more thoughtful look as a sudden idea popped in her head.
"Or we point the finger at someone else; maybe Alison," suggested the shorter teen as she crept to the window and looked outside; seeing the two teens drive off in Emily's vehicle. She then looked at her watch and realized they needed to head back to the movie before it ended.
"That is brilliant; but how do we do it?" asked the other teen though she sounded very impressed by the idea. Her friend didn't even have to explain since Spencer had picked up on the train of thought right away.
"We get to Jenna's house and plant some interesting but fake evidence that hints of Alison being A; maybe even showing that all of this was Alison's way of biding the girls to her permanently and that she was never being stalk," Mona explained as she outline an rough version of her plan in an excited tone. The more the teen thought about it, the more ecstatic she got at the implications of her scheme.
"We'll have to do it soon and before the other girls; we really need to find out when they are going to break in," advised Spencer, wondering why they missed something important like this scheme of theirs. She assumed that they knew everything the girls were planning by now given the intense scrutiny that gave her former friends.
"I know; I still can't believe that I missed that since it was Hanna's plan in the first place," commented the other teen as she mentally kicked herself. She had taken her eye off the ball when it came to the blonde and that was not going to happen again.
"Well we live and learn; we also need to go since the movie will be ending soon," advised the taller teen as she went to the door to make sure the coat was clear. Thankfully, Aria never noticed the desk drawer had been opened which gave Mona the opportunity clean up a bit better in order to make sure that their presence would not be noticed.
The two teens made their way out of the apartment with copies of the manuscripts safely on their phones. If there had been time, Mona could have hacked her way into Ezra's computer to email herself a better copy; but was content with what they had. Making sure not to make any more noise that would arouse the suspicions of the neighbor across the hall; they snuck back along the same path they used to break into the complex in the first place; encountering no one along the way. Once they were in the alley, Mona and Spencer once again stuck to the shadows all the way back to the movie theatre where they found the exit still open for them. Once inside, they moved through the darkness to their original seats just as the credits started rolling; only resting for a few seconds before they had to leave as the ushers came in to clean up. They then headed out of the theatre itself the proper way and nearly ran into Hanna; who seemed to be with Caleb on a date. The two pairs looked at one another in silence, both seemingly surprised to see each other in the same building.
"Hi," was all that Spencer could say; temporarily put off by the sight of the blonde. Caleb looked started as well though Hanna just glared though it was noted by Mona that the look didn't really have any teeth.
"Hi; slinking about in the dark," accused Hanna in a sarcastic manner; which seemed to annoy Caleb somewhat though he stayed silent.
The two had definitely been on a date given that Hanna was wearing quite a flashy dress; though not as revealing as Alison wore when she was on her dates. She was wearing a purple dress that while short, still was less revealing than it could have been. While it was tight around the chest area, it was still covered up so no cleavage was shown. She was in full makeup and wearing grey heels to match the dress; her green handbag on her arm. Caleb was dressed in a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt that looked it had been ironed recently. He looked clean cut and appeared to have shaved for the date itself. His hair was all jazzed up and Spencer had heard though Mona that it was Hanna that fixed his hair when they went out like this.
"No; we are just enjoying a movie unlike you girls and the rest of the girls who like throwing firecrackers at people," countered Mona in fake anger; smirking on the inside as the blonde looked stunned by the accusation. Spencer also glared at her former friend out of fake anger; following Mona's lead.
"Bite me," was all Hanna said as she stormed away with Caleb in toe; who gave a slight apologetic look before he followed her out of the theatre. Both Spencer and Mona just rolled their eyes, heading to their car outside.
"So what do you want to do now?" asked Spencer as she started the car but left it in park. She was starting to feel slightly hungry given all the activity they had just gone through in the last hour or so.
"Let's get some tacos and head back to my place. I really need to take a shower. I imagine you do too," said Mona, more as a statement than a question. Her friend nodded in agreement and headed to the local Hispanic place in town.
After grabbing their food, they then headed back to Mona's place and Spencer parked her car next to Mona's since Mrs. Vanderwaal was out of town. After entering the house and locking up for the night, they went to the kitchen to eat their food; chatting on what they were going to do tomorrow though it was generally agreed that they needed to find out more about this plan to break into Jenna's house. The blind teen and her girlfriend lived in a small house on the other side of town not too far away from where the Cavanaugh house was; a place that Shauna own through her family. Neither Mona nor Spencer had ever been to the place so they had no clue about the layout; thus Mona suggested they check the place out through Google Earth for a rough recon of the place. They also talked about what evidence they would create to plant the seed that Alison might be A; deciding to use some good Photoshop as a tool.
"I am going to take a shower; see you in a few," Mona said as they finished their food and she took their garbage to throw away. Spencer nodded and pulled out her phone to check in with her parents to let them know she was at Mona's house.
After conversing with her parents through texting, Spencer decided that she needed a shower as well; determining to take a bold step with her relationship with Mona. Making sure that all the lights were off downstairs as well as making one final check in securing the house, Spencer made her way upstairs to Mona's bedroom. She could hear the sound of the shower running the bathroom as well as her friend humming; which she always did when she showered. The shorter teen's clothing was all of the ground and Spencer took a deep breath before she began to take off her own clothing; putting them in a small pile where her overnight bag lay. She had been thinking about taking an action like this before and figured that tonight would be perfect for it given that this was the quiet before the storm. After she was completely unclothed, the taller teen entered the bathroom with Mona distracted since she was washing her hair.
Spencer then entered the shower itself, taking Mona by surprise.
Please Read and Review; also a special thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read!