Chapter 13: Coffee or Ice Water?

A/N: Sorry for taking ages with this chapter, I mostly wrote this as an "I'm not dead" proof. My writing has been terrible and I'll try to do my best to bring more updates at a more constant rate.

Paige's Pov-

I was just sitting still staring blankly at the handwritten page with Emily's handwriting. She had lied to me, all this time and I should have fucking known it.

Tons of thought went through my head, all filled with anger and an urge to get vengeance for what happened to my brother.

I knew what I was going to do, I must kill Spencer Hastings.

Emily's Pov-

Days had gone by since Paige had agreed to be my girlfriend, we would meet each other at school and during swim practice.

She was always smiling at me when we met but every time I'd suggest that we'd go out somewhere she'd say that she was busy with either school or that she had to meet her grandparents who lived out of town.

I don't know if she is starting to move on from her brother's death or if she is in denial but I won't force her to confess something she isn't comfortable to talk about.

"Emily? Are you awake?" Aria nudged me as I snapped back to reality.

"Sorry, I've not been sleeping well lately." I responded.

"Can't blame you, with a vampire bitch on the lose how can anyone sleep?" Hanna asked.

We were all searching for the archive that Alison had told us about, maybe just maybe we would get some answers from it.

"Which is why we need to find the way to stop her as fast as we can." Spencer answered

"Do you think there is anything that could at least hint where the archive could be?" Hanna asked.

"I don't even know where to look for clues." I answered.

"Great, so we are basically looking for a needle in a haystack and we don't even know where the farm is." Aria said.

"Pretty much." Spencer answered.

"Isn't there at least a spell that could help us?" Hanna asked.

"I can do location spells, but unless if I got something to connect to the place we are looking for there is nothing I can do." I said.

"Fucking hell." Aria said and just as she finished that word a large beeping sound echoed through the room, then it repeated itself, then again and again and again.

"What the hell is this?" Hanna asked covering her ears.

"It's just my alarm clock." Spencer said as she got to her desk and pushed a button that turned it off.

"Please tell me you pressed the off button and not snooze." Hanna said.

"Guys, it's 7:00 am we have to get ready for school." Spencer said.

"What? Did we stay up all night?" Hanna complained.

"Apparently we did." Aria said and pushed the curtains aside to reveal the bright sun. I moved my hands up to shield my eyes from the stinging rays.

It was a good thing that Spencer's parents were out of town, otherwise it would have been hard to explain why a study section would have lasted the whole night.

We barely had any time to get ready, so we just had to wear what we already had on, not the most hygienic decision but we didn't have much choice.

Spencer hurried downstairs to quickly put on some coffee for us seeming completely unaffected from staying up all night, I guess now when she is a vampire she doesn't need sleep, or caffeine either for that matter.

The rest of us struggled to get up without falling asleep as we all clumsily went down the stairs.

"I really envy Spencer right now." Aria mumbled.

"I know what you mean." I answered as I held on to the stair railing as tight as I could to avoid falling.

After the caffeine boost that hopefully would have helped us stay awake for at least our first two classes we all got into my car to get to school in time, Spencer drove since she was the only one of us that seemed to have a clear mind.

We arrived at Rosewood high and parted ways to get to our classes, I was already feeling the effect of the coffee wearing off as I got to my locker to get my books.

Mustering all the willpower I had I got away from my locker before I would pass out and fall right into it.

I looked up to see Paige, she was at her locker putting her gym bag in it.

"Hi Paige!" I said a little louder than I planned, god please don't make me fall asleep, not now.

Paige just looked over at me and nodded before turning her attention back to her locker.

"Is something bothering you?" I asked as I went up to her.

"I'm fine." Paige said.

"Paige I…" Just as I said that the bell started to ring.

"You should hurry if you want to get to class." Paige said, what's with her? Is she trying to push me away again?

Paige left, and I was too tired to follow her, instead I went to my math class.

Three hours later:

By some miracle Aria and I had managed to just stay awake during our classes, Hanna wasn't so lucky, she fell asleep during her chemistry class and almost burnt off her partners eyebrows.

Now we were in the cafeteria, all three of us were willing to have an almost lethal intake of caffeine to survive the rest of this day.

"Sorry, guys I got some unwelcome news." Spencer said as she went up to us.

"What is it." I asked.

"They had a shortage of coffee, now it's only decaf left." Spencer said.

"You got to be fucking kidding me." Hanna groaned.

"Well, I did get you these." Spencer said and handed us some paper cups.

"Thank you so much." Hanna said and took a big gulp, her reaction changed quickly as she quickly spat out what she drank.

I picked up my mug to be surprised that it was cold, almost ice cold.

I took off the lid to look inside my cup, at first, I didn't see anything the mug looked empty but then I realized what I was holding.

"But Spencer, this is water." I said.

"Ice water." Hanna complained.

"I know, that was the only thing I could get on short notice." Spencer answered.

As we sat there I noticed Paige walking by but then she noticed me and turned away.

"Fuck it." I mumbled and grabbed the cup and splashed it on my face, the ice-cold water felt almost stinging as it hit my face, but that did get me to quickly recover.

I got up and almost ran after Paige, I had to hurry before the effect of the cold water would wear off.

"Paige!" I said as I caught up to her, Paige starred at me.

"Did you swim through the hallway?" She asked me as she saw my soaked face and wet hair.

"No… I… it's complicated." I answered.

"Since when is anything easy with you?" Paige asked.

"Paige, please." I said and grabbed her arm, to get her to just stay for a minute.

"We need to talk." I said.

"About what?" Paige asked.

"I can tell something is bothering you and I really want to be here for you." I said.

"Do you think you can help me, you can't just tap your heels together three times and everything turns good." Paige said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

"I'm talking about you and your fake act, you tried to turn me into a lesbian. I'm not like you and I never will be." Paige said pulling away from me.

"Paige please…" I said.

"Leave." Paige answered, but I could see a tear in her eye, she was hurt by something, was someone bullying her.

"Paige I…" I reached out to her again.

"I SAID GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" Paige yelled and pushed me.

I fell to the floor and as I looked up at her I couldn't see the sweeter kinder side to her, instead it felt like I was looking at a feral beast.

"Never speak to me again" She said and left.

I was devastated, it felt like my heart had been ripped out and stomped on.

I ran into a bathroom and locked the door. Why Paige? Why? It hurt so much I couldn't muster any words I just sat in the stall overwhelmed by the pain.

"Emily, are you in here?" I heard Aria ask.

I sobbed as I heard my friends gather outside my stall.

"Em, what happened?" Spencer asked through the door.

I couldn't bring myself to answer instead I cried to let my friends know that I was heartbroken.

I kept sitting there for not caring how many classes I'd miss, and my friends were all waiting outside for me, without trying anything to get me to exit the stall.

Once I felt ready to exit the stall I got greeted with a gentle group hug from my friends.

"Please, get me out of here." I pleaded.

The girls agreed, and we went to our lockers to get our stuff before we'd leave.

As we got to our lockers we saw that there were blue envelopes attached to our lockers.

Spencer opened hers and it was an invite to a party at Noel Khan for tonight, the party was themed 'Murder under the stars' and costumes were mandatory.

We figured that we had all gotten invites but neither one of us had any plans on going.

Suddenly we all got a text, it was from A

This game is starting to bore me, maybe it's time to meet face to face, don't worry about outfits. I left some fitting for you at your homes.

Don't let me down or I will come for someone you care about!

-A

This meant we didn't have a choice, we had to go to the party so we could put an end this nightmare.