Thanks to Quindecim, smiles, and Deserttail for reviewing! I really appreciate the support. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter, with a bit of friendship Sparia thrown in there - next chapter should be up sometime next week, hopefully. Please let me know what you think!

Chapter 3

"Spence!" Hanna sat up straighter and waved, motioning for Spencer to join her and the others at the table in the quad.

Spencer took in a breath, held back a grimace, and lifted one finger in a "just a minute" gesture. Then she turned away, pressing her back against the window of the cafeteria and closing her eyes.

Forcing herself to remain calm, she thought back to the previous night, starting with the moment she got to the masquerade. Once she was sure that she had her story straight, she pushed through the cafeteria doors and joined her friends at the table.

"Hey," Aria greeted, her brow furrowing in concern. "You alright, Spencer?"

Spencer slid into the seat beside her, wondering immediately if the guilt was that evident on her face. "Um, yeah. I'm fine." But her tone sounded flat, even to herself.

"I get it," Emily said with a sigh, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table. "We're all disappointed."

"God." Hanna glanced around conspiratorially, then said under her breath, "You and Mona really didn't find anything at that motel?"

Instantly, Spencer felt her hands begin to shake. She shoved them under the table quickly, clasping them together. "I told you," she said intently, launching into the lies that she had rehearsed in her head and hating every minute of it. "We snuck into the room we thought 'A' was staying in. It was totally empty."

"And you didn't find anything?" Aria asked incredulously. "No…pictures, or messages, or anything from 'A?'"

"I doubt 'A' would make it that easy," Emily muttered, rolling her eyes in frustration and leaning back in her seat.

Spencer forced herself to nod. In fact, "A" really had made it that easy. Mona had led Spencer right to her lair, knowing full well that she would make the connection. And Spencer had fallen right into her trap.

Suddenly hit by a wave of nausea, she pressed her hand to her stomach and took in a sharp breath. Her friends all glanced at her, exchanging expressions of concern. She tried to arrange her face back into a normal expression, hoping she didn't look too pale. It was way, way too early to arouse suspicion.

Thankfully, just as Emily was opening her mouth to speak, she glanced toward the cafeteria, her eyes lighting up. "There's Paige," she said, pulling the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "I should go talk to her. I kind of ran out on her last night."

"And I need to find Caleb," Hanna agreed. "He's leaving to go see his mom after school and I still have to thank him for last night." She smiled suggestively and Emily groaned, grabbing her arm.

Spencer glanced over at Aria, torn between hoping that the smaller girl would stay and keep her company, and that she would also have a reason to leave. She wasn't sure what she wanted more – to be alone, or to have a friend nearby. Right now, she felt like she needed one more than ever.

But Aria made the decision before Spencer could figure it out. "We'll catch up with you guys later," she said with a smile, and Hanna and Emily headed inside.

Surprised, despite herself, Spencer raised her eyebrows. "Don't you want to go see – "

"Are you sure you're okay, Spence?" Aria cut in before Spencer could even get out Ezra's name. "You've been looking kind of spacey all day."

Unsure of how to answer, she looked down, fiddling with her hands and chipping away some of her blue nail polish. "I'm fine," she said again, not meeting Aria's eyes. But she could still feel her friend's gaze on her, so she cleared her throat and continued, "I'm just a little freaked, you know? I really thought we were onto something last night."

"Look," Aria said, wrapping her hand around Spencer's wrist before she could pull away. "I get it. We're all disappointed. But I think I'm more freaked about that message we got yesterday. About someone leaving in a body bag? I mean, no one died, but that doesn't mean no one's going to. We know what 'A' is capable of."

Spencer flinched, unable to stop the movement. She had completely forgotten about the "A" message that had accompanied the invitations to the ball. "A" – Mona – had promised that someone wouldn't be making it back from the masquerade if she didn't get her phone back from the girls by midnight. But she had been too busy convincing Spencer to join the team to actually carry out that threat.

Unless it wasn't supposed to happen that night at all. Maybe Mona really did have plans to hurt someone.

And maybe Spencer was supposed to help.

She fought back a sudden surge of bile rising in her throat. No. She would play the "A" game if that was what it took to make sure no one found out that she was really Alison's killer.

But she would never stoop so low as to hurt – let alone kill – another person. She had been down that road before, and repressing the memories of that horrible night was the only way that she could live with herself. If she actually helped someone else meet their end…she didn't even want to think about what she would do.

"Spencer?" Aria's voice, sounding faraway and way outside of Spencer's wandering thoughts, pulled her back to reality.

Startled, she remembered that she had been asked a question. "You're right," she mumbled, drumming her fingernails on the table. "We have no idea what 'A' could be planning next."

"God, it never ends, does it?" Aria burst out, in clear irritation. "We're going to be 'A's' puppets forever."

Spencer's head was spinning. She wasn't sure how much more of this conversation she could handle, how much she was willing to lie to one of her best friends about something so huge. Aria had absolutely no idea, watching Spencer with big, trusting eyes, that her friend had turned to the dark side.

And she never would, if Spencer had anything to do with it. She would stay on the "A" team long enough to destroy any evidence Mona had connecting her to Alison's murder, and then would go to her friends and the police and tell them everything – everything else, that is.

Her friends never had to know the truth.

But Spencer still squirmed under Aria's gaze, like her friend could see right through her, could tell just by her expression that something was off. "I've got to go," she stammered out, jumping to her feet and grabbing her coffee. "I have to go to my locker before class starts."

"Okay," Aria said, startled. She began to get up as well. "Why don't I come with – "

"No!" she blurted a little too quickly, and Aria stared at her, her eyebrows shooting up. Spencer paused, resisted the urge to punch herself, and started over. "Go see Ezra," she said with a smile, nudging Aria. "I'll see you at lunch."

Aria hesitated, clearly unsure. But then a smile broke through her concerned expression and she squeezed Spencer's arm, rushing off.

Spencer breathed out a sigh of relief and waited a few moments before following, keeping her head down and focusing on the history book in her hands as she walked to her locker. She didn't see her friends anywhere, but she didn't want to take any chances – she wasn't sure if she could handle another conversation about Alison or "A" right now.

She spun the combination on her locker and swung the door open. Then she pulled open her bag and began removing the books that she had taken home the night before. The familiar feeling of textbooks in her hands eased the pounding of her heart a bit, enough to stop the hallway from spinning around her.

Until she reached the bottom of her bag. Her fingers brushed against something soft. Without thinking, she closed her hand around it and had it halfway out of her bag before she realized what she was doing and gasped, shoving it back out of sight.

She shut her locker door quietly and glanced around. No one was watching, and no one who would ask questions was even in eyeshot to begin with. But that didn't do much to ease her paranoia.

Closing her eyes, Spencer turned in the direction of her first period class and headed toward it, reaching down to zip closed her bag as she did so, the black hoodie disappearing from sight.