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Chapter 47

It's been two and a half months.

Actually, it's been two months, two weeks, and three days since I lost my sister. But who's counting?

I am, because that's all I have the energy to do anymore. It took nearly a month for the weight of Mona's death to finally hit me, right around the time that my mother finally snapped out of it and started acting like nothing is wrong, besides watching me like a hawk. So at least not everyone in my family is acting like a depressed slug.

I'm still making good grades, only because going to school and doing homework are two things to keep my mind off of everything else. The good news is that I haven't heard one word from "A." Letting me grieve in peace, maybe. How thoughtful. Although that might have something to do with the fact that it's become increasingly obvious that Alison was the one sending those messages to begin with.

The bad news is that I've barely heard from anyone else, either. Alison was arrested a month ago. Somehow the police found a camera planted inside the vent in our living room. I know that it was Mona who planted it there – she needed to make sure that the cops could find proof of "A" – disguised as Ali – "killing" her.

And that is exactly what they did find. They asked me if I wanted to see the video. I declined. That is probably the last thing I ever want to see.

Other than the fact that Alison is in jail and the other girls are convinced that she's the one behind Mona's murder, I have no idea what they're up to. They used to come around fairly often, especially Hanna, to see how I was doing, but I never had very much to say.

What can you say? I'm not fine, I'm not fine because my sister was murdered, and I can't tell you anything more than that because I was sworn to secrecy. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm sitting in the little brick alcove by the quad, my knees pulled up to my chest as I watch Emily, Aria, Hanna, and Spencer at one of the tables, having lunch. I think about going over to join them. For the first time, I have no doubt that they'd accept me into their group without question. It's kind of ironic that this is also the first time that I have no desire to talk to them.

After all, "A" is Alison and Alison is in jail. What more is there to talk about? My friendship, if you could even call it that, with those girls was purely based on finding out who "A" is.

I spot Mike making his way through the quad and leap up, grabbing my bag and heading over to talk to him. Lately we've been spending a good amount of time together. He's the only one who really gets it, what I'm going through, because he's going through it to, albeit in a different way.

"Hey," I say, walking up to him and adjusting the black beanie that I'm wearing. Oh. That's another thing. This time three months ago, I barely had any black clothes in my wardrobe. Now that's pretty much all I wear. It seems unfair of me to wear flashy dresses and heels when my sister no longer can.

"Hey," Mike replies, stopping and waiting for me to catch up to him. He's looking just as rough as I probably am, with red-rimmed eyes and pale skin.

"So what do you think?" I ask, hugging my binders to my chest. "Did Alison really do it?"

"Do what?" he says harshly. "Kill Mona, or kill Bethany?"

I cringe at his tone and shrug, biting my lip. "Uh, I don't know. Both?" He shakes his head but doesn't respond, so I go on, lowering my voice, "They dropped the charges against Spencer."

"You know what?" he explodes, a little too loudly. A few people turn to look. "I don't even think I care who killed her. I just want to know where her body is."

"So does my mom," I say quietly, hoping that he'll get the hint and lower his voice. "That's all she wants."

"Is that what you want?" he asks, finally speaking at a normal volume.

I was not ready for that question. I chew on my lip for a moment, thinking this through. "I don't know," I finally admit. "I mean, body or no body, we all know she's dead."

He turns away, flinching, and I'm surprised to see tears glistening in his eyes. I don't think I've ever seen a boy cry before. "I'm sorry, Mike," I say, reaching out and touching his arm. "I know how much you loved her. And I did too…she was my best friend."

I don't realize until I speak the words how true they are. Macy was never a real best friend, just someone for me to survive high school with. And Hanna, and Spencer, and the others…their trust in me only went so far.

"A" took practically everyone from me. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, Mona was pretty much the only person I had left.

And "A" – Alison – took her away from me, too. Nearly shaking with anger now, I look up, only to find that Mike has walked away, his head down.

I sigh and examine my nails as an excuse to blink back tears. People are already avoiding me in the halls, giving me weird looks as if they expect me to burst into tears at any moment. I don't need to fuel that fire.

"Viola!"

I spin around just as Aria comes striding up to me. She doesn't look happy, and I glance around her, noticing that Spencer, Hanna, and Emily are all watching. "Hey," I say cautiously, caught off guard by her expression. "What's up?"
"Why were you talking to Mike?" she demands immediately, planting her hands on her hips.

Whoa. "Um, I was just – "

She cuts me off, her eyes wide. "What, now that Mona's not in the picture you think you're next in line? I saw everything."

I stare at her in silence, bewildered. She saw everything? What does she mean, she saw –

Oh. I think back to my conversation with Mike, remembering reaching out and touching his arm. I meant it purely out of comfort – I could never have any feelings for the boy my sister loved – but I guess it might have looked differently to an onlooker.

But suddenly, I'm so furious that I can't bring myself to say any of that. It's like two months of grief and anger are just about to explode out of me, like I can't hold it in anymore. The words are bursting out of my mouth at nearly top volume before I have time to think. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Aria takes a step back, her eyes widening, though she still looks angry. "What?"

"What do you think you're talking about, 'now that Mona's out of the picture?' Like you actually think I'm glad that she's gone?"

"No!" Aria says in surprise, looking almost stricken, but I don't care. "I'm not saying that at all, I just saw you with – "

"Mike," I finish, my voice shaking. "Your brother. The only person besides me who gives a crap about what happened to my sister."

Aria is staring at me, silently, and I'm just about to stomp away when Spencer leaps up from the table, striding over to stand beside Aria. "Hey! You can't say that."

"It's not true," Hanna adds, as she and Emily rush over as well. "We care about what happened to Mona just as much as you do."

"No you don't!" I say, aware that I sound hysterical and that everyone else in the quad is staring. "You never did! You let Alison treat her like a punching bag for years, you caused her to become 'A' in the first place, and you never made any effort to include her – or me – into your little group."

Emily opens her mouth angrily, looking ready to argue, but I cut her off. I'm not finished. "You girls walk around here acting so innocent, like you've done nothing to deserve what you've gotten, when all you do is lie and exclude and keep stupid secrets. And you know what?" I step closer and lower my voice, so the gaping people around us won't be able to hear. "Maybe 'A' is right. Maybe Mona's death really is your fault."

I can practically hear their shocked silence behind me as I stride away.

…

Since my life is what it is, I'm aware that a new storm is always brewing. Things are too mundane right now to remain that way.

It seems fitting that it's raining as I sit at my desk one night about a week after my confrontation with Aria and the others, trying to get homework done. I have music blaring from my phone, something loud and fast because the silence in my house otherwise is unbearable.

I feel like an only child, and I hate it.

Getting the wrong answer to yet another math problem, I groan in frustration and press the other end of my pencil to the paper, erasing so hard that it nearly rips. This is ridiculous. It's a Friday night, and I'm sitting at home doing homework. That's really what my life has become.

I'm just about to push the paper aside and give up when the music abruptly stops, my phone chiming with a new text. I pick up the phone with a feeling of foreboding. No one has texted me recently. This must be from one of the girls, and considering none of them have even looked in my direction since I flipped out on Aria the other day, it must be about something serious.

I open the message and can only stare in shock, because it's not from one of the girls. It's from the one person I never expected to hear from again.

Tick tock. Come alone or you'll be sorry. –A

There's a picture attached to the message, but I can only focus on the words at first. Alison is locked up in a cell. And I'm pretty sure you can't send texts from the old-fashioned wall phone in the prison.

Alison isn't "A."

My finger hovers above the attachment. I'm terrified, absolutely sure that I am going to see a picture of my sister's corpse. "A" has to have it, right? And I'm not sure I can handle that.

But time is running out, apparently, and I need to know. Sucking in an uneven breath, I open the image and gasp.

It's not Mona.

It's Justin, sitting in a familiar-looking chair, a gag in his mouth and his hands tied behind his back. His eyes are closed, but his head is upright, leading me to believe that he's still alive, if unconscious. Part of a desk occupies the corner of the image, and I realize where I've seen that chair before.

It's from my school. "A" has Justin trapped in the school.

But all of that information flashes through my mind in one instant, because in the next I'm staring at the other thing in the picture, and I can't think of anything else.

A gloved hand extends from the image, looking only inches away from Justin's neck. And it's holding a knife.

...

I'm interested to hear what you guys think is going to happen next, so leave your theories in the reviews! Next, Viola rushes to the school to save Justin...but what she finds isn't what she's expecting.