Whispers in the Dark
- Chapter Fifteen – Safe and Sound
"What did you tell your dad?" Hanna questioned Cory as they stood off to the side of the stage with Aria and Emily.
Shrugging she admitted, "That it was a mugging… what else could I say?"
Hanna sighed and shook her head but Emily spoke up, "Do you think it was A? or someone working with A?"
"I don't think so. It doesn't feel like when I was just getting texts threatening to out my secrets. This is different, between all the creepy phone calls with someone breathing on the other end and now almost being kidnapped and shoved in a trunk of a car… I don't know, it's like I'm being stalked or something." Cory whispered, her voice low so no one would over hear them.
"You're right, this really doesn't sound like A." Emily agreed, causing Hanna to roll her eyes as she pointed out, "Guys, it wasn't all that long ago that A hit me with a car."
"If it's A then why haven't I gotten any texts of them gloating about it?" Cory argued and the blonde shrugged, she didn't have an answer for that one.
They looked over to where Spencer was sitting next to Mona as they watched volunteers walking the runway in a rehearsal.
"Hold!" Mona yelled as a girl they didn't know started to do her catwalk. The girl paused and Mona stood up as she said, "I said no flats Becky. I need to be sure you can walk in heels."
Spencer rubbed her forehead as she said, "Mona, take it easy." unable to take another moment of Mona being the head of the student committee, a job that should have been hers and would have been if she hadn't missed the last several meetings.
Standing up she said, "I feel a migraine coming on so I'm just going to take a break." As she walked away she gave a small wave to her friends before heading off in search of Toby who she'd spotted moment's prior working on the lights.
"Do any of you guys have an extra ticket for tonight? I checked and they're all sold out." Hanna questioned as she waved bye to Spencer.
"Did you change your mind about Caleb?" Aria asked and Hanna answered, "It's for my dad."
"He's still in town?" Emily gasped. All of her friends were surprised, Hanna's dad barely ever visited and when he did it was only because she'd gotten into trouble over something. He'd never stayed this long before.
"Yep, and he's in no rush to get home to Isabel." Hanna answered.
"What does that even mean?" Cory questioned and Aria nodded, "Yeah, there is no way your mom and dad are getting back together."
Hanna shrugged and Cory said, "I've got an extra ticket you can have, I got it just in case my dad got off work, but with the hospital being a little short staffed he's working like every day. So you can have it."
"Thanks Cor." Hanna smiled at her.
"Aria Montgomery! Less talking, more walking." Mona loudly instructed and Aria sighed before holding her head high and starting down the walkway, but she didn't even make it halfway before Mona interrupted her, "Um… are your legs always that short?"
As she made her way back to her friends, she groaned, "Can you believe her?"
"Yeah, actually I can. Before I met up with you guys she asked why my was face was bruised and scratched up, when I told her I got mugged she asked me why I let that happen the night before I knew I was going to be in the fashion show." Cory admitted and they group of friends laughed.
It was a few hours later that the girls were back stage getting their make-up and hair fixed for the show that Hanna talked a little more about how her dad claimed he was sticking around because he didn't want to leave on a bad note with her like usual.
Emily's friend, Samara, showed up with her dress, but it caught everyone off guard when Samara walked in hand and hand with another girl. They all knew Emily had been out on a couple dates and was getting close to the teenager from Sheridan Prep.
"Was it just me… or did they seem a little touchy-feely to you?" Emily questioned after Samara and her friend Quinn left to find their seats.
"A little." Aria shrugged trying to not bring her friend down and Cory nodded, "Yeah, I guess so…"
Hanna sighed loudly, getting everyone's attention on her as she complained, "How come I have no date, and Emily has a date who brought a date?"
"You would have had a date if you'd asked him to come." Aria pointed out and Emily remained quiet as she tried to think of what to say to Samara about Quinn.
Cory leaned under the vanity table to find the bottle of hairspray she needed, but paused when she saw the corner of a plastic disk case poking out of the side. With a gasp she jumped up and said, "Oh crap! I forgot to give them the music and slideshow for Alison's tribute. Noel's the DJ, right?"
"Yeah, he is." Emily nodded, sitting down in her seat and watching as Cory scrambled out of the room.
Cory dodged through the crowd of people steadily flowing through the doors and filling up the seats until she saw who she was looking for, "Noel!" she called out as she made her way over to him.
"Hey Cory." He greeted.
"Hey, this is the tribute for Ali." She said, coming to a stop next to him as she held out the disk.
"I was wondering who had it." He stated as he looked down to the CD and then asked, "Want to take a final look?"
"No, I watched it a million times this morning to make sure everything was right and it's perfect." She declared then, looking around nervously as she breathed, "One more time couldn't hurt… I was kind of on my own making this thing."
He laughed and nodded, grabbing his laptop from the bag on the floor and opening it up as he eyed her and said, "You've barely said hi to me since you moved back."
"Well, you just came back to school."
With a smirk he replied, "Yeah, you can thank your friends for that… mainly Aria, she's the one who got me suspended."
"Hmm, from what I heard you got yourself suspended." She countered as they waited for the computer to start up.
"I didn't steal those tests; someone planted them in my locker." He defended, but she rolled her eyes, "Don't play innocent, we both know it's not a look that suits you."
He shook his head as he typed in his password then glanced back over at her as he said, "I can't believe you missed the party last weekend."
She shifted uncomfortably in the new pair of shoes she'd bought for the show and shrugged, "I don't really party anymore… especially not the crazy ones like you and your brother throw."
"You used to never miss any of my parties." He said with a knowing look as his eyes focused on her when the lights dimmed some to prepare for the beginning of the show.
"I'm a different person now…" She breathed. It was a struggle every single day to stay clean and sober, especially with the way things had been so stressful lately. "So from now on… don't even text me when you're throwing one, I don't want to know."
He started to load the disk in the computer then stopped as he looked at her and questioned with raised eyebrows, "You're serious?"
"Completely."
He scoffed and shook his head causing her to sigh as she folded her arms over her chest and asked, "What Noel?"
"The Cory I used to know was fun… that's all." He shrugged, but could see what he was saying was getting to her.
"Maybe a little too much fun. Honestly, I don't remember half of the parties you and your brother threw, just that I'd wake up the day after with a stamp on my wrist and some of the worst hangovers in the history of hangovers." She argued, her eyes narrowed as she spoke to him.
"There is no such thing as too much fun." He argued, and she was going to keep arguing with him until she spotted Jason across the room, his face half hidden in shadows as he leaned against a wall and watched her.
"I gotta go." She said as she started to walk away but Noel said, "Wait? I thought you wanted to look over the final edit?"
"I'm sure it's fine." Cory said confidently and he sighed as he took the disk out of his computer and laid it to the side for the end of the show when the tribute was going to be shown.
Cory made her way over to where Jason was, she opened her mouth to apologize for the way things turned out the day before but before she could say anything he asked, "What happened to your face?"
"Oh…" She breathed, laying a hand over the injured side of her face and said, "Someone tried to mug me… and I wasn't going down without a fight." She fed him the same lie she'd been telling everyone.
"This happened last night?" He questioned, knowing she didn't look bruised and cut up when he'd left her house the day before.
Swallowing hard she nodded and allowed him to move her hand from her face and see the bruises and cuts. She thought she'd done a good job at hiding her injuries with make-up, but judging by the look on his face –she hadn't succeeded. Which were grounds to desperately avoid Mona, she was already mad enough Cory had let herself get injured before the fashion show.
"Are you okay?" He questioned, concern flooded over his features along with another emotion; anger –that someone would hurt her like that.
"I'm fine… Spencer came outside just in time." She quickly answered, trying not to think about what had happened because every time she did she was overtaken with paranoia and felt like anyone who looked at her could be her attacker and then the walls started to close in and it got too hard to breathe.
Closing her eyes she gently leaned into his touch as he continued to inspect the side of her face before he asked in a slightly gruff voice, "Why didn't you call me?"
Opening her eyes, she shot him a confused look as she pointed out, "Well, for starters… you kind of stormed out of my house hours before it happened."
"Yeah, but that whole fight was stupid. Someone hurt you, you should have called me." He pointed out, in a tone of voice like it should have been a common sense move. As if he could have done anything to help after the fact other than hold her hand when the EMT's checked her over and she gave her statement to the police.
She couldn't hide the surprise on her face as she looked at him with how protective he was being. Swallowing hard she glanced down to the floor thinking that it was probably a result of him losing so much in his life.
"The fight was stupid." She agreed, looking around them and lowering her voice as she added, "But you were really mad when you left and I didn't even know if you wanted to talk to me."
He opened his mouth to say he'd overreacted, but she didn't let him talk. "I know how the questions I asked must have sounded, but Jason I wasn't accusing you of anything. I would never do that-"
"I know." He cut her off, glancing around before he admitted, "I guess after so long of being treated a certain way, you just kind of start to expect the worst out of everyone."
He watched her closely as he remembered the pained look on her face when he'd accused her of being just like everyone else in Rosewood. "I should have known better though."
"Yeah you should have." She nodded, not making the apology easy on him but also not able to stay mad.
He watched the corner of her mouth twitch as she fought a smile and he breathed out a small relieved sigh, before he leaned down pressing a heated kiss to her lips that was cut short when there was an announcement made that all models participating in the fashion show needed to be backstage.
Pulling back from the kiss she said, "I gotta go, but find me after the show."
He agreed but grabbed her arm as she started to walk away and pulled her back to him, stealing another quick kiss before they had to go their separate ways.
Cory made it back stage in just enough time to get changed into her first dress for the show and Hanna was helping her get her hair pinned up when they started to announce the show over the intercom.
'Ladies and gentleman, please take your seats. The eight annual Rosewood High charity fashion show is about to begin. Each year the student committee chooses a charity and plan their very own fundraising fashion show and each year the city of Rosewood turns out to support our youth as they give us their time, energy and enthusiasm.'
Mona walked through and snapped at Emily to get up and get her dress on, she wasn't one of the first girls to be going out on stage but she still needed to be ready at a moment's notice. But she'd not had the energy to move since her encounter with Samara and Quinn.
"You need help, Em?" Cory questioned, but Emily declined as she grabbed her dress and walked into one of the small changing stalls set up off to the side.
Cory turned her head and offered a warm smile to Mrs. DiLaurentis as she passed through the room making her way towards the entrance to the stage, after a small speech explaining she was going to be stepping down from the board committee.
Jason walked in behind his mother and Cory watched him with a small smile on her red glossed lips as he waited for the introductions to be over so he could take the stage with his mom. It wasn't until then that she noticed he was in a suit and thinking back she couldn't ever remember seeing him in a suit before.
Feeling her eyes on him, he looked over and nodded to her giving her a smile which she returned causing Hanna to groan as saw the exchange of looks.
"Hanna, don't." Cory whispered to her but the blonde rolled her eyes and pointed out, "No, this isn't about who you're making eyes at, it's that you've got someone here to make eyes at."
"Guess the fight didn't last long?" Spencer said, as she held onto her friend's shoulder for balance to put her high heels on.
"Everything's good." Cory smiled but Spencer seemed less than pleased at the newly learned information.
'Please give a warm welcome to Mrs. Jessica DiLaurentis.'
Hearing the announcement Cory looked over at Jason one last time before he walked out onto the stage with his mother.
"Ladies, I need my first three models ready, now!" Mona shouted at everyone in the dressing room.
"I'll do touch ups." Hanna offered as she grabbed a make-up bag from the table and started to help Spencer get ready, while Emily and Samara were off to the side talking."
Closing her eyes so her friend could fix her eye shadow, Spencer said, "I think I saw Caleb out there."
"Caleb?" Emily asked, surprised as she joined her friends, "Did you change your mind?"
"No, I didn't ask him to come." Hanna explained, not wanting her friends to get the wrong idea.
"So he just showed up?" Cory gasped with a surprised smile.
"Looking really hot." Spencer added in.
"Hmm, didn't notice." Hanna deflected her friends' talking as she touched up Spencer's lip gloss and instructed, "Blot."
"Hanna, he wants you back and you want him back. What's the problem?" Aria asked, as she joined the pre-runway huddle.
Nodding Cory said, "You know we're not going to be mad if you want to give him a second chance. People change… they grow and sometimes things can be a lot better the second time around."
"Hmm…" Hanna hummed in disbelief turning to Cory as she snarkily replied, "Is that how you justify getting back with Ali's creepy older brother."
Cory opened her mouth to argue but the blonde didn't give her a chance as she said, "You need more mascara."
Her hazel eyes widened and she darted over to the nearest mirror and looked around for a tube of mascara when Mona walked backstage with her headset on and clipboard in her hands as she yelled, "Spencer!"
"How do you not strangle her?" She complained, looking to Hanna who laughed.
Taking a deep breath Spencer started for the stage but stopped when Aria called, "Oh, wait!"
As she turned around she was met by a blast of hairspray followed by Aria feverously trying to pat her flyway's down before she said, "Okay!" And nodded for her to take the stage.
The rest of the girls sprang into action putting the last touches on their outfits and hair and lining up with the other student models to take the stage.
Fast paced music played loudly through the speakers and everyone clapped and cheered with the sound of camera shutters in the background as family members took pictures of the students on the runway while all the girls prayed they didn't trip or stumble during their time in the spotlight.
Several outfit switches later it was finally time for the big finale to the show, the moment they'd all been waiting for –Alison's tribute.
The five friends were the only ones backstage now, all of them dressed in their late friend's dresses and feeling more nervous than they had before. This was the first time since the bell tower and Spencer being a person of interest in Alison's murder that they were all finally in the spotlight for something good. A charity fashion show and tribute to their friend.
'Ladies and gentleman, the Rosewood High student committee would like to take a moment to pay tribute to one of their own, Alison DiLaurentis.'
Slow music started to play through the speakers and the friends exchanged looks. "You're up." Aria said with a smile to Cory who nodded but hesitated at the entrance to the stage, wishing she'd taken one last look at the tribute to make sure everything was okay. But it was out of her hands now.
"We'll be right behind you." Hanna agreed.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of view of the curtains and took the walk down the stage alone wearing one of Alison's custom made dresses. Looking around she swallowed hard the camera flashes and seemingly endless rows of guests, she looked over her shoulder to the picture slideshow and smiled at what a scene it was. Alison would have loved it.
Her hazel eyes scanned the crowd looking for a familiar face, someone to focus on since she felt so vulnerable on the stage by herself, finally her gaze stopped on Jason in one of the front seats right beside the stage next to his mom.
His eyes locked with hers and he gave a small smile which instantly calmed her down as she came to a stop at the end of the stage and waited for her friends to join her.
Just seconds later Hanna and Aria emerged from opposite entrances of the stage and began their walk together. Once they stopped next to Cory Spencer and Emily emerged, taking their final walk down the runway and coming to a stop next to their friends.
Slow clapping was heard throughout the room and the camera flashes slowed as everyone watched the slide show of Alison's pictures and her five best friends stood in solidarity at the end of the runway.
But the peaceful moment was interrupted when the slow music abruptly changed into fast paced metal music and a voice screeched through the speakers 'Wake up everybody because the bitch is back!'
The picture on the slideshow burst into digital flames and her image melted away into another picture with her surrounded in fire.
"Oh my god! No, no, no…" Cory breathed, in horror. Knowing everyone knew she was the one who'd been in charge of handing the slideshow in.
The otherwise dark room was covered in a dizzying display of red lights from the fire on the screen as the loud music continued and her pictures were defaced with profanities for everyone to see.
Emily and Hanna immediately headed for the exit to the stage as Aria stood in horror and Cory screamed for someone to shut it off, which Spencer finally managed to accomplish after disconnecting every single chord from the video projector.
The room was held in a suspended state of dead silence, cast in an eerie red glow. Pulling in a deep breath, Cory gained the courage to look over just in time to see Mrs. DiLaurentis rushing towards an exit from the room with Jason right behind her.
Spencer stared up to her friends on the stage and shook her head, not sure who tampered with the tribute.
"Come on." Aria whispered, extending her hand to Cory before both girls exited the stage. Every click from their heels echoed off the walls like thunder and they knew how it looked, like they were the ones who'd put that awful mockery of a tribute together.
Their first chance to actually shine in the spotlight for something good, and it was stolen from them. They all knew who was responsible, the only person who could and would do that sort of thing was A.
A/N -Thanks so much for reading guys. I hope everyone liked the chapter.
Thank you to Momsen-xxxx, xxXWolfsLullabyXxx, Nirvana14, xxxRena, Lucy Greenhill, RHatch89, Taffyrose, jk522, Cassie-D1, Guest, Guest, Hanna West, EmisonLuvr4ever, DancingDorisDay, Libra, Lends Guest, and LiLuLo12 for leaving reviews! ^_^ You're all so wonderful to me, thank you!