Pretty Little Liars: Paying the Cost

Chapter 6 of my Pretty Little Liars story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars or their characters.

Season 2: Episode 6

It was another day at school and Tony sighed heavily, he was still not happy over the situation that had occurred at the party. Nevertheless he felt bad about his harsh reaction, at least in regards to losing his temper, especially towards Spencer. He still wasn't sure he could forgive Ryan, it had led to tensions remaining thick between them and caused him no end of anxiety.

'I just...urgh, forget this.' He thought before shaking his head.

Shouldering his school bag he left the classroom he had been in and began to walk down the corridor. He had barely gone down said corridor before suddenly he heard it.

"Well, what have we here?" It was Mona's voice. "What's a boy doing here, you up to no good?"

Then came Naomi's voice. "A snoop like you, you're clearly up to no good, aren't you Ericson."

That caught Tony's attention and he hurried over, eyes wide. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, this couldn't be happening, could it.

"Hey!" He cut in.

Mona and Naomi turned, shocked and sure enough, there was Ryan, looking startled, he was stashing something into his bag and looked furtive, awkward.

"Oh, what have we here-?" Mona began.

Tony cut her off. "We have a textbook case of your two being guilty of harassment, I wonder what would happen if a teacher, or better still, the principal found out about this, maybe even the police?"

The duo flinched at that, eyes wide and, sharing a glance, they hurried away.

Now the tension was so thick it was almost palpable as Ryan and Tony stood awkwardly, the issues they had hanging between them. Finally, all Tony could think to say was.

"What was that all about, where do they get off accusing you of...snooping?"

Ryan bit his lip. "Well, they weren't wrong, I was snooping. I was looking for something important."

"Oh?"

But before anything else could be said the door to the room Jamie was next to opened and a tall young man came out, the same age as them with shoulder length dark brown hair, hazel eyes and light skin, he had broad shoulders and was dressed casually, if in somewhat well-worn clothes.

"Um, Tony, this is Caleb Rivers...he's been helping me." Ryan explained.

Tony quirked an eyebrow. "Helping you...snoop around?"

Caleb laughed. "You could say I'm an expert at it."

Tony nodded slowly, unsure what to say about that, he had no idea what this was about, but he was still sure that he did the right thing by intervening and driving Mona away. He walked away however, still unable to face Ryan due to still not being happy about the Spencer incident.

XXXXX

At the police station, Garrett narrowed his eyes, reading the reports before him and then shook his head.

"This isn't right." He muttered.

"What isn't?"

Garrett looked up, surprised to see Wilden there, behind him was Thomas Linwood.

"I'm just going all these reports again. I'm still not getting one thing." He explained. "These text messages that Ben received, inciting him to attack Emily during that storm. They come from this...A."

"A?" Wilden and Thomas both echoed.

"I asked Emily about it but she said she had no idea. I'm not sure I believe her, I'm positive she knows something about this A, whoever it is...they clearly have something to do with this, why would they incite Ben this way, how do they know Ben, how do they know Emily?" Garrett summed up, his words wary and chosen carefully.

"I'm not sure it's-" Wilden began.

Garrett wasn't finished however. "It may sound crazy but, I honestly suspected it might just be an initial...Then I realized two people Emily knows have that initial, Aria and Alison-"

"Okay, now you're being ridiculous." Wilden cut in. "I don't trust any of those girls but even I doubt that they would do something like that. Especially to one of their friends. This A thing is just a blind, nonsense, probably Ben trying to create some sort of doubt. Disregard it, it's not important."

There was a stony silence after that, but finally Thomas spoke.

"I agree that none of those other girls are involved in what happened to their friend...but I think there actually is more to this A character."

Wilden just grunted and Garrett could only wonder.

XXXXX

The bell finally rang for the final time, school was over for the day. Still shocked over the sudden outburst Emily had in the cafeteria, due to the reveal of the photos and video that showed the truth of how Maya had been cheating on her, Paige left the classroom. She shook her head as she walked.

'I don't...I don't even know how to feel about this. Emily deserves better, but for her to learn about it so suddenly like that.' She reflected. 'I don't get it, how did that happen? No, Alison wouldn't, she wouldn't do that. But...but what if she thinks I...urg, this is not the time for this Paige.'

Pushing her thoughts aside and walked to her locker. She paused and bit her lip as she saw Morgan standing by her locker, looking up and smiled at her when they locked eyes. Now Paige's mind went back to the party, to the pool, when they kissed. Squaring her shoulders she walked over to her locker.

"Hey." Morgan greeted her.

Paige gave as best a smile she could. "Hi...you um, you want to talk about things, huh?"

Morgan shrugged. "Well, yeah, I mean...we have to-"

"I know." Paige agreed. "Yeah, I...I think we should meet up after swimming practice, okay?"

Morgan nodded in agreement and Paige headed off to the pool, Paige was relieved Morgan had agreed to wait to discuss things till then, that would give Paige time to organize her thoughts.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.