***Chapter 27***
**Aria's POV**
"So Charles is dead, and A is a girl." Spencer summed up as she paced through Hanna's bedroom.
"I think it's a girl helping Charles. Looks like we're back to an A team." I interjected, wanting us all to be on the same page.
"What makes you think that?"
"Remember they found semen in the bunker. Girls don't typically have semen." I argued.
"I told you, Aria. A could have planted that." Spencer rebutted.
"And I told you, I think it's genuine. That Charles is still alive and pulling the strings and A is working with him."
"A could have planted it, make you think that Charles is still around and throw us off the actual trail." Emily put it.
"It wasn't planted." I argued.
I could feel my heart begin to race the more that I argued with them. That they would find out. I tried to slow my breathing and my heartbeat so that I could calm down. So that I wouldn't say something I would regret. I couldn't stand to see their faces if they knew. Didn't want to hurt them like that. Didn't want them to see that he had marked me, touched me, broken me. I felt my stomach turn and I nearly threw up at the thought.
"Why are you so sure?" Spencer snapped.
"Why do you doubt it?"
"Because A has never left any evidence behind before. Not unless it is meant to mislead us." Spencer had stopped pacing at this point, so that she was stopped directly in front of me.
"Well he did this time." I nearly shouted.
"Why, Aria? Why are you so sure? Why are you so antsy about this? If we didn't hear the cops call you, would you have even told us about it?" Spencer continued on.
"We don't do secrets, Aria. It never works out well for us." Emily was gentler in her approach, but not by much.
"Talk to us." Hanna pleaded.
I looked at their faces, feeling my heart break at how much it hurt them. I felt so incredibly guilty, but I couldn't tell them. I could feel tears welling in my eyes and I knew that I was shaking. I couldn't do this. They couldn't see me break, not right now.
"I can't." I said, before heading for the door.
"Aria, wait." They called from behind me, but I ignored it.
I ran downstairs, not bothering to say goodnight to Hanna's mom. I slowed down when I had gotten outside, not wanting the cop to think that there was anything going on. The officer still stepped out of his car to come and talk to me, which I regretted.
"I'm just heading home." I told the officer, not looking back at the house for fear that they were following me still.
"Alright, have a goodnight, Miss Montgomery." He said.
I walked quickly to my car, making sure that I held the tears back until I had gotten inside it. My shaking hadn't gotten much better, but when I had the door locked behind me I felt a little better. I let out one silent sob before turning the car on. I needed to get away from this house, or they would come out and try to talk to me. I think the only thing saving me at the moment was the fact that the cops were watching the house and they didn't want to cause a scene. I drove away with tears still running down my face.
The rest of my night was pretty shitty. My phone kept lighting up with messages from the girls, wondering what had happened. I had only sent them one text back, that I was home. After that I didn't bother. They had called several times too, but I had just curled up on my bed and listened to the phone ring repeatedly. Finally, they seemed to have exhausted themselves and I took a shower so that I could get rid of the cold which had crept into my bones. I curled up under Jason's jacket when I laid down in bed, knowing that I needed what little comfort it could give me, even though I was covering it in my scent instead of Jason's every time I wore it. I hoped that it would blow over by the morning, that they would let it go.
I barely slept that night, nightmares waking me every few hours. Around 4 am, I gave up on sleeping and just curled up next to the window with a blanket wrapped around me. I waited for the sun to come up before heading to take another shower and hopefully today would go better than yesterday.
-Aria: I'm taking Clark's negatives back this morning.-
I sent the text message to the girls around 8 am, hoping that they would just leave it at that. Maybe they had forgotten about last night, though considering Spencer's persistence I knew there was no chance of that. I tossed the negative sheets into my purse, wanting to get to campus before 9, so Clark would still be in class.
"Hey, can I catch a ride to school?" Mike asked, seeing me heading for the front door.
"Yeah, totally." I told him, I owed him for everything he had done for me since I had been back.
After stopping at the police car, we got into the car and I began the familiar route to Rosewood High. Mike was fairly quiet on the car ride, I could tell there was something bothering him, but I didn't know what. And didn't want to press him about it, if he didn't want to talk it was fine with me.
"How'd you sleep last night?" he questioned after a few quiet minutes.
"Not too well. Kept waking up." I admitted with a shrug.
"You know that you can crash with me still. I don't mind." He reiterated, which I was insanely grateful for.
"I know, it's just I need to learn how to sleep on my own again."
"Alright, but if you need, I'm here." He offered, reaching over and putting his hand on my shoulder.
I was insanely proud of myself that I didn't flinch. It was definitely progress from where I had been when I first came back. We lapsed into silence, letting the rock music fill the air. I dropped him in front of the school before attempting to maneuver my way out of the soccer mom queue. I checked the time and I would be cutting it really close if I was gonna get to the photo lab before Clark got out of class. My phone chirped signaling that I had a text. I pulled my phone out while I was stuck in traffic.
-Spencer: We're meeting Mona at Emily's. You in?-
-Aria: I can't. I'm at Hollis dealing with Clark's negatives.-
-Spencer: We're gonna trail Leslie and see if we can find anything on her.-
-Aria: Leslie Stone? Why you following her?-
It was a total pain, texting as I tried to get around the soccer moms. I figured I should probably call her if we were gonna talk about this now. As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I saw that Spencer was calling me.
"Hey. What's going on?" I asked, hoping that I wasn't being shut out because of my freak out last night.
"Apparently, Mona met Leslie in Radley. We think maybe she's the one who stole the A game from her."
"Wait, seriously? What's her connection to Charles though?" I couldn't help but ask.
"She was Bethany's roommate, she might just be using Charles as a cover to get back at us for helping Ali kill Bethany."
"But Ali didn't kill Bethany." I refuted.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that Leslie knows that. Anyway, you in for trailing her today?"
"Actually, I want to check out the junkyard again. I left Rosewood for like an hour and A was on me. Maybe there're some clues there as to how he managed it."
"Alright. We'll figure it out after we meet with Mona. Split into pairs if we need to." Spencer thought aloud. "Text me when you're good to come over."
"Will do." I responded, before hanging the phone up.
Traffic wasn't too bad, but unfortunately parking wasn't the greatest today. I suppose I was lucky it was Hollis, where most of the students didn't drive to campus, but it was still a pain to find a spot anywhere near the buildings.
I got into the building just before 9 am, hopefully Clark wouldn't be coming here directly after his first class. I checked around the room, making sure that no one was here who would care what I was doing. There was a girl at the check-in desk, but she was distracted doing an assignment behind the desk, so I just slipped passed her. With one final check, I put the pages of negatives into Clark's cubby.
"Morning, Aria." Clark's voice sounded and I winced that he was here already.
"Hey, ummm, I was just…" I turned around, trying to look nonchalant, but not feeling too confident that I had managed it.
"Looking for something?" Clark asked, peering quickly into the cubby. "Ah, I was hoping that there was a bagel and cream cheese in there."
"Listen, I can explain."
"No need. If you were that uncomfortable with me taking pictures of you, you could have just said so. No need to go all klepto." He returned with a smile, passing me the stack of negatives once more. "So, what's next on the schedule for the morning bandit? Wanna get that bagel for real?"
The offer was incredibly tempting, he was so calm and just took it in stride that I had stolen his photos. But I needed to check in with the other girls, see where we stood after last night. Also, I really wanted to head back to the junkyard in hopes of maybe finding out more about A. After all, there had to be some reason for how A had known that I was going to be at the junkyard, it was a split second decision and I hadn't even taken my car. Maybe he had chipped my phone so that he knew where I was. I shivered at the thought before turning back to Clark.
"I wish I could, but I really have to go." I felt bad turning him down again. "But I will owe you one."
He gave a nod and I walked passed him, heading back to my car. The negatives were safely in my bag and it seemed like this trip was pretty futile. Though now I didn't have to feel quite as guilty about having the negatives this time. Still though, I didn't need to take all of his negatives, just the ones with A and I in them. Maybe I would go through them again when I got home and give him back the prints that I didn't need.
-Aria: Just dealt with the negatives. What's the plan?-
I sent the text to all the girls, hoping that they would have a plan in place now.
-Spencer: Hanna and I are going to Philadephia, apparently Leslie has a faculty lunch there.-
-Emily: I have an appointment with Dr. Sullivan and my mom. I'm done in an hour and a half. We can head to the junkyard after.-
-Aria: Em, sounds like a plan. Meet at the Brew?-
I climbed into my car waiting for the next text to come in before pulling out of the lot. I turned the car on though, ready to head back home.
-Emily: Sounds like a plan. See you then.-
I drove back home, the trip actually shorter back it seemed than when I drove there before. My dad's car was still out in front of the house, I guess he didn't have any meetings or anything this morning.
"Hey, you wanna go to Hollis with me today?" My dad asked when I walked into the house, he was packing up his briefcase with all the paperwork he would need from home today.
"Actually, I was going to go to the Brew. I'm meeting Emily there a little later and it will give me a chance to work on my application for the photo contest."
"Alright. Well let me know when you're going to be home. Maybe we can go out to dinner tonight you, me and Mike."
"Yeah, I'll let you know. I'm not sure what the plan for the day is just yet."
***End Chapter***