chapter fifteen
if at first you don't succeed, lie, lie again
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The girls slept over at Spencers last night, including Aria who had arrived a bit after Josie, Hanna and Spencer received the picture of Ali. "Wait. Where's lan?" Emily asked sleepily as she and the girls walked down stairs. "Don't worry, he went to Philly to be with Melissa." Spencer replied, making Josie sigh in relief, knowing they won't have to run it with him. "I didn't realize life existed at this hour." Josie said, still half asleep as she trudged behind Aria.

"Come on, guys, just walk. You need to see this." Aria said in a rush as she headed towards the kitchen island. "I hoped my first sunrise would have tequila in it." Hanna remarked, making Josie laugh as she slumped into a stoll. "I'll make coffee." Spencer offered as she walked into the kitchen. "Well, when it's ready just pour it down my throat." Hanna said with a small smile as Aria pulled up the picture of Alison making Josie groan. "I thought we were done looking at this." Spencer scolded as she looked at Aria as she printed out the picture. "I mean, we know the shadow is lan, right?" Spencer questioned as Aria headed towards the printer, taking the photo out of it.

"You woke us up for this?" Emily complained. "It's important. I couldn't let it go" Aria said, trying to justify being up this early. "Have you been up all night?" Josie asked, leaning forward to look at Aria. "Maybe." she muttered. "But you have. One eye is bigger than the other. You look like a strung-out Powerpuff Girl." Hanna said, causing Josie to chuckle quietly, she really did. "Okay-stop looking at the eye just look at the picture." Aria said, changing the topic. "Who's having coffee?" Spencer asked as she turned back to her friends, they ignored her except Josie who put her hand up as she listened to Aria ramble.

"I mean, there's only one place where this picture could have been taken from." Aria said as she held the photo out for her friends to look at. "Where?" Hanna asked in confusion. "Alison's bedroom." Aria answered as she put the photo on the kitchen island as Spencer approached the girls to take another look at the photo. "No, Alison is in the picture. She clearly didn't take that." Hanna shot back, not believing it. "Okay, but somebody in her house did." Aria said, as Josie groaned. "Like who, her parents?" Josie asked, almost sarcastically.

"No. Her brother." Aria said as she looked around at her friends. "Jason." Spencer muttered. "My Mom ran into him at the bank. He's back in town." Hanna revealed, making Josie confused, why come back? She thought. "Why?" Emily said, voicing Josie's thoughts. "We have to call him." Aria insisted, making the girls look at her confused. "Ew. I am not going to talk to him." Hanna denied as Josie shook her head. "Me either." Emily said with a shake of her head as well. "I will." Spencer volunteered, making her friends look at her. "We need to know if he took this." she said making the girls look over at the picture of Alison.

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"So how's emily?" Richie asked as he and Josie walked through the school hallways. "She was upset last night, drunk as well, but she seems to be doing better, she might be pushing everything down, which isn't good," Josie said with a sigh as Richie linked arms with her. "She'll be fine, Maya is probably going through alot, in a new environment," Richie said, making Josie nod as came across Hanna who was on the phone and Spencer and Aria who were walking towards her as well. "Hey Han," Josie said as she stopped beside her with Richie as Spencer and Aria stopped next to her on the other side as well. "Who are you talking to?" Aria asked as she hung up the phone with a sigh, she turned to her friends and Richie. "My mum." she said sadly as Josie gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze as she lent on him.

"Is everything okay?" Spencer asked as she opened her locker. "Hmm?" Hanna hummed, clueing back into conversation. "Uh, yeah. Everything's fine." she said with a smile as Spencer remembered something. "Oh. Here." she said as she gave two tickets to Aria making the other three people confused. "I forgot to give these to you last night." Spencer said as Aria took them with a smile as Josie shared confused looks with Richie and Hanna "Thank you." Aria said with a smile as she and Spencer hugged. "Oh, I owe you big time." She said as she pulled away from the hug.

"Are you sure your dad's not gonna miss these?" Aria asked as she looked at the tickets. "Oh, please, he joined the museum board for networking. The man doesn't know the difference between a Monet and a mojito." Spencer said with an amused smile as Aria smiled thankfully at her. "Well, hey, how can I get you back?" Aria asked. "Pay for the extra toppings on my pizza delivery." Spencer said as put her book into her locker as Aria nodded "All right, you got it." she said.

"Oh. And a DVD rental. Because If I have to hole up in my room all night as your alibi I would like to do it with Jake Gyllenhaal." Spencer said with a dreamy look on her face making Josie laugh. "Wait. What alibi? Aren't you both going to the museum thingy?" Hanna asked, confused. "No, um, Spencer got the tickets for me and for you-know-who." Aria said, mindful of Richie there as well, not wanting too many people to know, even if he wasn't paying attention and was on the phone.

"You're taking Him?" Hanna asked, frowning lightly as Josie sighed. "I really wish you wouldn't say it like that." Aria said sadly before continuing. "And yes, I'm taking him. He just doesn't know it yet. It's a surprise." Aria said with a wide smile. Spencer and Josie smiled, happy for her, even if it was our English teacher. "I don't know, I figured that a date out of town would give us a chance to actually have a date." Aria continued as Josie nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I get it. You guys do kind of have the social lives of shut-ins." Josie said with a little laugh.

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The next day, Aria, Josie, Richie, Spencer and Emily were sitting and eating in the student lounge, eating. "Why is this called a meat casserole?" Emily asked as she looked at her food distastefully. "That lunch lady has a gift for suspense." Richie jokes, making Josie laugh. "Where's Hanna?" Spencer asked, confused as to where she was. "Who cares?" Aria mumbled as she ate a piece of food from her fork. "What?" Spencer asked, confused by Aria's behaviour.

"I don't know." Aria said as she picked at her food as Josie turned to Emily. "Em, how's swim practice?" she asked. "Can we talk about something else?" Emily asks, making Josie sigh as Spencer looks at Aria "Okay, I've heard of communal cramps, but this is ridiculous. What happened to all that first-real-date excitement?" Spencer asked, confused. "Yesterday, you were ready to give me tongue for giving you two tickets. You're not into it anymore?" Spencer asked, frowning, not knowing what's happening.

"No." Aria asked with a small smile as Spencer tilted her head. "I mean, yes. Yeah, I'm so into it. We're gonna have an amazing time tonight." Aria said with a wide smile. "Okay, so talk. What are you gonna wear?" Josie asked excitedly as leaned forward. "I can't decide between my backless or my strapless." Aria admitted. "Go with the red one. Be bold." Spencer asked as she turned to Emily "What do you think, Em?" she asked.

"About what?" Emily asked as she focused back onto the conversation. "What are you looking at?" Spencer asked as she looked around to see what Emily was looking at. "It's nothing. Just some girl on my swim team who wants me to disappear." Emily said with a frown. "What's her name?" Richie asked before he took a sip of his water. "Paige McCullers." she responded making him wince lightly, he heard a lot of horror stories about her,

"Oh. I know her. We played field hockey together." Spencer said with a nod. "We named a penalty after her. What'd she say?" she asked. "Some snarky comment about me being gay." Emily admitted making everyone freeze as they stared at her in shock. "I will destroy her." Spencer deadpanned. "Hmm. Can I help?" Aria and Josie asked in sync as Richie pulled Josie into his side, to calm her down. "Guys, it's okay. I took care of it." Emily said, dismissing it as she pulled a box out of her bag. "Anyone else thirsty? I'm gonna get a drink." she asked, getting her purse from her bag as Josie took the box from the table as she set aside her food. "Who's this from?" she asked as she looked at it. "Paige." Emily told her.

"Whatever it is, you can have it. She's trying to bribe her way to becoming the next team captain." Emily said said, making Spencer chuckle as Josie opened it, revealing a small pouch and when she opened it, she took out a bracelet that said 'GO SHARKS' but it wasn't that shocked them, it was that it was similar to the bracelets Alison gave them, the one Josie and Emily still wore. "Huh, looks similar to your's Jo," Richie said as he looked between the 'JOSIE' bracelet and the 'GO SHARKS' one.

"Do you think they're from the same place?" Aria asked as she looked at the bracelet. "It's possible." Richie said with a nod. Even if he wasn't a part of Alison's group, Josie was his best friend. "If they were, the store owner could tell us who bought the fake Alison bracelet." Spencer said, causing Richie to look at Josie in confusion, she mouthed. 'i'll tell you later' and he nodded. "Yeah, or maybe even the Jenna one." Aria added as she looked at Spencer. "And we would know who A is." Emily asked, only making Richie more confused. Joise sighed, she knew she had to tell him everything now. "There's only one way to find out." Spencer said, an idea already forming in her head.

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"You're telling me someone's been stalking you since Alison's body was found?" Richie asked in shock as he paced around Josie's living room. She had told him, she couldn't not anymore the secrets were piling up, the only thing she didn't tell him was about Mr. Fitz and Aria, that was her secret to spill. "Josie, why didn't you tell me?" he asked, hurt that she had kept something like that from him as Josie stood up and walked up to him. "Because this person knows everything, they ran Hanna over with a car, Richie, I didn't want you to get hurt in the crossfire of what's happening." she said, tears forming in her eyes as Richie sighed and pulled her into a hug.

"Jo, you're my best friend, and I'm gonna be here for a long time, no psycho is going to get in the way of that, okay?" he said as he pulled back but held her at arm's length before kissing her forehead making her rest her head on his chest for a moment before pulling back. "You can't tell anyone okay, promise me?" she said as she raised her pinky and he sighed before linking their pinkies, sealing the promise.

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"So you gave a ticket to Mrs. Montgomery that A gave you?" Josie asked as she and Hanna walked down the school hallway towards Hanna's locker. "Yeah, but according to Aria, she never saw her mother, so I'm assuming she never made it or didn't go," she said as she approached Hanna's locker, only to see Caleb leaning against it, making her scoff. "You are like one of those things that sticks to the side of boats that can only be removed with a hacksaw or something." Hanna said, making Josie snicker.

"Ha, ha. Very nice." Caleb said with a smile. "Thought fancy Rosewood girls knew how to say please and thank you." he added. "Well, please peel your sweaty body off of my locker. Thank you." Hanna shot back sarcastically, making him move out of her way as she opened her locker. "So do you wanna give it back to your teacher, toss it or, uh, put it on your charm bracelet?" he asked as he held up something to Hanna, confusing both Hanna and Josie. "What is that?" Hanna asked, with furrowed brows. "It's what stopped Mrs. Montgomery from getting to Philly." he said casually making Josie nod, well he did a good thing. 

"She didn't get there?" Hanna asked, confused. "How'd you do that?" she asked. "You want a lesson in popular mechanics or do you wanna just say thank you?" he said. "Neither." Hanna said with a tilted head."So how much do I owe you?"  Hanna asked with a sigh as Josie looked between them, sensing tension.

"I don't want your money." he said with a shrug. "Well, then, what do you want?" Hanna asked, confused. "I'll think about it." he said as he began to walk away before turning back quickly. "Oh, and, um, by the way, they're barnacles." he said, making Hanna frown. "What?" she asked, not knowing what he was talking about. "The things that stick on the side of boats." he said as they shared a look before he walked off.

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The girls sat around Spencer in her room after she had finished explaining what she had remembered from the night Alison went missing. "So the shadow in the picture isn't lan, it's you?" Aria asked, processing all of this. "Yeah," she mumbled sadly as Josie reached out and grabbed her hand in comfort. "Why didn't you tell us this before?" Emily asked, confused. "I don't know," Spencer said with a sigh. "I guess I was scared. I know this is gonna sound crazy but I think that I didn't tell you because...there was always a part of me that wondered if it was my fault. I mean I wished it and it came true." Spencer said sadly, as tears formed in her eyes making Josie give her a gentle squeeze.

"Spence, you didn't mean it," Hanna says as she tries to comfort her. "It was just something you said in the heat of the moment," Josie said with a sigh. "Besides, Ali said stuff to us that was worse," Aria added, making Josie nod in agreement. "Much worse, right?" she said to Spencer who nodded as she looked out her window, spotting something out there. "Spence?" Aria asked, as Spencer stood up from the bed and walked over to the window, the girls following."Oh, my god," Aria gasped as Josie took in a sharp intake of breath. "is that..." Spencer trailed off as the girls saw a figure standing in the window of Alison's bedroom, and when the figure finally came into view. "It's Jason." Josie said softly, frowning in confusion as they all stared at Jason as he stared back.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter! richie knows now but does he know everything?? 👀