nine. the perfect storm

chapter nine
the perfect storm
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The group of girls, minus Emily, were all sitting in the Hastings kitchen, skimming through a bunch of flashcards. The girls decided to study together and eat some of the food they had brought while Josie was texting richie. "This is insane! How many words do they expect you to learn in one night?" Hanna exclaimed as she stared at all the flashcards and notes. "You should have been studying longer Hanna," Josie said as she laughed. "Stringent," Aria said to the Hastings girl. "Uh, tough, inflexible." Spencer replied to which Aria nodded her head at the right answer as Hanna shrugged, "It's not like you're going to actually use them."

"Meretricious." Aria said, outloud waiting for either Spencer or Josie to answer the question. "I mean, it's not like you go to college and you just start speaking a completely different language." Hanna continued. "It's about getting into college," Spencer told her before answering the question seeing Josie wasn't. "Meretricious. um, phoney, flashy?" she questioned and aria nodded. Josie looked over at Hanna who was still eating the pasta they ordered for dinner. "How are you still eating that han?" Josie asked, disgusted.

"Because it's here," she answered. "Put it in the garbage." Spencer chuckled. "Then I'd have to stand over the garbage and eat it," Hanna said, which Josie and Aria couldn't help but chuckle at. "Besotted." Josie shot up, ready to answer. "infatuated, enamoured; in love with." she replied with a smile on her face which made her friends laugh. Hanna turned to Aria. "Hey, what did Noel Kahn say to you last week at my house?" she asked.

"Hello," Spencer called out to them in slight annoyance. "We are taking the SATs in less than twelve hours. Can we focus?" Spencer asked, really wanting to study. "Okay, Spence, you do not need to know any more big words. You're already scary enough to anyone under fifty." Hanna told her, making Josie laugh as Spencer grew quite defensive. "I'm not scary? Am I scary?" she asked, turning to others but none answered, just looked at her. Spencer narrowed their eyes as her friends looked at her. "A little," Aria and Josie answered together.

Spencer's shoulder slouched. "Hey, I saw Noel Kahn hug you, and he did not want to let go." Hanna said to Aria, who sighed, and turned to her. "Talk about not wanting to let something go." She said, "Why can't you just give him a chance?" Hanna asked her. "He's smart, he's cute, his dad owns, like, half of Rhode Island, and he's got great lips." she listened. "His Father?" Spencer asked, confused, making Hanna scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Noel! Ew. Seriously, Aria, you and Noel would look amazing together." Hanna replied. "Can we just drop it, please? I'm not looking for anything more than a friend." she begged with a hopeful smile. "Why?" Hanna asked as she looked at Aria while Josie sighed, knowing Hanna should just let this go. "

"Why? don't you have enough on facebook? Besides, don't you want someone real, someone you can, i don't know, scratch and sniff?" Hanna asked, causing all the girls to cringe. "Wow. maybe you should just eat that over the garbage." Josie said with raised eyebrows as the girls laughed. "Look, I am trying to help out a friend here." Hanna told them. "We all don't have smoking hot boys from the country club." Hanna said, causing the girls to turn to Spencer. "What is going with you and Alex? Is he back from that tournament?" Aria asked after she had sat down next to Hanna.

"Yeah, he's back." Spencer answered with a small smile. "And?" Josie pried, leaning on the countertop. "And it's...good." she said making the girls share smiles. "It's so good. I want it to last, but I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it." Spencer said to her friends. "So, when can we officially call him the boyfriend?" asked Josie but Spencer shook her head and shrugged and was about to speak when she noticed her mother coming in. "Hi, Mom." Spencer said quickly "Hi, Mrs. Hastings." the girls said in unison, greeting the older women. "Hi, girls. Oh, what smells good?" Veronica Hastings asked. "Garlic bread. Want some?" Spencer asked, picking up the bag of bread in front of her.

Veronica sighed heavily as she looked at the bag of food. "I can't. God, I miss food. Eat some butter for me, will you?" She asked as the girls chuckled. While Mrs. Hastings checked her messages, the girls turned back to Spencer. "Hey, maybe you should ask Alex to-" Hanna started but Spencer quickly cut her off. "Stop. Not now." she whispered as she shook her head. "Your mom still doesn't know?" Aria asked as Josie raised her brows. "Like I said, I want it to last." she said, reminding them.

"Where's Emily?" Veronica Hastings asked. "She's most likely on her way, probably just late." Josie said as she looked up from her phone. It was silent for a moment as the girls studied when Hanna turned to Josie. "So Josie, what about you and Richie?" Hanna asked, making the girls laugh as Josie blushed.

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The girls arrived at the school with Veronica with them, she wanted to check if the test was cancelled or not and it was starting to annoy Spencer. "You don't have to come inside Mom, If it were cancelled, nobody would be here." Spencer said to her mother but Veronica didn't listen and was looking for a teacher. "Oh, excuse me, hi." she greeted, getting the attention of a teacher. "Are they actually going to give this test today?" Spencer's mom asked as she walked with the teacher while the girls stopped at Spencer's locker.

"Decision hasn't been made yet," the teacher informed Veronica. "Can you tell me who makes that decision? They're predicting a major storm." Veronica said as she continued to follow the teacher while the girls watched Veronica walk off. Aria moved her head to see Alex making his way down the hall with his friends before she turned back to Spencer. "You didn't say Alex was taking the test here, too." she said to Spencer who checked to make sure her mother wasn't around before speaking. "Why do you think I wanted my mom to drop us off and leave?" she said as Alex walked to them with a smile. "Hey, you." he greeted and Spencer smiled back. "Hi." she said, smiling back at her boyfriend before they kissed, making their friends share a smile but Josie soon noticed Spencer's mother coming back and quickly tapped Spencer's shoulder. "Spence," she muttered quickly, making the couple separate.

"Nobody here can make a decision to save their life. It's absurd." Veronica ranted as she walked back over to the girls. "Um, Mom?" Spencer said, getting her attention. "This is Alex Santiago. Alex, this is my mother." She introduced and when she didn't reply, Spencer continued talking. "Alex that I went to homecoming with." She said as her mother shook her head quickly, smiling. "Of course. Hi. From the club." she said and he nodded."Yeah." he said with a smile. "It just took a moment to put it together." She said, pausing before continuing "So, you're Alex." Veronica said before Alex looked over to Spencer. "Listen, uh, I need to check in. Um, nice seeing you...meeting you." he corrected himself before he walked off.

"The test is today. Rosewood students should register in the library," the teacher tells the girls as she walks up to them. "But, Like, half the school isn't even here yet," Hanna tells the teacher. "And may never make it. this huge tree down on Sawmill Road, and they've already closed off York Street," Veronica tells the teacher. "That wasn't because of a tree," Wilden says as he walks over to the group. "York streets been closed since last night" Wilden informs them. "Why?" Veronica asks him, confused. "Somebody decided to pay a visit to Alison DiLaurentis's memorial and destroy it. Shattered the tiles, broke the bench," Wilden tells the girls who look at him in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" Josie asks wide-eyed. "We had to cordon off the area given it's an ongoing murder investigation," Wilden tells the girls as they just share a heartbroken look. "Maybe you can spare them the details. They're about to take their SATs," Mrs.Hastings tells him as Wilden nods. "Right. Good luck on the test, ladies," Wilden tells the girls before he walks away. "We should probably get to the library," Spencer says as she walks away Aria and Hanna follow after her as Josie walks away.

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"I can't believe it was trashed." Hanna said, still in shock "Just when you thought that A would give it a rest." Aria mutterd. "It's like Toby had to kill Alison all over again." Spencer added, to which Josie made a face, confused. "Toby? What do you mean, Toby? His motorcycle was totaled. Isn't he dead?" Hanna asked. "Well, I hear more from Alison now than when she was alive." Spencer replied. "You guys, I thought we decided A wasn't Toby. A was happy to have Toby out of the picture." Josie whispered. "How do we know that Toby didn't just send that text?" Aria asked. "Why are we suddenly trusting A? A made a fake bracelet to mess with us." Aria added before Emily joined them. "Emily, hey, where've you been?" Hanna asked.

"Yeah, why weren't you at Spencer's last night?" Josie asked as she looked at Emily. "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't get out of practice until really late so I just went home and crashed. So, what did I miss?" She asked as she looked between her friends. "Well, we studied." Hanna said, as Josie gave her a look. "They studied and I annoyed them." she said with a smile before she frowned. "And Alison's memorial got trashed." Hanna revealed. "Yeah, I heard." Emily let out sadly. "What is my mum doing here?" Aria said, making the girls look out the window to see Ella Montgomery. "Well, I'm going to go find Richie, I'll see you guys later," Josie said as she packed up her stuff, her friends saying bye to her.

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"You know you don't need to study for these tests, your like more than smart Jo." Richie said as they two of them sat in the library, Josie's head resting on her friend's shoulder, with a open book in her lap, but she wasn't paying attention, still thinking about Ali's Memorial. Richie noticed her silence as he picked up her book and closed it, making her lean into him more. "I'm sorry about Alison's Memorial Jo" Richie said, making Josie sigh before answering. "I just hate it, someone has no respect, I know she wasn't the nicest person, but she's dead, and we were her friends, damn it" Josie said as she picked the skin on her thumb.

"Hey, Hey i know okay, and i promise it'll get it fixed even if i have to pay for it myself okay?" He said as he pulled her hand away from her tumb. "Thank you Richie," She said as she looked up at him, not moving from where she was. "No need, you're my best friend and you're upset, I'd do anything to help." he said with a smile making her smile too as she rested her head back on his shoulder and he rested his head on hers as they sat in their own world, not wanting to move, both comfortable.

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Emily and the girls were now sitting at a table studying and Josie was still with Richie when her phone went off, she glanced between her friends before going to open the message.

BLOCKED ID
Hey, Em, You weren't the only
one with Great Expectations.
Check it out. Xoxo.⎯ A

A frown painted her as she looked up, as she swallowed thickly as she looked over at the others hoping that they wouldn't notice her frozen stance as Hanna scoffed as she was glancing over her shoulder at Wilden. "He's freaking me out, I mean whose locker is he poking into now?"

"He's desperate. Ali's brother's breathing down his neck," Spencer whispered from across the table. "Yeah, ours too." Aria said from beside Spencer. "What if Jason told the police Alison's version of what happened after the fire?" Aria questioned as she looked at the girls. "If Jason was going to tell them, he would've told them a year ago. He knows that story's bogus." Spencer replied.

"Well, then why do they bring it up?" She shrugged. "To drive a wedge between us?" Spencer guessed. "He's not going to do that." Spencer said as Wilden strolled over to them, standing at the end of their table. "Sorry about the memorial. I know how hard you girls worked on it." He apologised. "Shocking, though, right? Something like that could happen out in the open and nobody saw anything." he said as if he was trying to make one of them slip up.

"Well, everybody here was probably studying for the exam we're about to take, so you might want to look for eyewitnesses somewhere else." Spencer told him. He eyed all of them, noticing one of them were missing, but didn't question it. "So, you were all studying together last night, then?" Wildon asked as Emily spoke before the other could. "Yes, we were all at Spencer's." Emily spoke up, catching the others off guard. "All of you?" he asked. "Yes. All of us." Aria answered, making Wildon nod before leaving. After he was gone the girls turned to Emily. "Em, what is going on?"

"Yeah, where were you last night?" Aria added. "I told you, I went home." she shrugged. "Then why didn't you tell him that?" Spencer asked with raised brows making Emily grow annoyed with them. "What happened to all of us sticking together?" she questioned before starting to get up. "Where are you going?" Aria asked, causing Emily to sigh. "To the restroom. But if you don't believe me, we can all try to squeeze into one stall." she sassed before walking off.

Aria looked around the others, not knowing what to do. "Should one of us go talk to her?" Aria asked, making Hanna shake her head. "No. She'll talk to us when she's ready." she said as they looked back to their books in front of them before Spencer's phone pinged.

BLOCKED ID
Define 'Desertion.'Seems like you're about to lose Emily.
Who's next?
⎯ A

Her eyes widened as she passed her phone around to her friends. They looked around the library, trying to see if Emily had come back from the restroom, but she hadn't. "hey guys what's with the faces" Josie asked as she came up to the table, she had left Richie to find the girls. The girls shared a look as Spencer gave her phone to Josie to reach the message making her look wide eyed at the girls, what the hell is that supposed to mean?

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Since the storm had gotten worse, they moved the student to the changing rooms, where there are no windows. Josie and Richie were currently sitting on the floor in the corner, Josie's head on his shoulders, trying not to hear the thunderstorm, she hated storms when she saw Emily walking their way she called out to her. "Hey, where have you been Em?" She asked her friend, causing her to sigh. "Looking for my purse" she replied as Wildon came over to them. "I think I found something that belongs to you. Could you come with me, please?" She shared a hesitant look with Josie as Wildon started to grow impatient. "Emily! Let's go." he exclaimed, making her follow him, Josie and Riche watching her walk away, making her worried as she got up quickly. "I'll be right back" she mumbled to Richie as she went to find the girls.

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When the girls did find Emily, she was in the library with Wildon. "What's going on here?" Josie asked as she and the girls walked through the doors. Wilden scoffed at them. "Oh, perfect! We can all be together for an update." He said, as he gave them a smug smile, one that Josie wanted to slap right off. "No, we're supposed to be in the girls' locker room." Hanna told him. He gave her a fake smile, tilting his head. "Yeah, well, I guess you girls are used to being in places you're not supposed to." he said snidely.

"Excuse you? What's that supposed to mean?" Josie questioned, but she didn't get an answer as he just looked back at Emily. "Did you tell your friends where you were last night, when you weren't studying for the test? See, cause I got these really interesting photos." he pulled out his phone, showing a picture of Emily at Alison's memorial to which Josie took and looked at the photos. "Go ahead and pass it around, There's plenty more where that came from at the precinct." he said as the girls walked around before he looked down at Emily's shoes. "And I see you didn't get a chance to clean your shoes, either, huh?" He asked.

"That's not why I went there." she told him, defending herself. "Really? So you didn't go to the memorial to finish up Toby's handy work? Or were you just covering up his tracks?" she asked and she shook her head, "I found it like that. It was already destroyed." she said, but detective Wilden didn't seem to care or believe her. "Really? Then let me ask you a question." he said as he pulled the sculptures from the bird bowl from Emily's bag. "What were these doing in your bag? Souvenirs? Something Toby asked you to save so he can keep it for his trophy collection?" he asked as he held up the sculptures. "This has nothing to do with toby!" Emily exclaimed as she grabbed the sculptures from him.

"Em, why do you have those?" Aria asked her but Emily stayed silent so Hanna spoke up for her. "You put those in there, you creep. Emily would never do that. The memorial was her idea." Hanna exclaimed as Josie kept a hand on her arm incase, not wanting her to lash out on a cop, even if it was Wildon. "Yeah, so I heard. Nice cover, huh?" he said as an envelope from his coat pocket. "You want me to share this with them, or would you like to?" Emily clenched her jaw as she went to grab the envelope, but he snatched it away, out of reach. "Go ahead and tell them about the angry letter you wrote to Alison." he said before turning to the girls.
"Which was dated, by the way, three days before she disappeared," he added.

"You had no right to read that." She said as Spencer looked at her, growing wary. "Emily, what's in that letter?" Spencer asked. "Tell her," Wildon said. "Tell her how you wanted to punish Alison for rejecting you. Tell her how you felt relieved at the funeral. Yeah, she wasn't going to be around to humiliate you anymore, was she?" Detective Wilson said, looking from the letter to Emily.

"I went back to that memorial to say I was sorry. There were horrible things in that letter, and I didn't mean them. Suddenly, she was gone, and." Emily paused before continuing. "I loved her as more than a friend. I just never had the chance to tell her in the right way." Emily admitted and the girls looked at her shocked, but not Josie and Hanna.

"Give her the letter back. Give it back to her right now, or I swear to god, I will rip your head off!" Hanna snapped, making Josie put an arm around to get to stop from attacking a cop. "Sorry, I can't." he said. "And we're not leaving this room until you tell me what you were doing carting around pieces of Alison's memorial." he exclaimed.

"I took them because they were the only things that weren't broken." Emily said as the door to the library opened and their heads turned to see Veronica. "What's going on in here? Why aren't they in the locker room with the other kids?" Veronica Hastings asked, making all the girls turn to her "Who are you?" he asked exasperatedly. "Her mother." she answered, pointing at her Spencer. "I mean, if this is the school's idea of keeping my child safe, I'm glad I came back." she said as she noticed Emily was crying. "Honey, why is she crying?" she asked as she noticed Emily was crying. "He accused her of killing Alison." Josie answered as she pulled Emily into a hug as Veronica tried to understand what she had just said. "What?" she asked, confused.

"He went through her purse, and now he's accusing," Aria started, letting Spencer's mother know what was happening when she cut Aria off. "Hold it. Hold it. You're questioning minors without an adult present? What police department do you work for? What century are you in?" she questioned, almost laughing at the dumb situation Wildon had put himself in. "Ma'am, I would advise you-" He started but was cut off.

"Oh, no," she cut him off. "I would advise you to back off. Anything that they've said is inadmissible in a courtroom. Period. Let's go. Emily, honey, grab your things." She said to Emily as she watched the girls leave as well before turning to Detective Wilden. "What were you thinking?" She asked. "I have a homicide to solve okay." He replied. "Not anymore you don't. You're done. You're done with this investigation, unless you want to face me done with opposing counsel." she said before leaving the room.

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"So what's going to happen to him? Can they get him off the force?" Hanna asked Veronica Hastings as she and the girls stood in the girls locker room. "If he's smart, he'll leave before that happens." Veronica replied before spotting a kid who was eating a protein bar. "Oh, where did he get that protein bar?" She asked

"I'll get you one Mrs. Hastings." Josie said as she made her way over to the box of protein bars. before noticing Emily sitting Alone. "None of us would have judged Em." Emily decided to stay silent. "Alison loved you, and I don't know if it was in the way you wanted her to, but I know that she did and I'm sorry you never got to tell her." Josie said before she hugged Emily "Can I have your attention, please?" Everyone looked towards the woman. "The storm warning has been lifted, but the SAT will have to be rescheduled." making the students cheer.








AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter! sorry it's been awhile christmas time has been busy but i will be more active after and in the new year <3

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