chapter one
pilot
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THEN

As 'Don't trust me' blasted through the speakers inside Spencer Hastings barn where five friends sat and talked and drank, it was easier to drink because they were inside, and no adult could catch them. The girls were talking and laughing, making jokes, listening to music that blaring through the speakers. Josie was sitting next to Emily while Aria, Spencer and Hanna sat in separate chairs around them. They were just enjoying the moment of being together and laughing until the lights and the music went out.

"Shit." Josie said in surprise as she looked around at her friends. Josie turns to Spencer when she hears her speak. "It must be the storm." she stated as she started lighting up candles as Aria turned on her flashlight. Josie turned to Hanna to make sure she was alright, since she knew Hanna hated storms. Hanna gave Josie a smile to assure she was okay when the barn door creaked and Aria gasped. "This feels like the beginning of every horror movie." Josie muttered.

"Guys something's out there." Aria shaky asked and pointed the light towards the barn doors as they slowly creaked open, causing the girls to stand up. "Guys..." Hanna trailed off slightly as the girls huddled together and slowly walked towards the barn doors. Josie gave Hanna a squeeze in comfort, because she could tell the girl was terrified.

It was much easier to see outside when the barn doors opened but also whoever it was outside could get in. The girls inched towards the open barn door and huddled closer while everyone held each other's hands tightly. All of a sudden the sound of glass shattering on the concrete ground outside of the barn had all the girls screaming and holding onto each other, but they didn't stop walking toward the open barn door, they wanted to see who it was that was outside but then someone jumped out from behind the door scaring all the girls but it was someone that they should've guessed who would do something like this. Alison Dilaurentis. the group's leader, and the queen bee. "Gotcha!" she yelled happily for scaring her friends once again while her friends screamed then, sighed in relief that it was only Alison.

"Was that necessary Ali?" Josie questioned at the same time as Spencer narrowed her eyes at Alison. "That's so not funny, Alison!" Spencer hissed at her as she was walking into the barn and the rest of the girls walked back to their seats. Ali laughed in response to the words of two of her friends. "I thought it was hilarious, girls." She chuckled and walked to one of the chairs they had left for her which was next to Emily. Once everyone had sat down, they had eventually found the funny side in it and began to laugh as well.

Josie sat back down in her seat while picking up her cup and her phone and responded to Richie's texts. Josie was texting her only friend outside of her group when Alison's voice brought her out of her own little world. "Ali, did you download the new Beyonce?" Hanna excitedly asked Alison with a big smile as Alison sat down. "Ugh, not yet." Alison sighed.

"I'm loving her new video." Emily said with a smile but instantly regretted once hearing Alison's reply. "Maybe a little too much, Em." Alison replied to her tilted her head toward Emily with a knowing look on her face that none of the girls caught but Alison's look is enough to make Emily suddenly close in on herself from her friends as they giggled drunkenly. Alison suddenly grabbed a cup and handed it to Aria. "Your turn. Go on." She encouraged, more like insisted Aria to have a drink. Josie and the rest of her friends watched Aria take a hesitant sip of the drink because we knew she didn't drink often or much but eventually she took a rather large sip that had all the girls laughing like crazy.

"Careful, Aria, take too much, and you'll tell us all your secrets." Spencer teased her and then everyone chuckled. Alison just giggled and leaned back into her seat and spoke. "Friends share secrets. That's what keeps us close." Alison solemnly spoke toward her best friends, who all nodded. They all failed to notice the tone that the blonde was talking in. The blonde girl knew the power she held over the five girls, and she knew that would do anything she said. Alison turned back to Aria with an encouraging smile. "Drink up."

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Aria was the first of the four to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open and shut before staying open as she looked around to look at her friends, who were all sound asleep, well apart from Alison and Spencer. She furrowed her brows at the missing girls, then headed over to Josie in an attempt to wake her. "Jo." Aria shook her. It didn't work so she tried again "Josie, Wake up!" she shook the carmen girl who passed out on the couch with Hanna. "What? Aria? What's happening?" Josie asked as she lifted herself off the couch before she turned to Hanna and gently shook her awake, at the same time as Aria woke Emily up.

"Where's Ali and Spencer?" Hanna sleepily asked her friends while rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "We don't know." Aria answered her before she stood up from the floor and walked towards the barn doors, which were open. "Ali?" Aria called out, seeing someone walking towards the barn. "She's gone." Spencer said as she came into view. "What do you mean she's gone?" Aria asked, confused. "I've looked everywhere for her." Spencer told them. "I think I hear her scream." she added and that's what made their hearts drop.

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NOW

"The scream franchise is so much better than the Friday 13th movie's Richie!" Josie exclaimed as she and Richie Myers walked into the kitchen of the empty Carmen residents the night before the new school year. After Alison's disappearance, her, Emily, Hanna, Spencer stopped being friends and Aria moved overseas, Richie was the only one she had left, not that she minded, she loved having him around for horror movie marathons and he had been her rock for years, even before she met the girls and even more over the past year but she did miss the girls, of course she did, they were like her sisters she never had.

"You're just saying because you're in love with Billy Loomis Jo!" he laughed out as he sat at the kitchen counter and watched as she put more popcorn on so they could continue their movie marathon. "That may or not be true." she said as she turned to him as she finished putting the popcorn in the microwave and went to get some sodas from the fridge. As she was walking over to give Richie his drink she stopped and looked at the newspaper from that day.

a year since Alison. god did she miss Alison, despite her mean personality.

Richie saw Josie being distracted so he followed her eye line to see her looking at the picture of Alison in the newspaper for one year of her disappearance, making him sigh softly and got up and pulled Josie into a hug which he knew she needed. Josie melted into the hug, they just stood there for a few minutes before the timer of the popcorn went off so they detached themselves as Richie pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. "lets watch some more horror movies okay?" he asked softly, getting a nod in response he got the popcorn while she got the sodas and they walked back into the living room getting ready to watch the second scream movie

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When Emily had finished explaining what was going on with everyone to Aria, who had moved back from Iceland, she was about to ask about Iceland before both her and Aria and probably everyone turned to the sound of laughter. They were met with the sight of Josie and Richie laughing and talking. She was wearing his jacket which was normal, they sat near Hanna and Mona who smiled and waved at the Carmen girl who waved back.

The sight of them made Aria feel nostalgic, watching Josie laughing with Richie. She remembers when she and the girls had first met Richie, not just heard about her memories with him. They were having a sleepover at Josie's when Richie had come running into the Carmen house and started ranting about a fight between him and his mother and as soon as he had seen Josie wasn't alone he froze before slowly walking out the door making the girl's laugh.

Aria smiled and turned to Emily. "their still friends?" she asked, making Emily laugh and nod. "Yeah, I see them in the halls sometimes, we say hello sometimes but I'm glad he was there for her the past year." Emily admitted making Aria nod but before they could say anything else the bell went, and as it finished the new English teacher walked into the classroom and wrote his name on the board and underlined it before turning around to face the class.

"Holy crap." The teacher muttered as he saw someone in the back of the classroom, making everyone look in that direction. Everyone turned and saw that their new teacher was looking at Aria Montgomery. "oh shit." Josie mumbled as she watched Aria's eyes widening looking at the teacher, Josie shared a wide eyed look with Richie from behind her but before she could say anything Aria's phone went off. "Sorry." Aria said in a low voice as she went through her bag to find the device. "I'm Mister Fitz," the new teacher said after clearing his throat, to continue introducing himself as he looked over his new class, "your new English teacher."

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Josie and Richie were at her locker while talking about Aria being back and the weird moment in English. "I still can't believe Aria's back. I mean I missed her but it feels so, I don't know, Awkward I guess and that moment in English with the new teacher, like what the hell!" Josie exclaimed as she got her books from her locker. Richie laughed and threw his arm around her as she shut her locker and they walked to their next class that they shared together. "I know right, straight up weird but don't dwell on it Jo, let's just get to class alright." he said to which she nodded her head and wrapped her arm around him and they continued their walk to class while talking about upcoming horror movies they could go see.

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Josie was home alone once again, her mother was always at work, not that she cared, she knew she cared and loved her, she constantly checked up on her all day and was home sometimes. Same with Richie, after his father died in a car accident, his mother detached herself and was rarely home, she worked with Josie's mother at the hospital. She still cared but she was grieving still, so she threw herself into her work, that's why he was always as Josie's, so they had each other to keep company.

After changing and texting Richie asking when he was coming over, they had planned to do some of their school work together that night as always, even before Alison went missing her and Richie always did their work together. Upon walking into the kitchen her phone went off, making her check it as she grabbed something out of her kitchen cupboard.

BLOCKED ID
what will happen
when people find out what
happened last year?
⎯ A

Those words made her heart stop. The only person who knew was Richie, who had helped her with her problem. She was always too scared to talk to anyone else about her problems but Richie found out what his Best friend was going through and helped her. Before Josie could do Anything the sound of Police sirens came from outside. Josie ran to a window to see them going down Alison's street, with dreed in her body she grabbed her keys and quickly ran outside and jumped into her car and speed towards Alison house to only see Alison's house with police everywhere a coroner van and as she saw what they were doing she tried to keep her tears at bay. they had found her body.

Josie was looking around and spotted their old friends, so she went and walked up to them. When Josie had caught up to her friends, she only caught the end of their conversation, which was about the Jenna thing. "We made a promise." Hanna spoke to Aria and Spencer.

"A stupid promise." Josie said which made the girls turn to her as she wiped her tears on Richie's hoodie sleeve. Hanna gave Josie's hand a squeeze while the other girls gave a sad look but before they could say anything they all heard someone else Josie's name, they turned to see Richie jogging towards her. Since he lived in the same street as Alison, he had seen the police pull up to her house and had been calling Josie but she wasn't answering so he assumed she had already been there so he ran there and he saw her with her old friends. Josie said a small goodbye to the girls and ran off to Richie who hugged and let her cry. The girls watched as she broke down. Richie meets the girl's eyes over Josie's shoulder and gives a nod to them and they nod back.

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Josie couldn't believe it, Alison was dead. I mean she knew it for a while. It was the only explanation for her disappearance for a whole year, but the thought still hurt. She stood in front of her full body mirror fixing up her hair, as she tightened her blonde hair into a ponytail with a sad sigh. Far too into her own mind, she didn't seem to notice the creek of her bedroom door, which meant someone had walked into her room. Once she noticed, she looked behind her and locked eyes with her mother.

Jennifer Carmen let out a soft sigh at the sight of her daughter in a black dress, fitted for a funeral. Jennifer didn't always agree with Josie being friends with Allison but she couldn't stop her daughter from being friends with her, she was stubborn, like mother like a daughter right? "Richie and Melissa are downstairs, ready when you are sweetheart." She said in a soft voice as she walked toward Josie and hugged her, kissing the top of her daughter's head. "yeah, yeah i'm ready." she said as she let out a deep, shaky breath and linked her arm with her mothers and together they walked downstairs, ready to say goodbye to Alison Dilaurentis.

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Josie walked towards the church with Richie and their mothers. Emily and Spencer, who were hugging each other, saw Josie coming towards them so they hugged her too. Josie and Richies mums went and sat at the back with Richie since Alison's mother had asked the girls to sit at the front which neither minded, he knew the girls would be there for her so he gave a hug and let her go.

Josie looked ahead at Ali's portrait as she walked towards the front and sat next to Aria. "Poor Ali," Emily muttered. "Can you believe what a scene this is?" Hanna asked with a smile on her face. "Ali would have loved this." Josie muttered to the girls who nodded. "Popular in life and death." Spencer muttered to the girls before Hanna pulled out a flask handing it to Emily. "No thanks I don't..." Emily started and shook her head but Hanna cut her off, "Today, I think you do. Hanna smiled softly at Emily after she took the flask from Hanna but soon, she was frowning, as they heard Aria's phone go off, they all looked over in worry. "Anyone we know?" Hanna asked. "No, it's just my mom sending me a text." She answered, then she noticed how everyone was looking at her, so she took a moment before asking.

"Emily and I aren't the only ones who got messages from 'A' are we?" Aria asked, causing them to share a look before Josie let out a soft sigh and grabbed Aria's hand to calm herself. Josie Noticed Spencer Looking over her shoulder at the entrance she was about to ask but Spencer Spoke first. "Oh, my God. It's Jenna." They all heard Spencer whisper. They whipped their heads towards the entrance, seeing Jenna Marshall walking in, they all looked at each other before focusing on the funeral. Mr. and Mrs. Dilaurentis sat beside us, "Did you see that Jenna Marshall was here? I didn't realize she and Ali were friends." She spoke in confusion. "They weren't." Spencer responded to her cause she noticed none of the others would.

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After the ceremony had finished the girls walked out of the church together, Josie walked with Aria and Hanna, arms linked as Emily and Spencer walked behind arms linked as well. Her mum had gone home as well as Richie and his mum, he left her in the hands of the girls and said he'd be at her place when she came home to which she agreed, knowing she'd need the comfort tonight. "Emily, Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Josie." someone said, making them stop and turn to him. 

"Do we know you?" Josie and Spencer asked. "I'm Detective Wilden. I understand you were all good friends with the victim." He said as he handed Spencer his card while shoving his hands in his pants pockets. "Yes. we were. Why?" Josie softly asked back, Aria gave Josie's arm a gentle squeeze, silently telling her to calm down.

"Do we know you?" Josie and Spencer asked. "I'm Detective Wilden. I understand you were all good friends with the victim." He handed Spencer his card while shoving his hands in his pants pockets. "Yes. we were. Why?" Josie softly asked back, Aria gave Josie's arm a gentle squeeze, silently telling her to calm down. "I'm gonna need to talk to each one of you." He remarked with narrowed eyes at each of the girls. "We talked to the police when Alison went missing." Spencer answered with confusion as she looked back at her friends who wore the same face of confusion. 

"And I intend to go over every one of your statements, as this is no longer a missing persons investigation. It's a murder. And rest assured, I will find out what happened that summer." He said before walking away from them. "Great." Josie and Aria mumbled together under their breaths. They watched as Jenna entered a car before they moved so they weren't facing everyone else. "Do you think he knows about..." Josie began only to be cut off by Hanna. "No. How could he?" she shook her head when their phones rang, making them look down and pulling them out.

"Oh my God." Josie mumbled.

"It's from." Aria and Hanna said.

"I got one too." Spencer Stated.

"Me too." Emily finished.

"I'm still here, bitches . . ." Spencer began reading the text.

"And I know everything. A." They all finished reading the text as they looked everywhere to see if they could see anything, but they couldn't and almost out of habit Josie grabbed Aria's hand tightly in hers to balance herself.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
first chapter is published !!
Richie and Josie- I love them and their horror movie obsession <3

UPDATE 28 / 07 / 22
added a new scene, little bit of a soft moment with Josie and her mother