chapter seven
the homecoming hangover
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"Emily!" Spencer and Hanna yelled as they ran down the hallway. "Em, are you up here?" Josie yelled as the four girls came to a stop in a hallway, Spencer flicked the switch on the wall hoping to be able to see better but the lights started flickering so she turned them off. "Um, why don't we split up?" Spencer suggested while turning to her friends. "Um, why don't we not?" Hanna shot back. "Han, you can go with Josie while I go with Spencer." Aria said as she held her phone to her ear.

"Who are you calling?" Spencer asked. "I'm trying her until she picks up" Aria said but It was silent until they heard a faint ring and found Emily's phone on the floor at the end of the hall next to an open classroom, so Spencer takes the first step inside. "Emily?" Spencer timidly asks as she and the girls walk into a destroyed science room, Hanna and Josie look around and they see blood on the floor. "Is that blood?" Hanna freaked out while Josie gripped Aria's hand in fear. "Don't go there." Spencer said "Why not? She was up here with Toby." Aria said as she looked at her friends then at the destroyed science room.

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Spencer, Aria and Josie stood in Emily's room, they all came to see Emily who had 'fallen' down at Homecoming, only to be dropped off at the hospital by Toby. Emily sat under the covers of bed, her hand was in a brace. Aria sat in front of her on her bed, Spencer standing off to the side leaning against Emily's dresser with a coffee cup in her hand while Josie was seated on Emily's desk chair on the other side of the bed with her legs crossed under her.

"It was all in his shrink's file, Toby and Jenna had a relationship." Aria tells Emily what they learned at Homecoming from Toby file. "Way beyond step-siblings" Spencer adds and crosses her arms, while being careful not to spill her coffee. "Yeah, they" she paused before continuing. "were involved," Aria says and trailing off. "Romantically?" Emily questions while looking from Aria to Spencer then Josie as they all nod. "I doubt I'd call it romantic," Spencer pipes up. "and I doubt she had much of a choice." She adds.

"And that's what Alison saw when she threw the stink bomb," Aria explains. "Yeah, and she threatened to expose Toby, which is probably why he wanted her dead," Josie says as she moves to stand behind Aria. "And not just her, us" Aria says. "you." Aria adds more gently but Emily still looks uncertain. "You don't believe us?", Spencer exclaimed while looking at Emily causing Josie to sigh. "I do", Emily says hesitantly. "I just don't get it. If Toby killed Alison and wanted to do the same to me, then why am I sitting in my bed and not in a body bag?" Emily asks which makes the girls go silent.

A few moments went by till Emily spoke up again. "I told the police that when I went out for air, I tripped." She tells her friends, and they snap their heads to look at her. "Why didn't you just tell them he attacked you?" Aria asks, disbelief was present in her tone. "I didn't want to say anything until I talked to you guys first," Emily explains, making the girls nod her head slowly in understanding. "That's fine Em" Josie says, making Emily smile at her.

"Well, the truth is in the file," Spencer says with a sigh as she places her coffee cup onto Emily's dresser. "You can tell them everything now." She says while looking at her friend. "She can't tell them everything," Josie said. Aria shakes her head. "They don't know about the file." Aria says to Spencer. "Fine. Leave out the file," Spencer shrugs her shoulders.

"Who knew Rosewood had this many cops?" The four girls looked towards Emily's bedroom doorway to see Hanna walking in and pulling out the file in her bag making Josie's eye widen. "I went to put this back, and they were outside the doctor's office talking to Toby's shrink. They know this was stolen." Hanna said to her friend and her friends. "Can I see that?" Emily questions while holding her hand out for it. Hanna walks forward and hands the folder to her.

"If anyone saw me go into that building last night, I am so hosed," Hanna looks around at her friends making them all sign except for Emily who was invested in the file in front of her. The noise of a cell phone buzzing made them all tense up, they then looked over to Aria when they read it was her phone. Spencer looks over at Aria, fear clouding her eyes, "is that from..." she trailed off in question

"No, my mum," Aria says as she shakes her head while looking down at her phone. "Ask your father if he plans to take the car in this week. My parents have gone from not talking to not texting," the four friends look at her sympathetically, "ugh, this sucks. I better go home." She says as she gets up from her spot-on Emily's bed, bidding Emily, Hanna and Josie before leaving.

"Yeah, I should probably go, too." Spencer nods while picking up her coffee and bag heading towards the door with Aria. "Me too, i've gotta meet Richie for brunch," Josie said as she stood up, not before hugging Emily. "Uh, no. I just got here," Hanna said to Spencer and Aria. "Wait, what do I do with that?" Hanna questions stopping the three girls from leaving, motioning to the file on Emily's bed where Aria was seated. Aria shrugs, "I don't know. Shove it in your locker. We'll figure it out later." She says then she and Spencer look over to Emily. "Bye" "Em, feel better" the three girls said as they left.

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Hanna and Josie walked towards the yearbook room. Lucas had asked to meet Hanna and Sean to take Prom King and Queen photos but since Hanna didn't wanna be alone cause it might be awkward, Josie tagged along. "Knock, knock. You said 1:30, right? Am I early?" Hanna asked as Josie put her bag down and took a seat next to Lucas while Hanna stood next to Josie's chair. "You're perfect. I mean, like, on time." Lucas said, making Josie giggle lightly watching the conversation, she had a feeling lucas had a crush on her friend.

"Well, the custodians didn't even want to let us in. You told them we were doing a make-up picture, right?" Hanna asked Lucas. "Who, Carl? Yeah, twice. He's out of it. 30 years of breathing floor wax does wicked things to your brain. Then there's the vodka." Luca said, which made Josie laugh.

Hanna pulled out her phone and looked at herself. "Ugh, I got three hours of sleep last night. I look like something Carl coughed up." Hanna said as she looked at herself in a mirror. "Well, I think you look even better than you did last night, if that's, like, possible." Lucas said with a small smile making Josie smile. Josie noticed Hanna was looking at something in her bag and when the two friends made eye contact, she knew Hanna still had Toby's file in her bag.

"Um, we're sure Sean's coming to this?" Hanna asked as she checked the clock nervously which made Josie nervous too, causing her to twist her ring on her finger.  "Yeah, why wouldn't he be?" Lucas asked, confused, making Hanna sigh before answering. "He's not really happy with me. Not being there when they called our names, and.." Hanna then got distracted as she saw the crown. "Is that the crown? Jeez, it's so tiny." Hanna said she picked it up causing Josie and Lucas to laugh.

"I can make it bigger in the picture. You know if you tilt your head to the right." Lucas trailed off. "No, it's not that. It's just. It always seems so huge. You know, last year's picture of the homecoming Queen, outside the gym." Hanna says as she looks at him. "Yeah, I I know, I took it" Lucas said with a small smile. "But Jessica Whylie is kind of a pinhead. Although her head did get a lot bigger after she won. It happens." They laughed, Josie was about to say something, but Sean walked in. "Hey." Hanna said as she looked up at him, but his face looked like he didn't want to be here. "Hey. So, uh. Are we gonna do this or not? I got a basketball game happening." Sean said, bitterness evident in his tone, Josie just sighed at his attitude.

"Got it. If you guys wouldn't mind standing near the backdrop." Lucas said but as they were about to take photos, Hanna's phone started to ring making everyone look at her, but Sean sighed in frustration. "Go ahead, answer it. I'm sure it's someone who pulls rank over me." Sean said, earning a groan of annoyance from Josie who was watching the conversation.

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"Excellent. Excellent." Lucas said as he took photos of Sean and Hanna for King and Queen while Josie just drew, she was beyond bored. "Uh, Sean, could you scooch a little bit closer to Hanna, and put your hands on her hips?" and Sean did, still looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. "Yep, that's it. That's it" Lucas finished but, obviously still wasn't liking how they were standing.

"Okay, heads up, shoulders back. Think Camelot" Lucas started to say but Sean cut him off. "Just take the picture." Sean said to Lucas and Josie had just about enough. "Shut up, Sean." Josie snapped. After a while Lucas sighs. "You know, I'm just not loving this light." and he went to fix it, Josie didn't fail to notice the eye roll Sean gave him behind his back making Josie roll her eyes.

"Look, I said I was sorry" Hanna says as she slightly turns her head towards Sean. "It wasn't about you, I was dealing with Emily" She finished but he didn't reply right away. "You're crooked" he said which made her and Josie look at him weird. "What?" Hanna asked, confused, turning to look at him. "Your crown" Sean replied, making Hanna sigh and fix her crown

"Okay, much, much better. Uh, you ready your majesties." Lucas said as he held up his camera, making Josie laugh. "Smiles for the peasants" Josie said in a teasing tone causing Lucas and Hanna to smile. "Smile, Sean" Lucas said and so he did.

After a while they were done and so Josie packed her stuff up, but Lucas had another idea as he looked at Sean and Hanna. "Okay. This may be a bad idea, but we should get one of the Queen sitting on your lap." He said as he pulled a chair in between them which made Josie laugh as Sean and Hanna looked at each other but Sean looked royally pissed off.

"No. No, we're done here." He said as he took the crown off his head and set it on the chair. "Sean, he's doing his job. He's not trying to torture us." Hanna says, defending Lucas. "Could've fooled me." Sean shot back, causing Josie to sigh. "I could photoshop pants on you." Lucas said, trying to make things better but making it worse.

"I said, we're done." Sean said and Hanna looked at him. "Are you talking to him or me?" Hanna asked as she looked at him. "Hanna, don't push it okay?" Sean said, slightly glaring which made Josie angry. "You weren't the one standing alone last night looking like a jackass cause your date bailed on you." Sean said, still looking at Hanna. "Look, sorry I deserted you, my friend cracked her head open." Hanna defended herself.

"This was way before Emily." Sean said as Lucas took a picture. "What are you doing?" He snapped at Lucas. "We need candid shots, too." Lucas replied, making Josie giggle lightly. "You put that in your yearbook, bro, you'll be pulling that camera out of your-" Sean said but Josie cut him off

"Okay enough, back off Sean!" Josie spoke up. She was starting to get angry. "Sean, stop! Don't jump on him because you're mad at me." Hanna said to him. "I'm not mad. I'm out of here." And he walked out. "Did you get what you needed?" Hanna asked Lucas who nodded so Josie and Hanna left.

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Hanna sped into the woods with Spencer, Aria and Josie, "Hanna" Aria yells "what is wrong with you slow. Slow down!" Spencer yelled to Hanna who was driving like a maniac while Josie held onto the dashboard for dear life. "Spencer's right. You can't burn the file out here." Aria yelled. They all got out and slammed their doors following Hanna. "This is such a terrible idea Han!" Josie yelled as they got out of the car, following Hanna into the woods. "Can we at least talk about this?" Aria asked as they walked further into the woods.

"I don't want this in my house, and I don't want it in my locker." Hanna yells to the girls. "I will mail it to the police." Spencer said to Hanna as she and the girls followed her. "No! It's not going to happen. I'm not having this traced back to me." Hanna replies to her. "How are they going to trace it back to you, I'm the one licking the envelope." Spencer questioned Hanna.

"I'm the one who works in that building." Hanna argued. "And I'm one who always gets caught." she finished. "Hanna, Spencer's right, okay burning the folder out here is a bad idea. The police could use it to build a case against Toby." Aria replied and Josie nodded in agreement.

"He had a motive to kill Alison." Spencer said as they all continued to walk through the woods "And that can also prove that I broke into the shrink's office. Look I really can't afford to take any more trips to the precinct and I'm pretty sure after three strikes you're assigned to the prison laundry room." Hanna shot back.

"What strikes, you were just trying to save your friend." Aria tells her, trying to diffuse the situation. "Look, I have already gotten busted for stealing sunglasses and my boyfriend's car." Hanna replied while looking at her friends while Josie just sighed and took her jacket off, it was starting to annoy her. "Wait, you stole sunglasses? From who?" Spencer asked, confused. "Not from a person, from a store. God, I have some class." Hanna said, defending herself.

"Wait, are you talking about those Gucci ones with the gold print?" Aria asked which made Spencer slightly angry. "Focus. Hey, Hanna, this is not about petty theft, Toby could be the killer, we can't keep making these mistakes over and over again." Spencer told her friends

"We?" Hanna asked, confused. "Yes, we!" Spencer said as she grabbed the file from Hanna. "We are all in this together. We are all being stalked by 'A', and if he's run off..." Spence started but Aria cut her off. "Ok, we don't know that he's 'A'." she said.

"Please! Have you gotten one single text since last night? Ok, the devil has a name and it's Toby." Spencer said but Hanna grabbed the file from her and walked off. "Why are you being so pig-headed?" Spencer yelled to Hanna as they followed her through the woods again. "Why? Because I don't have a big, fat safety net to catch me. Not all of us have a Daddy who can write a check to make the bogeyman go away." Hanna shot back, making Josie's eyes widened. "Hanna '' she hissed in warning.

"What are you talking about?" Spencer said as she grabbed back the file from Hanna. "Spencer, you get caught stealing an essay and your parents let you take a picture of the newspaper. I get caught stealing an accessory and I have to lug around medical waste." Hanna said,

Aria grabbed the file and threw it in the lake. "There. It's done, okay?" she said as they watch the file fall in the water, she then turned to her friends "We never saw it, and we don't even know it exists." Aria said with a sigh, making Josie turn back to them. "Can we leave now, please?" Josie asked as she walked off without an answer with Aria and the girls not far behind but then Aria's phone rang, and Josie looked over her shoulder to see if it was 'A'.

em
Whatever you do,
Don't destroy that file!

"shit." Josie mumbled as the girls looked at each other.

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Josie, Spencer and Emily were in school standing by Spencer's locker. "Hey, are you taking something for the pain?" Spencer asked Emily as she rubbed her head. "Yeah, but nothing that dulls my mother." Emily said, which caused Josie to laugh. "She's got a zillion questions, and they're getting harder to dodge." Emily said as she looked at the two girls.

"I can't believe Jenna was in your house. You didn't eat that cookie, did you?" Spencer said and turned to look at Emily after putting something in her locker. "No." Emily replied then Spencer's phone rang which made the girls slightly jump. "It's okay, it's not from 'A'. I think we can stop flinching every time our phones ring." She said, "Hey, it's from Alex." she added. Maya walked by but she turned away from Emily, making her sigh. "What was that about?" Josie asked her but she shrugged, Spencer suddenly slammed her locker closed making Emily and Josie look at her. "Hey hey, easy spence, What's wrong?" Josie asked.

"Alex just blew off our do-over date. Says he has to work." Spencer mumbled and smiled sadly. "Well, that sounds legit." Emily said to her, but Spencer shook her head. "It's not. Club is closed on Mondays." She replied and walked away from the girls. "oh" Josie sighed and shared a look with Emily.

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Few hours later Emily had called the girls over to tell them what she saw. "So, is Toby dead?" Hanna asked her as Josie hugged Emily. "I couldn't bring myself to ask. Jenna was so upset. But his bike...it looked like it was...like it was wrecked." Emily was crying so Josie hugged her tighter. "It's okay Em." Josie mumbled in a soft voice to calm her

"Well, I'm not going to cry over this, and neither should you." Spencer told her bluntly, but Hanna shut her down. "Spencer, If she likes him she can cry about it." Hanna defends Emily. "Well, I'm sorry for speaking." Spencer shot back as they all went quiet, and Spencer sighed. "Look, she's right. I...I can't tell you what to feel." Spencer said in a much softer tone than before. "I'm sorry for what I said about your family yesterday. I didn't mean it."

Hanna admitted to Spencer which she nodded and shrugged. "It's true. You're not the first person to think of it." She said with a sad smile. Suddenly Emily's phone rang. "It's probably Aria, something weird's going down at their house." Josie said.

BLOCKED ID
Thanks for getting
Toby out of my way.
⎯ A

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
updated finally !!
I'm so sorry! I've been publishing and unpublishing stories for awhile but i promise i wont do it again. the first chapter to the once upon a time book 'fairytale love' is coming soon, so until then!!