chapter seventeen
the new normal
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The girls were over at Emily's translating the coded message Toby left for Spencer. Aria was the only one sitting away from them. She had found out what Hanna had done and was angry. "Okay, so, your sister's pregnant. How'd that happen?" Hanna asked, making Josie and the girls minus Aria, look at her weirdly. "I figure pretty much the usual way." Spencer answered sarcastically, making Josie snicker. "It's not really a 'how' question, it's more of a 'why' question." Emily said as she looked over at Hanna.

"Well, I mean, I guess Melissa could have gone all maternal, but I doubt it." Spencer said as she clicked things on her computer. "This is so creepy." Hanna said with a sigh. "Where are they now?" Josie asked from where she was sitting at the end of the bed in front of Spencer, Hanna and Emily. "Philadelphia. Shopping." Spencer answered. "What do you think this means?" Hanna asked Spencer, referring to the code that she was left with. "I don't know, but Toby wanted us to have it." Spencer said in reply as she pulled out the code

"There." Spencer said, pointing to something on her screen, causing Josie to move over and lean into Spencer's side so she can see what they're looking at. "It's in braille, so..." Spencer trailed off, trying to figure this out. "You want to see this, Aria?" Emily asked, making Aria divert her attention from outside the window to Emily. "No. I can see just fine from here." she said, locking eyes with Hanna for a second before looking away.

"Okay." Spencer mumbled lightly as she clicked her pen so she could write out what the coded message was. "The first letter's a 'B'" she said as she wrote it down. "'A', It's an 'A'" she said as she wrote down an A next to the B. "I think it's gonna tell us who 'A' is." Hanna said, hopefully as they watched Spencer write it out. "'D'?" she said, confused as she wrote it down. "'B', 'A, 'D'". Emily asked, confused. "Bad." Hanna said. "That's the whole message? 'Bad'?" Spencer asked, confused. "Uhm, what's it supposed to mean?" Josie asked with a frown. She was confused. "It means you got punked." Aria said from her seat by the window, making the girls look at her. "Toby doesn't trust us. I don't blame him." she continued.

"No, I don't think he'd mess with us like this." Emily said, shaking her head. "You'd be surprised what people are capable of." Aria said bitterly as she looked at Hanna. "You guys, we have to figure this out. This might be a joke, but it could be something real." Spencer said, getting the attention back on the task at hand. "Look, either way, Toby's not the enemy." Hanna said as Aria sighed and stood up. "You know what, guys? I'm gonna go." she said before walking out making the girls minus Hanna and Josie confused. "What was that all about?" Spencer asked, confused as Hanna rolled her eyes. "How should I know?" she asked before Spencer focused back on the braille

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"You know, Aria might be right about this. Toby does have every reason to give us a hard time." Emily admitted as she, Josie and Spencer were sitting down at a table in the cafeteria. "I suppose, but that's just-just not the feeling that I got from talking to him. Do you know what I mean?" Spencer said to Emily who nodded lightly. "Yeah, I do." she responded as Hanna and Aria arrived. "Hey." Aria said as she sat down. "Hey." Spencer replied to her.

"What is with you and the artful dodger?" Spencer asked Hanna as she sat down next to Emily. "Who?" Hanna asked, confused, she didn't know what she was talking about. "Think she's talking about Caleb Han." Josie said. "I thought that thing at the swim meet was a one-off." Spencer said as she raised her eyebrow at Hanna. "It was!" she replied casually. "We just saw you talking to him and you gave him something that looked like a wet oven mitt." Josie said as she ate some of her food. "It was his hat." Hanna said, defending herself.

"What are you doing with his hat?" Emily asked as she faced Hanna. "Why shouldn't I have his hat?" Hanna asked as she looked at her friends. "Hanna, maybe you're looking for something a little edgier after Sean." Spencer said, as she smiled towards Hanna. "But this guy is dark." she added. "Spencer, he's not that dark." Hanna defended Caleb. "He's dark enough." Spencer insisted. "Well, he's no Arthur Dodger, whoever that is." Hanna said, causing Josie to let out a laugh at how incorrect that was. "Yeah, he's just...had it tough." Aria said, towards her friends in Caleb's defence, causing everyone to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"Are you two on speaking terms again?" Josie asked as she pointed her fork in between them from Where she sat at the head of the table. "Course we are." Aria said after she had sent a smile towards Hanna, who smiled back. "You need to be really careful about that guy." Emily said in reference to Caleb. "Well, it seems to me we had this conversation once about Toby." Hanna retorted, making Emily share a look with Spencer.

"I'm looking for coach Fulton." Someone said as they walked up to the table full of teachers in the cafeteria making the girls look over. Mr. Fitz turned to him. "Is the coach expecting you?" he asked as he shared a quick look with the other teachers. "The coach is avoiding me. That's what the coach is doing." he said angrily making Mr. Fitz stands up and looks at him. "Are you a parent?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm a parent. Nick McCullers. My daughter is Paige McCullers." he said, making Josie look at Emily who had looked at Paige who was standing in the cafeteria before she focused back on the two adults. "I have your daughter in English comp. I'm Ezra Fitz." Mr. Fitz said introducing himself but Nick McCullers wasn't up for it. "The coach," he demanded angrily.

"Tell you what, why don't we walk down to the principal's office and see if we can't find coach Fulton?" Mr. Fitz offered but he still wasn't having it. "I've seen the principal, and all I got was a lot of politically correct double-talk about the agenda in this place that's penalizing my daughter, taking opportunities away from her and giving them to someone who doesn't deserve them!" he exclaimed angrily, making Josie look at Emily sadly. "Everybody gets a fair chance here, Mr. McCullers." Mr. Fitz said, trying to defuse the citation.

"We go out of our way to make sure that that's how it works," he added. "My girl is the best swimmer on that team, and you can't give it to somebody just because–" He was cut off my Mr. Fitz. "you're in a cafeteria, Mr. McCullers, filled with kids trying to have lunch. I don't think that's the audience you want, is it?" he said, shutting him up

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"It was crazy, he was talking about how Emily basically didn't deserve it because she was different." Josie said, ranting to her mother at the dinner table that night. "Ugh, men." Jennifer Carmen said after she drank some water. "Emily deserves this just as much as anyone else," Josie said before eating some of her chicken pasta. "I know sweetheart, of course she does, she works hard," her mother answered.

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"When are you supposed to see Toby?" Emily asked as she, Josie and Spencer entered a store, meeting Hanna and Aria. They had decided to take a day and shop, it felt normal and Josie loved that. "Tomorrow, while Jenna's at her music lesson." Spencer answered as they walked around. "Take it." Hanna said as she handed a jacket that was on a coat hanger to Aria, but she refused. "No, No, you take it." Aria said as she pushed the jacket back towards Hanna.

"The storm has passed." Spencer said to Emily and Josie as the three of them walked up to Hanna and Aria. "What was going on with you two?" Emily asked, wanting to know why they were fighting. "Okay, so, you know how I went to that museum with Ezra?" Aria asked, as Emily and Spencer nodded. Josie already knew the story. "Well, "A" tried to get Hanna to ruin it." Aria said.

"Ruin it how?" Spencer asked as she looked towards Hanna. "'A' gave me another ticket and made me give it to Aria's mom." Hanna answered softly, she still felt guilty for it. "God Hanna...why didn't you tell us what was happening?" Emily asked softly. "Well, I tried to stop it." Hanna said in defence. "I mean, her mom's car didn't just stall. Caleb fixed it to keep from getting there, and that's why I owe him." Hanna admitted. "Yeah, and he's the one who's been breaking into vending machines at school." Josie said, from her spot next to Spencer. "I mean, he's practically living there." Aria said, making Emily furrow her brows. "In school?" she asked, confused.

"They found his stuff, so he's not sleeping there anymore. He's sleeping in my basement." Hanna revealed as Josie sighed, knowing the girls were gonna have a field day with this. "Wait. Rewind that a little for me." Aria said as she turned to Hanna, confused. "Does your mom know?" Emily asked. "No, but...it's just for a couple of nights so..." Hanna trailed off. "A couple of nights? Are you crazy?" Spencer asked rhetorically.

"Guys." Josie said, making them turn around, seeing a worker helping someone, making them share a look before walking over. "Oh, wow. Hold on. Turn around." the Saleswoman said. "It fits perfectly." she added before fixing something. "Let me just pull this over it." she said. The girls saw Jenna was trying on lingerie making Josie cringe lightly. "The length looks great," the saleswomen said with a smile as Jenna smiled as well. "It's beautiful," she added. "I want it to be perfect." Jenna said. "He likes lace." she added with a smirk.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter !! i just finished writing the rest of season one, starting season two. Wanna make sure i have at least five chapters to of season two before i publish the rest of season one :))