chapter sixteen
je suis une amie
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The girls were in the library the next day. "Are you reading that fast or fanning yourself?" Spencer asked Hanna as she noticed Hanna was flipping the pages of her magazine. Hanna looked up at her. "What?" She asked, confused. "Uhm, sorry." she said before looking back at her magazine, before looking up again, noticing Caleb peeking out from a bookshelf, looking at her and tilting his head, motioning her to meet him, making her sigh and stand up, catching the attention of her friends. "Where are you going?" Josie asked as she watched Hanna walk away. "Uhm, I left my lip gloss in the history stack. Gotta find it." she said, before rushing away leaving the girls confused.

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After school, Hanna and Josie were over at Aria's. "Just don't think about it. It'll make you crazy." Hanna said from Aria's bedroom floor as she filed her nails while Josie was braiding her hair. "How am I supposed to not think about it? It's too freaky." Aria retorted. "If my mom's car hadn't stalled–" she said but Hanna was quick to cut her off. "Well, it did." she said. "Don't look a gift card in the mouth. The universe gave you a pass." Hanna said as she went back to filing her nails.

"That's not the universe I know." Aria muttered as she looked at Hanna. "Well, look, it all worked out, okay? And that's what counts." Josie said, trying to be optimistic. "Maybe the universe got a little help from someone." Hanna added as they heard a door close. "Someone with really good intentions." Hana said but Aria shushed her. "Shh." she said as she got up and put her ear to her door.

"That's great, I can pick you up." he said over the phone before he laughed softly. "I can find you in the dark. I've done it before." he said. "Okay, I'll see you soon. Bye." he replied to whoever was on the phone before hanging up. "Hey." Aria said as she opened her door, startling her dad. "So, you're not going to that department dinner anymore?" she asked, confused as he shook her head. "Oh, no, no." he denied as he shook his head. "Was that mom you were talking to?" she asked, making him shake his head. "Uh, no, no, no, it wasn't." he said.

"So, you sure you guys are gonna be okay here alone tonight?" he asked, changing the subject. "Sure." she said, nodding. "Okay." he said, sending them a smile before leaving as Aria went back into her room, Hanna continued what she was saying. "Okay, look, Aria, even if it wasn't the universe–" she started but Aria cut her off. "Shh." Aria said, trying to stop Hanna from talking as she listened to the front door shutting. I'm just saying if it's not a coincidence, then maybe..." Hanna started but Aria cut her off as she watched her dad get in his car and drive off.

"Come on." Aria said as she grabbed her bag, making Hanna and Josie look at her confused. "Where are we going?" Hanna asked. "To follow my dad." Aria said like it was the most obvious thing. "Where?" Josie asked as she put her jacket back on and stood up. "If I knew that, we wouldn't have to follow him." Aria sassed making Josie chuckle. "Aria..." Hanna trailed off as Aria sighed. "Han, my dad's about to have dinner with somebody in the dark. Move it." Aria said as she walked out of her room Josie and Hanna followed.

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Josie leaned forward in her seat, to be in between Hanna and Aria as they watched Aria's fathers car stop outside of the high school and get out and go inside. "Why is my father walking into our high school?" Aria asked them. "Okay, weird." she said as Josie sighed. "Not really," Hanna said. "I mean think about it. He's probably just going to see your mom." she said. "That's ridiculous," Aria said. "People lie, Aria." Josie said with a frown. "I mean, hello?" Hanna said, referring to them. "What are they doing?" Aria asked. "Call your mother" Hanna suggested, making Aria turn to her.

"Huh?" she asked, confused. "Call your mom." Hanna said, causing Aria to quickly dial her mother and put it on speaker. "Hey, Aria, honey. I was just thinking about you. Is everything okay?" Ella asked from over the phone. "Yeah, Why wouldn't it be okay?" she asked, trying to sound casual. "Oh, well–I didn't mean to suggest that everything wasn't okay, I was just, you know, asking, checking, wondering, like moms do." Ella said. "Where are you?" Aria asked. "Home, where are you?" she said, after a moment, trying to gather an excuse to tell her daughter. "Home," Aria said quickly. "Okay, so everything is okay then?" she asked and Aria nodded even though her mother couldn't see her.

"Yeah." she said. "Okay, I will talk to you later sweetie. Bye-bye" Ella said before hanging up. "Okay, well, she says she is home." Josie said. "Did you believe her?" Hanna asked, seeing Aria's hesitancy. "I don't know," Aria said before getting out of the car. "What are you doing?" Hanna asked but Aria only shut the door and walked into the building making Josie and Hanna follow her inside the building.

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The three girls hid behind a bookcase where they could see Ella and Byron kissing and as the adults left, the three hid behind a new bookcase, so they wouldn't get caught. "Oh my god, my parents are having an affair with each other." Aria shuddered as she, Hanna and Josie walked out from behind the bookcases. When Josie and Aria noticed Hanna wasn't behind them they looked around, finding her nowhere. "Where the hell is she?" Josie muttered, as they finally stopped Hanna looking into an air vent. The two walked over and stepped up on the sofa that stood against the wall and when they looked into the vent they found everything from clothes to money inside. "Hanna," Aria said as she and Josie walked over to her. "Hanna. What are you doing?" she asked. "Come up here." Hanna ordered. "Hurry." she said, causing the two girls to join Hanna.

"What are you looking at?" Josie asked as she and Aria joined Hanna as she emptied a paper bag which held cell phones. "This. Someone sending a bunch of texts. Spencer's laptop disappears. All our lockers broken into. All this stuff happens at school. This is A'' Hanna said as she pointed out to all the stuff in the air vent. "Let's just get out of here" Aria said nervously and freaked out. "Come on." Josie muttered to them as she jumped down from the sofa and Hanna did as well, but she had a roll of money in her hand. "Hanna! You're taking that?" she asked. "Yes. A owes me" Hanna said. "Hospital bills, pain and suffering, tire marks on my cleavage." she said as the lights in the room turned off leaving them in the dark.

"It's nothing. The lights are probably on a timer." Josie said, hopefully but then a lamp fell over which made them jump. "We should go," she said, freaked out as a person wearing a black hoodie appeared, making the girls scream and start running. They tried the side door but it was locked so they ran the other way, Hanna knocking over the cleaning cart trying to stop the person but they stood up and walked over it as the girls reached a dead end. Hanna quickly picked up her hairspray and used it against the person in the black hood causing them to pull off the hoodie in the process of trying to protect his eyes. "Caleb?" the three girls asked in shock.

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"How's your eye?" Josie asked as they sat down on the floor as Caleb tried to clean the hairspray from his eye. "Any better?" she added as she held out a tissue for him. "Still burning," Caleb said as he held the tissue to his eye before turning to Hanna. "You want a sharp stick for the other one?" he asked, making Hanna scoff.

"'Kay, you know what? It was just hair spray. It was light hold." Hanna said, defending herself. "What were you doing in there anyways?" he said. "I sort of...uh...I'm crashing here?" Caleb stammered, making Josie sigh sadly. "You are? Why?" Aria asked. "Why do you care?" Caleb snapped. "You know what? Don't snap at her like that, I have more," Hanna threatened as she held up the hairspray. "Fire away," Caleb said sarcastically. "Just give me my money back first."

"I mean, where do your parents think you are?" Aria asked. "My foster parents don't care where I am, as long as they keep getting their checks," he said, making Josie frown more. "Wait, I thought all that stuff about the social worker was a joke" Hanna said confused. "Believe me, my social worker is a joke," Caleb said. "But yeah, I do have one."

"This is crazy, you can't keep staying here." Aria said to him. "Why? There's hot water, vending machines, the principal's couch is pretty comfortable," Caleb said nonchalantly. "They knew someone was here last night." Josie said. "Yeah, I got sloppy." he said as he stood up. "Where are you going?" Hanna asked him "To grab some dinner, then back to bed." Caleb said to them before holding his hand out for Hanna to give him his money back. "You know your way out, right?" he asked as the girls watched Caleb walk away.

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Josie and Richie sat in the stands inside with Spencer and Aria when Hanna walked in with Caleb. "Who's he?" Richie whispered to Josie who smiled. "He's Caleb, Hanna accidentally sprayed him with hairspray last night while we were stalking Aria's parents." Josie said, making him nod and laugh as he put his arm around her shoulder. "When is Emily gonna jump?" Hanna asked. "She's the anchor. She swims last because she's the fastest." Aria explained. "Hey, remind me. Which one is Lindsay and which one is Bridget?" Caleb asked and Josie and Richie looked at him weirdly. "Bridget is the one drinking from her purse" Hanna told him.

"Thank you, I will be right back," Caleb smiled before standing up and walking away. "Why are we sitting with Caleb?" Aria asked. "Why not?" Hanna answered. "Hanna I like stray dogs too, but sometimes they bite," Spencer said while leaning over, looking at Hanna. "Well, he's had his shots." Hanna said in Caleb's defence before turning to the swimmers. "Go Emily!" she cheered. "She's not swimming yet Hanna," Richie said to her with an amused smile as they watched as Emily prepared herself then she jumped into the water, everyone cheered as she managed to swim past the others and win making everyone stand up and cheer for her.

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Hanna, Richie and Josie were walking out into the courtyard talking when they spotted Caleb taking stuff out of the bin and put the lid back on making Josie grimace, disgusting. "What's this?" Hanna asked, confused as the three of them stopped by Caleb. "My eviction notice." he said as he pulled out a yellow shirt from the trash and put it over her shoulder. "Sorry." Josie said softly as Richie hugged her from behind so she rested her head on his chest. "You know that I didn't tell anybody." Hanna added as he shook his head. "I didn't go there," he said. "Well, maybe it's for the best. I mean, the place had small closets." Hanna said, trying to make him feel better as he pulled another shirt out of the trash but it was littered with rubbish. "I hated that shirt anyway." he said, giving up and letting it drop into the trash.

"Consider your debt paid." he said after he zipped up his bag and looked towards Hanna as Josie and Richie watched the conversation. "Have a good day." he said, saluting the three of them before walking off but Hanna stopped him. "Hey, if you need a place to stay..." she trailed off as he shook his head. "No, thanks." he denied. "Your mom starts asking questions, someone calls social services, and it's just a big mess." he said before trying to walk away again but Hanna won't stop. "Wait." she said as she pulled out a piece of paper and wrote her address on it. "There's an old couch in my basement." she said. "My mom will never know." she said, giving it to him and he took it before walking away.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
Richie getting involved with Josie's friendship group more <3