chapter twenty
someone to watch over me
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Emily and Josie had gone over to Spencer's, so that she wasn't alone with Ian. "I feel like whole parts of my brain have shut down. I used to love algebra, or at least I understood it. And now it's a mess." she rambled as the three of them walked into her house. "Well, it can get really abstract." Emily said to her, trying to make her feel better. "Yeah, but that's what I liked about it, you know? X's, Y's, Z's, none of it real. I could deal with that. Just isolate the x-factor. Now I feel like I'm the x-factor." She said sadly making Josie sigh, she hated this, she felt bad for Spencer.

Veronica came running down the stairs. "Honey, where were you?" she asked almost frantically. "We stopped along the way at Emily's-" Spencer started but Veronica cut her off. "Now, don't worry. I was expecting this. It's mostly about intimidation so I just...I want you to stay calm." She told her, making the three girls confused. "Stay calm about what?" Spencer questioned as Veronica set a paper on the counter. "They served a search warrant."

"A search warrant? For where? For what?" Spencer exclaimed as they saw people coming down the stairs with boxes. "The house, the barn, your room." Veronica listed making Spencer panic more. "My room?" Spencer asked, wide-eyed before she took off running upstairs as Emily and Josie went running after her.  "Spencer, don't interfere." Veronica said as they ran after Spencer. They walked in her room, seeing a bunch of people going through her room. "Make them get out." Spencer begged her mum.

"I can't. You're a person of interest in a murder investigation. They're just doing their job." Veronica said and looked around at the people in her daughter's room. "In an especially ham-fisted way." she said. "What are they looking for?" Spencer asked wide-eyed. "Things that connect you to Alison and what happened to her." Veronica Hastings answered as Spencer's eyes darted to the door, making Josie and Emily follow her eyesight to see Ian looking into the room as he made eye contact with Spencer and took a sip of his drink.

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The girls were at school as Hanna told us what she had found. "It's so pretty, Hanna. When did he give it to you?" Josie asked as she looked at the photo of an owl necklace on Hanna's phone. "Oh, he hasn't given it to me. Not yet. I found it and I wasn't looking for it but I found it and I took a picture and then I just put it back." Hanna rambled "Why an owl?" Emily asked her as she looked at it.

"It's symbolic." She said with a smile. "Of what?" Josie asked. "Of our first night in the tent. We heard owls." Hanna said. "Swooping down to carry off their prey?" Aria asked sarcastically, making Josie snicker. "Okay, you cannot stop the romance. Owls and tents and s'mores are all part of that night. Every perfect minute of it." Hanna continued as she kept smiling. "Have you two had...another opportunity?" Emily asked.

"Not since he went in the guest room but we do have plans." Hanna admitted just before they saw Paige with Sean as they sat down at a table together. "When did that start to happen?" Aria asked as she looked over at them. Hanna saw Emily's face and reached her hand out to her.  "Oh, Em. Don't worry about it, It's totally cool. I mean, the breakup was way messy, but Sean's a good guy. I mean, he should be happy. Everybody should be as happy as I am." Hanna said with a smile

"You know, maybe I should practice my surprise face when he gives it to me." Hanna said before she started making surprised faces making the girls laugh as Spencer sat down at the table. "Hey, are you okay?" Josie asked her. "Yeah, we didn't think you were coming in today." Aria added. "I had to be someplace other than my house." Spencer said with a sigh as she messed with her sleeves. "Are the cops still there?" Hanna asked. "They came and went." she said. "They actually took things?" Aria questioned. "Not so much. My mom said they did it just to shake me up." Spencer replied. "What did they take?" Hanna asked. "Um, things from my jewellery box, stuff from my closet, a couple pairs of shoes." Spencer listed.

"Wait. not the Tory Burches?" Hanna asked, making Josie look at her in shock. "Hanna." She scolded. "no, sneakers." Spencer replied. "They wanted my laptop but my mom said no, it wasn't in the search warrant and they couldn't have it. I think you guys should know, there's a chance that they might pull this on you." Spencer said to them.

"Search our rooms?" Emily asked. "My mom said it's a possibility. I'm so sorry." Spencer replied sadly. "No, it's not your fault." Aria told her. "Yeah. We know who's responsible for this." Josie said as she gave Spencer's hand a gentle squeeze. "I should've known that the trophy was some kind of trap. It's like I can hear 'A' laughing in my head." Spencer said with a huff. "Does A sound like Jenna?" Hanna asked her as Spencer's phone went off, making them look at her.

"It's my mum," she said as she answered her phone. "She wants me to come home." she says with a sigh as she puts her phone down before looking at her friends. "Walk me out?" she asked as the girls agreed and they all stood up but Aria stayed put. "Aria," Hanna called, making Aria look at her. "Just a sec," she replied, typing on her phone.

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Richie laid on Josie's bed as she went around her room, putting things into a duffel bag. "So Spencer thinks the police might search your house so you're putting things into a bag?" he asked, he was slightly confused. "Yeah, just important things, stuff I don't want taken, things from Alison and some things from my mum, I just don't want to give them any reason to think I killed Alison." Josie said as she finished putting things in the bag, zipped it up and put it at the end of her bed, to make sure Richie took it back to his place for safe keeping. "I get it, i do, okay," he said as she laid down next to him before turning her television on, wanting to just relax and watch a horror movie, like they always do.

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The next day, Richie, Josie, Aria and Emily were sitting in the courtyard, Aria was handing her bag of stuff off to Emily for safe keeping. "Just hold onto this stuff for me, okay?" Aria asked as she set the bag down in front of Emily. "You didn't mention Ezra's name in the text, did you?" Richie asked, just loud enough so the four of them could hear. "No, no. But what if I had?" Aria asked, as she shook her head lightly. "I mean, if I had made one wrong detail in that text, my mom would have figured it out and everything would have blown up–forever." Aria said, worried.

"Fresh manicures and tiny keyboards–a deadly combination." she muttered as she looked at her nails making Josie laugh as Emily started going through the bag and pulled out a plastic spoon. "our first coffee together." Aria answered with a smile as Richie leaned over and pulled out a dart, making Josie snicker. "The night that he read his short story." she answered, making Richie nod with pursed lips as Emily went through it again and pulled out chopsticks making Richie laugh. "Okay, I'll give you a catalogue later just...put this stuff in your locker." Aria said as she pulled the chopsticks from Emily and put them back in the bag. "Don't worry." Emily said as she took the bag. "Thanks." Aria said with a small smile and as Emily, Josie and Richei got up to leave they heard Caleb talking to someone on the phone.

"Hey, stop. Listen to me. Look at it this way, we both made a mistake....No, I can't do it tonight," Caleb said as the four of them moved closer to be able to hear. "I know what I said but it's different now...First of all, I don't think she's who you say she is...Don't call her that!" He snapped into the phone. "No. I can't do it tonight...Because I say so....Because I'm living in her house and you keep calling. It's gotta stop" he said, making the friend's eyes widen and sharing a look. Hanna, he had to be talking about Hanna. "Okay, fine. Later....Later!" he said before hanging up and walking off, leaving the four shocked.

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"You got it wrong." Hanna said, turning to Josie. "We heard what we heard, Hanna." Josie said. After they had heard the conversation, they all went to find Hanna. "No, you heard what you heard but you got it wrong." Hanna replied, angrily. "He was talking to another girl and there was a lot of history, you could tell." Richie said from where he sat next to Josie. "Okay, what happened to being all happy for Hanna? Where'd all that go?" Hanna snapped.

"Hanna, we want you to be happy." Spencer spoke up. "Well, then you shouldn't tell me this because it's not true! Not after we...you just, you heard wrong. He could've been on the phone with his foster parents or something, or his social worker, you don't know." She rambled. "Okay, maybe we didn't hear right." Aria said surrendering as Richie sighed, eating some of his food. "Hanna, we heard what Caleb said and you have to know the truth." Emily said, not wanting to let this go. "I think he's with someone else and hasn't told you." Emily said. "No, Caleb has told me everything and I told him everything." She said, making the girls share a look before Hanna sighed. "Okay, not everything, but I told him all about me. And...what you're saying is not him. It can't be." Hanna said sadly.

"Okay, guys. Maybe we are being a little bit paranoid. With all that's going on, we're looking at things too closely. We're getting these details but we can't see the big picture." Spencer said but was cut off when Aria caught something over Spencer's shoulder. "Guys," she said as Jenna came in and the owl necklace Caleb had in his bag around her neck. Josie's face fell, what the actual hell

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After lunch the girls plus Richie were standing around in the hallway. Spencer, Emily, Josie and Richie watched as Aria talked to Hanna who was across the hall on her phone trying to reach Caleb. "He's not picking up," Aria let out as she walked back over to the others. "She's gonna send him a text." she added.

"What the hell is going on?" Emily sighed. "Either it's exactly what it looks like, which is bad enough or it's something worse." Josie said. "Couldn't it just be two pendants that look alike?" Emily asked, hoping for the best. "Dream on." Spencer said as she gave her a look. "If Caleb hurts Hanna he's a dead man," Richie let out as the girls raised their brows at the boy. "Not literally. i mean–" he stammered before signing and mumbled a 'you know what i mean'. "I gotta go," Emily said before walking off, leaving Spencer, Aria, Josie and Richie looking at Hanna.

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Apparently the necklace had been a usb, that's what Spencer had seen. "Passing her information? What kind of information?" Emily asked. "What was on the flash drive?" Aria asked. "I couldn't see but It could have been anything." Spencer said. "Anything?" Josie asked. "Anything from Hanna's computer, I guess." Spencer added. "Caleb the hacker." Aria muttered. "Is that who Toby heard Jenna talking to when she wrote down the number?" Emily asked. "Wait, 214 has to do with Caleb?" Aria asked in shock.

"You know what you're saying, right?" Emily asked. "That Jenna plus Caleb equals A." Spencer replied. "No! He can't be doing this. Whatever it is, it can't be this and it can't be her." Hanna exclaimed. "Hanna, no one wants this to be true." Josie told her. "Has he called you back?" Aria asked her. "Not yet." she answered. "And nobody's seen him in school since this morning." Spencer said. "You don't know what this would mean if it's true." Hanna said with a sigh. "Hanna, we do know." Emily told her but Hanna just walked away.

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Aria, Emily and Josie had met Hanna in the girls bathroom, they all rushed there, wanting to make sure she was okay.  "Where were you all morning?" Josie asked her. "Walking. Just walking." Hanna sighed. "So it's true?" Emily asked and Hanna nodded. "Yeah. It's all true. Where's Spencer?" Hanna asked, noticing the one missing. "Oh, she stayed home." she said as the bathroom door opened and Jenna came taping in with her cane. "Come on," Aria muttered, as they went to leave the bathroom but Hanna stayed. "Hanna," Josie whispered. "I just wanna talk to her," she said before she approached Jenna.

"Hello?" Jenna asked but Hanna stayed silent so Jenna turned around to face Hanna. "Yes?" she asked again but Hanna was still silent until she slapped her, making the girls gasp as Jenna's glasses went flying to the ground before Hanna went and picked up the glasses and put them back in her hands. "This is Hanna. In case you couldn't guess." she said before leaving with Aria, Josie and Emily in tow.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter also protective Richie also currently writing this chapter in 'wicked games' and it can't-it's so sad for Briella.