JASON IS SAFE.
At least for now. He made it to a friends house, far enough away from here.
My fingers are broken. There's nothing that can really be done about it other than tape and ice.
All of the girls and I went to The Brew after. Hanna ordered us coffee. I was dead silent.
I felt numb and angry.
"How are you holding up, Em?" Hanna first asked her. I didn't get the chance to thank Emily for everything tonight. This wasn't our plan.
"Don't think I'll be taking an elevator any time soon." She shrugged.
"How about you, Bella?" Aria asked. I just shrugged.
"I can't believe A would do this. All over a picture? She would kill someone over a picture." I asked, beside myself. Talking about it makes me so angry.
"Any word from Jason?" Spencer asked me.
"He's laying low at a friends house for now." I replied.
"How are your fingers?" Emily asked.
"Hurting." I let out.
"Okay, so now that the whole N.A.T. club is out of Rosewood, do you think that A will retire?" Hanna asked. Absolutely not.
"Or just have more time for us." Spencer replied.
"Way to think positive, Spence." Hanna spat.
"No, I'm with Spencer on this one. I doubt suddenly everything is gonna be lilacs and daffodils after A almost committed a felony." I exclaimed. "A almost killed Jason. I still don't know how he survived that."
"Okay guys, let's focus. CeCe lied about not knowing Wilden and then we found a picture of the both of them with Ali." Emily explained. CeCe is next on my hit list.
"Yeah and that picture is now gone. New rule, next time we see anything that might be important to us down the road, it goes in the phone." Aria said and we all nodded. Spencer's phone beeped.
"Okay, so is it possible that CeCe is, what are we calling her, red coat?" Hanna asked.
"I never saw a face." Emily replied.
"Yeah, me neither." Hanna added.
"Well, if CeCe was responsible for tonight, a picture of her and Wilden is gonna be the least of her worries." I muttered.
"What do you think, Spencer?" Aria asked.
"Hmm?"
"Blonde? Red coat? Captain of the A team?" I listed off.
"Maybe it's CeCe." Spencer said. No shit.
"Pay attention. We need this brain trust firing on all cylinders." Aria told her and she put her phone down face up. There was a text from Wren.
"What happened tonight with you and Wren?" Hanna asked her. She quickly flipped her phone back down.
"Oh um....It's nothing. I.....Mona and I had a moment. And uh, he saw. That's all."
"A moment that might make her try to cut Emily and Bella in half?" Aria asked sarcastically.
"No no. You guys, this wasn't Mona. We were in a different county." Spencer told us.
"I bet Mona knows who did it." I muttered.
"Who do you think it was?" Aria asked.
Before she could reply, there was a knock at the door. This is The Brew, not a house.
We all stood up and gathered around the door. Emily and I went to the door. We swung the door open and it was Wilden.
Just the person I wanted to see.
"We're closed." Emily told him.
"You're here." He replied.
"I have the keys." Emily replied.
"Yeah, and drinking coffee isn't a crime." Hanna spat.
"What are you doing here?" I growled.
He walked right in.
"Looking for you girls." He said, menacingly.
"Wait, were you following us?" Hanna asked.
"Jason DiLaurentis has been saying some nasty things about me." Wilden told us. Here we go. I was about to launch forward but Emily grabbed my arm.
"Like what?" Hanna asked.
"Don't play dumb, Hanna. It wouldn't be the first time you made up a story."
"I don't know what you're talking about so why don't you just leave us alone." Hanna spat.
"It's just a question. No need to get so defensive."
"You keep Jason's name out of your mouth. Why don't you ask your pal, CeCe Drake?" I spat.
"Bella." Aria tried to warn but I wasn't having it.
"We know about the little boat ride you two took with Alison." I followed up with. His face fell. I struck a nerve.
"It's late." Was all he had to say.
"We were just leaving." Emily replied.
"Care for a ride? It's not safe this time of night." He offered and my face turned in disgust.
I went to grab my stuff and leave, but before I could, he gripped my arm.
"What happened to your fingers, Bella?"
He was probably behind this.
"None of your damn business." I spat and snatched my arm away.
***
The next day, Emily, Hanna and I were at school. Apparently Hanna told her mom.
"You told your mom?" Emily asked.
"Don't worry about it. We're fine. I covered for us."
"Hanna, you can't just tell her something like that." I tried but nothing.
"I was distracted by CeCe and Wilden, okay?"
"It doesn't make sense. I thought she was protecting him." Emily said.
"Well what if we're wrong and Bella just set Ali's baby daddy/killer on her tail?" Hanna asked and I turned to her.
"CeCe isn't innocent. Why would she lie about knowing him?" I said as we sat down.
"We have to find out the truth.... Confront her." Emily said.
"Yeah and I'll confront her with my fist to her nose." I replied.
"Where? In Wilden's trunk?" Hanna asked. I giggled and Emily rolled her eyes.
"Anything more from Jason?" Hanna asked me.
"Not since last night. I went to bed and he's probably asleep from pain meds. He's in Virginia. I wish he took me with him." I replied and they nodded. "Have you talked to Paige?" I asked Emily.
"Are you kidding? She's worried enough about me as it is." Emily replied.
Sometimes I wonder how our lives got so fucked up.
***
Hanna and Emily went to a costume shop with Paige to see if they can track down who bought the queen of hearts costume. They met some girl named Shana. I guess she's weird.
After that, Emily and I went to track down CeCe. I'm getting answers. When we got to her apartment, the door was cracked open.
"CeCe?" Emily said as she knocked. We walked in to see her packing fast.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"Anywhere. Fast." Was her reply.
"Is this about Wilden?" Emily asked.
"You think? Emily, I thought you could keep a secret. Is there anyone is this town that you didn't tell?" CeCe asked.
"Don't you dare pin this on her. You lied. We saw a picture of you, Wilden and Ali on a sailboat." I spat.
"Yeah, she thought he was cute so she asking him to take us for a ride."
"Bullshit. Why lie?" I challenged.
"I don't have time to talk about this!" CeCe replied and walked past me. I don't think so.
"You're not the only one that's scared, okay? Please, if there's something we need to know." Emily said.
"I thought Wilden got Ali pregnant and killed her to keep it a secret." CeCe spun around and told us.
"So is it true?"
"I don't know what's true. Wilden's sure going out of his way to deny it and if there's one thing Ali could do, it's tell a good lie."
"If you thought he killed her then why not turn him in?" I asked. Nothing made sense.
"Oh to who? His pals on the force? I didn't know who I could trust."
"Jason said he saw you at the house the night Ali disappeared. Care to explain?" I asked her this now.
"He told you that?" She asked and we nodded. "God, this is so messed up."
"Why were you there?" Emily asked.
"Ali called. She was freaking out about some videos. Everyone wanted them. Spencer's big sister more than anyone. When I showed up, she begged me to talk to Ali so I did. Then Ali left to go get them. Next day... she was missing." CeCe explained and then turned to leave. I honestly didn't believe her.
"Who took that picture. You three on the sailboat. Who took it?" I asked.
"Melissa Hastings." CeCe said and was out the door.
***
Aria called us and told us to get to Spencer's fast. She knows something.
A trapped her in a sauna. The first thing we did was ask if she's alright. A has really been trying to knock us out one by one lately.
"So who is it? Who's helping Mona?" Emily asked
"We should wait for Hanna." Spencer told us but we all shook our heads.
"No, this is too important to wait." Aria replied. We've waited long enough.
"Okay, but you guys needs to know I've been warned not to tell you." Spencer told us. So this is serious.
"What else is new?" I asked.
"How long have you known?" Emily asked.
"Few weeks."
Few weeks? She's known for that long and didn't say a word?
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" I asked.
"I wanted to make sure it was true. I didn't want to believe that it could be true, but after tonight happened, I can't keep this to myself anymore." She paused.
"Toby is A."
The air was knocked from my lungs. This is what Ali was warning me about.
After that we were brainstorming everything.
"So what are we saying? That what Ali wrote in Emily's notebook was true? That Toby secretly hated us ever since Ali threw that firecracker in his garage?" Aria exclaimed.
I had my suspicions but I just didn't want to believe someone so close to us would do this.
"Yeah, I guess so." Spencer whispered.
"And the whole time that you two were together he was just pretending?" Aria continued. I really couldn't believe this.
"Okay, we all know how much Toby loves you. This can't be true, There has to be more to the story." Emily said. I was beside myself.
He tried to kill me and Jason.
"If he loved me, he would not have let me sit outside his loft bawling my eyes out for hours. Okay? He wouldn't have taken everything out of A's lair when he knew that I had the key. He wouldn't be trying to hurt me- us!" Spencer exclaimed. I sat next to her.
"I am so sorry, Spence." I whispered.
"Mona must have something over him." Emily said.
"Trust me, I have tried to come up with every possible explanation as to why he could be doing this, and it all leads back to the same conclusion."
"The Toby I know would never do anything to hurt any of us." Emily cried and Spencer laughed.
She laughed.
"What's so funny?" Emily asked.
"You. You trying to make sense of this. You need to stop thinking about Toby as the person you thought you knew and start looking at him for who he really is." She spat.
"Okay and how do I do that?"
"You look at the facts, Emily!"
"Okay, which are?" I asked. I can see why she was lashing out like she was.
"Mona is with the decathlon team in New York City. She couldn't have locked me in the steam room, and that leaves Toby." She paused and looked at Emily. "The quicker you wrap your mind around this, the better."
God, this is so fucked.
***
Spencer asked to meet us all at The Brew. Apparently, A sent her flowers and left a message that said "Someone close to you will pay for your loose lips. -A"
"I told you I was warned. If I ratted out T, A was gonna take one of my three." Spencer said.
"But there's four of us." Emily deadpanned.
"I already payed for telling Jason and then almost lost a couple fingers. It's your turn." I replied and they nodded. A had their revenge plan for me already in the works.
"She's just trying to scare us." Aria said.
"Yeah, well it's working." Spencer replied.
In the distance, Mona was getting coffee.
"How long has she been standing there?" Aria asked and Spencer stood up. I went with her. The girls tried to hold us back but we didn't listen. Hanna was behind us.
"Hello. You're not planning on choking me again, are you?" Mona asked her.
"No. I just wanted to say thank you for the flowers. The orchids were especially beautiful." Spencer told her and Mona tilted her head.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Might be time to visit your doctor friend again."
"When are you going back to visit your Radley room again?" I spat and she just smiled.
"Listen to me, Mona. I'm not playing around. Do not hurt my friends. If you so much as touch one hair on their heads, I will make you very sorry. Am I clear?" Spencer practically growled.
"Looks like someone's been skipping their anger management class. I think I'll take my pumpkin latte to go. But little tip on the orchids, make sure to not leave them in direct sunlight. I did once and they didn't make it through the night." Mona replied and then turned to me. "So sorry about what happened to your hand, Bella. I hope you heal soon." She said and turned to walk away.
"So help me god Mona, if I find out you were behind all of that, you'll be getting your soap on a rope." I spat to her as she left.
***
Hanna and Aria dumped Wilden's car into the lake. Apparently her mom hit him with her car and now Wilden is no where to be seen.
Emily was freaking out. Last night, she found a few things in her car. First a small casket with a paper that said "Toby no more." and a picture of him that said "In loving memory". We were in Emily's room.
Hanna held it up. "So, what does this mean? Is Toby dead?"
"Did I do this? Is this my fault?" Emily asked.
"Don't go there, alright? We don't know if this is true." I told her.
"We do know that Toby was wearing a black hoodie in Spencer's kitchen."
"So?"
"So either A could have killed him because she knew he was gonna help us-" Emily started but Aria cut her off.
"Maybe he never was gonna help us. And for some reason he just wants us to think that he's dead. Either way, Spencer needs to know about this."
"Where is Spencer?" Hanna asked.