Н’Нˆð‹Ð•Ð„Н‘ Н’НÐ‘НˆðÐ†Ð’ | H. Marin 2

italics – flashbacks

xxx

“Why was Jenna there?” Aria whispered quietly as to not gain the attention of any outsiders listening. “I guess she’s back.” Cassandra answered, making awkward eye contact with Hanna for the tenth time. 

Maybe it would’ve helped if she wasn’t sitting right in front of her and farther away, but this was the closest they had been in a year, and it was painful. They clearly had some tension and things to talk about and everyone else at the table took notice. 

“That cop acted like we were suspects or something.” Hanna rolled her eyes. “Do you think we looked guilty?” Emily asked, worry crossing her features. “Why would we be? We haven’t done anything wrong.” Aria denied. 

“Except lie about the Jenna thing.” Hanna brought up. “We promised we’d never bring up the Jenna thing again, remember?” Spencer hissed, “It never happened.”

“Have you found a way to forget?” Cassandra asked, “I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night.” 

“Cass, it was an accident.” Spencer reminded her. Hanna sighed and opened up another flash hidden in her purse and poured the contents in the diet coke. She caught the stare of an old man sat across from them, “It’s medicinal.” She loudly announced, giving the man a fake grin. “Cramps.”

“Do you always drink now?” Cassandra rose her eyebrow at the blonde. “Like that’s any of your business.” Hanna huffed, taking a large sip of her drink. With the brunette so close to her, she’d need more than a bottle of alcohol to get through this. 

Spencer and Emily looked at each other, feeling the angry tension seeping through the blonde and the guilty look of the Montgomery daughter. 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was friends with a middle aged drunk.” Cassandra gave a sarcastic smile, not actually meaning her apology. 

“We aren’t friends.” 

Cassandra giggled, watching Hanna get more frustrated each minute. Her face burned brightly, looking like she was outside in the heat all day. 

“How does “A” know something about me that only Alison knew?” Emily questioned, deciding to change the topic before Hanna lunged across the table and hurt Cassandra. “Ali knew all of our secrets, but we never knew any of hers.”

“I knew some.” Spencer admits, holding her coffee mug up to her lips.

 “Go on.” Aria spoke. When she didn’t say anything, Hanna snapped in her face, “Talk.”

“I can’t.” Spencer frowned, lifting her thumbs off the edge of the mug. Cassandra shook her head, “Spence, no, you are not gonna drop a bomb like that and just clam up!” said girl shook her head, “She’d so kill me if I told you.”

“She’s dead!” Hanna reminded her, ignoring Emily move uncomfortably in her seat. “Ali was seeing someone that summer.” Spencer rushed out, hoping that the ghost of Alison wasn’t going to haunt her for spilling her secret. 

Emily whipped her head in Spencer’s direction. “I knew she was keeping something from me!… from us.” she played with her fingers nervously. “Well, why didn’t she want us to know?” Aria asked. 

Spencer shrugged, “He was an older boy, and he had a girlfriend.”

“Who was it?” Emily frowned. “She never told me his name.” Spencer answered. “Okay, that’s only half the secret.” Hanna scoffed. “It’s more than you ever got from her.” Spencer retaliated. 

“How was it that Ali told us nothing and we told her everything.” Aria wondered aloud. “Because she made us feel like we were part of something special.” Emily said. 

“We were.” Hanna smiled, glancing at Cassandra, who was already looking at her. She broke the eye contact, but the grin from past memories never faded. 

“I miss that.” 

“Me too.” 

Emily sighed and focused on the table, “I miss Ali.” Cassandra rubbed her back with a sympathetic smile, “I know.”

Hanna frowned at the interaction, observing the bracelet on Emily’s wrist. “I can’t believe you still wear that.” Emily played with the purple bracelet with her name on it. “Ali still wears hers,” she paused, “Wore.”

“When Ali didn’t come home that night, I knew something terrible must have happened but there was always some part of me that imagined someday she’d just show up.” Spencer confessed. “Yeah, I used to think that maybe she’d just run off with some guy.” Aria said.

“She was laying on a beach somewhere.” Emily added glumly. “Or getting a tan out by the pool with that hot lifeguard.” Hanna laughed, remembering how in awe Alison was. “Oh, yeah! What was his name?” Cassandra asked. “Who cares,” Hanna spoke, “Save me!” She imitated Alison, the group giggling in response. 

The door opened and a sudden loud, harsh tapping on the hard wood floor of the restaurant silenced them momentarily. Aria slapped Hanna’s shoulder, turning her head as the blind girl walked in. 

They grabbed their belongings and stood up, quietly walking outside. The girls split up without a word, Aria and Cassandra moving together since they lived with one another. 

“Do you think she’s following us?” Aria worriedly asked her sister.

“I don’t know.”

xxx

Cassandra rolled her eyes and leaned up against Emily’s locker. “What does she see in him.” she crossed her arms over her chest and gave Sean a glare from behind him. Emily smiled, knowing exactly who she was talking about. “Maybe the fact that he isn’t ashamed of her and doesn’t plan on leaving her to go to Iceland for a year, unexpectedly.” 

The blue-eyed girl gasped at her best friend, “Emily! What happened to the sweet girl I knew before I came back? These comments aren’t very nice.” Cassandra pouted, getting a giggle out of Emily. “You know what I mean.” she said. 

“He’s not even attractive. They look more like siblings than a couple if you ask me.” Cassandra commented, letting out a big sigh. “Why don’t you try and talk to her?” Emily suggests. “I have already.” Cassandra said, throwing her hands up dramatically. 

“One on one. Not with one of us nearby to stop her from throwing something hard at your face.” Emily corrected herself. “She’d probably still throw something in my face with or without you guys around!” Cassandra shook her head. 

“You’ll never know until you try.” Emily said. “That’s rich coming from you, Em.” Cassandra whispered with a knowing smirk, closing the other brunette’s locker. 

“Will the following students please come to the office?” A man on the PA announced, “Emily Fields, Aria and Cassandra Montgomery, Spencer Hastings and Hanna Marin.“

The girls met up in the empty hallway and Aria’s phone rang. “Wait,” she started, “It’s from A.” Cassandra leaned over her sister’s shoulder and read the message. 

“Dead girls walking? Really?” Cassandra rolled her eyes. Whoever this troller was, was really starting to piss her off. Who did this person think they were? Trying to scare her and her friends for no reason. 

She originally thought it was Ali, but she’s dead. It couldn’t possibly be her. It just didn’t work or make sense. 

They went into the office and sat down on the dark blue couch, Detective Wilden walking back and forth in front of them with a notebook in his hand. “So, let’s see,” he said, “You thought you heard her scream.” he pointed at Spencer. 

“I-I said that, yeah.” 

“And when you four woke up in the barn, Alison was gone, and so was Spencer.” He noted. “Yes, I woke up before them and I realized that Ali was missing, so I-“ 

“So, you went looking for her.” Wilden cut her off. “That’s what happened.” Spencer stated. “I got that,” he informed her, “What’s up? Was this a slumber party, or-“ 

“Is this an interrogation?” Spencer interrupted. “No, just a routine follow-up,” he said, “Why did you guys all fall asleep?”

Cassandra loudly scoffed, “Are you serious? We were obviously tired. That’s how most people fall asleep.” Emily jabbed Cassandra’s hip, silently telling her to cool it with the attitude. Wilden tilted his head, “Tired? Really?”

He stared at Emily before turning towards the blonde. “Is that how you remember it, Hanna?” The Marin girl nodded her head, “Yeah.”

“Yeah, you guys were tired.” he muttered and wrote more stuff down. “Look, we’ve told you everything that we know just like we did the night she went missing.” Spencer remarked. “I know, I know. The thing is, it’s almost exactly what you said last year. Almost like it was rehearsed.”

“Like Spencer said, we’ve told you everything we know.”

xxx

“He knows were lying.” Aria pointed out at the lunch table with the girls. “Lying is not a crime.” Hanna acknowledged. “It is when you’re giving false statements to the police.” Cassandra added, defending her sister. 

“It’s called obstruction of justice,” Spencer informed them, “It’s not easy being the smartest one in this friend group.”

“Oh, please! We lied about drinking. But the truth that matters is that we don’t know anything about what happened to Ali that night.” Hanna said, leaning forward. “We also know about someone who might have wanted to hurt her.” Spencer mumbled. 

Emily lifted her head off her hands, “We should have told the police the truth about Jenna’s accident the night it happened.” she said. “I wanted to, remember?” Hanna snarked. 

“We have a chance to stop Ali.” Aria grimaced. “But we didn’t,” Spencer held her hands up, “And telling the police now about what happened to Jenna isn’t going to make her see again. It’ll just ruin our lives.”

The cane thudding against the floor made Cassandra clench her jaw out of pure annoyance. “Oh my God, she’s back in school, too?” Jenna held her lunch tray in one hand and cane in another, obviously struggling to get seated. Aria stood up and went over to her. “Jenna,” she said, “Hey, it’s- it’s Aria. Do you… wanna come sit with us?” she offered, turning around and shrugging at her friends. 

“Sure.” she finally answered. “Okay.” Aria grabbed her tray and Jenna put her hand on Aria’s shoulder, bringing her to the table. “So, you’re going to sit in between Emily and Cassandra and Spencer’s right across from you.”

“Thank you.” Jenna said. “Yeah, and here’s a chair.” Cassandra glared at her sister and reluctantly scooched over to give her room. Hanna giggled at the girl’s predicament before shutting up when the brunettes glare turned towards her. 

“So, this would be Alison’s chair, right?” Jenna conversed. “No, we’re not even sitting at that table.” Emily replied. “You know she came to visit me in the hospital after the accident.” Jenna admitted. “Alison did?” Cassandra asked, giving her friends a shocked face. “Mhm. Everyone misunderstood Alison, but I knew exactly who she was.”

“When did you get back, Jenna?” Spencer asked, “We heard that you were in Philly. A school for the visually impaired.”

“You can say blind Spencer. It’s okay. It’s not a dirty word.” Jenna chuckled, sipping from her orange juice. “Wow. It’s so quiet. You guys used to be the fun table.” When no one answered her, she spoke up again.

 “What happened to you girls?”

Music blared in the background as the group of six tried on different articles of clothing together, they hyped each other up and Hanna kept staring at Cassandra who was lifting her shirt up, leaving her in a bra as she grabbed a black crop top with blue cheetah print on it, matching her eyes, and she pulled it over her head. She caught Hanna’s eyes and gave her a wink before helping Alison find something to wear. 

Hanna blushed and rubbed the nape of her neck awkwardly, hoping no one noticed how flustered she was from her best friend. Cassandra threw a floral top at Alison, mumbling something about how good she’d look in it. 

Alison tried on the top and pulled it over her blue tank top, staring at herself in the mirror before something caught her eyes. 

“I can see you!” She hissed, stomping over to the window and banging on it aggressively. “Oh my God, I can’t believe it!”

“Who was it, Ali, what did you see?” Emily asked. Alison whipped around, “He was in that tree spying on us! I am so creeped out.” Alison shouted. “Who was it?” Spencer repeated Emily’s words. 

“It was that perv, Toby Cavanaugh.” The angry blonde scoffed. “Are you sure?” Aria questioned. “Yes, I’m sure!” Alison mocked, “He was right there! I bet he saw us all naked.”

Cassandra rolled her eyes, “You better not be overdramatic, Ali.” 

“I’m not.” Alison promised. “Should we tell someone?” Hanna frowned. “I mean, we could… but I have a better idea.” the blonde smirked, dragging them outside through the back, the sound of fireworks shooting through the air, scaring Emily a bit. 

“Are we sure he’s not in there?” Spencer posed, not feeling too confident about what Alison had planned. “He’s not.” she snapped, throwing her friend a dirty look. “You’ve got the lighter right, Spencer?” 

Emily staggered forward and grabbed Alison’s arm. “Let’s wait a second.” she whimpered nervously. “What, Emily?” 

“I don’t want to do this.” Emily admitted. She was afraid of getting caught and facing the major consequences of throwing something that dangerous into someone’s home. “Fine. Go back. You’re on your own.” 

Aria took a step next to Emily. “Okay, maybe, Emily’s right. We should just call the cops. They’ll bring him in and take care of it.” she suggested, trying to defend the brunette. “Where’s the fun in that? Girls, Toby Cavanaugh is a freak, and we need to teach him a lesson. If he thinks he can spy on us while we’re in your bedroom, Emily, he needs to know that his little domain is no longer a safe little hideout.” 

She paused and then went on, “I mean, who knows what he does in there all day that little freak!” Alison scrunched her nose up in disgust. “Are you sure that it was Toby?” 

“Yes!” the blonde rolled her eyes, “And it’s a stink bomb, for God’s sake! We’re not nuking the place. Now, let’s do it.” She held up the bomb in front of them to reassure the girls that she wasn’t planning on destroying the whole garage. 

“Give me the lighter.” she demanded, standing in front of the door. She lit the bomb, and the smoke flew in her face as she opened the door slightly and threw it in the garage. She took one last look inside and realized it was about to go off. “Let’s get out of here. Run!” she gasped, and they all ran towards the front, a loud banging and flashing light from inside of the garage made them turn around and scream. 

“Ali, what did you do!” Spencer yelled, the whole garage blowing up into flames. “We have to get out of here, come on, let’s go.” Cassandra hushed out, taking Hanna’s hand and running with her. Despite the circumstances, she wanted an excuse to touch the girl and make her feel comfortable.

The ringing of their phones, besides Jenna’s, snapped Cassandra out of her daydream. Or maybe less of a dream and more of a living hell. Jenna grabbed Spencer’s phone and lifted it up to her face. “Aren’t you going to get that?” Spencer warily took it and Cassandra picked up her own device. 

“If only she could see how guilty you look, -A” 

xxx

Cassandra took a deep breath and realized it was now or never. So, she went up to the front door of the Marin residence and knocked loudly on the door. She waited patiently for a few seconds before Ashley Marin unlocked the door. 

“Cassandra!” Ashley gasped, “I haven’t seen you in forever. You look fabulous.” Cassandra bashfully smiled and shook Ashley’s extended hand for her. “Thank you, Ms. Marin. You’re also stunning as well.” Hanna’s mom flipped her bangs back and gave her daughters old friend a grin. 

“Thank you, sweetie. I was wondering when I’d see you. I saw your mother in the grocery store a couple days ago.” she explained, opening the door wider for her to step in. She stood inside and breathed in the smell of the house she greatly missed. It smelled more like home than her own house. 

“I wanted to bring Hanna to school today and talk.” she said, watching Ashley’s eyes light up for an unknown reason. “Sounds perfect,” she replied, “Hanna!” said girl came down the stairs and gave Cassandra and her mother a confused look.

“What’s this?” she asked, staring between her mother and ex-best friend. “Cass offered to drive you to school today.” Ashley responded, giving her daughter a cheeky smile. “Oh.” she came fully down the stairs and grabbed her purse, walking right outside into the brunette’s car. 

Ashley sighed, “I’m glad you’re finally coming to speak with her. She was a mess when you left, you know?” 

Cassandra nodded her head. “I heard. I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused, Ms. Marin.” she apologized, Ashley brought her into a hug and patted her head. “Good to see you, Cass.”

The brunette waved her goodbye and headed out the door, she sat down in the driver’s seat and started driving to school. 

After many minutes of uncomfortable silence, Cassandra spoke up. “We need to talk.”

“About what? How you kissed me and then ditched me? I’d rather not.” Hanna snapped, leaning her head against the window, desperately trying to bury those terrible feelings. “Plus, I have a boyfriend now.” she added. 

“Yeah, Sean.” Cassandra scoffed with a hint of jealousy in her voice. Hanna perked up at the familiar tone. “You don’t get to be jealous, Cassandra.” she reprimanded, secretly happy that Cassandra was showing signs of still loving her. 

“I come back and all of a sudden you’re getting it on with some wannabe preacher? He won’t even touch you because he’s scared that he’s committing like ten different sins that aren’t even real!” The brunette hissed, glaring at Hanna. 

“In case your little ‘trip’ from Iceland gave you dementia, you left me! Did you really think I was just gonna lay around all day depressed and fat until you came back for me?” Hanna retaliated. 

Cassandra groaned, “I didn’t have a choice! My dad had some business work, and I couldn’t stay here alone.” 

“You could have texted me back. I know you listened to my voicemails; I can tell by the guilty look on your face.” Hanna rolled her eyes and pretended to act nonchalant. “You’re right, okay? And I’m sorry. I should have. But we all fell out of touch, Hanna. I wasn’t just ignoring you.” she explained, tightening her grip on the wheel. 

They fell back into silence, but this time it wasn’t awkward. 

“I missed you.”

Hanna snapped her head towards Cassandra and whimpered quietly. “I missed you too.” she whispered, remembering the state of depression the brunette left her in. “You were my first kiss, you know?” Hanna confessed, “Hefty Hanna didn’t have anyone head over heels for her like you and Alison did. I was alone and you made me feel like I was the happiest girl in the world. You protected me and cherished me, and then when you kissed me, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, and before we could even talk about it, you were gone.”

Cassandra sat in her own thoughts, relishing in that confession. “I’m sorry.” she whispered.

 “I know.”

“Friends?” Hanna offered, taking Cassandra by surprise. “Come on, I can’t spend the rest of my life disliking you because of that, we were best friends for a long time, and I want that back.” 

The brunette nodded her head. “Friends.” she confirmed.

They pulled to a stop at school and got out of the car, Hanna pulled Cassandra into a hug, much like the hug Ashley gave her earlier. Hanna tilted her head in the blue-eyed girl’s neck and closed her eyes, enjoying the scent of Cassandra that always brought her comfort. Once they pulled apart, they noticed Emily and her boyfriend making out in his car. The two walked over there with their arms linked. 

Some of Ben’s friends’ cat-called Cassandra and she scowled at them. “I’m sorry, are you talking to me?” she snapped, scaring them off. Emily got out of his car with an embarrassed expression. “You, okay?” Cassandra asked. “Not really.” Emily admitted with a pull on her bag. 

“You know, I never thought of you as someone who’d be so comfortable with PDA.” Hanna said with a small smirk. “Maybe I’m not the person everyone thinks I am.”

“Who is.” Hanna sighed, sneaking a look at Cassandra who was glaring at some random kid who kept staring at her. She smiled softly to herself and realized how much she missed this. Her phone buzzed and she picked it up, assuming it was from her mom or boyfriend. Her smile quickly dropped though, when she opened the message. 

“Friendship is as delicate as glass, once broken it can be fixed, but there will always be cracks. Especially when Hefty Hanna still has unresolved feelings with a certain brunette. -A”