Н’Нˆð‹Ð•Ð„Н‘ Н’НÐ‘НˆðÐ†Ð’ | H. Marin 7

xxx

“It was all in his shrink’s file. Toby and Jenna had a relationship.” Cassandra concluded, rubbing Emily’s back in soft circles to help her relax.

Spencer nodded in agreement, “Way beyond stepsiblings.”

“They were involved.” Aria added with a small shudder. 

“Romantically?”

“I doubt I’d call it romantic. I doubt she had much of a choice.” Spencer stated, lifting her coffee up to her lips and moving towards Cassandra, offering the blue-eyed girl some of her black coffee. Cassandra glared at the Hasting’s daughter and removed her hand from Emily’s back to playfully shoo Spencer away. 

Spencer giggled and ignored Cassandra muttering profanities under her breath while she took a large sip of her much needed coffee. 

“Anyway, that’s what Ali had on him when she threw the stink bomb.” Cassandra said with a small smirk. Even though there were many times that Alison could be a complete ass to her friends, mainly Hanna, she was a smart girl, and she could uncover things most wouldn’t even think about. 

So, Cassandra had to give her some credit for that. Her ability to manipulate and have total control over practically the whole town had secretly impressed her. Not that she’d ever say it out loud because she didn’t want Hanna to think that she thought Alison making fun of the blonde was cool. That wasn’t. 

Just when it was people who she didn’t care about and knew that they deserved it. 

“Yeah, she threatened to expose Toby which is probably why he wanted her dead.” Spencer explained with raised eyebrows. “And not just her… us and you.” Emily sighed and looked down, gaining the attention of the three girls beside her, “You don’t believe us?!”

“I do.. I just don’t get it. If Toby killed Alison and wanted to do the same to me, then why am I sitting on my bed and not in a body bag?” Emily pointed out. “I told the police that when I went out for air, I tripped.”

“Well, why didn’t you just tell them he attacked you?” Aria frowned. “I didn’t want to say anything until I talked to you guys first.” the brunette responded. “The truth is in the file.” Cassandra shrugged. 

“You can tell them everything now.” Spencer said. “She can’t tell them everything. I mean, you have to leave out the file.” Cassandra denied, giving Spencer a pointed look. The other brunette exasperatedly sighed, “Fine. Leave out the file.” 

A certain blonde finally walked in. “Who knew Rosewood had this many cops?” she announced, “I went to put this back, and they were outside the doctor’s office talking to Toby’s shrink. They know this was stolen.” Hanna lifted up the hefty file. “Can I see that?” Emily asked, holding out her hands. 

Hanna tossed it to the girl and heard a soft grunt leave her mouth. “Hanna. You can’t be throwing things around, she’s clearly hurt.” Cassandra reprimanded the Marin daughter. “Oops, sorry Em.”

Emily shook her off and read the file while the girls continued to talk. “If anyone saw me go into that building last night, I am so host.” she hissed. Someone’s phone started beeping obnoxiously and Aria felt her phone vibrating through her pants.

 “Is it from…”

“No, my mom. “Ask your father if he has plans to take the car in this week.” My parents have gone from not talking to not texting. This sucks. I better get home.” Aria muttered, grabbing her purse and heading towards the door. “Yeah, me too.” Spencer nodded, taking her coffee and waving goodbyes.

“Uh, no. I just got here. Hey, what do I do with that?” Hanna questioned, lifting her hand up to the file on Emily’s bed. “Just shove it in your locker. We’ll figure it out later. Bye.” Aria shrugged. 

“Feel better, Em.”

Cassandra crossed her arms and leaned against Emily’s pillow while Hanna climbed on the bed. “Is that the car you won outside?” Emily looked outside and then nodded. “Okay, how do you go to home coming, crack your head open and then win a Corolla in a raffle? I need to talk to you about your karma.” Hanna laughed. 

Emily said nothing and took a deep breath before carefully glancing at Cassandra, hoping she wouldn’t say anything to the others. “Why did you think I wanted to take Maya to the dance?” 

“What?” 

“You thought I wanted her as my date. Why?” Emily asked, and Cassandra widened her eyes and sat up a little straighter. Hanna formed her lips in a straight line, knowing now was the time to admit the truth, even if Cassandra was here. It’s not like Cassandra was going to tell anyone. “A” sent me a picture of you and Maya kissing. So, can I just ask? I mean, you took Toby to the dance, but then you took that picture with Maya.”

Cassandra stared between the two with her jaw opened. She cared greatly for Emily, and she didn’t care if she was lesbian or whatever. She can’t say much considering she’s kissed a girl before who was also her friend and part lover, maybe? She wasn’t sure what to consider Hanna back then. The line between lovers and best friends was slim. 

She got brought back from her daydreaming when she noticed Emily tearing up. “I… I think I know what I want, but if I say yes to Maya, everything will change. You know it would.” 

Hanna frowned, “Yeah, it would. You wouldn’t have to pretend that you’re someone you’re not.” Cassandra lightly scoffed at her words. Like it would ever be that easy. 

“But what If I’m wrong? What if I’m not that person?” Emily interjected with a worried expression. “Em, you’re not signing a contract. You were Emily dating Ben and now you’re Emily dating Maya. We love Emily. No one cares who you’re with.” the Montgomery hyped up, trying to make the girl feel at least a little bit better. 

“Really? Have you met my parents? Mr. and Mrs. Military and their perfect daughter.” she scowled. “You don’t have to tell them right away.” Cassandra offered, smiling slightly when Emily seemed to take that idea into account. 

“I don’t want people to view me differently.”

xxx

“Hanna! Hanna slow down.” Cassandra shouted from the passenger seat, gripping the car door handle as the blonde recklessly drove throughout the woods. “Spencer’s right, we can’t burn that file out here.” Aria exclaimed, as the group, minus Emily, stepped out of the car. “Look, this is a terrible idea!” Spencer yelled, trying to stop Hanna. 

The Marin kept speed walking and only side-eyed them as she continued on throughout the woods. They followed after Hanna, repeating her name loudly to get her attention. “Can we at least talk about this?” Aria asked. “No! I don’t want this in my house, and I don’t want it in my locker. I won’t have this traced back to me.” Hanna dismissed, trudging deeper in the forest. 

“How are they going to trace it back to you? I’m the one licking the envelope!” Spencer stated, raising her voice in frustration. “And I’m the one who works in that building. I’m the one who always gets caught.” Hanna countered, gripping her fists against the file tighter. 

The three of them were teaming up against her and it was bothering her. She wished that at least Cassandra would have understood. But apparently not. 

“Han, Spencer’s right. Burning the folder out here is a bad idea if the police could use it to build a case against Toby.” Cassandra tried again, this time in a lower tone. Unfortunately, but not unsurprisingly, the blonde ignored her. 

“He had a motive to kill Alison!”

The blue-eyed blondie suddenly stopped and turned around with a huff, “And they can also prove that I broke into his shrink’s office. Look, I really can’t afford to take any more field trips to the precinct. I’m pretty sure after three strikes you’re assigned to the prison laundry room.”

“Hanna, what strikes? You were just trying to save your friend.” Aria stated with a confused expression. “I have already gotten busted for stealing sunglasses and my boyfriend’s car.” she explained and placed her hands over her hips. 

“Wait, you stole sunglasses? From who?” Spencer curiously asked. “Not from a person, from a store. God! I have some glass.” she snapped angrily. “The Gucci ones with the gold-“

“Focus!” Spencer cut off the brunette. “Okay, Hanna, this is not about a petty theft. Toby could be the killer! We can’t keep making these same mistakes over and over again!” 

“We?” Hanna stared at her with a somewhat hurt and upset face, but she quickly covered it up with a bitchy look. She felt targeted and the screaming in her face was not helping.

Cassandra noticed, though. She saw the hurt behind her eyes, and she stepped closer to Hanna. “Spencer, calm down!” the blonde gave her a small, appreciated smile and Spencer put off what Cassandra said and grabbed the file forcefully out of Hanna’s grasp. 

“Yes, we! Okay? We are all in this together. We are all being stalked by “A” and if he’s run off-” she started before Cassandra interrupted. “We don’t know that he’s “A”.” 

“Please! Have you gotten one single text since last night? Okay, the devil has a name and it’s Toby.” she growled. “Spence, you’re spiraling! Take a fucking breather!” Cassandra hissed, watching Hanna grab the file back and storm off. 

“Why are you being so pig-headed!” Spencer screamed, the girls following Hanna once again. 

“Why? Because I don’t have a big, fat safety net to catch me. Not all of us have a daddy who can write a check to make the boogeyman go away.” Hanna retorted, the group stopping by the edge of a river. “What are you talking about?” the angry brunette asked, taking back the file. 

“Spencer, you get caught stealing an essay and your parents let you take a picture for the newspaper,” she paused and pointed her finger at herself. “I get caught stealing an accessory and I have to lug around medical waste.”

Cassandra grabbed the file and chucked it in the river, the papers all falling separately into the water. “There. It’s done, okay? We never saw it and we don’t even know it exists. Can we leave now. Please?” she sighed and turned around, she was sick of the bickering between Spencer and Hanna. 

On their way back she felt her phone beep and assuming it was her dad begging to ask her mom something stupid, she opened it. Her heart dropped when she read the message from Emily. 

“Whatever you do, don’t destroy that file!!” 

xxx

Cassandra laughed loudly, leaning closer to the computer. “Wait, he’s beating him? That’s insane. It’s a cat!” she watched the screen with amusement, and slight confusion. Lucas had texted her and asked her to come down. 

They had gone over homecoming stuff and now they were just staring at stupid videos of a cat winning in a ping pong match against a human. “Wait till you see his backhand.” he chuckled, blushing at the brunette’s big smile, feeling confident that he could make her have a good time. 

“Who posts this crap?” she asked with a grin. “People who have more free time than I do, which is hard to imagine.” he replied, pulling the top of his grey t-shirt nervously. “Want to see a turkey on a snowboard?” she nodded immediately, and as he started typing, he came to a quick stop. He glanced down at their touching hands and yanked them back. 

“Sorry.” he muttered, a frown overtaking his features. “For what?” she said, furrowing her brows. “I didn’t mean to like, you know, invade your personal skin.” he timidly apologized. Cassandra’s smile grew, at first, she wasn’t so sure of the boy, however, he’s just a little geek who’s a genuine sweetheart and Cassandra found it endearing. 

“It’s okay. The leprosy cleared up.” she joked, hoping to calm his anxiousness. He stared at the table, seemingly ashamed that he even dared touch her, even though it was an accident. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just… to be honest, I used to be so afraid of you.” he confessed. “Of me?” she said, staring at him with a shocked expression. “Well, not you specifically, your posse. You know, Alison’s… coven.” he said, trying to redeem himself. 

“We’re not witches.”

“Well, maybe you used your powers for good, but Alison was just straight up evil. She called me Hermie the hermaphrodite for three years, just because she didn’t like my glasses.” he mumbled. “Your shoes weren’t that great either.” she added, rolling her eyes as he gave her a dirty look. 

“Come on, lighten up. Alison had names for everybody. I mean, she called Hanna, hefty Hanna.” she confirmed. He shook his head, “Why were you friends with this person. She had snakes coming out of her head.”

“Yeah, well, she had another side to her too. When she wanted to, she could make someone feel really special. I often got to see that part of her because she adored me.” she admitted, remembering the times she’d cry to Alison about anything and the blonde would be right by her side, coaxing her and telling her things would get better. 

Not many people were blessed to have Alison actually enjoy their presence, and it truly is a shame. 

“Wow. That’s exactly not how she made me feel.” he sighed. “Is snowboarding turkey hyphenated?” she wondered, finishing up the typing that Lucas started. She didn’t feel like talking about her dead best friend. 

xxx

“Mike!” Cassandra shouted from her room after hearing her brother slam his door. She heard footsteps coming closer and he stood before her with a frown.

 “What.” 

“No, not what. Talk to me. Do you know what’s going on? Did you say goodbye?” she asked, talking about their father. He shrugged and crossed his arms. “Maybe they know what they’re doing. Maybe… this is the best thing for everyone right now.” she murmured. 

He rolled his eyes and went to leave before she called out, “Hey.” he turned around and waited for her to speak. 

“The next time you wanna take a swing at one of us, use a pillow. Don’t go for kids twice your size.” she scolded. He scoffed, “I am not thinking about mom and dad. Why should I care about them?! They don’t even care about us!” he growled as his nostrils flared aggressively. 

“Mike.” she mumbled, yet it was no use because he walked away. She went downstairs and stood beside Aria at the window, watching their mom and dad talk. She grabbed the curtain and raised her eyebrow. Her mother was the one to get in the car, not their father. 

“What are they doing?!” Cassandra whisper shouted at her sister. “I- I don’t know.”

xxx