☪︎⋆｡˚ ⁀➷｡˚
𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲 𝑻𝑶 𝒀𝑶𝑼
chapter four: how to kill a mocking girl.

THE FIVE GIRLS TRUDGED THEIR WAY THROUGH THE WOODS. It was early in the morning, the leaves rustling underneath their feet with every step they each took. "Whose idea was this, again?" Hanna asked, breaking the silence.

"Emily's mom," Spencer answered.

"The shed was my idea," Emily corrected, "my mom just said we should do something for us."

Hanna pursed her lips and turned her towards the Field's girl, "well, couldn't we do something without mosquitoes?" The blonde questioned as she wafted away the bugs that had attacked her.

"They're not mosquitoes; they're gnats." Aria corrected the blonde.

"Whatever!" Hanna exclaimed, "they're small and annoying, and they're flying up my nose."

"Well, they're attracted to your perfume and your hair products and your lip gloss," Spencer stated, as the Marin girl once again wafted the bugs away.

Hanna turned around to look at spencer and narrowed her eyes, "so what are you saying, I attracts flies?"

"Gnats," the Carter girl was the one that had corrected the blonde.

Emily sighed heavily as she stopped dead in her tracks as she give off a questioning stare as she glanced around her surroundings, "why do I feel like this is the wrong way?" She questioned.

"No, this is it." Spencer said, pointing at a large oak-tree, "I remember that tree. It's the halfway point."

Belle's eyes glanced around their surroundings before she nodded her head in argeemet, "meaning, there's one hundred-thirty six steps left to the shed," she continued.

The three girls give the Hastings and Carter girls a baffled look. Aria's eyebrows knitted together, "have you both been out here since... Alison?" she asked.

"Us? No. No way," both girls quickly denied.

"But you remembered that tree," Aria pointed out, still baffled.

"Guys, it's not that werid." Hanna reminded them, "I mean we came out here in eight grade, like, every day — even after."

Spencer crossed her arms over her chest, "I think this is totally the wrong place to do this whatever you call it — shrine."

"It's not a shrine." Emily told her, "it's just a place to remember Alison. What's wrong with that?"

"A shrine," Belle sighed as she ran a hand through her hair, "she's right Em, if we do it out here, it'll look like we have something to hide."

"You're both worried about what other people think?"

"Well, aren't you?" Spencer asked the Fields girl, "do you really want to give that creepy detective more reasons to question us?"

Hanna sighed as she countiued to walk ahead of the of girls.

"Hanna," Emily went after her, "why are you so quite?"

"I'm trying to keep the bugs in my nose and out fo my mouth," the blonde answered.

"You're allowed to have an opinion on this." Emily told her.

Hanna stopped, turnng around to face all of them, "you want my opinion?" She questioned, raising her eyebrows, "I say we hold off and not remember her until we know for sure she's still not here."

Belle furrowed her eyebrows at the blonde, "what?"

"You think she's still alive?"

"Hanna, they found her body." Spencer reminded the blonde.

"Stop," Aria stated as she held her hand up, "I'm officially scared. Can we just not—."

"You asked for my opinion." Hanna told them as se shrugged, "I don't believe she's really gone."

Belle furrowed her eyebrows as she shared a look with Spencer, "we went to her funeral!" They both exlcaimed.

"Yeah, and when we left we all got a text from her," Hanna retorted.

"It wasn't her. Someone's just messing with us," Emily insisted.

"How do you know?" Hanna questioned, "and what about all those nasty messages? I mean, how does this 𝐀 person know stuff only Ali knew?"

"Okay, this conversation is giving me a hive," Aria shuddered.

The blonde whipped around to glance at the Montgomery girl, "thats a bite. Mosquite."

Emily looked over at the two girls beside her, "Belle, Spencer have you gotten anymore messages?"

"Haven't you?" Spencer counterd back.

The branches rustled behind them, the Hastings girl reached beside her to grabbed Belle's hand. Their heads snapped in the direction immediately.

"What was that?" Emily asked, alarmed, "did you hear that?"

"Yes, I heard that. I'm standing right next to you." Aria answered.

"Hello?" Hanna called out, her voice trembled a bit, "is anybody out there?"

"It's probably a rabbit," the raven haired girl spoke up.

"Hello?!"

"It's a rabbit, Hanna. It's not going to answer you," Spencer told her.

"Can we just go to the shed?" Emily asked.

The girls heard another rustling noise, snapping their head snapped in the direction they heard it from. "Okay, that is definitely not a rabbit. Someone's out there," Hanna stated.

"Let's turn around," Emily suggested.

They started to stroll back in the direction they come from but their phones chimed, all at the same time.

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐟𝐟𝐬. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈'𝐦 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.  — 𝐀

....

Belle and Nick strolled down the hallway, the Carter girl smile soflty as she saw Aria. Nick greeted the small brunette, they made their way over to Spencer at her locker. Once they reached her, her locker opened and some of her books had fell out. Aria quickly helped pick up her books.

"Russian history? How many AP classes does it take until your brain explodes?" Aria asked.

"I would've just stabbed myself with a fork," Nick commented causing the two girls to chuckled slightly.

Spencer sent the boy a smile as she playful rolled her eyes, "I'm already drowning in there."

Nick jokingly rolled his eyes, a smile present on his lips, "but your Spencer Hastings."

Aria chuckled at the Hastings girl, choosing to ignore Nick's comment, "why, what's drowning for you, B+?"

Spencer sighed heavily, "first paper's due monday, and I've written two words — my name," she told them as she put her books back in her locker.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Belle assured her. "What's going on?" Belle furrowed her eyebrows at the brunette, "hey, you're not still freaked out about what happened in the woods yesterday?" Spencer shook her head, Nick's eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he glanced over at the girls.

The four of them were now walking down the hallway, "look, we do not have to do this thing for Ali until—." Aria began but Spencer had cut her off.

"No, it's just that. It's. . . It's everything," Spencer turned towards the Carter girl, "is there any chance your dad wants to adopt me?" She asked, casuing Aria and Nick chuckled.

"You know my dad would adopt you in a heartbeat," Belle said as she hooked her arm with Spencer's. Nick tapped the brunette on the shoulders, "wish me luck." He stated as he began to walk ahead of the three girls and turned a corner.

"Where is he off too?" Aria questioned, Belle went to answer but then the hallway become silent as the haunting noise of the cane tapping against the tiled floor. They looked over in the direction, spotting Jenna beside her was Toby Cavanaugh. Toby looked towards the girls, mainly looking at the Hastings girl.

The three girls hadn't noticed Hanna had joined them. They all saw Emily talking to Maya, once she finished her conversation, she walked over to them. "He's back, too? When did that happen?" Aria asked.

"Maybe she needs help sending radioactive emails," Hanna suggested.

"Yeah, or he may be sending a few of his own," Spencer stated.

"Hanna."

All the girls turned around to see who the voice belong to, Detective Wilden stood a few lockers down.

"The cops are on campus, too?" Aria whispered as she watched him inched closer towards them.

"I just spoke with your principal, asked him if we could have a chat," Wilden addressed.

Hanna shook her head, "no, I have to get to class."

"Don't worry, you've been excused," He assured her as he mentions the blonde to follow him. Hanna turned back at her friends nervously before following behind him.

"What's going on? Why just her?" Aria questioned.

"Probably thinks she's the easiest to crack," Emily spoke.

"She is," Belle and Spencer said in unison.

"Whisper, whisper, whisper. Almost feels like Alison is still here," Jenna said, tapping her cane along as she walked pass them.

...

An hour has passed. An hour since Hanna was still gone. The girls were waiting by the lockers, "what are you doing? Is that a new phone?" Spencer asked as she furrowed her eyebrows at Aria.

"Yeah, I'm checking my page. I'll just write on Hanna's wall from here," Aria told them as she typed away.

"If she's not answering her texts, what makes you think she's checking facebook?" Emily asked.

Aria shrugged her shoulders, "it's worth a try."

All of a sudden Hanna walked over towards them, "what's going on?" She asked.

"We've been trying to get ahold of you," Aria answered, "what happened in there?"

"Nothing, just the same old stupid questions," Hanna replied as she opened her locker to put her books in.

"You were in there for an hour Han. What else did he ask?" Belle asked.

"Nothing. He just took a couple of phone calls, and I sat there, waiting for him to shut up," she answered.

"Well, is he gonna question all of us alone now?" Aria asked.

"Who knows? Look, let's do this at lunch, okay?" Hanna told them, "I have to hit the ladies' room before my next class," she shut her locker and walked down the hallway to the restroom.

"Is she being werid?" Spencer questioned as she watched the blonde leave.

Belle titled her head and narrowed her eyes as she watched the blonde, "she is being werid."

...

Belle stood with the three other girls waiting for Hanna to soon join them, "he tackled Ben? What was Toby even doing in the girls locker room?" Aria questioned.

"Wait what?" Belle asked her eyebrows knitted together.

"Why are you both shocked?" Spencer questioned them, "Toby's a prev. We caught him peeping through the windows, watching us undress."

"Alison's the one who saw him do that, not us," Emily corrected.

Hanna walked over towards them, "what's up?" She greeted.

"Toby Cavanaugh got into a fight with Ben over Emily," Aria informed the blonde.

"It's wasn't over me, god. Look, he just... Saved me," Emily told them.

"For what, himself?" Spencer scoffed.

"Ew," Hanna muttered as her nose scrunched up.

"If we hadn't ask Ben, would you have told us this?" Aria question.

Emily remained quiet.

"Toby is not a good guy, emily. He could be seriously dangerous," Spencer told her.

"If he's such a bad guy, why'd he take the fall for us?" Emily questioned, making everyone go silent.

The raven haired girl glanced over at the Hastings girl and saw her face drop, Belle's eyebrows knitted together. "Is this another secret? Do you know something we don't," Belle questioned.

"Guys," Hanne spok, getting their attention, "why don't we just, like, chill and talk about this somewhere else? When we're alone."

"I don't even know what just us means anymore," Aria mumbled softly.

Hanna looked over her shoulders to see Sean and Noel walk outside, "yeah, uh. . . Let's talk about it tomorrow, okay? Are we still meeting up at the shed?" Hanna asked before turning and leaving to go to her boyfriend.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. Why not?" Aria shrugged before walking away.

Maya walked towards the group, "have you checked out the photo booth they've got in there?" Maya questioned the Fields girl.

"No. Show me the booth," Emily answered, leaving the two girls.

Spencer and Belle began to walk towards their cars, "you wanna come over?" Spencer asked.

Belle glanced over towards the brunette, "I actually have to stop by somewhere."

...

Belle ran a hand through her hair as she hopped out of her and made her way inside the small cafe, "knew I'll be seeing you around," a voice spoke behind her, casuing the raven haired girl to looked over her shoulders and spot the tan boy, she had ran into the over day. She smiled sofly and nodded.

"Isn't it late?" He questioned, "for coffee?"

Belle shook as she sighed deeply, "kinda need it. My art project isn't gonna start itself."

Nate nodded, hopping over the counter. Belle's eyebrow knitted in confusion as she watched him, "I don't think you can do that," she mumbled as she glanced around the store awkardly.

Nate placed the cup down and smirked, "you can. Only if you work here though."

"Nate," Belle muttered as she went to grabbed her coffee causing the tan boy to pull the up back slightly.

Nate give her a smirk as he walked her walk away. There was a smile present on her facial features as she shook her head and look at the ground before she glanced over her shoulder. There was something about Nate that drew her in, she didn't know what it was, maybe it was how mysterious he was that had belle intrigued, showing up out of nowhere, giving her that damn smirk.

Belle opened the car open when something fell from her cup, her eyebrows knitted together in confusion before bending down and picking up the small piece of paper. Flipping it over, a soft smile made it's way on her lips, seeing the messy writing:

𝐗𝐗𝐗 𝐗𝐗𝐗 𝐗𝐗𝐗

𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 — 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐞.

But the smile soon faded away once she had heard her phone chimed. She peered down at her phone, her eyes widen at the messages.

𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬? 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 — 𝐀

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*