𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆
𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐋
𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄
    𝐕. 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐛.

ROSEWOOD,
PENNSYLIVANIA. 2009

𝐎𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 large smile on her face as she danced around Emily Field's, carefree.  While everyone was more concerned about which clothes they liked, Noelle loved to dance. She was never really good at it, but she always found it so fun. 

"Come on, Nelly!" Alison called over to Noelle who stopped mid-dance. The girls laughed at her face, while Alison just smiled at her. "Help us!"  

Noelle groaned as she skipped over to the bed. "I like this one!" She pointed out to a black tank top, which Alison held up with a grin, shaking it over her chest. "Stop!" She laughed as she pushed Alison a little bit away. Alison grinned as she put the tank top down, and grabbed a pink floral top. Noelle took her attention off Alison and turned to Hanna, who sat down on Emily's bed with a sad look on her face. "You okay?" She nudged her. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine." She nodded, trying to muster up a convincing look. Noelle just squeezed her shoulder, knowing she wouldn't be, but hoped she knew she'd be there for her. 

Noelle turned back to Alison, just to see her happy face, turn into one of rage. "I see you!" She shouted as she pushed past the girls and to Emily's bedroom window.  "Oh my God! I can't believe it!" She shouted.   

"Who was it, Ali, what did you see?" Emily questioned, speaking what the rest of the girls were thinking. 

"He was in that tree spying on us!" She shouted, all over her outrage on her face. "I am so creeped out!"

 "Who was it?" Spencer questioned, as Noelle wrapped her arms around her midsection, no longer feeling safe as she did before. 

"It was that perv, Toby Cavanaugh." Noelle let out a small gasp. She knew Toby, he was nice to her, and he never seemed as creepy enough to spy on them like Alison was claiming he did. 

"Are you sure?" Aria questioned. 

"Yes, I'm sure!" Alison shouted. "He was right there!" Alison's face upturned as she thought about it more. "I bet he saw all of us naked." Alison spoke disgusted. 

"Wh . . . Should we tell someone?" Aria questioned, seeming almost as unsure as the rest of them. 

"I mean, we could . . ." Alison paused mid-sentence before a smirk came on her lips. "But I have a better idea." 

"This is a bad idea." Noelle muttered to both Emily and Spencer, the two nodding along with her. The six girls currently stood outside of the Cavanaugh house, in between where Emily and theirs's met.  Alison had a horrible plan involving a smoke bomb. It was incredibly dangerous, and a million things could go wrong. But none of them went against it until now. 

"Are we sure he's not in there?" Aria questioned Alison. She was talking about Toby's shed. Alison planned on throwing the smoke bomb in there to freak him out, as payback for spying on them. 

"He's not, okay?" Alison snapped as she moved forwards. "You got the lighter right, Spencer?" 

"Let's wait a second." Emily spoke as she gripped Alison's arm, keeping her in place. 

"What, Emily?" She demanded. 

"I don't want to do this." She shook her head. 

"Fine." Alison nodded. "Go back. You're on your own."

"Okay, maybe, Emily's right." Aria played peacemaker as she stepped in front of Emily just a little bit. "We should just call the cops. They'll take him in. They'll take care of it."

"I agree." Noelle agreed. "This isn't safe, something could do severely wrong." She shook her head. "I'm not getting in trouble for you, Alison."

"Where's the fun in that?" Alison questioned as she looked at the apprehensive girls in front of her. "Girls, Toby Cavanaugh is a freak and we need to teach him a lesson. If he thinks he can come and spy on us while we were in your bedroom, Emily, he needs to know that his little domain is no longer a safe little hideout." Alison's face turned disgusted once again. "I mean who knows what he does in there all day, that little freak!" 

"Are you sure that it was Toby?" Spencer asked, hesitance in her voice. 

"Yes!" Alison snapped, glaring a Spencer. "And it's a stink bomb for God's sakes! We're not nuking the place. Now let's do it." Alison walked up to the door, finalizing what they were doing. "Give me the lighter." She demanded. Spencer sighed before walking over and handing her the lighter. 

Noelle held her breath as she she watched Alison light the bomb. She didn't like this at all. They waited as Alison threw the bomb in, looking around the shed to see if anyone was in there. Noelle jumped once Alison let out a sharp gasp. "Let's get out of here. Run!" She shouted. They all ran away from the shed, running down the Cavanaugh drive way, right as an explosion came from the shed. The girls all let out shocked screams as they stared at the now smoking shed. 

"Ali, what did you do?" Spencer demanded as the shed caught on fire. 

"We have to get out of here!" Emily shouted.

"Come on, let's go." Spencer spoke as they all dragged each other away from the flaming shed. 

PRESENT DAY, ROSEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL.

𝐍𝐎𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 through the door to Mr. Fitz's class, right as the bell rang. She had the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her head as she passed by everyone to her seat in the back of the class. She only had three more classes for the day, then she could leave. The whole thing with both A and Jenna had scared her enough for one day, and all she wanted to do was go home and never leave her bed. 

"Okay, people, let's take our seats." Mr. Fitz called out right as Noelle sat down. He stood facing the board as he wrote 'Innocence' on the black-board. How ironic. 

Mona Vanderwaal walked into the room on her phone, right as the teacher turned around. Mona had an apologetic look on her face as she asked, "Am I late?" 

"It's-It's Mona, right?" Mr. Fitz questioned. 

"That's right, Mr. Fritz." Mona nodded as laughter rang throughout the room. Noelle rolled her eyes as she shimmied down her chair more. She just wanted to leave. "What?" She glared at the other students. 

"Take your seat, Mona, please." Mr. Fitz encouraged with a small laugh. Mona simply rolled her eyes, before going to sit next to Hanna. Noelle rolled her eyes as she sank in her seat, just wanting to leave already. 

"If the mockingbird represents the idea of innocence . . ." Mr. Fitz started off, handing out papers row by row. "What characters are innocent?" Noelle smiled slightly at the student ahead of her, as she took the paper from them. "Take a second. Jot down your ideas. We'll discuss."

Noelle furrowed her eyebrows as Aria walked in way too late for it to be an accident, like Mona, sliding a piece of paper onto Mr. Fitz' desk without meeting his eyes at all. She watched carefully as Mr. Fitz and Aria sent each other forbidden glances. She knew those looks well. It was the same ones that she and Brandon gave each other nearly two years ago. Only this time, Noelle felt sick to her stomach as she watched the two give each other the "glances". He was her teacher, a grown adult, while Aria was still a just a kid. It was disgusting.