NOELLE LET OUT A groan as she walked into branch. "Ow." She whispered as she rubbed her forehead. Hanna gave her a look before she began talking. Noelle hated everything about this. She hated the woods, she hated the heat, she hated the bugs, and she wasn't exactly talking to her current company. She wished she never agreed to this stupid memorial for Alison anyways, especially when they weren't even sure if Alison was actaully gone in the first place. 

"Who's idea was this again?" Hanna questioned as they walked through the woods. 

"Emily's mom." Spencer answered. 

"The shed was me." Emily corrected. "My mom just said we should do something for us. 

"Well, it was a bad idea all around." Noelle rolled her eyes, let out a hiss as she slapped her arm, stopping a mosquito from biting her. 

"Well, couldn't we do something without mosquitoes?" Hanna asked as the five trudged up a small hill. 

"I full-heartily agree." Noelle agreed, gently slapping Spencer's arm. 

"Ow." The girl hissed, slapping her arm back. 

Noelle gave her a look as she showed her her palm. "Mosquito." She responded with a roll of her eyes. "Your welcome." Spencer rolled her eyes as she gently pushed Noelle in front of her. 

"They're not mosquitoes, they're gnats." Aria corrected. 

"Whatever! They're small and annoying-" 

"Kinda like Aria." Noelle mumbled. Spencer pushed her causing her to trip. "Rude." She hissed as she regained her balance. 

"And they keep flying up my nose." Hanna finished, grabbing Noelle's arm to steady her. 

"Well, they're attracted to your perfume and your hair product, and your lip gloss." Spencer grinned as they continued walking. 

"So, what are you saying?" Hanna asked, turning to look behind her to turn to Spencer. "I attract flies?"

"Gnats." Aria chimed in once more. 

"Oh my god, Aria." Noelle let out a loud groan. "If you keep correcting the word, I'm going to gnat you across the woods." Noelle rolled her eyes at the slight hurt look on her face as she turned back around. 

"Why do I feel like this is the wrong way?" Emily spoke up from the front, stopping in her tracks. Noelle held in a groan as she almost knocked into Hanna. 

Noelle gritted her teeth as she gripped onto Hanna's hips as she yelled up to Emily. "A little warning next time please, Em."

"Sorry." She apologized quickly before looking back at the forest around them. 

"No, this is it." Spencer spoke as she walked around Noelle, who had just been hit in the face by a branch, again. "I remember that tree." She pointed up to the large brown tree that loomed over them. "It's the halfway point. There's a hundred and thirty six steps left to the shed."

"Yay." Noelle hummed sarcastically, glad she brought her sunglasses with her. 

"Have you been out here since . . . Alison?" Emily asked, hesitantly stopping on Alison's name. 

"Me?" Spencer questioned, her voice going a slight bit higher than normal. "No. No way."

"She totally has." Noelle answered as she crouched down on the floor, squatting as she looked up at her friends. The feeling helping with her back as she stretched it out. 

"But . . . you remember that tree." Aria pointed up to the large tree. 

"You guys, it's not that weird." Hanna spoke up. "I mean, we came out here in eighth grade like everyday. Even after."   

"I think this is totally the wrong place to do this . . ." Spencer shrugged before turning to Emily. "Whatever you call it shrine."

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

"Oh, nothing." Noelle shook her head. "Just the fact that she was a massive bitch and treated all of us horribly." She shrugged, ignoring all of the glares from her friends. 

"Doing it way out here makes it look like we have something to hide." Spencer spoke as she crossed her arms over her chest. 

"You're worried about what other people think?" Emily asked incredulously as if the idea was foreign to her. That wasn't the Spencer they knew and sort of love. 

"Well, aren't you?" Spencer scoffed. "Do you really want to give that creepy detective more reasons to question us?" Noelle frowned at the way Hanna's body language changed at the mention of the detective. Noelle gently grabbed her hand, frowning at the way Hanna practically jumped at the movement. Hanna let out a sigh, nodding at the look of concern her friend sent her. 

But Noelle was still concerned as Hanna let go of her hand and pushed through the girls, walking away from them. Noelle let out a sigh as she pushed herself up the floor, following behind them. "Hanna." Emily started off. "Why are you being so quiet?" 

"I'm trying to keep the bugs in my nose and out my mouth." She responded, though it seemed almost as if she was brushing them off. 

"Sounds uncomfortable." Noelle mumbled as she jogged to catch up to them. 

"You're allowed to have an a opinion on this." Emily spoke up causing Hanna to stop in her tracks. 

"You want my opinion?" Hanna questioned as she spun around to face her friends. "I say we hold off and not remember her till we know for sure she's not still here."

"What?"

"What are you talking about?" Both Aria and Spencer questioned the blond, confusion on both of their faces.

"You think she's still alive?" Emily asked, an accusing tone in her voice. 

"There's always a possibility." Noelle shrugged, keeping her face neutral. 

Spencer looked between the two girls with a look of disbelief. "Hanna, Noelle, they found her body."

"Stop." Aria stopped Spencer before she could continue. "I'm officially scared. Can we just not  . . ."

"You know what?" Hanna scoffed. "You asked for my opinion." She shook her head. "I don't believe she's really gone."  

"I agree." Noelle spoke up, ignoring the looks the other girls gave her. "Who else would be telling us our deepest secrets, that only Alison knew." 

"We went to her funeral!" Spencer objected, following after Hanna as she walked away from the girls. 

"Yeah, and when we left we all got a text from her." Hanna spoke, adding onto Noelle's point. 

"It wasn't her." Emily insisted. "Someone is messing with us."

"Ali loved to mess with us! How can we be completely sure it's not her." Noelle shook her head as she started walking backwards, her eyes meeting Spencer's. "And caskets can be empty, Spence." 

"How do you know?" Hanna nodded along to Noelle's words. "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 spoke up. 

"That's a bite. Mosquito." Hanna this time corrected Aria as they stopped once more. 

"Spencer, have you gotten any more messages?" Emily asked. 

"Haven't you?" She asked back, right as the noise of a branch breaking off close to them sounded. 

The five girls shared an alarmed look as Emily spoke up. "What was that?" Her voice was shaky as she looked over to where the sound came from. "Did you hear that?"

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

"Hello?" Hanna called out, apprehensively. "Is anybody out there?" 

"It's probably a rabbit." Spencer shook her head. 

"I don't wanna be here to find out." Noelle shook her head, as she started backing up in the direction they came from. 

"Hello?" Hanna called out once more. 

"It's a rabbit, Hanna." Spencer insisted. "It's not gonna answer you."

"Can we just get to the shed?" Emily asked, as Aria pulled Noelle back to their small group. 

The rustling got closer, as Hanna turned to the girls. "Okay, it's definitely not a rabbit." She shook her head. "Someone's out there." 

"We should just go." Noelle shook her head, "I don't want to be here to find out the difference between the two."

 "Let's turn around." Emily nodded, going back to where Noelle stood, leaning against one of the trees. 

Yet, right at that moment, all five of their phones rang, making them all freeze in their spots. 

Noelle had an annoyed look on her face as she opened her phone, though it soon turned to terrified as she read the message. 

'Heads up, BFFs. It's open season on liars and I'm going hunting.... -A' 

"Yeah, okay, now we really need to go." Noelle spoke as she stood up fully, and grabbing onto Emily. They nodded as they went back the way they came, narrowly escaping A's clutches. 

NOELLE LET OUT A yawn as she walked down the stairs the next morning, still feeling freaked out from the day before in the woods. She furrowed her brows as she smelt something savory cooking, knowing her mom certainly didn't make breakfast. 

"Boo!" Someone shouted as Noelle came around the corner into the kitchen Noelle let out a scream as she repeatedly hit her older brother on the arm in fear. Her parents laughter filled throughout the kitchen as Noelle stopped screaming. 

"What the hell, you asshole!" She shouted as she slapped his chest before wrapping his arms around his waist. Nathan Call let out a loud laugh as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. 

"You've always been so easy to scare, Ellie." He shook his head  as he let go of her. 

"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes playfully as she ran over to hug her dad. 

"Missed you, kiddo." Noah Call spoke as he kissed her forehead. "Take a seat, sweetie. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."

Noelle nodded as she took a seat at the kitchen table, sharing a warm smile with her mother. "How was New York?" Though what she meant to say was 'how's Cassidy?' But she could never do that, because no one would answer her. 

"Awesome." Nate answered, shaking his head in disbelief. "You really need to come with us, sis." 

"Can I go next time, dad?" Noelle sent a hopeful glance to her father, who sent a look to her mother, who then sent a glare to Nate. Nate's cheeks turned red as Noelle looked down at the wood table. 

At seeing the look on her face, Noah let out a sigh, not wanting to disappoint his daughter more. "We'll see, Ellie." Noelle sent her father a grin, as her mother's glare turned from her son to her husband. 

"Noah!" Her mother hissed, dropping her newspaper onto the kitchen table. Noelle slightly jumped at the noise as her father rolled his eyes, a carefree look on his face. 

"What, Mimi?" Her father questioned, a confused look on his face. "Noelle is sixteen, she has a right to know what's happening to Cassidy." 

Naomi's eyes narrowed in the direction of her husband. "It's not about-" Her mother let out a choked breath at the name as every Call looked down in sadness. Naomi shook her head as she sucked in a rough breath. "It's about the fact that I don't believe Noelle is ready for New York, I don't think she's ready." 

Noelle let out a scoff. She always knew her mother had a favorite child, she just always hoped it was her. "Yet, Nate gets to go." She jeered, challenging her mother. "Nate's only a year older than me, how come he can go, and I can't?"

"Hey!" Nate shouted, cutting off whatever his mother was about to say. "That's not fair." At the looks he got from his female family members, his entire face went red. "Please leave me out of this."

Naomi rolled her eyes as she stood up, their nice family breakfast now pushed aside. "We are not bringing you to an unknown place, Noelle. It is final." 

"This isn't fair!" Noelle shouted, standing up as well. She stared her mother down, her eyes blazing with fury. "How are you going to tell me it's an unknown place when you guys go there every month? It's bullshit!"

"Hey!" Noah yelled, his shout startling Noelle as she turned to her father with guilty eyes. "You do not use that tone of voice with your mother." He chastised. "If your mother says no, then it's no. It's final."

"Like I said." She spoke, her voice heavy. "Bullshit." She spat before walking out of the kitchen. She grabbed her bag for school by the door, slipping on an old pair of crocs by the door, not even caring that she was still in her pajamas and walked out, too livid to even think about anything right now. 

Inside the Call house, Noah tiredly ran a hand down his face. He turned to Nate with a sigh. He picked up once of the breakfast sandwiches he made for his family. He wrapped it in a paper towel before calling out to his son, who was currently getting his shoes on for school. "Nathan." Nate looked up at his name, a distraught look on his face. "Please find your sister, and give her this." 

"Sure, dad." He nodded, taking the sandwich out of his hand, not saying another word as he walked out of the house. 

Naomi let out a sigh as she walked closer to her husband, but stopped in her tracks once she saw him put a single finger in the air. "Not another word, Naomi." Noah spoke, his dark as he too left the kitchen. 

In his four year old BMW, Nate chased after his little sister. Finding her walking into main street, Nate called her name. "Noelle, Nellie, come on!" 

"No!" She shouted back as she continued walking, not caring about the looks it gave her. 

"Just let me drop you off at school, then you can ignore me the rest of the day." Noelle stopped, and rolled her eyes as she watched her brother's car stop with her. Nate let out a breath once she got in the car. He sent her a small smile as he handed her the sandwich. "Dad wanted you to eat something before today." 

"Thanks." Noelle murmured as she unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. She seriously missed her father's cooking. It was quiet until they pulled up to school. "Thanks for the ride, sorta."

Nate cracked a smile in her direction as she unbuckled her seat-belt. "Good luck at school. Be careful." He warned causing her to roll her eyes. "Hey, I'm serious. Stay calm, and you'll be fine."

She sent him a small smile as she opened the car door. "I'll try. Same to you." The two share another smile, before leaving the car, unfortunately ready to start her day filled with misery.