04. Can You Hear Me Now?

"How badly did your mom bust you over wrecking Sean's car?" a curious Emily asked Hanna, as the four friends walked together towards the town's park.

"Okay, I did not wreck it, I damaged it" Hanna defended, "And actually everyone's being really mature about it".

"Oh" Emily commented, having a slightly hard time believing that Hanna wasn't in serious trouble over this.

"There is no oh, we're just being grown ups that's all" Hanna stated, as the girls arrived at the park bench.

"Okay so the town is gonna put in a new bench and we'll plant the flowers beds and there's gonna be a pathway of art tiles" Aria explained.

"Art tiles?" a confused Spencer asked, as she took a seat on the park bench.

"Messages, pictures, memories of Alison" Emily clarified.

"Aww, like little headstones" Hanna said.

"Hanna" Aria scolded.

"What?" Hanna asked.

"We should each do a tile" Emily added.

"You know I have had Alison's bracelet since the day we found it in the woods and I do not want the responsibility anymore" Hanna said, taking Alison's bracelet out of her purse and forwarding it towards Aria.

"I do not want it" Aria protested.

Hanna looked at her other two friends but even they didn't take the bracelet from her hand, "Okay seriously, somebody take this".

Spencer finally took the bracelet from Hanna's hand, "Look at us, a bunch of babies, there is nothing that A can say or do to get us into trouble without making trouble for herself".

"Are you sure it's a her?" Hanna asked.

"Him, her, it doesn't make a difference" Spencer stated, before taking her laptop out of her bag, she placed her laptop in her lap and opened it up.

"What are you doing?" a confused Emily asked.

"I'm gonna block all messages from people that I don't know" Spencer replied, "IMs, texts, emails, everything, screw A, there, whose next?".

After a little bit of hesitation, Emily took the laptop from Spencer, who stood up from the bench to allow the Field's girl to take her place.

The moment Spencer stood up, her eyes landed on their english teacher Mr. Fitz riding a bicycle, "I spy with my little eye something that begins with F".

"Hey Mr. Fitz!" Hanna waved, who gladly waved back.

"Looking good Mr. Fitz!" Spencer yelled.

An annoyed Aria quickly sat next to Emily and took the laptop from her, "My turn".

"You know there are teachers you don't want to see on a bike and there are teachers that you do want to see on a bike" Spencer commented, completely missing the annoyed look on Aria's face.

"Yeah, I would not want to see Mr. Glory on a bike" Hanna said.

"I don't want to see Mr.  Glory in any kind of motion" Emily stated, making Spencer and Hanna chuckle.

"Ah, Mr. Fitz" Hanna gushed.

"Hanna" an annoyed Aria called out, "Your turn".

Hanna sat next to Aria and took the laptop from her while Spencer looked at Emily, "You talked to Ben?".

"Nothing to talk about" Emily stated.

"So you're really done?" Aria asked.

"It's okay" Emily assured, "I'm fine".

"Okay" Aria said, "If you say so".

"I wish we had a drumroll for this" Hanna said, "Alright here it goes, we are officially A proofed".

"Listen, all those little messages sipping through the air all around us" Spencer said, as Hanna shut her laptop.

"Yeap, and none of them from A" Aria said.

"This feels like a good thing" Emily said, as she took a seat next to Aria on the bench.

"Of course it's a good thing" Hanna said, "Out of mind, out of sight".

Just as Hanna said that, a paper flys towards the four girls, Aria picks it up and realises it's one of the missing posters of Alison, on it someone has written, Ding Dong the Bitch is Dead.

The four girls immediately look around in worry but found no one suspicious near them, Aria quickly scrunches the paper up and throws it far away from them as possible, and then the four friends quickly leave the park.

***

"Spence, why didn't your folks take you to New York with your sister?" Hanna asked, as her, Spencer, and Aria stood in their school cafeteria together, "I mean, you deserve some retail therapy too".

"Not as much as Melissa" Spencer stated, just as Emily walked over to her friends, "Ooh, hot scarf, Em".

"Is it new?" Hanna asked.

Emily hesitated for a moment before she shook her head, "No".

Before any of the girls could say anything, Hanna's phone ringing caught all their attention, Hanna pulled her phone out of her purse and once her eyes landed on the person calling her, she froze.

"Go ahead, answer it" Aria said, "I mean, we know who it can't be from".

"Hanna" a confused Emily said, wondering why was the Marin girl not answering her phone.

"It's my dad" a shocked Hanna revealed to her friends, before finally answering her phone, "Hey, dad".

"Has she even talked to her dad since he walked out on them?" Emily asked, once Hanna had walked away from them to talk to her dad in private.

"I don't know" Spencer said, "Hanna and her father, it's one of those don't ask, don't tell, situations".

"We shouldn't stare, come on" Aria said, just as her phone beeped, "Ugh, my brother's post just showed up on my loop".

"You added him as a favorite?" an amused Spencer asked.

"Yeah, moment of weakness" Aria defended, as the two girls threw their cups of coffees in the bin.

While walking, the girls completely missed Toby and Lo walking towards them, causing Spencer and Lo to crash into each other, and Toby and Emily to block each other's way.

"Woah" Lo said, quickly grabbing Spencer's wrist and pulling her against him to stop her from falling, "You good, Hastings?".

"Yeah" a slightly flustered Spencer said, "Nice save".

 "Thank you" Lo said, a small smirk forming on his face as he took in Spencer's flustered condition.

"Sorry" Toby told Emily, as he quickly moved out of her way.

"My fault" Emily said, before walking past Toby.

Once Emily had walked past him, Toby looked towards his best friend, "Lo, come on".

Lo shot Toby an annoyed look before finally letting go of Spencer's wrist, "I'll see you around, Spence".

"See you around, Loren" Spencer said, a small smile forming on her face.

Lo took a moment to stare at Spencer's smile, before shaking his head and walking over to Toby, "Couldn't you have waited a moment?" an annoyed Lo whispered to Toby.

"What would have that done?" Toby asked Lo, as the two boys walked away from the three girls, "It's not like you're finally going to tell Spencer how you feel about her".

"How do you know I wasn't about to tell her?" Lo challenged.

"Because you've had years to tell her and yet you've kept your mouth shut" Toby retorted.

"I had to keep my mouth shut then, you know I had no choice" Lo defended.

"Fine, then you had no choice, what about now?" Toby asked, "Why does Spencer still not know what you feel for her? What you've always felt for her?".

Lo let out a sigh, "I don't know, I guess I don't want her to reject me, because that would suck ass".

"Well, if you don't tell Spencer then you're gonna have to watch her with someone else" Toby said, making Lo glare at him, "What? Don't give me that look, a girl like Spencer isn't going to stay single for too long Lo, so either man up and tell her what you feel, or get ready to watch her fall in love with someone that's not you".

While Lo was left standing in the middle of the cafeteria, thinking about Toby's words, on the other side of the cafeteria, Aria turned to her two friends, "I wonder if you two just bumped into A and his helper".

Spencer frowned hearing Aria, "Lo is not A's helper" she defended, "And plus, it doesn't matter, we're done with A, right?".

"Right" Aria confirmed, "Yeah, but I'm still staying out of Toby and Lo's way".

"I guess that's the safest thing to do" Emily realised, while Spencer stayed quiet, she wanted to tell her friends to not put Toby and Lo in the same sentence, she refused to believe Lo was involved in any of this, but she also knew the moment she defended Lo, her friends will start asking her questions, questions she didn't want to answer, not yet at least so she stayed quiet, and after sparing Lo one last glance, walked out of the cafeteria with her two friends.

***

"He has to be in New England for a couple of weeks but he's making a special trip out to see me" an excited Hanna informed her friends about what her dad said on the phone, as the four girls walked down the hallway of their school.

"That's--that's great, Hanna" Aria said.

"What?" Hanna asked, seeing the skeptical faces on all three of her friends faces.

"It's just, do you think he's out here because of the thing with Sean's car?" Emily wondered.

"No" Hanna stated, as the girls stopped walking, "He's not, I asked, absolutely not, and besides even if he was at least he's still coming out to see me".

Before any of the girls could say anything, their attention went towards a teacher, who was rushing over to them, "Spencer!" he called out.

"Mr. Sheldrake" Spencer greeted.

"I was gonna tell you in class but here you are" an excited Mr. Sheldrake said, "Remarkable job on the Russian history essay".

"Oh, thanks" a suddenly awkward Spencer said.

"Very lucid presentation" Mr. Sheldrake praised.

"It's not really a new idea" Spencer said.

"I've submitted it for the golden orchid" Mr. Sheldrake informed.

"Wait, you what?" a shocked Spencer asked, not expecting Mr. Sheldrake to do that.

"It's a honorarium" Mr. Sheldrake said, "But you know the really upside to winning a essay competition like that is how it looks on your applications".

"Wait--".

"We'll discuss the details after class" Mr. Sheldrake interrupted Spencer, as he walked away from her.

"Okay, what's a golden orchid?" a slightly confused Hanna asked once Mr. Sheldrake was gone.

"It's a national competition for historical writing" Spencer informed.

"More academic bling for Spencer" Emily praised the Hasting's girl, who was not happy about this at all.

***

"I wish I had a sister smart enough to steal papers from" Hanna teased, as she stood infront of Spencer's mirror in her bedroom while trying to see how her clothes would look on her.

"Using Melissa's paper was supposed to be a stop gap" Spencer defended, as she took a seat on the couch in her room, "If I ask Sheldrake to withdraw the essay he'll know something's wrong".

Hanna turned to face the worried Hasting's girl, "Spencer, what makes you so sure you're gonna win the competition?", immediately Spencer gave Hanna a look, "Oh right, I forgot, it's in your DNA".

"Here" Spencer said, handing the Marin girl another jacket, "Try this one".

"This has to be the perfect outfit" Hanna said, as she put the jacket on and looked at herself in Spencer's mirror, "My dad hasn't seen me since I lost the weight".

"That jacket's not you" Spencer said.

"Then it's perfect" Hanna stated, before glancing at the Hasting's girl through the mirror, "Spencer".

"What?" Spencer asked.

"Have you peeked?" a curious Hanna asked, as she turned to face her friend.

"We blocked whoever it was" Spencer reminded, "And that's it, united front remember".

"No, no I just wanted to know if you peeked" Hanna quickly defended.

Spencer shook her head, "No".

"Yeah, me neither" Hanna informed, as she turned back to the mirror and looked at her outfit one final time.

***

Next day, an extremely happy Hanna met up with her friends in their shared english classroom, "It was great" she informed, talking about her evening with her dad, "Incredible really".

"Where'd your dad take you?" Emily asked.

"Jolly rogers" Hanna informed, making the rest of her friends laugh.

"What? The lame amusement park?" an amused Aria asked.

"Okay, it is not lame" Hanna defended, "We didn't go on a tilt a world, we walked around and talked, and I told him about what's going on", Hanna's words immediately caused her friends to exchange slight shocked looks among them, "Some" Hanna quickly clarified after seeing her friends faces, "Of what was going on and he listened, he wants to take me to a real dinner tonight, he said he has something to tell me, I don't know I think he wants to spend more time with me, I mean maybe summers in Maryland".

"Seriously?" Emily asked.

"Would you go?" a curious Aria asked.

"Well I wouldn't move away" Hanna said, "Not forever, I don't want to leave my mom alone, but I would like to see my dad more".

"Wow" Spencer said.

"Good for you" Aria added, just as the bell rang and everyone took their seats and waited for Mr. Fitz to start the class.

"I'm wondering" Ezra Fitz started the class, "Is anyone bothered by Atticus's hypocrisy, at the end of the novel? No? Well he's Mr. Due process when it comes to Tom Robinson then as soon as Bob Ewell gets stabbed, he's willing to by into the sheriff's cover up".

Spencer put her hand up, "He was protecting Boo Radley".

"Protecting him?" Ezra asked, "From what? The justice system? Atticus is an officer of the court and he's conspiring to cover up and crime and he's willing to his own son take the fall for something that Boo Radley did".

"It was a trade" Aria spoke up.

"What was a trade?" Ezra asked.

"Mr. Ewell would have killed those kids, Boo saved them" Aria said, "And Atticus was still feeling guilty over Tom Robinson so he offered Jem to take Boo's place, almost like a sacrifice".

"Oh, very noble" Ezra taunted, "Too bad Jem was unconscious, you think he might have had a different opinion?".

"No, Jem would have said yes" Aria argued.

"You're sure about that?" Ezra challenged.

"He was brought up right" Aria stated.

Ezra stared at Aria for a moment, he's attention went towards another student when he cleared his throat, "I'm sorry Mr. Sperling, do you have something to add to the discussion? Aside from phlegm".

"Just, well his dad was a lawyer, he could get the kid off, being brought up right had nothing to do with it".

"Really?" Ezra asked, "The whole book is about what shapes us into adults, or haven't you been paying attention?".

"No, no, I'm just saying that she--".

"No, no, what you're saying is that Aria made an attempt to understand this book and you haven't" Ezra snapped.

"No, I wasn't saying that, Mr. Fitz".

"Sorry, what are you trying to say?" an annoyed Ezra asked.

"If you let him complete, then you'll know he's trying to say that it would have been easier for Atticus to get Jem off then for him to get Boo off" an annoyed Lo said, gaining everyone's attention as he rolled his eyes at Ezra's unnecessary attitude.

***

Spencer sat in her room, staring at Alison's bracelet that she was holding in her hands, when suddenly she heard a door shutting and something crashing to the floor, a worried Spencer quickly placed Alison's bracelet back into her drawer, and slowly started sneaking downstairs, as she arrived downstairs, immediately her eyes landed on the open back door, she quickly grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter, "Hello?" she called out.

"Uh oh" she heard someone say.

"Who is it?" a panicked Spencer asked.

"Where the hell are you?", Spencer breathed a sigh of relief when a drunk Wren, carrying a flower pot in his hand, came in her view, "I've picked this for you, from the garden".

"Wren, what the hell are you doing here?" an annoyed Spencer asked.

"I've come here to set things right" Wren informed.

"You're drunk" Spencer pointed out, as she placed the knife in her hand back on the kitchen counter.

"One does not come unfortified to the house of Hastings" Wren defended.

"Wren, I thought you were an axe murderer or something" Spencer snapped.

"I tried calling you, but you're blocking my number" Wren said.

"No" a confused Spencer said, when suddenly realisation drew on her, "No, I wasn't blocking you, I just--", Spencer stopped talking when her eyes landed on the back door, "Did you break through the back door?" a shocked Spencer asked, as she went to check the damaged Wren caused on the back door.

"I had difficulties locating the front of the house, I'm sorry" Wren apologised.

"Wren, go" Spencer demanded, pointing towards the door, "Now".

"I've thought of nothing but you since you came to see me" Wren informed, "I've been a coward, but that ends tonight, I'm here to take full responsibility, summon your father".

Spencer let out an amused chuckle, "I'm not summoning anybody, my parents are in New York, with Melissa".

"Well I should depart" Wren said, trying to place the flower pot in his hands on to the kitchen counter, but missing causing the pot to fall to the ground and shatter.

"Great" a frustrated Spencer said, as she kneeled by the mess, realising she was going to have to clean this up, Wren bent down to help but he ended up falling on the floor instead causing Spencer to quickly lunge forward and steady him.

"Hello" Wren greeted.

"Just, great" Spencer laughed.

"Your face, is very fair" Wren praised, for a moment the two just stared at each other, with small smiles on their faces.

"How about some black coffee?" Spencer offered, putting some distance between her and Wren.

Wren immediately shook his head, "I've been drinking scotch, I'd rather not mix my beverages".

An amused Spencer grabbed Wren's hand and helped him stand up from the ground and carefully helped him sit on the kitchen stool.

***

"I'm sorry about the mess" a now sober Wren apologised to Spencer as she drank a sip of her coffee.

"I'll clean that up later" Spencer assured.

"I'm not talking about the geranium" Wren clarified.

After a moment of silence, Spencer looked at Wren, "Why did you think you had to get drunk to talk to my father?".

"They may be complex psychological reasons but mainly because he scares the vinegar out of me" Wren said.

Spencer let out a small chuckle, "He's really not that bad, once you get to know him".

"Things will go back to normal" Wren told Spencer, "Eventually".

"Yeah" Spencer whispered, "What passes for normal around here".

"I thought you wanted things to go back to the way they were" a confused Wren reminded.

"I guess I do" a confused Spencer said, honestly she had no idea what she wanted at this point, "I don't know, I've never known anything else, I know I never wanted to hurt Melissa".

"Yeah" Wren agreed.

"Sometimes it looks like north and south Korea between us, but, she is my sister" Spencer said, looking at Wren, "That still counts".

Wren took a deep breath before slowly sliding off the kitchen stool, "Well, I think I've imposed enough".

"Um, you can't drive like that" Spencer pointed out as she also stood up.

"Oh, I'm not going all the way back to Philadelphia" Wren informed, "I got a room in the edge wood motor court".

Spencer nodded her head, "You can't drive anywhere" she repeated, "Give me your keys", Wren handed his keys over to Spencer, "Come on", Spencer held Wren's hand and helped him walk out the Hastings house.

***

"How you gonna get home?" Wren asked, as Spencer walked him towards his room at the edge wood motor court.

"Um" Spencer started when her eyes landed on Hanna pulling up, "Don't worry about me".

"I was telling the truth" Wren said, "About wishing I'd met you first", Wren took a step towards Spencer but before he could make any move on her, someone calling Spencer's name caught their attention.

"Spence?".

Spencer turned around and her eyes went wide seeing Lo standing there, "Lo" she whispered, "What are you doing here?".

"I live here" Lo informed.

"You live here?" a shocked Spencer asked.

"It's temporary" Lo clarified, "Till I find a good apartment, what are you doing here so late?".

"Oh I was here to drop Wren off" Spencer informed, gesturing towards Wren who was looking at Lo.

Lo looked at Wren and immediately his expressions hardened, "Right" he whispered, before looking back at Spencer, "Need me to drop you home?".

"Oh no that's okay, Hanna's here" Spencer said, "Um, I'll see you two around".

"Goodnight Spencer" Wren said.

"Bye Wren" Spencer said, before she looked at Lo, "Bye".

"Bye Spence" Lo whispered.

Both Wren and Lo stood there for a moment, watching Spencer walk over to Hanna's car, they then looked at each other and without saying anything to each other, they walked away in opposite directions.

***

"What are we going to do about A?" a frustrated Hanna asked Spencer as the two girls entered the Hastings living room together, "He or she or it hasn't stopped, they're calling radio stations, making dedications, what do we do now?".

"I don't know, Hanna" an overwhelmed Spencer admitted.

"Well it was your idea to shut her out" Hanna reminded.

"And everyone went along with it" Spencer snapped.

"United we stand" Hanna taunted, "Great", she turned towards the Hastings kitchen but she suddenly froze once her eyes landed on the mini grave made on the Hastings kitchen counter from the flower pot Wren had shattered, "Spencer".

"Somebody's been in the house" Spencer realised, "Alison's bracelet!".

Both Hanna and Spencer quickly ran up to her room, Spencer quickly opened up her drawer and breathed a sigh of relief seeing the bracelet still there, the two girls turned to face Spencer's mirror, but what they saw there caused them to let out scared gasps.

***

Spencer ended up sending a SOS text to both Aria and Emily, once the two girls had arrived, she led them right up to her room and showed her the mirror that had a A message written on it.

It won't be that easy, bitches
- A

"Is that jungle red?" Hanna wondered, looking at the colour the message was written with.

"Alison's colour" Emily realised as the girls stared at the message on the mirror, all four extremely terrified.

***

Presenting 1x04 of Love Calls!

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