Ethan's Pov

Me and the girls were currently at Emily's house, we were in her room looking at the paper Toby gave us to figure out the clue to see if it could link us to A.

However, I could feel some serious tension between Aria and Hanna. They were barely speaking to each other. 

Aria literally refused to be anywhere near Hanna.

Because while me and the girls were sitting on Emily's bed, Aria was sitting near her window.

Besides that, Spencer and I told the girls about Melissa being pregnant and to say they were shocked would be an understatement.

"Okay, so, your sister's pregnant. How'd that happen?" Hanna asked me and Spencer.

"We figure pretty much the usual way" I said and Spencer nodded.

"It's not really a 'how' question, it's more of a 'why' question" Emily said.

"Well, I mean, I guess Melissa could have gone all maternal, but I doubt it" Spencer said.

"This is so creepy" Hanna groaned, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Where are they now?" Emily asked.

"Philadelphia. Shopping" I snorted.

"What do you think this means?" Hanna asked, gesturing to the clue Toby gave us.

"I don't know, but Toby wanted us to have it" Spencer said.

I nodded and grabbed the paper and handed it to Spencer, who took it from me and nodded in thanks.

"There. It's in braille, so" Spencer said.

"You want to see this, Aria?" I asked, gesturing her to come over to where we were so she could see.

"No. I can see just fine from here" Aria said, shooting Hanna a dirty look before looking back outside.

"Ok" I nodded, quite awkwardly.

Hanna rolled her eyes, and I guess Emily saw because she looked at me in confusion but I just shrugged, confused like she was.

"The first letter's a B" Spencer said, writing the letter down on her notebook.

"A. It's an A, the next letter" I said to Spencer, who nodded and quickly wrote it down on her book.

"I think it's gonna tell us who A is" Hanna said, her eyes slightly wide.

"D?" Spencer asked, confused as she wrote the letter down.

"B, A, D" Emily said, reading off what Spencer wrote on the notebook.

"Bad" Hanna scoffed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"That's the whole message, bad?" Spencer said, looking confused and a bit annoyed too.

"Um, what's it supposed to mean?" Emily asked in confusion.

"It means you got punked. Toby doesn't trust us. I don't blame him" Aria scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"He may not trust us but he trusts Ethan. I doubt he would give us something fake if Ethan were involved with it" Hanna said.

Aria didn't bother looking at her and just continued looking outside.

"Yeah, I don't think he'd mess with us like this" Emily said.

"You'd be surprised what people are capable of" Aria said, turning around and looking directly at Hanna.

I raised an eyebrow at that and looked at Hanna to see that her eyes were filled with nothing but slight guilt and annoyance.

"You guys, we have to figure this out. This might be a joke, but it could be something real" Spencer said.

"Well, look, either way, Toby's not the enemy" I said.

"You know what, guys? I'm gonna go" Aria said, getting up and gathering her things.

When she left me, Spencer and Emily all looked at each other in confusion. Why would she just leave like that?

"What was that all about?" Spencer asked.

"How should I know?" Hanna scoffed, rolling her eyes.

I looked at Hanna in confusion and slight worry. Something happened between those two and I'm going to find out what it is.

The Next Day

It was the next day and me and the girls were at school. We were eating lunch in the cafeteria while waiting for Aria and Hanna to arrive.

"You know, Aria might be right about this. Toby does have every reason to give us, except Ethan, a hard time" Emily said.

"I suppose, but that's just not the feeling that I got from talking to him" Spencer said.

"And maybe if you all had been nicer to him instead of accusing him of something he didn't do you would've gotten something real" I deadpanned.

Emily sighed while Spencer gave me a 'really' look. All I did was shrug and shake my head.

Aria and Hanna both walked over to us and smiled at us. We smiled back at them as they both sat down.

"What is with you and the Artful Dodger?" Spencer asked.

"Who?" Hanna asked.

"Caleb" Emily said.

"I thought that thing at the swim meet was a one-off" Spencer said.

"It was" Hanna nodded.

"We just saw you talking to him" Emily said.

"And you gave him something that looked like a wet oven mitt" Spencer said.

"Ok, it was his hat" Hanna said.

"What are you doing with his hat?" I asked, a small teasing smirk appearing on my face.

"Why shouldn't I have his hat?" Hanna asked, trying to stop a smile from appearing on her face.

"Hanna, maybe you're looking for something a little edgier after Sean, but this guy is dark" Spencer said.

"He's not dark, Spencer" I sternly said.

"Well he's dark enough" Spencer said.

"Well, he's no Arthur Dodger, whoever that is" Hanna scoffed.

"Yeah, he's just had it tough" Aria said, defending both Hanna and Caleb.

"Are you two on speaking terms again?" Spencer asked with a hopeful smile.

"Of course we are" Aria smiled, looking at Hanna, who smile back at her and nodded.

"You need to be really careful about that guy" Emily said in a warning tone, going back to the Caleb topic.

"Ok, seriously, what the hell is with you guys being so judgmental?" I asked.

The girls looked at me and I took that as my cue to continue talking.

"First it was Toby being Alison's killer and now you want Hanna to stay away from Caleb because you guys think he's bad news. Well guess what, he's not bad news. He's just someone that's had a tough life, just like Toby. Maybe instead of judging him just based on how he looks and act, get to know him more" I sternly said.

After finding out more about Caleb I immediately felt bad for him.

After the whole 'punching him in the face' we started hanging out more and I even gave him my number so he could text me whenever he wanted. So he has someone to hang out with. 

And I really don't want my friends or my sister to start judging him when they don't know him. With the exception of Aria and Hanna since the three of us know his situation.

"The coach is avoiding me. That's what the coach is doing" we heard an angry male voice say.

We turned around to see a male at the teachers lunch table and by the look on his face we can tell he was angry.

"Are you a parent?" Mr. Fitz asked, standing up.

"Yes, I'm a parent. Nick McCullers. My daughter is Paige McCullers" Mr. McCullers said.

"I have your daughter in English comp. I'm Ezra Fitz" Mr. Fitz smiled politely at him, extending his hand for him to shake.

"The coach" Mr. McCullers sternly said, not shaking his hand.

I glared angrily at him, I may not necessarily like Mr. Fitz completely, but he was just being polite.

"I'll tell you what. Why don't we walk down to the principal's office and see if we can't find coach Fulton?" Mr. Fitz suggested.

"I've seen the principal, and all I got was alot of politically correct double-talk about the agenda in this place that's penalizing my daughter. Taking opportunities away from her and giving them to someone who doesn't deserve them" Mr. McCullers angrily said, raising his voice.

By now everyone had gone silent in the cafeteria and seeing everything go down between Mr. McCullers and Mr. Fitz.

I glared angrily at him, what the hell was his problem?

I clenched my fists in anger and I felt Spencer placing her hand on top of my shoulder, trying to calm me down.

"Everybody gets a fair chance here, Mr. McCullers. We go out of our way to make sure that that's how it works" Mr. Fitz said, trying to calm him down.

"My girl is the best swimmer on that team, and you can't give it to somebody just because-" Mr. McCullers started.

That's fucking it, that man crossed the line.

I shot up from my seat and slammed my fists at the table as hard as I could.

"Hey!" I yelled.

Everyone in the cafeteria all flinched at my outburst and turned to look at me. The girls were looking at me with wide eyes in shock and worry.

I ignored them and marched over to where Mr. Fitz and Mr. McCullers were.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you don't get to come in here and start complaining about how your daughter didn't become team captain. And you most certainly don't get to come in here and insult one of my best friends for becoming team captain because of her sexuality" I sternly said.

"Young man, this is none-" Mr. McCullers started but I cut him off.

"No, you shut up because the one that is talking right now is me. Not you, me. So shut your damn mouth right now" I warned him.

Everyone in the cafeteria gasped when I said that, their full attention was now on me.

Even the teachers were staring at me with wide eyes. 

Mr. McCullers was the same, his eyes were filled with disbelief and it made me internally smirk.

"We're gonna get one thing straight, Emily Fields didn't become team captain because she's lesbian. She became team captain because she worked hard, she worked her ass every hour of every day to become team captain. One thing I know about Emily is that she never gives up and works hard. I know for a fact that she didn't get it because she's lesbian, she got it because of her hard work and her determination. So for you to come in here and call her out like that, you're not only embarrassing yourself, but your daughter too" I sternly said.

I walked closer to him and jabbed my finger in his chest, glaring angrily at him.

"And if you ever speak that way about my best friend again, you better believe that I won't be afraid to hunt you down myself. And you should know that a Hastings, always keeps their promise" I sternly but angrily said.

Mr. McCullers didn't say anything. He just stared at me with wide eyes in shock, his jaw all the way to the ground.

I removed my finger from his chest and crossed my arms at him, daring him to say something, anything.

When he didn't say anything, Mr. Fitz took that as a cue to walk him out of the cafeteria.

When they were gone, I uncrossed my arms, closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. 

I jumped when I heard the sound of clapping and people cheering.

I reopened my eyes to see that everyone, and I mean everyone, in the cafeteria had stood up and began clapping and cheering for me.

My anger faded away and I lightly chuckled at that, my cheeks turning red in slight embarrassment for all the attention I was receiving.

The teachers even stood up and began clapping for me, proud smiles on their faces.

Mrs. Montgomery walked over to me and gently patted my shoulder.

"Thank you, Ethan. For standing up for Emily" Mrs. Montgomery smiled.

"Of course, I'll always stand up for her and the girls" I smiled softly at her.

She nodded at that and walked back over to the teachers lunch table. 

The cheering and applauding stopped as everyone sat back down in their seats and continued eating.

I made my way over to the table where the girls were.

I opened my mouth to say something before Emily jumped on me, hugging me tightly.

I chuckled at that and hugged her back, rubbing her back up and down.

"Thank you, thank you so much" Emily whispered in my ear.

"Of course, anything for you" I whispered back, placing a brotherly kiss to her head.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, nobody talks shit about my best friends or sister and get away with.

I'll stand up for anyone I have to, whether I know them or not I'll always stand up for them.

Late At Night
Back At Home

After school was over me and Spencer went back home.

I was in Spencer's room, lying on her bed while playing games on my phone. We finished homework earlier so we were just relaxing.

Spencer got bored and decided to call Aria. She made sure to put her on speaker so we could both talk to her and hear what she has to say.

"Hey, Spence" Aria said.

"Hey, Aria. You're on speaker, Ethan's here with me" Spencer said.

"Hey girlie!" I yelled so she could hear me.

"Hey, Ethan" Aria giggled.

"So, let's cut to the chase, what's going on between you and Hanna?" Spencer asked.

"It's nothing you have to worry about" Aria said in a reassuring tone.

"Oh really? Because you were snarking at each other like you were on a reality show, 'the Real Teens of Rosewood'" I scoffed.

Spencer snorted and I heard Aria let out a small giggle.

"Oh, tell me about Toby" Aria said.

"He says we have what he wanted us to have. It's the right message, I'm just reading it wrong" Spencer said.

"He wants me and Spencer to come to his house on Saturday" I said and Spencer nodded.

"Are you guys going?" Aria asked.

"If we don't, how are we gonna figure this out?" Spencer said.

"I'm only going because I wanna see Toby, I can't remember the last time we saw each other or hung out" I said.

"Yeah, and I'm shut out with Melissa and Ian" Spencer sighed.

All of a sudden I began hearing noises over the phone. It sounded like fire alarms.

Spencer must've heard it too because she looked at me with furrowed eyebrows, I just shrugged at her.

"Where are you?" Spencer asked.

"What do you mean? I'm right here" Aria said.

"Any fire truck you can hear at your house we can hear at ours" I said.

I jumped when Spencer shot up from her couch, making me sit up from her bed and look at her with worried eyes.

"Oh, my God. Are you in his apartment?" Spencer asked, her eyes wide in realization.

It took me a few seconds to realize who she was talking about and my eyes widened.

Aria was at Mr. Fitz's apartment. Well, that's just great.

Aria hadn't say anything so Spencer just continued talking, excited about this for some reason.

"Are you on the bed?" Spencer asked.

"No, not on the bed" Aria said.

"Is he there?" Spencer asked.

"No, not exactly" Aria sighed.

"Is he taking a shower?" Spencer asked, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Ew! Gross!" I gagged in disgust, burying my head into her pillow.

Both Aria and Spencer began laughing at my reaction, making me groan even more. The last thing I wanted was to hear the girls talking about Mr. Fitz.

"He's getting take-out for dinner. And this call's becoming very 1-900" Aria said.

"To talk to a hot English teacher, press 3" Spencer smirked.

"Call ending now" Aria said, obviously fed up with this conversation.

I chuckled and looked at Spencer, who had a slightly annoyed look on her face as she sighed.

"Tomorrow?" Aria asked.

"Yeah, tomorrow" Spencer nodded.

"Bye, Aria. Have fun and he better keep his hands to himself" I said in a warning tone.

Aria giggled before saying one last goodbye and hung up. Spencer sighed and laid back down on her couch.

I sighed and removed the pillow from my face and laid down on my back, completely tired like Spencer was.

I jumped when Spencer's door opened, Spencer jumped too as we both looked up to see who was coming in.

I sighed in relief when I saw it was just mom.

"Oh, hey mom" I smiled slightly at her.

"Hey kiddos, what are you doing?" Mom asked, closing the door and walking inside.

"Nothing, really. We finished all our homework and just got off the phone with Aria" Spencer said.

I nodded, making mom nod as she walked over to me.

She sighed and sat down on the bed next to me. I raised an eyebrow at her before sitting up on the bed.

But then she surprised me when she smiled brightly at me and pulled me into a tight hug. I was shocked before slowly wrapping my arms around her.

"Uh...mom, what's the hug for?" I asked, slightly confused.

Mom chuckled softly and kissed my head before pulling away.

"Ella called me today and told me what you did during lunch. And can I just say that I'm extremely proud of you" Mom smiled.

As soon as she said that I smiled back at her and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Thanks mom. But it was nothing, I just defended Emily against that asshole when he made accusations. He's lucky I didn't punch him in the face" I said, scoffing at the end.

"You should've been there, mom. Ethan went full anger mode on Mr. McCullers" Spencer smiled.

I fondly rolled my eyes at her as mom chuckled in amusement.

"Well, I'm just glad that you managed to control your temper and didn't start anything. I'm just proud that you defended Emily" Mom softly said.

"Of course. Anything for her, Spencer and the other girls" I smiled.

Mom smiled at that and ruffled my hair before pulling me into another hug, making me chuckle and hug her back.

Spencer walked over to us and hugged the both of us, making the three of us laugh.

The Next Day

Me and the girls went to a small boutique store so they could do some shopping.

I was getting a bit bored but I was only here for my sister and my best friends. There's no way I'm going to let them carry multiple bags.

"When are you guys supposed to see Toby?" Emily asked.

"Eh, tomorrow when Jenna is at her musics lesson" Spencer said.

"Take it" we heard Hanna say to Aria.

"No. No, you take it" Aria said, handing the shirt back to Hanna.

Me and the girls stopped walking to see that the two of them were playfully arguing about who should have the shirt.

Me and the girls looked at each other and smiled.

"The storm has passed" Spencer whispered to me and Emily.

We both nodded as the three of us made our way towards Aria and Hanna.

"What was going on with you two?" Emily asked.

The two of them glanced at each other before sighing as they walked closer towards us.

"Okay, so, you know how I went to that museum with Ezra?" Aria asked.

"Yeah" I nodded, along with Emily and Spencer.

"Well, A tried to get Hanna to ruin it" Aria said.

"Ruin it how?" Spencer asked, confused.

"A gave me another ticket and made me give it to Aria's mom" Hanna sighed.

As she said that our eyes widened in shock and disbelief while Hanna looked guilty and embarrassed.

"God Hanna, why didn't you tell us what was happening?" Emily asked.

"Well, I tried to stop it. I mean, her mom's car didn't just stall. Caleb fixed it to keep from getting there. And that's why I owe him" Hanna said.

"Yeah, and he's the one who's been breaking into vending machines at school" I said.

"I mean, he's practically living there" Aria said.

"In school?" Emily asked, confused.

"Well, they found his stuff, so he's not sleeping there anymore. He's sleeping in my basement" Hanna sheepishly said.

This made our eyes widened in shock, even Aria looked shocked at the news.

"Wait. Rewind that a little for me" Aria said.

"Does your mom know?" Emily asked.

"No, but it's just for a couple of nights, so" Hanna shrugged.

"A couple of nights? Are you crazy?" Spencer asked.

"Oh come on, there's nothing wrong with him staying there. His foster parents don't give a damn about him, if I were him I would've left a long time ago" I said, coming to Caleb's defense.

"Guys" Emily said, her eyes looking at something else.

We turned around to see what she was looking at, only to see that she was staring at Jenna, who was with a woman trying out clothes.

We walked towards them to get a better look.

But when I saw what Jenna was wearing, my eyes widened and I quickly covered my eyes.

"Ethan, seriously?" Spencer asked.

"What? It's rude to look at her like that, she may not be completely naked but I don't want to be a creep" I said, not removing my hands from my eyes.

"It fits perfectly. Let me just pull this over it. And, you know, the length looks great. It's beautiful" the woman, who was with Jenna, said.

"I want it to be perfect. He likes lace" Jenna said.

Even though I couldn't see them I could tell that the girls were most likely looking at each other, confused and a bit weirded out.

The Next Day

Today was the day me and Spencer would go to Toby's house and find out more about the clue he gave us.

We made our way towards his house and walked up the stairs. When we were by his door Spencer knocked, but then to our shock the door was already open.

"Hello?" I asked, but no answer.

Me and Spencer glanced at each other before pushing the door open, creaking noises were heard as we pushed the door open.

We slowly walked into the house as quietly as we could, just in case Jenna was still here.

"Hello?" Spencer asked, but once again, no answer.

Me and Spencer began wandering inside, I was quite curious considering I've never really been inside Toby's house.

But considering what Jenna has done to him is understandable as to why he is the way he is. And why he doesn't want anyone coming inside, especially when she's home.

We made our way into an empty room, my guess that it was Jenna since it looks a bit girly.

We walked inside as I began looking  at a few of her paintings.

While Spencer made her way to Jenna's shelves that had a collection of snow globes.

"You better put that back" we heard Toby say.

Me and Spencer jumped, luckily she didn't drop the snow globe, and we turned around to see Toby walking inside the room.

"Put it back where you got it or she'll know you guys were in here" Toby said, clearly worried.

"I'm sorry. I knocked. The door was open" Spencer said.

"Yeah, we tried calling out for you but" I said.

"I heard you, but I couldn't answer the door. I was on the phone. My lawyer called. The D.A. is dropping the charges against me" Toby said.

This made my eyes widened in shock and my jaw drop.

Spencer was the same as me and she nearly dropped the snow globe but Toby made his way towards her and stopped her in time.

Their hands were touching and their eyes met and it felt like everything around them stopped. Almost as if they were in a trance.

I managed to snap out of my shocked state and began smirking at the two of them.

I'm already beginning to ship those two, especially now that Spencer is beginning to see Toby as the good guy and not the bad guy.

Don't get me wrong, I like Alex too, but I think Toby is the better choice.

"They're not gonna charge you with killing Alison?" I asked, snapping the both of them out of their trance.

"I didn't get the details, but he said the blood evidence was corrupted. The district attorney can't go to trial without it" Toby explained.

"They're finished with you?" Spencer asked, a small smile appearing on her face.

"They can charge me anytime they find new evidence, but, for right now, I'm free" Toby smiled, a real happy smile.

"Toby, dude, that's awesome. Congratulations" I smiled.

I brought him into a hug and he hugged me back, chuckling lightly before we pulled away.

"Once I get this ball and chain off my leg. I'm waiting for my dad to take me to the courthouse for that" Toby said.

"I could drive you. If you want me to" Spencer softly said.

Toby smiled at that and nodded, gently taking the snow globe from her hands and setting it back down on the shelf.

I smirked at the both of them and chuckled.

"Come on lovebirds, lets go" I said in a teasing voice.

They both blushed while I continued to chuckle. I began walking and they both followed behind me.

I opened the door and walked outside as the two of them followed behind me.

But then my smile, along with theirs, dropped when we saw Jenna waiting outside the house with a cab behind her.

"Toby?" Jenna asked.

Toby glanced at me and Spencer before looking back at her.

"Mr. Dugan called with the good news. Did you hear?" Jenna asked, smiling.

"He told me" Toby nodded.

"We can get that awful thing off your leg right now. The cab's waiting" Jenna smiled, gesturing to the cab.

"That's all right, I've got a ride" Toby said.

This made Jenna's smile disappear as it turned into a frown.

"Emily?" Jenna asked.

"No, it's me" Spencer said.

"And me" I nodded.

"Spencer, Ethan. It's really very nice of you guys, but I'm here now" Jenna said, her tone filled with fake politeness.

I clenched my fists at my sides and scooted closer towards Toby, my protective instincts kicking in.

If she even thinks about going near him hell will break loose.

"I'm going with Spencer, and Ethan" Toby said.

He surprised Spencer when he slid his hands into hers as he gently placed his hand on my shoulder.

I smirked proudly at him and smirked even more when I saw Jenna's face completely fall, anger washing over her.

"Atta boy" I muttered under my breath.

Toby quickly ushered us away, obviously not wanting to be here any longer. We made it to the car and got in as Spencer began driving.

I told Spencer to just drop me off at home, I had homework I needed to finish and I wasn't going to wait till tomorrow just to get it done.

And maybe because I wanted those two lovebirds to have some time alone.

The only thing on my mind was the fact that Toby is now free and can live a semi-normal life. At least until they find Alison's real killer.