Ethan's Pov

The girls were at mine and Spencer's house as we were waiting for Hanna to arrive with the flash drive.

I was currently finishing my chocolate chip cookie when Hanna walked in.

"I passed your mom heading out" Hanna said, looking at both me and Spencer.

"Then it's go time" I said.

Spencer nodded before walking to where her computer was as me and the girls huddled around her.

"Hanna" Spencer said, holding her hand out.

Hanna frowned and looked anywhere but her, obviously not wanting to give her the flash drive.

"Buttercup, this is the only way we're gonna get more answers if we want to find out what really happened" I softly said.

Hanna sighed before taking the flash drive out of her pocket and handing to Spencer.

Spencer quickly plugged the drive into her laptop as Hanna walked towards us.

"How much did Caleb get?" Aria asked.

"I don't know. He said he was up most the night" Hanna said.

"It's not like we expected decrypting files from A's phone was gonna be easy" I sighed.

"Is Caleb still asking whose phone it is?" Emily asked, looking at Hanna.

"Every chance he gets. And I'm lying to him" Hanna scoffed, shooting Spencer and irritated look.

Spencer shot her glare as I rolled my eyes at them.

"Ok, now that we know it wasn't Lucas. My money's on officer Garrett, in the greenhouse with the phone" Aria said.

"But Jenna broke up with Garrett" Emily said.

"Yeah, after the greenhouse" Aria said.

"The point is Caleb is still asking about everything and it's not safe for him to know the answers. We should just tell him to stop" Hanna suggested.

I have to admit that she was right.

The last thing we want is to involve Caleb in our mess, especially when we don't have the answers ourselves.

But he's the only one that can get us the information that we need.

We heard a noise on Spencer's laptop, causing all of us to turn around.

"Let's just take a look first" Spencer suggested.

Hanna sighed before nodding as we all looked forward on Spencer's computer.

"I know you wanna kiss me" we heard Alison say.

"Come closer" we heard Ian say.

Alison was on the ground before turning the camera around to face her. The camera moved around a bit to show Ian putting on his jacket. Alison began laughing as she slowly stood up from the ground.

"This was all Caleb was able to get?" Aria asked in disbelief.

"At least he was able to get in and get something" I defended.

Hanna rolled her eyes as we continued watching the video.

Then the video changed and before we knew it it was a video of Alison's bedroom.

"Wait. Look. That's Alison's bedroom" Aria said.

"Wow, really, didn't notice" I sarcastically scoffed.

Aria glared at me while Hanna and Emily snorted in amusement.

We saw someone in front of the camera, moving it around as if they were trying to hide it, before the face was revealed.

No surprise, it was Ian.

"What's Ian doing there?" Spencer asked, confused.

"What's he doing with that camera?" Emily asked, confused.

Ian began grabbing things and placing them around the camera.

"Oh, my God. He's hiding it. He was recording this secretly" Aria gasped in realization.

"Wait, recording what?" I asked, confused.

Ian moved away from the camera before the door opened, only to reveal Garrett and Jenna.

"Hey" Ian greeted both of them.

"What are Jenna and Garrett doing in Alison's bedroom?" Aria asked.

"N.A.T. Club field trip? Ian and Garrett are the founding members" Spencer said.

"The only one missing is-" Emily started but got cut off by the video.

"Where's Jason?" Garrett asked.

"He's passed out. A six pack and weed will do that to you" Ian said.

"So why the emergency call?" Jenna asked.

"I just left Alison. Tried to get her to hand over our videos, she wasn't going for it" Ian sighed.

"Is that the only thing she wasn't going for?" Jenna sarcastically asked.

"Look, shut up Jenna" Ian said in annoyance.

"Hey. This is your fault, Ian. I knew you'd go too far on those videos. That's why I bailed on this messed up club" Garrett angrily said.

"Oh, yeah? Well, welcome back. Now help me find them before that bitch shows up" Ian scoffed.

Me and the girls looked at each other, trying to process what we saw so far.

"So Caleb has seen this?" Emily asked.

"He couldn't have gotten it without seeing it. Now you know why I'm freaking out" Hanna said.

"The closer we get to finding out what happened-" Spencer started but Hanna cut her off.

"The closer Caleb gets to the top of A's hit list. He, she, it has messed with all our relationships. Toby, Ezra, Samara. The only one safe from that is Ethan because he's not dating anyone" Hanna angrily snapped.

Makes me happy that I'm not dating anyone.

Don't really think I can bring myself to date after what happened between me and...him.

"Look" Aria said.

We turned around to see Garrett holding something in his hand.

"Check this out" Garrett said.

"What is it?" Jenna asked.

Ian walked over to him, only to scoff at what he saw.

"It's just an old box" Ian angrily said before going back to looking around the room.

"That's weird" Garrett said.

"Wait, that's the box Jason gave me" I said when I got a closer look at the thing Garrett was holding.

"Caleb's done. I'm telling him today" Hanna said.

I don't really blame her, I wouldn't want him involved in any of this.

"So, what does this mean?" Emily asked, confused.

"Well, in case we had any doubts, the N.A.T. Club, Jenna included was in Rosewood" Spencer said.

"In Alison's bedroom" Aria said.

"The night Ali was murdered" I said, slowly realizing it.

Things just got a whole lot more interesting than they already were.

At School

Me and the girls were at school sitting together at a table.

Spencer told us that Toby came to the house before we left for school. He tried talking to her but Spencer obviously couldn't, she was still trying to keep him safe and the only way to do that was to stay away from him.

I know that it really hurts her, but she's doing it for him, she doesn't want A to target him.

"And he just drove away?" Aria asked, shocked.

"What else was he supposed to do? I totally shut him down" Spencer sighed.

I sighed and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"No, you're protecting somebody that you love. It's kind of romantic" I softly said.

"No. It's the opposite of romantic" Spencer said, shaking her head.

"It's safe. That's what we all need to be" Hanna softly said.

I nodded at what she said and smiled softly at my sister.

Spencer looked at me and sighed before she laid her head on my shoulder.

"Hey, well, at least Toby still wants to talk to you. Because that was definitely not the case last time I saw Ezra" Aria said.

She sighed in sadness and looked at us.

"Which makes me wonder was that the last time I'll ever see him?" Aria asked.

"No, Aria" Spencer said.

"Yeah, but how do I know that? He won't see me, talk to me" Aria said.

"Maybe you just need to give him some time" Emily said.

"I gave him time. At the play, him sneaking out of the theater. That was time. Now I just really want some answers" Aria said.

"How are you going to?" I asked.

"Without your parents knowing?" Emily asked.

"Without A knowing" Hanna said.

Aria sighed in annoyance and shook her head, not sure what to say.

But then her eyes wandered behind me and Hanna as she stared at something.

I raised an eyebrow at her and turned around, along with Hanna, only to see that she was staring at Holden.

"Huh. The beard" Emily said.

"The what?" Hanna asked, turning around to look at her.

"Holden. Aria's beard" Emily said.

"It means he'll go out with her, but not really because he's not really interested" I said.

"I know what it means. He's gay" Hanna shrugged.

This made me snort while Aria chuckled in amusement.

"He's not gay. I've known him since I was 5" Aria said.

"He might not have known when he was 5" I deadpanned.

"Look, has he ever tried to kiss you?" Spencer asked.

"No" Aria said.

"Gay" me and the girls said.

Aria stared at us for a few seconds before rolling her eyes as she stood up and walked over to where he was.

Back At Home

After school was over me and the girls went back to mine and Spencer's house to discuss the video that Caleb got from the flash drive.

We were in my room, walking around, while the box that Jason gave me was on my bed.

The doll was lying on my bed since me and the girls tried going through the box to see what Garrett found that he thought was weird.

"On the video, Garrett looked in the box and saw something weird. Wouldn't you like to know what it was?" Emily asked.

"Look, we've already seen what we needed to see. All of our suspects, in the same place at the same time in Alison's room, talking about how much they hated her" Hanna said.

"Yeah, guys, maybe we should just hand the drive to the police" I sighed.

Hanna nodded at me before walking to my bed as she grabbed the doll that was on my bed.

"Exactly. We should be closing things not opening-" Hanna started but stopped.

My eyes widened a bit when the back of the dolls neck opened, revealing something inside.

The girls noticed it too as we huddled around Hanna.

"Guys, there's something in here" Hanna said.

"What is that?" Aria asked, confused.

I took the doll from Hanna and took the things that were inside before dropping the doll back on the bed.

They were all pieces of fold up paper, like notes or something.

I took one of them before handing the other two to Spencer and Emily.

I unfolded one of the notes and began reading it.

"It's my turn to torture you" I said.

"Ok, that's creepy" Spencer said and we all nodded.

"You think you're safe on the outside, but you're not when I'm on the inside" Emily said, reading off what the note she had in her hand said.

"Scared yet, you should be bitch" Spencer said, showing us what her note said.

"These notes are starting to sound familiar" Hanna said, looking and sounding scared.

Damn right they do.

I put the note down before grabbing the last one as I read it to the girls.

"Next time it'll be your face, not this pumpkin" I said.

"It looks like it was cut by something" Spencer said, pointing to where the cut was.

My eyes widened and I looked at Aria to see that she was the same.

I remember where this was from.

"It was. Don't you guys remember?" Aria asked.

"Halloween" I said.

Flashback
Nobody's Pov

After Noel's party the girls and Ethan all decided to call it a night. Right now they were walking through some sort of alleyway to get to Alison's house.

"I've never been this way before" Aria said.

"Back alleys and backyards have always been the best way to my house" Alison said.

Ethan smiled at that and shook his head as he walked next to Spencer.

Hanna jogged towards them before standing at Ethan's other side, wrapping her arm around his. Ethan smiled down at her and gently ruffled her hair.

"Your sister and Ian are so cute together. Do you think they'll get married?" Hanna asked, looking at the Hasting twins.

Ethan rolled his eyes at the idea while Spencer smiled.

"I guess so. They seem perfect for each other" Spencer said.

"Yeah, perfectly bored and depressing" Ethan scoffed.

Spencer glared at him while Alison snorted in amusement at what her best friend said.

"This is why I love you, you get me" Alison smirked at him.

They finally made it to her house, only to stop when they saw that her front porch was completely trashed.

"Ali, someone trashed your porch" Hanna gasped.

Alison stared at the scene in slight horror and confusion.

"What the hell?" Alison asked.

She began walking towards her porch, the others following behind her, as they walked up the stairs.

Ethan saw a knife on the pumpkin with a note attached to it, but before he could even grab it and take it out, Alison beat him to it.

She took the note off the knife and began reading what it said.

When she read the note her eyes slightly widened in fear as she swallowed thickly.

Ethan and the other girls looked at her in concern, it was unlike her to show fear.

"What does the note say?" Aria asked.

"Who did this?" Hanna asked.

Alison sighed and shook her head before looking at us, a smile on her face, trying to mask the fear.

"Jason's beer buddies. Real funny" Alison sarcastically said.

Ethan frowned at that, he knew when Alison was lying and she was lying, someone else trashed her porch and it was on the note but she doesn't want them to know.

Spencer sighed before nudging Ethan's arm.

"We better get going" Spencer said.

Ethan sighed and nodded, it was pretty late and they were tired.

"Yeah, me too" Aria nodded.

Alison looked at them in confusion and laughed.

"What's the hurry? Let's make a night of it" Alison suggested.

"It's already been kind of a long night" Emily said, shooting Alison a small glare.

The girls, minus Ethan, were still angry at Alison for the prank she pulled on them and they haven't fully forgiven her for it.

"Look, I'm sorry about the prank. I know I took it too far. Let me make it up to you guys" Alison smiled.

The girls all glanced at each other while Ethan sighed.

He didn't care if they stayed at Alison's house or not, he just wanted to change into something more comfortable and get some rest.

Flashback Ends
Ethan's Pov

"Next time it'll be your face, not this pumpkin. That's what was written on the note" I said.

The girls nodded before I turned the note around and saw that it was an invitation to Noel's party last halloween.

"This is an invitation from Noel Kahn's Halloween party" Aria said.

"As if my memories of that night could get any scarier" Emily sighed.

I sighed before turning the note back around as I began looking closer at it, trying to see if I missed something.

My thumb went over to the folded part on the edge of the note and I unfolded it.

However, as soon as I unfolded it, my eyes went wide in disbelief and fear when I saw what was written on it.

"Guys, this note is signed by A" I gasped.

Holy shit! A wrote this to Ali.

The girl's eyes widened as they all stared at it in disbelief and horror.

"A was after Alison too. Before they were after us" Spencer said.

A was after Alison way before they came after us.

And if A was the one that killed Alison, who knows what they're going to do to us.

The Next Day

To say I was stressed out and scared as hell would be a freaking understatement.

Me and Spencer were at the hospital visiting Toby.

Spencer got a call from mom and mom told her that she came home and found Toby lying on the ground unconscious, bleeding and bruised up. She called an ambulance before she called Spencer and Spencer told me and we both left school to head to the hospital.

I was freaking out. My best friend was in the hospital because of who knows what.

Luckily when me and Spencer arrived at his hospital room he seemed fine, other than a broken arm.

"When I got the call, no one was sure how badly you'd been hurt, and-" Spencer started but Toby cut her off.

"I was lucky. Your mom came home" Toby said, looking at both me and Spencer.

"I'm so sorry about yesterday" Spencer said.

"Spencer" Toby sighed.

"If you'd gotten your stuff then-" Spencer started but Toby cut her off, again.

"Spencer, it wouldn't have made any difference" Toby sighed.

I sighed before walking towards him. I placed my hand on his shoulder and gently patted it, causing Toby to smile up at me.

"I'm glad you're safe, but what happened?" I asked.

"I was taking down the scaffolding, and the anchors gave away and, uh-" Toby started explaining when he was cut off.

"You must be the carpenter. I'm Dr. Kingston" Wren smiled when he walked into the room.

You've gotta be kidding me.

Couldn't he have come in a few minutes later.

"Hello, Spencer, Ethan" Wren smiled at both of us.

"Hey" I nodded.

"Hey" Spencer said, shooting Wren a tiny smile.

"You guys know each other?" Toby asked, confused.

"Yeah, um, Wren used to date Melissa" Spencer said.

"Was engaged to her, actually, before something got in the way" Wren said, looking at Spencer with a smile.

Spencer shot him a small smile and nodded.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance, feeling really bad at Toby, who was looking at both of them in confusion and jealousy.

Of all people, Toby's doctor has to be Wren, that's a whole new level of awkwardness.

"So the x-rays confirm the break, but it's clean, should heal well. We'll put a cast on it. You'll need to spend the night" Wren explained.

"Why?" I asked, worried.

"It's routine when there's been a concussion, so don't worry" Wren reassured me.

I groaned in annoyance as Toby gently put his hand on my arm, rubbing it to get me to calm down.

We heard a phone beep and I turned around to see that it was coming from Wren. He looked at his phone before looking at us.

"Next emergency. I'll be back later. Try and be more careful next time, huh" Wren said, looking at Toby.

"He didn't do it on purpose" I muttered under my breath in annoyance.

"Spencer" Wren smiled, ignoring me.

Spencer just stared at him before he left the room to go do what he needed to do.

Spencer turned around and flashed Toby a smile, but all he did was stare at her.

"There something you wanna tell me?" Toby asked.

Spencer opened her mouth to say something when her phone rang. She sighed in annoyance before taking it out to see who messaged her.

However, as soon as she saw the message, her eyes widened in fear. She looked at me and gestured for me to come over where she was.

I patted Toby's head gently before walking towards Spencer. She showed me the message and my eyes widened from what I saw.

Almost got him! Toby won't be so lucky next time

- A

This little bitch really thinks that they can get away with hurting my best friend.

Well, they've got another thing coming, because I'll beat them to a pulp when we finally find out who they are.

Late At Night

It was late at night and me, Spencer and Emily were at our house with Caleb.

He told us that he went to go talk to Hanna about the flash drive, trying to get some answers out of her, only for Hanna to destroy the flash drive.

"What do you mean she destroyed the flash drive?" Spencer asked in disbelief.

"She vaporized it. Nothing left but smoke" Caleb said.

"But why would she do that? That was the most important thing" Emily said, clearly shocked at what Hanna did.

Caleb rolled his eyes before nodding his head.

"Obviously it was important, ok. That's why I kept a copy of the files" Caleb said.

"You did?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah. And I'll keep working on them too. If we keep it a secret from Hanna" Caleb said.

My eyes widened at that and my jaw dropped.

I looked at Spencer and Emily and saw that they were in the same boat as me.

He wants us to keep this a secret from Hanna when he knows that she's in on this as well. We're not going to lie to her, no way.

I could never do that to my best friend, hell no.

"Why?" Spencer asked.

"Because I love her, and I wanna protect her. Finding what's on that phone is the best way to accomplish that" Caleb said.

"Screw the phone, if you really love her you'll have a slight understanding as to why she destroyed it in the first place, not making us keep this a secret from her" I sternly said.

"I don't wanna lie to Hanna, Caleb. And I don't wanna lie to you" Spencer said.

"If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna need something from you" Caleb said.

"What?" I asked.

"Answers. Starting with, what is it that Hanna's so afraid of me finding?" Caleb asked.

Spencer and Emily glanced at each other, unsure of what to say.

While I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"Well, you're not getting them from me, and if you're gonna make us keep this a secret from Hanna, then you might as well leave me out of it too" I said.

"What?" all three of them asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you heard me" I nodded.

"Ethan, you're apart of this too" Spencer said.

"So is Hanna, excluding her from this isn't going to make anything better and if she ends up finding out she'll be angry and lose trust in you guys. Especially you, Caleb, you're her boyfriend after all" I scoffed.

I walked over to the kitchen and grabbed my bag from the counter.

"If you guys want to do this then fine, but leave me out of it, I want no part in any of it. I'm not going to tell Hanna about this because I'd rather her find out on her own or for you guys to be brave enough to tell her. With that being said, have fun, good luck" I said.

I turned around and walked out of the house to head somewhere.

I don't know where, but somewhere that wasn't here.