Ethan's Pov

Something has been bugging me for a while.

Spencer hasn't said a word ever since her anniversary dinner with Toby.

I've tried talking to her but she either comes up with weird excuses or she just downright ignores me.

Something is going on and I need to find out. I need to know what happened between Spencer and Toby.

Now might be a perfect time. Especially when Aria, Hanna, Spencer and I are all walking together.

"Still recovering? From the anniversary dinner" Hanna asked.

"Yeah. Yeah" Spencer nodded.

"Was he surprised?" Aria asked.

"Mm-hmm. It was a really big surprise" Spencer slightly smiled.

Aria and Hanna smiled brightly at that. While my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

She didn't sound excited at all. If anything she just sounded dead and tired.

I pressed my lips into a thin line before shaking my head, turning to look at Hanna.

"Buttercup, where were you last night? Were you with Caleb?" I asked.

"No, he's being really weird. Everytime I try to make plans with him, he says he's busy, but he won't tell me what he's doing" Hanna explained.

"Why don't you just ask him? Be honest" Aria shrugged.

"Wow. It's like the world's fattest man giving dieting tips. Hello! You're the one who's sitting on a secret the size of the natterhorn" Hanna sarcastically said.

I snorted and shook my head in amusement.

"Ok, if you're talking about Fitz and the kid, I'm gonna tell him today. And the goal was never to keep it from him. I'd wake up every morning with the intention of telling him, and then I'd go to sleep every night feeling guilty that I didn't" Aria explained, clearly worried.

"At least you have your afternoons free" Hanna shrugged.

"Nice bit of support, Hanna" Aria sarcastically said.

"Oh, and by the way buttercup, it's 'matterhorn'. Muh" I corrected her.

"Exactly. Aren't you the one that's supposed to be correcting her?" Aria asked, gently nudging Spencer's arm.

"What?" Spencer asked, confused.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" I asked, concerned.

"Uh, nothing. We didn't really get much of an anniversary cause Toby had to get up early for work the next day" Spencer sighed.

"That sucks" Aria frowned.

"Yeah, it does" Spencer nodded.

We stopped nearby the brew as Spencer tuned to us.

"Listen, um, I'm gonna skip the brew today cause I have a lot of reading to catch up on, for English, so I'll catch you guys at lunch" Spencer smiled.

She gently kissed my cheek before walking away.

We all glanced at each other before walking towards where Emily was.

However, my eyes wandered over to the windows and I saw Alyssa inside the brew.

"Uh, you guys have fun, I'm heading inside" I quickly said.

I didn't wait for them to respond and quickly walked inside the brew.

I smiled when I saw Alyssa sitting at an empty table. A cup of coffee on the table while she was reading a book.

I took a few deep breaths before making my way towards her table.

Setting my bag down, I sat down across from her. I cleared my throat, causing her to jump as she looked up from her book.

Her hand went up to her chest, causing me to chuckle slightly.

"Jesus, Ethan. You scared me" Alyssa scowled.

"Sorry. But you're kind of an easy target when you're distracted" I smiled teasingly at her.

Alyssa rolled her eyes before closing her book, setting it down next to her coffee.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I just wanted to catch up on some reading. I needed to be somewhere quiet so I thought I'd come here" Alyssa said.

"Why not at your house or the park?" I asked.

"Well, for one, my house is always chaotic and I didn't want to go to the park again" Alyssa shrugged.

I chuckled at that and nodded.

She giggled and shook her head before taking out her phone.

I bit the inside of my cheek, bouncing my leg up and down, trying to gulp down my nervousness.

Come on, Ethan. You can do this.

You've faced many challenges in life. Far more chaotic and dangerous.

Asking Alyssa out on a date should be a walk in the park.

And, worse cast scenario, she says no and I pretend that it's fine but in reality I go home to hide in my room and cry into my pillow.

"Hey, Alyssa" I said.

"Yeah?" Alyssa asked, looking up from her phone.

"I'm actually glad you're here because I wanted to ask you something" I said.

"Ok, what is it?" Alyssa asked, confused.

I took a few deep breaths, playing with my fingers to try and control myself.

Come on, Ethan.

Be a man and ask your crush on a date.

"I was thinking that maybe you and I can go to a movie together. And after that we can get dinner. What do you say?" I asked.

Alyssa's eyes widened slightly before a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Is Ethan Hastings asking me out on a date?" Alyssa teasingly asked.

My cheeks turned red, but I didn't let my nervousness get the best of me.

I'm not backing down. This is literally my only chance to ask her out on a date.

"I don't want to brag, but yes, yes I am" I smirked, nodding my head.

Alyssa giggled before smiling, nodding her head.

"Well, then I accept. I'd love to go on a date with you" Alyssa smiled softly.

"Awesome. Do you want to go tomorrow?" I asked.

"Tomorrow works for me" Alyssa nodded.

"Great" I smiled softly.

I might've been smiling softly on the outside.

But on the inside I was jumping for joy, cheering like a little kid that got rewarded with a bag of candy.

At School

The entire day at school I was smiling and laughing.

Sure, I got a few weird and concerned looks from people, but I didn't care because I was filled with happiness.

I actually managed to ask Alyssa on a date and instead of saying no, she actually said yes.

I'm incredibly happy.

Anyway, I had to head to the girls bathroom because Emily texted me to meet her there.

She said she wanted to show Spencer and I the notebook in hopes of figuring out who Alison was writing to.

I honestly didn't have time to worry about that, but it's whatever because Emily is persistent.

However, when I walked into the bathroom, I was met with the sight of my sister's back turned towards me but she was crying.

And I could tell because her shoulders were shaking.

I closed the bathroom door and walked towards Emily, standing next to her.

"Uh...Em, what's going on?" I asked, confused.

"I-I don't know. Spence? Are you ok?" Emily asked.

"Spence, what's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"You're not upset because Ali tried to hook up with Toby, are you?" Emily asked.

"Hold up, what?!" I yelled, shocked.

What the hell does she mean Alison tried to hook up with Toby?

I thought Alison thought of him as a weirdo and a creep. Why would she want to hook up with him?

Spencer slowly turned around, tears already streaming down her cheeks.

"I-I haven't told you guys the truth" Spencer said.

Emily and I glanced at each other before turning back to her.

"What do you mean? What truth?" I asked, confused and concerned.

"That Toby and I broke up. Last night" Spencer softly said.

Mine and Emily's eyes widened and our jaws dropped in shock.

I'm sorry, they what?

My sister and her boyfriend, who's one of my best friends, broke up last night? Are you serious?

"What happened?" Emily asked.

That's what I want to know too.

"Um...I'm not really ready to talk about it. Can we...please just keep it between the three of us" Spencer said.

"Yeah, of course. Of course" I nodded.

I walked towards my sister and engulfed her in a tight hug.

Spencer wrapped her arms around me and buried her head in my shoulder, crying softly.

Emily joined in on the hug as she rubbed Spencer's back up and down, comforting her the best that she could.

At Lunch

I honestly couldn't focus on lunch. I seriously couldn't focus on anything.

After Spencer revealed to Emily and I that her and Toby broke up, that's all I've been thinking of.

What happened between them? Why did they break up?

They were doing so well. They were happy, they were in love.

Just what happened that caused them to break up and for my sister to be so heartbroken?

Hanna and I were sitting at our table, waiting for the others to arrive, while eating our food.

Well, Hanna was eating, I was mainly picking at my salad with my fork.

Aria walked towards her, her tray in her hands, and sat across from us.

"Hey. Have either of you seen Spencer?" Aria asked.

"Mmm, no, not since this morning" Hanna said.

"Everyone said she bailed on her study group. She just walked out of class" Aria said.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Why would Spencer do that?

She would never bail on her study group or walk out of class without a reason.

"Hey" Emily said.

"Hey" we all greeted her.

She sat next to Aria and began eating her food, she's clearly hungry.

I was about to take a bite out of my salad when something from outside the courtyard caught my attention.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What the hell is Ezra doing here?

Aria and the girls noticed the expression on my face and turned around, now they're all confused as to why he's here.

Ezra walked into the cafeteria and towards our table.

Aria glanced at us before standing up and walking towards him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Aria asked.

"Could I see you for a moment?" Ezra asked, his tone serious.

"Sure, what's going on. Is everything ok?" Aria asked, worried.

"Ok? I don't know. You tell me. Why was Spencer talking about Maggie?" Ezra asked.

My eyes widened and I glanced at Hanna and Emily, they were in the same boat as me.

"What?" Aria asked, clearly shocked.

"She said that I had...that I have a son. Why would she say that?" Ezra asked.

That's what I would love to know as well...

Why would Spencer blurt out to Ezra that he has a son when Aria said that she would find the time to do it herself?

"Look, can we just talk about this-" Aria stated but Ezra cut her off.

"We're talking about this right now" Ezra said, raising his voice.

"Ezra, please" Aria begged.

Ezra glanced at us, causing us to awkwardly turn away from them, before sighing and nodding his head.

Aria glanced at us before walking away with him.

When they were gone the three of us glanced at each other, clear confusion and worry shown in our eyes.

What the hell happened? How did Ezra find out about Malcolm?

And more importantly, what does it have to do with Spencer?

I decided to worry about that later. I just wanted to eat, I won't lie when I say that I'm hungry.

At Home

I was in the kitchen, working on homework, while Spencer was heating up something to eat.

I offered to make her something but she refused. She said she didn't want to bother me with that and she just wanted something simple.

When she took her food out she was prepared to open and eat it, when there was a knock at the door.

We turned around and saw Aria. I nodded at her, gesturing her to come inside, and she did.

"Hey" Aria nodded.

"Hey" Spencer and I nodded.

"Tried calling you" Aria said.

"Sorry, I shut my phone off. Yeah, well, you didn't come back today to school. My mom said she might call your parents" Aria said.

"I figured" Spencer sighed.

"I don't think she wants to. I just think-" Aria started but Spencer cut her off.

"Whatever. It's ok. I won't hold it against her" Spencer said.

I frowned and nodded my head while Aria just sighed.

"Anyway, it's not really why you came" Spencer added.

"Well...no. I wanted to talk to you..." Aria trailed off.

I sighed and shook my head, biting the inside of my cheek.

Yeah...now this is something I was hoping we'd be able to avoid...looks like I was wrong.

Apparently A set Spencer up, pretending to be Aria, which is what led to Spencer revealing to Ezra about his son.

"I know that I shouldn't have said anything to Fitz. Ok, I know that" Spencer sighed, a little frustrated.

"Spence" I softly said.

She has to understand that it wasn't her fault.

A set her up, A fooled her and she just snapped at Ezra because she felt that she was protecting a friend.

"So, can we please just skip ahead to the end?" Spencer asked.

"Sorry?" Aria asked, confused.

"Could we just fast-forward to the part where you scream or you cry or just do whatever you need to do, ok?" Spencer asked.

"Wait, I-I didn't come here to punish you, Spencer. I know that you were set up. A sent me a text to rub it in my face right after Ezra left" Aria explained.

Oh thank god...

I won't lie when I say that I was convinced Aria was going to yell at Spencer for what she did.

But after hearing that Aria didn't blame her and wasn't going to yell at her, makes me feel better.

"I think that we should stop blaming A for everything that goes wrong in our lives, and start blaming ourselves" Spencer said, annoyed.

My eyes widened and I turned to Aria and saw that she was in the same state as me.

Did Spencer...did Spencer just defend A right now?

My sister is defending A. Is this some sort of joke or something?

"Whoa. Are you actually defending our enemy right now?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, I'm just saying that maybe if we stopped telling lies, maybe A wouldn't have a reason to keep on exposing them" Spencer said.

I let out a scoff and stood up from the stool, taking a step towards my sister.

"A isn't some tough-love life coach, sis. We're not being taught to mind our manners and eat our vegetables" I angrily said.

"This person wants to hurt us" Aria added, just as angry as me.

"Maybe we deserve it" Spencer scowled.

Silence.

Absolute silence.

I never expected for Spencer, of all people, for Spencer to say that.

Yeah, maybe we deserve some karma, but what she's basically saying is that we deserved to get tortured.

For god sakes, A locked Aria in a box and tried to push her off the train.

Is Spencer saying that we not only deserve to be punished, but tortured too?

"Unbelievable" I muttered, shaking my head.

"And thanks for your concern, by the way. I'm...I'm doing just fine" Aria said, rolling her eyes.

Aria gave me a side hug before pulling away and walking out of the house.

When she was gone I turned towards my sister, only to see her staring at me, no emotions shown in her eyes.

I sighed and shook my head. I gathered my things and went upstairs. I just wanted to be alone.