Ethan's Pov

It was late at night. Me and the girls, minus Emily, were at my house studying for the SAT's.

We were sitting in the kitchen, books spread out on the kitchen counter as we were studying as hard as we could for tomorrow.

Well, all of us were studying, except for Hanna.

She seriously didn't care about the test at all, if anything she was bored. Beyond bored.

"It's insane. How many words do they expect you to learn in one night?" Hanna asked, clearly annoyed.

I chuckled at her and shook my head.

"Stringent" Aria said, reading off the word from one of the flash cards.

"Uh, tough. Inflexible" Spencer said and Aria nodded.

"It's not like you're actually gonna use them" Hanna scoffed, writing something in her book.

"Meretricious" I said, reading off the word from the flashcard Aria showed me.

Spencer opened her mouth to say something but Hanna beat her to it.

"It's not like you go to college and then...you start speaking a different language" Hanna chuckled.

"It's about getting into college" me and Spencer said.

"Meretricious. Um...Phony, flashy" Spencer said.

"Mm-hm" Aria nodded, I nodded and smiled at her.

Hanna picked up something from her food box and began eating it, making me cringe in disgust.

"Ew, buttercup, why are you still eating that?" I asked, writing something down in my book.

"Because it's here" Hanna said as if it were the most obvious answer.

"Put it in the garbage" Spencer said, nodding towards where the garbage was.

"Then I'd have to stand over the garbage and eat it" Hanna scoffed.

We all chuckled at her and shook our heads as we continued with studying.

"Besotted" Aria said.

"Infatuated, enamored, in love with" me and Spencer said, smiling at each other and high-fiving.

Aria and Hanna both giggled in amusement at our actions before Hanna turned to Aria with a smile.

"Hey, what did Noel say to you after the memorial?" Hanna asked.

"Hello, we are taking the SATs in less than 12 hours. Can we focus" Spencer said.

"Okay, Spencer...you do not need to know any more big words. You're already scary enough to anyone under fifty" Hanna said.

This made me and Aria snort while Spencer gave Hanna an offended look.

"I'm not scary. Am I scary?" Spencer defended, looking at me and Aria for answers.

Me and Aria glanced at each other before looking at my twin sister, allowing small smirks to appear on our faces.

"A little" me and Aria said.

This made Hanna laugh while Spencer rolled her eyes at us and continued working.

"Hey, I saw Noel Kahn hug you. And he did not wanna let go" Hanna grinned.

I chuckled while Aria put the flashcards down and gave Hanna an annoyed look.

"Talk about not wanting to let something go" Aria scoffed.

"Why can't you give him a chance? He's smart, he's cute, his Dad owns like half of Rhode Island. And he's got great lips" Hanna said.

"His father?" Spencer asked, raising an eyebrow.

At that I burst out laughing, Aria following my lead while Hanna gave Spencer an annoyed yet weirded out look.

"Noel. Ew" Hanna said, gagging.

When me and Aria stopped laughing, Hanna looked at her again.

"Seriously, Aria. You and Noel would look amazing together" Hanna smiled.

"Can we drop it? Please? I'm not looking for anything more than a friend" Aria sighed, going back to studying.

"Why? I mean, don't you have enough on Facebook?" I asked, looking at one of the flashcards and memorizing it.

"Besides, don't you want someone real? Someone you can, I don't know, scratch and sniff?" Hanna asked.

This made Spencer scoff as she looked at her.

"Wow, maybe you should just eat that over the garbage" Spencer chuckled, making me and Aria chuckle too.

"Okay, I am trying to help out a friend here" Hanna said.

Aria shook her head and got up and walked over to the fridge to get a water bottle.

"Yeah sis. The girls don't all have smoking-hot boys from the country club" I smirked, nudging her.

This made Spencer blush as she smacked my arm, making me chuckle.

Hanna laughed and when Aria walked over to stand next to her, she released a small giggle.

"What is going on with you and Alex? Is he back from that tournament?" Aria asked.

"Yeah. He's back" Spencer nodded, going through a few flashcards.

"And?" Hanna asked.

"And it's good" Spencer nodded.

Me and the girls glanced at each other before glancing back at my sister, just in time to see a smile appearing on her face.

"It's so good. I want it to last, but I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it" Spencer smiled, sighing at the end.

I wanted to say something about that, but for my sister I kept my mouth shut.

I didn't want to tell her that not all relationships last. Especially with your first one.

I can see how much she really likes Alex, and I can see that Alex likes her back the same, but something tells me that they're not gonna get their happy ever after.

"So when can we officially call him the boyfriend?" Aria asked.

Spencer shrugged and was about to say something when we heard the door open.

We turned around to see it was mom walking in.

"Hey, mom" I smiled softly at her.

"Hey, Mrs. Hastings" Aria smiled as Hanna waved at her.

"Hi, guys. Oh, what smells so good?" Mom asked.

"Garlic bread. Want some?" Spencer asked, pushing her box towards mom so she can eat some.

Mom looked at it, very tempted by her offer, but sighed and shook her head.

"I can't. God, I miss food. Eat some butter for me, will you?" Mom suggested.

Me and Spencer smiled and chuckled at her while shaking our heads.

"Why do I have so many messages?" Mom asked, taking out her phone while walking towards the fridge.

"Hey, maybe you should ask Alex to-" Hanna started but Spencer stopped her.

"Stop. Not now" Spencer whispered.

"Your Mom still doesn't know?" Aria asked, whispering too.

"Like I said, I want it to last" Spencer whispered back.

I gently rubbed her arm for some comfort. She smiled softly at me and nodded.

"Where's Emily?" Mom asked, looking around and realizing that Emily wasn't here.

"She's probably on her way over" I shrugged and the girls nodded.

And with that we went back to studying, wanting to make sure that we were prepared for tomorrow.

The Next Day
At School

It was the next day, meaning it was the day of the SATs.

However, I'm not really sure if we're gonna be taking it today because it's raining really badly and there might be a storm coming.

The girls, minus Emily, all slept over at our house after we were done studying.

Mom drove us to school but she came inside with us to ask someone if we would still be taking the test today.

"You don't have to come inside, mom. If it were canceled, nobody would be here" Spencer said, clearly annoyed.

Mom ignored her and walked over to one of the staffs that was a few feet away from us.

"Oh. Excuse me. Hi. Are they going to give this test today?" Mom asked, completely ignoring my sister.

This made me chuckle and shake my head and I kept in my laugh when Spencer groaned and rolled her eyes.

We walked over to our lockers to put our things away.

When Spencer was putting her stuff away, Hanna and I turned around, only to see Alex and a few of his friends.

"You didn't say Alex was taking the test here too" Hanna said.

Spencer closed her locker and turned around, glance at Alex before looking back at us.

"Why do you think I wanted my mom to drop us off and leave?" Spencer sighed nervously.

I rolled my eyes but smiled when Alex made his way over to us.

"Hi you" Alex grinned.

"Hi" Spencer grinned back at him.

Alex and Spencer both wrapped their arms around each other and pressed their lips against each others.

They began making out and me and the girls just looked away, clearly uncomfortable.

Don't get me wrong, I love my sister and I'm happy that she's happy with Alex, but I don't wanna see them make out.

My eyes wandered over to my mom, who was by the way walking towards us.

"Spence. Spence" I said, slapping her arm to get her attention.

I 'accidentally' smacked Alex upside the head and finally they pulled away from each other when mom walked over to us.

"Nobody here can make a decision to save their life. It's absurd" Mom scoffed, not noticing Alex.

I chuckled at her and shook my head when Spencer decided to introduce Alex to her.

"Mom, this is Alex Santiago. Alex, this is my mother. Alex that I went to homecoming with" Spencer said.

They both locked eyes with each other and to my confusion a look of realization and fear washed over their eyes.

I raised an eyebrow at them, clearly confused and suspicious.

"Oh, of course. From the club?" Mom asked.

"Yeah" Alex nodded, awkwardly.

"It just, it took me a moment to put it together. So you're Alex" Mom said.

"Listen, uh, I need to check in. Um... Nice seeing you. Meeting you" Alex said, once again awkwardly.

He nodded at us and quickly left, a look of relief washing across my mom's face.

I shook my head as the same woman my mom talked to walked over to us.

"Test is on today. Rosewood students should register in the library" the woman said, looking at me and the girls.

"But half the school isn't even here yet" Hanna said and I nodded.

"And may never make it. We saw a huge tree on Saw Mill Road and they've closed off York Street" Mom said.

The woman gave my mom an annoyed look and just shook her head.

"That wasn't because of a tree" a familiar voice said.

We turned around to see that Detective Wilden was here.

Seriously, why the hell can't this man stay at the police department instead of being near us?

"York Street's been closed since last night" Detective Wilden said as he walked over to where we were.

"Why?" Mom asked.

"Somebody decided to pay a visit to Alison DiLaurentis memorial and destroy it. Shattered the tiles, broke the bench" Detective Wilden explained.

Me and the girls glanced at each other before looking back at him with wide eyes and jaw drop.

"What?" the girls asked.

"When did this happen?" I asked.

Me and the girls worked so hard on this memorial and someone just decided to destroy it.

"We had to cordon off the area, it's an investigation" Detective Wilden said.

"Well maybe you can spare them the details. They're about to take their SATs" Mom said, giving him an annoyed look.

"Right. Good luck on the test" Detective Wilden said before walking away.

When he was gone, me and the girls glanced at each other, still in shock at what he told us.

I sighed and shook my head, wrapping my arm around Spencer's shoulder, pulling her closer to my side.

"We should probably get to the library" I whispered so only they would hear.

They all nodded and with that we walked away to head to the library to take our SATs.

At The Library

Everyone was here in the library, doing their own thing, waiting for the test to being.

I'm honestly not even sure if we're going to take the test because of the storm but we'll just have to wait.

Me and the girls were together, talking about the memorial being trashed.

"I can't believe it was trashed. Just when you thought that A would give it a rest" Aria sighed, shaking her head.

"It's like Toby had to kill Alison all over again" Spencer said.

This made me glare at her in anger and annoyance while Hanna looked at her in confusion yet shock.

"Toby? What do you mean, Toby? His motorcycle was totaled. Isn't he dead?" Hanna asked.

"Well, I hear more from Alison now than when she was alive" Spencer said.

"Guys, I thought we decided A wasn't Toby. A was happy to have Toby out of the picture" Hanna said and I nodded.

"How do we know that Toby didn't just send that text?" Aria asked.

"For the love of everything that is good and holy. Toby isn't A. He never was. I've said this over and over again that he's just someone trying to get his life back on track. But it's all going downhill for him because you guys are certain he killed Alison" I angrily scoffed.

Spencer opened her mouth to say something when Aria beat her to it.

"And why are we suddenly trusting A? A made a fake bracelet to mess with us" Aria said.

I rolled my eyes before stopping when I saw Emily walking towards us.

"Emily. Hey. Where have you been?" I asked.

"Yeah, why weren't you at Spencer and Ethan's last night?" Aria asked.

"I know, I'm sorry. I didn't get out of practice till really late so I went straight home and crashed. So, what did I miss?" Emily asked, setting her bag down.

"Well, we studied. They studied and I annoyed them" Hanna grinned.

Aria and Spencer rolled their eyes, chuckling slightly, while I let out a small laugh and shook my head.

"And Alison's memorial got trashed" Hanna said, sighing at the end.

"Yeah. I heard" Emily nodded.

Aria's eyes then wandered behind where me, Hanna and Spencer were.

"What is my mom doing here?" Aria muttered under her breath.

We looked behind her to see Mrs. Montgomery walking into the school. Aria then left the library to go talk to her mom.

A Few Minutes Later

Me and the girls were sitting at a table together, reading a few books while studying for the last few minutes we have before taking this test.

I mean, even if we do take this test, they still need to make a decision.

I was helping Emily with a few math equations when we heard Detective Wilden talking to the woman that mom spoke to before.

"Who would I speak to about getting into the locker room?" Detective Wilden asked.

"I'd have to find a custodian. Do you wanna follow me?" the woman asked.

"That's all right. I'm gonna wait here" Detective Wilden said, his eyes wandering over to us.

I wanted to flip him off so badly, but I decided against it since I didn't want to cause any trouble right now.

The woman walked away and Hanna sat down across from us.

"God, he's freaking me out. Whose locker is he poking into now?" Hanna asked.

"He's desperate. Ali's brother's breathing down his neck" Spencer said and I nodded.

"Yeah ours too. I mean, what if Jason told the police Alison's version of what happened the night of the fire?" Aria asked, clearly worried.

"If Jason was gonna tell them, he would've a year ago. He knows that story's bogus" I said and Spencer nodded.

"Well then why did he bring it up?" Hanna asked.

"To try to drive a wedge between us. But he's not gonna do that" Spencer said in confidence.

"Sorry about the memorial. I know how hard you guys worked on it" Detective Wilden said.

We all just nodded at him, trying to bite back whatever retorts we had just to get him to leave.

This guy is the definition of creepy.

"Shocking though. Something like that could happen and nobody saw anything" Detective Wilden said.

I looked up at him and flashed him a fake smile.

"Maybe instead of telling us this, you should investigate this case more and find out who trashed the memorial. That's your job, isn't it?" I asked.

"I'm doing our best" Detective Wilden said.

"Well then you're clearly terrible at it" I smiled at him, a sassy smile, my tone showing nothing but sassiness as well.

The girls all stifled their laughter, Hanna covering her laugh with a cough.

Detective Wilden gave me an annoyed look while a small smirk made it's way onto my face.

Spencer cleared her throat and looked at him, making him look at her.

"Everybody here was studying for the exam that we're about to take, so you might wanna look for eyewitnesses somewhere else" Spencer said.

"So you were all studying together?" Detective Wilden asked.

"Yes. We were all at Spencer and Ethan's" Emily said.

This made me and the girls look at her in confusion.

Why is she lying to Detective Wilden about studying at mine and Spencer's?

"All of you?" Detective Wilden asked.

"Yes. All of us" Aria nodded, gesturing to all five of us.

Detective Wilden looked at us before slowly nodding his head.

"Ok" Detective Wilden said before walking away.

When he walked away, me and the girls all looked at Emily for some answers.

"Emily, what is going on?" I asked.

"Yeah. Where were you last night?" Aria asked.

"I told you. I went home" Emily said, clearly annoyed.

"Then why didn't you tell him that?" Aria asked, confused just like the rest of us were.

"What happened to all of us sticking together?" Emily asked, clearly annoyed and a bit betrayed.

We were all confused.

Why is she acting like this? We just want to know why she lied to Detective Wilden about where she was.

She shook her head at us before getting up and grabbing her bag.

"Where are you going?" Aria asked.

"To the restroom. But if you don't believe me, we can all try and squeeze into one stall" Emily sarcastically said.

With that she walked away, leaving me and the girls.

Aria looked behind her a few times before looking back at us.

"Should one of us go talk to her?" Aria asked.

"No. She'll talk when she's ready" I said.

We all sighed and shook our heads, wanting to leave Emily alone to give her some space.

We went back to whatever we were doing, to try and pass time since we're still not sure we're going to take this test today.

I was writing in my book when my phone ringed. I put my pencil down and picked my phone up to look at the message.

Define desertion. Seems like you're about to lose Emily. Who's next?

- A

My eyes widened in shock as I began looking around the room.

I tapped Hanna's arm and showed her the text. Her eyes widened in shock before I showed the text to Spencer and Aria.

They looked at it and their eyes widened in shock.

I put my phone down and we all began looking around the room, clearly worried about what that text meant.

And something tells me Emily wasn't home last night. And I'm determined to find out where she was.

An Hour Later

So an hour has passed and we were all being moved to the girls locker room.

Apparently the storm's getting worse and to make sure we would all be safe.

Everyone was either sitting on the ground or on the benches. We were in our own group talking or not talking and just eating the snacks they provided for us.

I was sitting on a bench with Hanna, talking to her about random stuff and cracking a few jokes.

When me and Hanna spotted Emily walking inside, we shot up from the bench and walked over to her.

"Em, have you been in there this whole time?" Hanna asked.

"I didn't hear the announcement. I was looking for my purse" Emily said.

"Look, Em, if you were hooking up with Maya last night you can tell Aria and Spencer" Hanna softly said.

I raised an eyebrow at her while Emily looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked.

"I'm just saying it doesn't have to be this huge secret. It's not like I fell apart" Hanna said.

"Okay, can we not talk about this in here?" Emily asked, a bit uncomfortably.

"Look, Em, what she's trying to say is that you can trust them" I softly said, placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort.

She smiled slightly at me and nodded.

Then Detective Wilden walked over to us, looking at Emily.

"Emily, I think we found something that belongs to you. Could you come with me, please?" Detective Wilden asked.

Emily looked at us and we looked at her, confused.

Detective Wilden walked back over and looked at her.

"Emily. Lets go" Detective Wilden said, a bit more forcefully this time.

Emily just nodded and walked away with him while me and Hanna looked confused.

We looked at Aria and Spencer and gestured for them to follow us and with that we left to catch up with Detective Wilden and Emily.

At The Library

We followed Detective Wilden and Emily into the library and quickly walked inside and walked over to where Emily was.

"What is going on?" Spencer asked as we all stood near Emily.

"Oh, perfect. We can all be together for an update" Detective Wilden said, quite smugly.

"No, we're supposed to be in the girls locker room" Hanna said.

"Yeah, well, I'm guessing you girls are used to being in places you're not supposed to be" Detective Wilden said, his tone showing nothing but anger.

"Hey, watch that tone around my sister and my friends" I angrily spat, glaring at him.

He ignored me and turned to look at Emily.

"Did you tell your friends where you were last night? When you weren't studying for the test?" Detective Wilden asked.

Emily remained quiet while me and the girls were confused. 

But I was doing everything I could not to beat the crap out of this jackass.

"See, because I got these really interesting photos" Detective Wilden said, taking out his phone and showing it to Emily.

She took it and what she saw made her eyes widened, making us more confused and worried.

"Pass it around. There's plenty more where that came from. At the precinct" Detective Wilden said.

Aria took the phone and looked at it and her eyes widened.

We huddled around her and our eyes widened. It was a picture of Emily at Alison's memorial, and the place was already trashed.

"And I see you didn't get a chance to clean your shoes either" Detective Wilden said.

"That's not why I went there" Emily defended.

"Really? So you didn't go back to finish up Toby's handiwork? Or were you there covering up his tracks?" Detective Wilden asked.

My eyes widened when I realized that he was accusing Emily for trashing Alison's memorial.

This son of a bitch is accusing my best friend of something she didn't do.

"Hey, watch it" I angrily hissed at him, moving closer to Emily and glaring at him.

"I found it like that. It was already destroyed" Emily defended, once again.

"Really?" Detective Wilden asked.

He went through her purse and took out a few things that were at Alison's memorial. He took one of them in his hand and showed it to her.

"Well, then let me ask you a question. What were these doing in your bag?' Detective Wilden asked.

The girls eyes widened once more while I was clenching my fist in anger.

"Souvenirs? Something Toby asked you to save for his trophy collection?" Detective Wilden asked.

"This has nothing to do with Toby" Emily said, nearly in tears.

"Em, why do you have those?" Aria asked.

Emily looked at her and shook her head, biting her lip and I could tell she was close to crying.

"No, you put those in there, you creep. Emily would never do that, the memorial was her idea" Hanna said, defending Emily while glaring at Detective Wilden.

"Yeah. So I heard. Nice cover, huh?" Detective Wilden asked, clearly mockingly.

I glared at him with so much anger and rage in my eyes I thought I would explode.

Someone better hold me back because nothing is stopping me from shoving my fist into this creepy detective's face.

He then took something out of his jacket pocket, a letter.

"You want me to share this with them?" Detective Wilden asked.

Emily's eyes widened and she tried to get it back but he moved it away from her.

"Or would you like to? Go ahead and tell them about the angry letter that you wrote to Alison. Which is dated, by the way, three days before she disappeared" Detective Wilden said, holding the letter in his hand.

"You had no right to read that" Emily said.

"Damn right he didn't. That's her stuff, you had no right to read something of hers" I angrily said.

"Emily, what is in that letter?" Spencer asked.

"Tell her how you wanted to punish Alison for rejecting you. Tell her you felt relieved at the funeral. Yeah, she wasn't gonna be around to humiliate you anymore, was she?" Detective Wilden asked, examining the letter.

This made my eyes widened in realization when I realized what the letter was about. What this entire damn thing was about.

I know that Emily is lesbian. I know and support that.

And I know that she loved Alison more than a friend. She loved loved Alison.

Detective Wilden not only is accusing Emily of killing Alison, he's basically outing her sexuality out to Spencer and Aria, when it's clear she wasn't ready. And he's also accusing her of trashing the memorial.

And this. This just made my damn blood boil.

"You son of a bitch!" I angrily yelled.

I made a move to lunge at him but Spencer and Hanna quickly grabbed my arms, holding me back.

Emily quickly opened her mouth to speak, trying to stop a fight from happening.

"I went back to that memorial to say I was sorry. There were horrible things in that letter. And I didn't mean them. But then suddenly she was gone and" Emily said, pausing, clearly hesitating.

Aria and Spencer were confused while me and Hanna shared a look of realization.

I gently shoved Hanna and Spencer's hands away from my arms, feeling myself calm down just a bit.

"I loved her as more than a friend" Emily said, looking at Spencer and Aria, tears already streaming down her cheeks.

Aria and Spencer's eyes widened in realization and shock.

"I just never had the chance to tell her in the right way" Emily said, her voice cracking at the end.

Aria and Spencer looked at her in shock, not knowing what to say.

Me and Hanna looked at Detective Wilden, only to see he was smirking smugly at her confession.

I glared at him and clenched my fist in complete anger. Hanna noticed his smirk too and glared angrily at him.

"Give her the letter back. Give it back to her now or I swear to God I will rip your head off" Hanna said, clearly angry and filled with rage.

Detective Wilden looked at her, clearly unimpressed.

"Give her the damn letter back right now or so help me you son of a bitch I'll rip your vocal cords out!" I angrily spat at him.

This made Aria, Spencer and Emily jump while Hanna just remained the same.

"Sorry. I can't" Detective Wilden said.

I once again made a move to lunge at him, but Hanna grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"We're not leaving until you tell me what you were doing carrying around pieces of Alison's memorial" Detective Wilden yelled.

I gently shoved Hanna's hand away from my arm and walked over to Detective Wilden, shoving him away from Emily.

"Watch your damn tone around her, you bitch!" I angrily yelled back at him.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, yells at my best friend and thinks they can get away with it.

"They were the only things that weren't broken" Emily defended.

Just before he could say anything else, the door opened, we turned around and to our relief it was mom.

"What's going on in here? Why aren't they in the locker room with the other kids?" Mom asked, walking closer towards us.

"Who are you?" Detective Wilden asked, clearly annoyed.

"Their mother" Mom said, pointing at me and Spencer.

I glared at him and took a few steps back as mom made her way closer towards us.

"If this is the school's idea of keeping my children safe I'm glad I came back" Mom said, glaring at Detective Wilden.

Emily wiped some of her tears away but mom saw them and looked at her in confusion.

"Honey, why is she crying?" Mom asked, looking at Spencer.

"He accused her of killing Alison" Spencer angrily said, moving towards Emily and bringing her in a hug.

"What?" Mom asked, her eyes wide in shock and disbelief as she looked at Detective Wilden.

"He went through her purse and now he's accusing her-" Aria started but mom cut her off.

"Oh, hold it. Hold it. You're questioning minors without an adult?" Mom asked, slowly getting angry.

Damn right he is.

"What...what police department do you work for? What century are you in?" Mom asked, clearly angry.

"Mam, I would advise you-" Detective Wilden started but mom cut him off.

"Oh, no. I would advise you to back off. Anything they've said to you is inadmissible in a courtroom. Period" Mom angrily spat.

This made me smirk, while Detective Wilden looked angry, unsure of what to say.

"Let's go. Emily, honey, grab your things" Mom said.

Emily nodded as Spencer and Aria help put the things from Alison's memorial in her bag. When that was done they lead her out of the room.

Hanna walked over to Detective Wilden and snatched the letter from him. She glared at him and scoffed before walking away.

I glared at him and tried moving towards him but mom gently grabbed my arm.

"Ethan, honey, don't. He's not worth it. Go with the girls" Mom softly but sternly said.

I nodded, but before I left I turned to Detective Wilden one last time.

"If you ever, and I mean ever, accuse Emily or any of my best friends of something they didn't do. again. You better believe you're gonna regret choosing this as your job" I angrily spat.

And with that, I turned around and walked away to head back to the girls.

Back In The Locker Room

Me and the girls, along with mom, were back in the locker room. Emily was sitting on a bench by herself while we were talking to mom.

"So, what's gonna happen to him? Can they get him off the force?" Hanna asked.

"If he's smart, he'll leave before that happens" Mom scoffed.

I chuckled and nodded, smirking proudly at my mother.

"Oh, where did he get that protein bar?" Mom asked.

"Oh, I'll get you one" Aria said, walking away from us to get her a protein bar.

We remained where we were and continued talking before the same woman from before walking.

"Can I have your attention, please? The storm warning has just been lifted but the SAT will have to be rescheduled" the woman said.

This made all of us cheer and clap, happy that we don't have to take the SATs today.

But it also made me angry that we studied so hard for nothing.

We all got out of the locker room to get our things and head home.

I was by my locker, getting my things out and when I got them out and I went to say goodbye to the girls.

When I said goodbye and walked back over to mom and Spencer, only to have mom drag me and Spencer in an empty classroom.

I was confused, only to find out from Spencer that mom was going to tell us about her and Alex.

"Oh, my God. This requires closing a door. Maybe I should just walk home" Spencer said, making me lightly hit her arm.

"Remember that weekend when your father took you two and Melissa to D.C? I stayed behind" Mom asked.

"Yeah" me and Spencer nodded.

"I said I had to work all weekend, but that wasn't the truth. I spent most of Friday drunk. Sunday, I was hung over. Saturday, I don't remember at all" Mom said.

I raised my hands up and shook my head.

"I changed my mind. I don't need to know" I said and Spencer nodded, but that didn't stop mom from talking.

"It started at the club Friday morning. It was empty there wasn't a soul to talk to, so I ordered a sidecar. Then another. And another" Mom said.

I lightly chuckled at that, but I was getting a bit curious and worried by this.

"By the time lunch rolled around, I had walked through a trellis and couldn't find my shoes. It was Alex's first week there. He kindly listened to me spill my guts and later poured me into a cab. With my shoes" Mom explained, smiling slightly at the end.

"Why were you spilling your guts to Alex?" Spencer asked, confused.

"I had a doctor's appointment before I went there. They removed a lump from my breast. And I was feeling a little overwhelmed and powerless. After that, I avoided the club for months. The next time I saw Alex I made him promise that he would never, ever bring it up" Mom explained.

This made mine and Spencer's eyes widened in shock and fear.

I stared at mom and swallowed a lump in my throat, tears threatening to come out.

"Mom, are you sick?" I asked, my voice cracking.

"No" Mom softly reassured me, shaking her head.

"Well, why didn't you and Dad tell us?" Spencer asked.

"What makes you think your Dad knows?" Mom asked.

I sighed and shook my head, me and Spencer were close to tears.

"Spencer, Ethan, our family doesn't handle imperfection very well" Mom said.

A tear slid down my cheek, I wiped it away and shook my head at my mom.

"Mom. Being sick is not an imperfection" I softly said, shaking my head at her.

Spencer nodded, agreeing with me, this made mom chuckle slightly as she nodded her head at us.

"Just so you know, I gave up sidecars for spritzers" Mom joked.

This made me and Spencer laugh, mom soon joining in, feeling a bit better after what she told us.

"And by the way, Alex is a lovely kid. He's a keeper" Mom smiled softly at Spencer.

Spencer giggled and nodded, smiling at mom with small tears streaming down her face.

I couldn't take it anymore. My lips trembled as more tears streamed down my cheeks and I lunged towards mom and embraced her in a tight hug.

I wrapped my arms around her, burying my face into her shoulder. I let out small sobs as mom hugged me back, kissing my head.

"I love you mom" I whispered.

"I love you too, sweetie" Mom whispered, hugging me tighter.

I hugged her back. I smiled when Spencer walked over to us and joined in on the hug, hugging me and mom tight.

This is nice. This is something that I needed, that me and Spencer needed.

A nice, loving moment with our mother.