My Life in Rosewood

Chapter Five

That night I'm laying in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. Spencer and her parents were asleep when I got back, so I didn't have to talk to anyone and didn't have to worry about anything other than heading straight to my room. Honestly, I was shocked that no one had been awake. Besides the fact her parents are hot shot lawyers who stay up till late hours, but also because their first born daughter Melissa came back to Rosewood since her place in Philadelphia is being renovated. Which led to her taking Spencer's opportunity to have the barn turned into a loft as her own space.

While I was at the Montgomery's house Spencer had texted me to explain everything and that did not sit well with me whatsoever. She had spent most of the summer fixing it up to be her loft, with my help whenever I had been around so she could have it as hers when school started. But once Melissa popped back into the picture, her parents gave the loft to her without even asking Spencer if it was okay. This has always been their relationship and I always hate that they dismiss Spencer like she isn't part of the family. On top of her being home, Melissa's fiance is around too. So that led to him staying with her, and that just stirred the pot ten times more for Spencer to know that Melissa got her way with extra ammo from her fiance being in the picture. So the fact that I came home to a non-explosive household was a miracle in itself.

As I lay awake, I'm thinking back at the day I had with the Montgomery's. It wasn't all bad. After I calmed down Aunt Ella made dinner for us and we just caught up on life from the past few years of being away from each other. How Iceland was so beautiful and that I'd probably love it there, or how I've been playing basketball and softball for Rosewood High and am supposed to be captain of the junior varsity team for basketball this year. Through all that they never asked details on the accident, especially because of how I reacted just by walking into their house. So it was just as normal of a day together as it had been before they moved away. Not to mention that Aria had let me know that when Peter had originally reached out all those months ago they explained a little bit before sending a link to the article written about the event. That article had the details of my statement to the police that day, from trying to avoid the dog all the way to no other survivors other than myself since Ezra pulled me out of the car. Considering they already knew what had happened I know that they didn't ask to go deeper into it because they didn't want to put me through all those emotions again. I'm sure they'll eventually ask, but for now it seems it's not the main priority.

A few times my phone goes off on my nightstand, making me groan because I don't want to check it. But I know all day people have been reaching out to me out of concern, knowing that Aria and her family are back in town. After the 5th time it buzzes on the hard surface I lean over to check who it is and see that Lucas Gottesman's name shines through the semi-dark room. The street lamp/moon outside my window is slightly shining through my window, making things a bit easier to see as I grab my phone and start to answer my texts. Lucas is too sweet for words, despite what Alison and her goons always felt. Or despite even now that Mona makes him still feel bad for being low on the popularity scale. She makes him feel low for no reason other than because he reminds him of herself, and makes fun of his "goofy face". He has a long and wide-like nose with a baby-face that hasn't grown any facial hair yet and apparently that's hilarious. This makes her add to the old nickname that Alison used to call him, Hermi, because she spread around that he was half girl and half boy. It boiled my blood then and boils it now, because Mona treats him that way knowing that me, her and Hanna had all been where he is not too long ago.

Now barely able to keep my eyes open when I'm done and the quietness of the Hastings' house creeps up on me, it makes it calm enough to soothe me into sleep. I take a breath and feel my sleepiness kick in and in no time at all I'm fast asleep, dreaming.

It's a rainy Friday morning in March, my parents, myself and Jeff are getting ready to go into New York/New Jersey for the weekend. Every few months we try to get away from Rosewood for a while, needing to distance ourselves from all the people who think our family is weird or unnatural for being mixed. We plan to visit my dad's sister and her son in New Jersey, even stay at their place since they have the extra space. If they didn't we would have had to stay at a hotel. Aunt Casey and my cousin Bobby have been really the only ones who like having us around, 'cause my other family members were never a fan of my parents moving away and taking me and Jeff with them. So things had always been iffy with everyone since then.