Secrets in Rosewood {2}

Chapter 2: The Goodbye Look

Avery says, "Did things just get incredibly worse?" Emily says, "I can't believe this. Ian's dead." Hanna says, "No, zombies don't text. Okay, he is alive somewhere." Avery says, "Spence..." Spencer says, "I have to get this phone home before Melissa realizes that it's gone." As Spencer goes to walk away, Emily says, "Okay, you put it back and then what do we do?" Avery says, "Do we call the cops?" Hanna sarcastically says, "Oh, yeah, because that always works out so well for us." Emily says, "Why is Ian texting Melissa?" Hanna says, "And why is Melissa answering him?" Emily says, "Is she? I mean, we don't know how long this has been going on." Avery says, "Spencer, look, you've got to find out what Ian told Melissa. You're the only one who can find out what he wants." Emily says, "And where he is." They then hear a clattering on the roof and Spencer says, "Let's get out of here!" They leave the greenhouse and Hanna says, "Let's finish this in the morning, okay? I'm cold, damp, and scared. We can talk at school." Avery says, "We can't talk at school, remember? The four of us are supposed to be having 'separate time.'" Emily says, "Doctor's orders." Hanna says, "So, what are we supposed to do? Not talk to each other?" Avery says, "We're in the same classes. We just have to play it cool." They hear a noise and look to see Jason and Spencer says, "It's Jason." Hanna says, "Did he move back in?" There's a bunch of boxes on the curb. Spencer says, "What is all that?" Emily says, "That's all that stuff that those people left on my curb when Ali went missing, those tributes. Maya said her family kept those things when they moved in. They didn't have the heart to throw them out." Spencer says, "Apparently Jason's moved on." Hanna says, "What's he doing back in that house?"

The next day, Avery walks out of English, when she hears a familiar voice say, "Hey, Big A! Wait up." Avery turns to face Mona and Mona continues to say, "So, that was a bombshell, wasn't it? Did you see it coming, about him leaving?" Avery says, "No." Mona says, "Listen. If I bend some arms, we could get him a gift. And I thought you could pick it out." Avery says, "Why me?" Mona says, "Well, you know him better. From the play." Avery nods and says, "Right. Uh, sure. I'll pick something up." Mona smiles and says, "Primo. I'll shake people down. I love doing that." As Avery turns to walk away, Mona continues to say, "Um, there is this one other really small thing I wanted to talk to you about." Avery says, "Anything between you and Hanna you're just going to have to work out on your own." Mona says, "Can't you just say something to her?" Avery says, "Mona, Hanna and I aren't really hanging out right now." Mona says, "Why? Did something happen?" Avery's surprised that Mona doesn't know, and she says, "Did something happen? Don't you read the papers or listen to the news?" Mona says, "No." Avery says, "Ali's killer?" Mona says, "Oh. Right. You lying to the cops." Avery says, "Oh, we didn't lie to the cops. People think that we did, but we didn't. So, now our-parents are thinking that we just shouldn't hang out as much." Mona says, "Oh. That's so unfair." Avery changes the subject and says, "So, I'll get the gift for Mr. Fitz, but I can't help you with Hanna." Avery walks away. Later, Avery's in the lunch line with her friends and she finds out the videos are gone, and she says, "So, the videos are gone?" Emily says, "Totally gone." Avery says, "That was our only evidence." Emily says, "Well, we don't have it anymore." Hanna says, "Has Ian sent Melissa any more messages?" Spencer says, "I don't know. She's not leaving her phone sitting around." Emily says, "What about Jason? Why is he back? And what is he doing in that house?" Spencer says, "Maybe he's just looking for closure or something." Hanna says, "Okay, new rule, no one can say the word "closure". Ever." Emily says, "Dr. Sullivan says it all the time." Hanna says, "I rest my case." Avery pays for her lunch and goes to sit down at a table and Hanna puts her tray in front of Avery's and Avery says, "Han." Hanna says, "What?" Spencer looks at Hanna and says, "I don't think we should sit together." Hanna says, "We always sit together." Spencer says, "We have to make it look like we're going along with this." Hanna says, "Oh, looking like we're doing it is the same thing as doing it. It means we're wrong. And we're not wrong, we're right." Avery softly says, "Are we? We don't even really know what happened." Emily says, "How can we be sure if we're even right?" Hanna says, "That's even more reason to stick together." Emily, Hanna, and Spencer go sit at separate tables. Avery's phone beeps and it's a message from A saying, "Look at you, all alone in a crowd. I win! Xoxo -A" Avery looks at her friends and they all got the same message. Later, Avery goes to Spencer's and finds Spencer's back door broken into and she opens the door and says, "Spence! Spencer, are you here? Spencer!" Avery then turns to see a figure dressed in black approach her and pushes her into a table and Avery falls to the ground with a groan. Later, Avery's bandaging her hand when Spencer walks over to her and says, "I've called the police. Everything looks all right upstairs. Are you sure you're, okay?" Avery says, "Yeah. Dignity broke the fall." Avery looks away and Spencer says, "Aves... Hey. Are you sure that you're, okay?" Avery looks at Spencer and softly says, "Okay. Yeah, I'm fine." Spencer says, "The fact that A can just... break into our houses. Sometimes I think that's the worst part of this." Avery says, "Emily said that somebody broke into their garage and stole some camping gear. And her mom said that there's been a whole bunch of break-ins around town." Spencer says, "What would A want with camping gear?" Avery says, "You tell me." Spencer says, "What if it's not A?" Avery says, "You thinking it's Ian?" Spencer nods and says, "We thought that A wiped Emily's hard drive because that's the kind of thing A would do but Ian is the only other person who would want those videos destroyed." Avery says, "Do you think that was Ian upstairs" Spencer says, "I don't know. Melissa's out in the barn. What would he want in the house?" Avery says, "You."

The next day, Avery's in English class, and it's Ezra's last day of class and Ezra unwraps his going away present and he smiles and says, "Aw..." Avery got him 'To Kill a Mockingbird' book and Ezra continues to say, "Thank you. Wasn't expecting this. To be honest, most of what's happened to me here I didn't... expect. I didn't expect to... connect with you the way that I have. I never expected to feel this kind of loss over leaving you. Um... Stop me when this gets too maudlin. But... I'm not going to forget you. I will remember your-your-your voices your questions, your... faces. I cherish the time that I've spend here, and... I'm more grateful than I even know how to say. There's a quote by Joseph Campbell and it goes... "You must give up the life you had planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you." I thought I knew what that meant. I didn't... till I met you." The bell rings and Ezra continues to say, "Well, there it is. Oh! Oh. Always read. Have a good life." Everyone shakes Ezra's hand goodbye and Avery smiles at Ezra, and he smiles lovingly at her, and Avery walks out the door. Later, the girls meet at the greenhouse and Spencer shows them Melissa's sonogram and Spencer says, "It was in the pocket of her raincoat. And her raincoat was wet, so were her boots." Avery says, "She lied to you about being out?" Spencer says, "Well, she didn't go far. I checked the driveway. And it was dry under her car, so it hadn't been moved all day." Emily says, "Who would she want to show this to?" Avery says, "I can only think of one person who would care." Emily says, "Ian." Hanna says, "If she didn't take the car that means he must be close." Spencer says, "You guys, Hanna's right. This is the worst time for us to be splitting up. We have got to stay together." Hanna says, "Yeah, no matter how much lying it takes." They walk out the greenhouse and as they pass by the Dilaurentis house they something rolled up in a tarp and Emily says, "What is that?" A figure shines a light at them, and Spencer says, "Jason?" Jason says, "Oh. It's you." Avery says, "Yeah. It's... only us." Spencer says, "Um, what are you doing?" Jason says, "I've been replanting all day, and I'm putting up a fence." Hanna says, "A fence? Why? For what?" Jason says, "Privacy. Security. There's a lot of curious creeps in the world and one way or another, people are going to mind their own business. You girls better go home." The girls walk away, and Emily says, "Who's he trying to keep out with that fence?" Avery says, "Keep out or... keep in?"