Isabel Rivers never really had a safe place to land. That was before she met queen bee Alison DiLaurentis. She was Ali's favorite. They also had four other friends. It was the perfect group.
Right until Ali went missing one summer.
And turned up...
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"If lying was a crime, we'd all be in jail." -Emily Fields
The next day, Isabel knocked on the door of Aria's house. Her father answered it.
"Oh, Isabel, what a surprise!" Byron smiled. "Mike's in his room, and so is Aria. You can come have breakfast with us if you'd like."
"Oh, no, that's fine," Isabel declined politely. "Um, I'd like to talk to Mike."
"Of course, come in," Byron nodded. Isabel made her way upstairs.
"What do you-oh, it's you," Mike muttered once Isabel knocked on his door.
"Yeah, it's me," Isabel scoffed, crossing her arms. "Mike, you've been shutting me out. I'm barely a part of your life anymore! You only talk over text, you cancel every date we schedule, and you won't tell me why."
"There's just-" Mike began, but Isabel cut him off.
"Been a lot going on?" She finished. "Yeah, Mike. There's been a lot going on in my life, too. But at least I try to include you in it! I haven't seen you in weeks. I'm sick and tired of being ghosted. I'm done. We're done." She stormed out, earning a weird look from Aria as she passed her room.
-
Isabel met up with the girls at the cafeteria. Supposedly, Cooper was leaving, Ian and Ali were at the Hilton Head at the same time, and Toby was back in school. At this last piece of news, Isabel felt a twinge of guilt in the pit of her stomach.
"Agent Cooper is not some small-town cop that's going to arrest Spencer's brother-in-law because Ali carved his name into a tree," Hanna scoffed.
"Yeah, a tree that's no longer there," Spencer pointed out.
"No one knows that but us," Emily said.
"And Ian," Spencer added. Isabel looked at Noel outside, talking to some jocks.
"And 'A'," Isabel huffed, glaring at him.
"Noel led us to that tree for a reason," Spencer said.
"Is 'A'...I mean, is Noel trying to help us find Ali's killer?" Aria frowned.
"'A' helping us?" Hanna scoffed.
"Wow, that's a first," Isabel agreed sarcastically.
"How could Noel even know about Ian and Ali?" Spencer asked skeptically.
"Have you ever noticed how Noel is always around?" Aria shrugged. Isabel watched as Mike walked up to Noel, and they started a conversation. More than he ever did with her.
"Are they friends?" Emily frowned.
"No," Aria replied, staring at the two of them.
"Hanna's right about Cooper," Spencer said abruptly. "We need to find some kind of proof."
