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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"You sit like lame ducks." -Spencer Hastings
The girls sat in what Isabel called the waiting room. Spencer played with the Newton's Cradle, driving Isabel insane.
"Spencer!" Aria finally snapped.
"What?" Spencer replied. Aria's eyes darted between the Cradle and Spencer. Spencer got the memo and stopped the clacking.
Noel's phone rang, and he answered it. "Yeah. Stay here." He said, turning to them. Isabel scowled at him. She still couldn't believe that they were trusting Noel Kahn. "I'll be right back."
"I cannot believe we let Noel bring us here," Isabel scoffed, verbalizing her opinion once he left.
"Do we think she's even coming?" Hanna sighed.
"I don't know, when I saw it was him instead of Ali, I thought for sure this was a trap," Spencer said, shaking her head.
"Probably is and we're just sitting here like geese," Hanna agreed.
"Ducks," Spencer corrected her, and she stared.
"What?"
"You sit like lame ducks. Not geese," Spencer explained.
"Okay, well, whatever, they both quack," Hanna huffed.
"Geese honk," Isabel pointed out, and Hanna gave her a dirty look.
"Why would Ali trust Noel Kahn?" Emily asked to defuse the argument.
"Because he has secrets, too."
The girls sprung up to see Ali just... standing there.
"I want to hug you and slap you at the same time," Hanna said as they all stared. Isabel was dimly aware of her gaping mouth, yet did nothing to close it.
"I could use a hug," Ali smiled after closing the door. They each took turns hugging her. Isabel went first, squeezing her as tight as possible, to make up for thinking she was dead, and as punishment for leaving her. Them. Spencer was last, and she said, "I'm glad you're here, Spencer."
"Why? I'm the one you can't trust," Spencer muttered.
"I need your help," Ali replied simply. "Now that the cops know that I'm not the one they buried, they're gonna start looking again. And until I know who 'A' is, I can't come home."
"Good luck with that, considering we've been trying to do that for months," Isabel scoffed. Ali just smiled at her.
"I've missed your sarcastic remarks," she told her. Isabel looked at the ground to hide the fact that she was beaming.
"Ali, we think your mom's the one who stole the game from Mona," Hanna said, breaking the silence. "We think she's 'A.'"
Ali was silent. "You don't seem surprised," Emily frowned.
