𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐄! | 𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐆𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐘

six.

"where were you yesterday?" iris asked, all three girls were at kalani's house, spread out across her bed while the office played in the background. "i called to see if you wanted to stay over, i didn't think you'd want to be alone." olivia shifted slightly, she knew that iris was wary of her previous friend group - she had every right to be. she didn't want to lose her friends in the process of trying to figure out who 'A' was. "i was at home," olivia lied. "my phone must've been off."

"oh," iris and kalani exchanged looks. "your mom said you were out." olivia inwardly groaned, she should've known that iris would've called her mom. "oh!" olivia nodded. "yesterday? yeah i was out." she shrugged. "it slipped my mind." kalani frowned at her. "what is going on with you?" she asked. "why are you acting so sketchy?" olivia shook her head. "sketchy?" she asked. "i don't know what you're talking about."

"who were you with?" iris asked. "i just went out for a-" olivia trailed off, unsure on whether she could keep up with her lies. after all, spencer definitely wasn't going to let her ignore and avoid them, especially with everything going on. there was no point in lying to her friends when her past group were so adamant on sticking together. "i was with-" she trailed off again but iris and kalani seemed to form the rest of that sentence on their own. "oh," iris said. "why didn't you just say that?" kalani asked. "because it's weird," olivia sighed. "i didn't even want to, spencer just showed up at my house last night."

"it's not that weird," kalani replied. "alison was your friend, of course you're going to want to be together." olivia grimaced, she didn't want to be anywhere near the girls, it was far too much for her to handle. she'd spent the entire night tossing and turning, memories of alison flooding her mind that slowly turned to aria that then turned to the jenna thing. she could never escape her past if her past was so intent on becoming friends with her again. "i don't want anything from them," olivia said. "i want them to leave me alone but that's not going to happen anytime soon."

"why?" iris asked. "grieving for alison is one thing, getting their little group back together is another." olivia knew that in a way, they were all grieving alison even if most of them already had the feeling that she was gone. but that was not the reason they had started sticking together once again and olivia wanted nothing more than to be able to tell her friends. but she didn't know who 'A' was or what they were capable of, she didn't want her friends to start getting the same weird messages she had been getting. "they just miss each other," olivia settled for instead.

"do you miss them?" iris pressed. "no," olivia shook her head. "iris," kalani levelled her with a look. "it would be fine if she did." olivia scrunched her nose up in mild disgust. "i don't miss them," she repeated herself. "this will all blow over in a couple of days and then they'll all go back to their old ways." she could only hope that everything would blow over, wilden was yet to take their statements but they hadn't gotten an 'A' message since ali's funeral so olivia was hoping that maybe the person behind the messages had simply gotten bored. or maybe they had killed alison and didn't want the paper trail that they were harassing her friends as well. either way, olivia would take the win of being left alone.

"what about aria?" kalani asked. "her old ways are back in iceland." olivia had to bite her tongue before she said something that outed her entire relationship with the girl. she'd been able to control herself when aria was in iceland but with her being back in rosewood, olivia was finding it harder and harder to ignore their past. "i couldn't care less about what aria does," olivia replied. "she's not my problem, none of them are my problem." kalani glanced towards iris. "if you say so," she muttered under her breath.

the conversation dissipated into whatever kalani and iris had been up to the night before when olivia had been busy with the other girls. for the first time, she felt like she was on the outside of her friend group and she didn't like it at all. not when it was the fault of the people she was trying so hard to get away from.

✭

george dropped olivia outside rosewood high the next morning. he hadn't questioned why kalani wasn't picking her up just like kalani hadn't questioned why olivia had text her when she got home the night before that george wanted to drop her off because she hadn't been spending any time with her family lately. it was a weak lie and kalani was the type of person to see straight through it, olivia just needed time to think. and neither of her friend groups were helping with that.

"so do you want to wait around for me to pick you up later?" george asked, peering out through the window. he'd never dropped olivia off before, he'd only offered twice when he had first moved in which was when olivia was adamant that she wanted him gone. she'd very harshly rejected him and he'd never offered since, even though their relationship was better now. "i can walk," olivia said. "it'll be good to get some fresh air."

"is everything ok?" george asked. "i know things are a little hectic for you but-" olivia brushed him off, grabbing her bag from the seat behind her. "everything's fine," she smiled reassuringly at him and hoped that he bought it. "i'll see you later." she clambered out of the car and took a couple deep breaths before she headed towards the entrance.

she pushed her way through the gaggle of students to her locker, grabbing her textbooks as people around her discussed their weekends. a couple of them gave her sympathetic looks, a couple of them gave her disgusted looks. word travelled fast around rosewood so olivia could only assume that the news had gotten out that the girls were being pulled in to give their statements again. it was always nice to know who would give her the benefit of the doubt and who would assume she had murdered one of her friends. "liv!" she didn't even turn around, aria would have to get far better at attempting to get her attention, starting with calling her by her actual name.

"olivia!" she groaned inwardly and wondered if she hit her head off her locker would it be enough to knock her clean out. "morning spencer," she closed her locker door and turned to face the girls behind her. she had assumed it was only aria but she should've known better considering her former friends were doing an excellent job at pretending they were all still close. "i have a class to get to so i'll see you around!" she tried to brush past them but spencer grabbed her arm almost pleadingly. the speakers crackled around them as the receptionist cleared her throat into the microphone.

"will the following students please come to the office: emily fields, aria montgomery, olivia wyatt, spencer hastings, hanna marin."

olivia laughed bitterly, tugging her arm free from spencer. "great," she said. "this is just great." emily looked like she'd quite literally seen a ghost and olivia was starting to fear that she would be the one to crack under pressure. emily had always been loyal but olivia knew what the stress was like, she was unfortunately starting to understand why they had to stick together. as much as she hated it, they seemed to need each other to remain strong about everything that had went down. a phone buzzed within their circle, aria pulled hers out.

"wait, it's from 'A'." olivia leant closer to her screen, suddenly very aware of how close she was to the girl. "dead girls walking," hanna read aloud, exchanging looks with her friends. "you've got to be fucking kidding me," olivia groaned. she had expected this week to be where everything blew over and went back to normal, it seemed like this was the new normal. the thought of it made olivia feel nauseous. "we should go," spencer said. "we don't know what they want us for." olivia raised a brow. "we know exactly what they want us for," she said. "and we can't crack at all, so no telling the truth about the jenna thing." she glanced around at her friends. "ok?"

"look at you," spencer nudged her. "wanting to keep secrets." olivia shook her head. "i'm not going down for something that alison did," she replied. "and neither is anyone else." she bit her lip, knowing she would regret her next words. "so we have to stick together from now on, we're in this together."