𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐄! | 𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐆𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐘

twelve.

olivia was extremely good at holding grudges. her mother had always disapproved of that trait, saying that she should let things go. but olivia just couldn't most of the time. she still held a grudge against the girl who had pulled her ponytail so hard that she'd toppled over on the playground when they were seven and that was eight years ago. she still sniped at aria over the way she'd left things a year ago. so when it came to iris jones, the anger olivia had for her was still fresh but she 100% planned on holding it against her.

"are you seriously doing this?" iris asked as olivia slid into her usual seat. she'd actually intended on getting to class just a little early so that she could switch seats and not have to interact with iris at all but wilden appearing and summoning hanna away had made her lose track of time. "you're just pretending you can't hear me now?" iris crossed her arms. "very mature." olivia sat back in her seat and stared straight ahead, clenching her jaw in an attempt to keep her mouth shut. when kalani appeared in the classroom barely five minutes later, she looked like she wanted to run as far away as possible.

"hey," she smiled warily towards olivia. "how are you?" iris glared her down but kalani was doing a pretty good job of avoiding her eyes. "i'm good," olivia replied. "what did you want me to do?" iris asked. "lie to a cop?" olivia raised a brow, not even bothering to look in her direction. "no but i didn't want you to tell him you thought we were suspicious either," she said. "because that's a lie too, you're just being petty." iris scoffed. "petty?" she parroted the girls words. "that's insane." olivia shrugged. "meddling in a police investigation because you're pissed at someone is petty," she said. "it's not meddling," iris argued. "yes it is," olivia replied.

"don't you think wilden is going to think it's suspicious how you're so anxious to put the blame on someone?" she chose to turn to face iris finally, leaning forward in her chair slightly. "you hated alison, right?" she tilted her head a little. "i made sure he knows all about your feelings." obviously she hadn't told officer wilden anything mainly because he freaked her out but also because she wasn't about to stoop to iris' level. she'd been petty because of her dislike towards olivia's friends and her jealousy, but olivia wasn't going to let that consume her. she just needed to spook iris a little and if the messages stopped, then they had their culprit.

"you talked to wilden?" iris asked, straightening in her seat a little. olivia held back her smile, she had her exactly where she wanted her. it was quite impressive how easily she had believed olivia, how scared she suddenly looked. if she really was 'A', olivia didn't feel bad for making iris feel that way and even if she wasn't 'A', she still wanted to make her sweat a little for making her look like a suspect to a cop that already hated her. "when did you talk to him?" she tried to play her question off as casual but olivia heard the way her voice spiked, the panic in her tone. it made her stomach sink a little, because why would iris have cared so much if she didn't have anything to hide?

"my mom took me to the station," olivia replied coolly. "i told her what you said to wilden and she reminded me that you hated alison so i didn't really want to withhold information that could be important to an investigation." kalani opened her mouth to interject but fell short, her mouth opening and closing with nothing coming out. "why would you do that?" iris asked. "well you told wilden everything you know, not because of a petty vendetta, right?" olivia shrugged. "you told him because you thought it was important to the investigation, i just did the same thing."

iris stared olivia down, a glint in her eyes that olivia had never seen before. "you're still the same stone cold bitch you always were, aren't you?" iris asked. "some things really don't change." olivia flashed a tight-lipped smile at her. "yeah but i'm openly a bitch," she said. "you're nothing but a backstabber."

✭

"i thought i asked you to ignore her," spencer shot her best disapproving look towards olivia, not that she was paying much attention. aria let out a small giggle as olivia finished telling them about her class with iris. "that's awful," aria snorted. "i wish i'd been there." spencer shook her head at both of them, emily didn't look exactly on board either. "oh come on," olivia nudged her. "if the messages from 'A' stop now then we'll know it was her because she's terrified." spencer didn't look convinced. "and what if they don't stop?" she asked. "well then we'll know it's not her," olivia said. "you didn't see the fear on her face, she believes she's going to be a suspect in this murder." spencer scoffed. "she probably should be a suspect."

"speaking of, has anyone heard from hanna yet?" olivia switched subjects, realising that the blonde was still missing. "no i'm writing on hanna's wall right now," aria replied. "if she's not answering texts, what makes you think she's checking facebook?" emily raised a brow at the girl who shrugged in response. "it's worth a try." olivia put out a hand to stop aria as she gestured behind her to where the blonde was approaching. "what's going on?" hanna asked. "we've been trying to get ahold of you," aria responded. "what happened in there?"

"nothing, just the same old stupid questions." olivia frowned, wilden's accusations about their statements seeming rehearsed had been swirling around her head for a while, he had obviously decided to separate them in the hopes of their stories differentiating when they were apart. olivia didn't like the idea, their statements hadn't been rehearsed but it didn't seem like a good idea to be alone with wilden while he quizzed them up. it seemed like he could create any type of story he wanted about alison's murder when it was just one-on-one.

"you were in there for an hour, hanna," spencer sighed. "what else did he ask?" hanna shifted uncomfortably in front of them, olivia didn't feel good about the way she was acting, she wondered if she had cracked and mentioned jenna. "nothing," hanna shrugged, olivia's worries about the jenna thing subsiding just a little. "he just took a couple calls and i just sat there, waiting for him to shut up." olivia and spencer exchanged confused looks, why had wilden called hanna if he wasn't going to ask her anything new, why would he have wasted time like that? it had to have been a plan, but olivia didn't know if was clever enough for that considering he still thought the five of them had murdered alison.

"well, is he gonna question all of us alone now?" aria asked, a fearful look crossing over her face. "he's not questioning me alone, i'll have my mom down here so fast if he even tries," olivia said, she wasn't about to be questioned alone by a sketchy officer that was trying to pin a murder on them, it was a recipe for disaster. "who knows?" hanna sighed. "look, let's do this at lunch, ok? i have to hit the ladies' before my next class." she turned and walked away from the girls without even so much as a glance back, olivia could've sworn she actually quickened up the second she'd walked away.

"is she being weird?" spencer asked, her eyes following the blonde down the corridor. "she's being weird," emily replied. "i'll see you guys at lunch." spencer nodded slowly, watching hanna disappear around the corner. "bye." she turned back around to face olivia and aria, olivia was in no hurry to get to her next class and it seemed like aria felt the same. "do you think she's said something?" olivia asked carefully. "about jenna?" spencer pulled her bag strap higher up on her shoulder, a concerned look washing over her face. "i don't know," she said. "i don't see why she would've, if he asked her the same questions."

"what if jenna told the cops?" olivia asked. "if jenna told the cops, we wouldn't even be here right now," spencer said. "jenna hasn't said anything, i don't think hanna did either." olivia exhaled slowly, wondering why the brunette's words hadn't made her feel any better. "what are we going to do if he starts questioning us individually?" aria asked. "we're not guilty," olivia reminded her. "we stick to our statements, we don't let him intimidate us." spencer nodded in agreement. "we have nothing to worry about when it comes to alison's murder," she said. "he'll figure that out eventually."

olivia wasn't so sure about that, wilden seemed like the type of person to never let anything go but he also seemed like he would never admit when he was wrong. when he figured out that the five girls were innocent in terms of alison's murder, the investigation was sure to be dragged out for as long as possible. wilden wasn't going to admit defeat but olivia wasn't going down for something she didn't do, and she wasn't going down without a fight.