My Life in Rosewood

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A few days pass of the girls not being able to have any contact with each other, which includes school but I know them enough that I had a feeling they'd never actually go along with it. At this point they are acting like they are on board with what's going on when in reality they are just mainly trying not to get caught talking with each other. With A lurking and acting a fool they still need to find ways to keep in touch, but I know it's getting harder on them all. I can see it on their faces whenever they have to pass one another in the halls, or the fact they are in the same classes and can't even make eye contact half the time.

The odd part of it is that Uncle Byron and Aunt Ella never warned me not to stay away from the others. I thought they'd tell me to do this for Aria and make it easier, because I know for a fact that they probably have a feeling I'll in some way help my friends stay in talking terms. Which they have here and there asked me to pass a message to someone and I'm okay with it for the moment. So I'm wondering if my aunt and uncle assumed I'd figure out how to stay out of it, or if they feel bad enough doing what they are doing and hope that I can still help Aria with the process in my own way.

"So Spencer thinks Ian is actually alive?" I ask Aria while in our room one night, my eyes scanning upward to her sitting on my bed while we do homework together.

"That's what we all think." She says while writing in her notebook on her lap with her history book beside her.

My eyebrows go up a bit, "I don't see how that's possible if you guys all saw him hanging from the ropes of the bell tower. It's not realistic to survive a fall like that."

"I don't know Jessie, but Spence had text the number from Melissa's phone and the person who wrote back got the question she asked right on the first try."

I press my lips together gently, wrapping my brain around the fact that if Ian is alive and walking around like nothing happened why would he be hiding and not exposing the girls for trying to blackmail him into giving them thousands of dollars. They have no proof that he killed Alison despite Spencer's own ears hearing it herself. Not to mention that the flashdrive they found with those videos of someone creeping into people's windows doesn't exactly pinpoint him either.

"I don't know, Ria. Something seems off."

She stares at me now, pressing her lips together. "I know. We have our guards up in case there is something more happening, but as of now we don't have much to go on."

I take a breath and set my things to the side for a second, "Melissa hasn't spilled any details about what's going on?"

She slowly shakes her head, "As far as Spence knows Melissa believes us enough that she doesn't think Ian would just take off without telling her and leaving the baby."

According to the Rosewood news and PD they all think Ian left Melissa behind on purpose and the girls covered it up for him. They think that the 10,000 dollars he took out of the bank was for him to take off without a word and that there was something else going on in their marriage to make it happen. This in theory would sound good on paper but Melissa even telling them that Ian would never disappear the way he did because everything was fine isn't getting through the media's head. So Melissa shockingly asked Spencer to tell her the story of what happened again and as far as we all know she isn't calling her a liar anymore.

"Melissa believing Spencer is a huge deal, but she probably still thinks you're all insane."

"What else is new around here?" She says with a slight eye roll as she continues with her homework.

I take a soft breath and watch her slave away at her homework. I know she's mainly only doing this because she doesn't want me to distract her to the point where she's looking at me. I think this is her way of keeping her shit together. "We're going to figure this out, Ria."