She's acting strange

Chapter Fifteen

God. Everyone made her feel so sick. Garrett was supposed to be on their side. Not that she desperately wanted him to be though. He was a pig, one of Jason DiLaurentis's friends, who used to spend the summer getting stoned and filming girls her age, but, he was a cop. And they needed someone on the inside of the investigations that could vouch for them and keep their names out of the spotlight.
She didn't like him anymore than she liked Ian. They both made her feel the same quiver of uneasiness and disgust and she spent a majority of the afternoon comparing the two and avoiding any room of the manor he could possibly be in. That was, until Melissa came home and they all headed off to the carnival, with Spencer in the backseat of Ian's car.
Her fingernails dug into the leather seat and she leaned as far into the window as she could so as to avoid any possible eye contact through the rear view mirror. The car reeked of his cologne, a scent she had grown to hate, along with everything else he had done. Which included her sister, but Melissa was a whole different story.
Okay, she thought. One car ride, you can handle one car ride if it means you get to see Toby. Spencer took a deep breath and then another one. She spent the rest of the ride listening to her sister discuss prenatal vitamins, which was exactly as awful as it sounds. She left the car immediately after Ian put the car in park, though she didn't wander off, as it was only 4:30. Great, another two and a half hours with the new favorite couple of Rosewood. Luckily, her mother met them at the church booth, along with Mrs. Acker.
"Oh good, you're here," Veronica Hastings was somewhat surprised, though she knew very well that neither of her daughters would disobey her order. "Ian why don't you go help Sean, I think there's still some boxes left in the truck, and Melissa wouldn't be the one for that." Ian nodded and slipped out of the tent.
     Spencer looks down at her phone, constantly checking for a message from the boy she had fallen in love with.  Yes, she means love, true love.  Not what Ian and Melissa have, certainly not what her parents have, but something so pure and genuine, it would be impossible to keep in the House of Hastings.  Spencer loved that.  She had something that no one else and her family did, and that made her ultimately better than all of them. 
    It scared her, though, her relationship with Toby was strong, but it was fresh, easily breakable by the people of Rosewood and especially by Peter and Veronica Hastings.  Spencer knew she would have to keep her guard up, but she wasn't new to the concept.
     There was no message, which was okay because it was only six.  She placed her phone in her pocket and went back to the tent barely paying attention to the christening Melissa was already organizing with Mrs. Acker for her unborn demon child. "Oh, mom!" She sighed, "wouldn't these flowers look amazing with the baby's skin tone at the baptism?" Veronica lifted her eyes from her phone for a split second, gave an 'mmhmm' and then let them fall back to the case she was building.
Spencer rolled her eyes. What parenting book did her parents check out from the library?
Bzzz. The phone buzzed. She didn't even hesitate to see if it was another person, she sped off to the funhouse, desperate to feel sane again.