Lovely Little Liar

{ 17. Homecoming }

"You look..."

"...beautiful" Ethan said as he saw his date for the night coming out of her house.

"Thanks. You look really good, too." Kathlyn complimented Ethan.

"Hey! Bring her back home!" Jackson yelled at Ethan and the latter replied with a thumbs up.

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"I so freaking knew it! You're Ethan's date!" Alice greeted Kathlyn with a hug. After entering the hall, Ethan went to greet his teammates and Kathlyn went to look for her friends.

"Only for tonight or for real?" Kathlyn heard someone say behind her. There she saw Hanna, Aria, and Spencer with a guy who she thinks is Alex, standing.

The brunette just shrugged.

"This is Alex, by the way." Spencer introduced.

"Hi. I'm Kath." Kathlyn and Alex shook hands. Aria and Hanna seemed comfortable with Alex already, then she saw Spencer looking at somewhere, or someone. Spencer then excused herself.

Kathlyn's eyes followed Spencer. There she saw Melissa. Thinking it isn't her business, she looked around only to see Ethan walking towards her.

"Drink?" Ethan asked while handing a cup to Kathlyn.

"Badly needed." Kathlyn just simply replied.

Ethan and Kathlyn were talking about random stuff in a corner, away from all the dancing and noisy people. Suddenly, her phone rang.

"Red is beautiful. But red can also stand for something bloody."
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Kathlyn didn't notice that Ethan saw the message, "A?"

Panicking, she immediately closed the message and faced Ethan, prepared to lie. "A is for Aria. Yes, Aria, that's Aria."

"Weird message." Ethan commented.

"Well, Aria loves writing. Poetry. Fiction. Stuff." Kathlyn reasoned out.

"Kath, have you seen Emily?" Hanna interrupted.

"Oops, sorry. Can I borrow her?" Hanna asked Ethan.

"Yeah, sure." Ethan said then walked off to his teammates.

"You got yourself a hot one." Hanna commented while eyeing Ethan's retreating back.

"Oh, shut it." Kathlyn shyly replied. "Em's there."

Both Kathlyn and Hanna then walked towards Emily, where Spencer and Aria are also standing.

"You're here with Toby?" Kathlyn and Hanna heard Spencer say.

"What?" Hanna commented, "Either you have a genius plan of sleeping with the enemy or you've gone insane!"

"You don't even know him." Emily defended.

"Well, who else could've helped Jenna." Spencer argued.

"He has every reason to hate us, Em." Aria added.

"Well, he don't." Emily retaliated.

"Guys, we don't have proof that Toby really is a bad guy here." Kathlyn took Emily's side.

"Not you too, Kath. Him being fascinated to you before doesn't mean he's a good guy." Hanna mockingly said.

"This isn't about me. You're unreasonable." Kathlyn just said, and before she explodes, she already walked away from her friends, away from the noisy surroundings, away from the dance hall.

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"There you are." Ethan said upon seeing Kathlyn sitting on a bench, "You suddenly disappeared."

"Just needed some time away from all the noise."

"Saw your friend Emily. She's with Cavanaugh." Ethan said.

Kathlyn stared at the guy, "Don't fucking tell me you're one of those guys who thinks he's a freak."

"No, no, no, of course not." Ethan said defensively, "it's just weird to see one of you girls hanging out with him."

"Thank God. You know, I never saw him as a freak." Kathlyn started. "I think that he's just... misunderstood."

"Alison gave people the idea that he's a freak." Ethan added.

Kathlyn just smiled and looked at Ethan, "Alison also hurt your ego before, right?"

"No?" Ethan replied, confused.

"When she outright rejected you before..."

"Oh! That." Ethan realized what Kathlyn was talking about. "I never said I like her."

At the same time, Kathlyn's phone rang.

"Here's a little gift. Happy homecoming."
*photo of Jenna Cavanaugh paper, the same one as what Hanna and Spencer saw*
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