ꗃ ﹕𝓓𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝓑𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝓜𝐄 . . . . . 𓈈 𓍢 ░
𝖯𝖱𝖤𝖳𝖳𝖸 𝖫𝖨𝖳𝖳𝖫𝖤 𝖫𝖨𝖠𝖱𝖲 ── ༅𓂃👜゛໒ ࣪˖˚

𝒊.   𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘      𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘,     𝖦𝖮𝖫𝖣𝖨𝖤 ‧₊˚📱✩
˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐋 ── 01𝗑17 ｡𖦹°‧
𝖢𝖱𝖤𝖳𝖨𝖭𝖲  & 𝖫𝖠𝖢𝖤 𐙚𓏲⋆ ִֶָ ๋𓂃 ⋆ᡣ𐭩

▐ 𝖧𝖠𝖲𝖳𝖨𝖭𝖦𝖲 𝖱𝖤𝖲𝖨𝖣𝖤𝖭𝖢𝖤
       𝖲𝖯𝖤𝖭𝖢𝖤𝖱'𝖲 𝖱𝖮𝖮𝖬

          ❝ 𝐎𝐊𝐀𝐘, 𝐒𝐎 your sister's pregnant? How'd that happen? ❞

"I'm sure you could figure that out on your own." Sadie sends the other blonde a look, "I slept through Sex Ed, but I know how it happens, you should too."

The four girls sit on Spencer's bed with her laptop in front of her while Aria stands up, staring out of Spencer's bedroom window.

"It's not really a how question. It's more of a why question." Emily commented.

Spencer clicks away at her laptop, "Well, I mean, I guess Melissa could have gone all maternal but I doubt it."

"Ah, this is so creepy."

"Where are they now?"

"Philadelphia. Shopping."

"What do you think this means?" Sadie questioned, the girls trying to figure out what Toby's message to Spencer meant.

"I don't know, but Toby wanted us to have it." Spencer takes the paper in her hand, "There. It's in Braille, so...,"

"You want to see this, Aria?"

"No. I can see just fine from here." Aria says as she looks straight at Hanna.

"The first letter is B." Sadie points out to Spencer, the Hastings girl writing it down.

"That's an A."

"I think it's gonna tell us who A is." Hanna says as Spencer writes down the last letter.

"B-A-D." Emily spells off from the paper.

"Bad."

"Is the whole message bad?" Spencer says.

"What's it supposed to mean?"

"It means you got punked." Aria tells her, "Toby doesn't trust us. I don't blame him."

"No, I don't think he's mess with us like this." Emily denied.

"You'd be surprised what people are capable of." Aria says as she looks over at Hanna.

"You guys, we have to figure this out." Sadie sighed, running a hand through her head as her phone dings.

"This might be a joke, but it could be something real."

"Who's texting you?" Aria asked the blonde.

"It's not A." Sadie tells her after looking at the screen, not bothering to reply, "It's just Will, me and Cassie moved the house around and now Will is going crazy because he can't find everything.

"Either way, Toby's not the enemy."

Aria stands up, grabbing her stuff, "You know what, guys? I'm gonna go."

"What was that all about?" Spencer questioned after Aria was out of the room.

"How should I know?"

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          ❝ 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖, Aria might be right about this. ❞ Emily tells Spencer and Sadie as the three sat down for lunch, waiting on the others, "Toby does have every reason to give us a hard time."

"I supposed, but that's just not the feeling I got from talking to him. Do you guys know what I mean?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I do."

"Hey." Aria walks over and sits next to Spencer, Hanna sitting across from the Montgomery girl.

"What is with you and the Artful Dodger?" Spencer questioned the shorter blonde.

Hanna looks at her confused, "Who?"

"Caleb."

"I thought the thing as the swim meet was a one off?"

"It was."

"We just saw you talking to the cretin." Sadie smirked, dipping a fry into ketchup.

"And you gave him something that looked like a wet oven mitt."

"Okay, it was his hat."

"What are you doing with his hat?" Emily quizzed the Marin girl.

"Why shouldn't I have his hat?"

Sadie tilts her head to the side, eyes squinted, "Why are you asking a question after being asked a question?"

"Hanna, maybe you're looking for something a little edgier after Sean." Spencer says, the girls chuckling around her, "But this guy is dark."

"Spencer, he's not that dark."

"He's dark enough."

"Well, he's no Arthur Dodger, whoever that is."

"Yeah, he's just had it tough." Aria agreed, glancing over at Sadie who dipped another fry into ketchup. "What do you know about him, Sades?"

"Hmm? Enough." Sadie shrugged, "It's not my story to tell."

Spencer looks between Aria and Hanna, "Are you two on speaking terms again?"

"Of course we are."

"You need to be really careful about that guy." Emily tells her.

"Well, it seems to me we had this conversation once about Toby." Hanna bites back.

"I'm looking for Coach Fulton." A loud voice draws the girls attention, Sadie turning around in her seat to see a man dressed in a suit standing next to the table where all the teachers were sitting around for lunch.

"Is the coach expecting you?" Ezra asked, looking up at him.

"The coach is avoiding me. That's what the coach is doing."

Ezra stands up, "Are you a parent?"

"Yes, I'm a parent. Nick McCullers." He says and Sadie sits up straighter in her seat, "My daughter is Paige McCullers."

"I have your daughter in English Comp. I'm Ezra Fitz." Ezra holds his hand out but the man standing in front of him just ignores him.

"The coach."

"Tell you what, what don't we walk down to the principal's office, and see if we can find Coach Fulton?"

"I've seen the principal, and all I got was a lot of politically correct double-talk about the agenda in this place that's penalizing my daughter. Taking opportunities away from her, and giving them to someone who doesn't deserve them!"

"Everybody gets a fair chance here, Mr. McCullers." Ezra tells him, trying to calm the man down, "We go out of our way to make sure that that's how it works."

"My girl is the best swimmer on that team and you can't give it to somebody just because—,"

"If your daughter was the best swimmer on the team, then she would've been the captain already." Sadie is now standing in front of the man, her back to Ezra.

"How did she get over there so fast?" Hanna whispers as they stare at the girl.

"Excuse me? Who do you think you are?"

"Who am I? Who do you think you are? Coming in here like you own the place just because your daughter was too scared to go up against someone that's actually better and has a chance?" Sadie's eyebrow is raised as she eyed the man, "Dressing in a suit doesn't make you powerful, and your daughter should learn how to fight her own battles instead of running to daddy to solve them for her."

"Sadie." Ezra hisses, his hands move to rest on her hips as he tries to pull her away from the man, "Go sit back down. I have this."

"No, I don't think you do." She holds her hand up to the boy that spent most of his Sunday's having dinner at her house thanks to his friendship with her older brother, "If your daughter can't handle the fact that someone who likes the same sex as her is better then her at swimming laps in a swimming pool, maybe she shouldn't be on the swim team in the first place. Maybe your daughter is the problem, not the coach or the girls on the team."

"Sadie James." Ezra pulls her back, "Go wait in my classroom."

"I'm not—,"

"Now, Sadie. Or I'm calling your brother."

Sadie stands there for a few minutes, eyeing the man standing there before she storms over to the table she was sitting at with the girls to grab her bag, leaving the room.

"Remind me never to get on her bad side."

────           ୨ৎ          ────

          ❝ 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄 you supposed to see Toby, again? ❞ Sadie asked Spencer as she, Spencer and Emily walk down the stairs of a clothing store that the five girls were at.        

"Tomorrow, while Jenna's at her music lesson."

"Take it."

"No, you take it." Aria holds the leather jacket up to Hanna.

Sadie smirked, "I see they're getting along again."

"The storm has passed."

"What was going on with you two?" Emily asked Hanna and Aria, still not knowing why the two were mad at each other in the first place.

"Okay, so, you know how I went to that museum with Ezra?" Aria asked, "Well, A tried to get Hanna to ruin it."

"Ruin it how?" Spencer looks at Hanna.

"A gave me another ticket, and made me give it to Aria's mom."

"Leave it up to the bitch to do that."

"God, Hanna. Why didn't you tell us what was happening?"

"Well, I tried to stop it. I mean, her mom's car didn't just stall." Hanna says, "Caleb fixed it to keep from getting there and that's why I owe him."

"Yeah, and he's the one who's been breaking into the vending machines at school. I mean, he's practically living there."

"Aria!" Hanna hissed.

"He's what?" Sadie sends the two girls a sharp look, "He's living in the school? I'll kick his ass for not telling me. I asked him if he needed a place to stay."

"They found his stuff, so he's not sleeping there anymore." Hanna tells her, "He's sleeping in my basement."

"Wait. Rewind that a little for me." Aria looks at her.

"Does your mom know?"

"I'll still kick his ass for lying to me."

"No, my mom doesn't know." Hanna says before turning to Sadie, "And he didn't want us to tell you because he didn't want you worrying about him. He says you've helped him too much already. It's only for a couple of nights."

"A couple of nights?" Spencer questioned, "Are you crazy?"

"Guys." Emily mumbles, her crossed arms dropping to her sides as she looks off behind Aria and Hanna.

"Oh, wow, turn around. Wow, it fits perfectly."

Jenna stood with a woman, dressed in black lace lingerie, "I want it to be perfect. He likes lace."

────            ୨ৎ           ────

          ❝ 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 this one? ❞ Cassie shows Sadie her computer screen, "I was thinking we trade the blue curtains in the living room to a more neutral color?"

"Hmm? The beige ones would brighten up the place more." Sadie nodded, answering Jason's text message before she turned back to the girl. "But if we do that, I think we should change out the rug under the couch."

"I was thinking the same thing." Cassie nodded her head, "So, when are you gonna come clean to your friends?"

"Come clean about what?"

"Being married to Jason. Don't you want your friends to know how happy you are that you've found someone that loves you for you?" Cassie asked, closing her laptop and turning to the teenager.

Sadie scoffed, "Please, they'd just look at me like I've lost my mind. I mean, how do you tell four of your best friends that after the death of the sixth member of your group, you move away with said friends family, only to come back a year later married to the brother? They'll think I just married him because it gives me a closer feeling of being with Alison, and not just because I love him."

"Sadie."

"I'm seventeen and I'm young, and I know that, but Jason is the guy that I want to spend the rest of my life with, have a family with him one day down the road when my life is all figured out and we talk about it." Sadie can feel herself grow sat at the thought of her friends looking at her differently for her thoughts, "I don't—,"

"Sadie, listen to me." Cassie moved a little closer to the blonde, putting a hand on her shoulder, "It is a beautiful thing that you have something so special with Jason, that the two of you look at each other the same way. And if they can't get over the fact that he's Alison's older brother, or that you got married so young to him, then they aren't your friends, honey."

"I don't want them to hate me."

"Oh, honey." Cassie stands up from the stool and hugs her, "They won't hate you. They're always going to love you. They'll probably be a little mad at you at first, but once you tell them and they see how happy he makes you, they'll come around."

Sadie sniffs as she hugs the girl tighter, "Thank you."

"Any time. I'm always here if you want to talk."

"Look at this!" Will walked into the kitchen with takeout boxes in his hands, "My two favorite girls, hugging in our kitchen. Should I ask about what was said?"

"Just agreeing that we really need to change the curtains in the living room." Cassie tells him as they pull away from their hug, the Smith girl smiling at him.

"And the rug under the couch." Sadie grinned, taking one of the take out boxes from him.

Will's smile dropped, "I'll be glad when you both have all your home designing out of your systems."