chapter five — reality bites me
[ season one, episode five ]
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Gwen sighed as she took a sip of the coffee that Spencer had made for her that morning. After the mirror thing last night, the girls stayed with Spencer at her place. "'A' sent this letter to my mom." Aria spoke as she looked at the letter which informed Ella about her husband's affair. "You know it's not your fault, right? It's your dad's mistake, totally." Emily told her. "No, it is my fault," Aria responded.

"Aria, you didn't hook up with her and then get your kid to cover for you," Gwen tried to assure her that she wasn't at fault. "Ali said I should've told my mom right after it happened." Aria admitted. "Ali? Alison knew?" Email asked, confused. "Yeah, she was with me." Aria responded before taking a sip of her coffee. "So Alison saw this Meredith person?" Spencer asked.

Hanna turned to Spencer. "Meredith? Her name is Meredith? Eww, that's not even a cute girl name, I'm seeing big pores and mousy roots." Hanna said. "Hanna, I think it's a little too soon to joke." Spencer said. "I'm sorry, but if you're gonna cheat you might as well do it with somebody who deep conditions her hair occasionally." Hanna laughed, "Here, put something in your mouth other than your foot." Gwen said, sliding over a bagel to Hanna.

Hanna sighed and turned to face Aria who was sitting on the couch. "I'm sorry, okay? Look, all I'm saying is that when my dad left, laughing sometimes helped, so did crying." Hanna spoke softly. "My father hasn't left, guys." Aria said as she stood up from her spot and joined her friends at the kitchen island. "I mean this happened over a year ago." she added but her friends avoided her eyes.

"You think he's gonna leave?" she asked softly. "Look, whatever happens we're here for you." Emily promised her. "Always." Gwen added, smiling at Aria. "Thank you, guys, for staying here, I couldn't have been here alone." Spencer thanked them. "When's your family getting back?" Hanna asked. "This afternoon." Spencer answered. "Didn't you want to clean the lipstick off the mirror before then?" Gwen asked but Spencer stayed silent.

"You want me to come with?" Emily asked and Spencer nodded and the two began to move. "We should all go." Aria said as they all began getting up. "Uh,yeah, you know what? It doesn't take four of us to clean a mirror, so why don't you four go and I'll just wait here." Hanna offered. "Fine, okay. You stay down here, alone." Aria said to her as Gwen stood behind her.

"But make sure you lock the door." Gwen said as she followed Emily and Spencer. "Great. You spray, I'll wipe." Hanna said, jumping from her spot and following her friends but the sound of Hanna's phone going off makes them stop. They turned to her as she held her phone before looking at her friends who joined her. "Well, the creature's back." Hanna remarked. "We should have never unblocked our phones." Gwen commented.

UNKNOWN
Ever wonder what's going on
when your back is turned?
⎯ A
🖇 Attachment...64397.mov

"Open the attachment," Emily said and Hanna clicked on the link before showing the girls what it was, it was a video of them from Spencer's closet, seeing the mirror last night. "That's us." Aria said in shock. "Was that shot from inside your closet Spence?" Gwen asked before the girls looked away from Hanna's phone and up the stairs where Spencer's room was. "'A' was watching us." Spencer said before they hurried up the stairs to Spencer's room.

Spencer slowly opened her bedroom door as she and the girls walked into her room, quietly. Spencer walked towards her closet and hesitantly before swinging the doors wide open and something fell from the top, making the girls gasp and jump back. "Guys." Aria said, slowly kneeling down and picking something up from the floor. "Check it out." She said, holding a lipstick container in her hands. She opened it, and smudged some on her hand, before putting her hand against the side of Spencer's mirror. It was the same one.

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"You cannot seriously think that a blind girl broke into my house, um, that would take a lot more than a talking GPS." Spencer said. "Well, I didn't say that Jenna was alone." Aria added. Gwen sighed. "Let's not go to the Toby place, okay?" Emily asked. "Why not? You guys think her guide dog left behind his lipstick?" Aria asked. "Yeah, do you wanna ask what your lab partner was doing last night? If you know, maybe he took a break from sitting on his porch pulling the heads off of squirrels." Spencer said sarcastically.

"Spencer!" Mr. Sheldrake called out as he walked towards the group, making them turn to him. "Sorry, ladies, I didn't mean to interrupt but I hope you're as proud of your friend as I am." he said before revealing an envelope from behind his back, smiling at Spencer. "Congratulations. My instincts were right." he said as Spencer took the envelope. "This just makes it official." he said, tapping the envelope before walking away.

Once Mr. Sheldrake was gone, Spencer put the envelope in her locker. "What was that about?" Gwen asked. "An essay contest." Spencer responded. "Wait, did you win it? Aren't you gonna at least open the envelope?" Emily asked. "Why should she? She wins an award for waking up." Hanna jokes, smiling at Spencer, who gives a tight smile back before closing her locker as the bell rings, making the girls head off to class.

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"Hey, Mom." Gwen said, walking up to her in the hospital. "Hey honey," Sophia greeted her daughter as she took her scrub cap off. "What are you doing here?" she asked and Gwen lifted a plastic bag. "I know you've got a long night so i brought you dinner." she responded, making her mom smile softly at her. "Thank you sweetie." Sophia said, grabbing the bag from her daughter before hugging her. "I've got another surgery in ten minutes, so I've gotta go, but I will see you when I get home." Sophia said and Gwen nodded before waving mom goodbye and leaving the hospital.

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Later that night, Gwen had gotten a message from Hanna to meet her at The Apple Rose Grille. "I saved it. Just in case." Spencer said, pulling out a sandwich bag with the lipstick that was her closet inside it. Hanna had seen Jenna putting the same type of lipstick in the elevator at the dental office. Spencer opened the lipstick and twisted it so it would show the shade of it whilst it was still in the bag so they didn't get their fingerprints off it.

"I'm telling you, that's the lipstick Jenna was putting on in the elevator." Hanna said. "Are you sure?" Gwen asked from beside her. "Yes! That's Alison's colour. Same shade, same tube." Hanna responded. "What I'm wondering is why was Jenna in an empty room for an hour?" she asked. "I think we should call the police, I mean, there are fingerprints on this tube." Spencer said.

"Well, yeah, ours." Gwen scoffed. "Look, if you want me to answer any more questions just let me get in the office and see what I can find." Hanna offered as Spencer put the sandwich bag with the lipstick inside, back into her bag. Hanna was the one to first notice Toby sitting at a nearby table. "Have you gotten any more emails?" Hanna asked. "No," Gwen answered. "Not since this morning. Have you?" Spencer asked.

"No. I'm just wondering." Hanna said, shaking her head. Gwen noticed Emily walk into the restaurant. "Emily!" she said, getting her friends' attention. "Hey, what are you doing here?" Spencer asked. "Uh, I was just–" Emily started as she slowly approached the table. "Hanna had a run-in with Jenna Marshall today. Sit down." Spencer said and Emily took the spot next to Spencer and across from Gwen.

"Em, you know that dentist's office I'm working at?" Hanna asked. "Well, I was going in for my shift after school and I was in the elevator. Jenna Marshall was in there. She had the same lipstick Ali wore." Hanna explained. "The exact same colour." Gwen added. "She had the same lipstick as Ali's." Hanna said.

A little bit later, after they had finished talking, Spencer stood up. "Where are you going?" Gwen asked. "Uh, I have an early tennis day with my dad and I have no idea what I'm gonna wear." she responded. "There, um, may be this boy–" she started. "Boy! What boy? Details!" Hanna demanded. "Well there's none yet, but I'll keep you guys posted." she said and smiled shyly before going to walk off but a waitress stopped her.

"Are you Emily?" she asked. Spencer shook her head. "No. Em?" she said, tapping her shoulder, making Emily turn to her. "Someone left this for you." the waitress said as she put a cd case on the table next to Emily, making her look up, noticing Toby wasn't there anymore before looking back at the art of the cd case. "Pretty, who made that?" Hanna asked. "Somebody from school." Emily said as she put it into her bag.

"Well, whoever made it must like you a lot." Hanna said, causing Gwen to furrow her eyebrows in confusion. "No, we were just talking about this band we both like." Emily responded. "Is it from somebody you like back?" Hanna asked and Emily looked shy. "Sorry. You don't have to tell me anything." Hanna said, backtracking. "But, Em, if there's someone in your life who cares about you, then I'm happy for you." she said, with a smile on her face. "No matter who they are." she added, making Emily smile at her as Gwen smiled.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter <3 | sort of short chapter, didn't have much place for her this chapter, but i added sweet moment between sophia and gwen <3