chapter fifty — kingdom of the blind
[ season three, episode three ]
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The girls were watching Jenna from across the courtyard the next day, after finding out that Jenna wasn't actually blind. "God, what a performance." Hanna scoffed. "Can you imagine faking it for so long?" Emily asked rhetorically. "What do you think she's planning?" Aria asked. "Well, that's what you have to find out." Spencer told her. "She trusts you Aria, or she wants you to think she does." Josie added. "Great. That's– that's awesome." Aria scoffed. "Hey, I'll trade you Mona for Jenna." Hanna offered. "No, thanks." Aria responded.

"I think I felt safer when Mona wasn't talking." Emily said. "There she goes," Spencer said, making them turn to see Jenna get up from her spot before walking around. "We should push a table in front of her and see what happens." Hanna suggested, making Josie laugh. "God, Hanna, you have all the subtlety of a hand grenade." Spencer remarked. "Thank you." Hanna responded with a smile.

Soon after the girls headed back inside. "Has your mom said anything to you about taking Garrett's case?" Emily asked Spencer. "Not yet, but Melissa's coming home tomorrow so she'll probably tell both of us at the same time" Spencer answered. "Because that's how it works in my family we keep the one-on-ones to a minimum." Spencer started before they turned a corner, seeing Vice Principal Hackett talking to Lucas.

"You're not helping yourself, Mr. Gottesman. This all goes on your permanent record!" He exclaimed to Lucas, making him turn around giving a look before turning back around and locking eyes with the girls before walking away, and the girls shared a look before Hanna followed him, Josie going with her, in case Lucas did something.

The girls followed him to a classroom. Hanna opened the door and walked in first, Josie close behind. "Lucas? Why is Vice Principal Hackett so mad at you?" Hanna asked, making Lucas turn to face the pair of them. "I'm supposed to give this to my parents." he told them, holding up a piece of paper. "It looks like I've lost my 'positive attitude'." he said sarcastically. "I negatively impacting my social interactions and grades," he adds before laughing.

"Impacting? 'Impacting' that's not even a word." he said. "Are you okay?" Josie asked softly. "Yeah." Lucas answered her. "Yeah.. I'm just fine." he said before he lit the piece of paper on fire, making the girls jump. "No, Lucas, what are you doing?" Hanna asked, shocked as Lucas went to put it in the bin next to the desk. "Stop." Josie said, trying to stop him but he pushed away, making her stumble into the desk, causing Hanna to grab onto her.

Lucas put the piece of paper into the trash as they stared at it and it caught on fire more than it was before, making Josie and Hanna nervous as Lucas walked out as Hanna went to grab something to put the fire out with but it wasn't working as she hit it something until it was put out with water, making them look up to see Caleb and Richie. "What the hell is going on?" Caleb exclaimed as Josie walked into Richie's arms, as she hugged her. "Caleb, we've gotta get out of here." Hanna said and pulled him out of the room, Josie and Richie following them.

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Hanna and Josie were with Richie and Caleb at The Brew. "He'll be fine." Caleb assured the two girls. "Lucas used to be so sweet." Hanna said with a sigh. "Hanna, the last word a guy wants a girl to describe him with is sweet." Caleb told her. "Well, he's a sour patch kid." Josie said before taking a sip of her iced coffee as Hanna nodded in agreement with her. "He's just... making up for lost time." Richie suggested. "Yeah, like going through all the bad boy behavior he saved up for senior year." Caleb added onto Richie's sentence.

"You think so?" Josie asked softly. "You still talk to him?" Hanna asked him. "Not much since I moved out of his house." Caleb answered. "Will you talk to him? For me? Please?" Hanna begged with puppy eyes. Richie and Josie locked eyes and smiled amused. "I guess." Caleb answered with a sigh. "But I need you to do something for me." he said, looking at Hanna. "Name it." Hanna responded. "I want to make sure that we are clear on this other situation." he started.

"Caleb Mona's not dangerous anymore." Hanna told him, as Joise held in a sigh, she wasn't so sure about that. "She's under lock and key." Hanna added. "Keep it that way." Caleb said. "You don't owe her anything." Caleb said as Josie sighed. She knew Hanna thought she did owe her something, it was because of Mona that Hanna became the 'it' girl after Alison.

"Okay." Hanna responded before taking a sip of her drink. "'Okay' meaning you won't go out there anymore?" he asked her and suddenly Josie and Richie felt they were in the middle of a conversation they weren't meant to be. "You're sweet." Hanna told home with a smile. "Thought boys didn't like being called that?" Josie teased as Caleb smiled at Hanna before he playfully glared at Josie before tossing a napkin at her, making her doge it while laughing.

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"Look it in the eye?" Spencer asked Aria after Aria had explained what Jenna had told her. "That's what she said." Aria answered. "That opens a whole new dimension of creepy." Hanna remarked. "Toby found her eye drops and Garrett's in jail, maybe she's getting careless about hiding things." Emily told them. "Yeah, like that other earring." Hanna said. "If you find that then it's case closed then, Jenna is working with this 'A'." Josie said.

"But, it's not just the earring that we have to worry about." Aria said. "Whoever opened Ali's grave will find all the keepsakes we put inside that coffin." Emily realized. "We're gonna sort it out Em." Aria assured her. "I can snoop and play keyboard at the same time." she added. "Maybe this is a trap." Emily said. "I'm also pretty good at running." she said with a smile

"Do you remember when she knocked over that beehive?" Hanna asked with a laugh, making them all laugh as Emily's phone went off. "It's your mom. She posted the grades for that make-up test." Emily told Aria. "Might as well get that over with." She added as she checked her grade on her phone. "Wait a minute, you knocked over that beehive." Spencer corrected Hanna. "Yeah, but it's a better story if she did it." Hanna responded, making them laugh again.

"No, this can't be right, I got a 94 on the test." Emily said in disbelief as she looked at her phone. "Whoa!" "Congrats." Spencer and Josie congratulated her. "I wish I was pulling nineties." Hanna said. "And you know what Em, Don't go all Spencer on your grades." She added. "Excuse me?" Spencer asked in offence. "No, I couldn't have gotten that, I didn't even finish the test." Emily told them.

"So, it was a mistake." Josie said with a shrug but Emily looked at Spencer. "But you don't think it was a mistake." Aria realized. "The last thing I need right now is people thinking I cheated." Emily responded. "Wait Em, you don't think that someone went into the school computer and boosted your grade?" Hanna asked. "Someone in particular?" Spencer asked her.

"Okay, wait, are we getting a little paranoid right now?" Aria asked as Josie sighed, pulling her phone out, checking a message she had gotten from Richie saying he'd meet her after school. "You're not paranoid if someone's really out to get you." Emily responded.

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Josie and Richie were sitting in the back of The Brew. "I think I'm gonna tell Caleb soon." Josie told him. "Really?" he asked and she nodded. "Yeah, he needs to know." she responded. "Why now?" he asked and she shrugged. "I'm just getting sick of keeping this from the girls and him, most of all." she answered and he nodded in understanding.

"I'm just worried he won't wanna be in my life, as my brother." Josie said quietly. "Jo, he'd be dumb to not wanna be in your life," Richie said as he pulled her into his side and hugged her tightly. "What if I tell him and he hates me for hiding it? And then he leaves and it ruins his and Hanna's relationship? What if me telling him ruins everything?" Josie ranted and Richie pulled away and held her at arm's length.

"Jo, you need to breathe." He said, holding her arms and looking her in the eye and she took a breath to calm herself. "Okay." she muttered and nodded. "He is your brother, Jo, and I'm sure he'd love to get to know you as his sister." he assured her and she looked at him, teary eyed. "You think so?" she asked. "I know so." he said and she rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his head on her head and rubbed her back.

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Later that day Josie met the girls at Spencer's, she had dropped Richie home first of course. "Ear plugs?" Hanna asked Aria, confused. "That's what it said." Aria confirmed. "Okay, tomorrow's wednesday." Spencer said. "If it means this week." Josie added. "God. I wish people would be more specific with their clues." Hanna remarked, causing Josie to laugh. "We'll put it in the suggestion box Han." she said.

"So what do we do about this?" Aria asked. "I wanna know where Jenna is tomorrow at 4:15." Spencer answered. "She asked about you, Em." Aria told her. "What did she want to know?" Emily asked. "How you were holding up." Aria answered, causing Emily to roll her eyes. "She wants to know if you can remember being in the car with her, she just can't come out and say it." Spencer said.

"This is crazy." Emily let out. "It's like trying to read a book and someone keeps ripping out the pages." she added. "Em, we'll put it together, alright?" Josie assured her as she reached and gave her hands a comforting squeeze, "Yeah, we know that somewhere between being with us and getting to Alison's grave, you were with Jenna, we just have to find out who you got in the car and where you went and we'll be that much closer to figuring out what happened that night." Spencer said as Aria's phone rang.

"Mom. Hey." Aria said as leaving the room. "Have you spoken to your mom?" Emily asked Spencer. "Yeah." she answered. "She gave a prepared statement and then she declined to answer any questions." she explained. "Why is she doing this?" Josie asked as she leaned onto the edge of the bed from the seat in front of it. "Melissa made her do It, I know, I just... I don't know why." Spencer answered.

"Is she afraid of something Garrett could say?" Emily asked her and Spencer just pursed her lips, not answering cause she didn't really know. "I had a thought about Garrett and Melissa." Hanna said. "What kind of thought?" Spencer asked and Hanna sighed before answering. "A pretty nasty one." she said. "Okay, now you have to say it." Spencer said as she stood in front of the three girls.

"What if Garrett and Melissa got together?" she asked. "I mean, he went to the hospital with her to get her ultrasound." Hanna explained and Josie furrowed her brows in thought. "Where are you going with this?" Emily asked. "I'm saying, what If Ian's not the father of Melissa's baby?" Hanna asked, making Spencer scoff and laugh. "Okay, next stop, twilight zone." she said.

"Wait, if Garrett got Melissa pregnant, why wouldn't she marry him?" Josie asked. "Well...." Spencer trailed off, making them look at her. "My parents might have liked Ian, but he still had it over a civil servant." she said. "Garrett was talking about medical records, we thought he was talking about Jenna's." Hanna said. "Jenna's medical records wouldn't have changed your mother's mind, but... Melissa's." Emily said, making the girls go silent.

"So my mom can't drive me to Philadelphia tomorrow, she has to speak with the vice principal." Aria said as she walked back into Spencer's bedroom. "About what?" Josie asked, confused. "I-I don't know, she didn't say." Aria answered, making the girls share confused looks.

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The next day, Aria, Hanna and Josie were sitting in Josie's car across the road from Jenna's house, waiting till she leaves. "What time is it?" Hanna asked as she leaned forwards in her seat to look between Aria and Josie. "Uh, four o'clock." Aria answered as she checked her phone. "Do you think H. Cobb is coming to her, or she is going to him, her, whatever?" Hanna asked.

"I don't know, I couldn't tell from the note, it just said 'COBB, 415' and 'EARPLUGS'." Aria answered. "Ear Plugs?" Josie asked before she sighed and looked out the window, resting her chin on her hand. "I don't need things to get any weirder." she said and Hanna nodded in agreement.

"I should have just come out and asked him." Hanna said, making Josie and Aria turn to look at her. "'Lucas, you were at the masquerade with Jenna, who were you talking to? Who was the black swan?'" Hanna said. "You would have asked him that? In front of Caleb?" Aria asked. "I couldn't make things worse with Caleb If I tried." Hanna sighed.

"Well has he asked you anything else about Mona? About the hit-and-run or anything?" Josie asked her. "No. he didn't say a word the whole drive back to town." Hanna answered. "I mean, I think he's scared to ask me anything." Hanna added, making Josie sigh sadly.

Nothing was happening as the girls sat there in silence until they saw a taxi pull up outside of the house and they saw Jenna walk outside and someone helped her get into the taxi. "Guess we're going for a ride." Aria remarked as they put their seatbelts on and Josie drove off a few seconds after the taxi did, following it.

It was a bit before they pulled over, seeing the taxi had and Jenna was into a store. "A medical building?" Hanna asked with a scoff. "All this for a crummy doctor's appointment? Seriously? What a rip." she continued in disbelief as Josie sighed and shook her head.

"Let's just go over there, look at the directory and see what kind of doctor Dr. Cobb is." Aria suggested. "Let's give it a minute to get out of the lobby, then we'll go." Josie told them and they nodded but Aria soon noticed something, tapping them both, looking out the window. "Look," she said, making them follow her line of sight. It was a car, and Jenna was driving it. "Oh my god, it's Jenna!" Hanna gasped. "Call Spencer and Em," Josie suggested as the three of them watched Jenna drive before Josie drove after her.

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Soon, Spencer and Emily had met Hanna, Aria and Josie where they were. They were walking through the streets to where the car that Jenna had parked. "She went in there." Hanna told them. "A gun store? What is doing at a... frickin' gun store?" Spencer exclaimed as she turned to the girls. Josie shrugged. "Duh, can you say 'target practice'?" Hanna shot back.

"That's the car, isn't it?" Aria asked Emily and she nodded. "That's the one." she answered. "Did you call the hospital?" Josie asked Spencer. "Yeah, I called." Spencer answered as she briefly looked back at her before looking back at the gun store. "Are they– are they sending the records?" Aria asked and Spencer finally turned around.

"There aren't any records." she answered. "What's that supposed to mean?" Emily asked. "It means Melissa didn't lose her baby in june." Spencer explained before Josie and the girls noticed Jenna walking out of the store. "There she is." Aria whispered and they stared at her as she walked back to her car. Hanna, who had finally had enough, started walking towards her.

"Hanna, stop, stop, stop." Spencer said as she walked forwards and grabbed Hanna's forearm and turned her around. "No, Spencer, I'm sick of this." Hanna exclaimed. "We're lying to everybody, everybody's lying to us– no mas." Hanna snapped before walking towards Jenna's car. "Han– you–" Spencer started but Josie stopped her. "She's got this Spence, let her go." she said as they watched Hanna walk towards Jenna's car.

Hanna stomped towards Jenna's car as she was about to start driving but Hanna stopped her as she walked in front of the car. Jenna started driving but stopped once she noticed Hanna infront of her, Hanna placed her hands on the front of the car, staring at Jenna, who looked shocked to see her. "Wow, Jenna, what a sight for sore eyes." she remarked.

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The girls and Jenna were standing in an alleyway, them standing in front of her so she couldn't run. "All this time... you can see." Spencer remarked. "From the very first operation." Aria added. "Yes." Jenna answered. "Why would you fake it?" Josie asked. "It was the only protection I had." Jenna defended herself. "Protection from what?" Hanna asked. "Someone tried to burn down a house with me in it, remember?" Jenna asked. "If people think that you're blind, they get careless, you see what they don't think you can see." Jenna explained.

"And you never told Toby?" Spencer asked. "It was safer if he didn't know." She defended her decision. "God, you are so twisted." Hanna scoffed, making Jenna turn to her. "I wonder how I got that way?" she shot back. "I was in your car that night." Emily told her. "Yes you were." Jenna answered. "Yeah, where were you going?" Spencer asked. "I was just driving." she answered. "You think I enjoyed carrying that cane?" Jenna asked.

"At least at night I could get out of town, get out to Rosewood, and not worry about anybody seeing me." Jenna continued. "But somebody did see you." Josie told her, referring to Emily. "Dead of night, edge of town, and Emily was just standing there... in the middle of the road, I almost hit her." Jenna explained. "You were drunk and crying, talking about Maya, I couldn't just leave you there." she told Emily.

"Yeah, she might tell someone she saw you." Aria remarked. "Witnesses can be a bitch." Hanna scoffed. "She was so messed up that I thought she wouldn't remember, and if she did, who would believe her?" Jenna asked.

"Okay, I put you in the car, and I was going to take you home, at least to the end of your street but you freaked out when I stopped at the light and jumped out of the car." Jenna explained to her. "I couldn't take any more chances." she added.

"Wait, what time was this?" Spencer asked. "About twelve – twelve thirty." Jenna answered, making the girls sigh and share a look. "You have to promise not to tell." Jenna pleaded with them. "That you can see?" Emily asked. "Are you kidding?" Josie and Spencer asked in sync. "I'm still a target." Jenna protested. "For who?" Aria asked her. "If i knew that, then i wouldn't have to hide." Jenna responded. "You have to do this for me!" Jenna cried. "I mean, you owe it to me, right?" she asked. "All of you." she said as she looked between them all.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
new chapter I love how Richie comforts Josie !!