Secrets |Toby Cavanaugh|

Chapter 2

We all left for The Grill for dinner and to talk. I sat there with a glass of water with a slice of lemon and stared hungrily at the fries that the girls were eating.

"You're stronger than this, Gracie."

"Why was Jenna there?" Aria asked.

"I guess she's back." Spencer answered,

"That cop acted like we were suspects or something." I said.

"Do you think we looked guilty?"

"Why would we? We haven't done anything wrong." Aria replied.

"Except lie about the Jenna thing." Hanna said.

"We promised we'd never bring up the Jenna thing again, remember?" Spencer whispered. "It never happened."

"Have you found a way to forget? I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night."

"Aria, it was an accident." Spencer said.

I looked over at Hanna, who pulled her flask from her purse and poured it into her drink. A man at another table stared at her,

"It's medicinal." The man continued to stare, "Cramps."

"I don't get it." Emily said, "How does A know something about me that only Alison knew?"

"Ali knew all of our secrets." I replied, "But... we never knew any of hers."

"I knew some." Spencer stated.

"... Go on." Aria encouraged.

"Talk."

"I can't." Spencer said.

"Spence! No, you are not gonna drop a bomb like that and just clam up!" Aria exclaimed.

"She'd so kill me if I told you." She responded.

"She's dead." Hanna retorted.

Spencer sighed, "Ali was seeing someone that summer."

"I knew she was keeping something from me." Emily stated, "From us."

"Well, why didn't she want us to know?" Aria asked.

"He was an older boy, and he had a girlfriend." Spencer answered.

"Who was it?" Emily asked.

"She never told me his name."

"That's only half the secret." Hanna said.

"It's more than you ever got from her." Spencer replied.

"How was it that Ali told us nothing, and we told her everything?" I asked.

"Because she made us feel like we were part of something special." Emily answered.

"We were." Hanna said.

"I miss that."

"Me, too."

"I miss Ali." Emily said, playing with her bracelet.

"I can't believe you still wear that." Hanna commented.

"Ali still wears hers... wore." Emily responded.

"When Ali didn't come home that night, I knew something terrible must have happened, but there was always some part of me that imagined someday she'd show up." Spencer said.

"Yeah," I replied, "I used to think that maybe she'd just... run off with some guy."

"She was laying on a beach somewhere."