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Chapter 20

The cellphone rings in the morning and Spencer goes to pick it up, her mom telling the story as the news picks up on Alison's lost body. Spencer asks the appropriate questions, trying to find out our real question. Did anyone see us? When she hangs up the phone she turns around and explains to us.

"The caretaker called it in this morning. The place is crawling with reporters, but the police don't have any leads." Some weight comes off my shoulders, but I'm still feel guilty.

"So we're okay, nobody saw us," I exhale.

"Yeah." I lean back in the couch and try to relax.

"I'm so sorry guys. This is all my fault." Emily says, still a bit drunk from last night and whatever was in her drink.

"No one's blaming you," Hannah tells her.

"Yeah Em, somebody took you there to make it look like you dug up Ali's body." Spencer tries to make her feel better.

"And I made it so easy. If I wasn't so wasted-"

"Em. Last night never happened." Hannah says, saying it slow so it gets in our heads.

"Are we sure about that? We could still go to the police," I offer, not wanting to go down this road again.

"We tampered with the evidence," Spencer shakes her head. "Last night we roasted marshmallows, and talked about senior year and went to bed early."

I look to Emily who was staring at the floor. "Em?"

"Last night never happened." My phone starts to ring and for the first time in a long time all of the girls jump at the sound.

I get out my phone and see Jason's smiling face staring back at me instead of a blocked number. "It's just Jason." I stand up and answer the phone walking away from the girls a little even though they'll still listen.

"Jason?" I ask, not sure if he has seen the news yet and what his reaction to it is.

"Have you seen it?" Jason grounds out.

"Spencer's mom called us, we're at the lake house and haven't seen the news but we've heard about it." I explain, turning my back to the girls. "Are you okay?"

"They stole her body." Jason says in monotone, I turn around and meet Spencer's gaze and shake my head. Jason was not okay. In the back ground I hear glass being thrown against the wall, which makes me wince.

I grab my purse and wave goodbye to the girls as I run out to my car and start driving back to Rosewood. "I'll be there in 20 minutes, Jason. Just stay on the phone, okay?" I ask him, hoping the glass he threw was just a fancy cup and not a beer bottle.

"Who would do this? A is locked up at Radley and Garett is in jail, is this someone's idea of being funny? Are they going to use it as blackmail?" Jason starts asking a million questions that I can't answer, getting angrier and angrier. By the time I reach his house he hung up on me and I can't hear him inside, though I don't know if him being quiet is a good thing.

The front door was partly ajar so I walk in and call his name. "In here." I run into the kitchen and almost fall when I slip on liquid on the floor.

"Woah!" Jason catches me and helps me onto the counter. "Sorry, I haven't wanted to clean it up yet." I look down on the floor, and see glass and bubbly liquid covering most of his new tiles. The increasingly familiar smell of liquor hits my nose and I look at Jason with a worried expression.

"Jason-" I start, but he interrupts me.

"There was a six pack on the back porch when I woke up today, with a note saying I would need it. I turned the news on and when I saw what happened I got angry." I continue to look at him , trying to tell if the smell was coming from him and the floor or only the floor. "I didn't drink any of it, Aria," Jason promises taking my hand and laying his head on my shoulder, moving in between my legs so he can lean against the counter too.