No Reason-Vandermarin
Mona Vanderwaal knew a fake ring when she saw one. She’d spent her childhood and teenage years devouring Tiffany’s catalogs, and visiting the store just to stare at the beautiful diamonds. She knew what a Tiffany diamond looked like, and she knew what a fake diamond looked like. And she knew that the ring on Hanna’s finger was a fake. She also knew that only a week previously, the ring had been real.
But it wasn’t her place anymore to ask Hanna about the switch. For all she knew, Hanna was worried about her ring being stolen and decided to wear a fake during the day. Yeah, right. Still, she couldn’t come out and ask Hanna what was going on. They weren’t friends, not really. Hanna had made that abundantly clear. Still, she couldn’t help but feel her way around the situation.
“Is everything okay, Han? I mean, besides the fact that we’re busy covering up a murder?” she asked, attempting to sound nonchalant. She was in the middle of trying to trace the phone number they’d found. Hanna stiffened.
“Of course. Why do you ask?” she asked, a bit too quickly. Mona shrugged, the picture of innocence.
“No reason. We just haven’t talked much since—”
“Since what?” Hanna interrupted. Mona frowned, startled by Hanna’s harsh tone. She knew the other woman was on edge, but she seemed especially snippy today.
“Since we both got back to town,” Mona said slowly. Hanna’s shoulders relaxed.
“Oh. Yeah. I’ve been busy. I assume you have too,” she said. Mona shrugged.
“I suppose. I had been working on Mrs. Phillips’ campaign, but I guess Spencer told you how that turned out,” she said, still annoyed even though she now knew it hadn’t been Spencer’s fault.
“No, she didn’t. What happened?” Hanna asked, curious as to why Spencer hadn’t told her. No, that wasn’t true. She wasn’t actually surprised Spencer hadn’t told her, given the current tension between them. Mona sighed.
“I gave Spencer some information about her mother that the Phillips’ campaign planned to release to the public,” Mona started.
“About her mom’s cancer?” Hanna cut in. Mona nodded.
“Yeah. It would have ended there, except AD then leaked that information about Yvonne having an abortion in high school. Caleb took the blame for that, but it ended with them doing a bunch of research into their system and figuring out that I’d told Spencer about her mother’s cancer. So they decided that even if I hadn’t leaked the abortion news, I still couldn’t be trusted anymore,” she explained.
“Wait, why did Caleb take the blame?” Hanna asked, understanding more and more why Spencer hadn’t told her any of this. Mona shrugged.
“The hack came from Spencer’s computer. Veronica thought Spencer did it,” Mona said.
“So Caleb took the blame,” Hanna said. Mona nodded.
“I’m sorry about your job. AD was trying to hurt Spencer, not you,” Hanna said quietly. She knew AD had been trying to cause trouble for them, and Mona just got caught in the cross fire. Mona shrugged.
“It’s okay. I’d be out of a job now anyway, since Veronica won. And honestly I only took the job because Veronica’s campaign wouldn’t hire me,” Mona admitted. Hanna rolled her eyes.
“That’s a good reason to campaign for a candidate,” she said drily. Mona raised an eyebrow.
“Did you even vote?” she sniped. Hanna looked offended.
“Of course I did! It was Spencer’s mom running. I support my friends,” she said bitterly. Mona frowned.
“Okay, Hanna, spill. What’s going on?” she asked. Hanna sighed and took off the fake ring.
“I broke up with Jordan,” she admitted. Mona nodded. Honestly, she’d assumed as much.
“Why?” Mona asked. Another sigh from the blonde.
“Because he’s not part of this world? Because things are happening that I can’t explain? Because I don’t want to start a marriage filled with lies? Take your pick,” Hanna said. Mona pursed her lips. She had a suspicion about Hanna’s real reason for dumping Jordan, but she wasn’t going to say it if Hanna wouldn’t.
“So why the fake ring?” she asked. Hanna’s eyebrows furrowed.
“How’d you know it was a fake?” she asked. Mona raised an eyebrow.
“Hanna, we used to spend hours looking at Tiffany catalogues. Do you honestly think I don’t know a fake diamond when I see one?” she asked. Hanna chuckled.
“You’re the only person who’s noticed,” she said. Mona smiled.
“Yeah, well, I’m also the one who used to devour Tiffany catalogues. Not everyone can have my eye for diamonds. But you still haven’t answered my question. Why are you wearing a fake ring?” she asked. Hanna sighed.
“Because I didn’t want to deal with people’s questions,” she said. Mona frowned.
“Who would be asking questions?” she asked.
“Spencer. My mom. Caleb. You,” she said. Mona looked down, feeling guilty for making Hanna’s list.
“So? Who cares if people are asking questions? It’s none of their business,” Mona said. Hanna shook her head.
“It would hurt Spencer. She would think I only broke up with Jordan because I wanted to get back together with Caleb. And Caleb would think I wanted go get back together with him,” she said.
“Why? It’s been how long since you two broke up? Why would they assume it was about him?” Mona asked, even though she herself had assumed the same thing.
“Because we kissed the other night,” Hanna whispered. Mona’s eyebrows shot up.
“But it didn’t mean anything! I don’t want to get back together with him. And I don’t want to hurt Spencer, or give him false hope,” she explained. Mona nodded.
“That explains them, but why are you so afraid of everyone else?” she asked.
“What would I tell my mom? I don’t have any good reason to give her. And Aria would just keep giving me those little pity looks that she’s been giving me ever since she saw what AD did and she’d assume I broke up with Jordan because I’m traumatized, and maybe that is why—”
“What do you mean since she saw what AD did to you?” Mona interrupted, worry written on her face. Hanna paled, realizing her mistake.
“Nothing. It’s nothing,” she said.
Before Mona could argue, a ding drew their attention to her laptop.
“I have a location on the phone.”