Tainted Love: Prologue
Hi guys! And thank you so much for reading my fan fiction! For starters, I don't want to give away too much yet. I kind of want the ending of the story to be a bit of a surprise. I know it's not a completely conventional pairing, but bear with me. I promise lots of cute and angsty feels for you and I hope you enjoy the story! ^_^
It was a typical summer night in Rosewood, Pennsylvania. The perfectly pristine small suburban town not too far from Philadelphia was alive with the sound of people enjoying their last days of vacation before heading back to school and work. Yes, it was Labor Day weekend and there were many pool parties and backyard barbeques to be had. Unfortunately, the long weekend wasn't fun and festive for everyone in Rosewood. For four pretty little girls, the weekend was one that would always be filled with tragedy and regret.
It was on this day only a few years ago that their best friend, Alison DiLaurentis went missing. A year later, they found her body buried under dirt in her own backyard. But that wasn't before her friends began getting threatening and harrassing text messages from a mysterious stalker named A. This invisible figure had managed to make their lives miserable. He, or she, or...it, seemed to know every single minute detail of their lives, which of course, included all their dirty little secrets. And these four girls had plenty of them, and A had absolutely no problem revealing them. However, A wasn't a completely ruthless psychopath. A kept her lips sealed as long as the girls did exactly what A asked them to.
The four girls, named Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields, and Hanna Marin, were all headed to the barn in the back of Spencer's huge, sprawling backyard. The barn was the last place they saw their dear friend, Ali alive. Coming here on the anniversary of her death had almost become a tradition for the clique. They'd steal some booze from their parent's liquor cabinets and go back and just hang out, reflect on the good times they had with Alison, even though they came few and far between the bad memories.
The dead teenager was capable of being one's best friend, or her worst enemy. She could bring you up, and make you feel like the shinest, most rare diamond in the world. But she also had this way of finding things out about her friends, and using it against them. It was her favorite past time. The girl valued secrets more than anything. The thing was that Alison didn't just have dirt on her four minions. She had something on the majority of Rosewood's residents. Which makes the mystery of her death even more intriguing. The number of people who wanted Ali dead was alarming. It could have been anyone...even one of the best friends she trusted with her life.
As the girls walked into the barnhouse and made themselves comfortable, they all looked at each other, almost as if they were wondering the same thing. If Ali could see us now... Where would they be if Ali was still alive today? Would she be proud of the improvements they'd made to their lives? Or would she be disappointed?
Aria Montgomery had gone through a metamorphosis during her stay in Iceland. The kooky, weird girl from Rosewood that carried around a pig puppet named Pigtunia, had returned from Europe sophisticated and cool. She acquired an interest in modern art, and older boys, just like her old BFF Alison. Upon arriving back in Rosewood, Aria met a stunningly attractive guy named Ezra Fitz. It was love at first sight. Until, of course, they found out he was her English teacher, and she, his pupil. But even with that little tidbit of information, their relationship was still going strong. But not without a little help, of course.
Spencer Hastings had always been the over-achiever. The straight A student, the class president, the star of every school play. But even with all of her bright, shining achievements, she was stuck in the shadow of her older sister, Melissa. It seemed like Spencer could do nothing to knock Melissa off her perfect throne. But one thing the little sister had over her big was her popularity with Melissa's boyfriends. It seemed as if the boys couldn't keep their hands, or rather, lips, off of the younger Hastings. But there was only one boy in particular Spencer had her eyes on. And that was Rosewood's resident brooding bad boy, Toby Cavanaugh. Their love had been put through the ringer, but they were still together. Ali would be rolling in her grave if she saw the two of them together.
Emily Fields was the group's sweetly shy girl. She was the athlete. The top swimmer at Rosewood High. But she wasn't unlike her three other friends, though. She had her fair share of secrets, too. Thankfully, Emily had been able to survive hers somewhat. The girl had been out as a lesbian for some time now, and was happy with a girl named Paige, another one of Alison's many enemies. Emily came out of the closet thanks to A, of course, but she was also helped along by her first girlfriend, Maya. Maya showed Emily that it was okay to be who she was, and that being gay wasn't a bad thing. Their love story came to a tragic end when Maya was murdered. But even though Maya was Em's first girlfriend, she'd never be her first love. That title belonged to Alison. Unfortunately, that love was always unrequited, or was it? Guess no one will ever know...
And finally there was Hanna Marin. Or Hefty Hanna, as Ali remembered her. While Alison was still alive, Hanna was a chubby, dorky, loser. Her parents divorce had caused Hanna to begin binge eating, and Ali had shown the girl a way to get rid of the food and the regret. Fast forward to a few years later, and Hanna, along with her (former) best friend, Mona Vanderwaal, ruled the school. The two girls, like Aria, had gone through a transformation. Hanna had shed the pounds, and Mona got rid of her nerdy pigtails and glasses, and had become the it girls to Rosewood High. Girls wanted to be them, and boys wanted to be with them. They'd definitely give Ali a run for her money, if she were still around.
And now here they were sitting in a circle in Spencer's barnhouse. It seemed as if they were all lost in thought. The first person to speak was Hanna.
"Okay, it's way too quiet in here. Somebody break out the alcohol already." Hanna smirked.
Aria rolled her eyes playfully and pulled a bottle of vodka out of the bag she had brought with her, along with 4 cups.
Spencer took the bottle from Aria's hand, looking it over with a raised eyebrow, "Pretty fancy bottle of booze you got there." She said, opening the bottle, she took a whiff and pushed it away from her nose, blinking with a shake of her head, "And...strong, too."
Aria pursed her lips, grabbing the bottle back, "My father got it as a gift back in Iceland, thank you very much." She replied teasingly as she began to pour the liquid into the glasses, handing one to each girl.
As Emily took her cup, the black-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows, "Won't your dad notice that some of the vodka's gone from the bottle?" she asked.
Aria paused for a second before scrunching up her face and shaking her head, "No. He hardly ever looks in there." She answered.
"Does that even matter?" Hanna asked, "I'm pretty sure drinking the vodka is a lot more fun than worrying about whether or not Aria's dad will notice it's gone." She added before bringing her cup to her lips.
Spencer scoffed, her hand going to Hanna's arm in an attempt to stop her from taking a drink. "Hanna, no. Shouldn't we, like...I dunno...say something about Ali first?" she suggested, her eyes moving between each of her three friends.
"Spence's right." Emily agreed, "I mean...she's the reason we're all here tonight, right? To remember her?" After a second, she began to speak again, raising her cup in the air slightly, "Here's to Alison DiLaurentis. You're gone but...it still feels like you're here with us. We wish you were, that is." She muttered.
The other three girls all suddenly exchanged uneasy glances. Almost as if they were glad that Ali was gone. No one could exactly say they could be blamed for that, however. After the way the four friends were almost bullied by Ali, how could anyone feel anything besides relief over the girls' death? Not that the girls weren't sad about it, but at least the games were over...with Ali, at least.
Regardless of how the girls felt about their late, great, friends, they all raised their cups and said, "To Ali" in unison before finally taking a sip.
Turns out all the girls needed to loosen up about a tense topic was a little bit of alcohol. After that, they spent the night laughing, talking and reflecting about their friendship with Alison. However, it didn't take very long for the effect of the alcohol to start kicking in, and before long the girls were starting to fall asleep.
"Guys? Guys. Wake up!"
Spencer, Emily and Hanna awoke with a start when they heard Aria's frantic words.
"How long were we out for?" Hanna asked groggily as she wiped a drop of drool from the corner of her lip.
Spencer picked her cell phone up off the coffee table, "It's 2:30 in the morning!" She said before groaning, "I told my parents I'd be home by midnight. We have to go to Philly for-
"Can we all stop worrying about what time it is for one second?!" Aria cut her off, "I think we have more important matters at hand." She said shakily as she pointed towards the doll that sat on the couch right next to Emily.
The sight made the tan girl practically jump out of her seat. The porcelain doll, which the girls had become quite accustomed to seeing, was strikingly similar to what Ali looked like on the last day of her life, right down to the flowy yellow tank top she had been wearing. In front of it was a Happy Anniversary card.
The four girls stood up, backing away slowly, as if the doll was going to come alive and attack them at any minute. They all stared at the toy for several seconds until Spencer spoke up, "Isn't someone going to read the card?"
"Do we really have to?" Emily asked.
The friends all stared at each other nervously until Hanna finally threw her hands up and huffed, "I'll read it." She said in a slightly annoyed tone. She stepped forward and picked the card up. The other three crowded around her as she opened it. There was a handwritten message inside. She began to read:
Don't act like you're not as jazzed about this day as I am, little liars. It was on this day only 4 short years ago that your suffering from Alison ended. And it was only 3 short years ago that your suffering from me began. Happy Anniversary, Bitches. Here's to many, many more happy years! –A
Hanna tossed the card on the couch in frustration, rolling her eyes.
"So what the hell does this mean?" Spencer snapped, "That A's going to be there on our first day of college? On our wedding day?"
"If we even make it to those days." Emily muttered miserably.
"Don't talk like that, Em." Hanna said quietly.
There was a long silence between the friends, all four pairs of eyes slowly moving back towards the doll. It almost looked as if it were watching them, mocking them.
"I think I'm gonna head home." Aria decided.
Spencer nodded in agreement, "Yeah. Me too."
Emily looked at Hanna, "Wanna stay at my place tonight?"
"Yeah," Hanna replied, gulping "Sounds good."
They all said an awkward goodbye to each other before grabbing their things and exiting the barn. Spencer took the quick walk across her own yard back into her house. Once she got into her room, she closed her curtains, sighing shakily as she turned off her lights and went to bed. Hanna followed Emily back to her car and the two girls drove back to Emily's house. It was an eerily quiet drive.
And Aria hugged her jacket to her body, walking home in the chilly night air all alone. However, there was no longer a look of fear or discomfort on her face. Instead, there was a calm, almost sinister grin on her face.
What Spencer, Hanna and Emily didn't know, what they would never know, was that Aria had never taken the drink of vodka that had caused her friends to pass out. They also didn't know that the vodka they had drank was laced with a roofie that allowed Aria, or big A, to complete her dirty work, along with an unlikely ally whom Aria was on her way to meet right now.
She made her way out of Spencer's yard, heading for the woods behind her house, their rendezvous spot, her smile lightened when she saw him standing there in his black hoodie.
"Did you see their faces?" She asked with a quiet laugh, looking up at him.
"Priceless." He answered, "You were a pretty good actress, too. You definitely made me wanna come in and comfort you. Poor little thing." He added teasingly.
Aria smirked, her arms wrapping around his waist, "Oh, no, baby. Don't feel sorry for me. I'm having too much fun making those bitches pay." She said, a hint of…regret in her voice that one wouldn't have caught if they hadn't been paying attention.
"And we're doing an excellent job of that, aren't we?" He said proudly with a smirk before leaning down, pressing his lips against hers.
Aria giggled quietly into the kiss, "Whoever thought that Toby Cavanaugh would end up being my partner in crime?" She muttered against his lips, curling hers up into a grin.
"That's what makes it so perfect. Nobody expects it." He whispered, "And we work so perfectly together anyway."
Aria pulled away, biting her lip with a smile as she nodded her head. The smile faded and an alert expression overtook her face when she heard a twig snap.
Toby's head snapped up, his eyes moving around quickly. He took the petite brunette's hand, "C'mon. Let's get back to the lair." He said in a hushed tone as he quickly pulled her in the direction of his pick-up truck, driving in the night, headed for A's headquarters.
