Mona smiled sadly while Hanna tried on another outfit. She got exactly what she wanted but it was still all wrong. A had held up their end of the bargain. She got Hanna back, but this wasn't the Hanna she had fallen in love with. This was the new Hanna they made up during the summer they spent reinventing themselves after Ali disappeared. The Hanna she thought others would want.

Even though it was stupid, Mona liked hefty Hanna better. Not this new and improved one. She missed the insecure girl she befriended behind Ali's back. The one that gave her a reason to become interested in computers and cellphones and all the technology she used to harass her and her friends later.

Ironically enough it had started with a text.

"I think u look real pretty 2day."

It was a generic text from a number she didn't recognize, so she ignored it. But she didn't delete it. It made her smile, to know that someone thought she was pretty even when Alison loudly told her otherwise.

The texts didn't stop though. When Alison laughed at her in the halls for being loser Mona, she got another one.

"ur glasses r cute."

She feels stupid for not connecting the dots sooner. Whenever Alison made some barb at her expense in public, she got a text from the same number. She memorized the number. But was too afraid to reply. She didn't want it to be another one of Ali's cruel jokes. So she just kept saving them. Pretending that they were real.

"dat sweater looks nice."

"I like when u wear t-shirts over shirts. It's kind of grown up."

"ur hair is cool (:"

"The blue barrettes u wore 2day are my favs."

"I wish I cud accessorize like u."

It's not like it had been a big mystery to solve. But she still liked to pretend that it had been. That the only reason she ever found out it was Hanna all along was because she finally learned how to hack phones and break into computer records. And that's what made her happy. That the texts that could have been meant for anyone were only meant for her. Not a wrong number that had been accidentally typed up. But her: Loser Mona Vanderwaal with nerdy glasses that couldn't get a date on a good year, much less a typical Friday night.

She doesn't know why she wanted to see what Hanna had her number saved under, but she did. Maybe she thought that she was working for Ali. Years of being bullied by her made her second guess whenever someone was nice to her. But when she saw that her entry wasn't loser, nerd or geek, but just "Mona," she decided to text Hanna back in the middle of Spanish class.

"Thanks but stop txting me pls. It's really creepy. I don't even know u."

She thought Hanna's reaction was going to be different than her looking crushed and running out of the classroom to cry in the bathroom. She didn't even ask permission, so she ran after her.

When she knocked on the stall and Hanna blew her nose but didn't answer Mona finally talked to the girl that had been secretly texting her for weeks. "Are you okay?" Hanna's weak no was the only answer she got. But it wasn't enough.

"Were you the one texting me?" Hanna sniffled and said yes. "Why?" Even though she couldn't see her, the way that Hanna stepped on her left foot with her right made her smile because she could tell that the other girl was as nervous as she was.

"Because I just wanted to be your friend." Mona frowned. "Why?" She asked suspicious of her motives. No one had ever just wanted to be her friend. There had to be a catch.

"I don't know. I just think that you're really pretty and you always wear your hair super nice and you sing really good in church." Mona was too shocked to say anything. She didn't think anyone noticed her. Especially the way Hanna described her. She made Mona want to meet this alternate universe Mona that seemed to only exist in Hanna's head.

"…plus you never make fun of me for being fat." Hanna whispered and sighed. With that last bit of information revealed, Mona started crying. She finally found a girl that not only wanted to be friends with her but also just got how much it hurt her to be called mean things all the time. Just like her mom had predicted she would.

"I'm sorry Hanna. I guess I thought it was some jerk playing a prank on me or something." Hanna sniffled and laughed. "I'm sorry too. I should have told you who it was sooner… but I was afraid that if I did, Ali wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore… and even though I like you, I also like pretending that I'm popular sometimes…" Mona took off her glasses and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. "We can still be friends if you want… secret friends so that Ali doesn't hate you."

Hanna opened the door to her stall and gave her a giant smile. "Really?" The way she said it, full of hope and raw honesty made her heart beat fast enough for her to feel dizzy from too much oxygen rushing to her brain. "Yeah. Really… and who knows, maybe one day we can be like, popular popular, not just pretend…" Hanna lunged at her, giggling and hugging her so tightly that when Mona closed her eyes to revel in the feeling, she wasn't surprised when she wondered what it was like to kiss a girl like Hanna Marin.

Author's Note: If you or any of your loved ones out there have any Gay!Mona prompts, please let me know. I live for how gay Mona was for Hanna the entire series.