Paige tightened her grip on the strap of her purse and lowered her head in determination. When she raised it again, it was covered by a defensive scowl; one that was sure to keep her detractors at bay.

This was the worst part; the walk through the open quad, to find an isolated seat to have her lunch.

Paige could have avoided the drama by taking her lunch in the cafeteria; the sanctuary of the bullied – those too afraid or too ashamed to eat out in the open. Paige had been one of them, her freshman year at Rosewood High. But those days were over. Paige was through hiding from her tormentor.

Out there in the quad, the was no place to hide; no way to avoid walking past the table where her ex-girlfriend's best friends would inevitably be sitting, watching.

Emily's friends had, of course, heard about the way Paige had humiliated herself on Emily's porch, declaring that she still loved Emily, only to be shot down. Not that they hadn't seen it coming. Paige should have seen it coming herself, in Emily's lies, her testiness, her denial of affection – all of which pointed to the fact that her feelings for Paige had gone cold. But Paige had been blinded by her own feelings. So even when the dead girl who had haunted their relationship from the beginning turned out to be very much alive, Paige still thought that she had a shot; that, somehow, competing with a memory would prove to have been more of a challenge than competing with the real thing.

At least Paige wouldn't have to worry about seeing Emily herself out there in the quad. Emily had made her choice. She was out of town with her ghostfriend, helping her to get through her counseling, in preparation for rejoining life with her classmates who had thought she was dead.

Paige took a deep breath, and, focusing on the flagpole on the other side of the quad (a trick she'd learned: If she an object and fixed her eyes on it while she walked, it would keep them from wandering to the people she wanted to avoid), she made her way across the concrete battlefield.

She could focus her eyes on the flagpole, but she couldn't keep her peripheral vision from picking up on the movement of a blonde head as she passed Emily's friends' table. Out of the corner of her eye, she distinctly saw the sad smile that had spread across the girl's lips.

That, Paige realized, was actually the worst: The pity. Paige could've handled their ridicule. Ridicule is what someone gives to a rival; a worthy opponent. Paige was used to that, having encountered it so often in sports. But pity is something reserved for losers.

Fuck it, Paige thought. She had only one goal: Make it to the table and eat her lunch in peace.

Paige settled in at a table in the far opposite corner from the one where Emily and her friends always sat. She put an expression on her face designed to let everyone know that she didn't want company. To help make the point, she put her earbuds in and dialed up her "Depression" playlist as she ate with one hand and scrolled through a swimming blog that she was pretending to read with the other.

Dreams last for so long
Even after you're gone

Once again, Paige's peripheral vision picked up on movement from Hanna's movement. This time, Hanna was moving away from her clique's table, headed in Paige's direction. Paige didn't flinch. She just continued to stare at her phone as Jewel kept singing.

I know you love me
And soon I know you will see

Soon, Paige felt a shadow, where Hanna's body interrupted the rays of the sun from falling on the table. Still, she didn't flinch.

You were meant for me
And I was meant for you.

Paige picked up on the movement as Hanna's hand stroked a strand of hair behind her ear, and Hanna shifted her feet to redistribute her weight. Next, Hanna crossed her arms in front of her. She wasn't going anywhere. Paige, not bothering to remove her earbuds or turn down the music, twisted her head and scowled at her.

Hanna's expression was blank. Paige didn't see the pity that she had seen before; instead, Hanna looked concerned.

There was no misinterpreting how Paige looked. But Hanna wasn't scared off.

"How are you, Paige?"

"I'm fine," Paige snarled, her voice like the growl of a pit bull defending its master. Paige had lost count of the number of times she had been forced to say those words after Emily dumped her.

Hanna smoothed her skirt out beneath her and sat down next to Paige. "I just wanted you to know that the girls and I…" Her body tilted vaguely towards their table. "Well, we don't agree with the way Emily's been treating you." Hanna paused, as if waiting for Paige to thank her or acknowledge her or – something. Paige, though, had already said more than she intended to say to any of Emily's friends. Hanna looked down, unconsciously grabbing a napkin off the table and twisting it between her hands. "You have to understand," she explained, not looking at Paige. "There's a certain unwritten rule between us. We always support each other's… relationship choices. No matter how… questionable they may be." Hanna shrugged slightly, slightly ashamed.

Paige smirked, shaking her head slowly. That was rich, she thought, considering the way the trio had "supported" her and Emily, back when they were dead-set on convincing Emily that Paige was "A." As if reading her thoughts, Hanna put her hand on Paige's forearm. "Look, we don't always get it right, I guess," she said, with a nervous chuckle. "I know," she added quickly, correcting herself. Seeing the way that Paige was glaring at the hand on her forearm, Hanna slowly pulled it back. "I guess I just wanted to say… you know. Don't take our loyalty to Emily as a vote for her choices. We all know you got a raw deal."

Without saying a word, Paige turned her focus back to her phone. After an awkward, silent moment, Hanna shrugged and got up, heading back to her table.

Paige breathed again. She had accomplished what she needed to. She knew that Hanna wouldn't let it go forever, but her steely attitude had bought her at least a week or two without having to worry about another encounter with Hanna Marin.

"She needs to come out of that cocoon," Hanna said to neither of her lunch companions in particular as she stared at Paige, who was, once again, planted at a solitary table, staring at her phone with her earbuds in. "She needs to realize that all of that anger isn't going to win Emily back. It's not going to accomplish anything, other than destroying her own life."

"Hanna," Aria said with a note of caution, "This is between Em and Paige. We need to let them work it out."

Hanna tightened her lips, as frustrated as she was angry. "Paige is our friend, too. I just don't think it's right…"

"I agree with Aria," Spencer interrupted. "We've all made some stupid choices. How would you have felt if we'd made overtures to Caleb after you took up with Travis?"

Aria glared at Spencer, squeezing Hanna's hand for support. "I… I didn't mean," Spencer stammered. "Hanna, I know what you and Caleb have been through, and I…"

"I'm fine," Hanna said, with a look of defiance. "Caleb made his choices. And I made mine. And I choose to move on. And that's all I want Paige to do."

"Okay, Han," Aria began, "but don't you think…"

Hanna stood up, gathering her things. "She's our friend, too," she said, repeating, as she walked away, "She's our friend, too."

Hanna walked half the distance to the table which Paige had made her island before she turned aside, reluctantly. She realized that Paige needed a little space. Hanna was willing to give her that. Maybe not as much space as Paige wanted, but as much as she needed. No more than that.

"Hey Paige!"

Paige had gotten used to Hanna's sunny smile and cheerful greeting whenever she walked past the girls' table. What Paige never saw was the way that Hanna's smile dimmed after Paige passed them by, failing even to acknowledge Hanna or her companions.

"What is it with you and Paige?" Spencer asked with a scowl.

"I just think she deserves better," Hanna said, animatedly.

"Are you sure that's all there is?"

Hanna chuckled. "Yes, Aria. I mean, I'll admit that I respect the fact that she's a strong person."

"Yeah," Spencer droned, "they named a penalty…"

"Still?" Hanna scoffed. "I'm not even talking about that, Spencer. I mean, let's face it: Paige has had a lot of shit thrown her way – and, let's be honest, some of it came from us. But she survived. And she's still this sweet, thoughtful, caring girl…"

"Yeah," Spencer said mockingly, turning to look at Paige, who was sitting alone at her table with the expression of someone who was about to start strangling pigeons. "That sounds like Paige. Sweet. Thoughtful. Caring."

"She's just going through a dark time right now."

"Right. Like when she tried to drown..."

Hanna glared at her. "Don't you dare!"

Spencer put her hands up, backing away from the comment.

"You know how she feels," Hanna continued. "We all do. But you can't deny that she treated Emily like a queen. And she even treated us better than we…" Hanna sighed, letting the though hang. "That's not the real Paige," she said in conclusion, almost to herself.

Paige grunted, annoyed, as her phone buzzed for what seemed like the thousandth time. And, for the thousandth time, she rejected the call and flipped the phone back over, trying to refocus on her physics problem set. When the phone buzzed again, she set it to "Mute" before she flipped it over. That was a gesture of pure frustration. She flipped it over again and unmuted it. She didn't want to risk having that fight with Nick McCullers again, should he attempt to reach her when she had dared to have her phone on mute.

All of a sudden, Paige was startled by a banging against her window. It sounded as if a bird had crashed into it. She went over to investigate and saw Hanna smiling and waving, downstairs in the back yard. Paige gave her a good scowl before she closed the blinds. It wasn't long before there was another bang against the window. Apparently, Hanna's game was to throw rocks that were so big that Paige, fearing Hanna would break the window, would have to acknowledge her. Just as Paige headed over to the window, her phone buzzed again. Several times, in rapid succession.

HM: ive got my charger. i can be out here all day
HM: and ik where the electric plug is by the pool

Paigey: HANNA I SWEAR TO GOD!

HM: what? i just want to talk to you…

Paige was angrily typing a reply when she gasped at the sound of her bedroom door opening. She turned around to see Hanna's smiling face. "Hey, Paige!" she said, as if she had done nothing wrong.

"Hanna," Paige snarled through gritted teeth, "what do you think you're doing in here?"

"Uh… you guys need to find a better place to hide your key," Hanna announced, holding it up as evidence. That fake rock ain't fooling anyone, girl!"

Paige let out a groan, rubbing the index and middle fingers of each hand in circles into her temples. "You can't just barge into my room like that! What if I had been naked?"

"Aww, Paigey?" Hanna surrounded Paige with a hug. Paige stood as straight as a board, her hands not wrapping around Hanna's body. "Is someone not getting any anymore?"

Paige's jaw dropped open in shock. "Sorry!" Hanna said blithely, obviously not sorry. "But you can't set me up like that!"

Paige dropped her shoulders and let out a deep breath, defeated. "Hanna, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to invite you to come take a study break with me."

Paige couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Have you even been studying?"

"This is not about me, Paigey. It's about you. Come on," she said, linking arms with her new, reluctant bestie. "We're getting you out of this room."

Paige noticed that there was the faintest of smiles on her face as she took another sip of her coffee. There was something calming about coffee with Hanna. Hanna had a way of talking about nothing as if it were everything. Paige didn't have to keep up her end of the conversation, really; just give a grunt every now and then to signal to Hanna that she was listening, and to encourage her to continue. Coffee with Hanna was therapeutic, in a way; although, in therapy, it's usually the patient who does all of the talking. But that was overthinking things. And coffee with Hanna had nothing to do with thinking. It was plain and simple, much like Hanna herself. With Emily, there always seemed to be so many layers of inference; hidden meanings behind everything that Emily said, and hidden interpretations by Emily of whatever Paige said. It felt like walking through a minefield. Paige constantly had the feeling that, if she said the wrong thing, her relationship would blow up in her face. It had happened more than once.

But coffee with Hanna was different. It was kind of nice having her as a friend, Paige mused, rather than just a friend-in-law.

Hanna hunched forward excitedly in her chair and clapped her hands together before she squeezed both of Paige's. "So, you'll do it? Really?"

Uh oh. Perhaps Paige should've been paying closer attention to what Hanna had been saying. She tried to rewind the conversation in her head to find out what she had apparently just agreed to.

Hanna relaxed back into her spot in the booth. "Spencer refuses to study with me," she complained, shaking her head in disgust. "She says I'm too distracting. But I say she just needs to learn to multitask. Anyway, it doesn't matter now, because I can study with you!" Hanna bounced in her seat, unable to contain her excitement. "And you're as much of a brainiac as Spencer, right? I mean, Stanford…" She gave Paige a knowing look.

Paige winced internally. At the same time, she felt that she had dodged a bullet. She imagined that there were worse things that she could have unwittingly agreed to than study nights with Hanna.

A/N: Thanks for giving this story a chance! :)

Why Panna? Well, for a long time, I've had a problem with what the show turned Emily's character into... the serial dating; and the way she takes Paige for granted. I've wished that Paige could have something carefree, without all the drama, with someone fun. Someone like Hanna.

But, in the end, it was a movie, "ToY," that gave me the motivation to go from those thoughts into an actual fic. It's a very (very!) dark movie, but, right in the middle, it has about 15 minutes of a terribly cute relationship between the two protagonists... so cute that it made me want to start writing again.

Disclaimer: I never really watched PLL, so I mostly know Hanna's character from (mostly Paily) fan fiction. If you're reading this because you're a Hanna Marin fan, I apologize for getting her character wrong. Feel free to pass along any helpful suggestions!

Logistics: I see this running for about 10 chapters. I plan to post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Oh - and the song on Paige's depression playlist was "You were meant for me," by Jewel. :)