disclaimer: i don't own pretty little liars. sara shephard does.
A/N – To the girls (Aria, Hanna, Emily, and Spencer) this is Ali to them, and not Courtney.
"Leave, Ali," Spencer Hastings had demanded angrily, pointing at the door of the barn. She wanted Ali to get out, Spencer's patience for Ali was running dangerously low. But little did Spencer know, this wasn't Ali in her barn, but Courtney, her twin.
Courtney glared at her angrily. Aria, Hanna, and Emily all silently stared at them from the sidelines, watching what else would go down between the two blondes.
Things were already bad enough, Spencer thought. It was though as if their friendship with Ali was slipping through the cracks. Spencer wasn't usually the type to kick out any of her friends at a sleepover or when they were hanging out, let alone Alison DiLaurentis, the most popular, yet sometimes vicious girl of Rosewood Day, their elite private school.
Over the course of the last few weeks, Spencer began to think whether it was a good thing she became friends with Ali. Well, it wasn't like at the time, last year in sixth grade at the Rosewood Day Charity Drive, that it was a choice to be friends with Alison DiLaurentis. After all, Spencer longed for a friend at that time. Besides, who could resist a spot to be of all people, Alison DiLaurentis's friend?
Ali topped all the guys' "hot girls" list, all the girls wanted to be her friend, even upperclassmen, Ali was the girl to set trends, the girl who excelled in everything from sports, academics, being liked by everyone- including teachers and parents, and getting whatever she wanted, from the newest phone out there or a guy to like her. Sounds perfect right? It was all far from that.
"Spence-" Emily started, glaring at Spencer, out of defense for Courtney.
Courtney rolled her eyes. Emily was always defending Ali when she got into fights with Spencer or anything, thus was born Courtney's nickname for Emily, "Killer." It was like Courtney couldn't defend herself or something. Please.
"Fine," Courtney replied calmly as though nothing was wrong. She stood up, gave Spencer one last glare, and walked out of the Hastings' barn, slamming the door hard behind her.
Courtney ran far from the barn to the middle of the yard, probably on the verge of tears. This was the worst weekend yet for her. First of all, the real Ali was back from the Preserve at Addisons-Stevens, the place where she herself, Courtney, was supposed to have been for the past 1- almost 2 years for "illness reasons."
Courtney was doing everything she could to stay away from her house this entire week. Suddenly she regretted teasing Aria about her father's affair with his teaching assistant, poking fun at Hanna's weight, competing with Spencer over Ian Thomas's affection, and mocking Emily's puppy dog crush on her. The four of them were probably all glad Spencer kicked her out. Why would they want to be around someone who found pleasure in their insecurities?
Courtney knew that Ali was trying to seek revenge for switching their places and sending Ali to a mental institute for a year and a half while Courtney was off living Ali's perfect one.
As Courtney stood in the middle of Hastings' yard, she started to think of what she could do. Her parents knew that she was at Spencer's with her friends and the real Ali was confined to the DiLaurentises' house while they decided if Ali could permanently be released from the Preserve. She didn't have anywhere to go. All her older field hockey friends, Katy and Violet, were all on a plane to Florida to enjoy their high school graduation. Home was the last place she could go.
There was the sound of footsteps behind her. Courtney slowly turned around to see who it was: Spencer.
This only fueled Courtney up even more. Spencer was acting all haughty because Ian Thomas, Spencer's older sister's boyfriend had kissed her. Ian was Rosewood's golden boy and every single teenage girl in town was in love with him. Courtney herself would've been jealous of Spencer, but keeping it a secret from the other girls, she was going out with Ian. The other girls knew that she was involved with an older guy, but no one would've guessed it was Ian Thomas. He sort of had an alibi for dating Courtney: dating Melissa Hastings. No one in their right mind would've guessed that the poster boy for the preppy and elite town of Rosewood was sneaking around with a 13 year old girl.
"Gonna kick me out of your yard also, Spence?" Courtney taunted her as a result of her anger.
Spencer's fists balled up, remaining at her side, not knowing what to say or do.
"You act like you're all that because Ian kissed you, and you're at the top of our class at Rosewood Day. Please. Ian told me that you didn't know how to kiss!" Courtney spat. Courtney had just inadvertedly revealed who the older boy she was sneaking around was.
"Why would Ian tell you!" Spencer exclaimed angrily, her voice slowly trailing as she thought over what Courtney had said to her. Then she finally understood it. "Ian's the one you've been sneaking out with! He's probably the reason you joined field hockey! Of course he would've chose you to be on JV because you're his girlfriend," Spencer pieced it all together, emphasizing "girlfriend."
"Correct, Spence. You want everything I have. Well, guess what. You can't have it! I made you. Without me, you would still be the lame girl you were at the beginning of sixth grade, only worrying about her grades and no one would know your name!" Courtney exclaimed.
"Shut up!" Spencer roared and pushed Courtney back. Courtney staggered back a little. This was not any Spencer Hastings Spencer recognizes. She had gotten frustrated with Ali, but she never thought this would end physically.
Courtney turned around, her back to Spencer. In the distance she could see a flash of blonde hair. Ian, she thought immediately. She remembered the ultimatum she made with Ian earlier this week: break up with Melissa, making Courtney Ian's one and only girlfriend, or Courtney would reveal to everyone that Ian and Courtney had been going out. Maybe it was Ian telling her that he had broken up with Melissa and they could be together. Using this as an excuse to run away, Courtney ran past Spencer and into her yard where she saw that flash of blonde hair. Unbeknownst to Courtney, that flash of blonde hair was anyone but Ian, but Real Ali.
When Courtney finally got to her yard, she bit her lip with slight excitement. Ever since she had given Ian that ultimatum 3 days ago, she usually daydreamed about how their relationship would be, without Melissa in the picture, and Courtney as the only girl for Ian's affection. There was the huge pit that the workers building the gazebo dug up. Aria had mentioned how the huge pit looked like a rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland. Courtney just laughed it off and called Aria, "kooky."
"Hi, Courtney. Or should I say, Ali," Courtney heard a voice from behind her that made her jump. She whirled around, startled. The night was quiet, it was probably 9:45 or something; Courtney didn't know because she had left her phone back home. There was no sound, nothing. The sun had long set and the sky was pitch black, the only light was coming from the twinkling stars above.
Courtney's mouth dropped to an "O" shape as the person came closer to her. "A-Ali," she stuttered, not knowing what to say. "W-What are you doing? Mom said you weren't allowed to leave the house!" It was finally going to happen, Courtney thought, Ali can finally get revenge on me switching her place.
Ali let out a dry, evil sounding laugh. "Mom only confined me to our house because she's scared her status and image in this town will be ruined once everyone finds out she has a mental daughter." Ali paused a little, as if she was going to think of what else to say. "But she doesn't have to know anything, does she?"
Courtney couldn't say anything, she was too stunned. Ali continued, "You ruined everything! Just because you didn't want to move to some mental asylum, you pretended to be me! You ditched my best friends, the coolest girls in school, you blinded prissy Jenna Cavanuagh, you hook up with that creep Ian Thomas, and last, you formed some clique of insane girls that I would never even acknowledge!"
"H-How did you k-know that?" Courtney asked nervously.
"Read it all in your diary. Like dating the guy your 'kooky' friend likes to make her jealous, your other friend having a crush on you, competing for that perv, Ian Thomas, and your fat friend," Ali hissed.
Courtney didn't have to say anything to defend herself. Her diary was mainly about her and Ian's relationship, and gossip on her closest friends.
"Anything lef-" Courtney started, trying to say, "Anything left to say." but she was cut off by Ali.
Courtney screamed as Ali's hands came at her and pushed back with nothing but anger, revenge, and wrath for Courtney switching their places almost two years ago. Instead of staggering back and on her feet like what had happened when Spencer pushed her back earlier, Courtney wasn't on her feet and alright. She was far from that.
What was going on? Courtney thought, her head thumping with pain. She looked up to see what was going on, where she was. Her vision was blurry, but she could fully make out that she was in something. She was laying with her hands to her sides, her palms on something cold and hard. Suddenly, Courtney heard grunting and little specks of what looked like dust or dirt came flying to her face; there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her head was in even more pain, she was even dizzier, and she was slowly losing energy. Finally after about a minute or so, everything seemed to have stopped. There was no more dirt flying towards her, she couldn't hear anything or feel anything. The pain seemed to have stopped as well. Within minutes, she would be dead, and on the other side, there would be Ali, triumphant that she had finally got the revenge on Courtney.