Hello all. So this is of course a Time Traveler's Wife AU for Paily that nobody knew they needed. Except for ginjoints over at tumblr. So note sorry for the dates. I just had to make them up. Also I'm so not used to writing first person and present tense so apologies for the mistakes. Huge thanks to Lu for reading over this. Let me know what you guys think.

I don't own PLL or The Time Traveler's Wife.

First Day of Class, Sep 4, 2008 Freshman Year (Emily and Paige are 14)

PAIGE: We have never been formally introduced. Which is weird to think of because I know her. A lot about her. The way the corners of her mouth upturn when she smiles at something I've given her like a tumbler of lukewarm coffee or a peanut butter and banana sandwich. The way her laugh sounds when I tell her a lame joke. And there's the way her eyes shine in a way I don't understand yet, but I know some day I will.

Emily has been there for me. She would help me with my spelling words and my swimming form when I had trouble with my times. She was a source of reassurance and calm.

But that Emily has always been older than me. More experienced. And it's funny to know that while we both live in the same town, we've hardly exchanged more than a few words with each other. Me and the Emily that's my age, I mean. We didn't attend the same elementary school, and I wasn't in Rosewood for middle school. So there was never a chance to meet her, meet her before now.

She gave me a warning though. That I was going to have to be patient with her younger self. To which I laughed. Emily was nothing but patient and caring with me over the years. Her teenage self had to be not much different. But she insisted that she had been the worst when she was in high school. But that worser still was Alison DiLaurentis.

The name didn't mean anything to me. But all the same, Emily disappeared last night in the middle of her pleading with me to be patient. And to be strong.

I pull on the strap of my backpack. That's easier said than done when I'm so nervous about meeting her when we're the same age. More or less. She is a few months older than me. There's a few upperclassmen seemingly falling into where they last left off when school let out before the summer. I don't really pay them much attention. I'm supposed to be meeting Pru, but I always show up earlier than the agreed upon time and she always shows up late.

But apparently Emily Fields always shows up right on time.

And she is just as beautiful as the Emily I know. My stomach tumbles in a good way. It's the way I always feel when I see her, like my entire body is wrapped in a warm embrace and I feel so safe.

I start walking towards her. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to say. Every time Emily and I meet, it just picks up where we left off as if there was no time in between. That's when I realize my mistake. For this Emily, there is no last time. For her, it's the first time.

I should have planned this better. It's too weird to tell someone who you're a stranger to, "Hello, I've known you my whole life even though we just met."

That came off as completely insane or as a way too pushy and forward pick-up line. I scrunched my face up.

I decide just to say hello to her for now. Can't go wrong with hello. She can pass it off as freshman solidarity. They are all in this together after all.

And besides Emily isn't alone. She's with a blonde girl. Who sees me before Emily does.

The girl gives me a friendly smile. It's a little bit nervous, but still friendly and hopeful. It's a smile that I know all too well. Someone who wants to please people and fit in. Which I get. The girl is a little on the heavy side, so she has to be friendly making it the first thing people will think of instead of the extra weight she carries.

It's a good plan. It's similar to mine. Be nice to people and be good at swimming. That's what she wanted people to know her for. As a great swimmer. And not for something else.

Emily turned around then to see who her friend was looking at. I was a little thrown by the look of zero recognition on her face. But still she gave me a smile in acknowledgement. It was a polite smile, if a little uncertain, and nothing more.

"Paige!" A hand was being waved in front of her face. "I thought we were meeting by the bike rack. Make me walk all the way over there and you're not even there."

"It's like right over there, Pru. Don't act like you had to take two different buses to find me."

"Hey. Be where you said you were going to be." Pru scowled, but then we both burst out into laughter.

"Always am where I am." I look back to where Emily is standing. She and her friend are heading into the building.

I start to do the same, when someone runs into me and Pru.

"Excuse you!" I call to the girl that just bumped into us with no apology.

She turns around. This girl is also blonde, but unlike Emily's friend she just smirks back at me, like I'm something beneath her. She is also being followed by a girl, who I recognize as Spencer Hastings. Spencer seems hesitant, like she wants to apologize on the blonde's behalf, but then her body mirrors the other girl's and gives me a sneer.

I briefly wondered what happened to her while I was gone.

"Just let it go, Paige." Pru has a hand on my shoulder.

"But-"

"Really, it's not worth it. That's Alison DiLaurentis."

This is the girl Emily warned me about? She doesn't look so tough. Emily made her sound like some kind of Big Bad, the Evil Queen from every fairy tale. Lord Voldemort.

"Paige, I'm serious. Don't. I know how you have this thing about being the hero. But not this time." Pru shakes her head.

"Okay. For you, I won't say anything. But if she does something to you, or anyone else, I don't think is right then I won't stay quiet." I don't like bullies. People should stand up to them.

Pru looks like she's about to argue with me, but she stops. She knows me too well. She knows that I won't back down from this. "Let's just go inside. You owe me a coffee based beverage."

"What? Since when?"

"Since you were late to meeting me this morning." Pru grabs my hand and drags me up the steps of Rosewood High.

"Fine." I grumble.

EMILY: I go with Hanna to her locker. Hers is a few down from my own. She wants me there in case she has trouble with her locker combination. I know her combination, and she knows mine. Even though it's against the rules, since you're not supposed to share your locker combination with anybody else. But Hanna isn't just anybody else. She's my best friend.

One of four. Hanna and I are supposed to meet the other girls before classes start. We've already memorized each others schedules. We have some classes together but not all of them. But that's okay since we'll be seeing each other at lunch.

"Do you know her?" Hanna asks me while she fiddles with her lock.

"Know who?" I frown. I'm searching the hallways for any signs of Alison.

"The girl that smiled at us. Well, actually I think she was just smiling at you." Hanna pulls her locker open and claps her hands in delight.

"Oh. No. I don't think so." I think about the girl Hanna is talking about. She had reddish brown hair and big brown eyes that were playful and friendly. I don't think I've seen her before. I would have remembered.

Unless I met her on one of my trips. Or meet her.

"Maybe you should." Hanna starts to hang something in her locker. It's a picture of the five of us. It's a cute photo. But I realize I'm not looking at the camera. But instead I'm looking at Alison. I hope it isn't obvious, but maybe it is if that's what Hanna is getting at.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. I just think that the girl is nice. It doesn't hurt to know more people, right?"

"I guess so." I realize I sound more than a little defensive. I don't want to call attention to it. These feelings I'm having. They're scary and I don't know what they mean. Right now I know how I feel about Alison. The other me doesn't give too many answers. She just smiles at me sadly when I bring it up.

"Hanna! Emily! Hey!" One of our other friends, Aria, is waving at us. She turns to say good-bye to her mom. Mrs. Montgomery is an English teacher. We'll have her next year. I give her a polite wave, and she smiles at Hanna and me before she goes into her classroom.

"Hey, Aria! I like your hair." Hanna offers.

Aria has pink streaks in her hair. It suits her. Her fashion sense has always been out there, but it works. Like her personality is too big for her tiny body that it gets expressed in crazy pattern prints and art jewelry pieces. She is bold in a way that I wish I could be. She doesn't care what other people think of her.

"Me too. But my mom would kill me if I even thought about doing that."

"Maybe. It's not like it's permanent." Aria smiles. "But what I really wanted to show you is this." She reaches into her backpack and pulls out a chunky camera.

"A camera?" Hanna asks, biting her lip.

"Yeah. It's digital. My parents got it for me. I want to take a picture of all of us on the first day of high school. And then we can take another one on the last day."

"That's a great idea. Let's wait for Ali and Spence." I smile at the shorter girl.

"Lucky for you, you don't have to wait too long." Spencer appears and crosses her arms.

"Where's Ali?" I ask, hoping I don't sound too eager.

"She wants to make an entrance." Spencer sounds irritated but looks towards the other end of the hallway.

Alison walks in at that moment. If time travel is possible, then it must be possible for time to slow down too. She enters and heads turn. It's all eyes on her. She smirks at some girl whose boyfriend is obviously checking her out. The girl smacks her boyfriend on the chest. I can't blame the guy. Alison looks stunning. She stops in front of us.

"Hey, girls." Alison smirks.

"Wow, Alison. I think you got everyone talking about you." Hanna beams.

"That's the idea, isn't it? Though I'm sure you know all about people talking about you." Alison looks down at Hanna's tummy.

"Alison," Aria starts.

"What? I was about to offer my services to Hanna on how to dress in way that is slimming." Alison shrugs.

"Thanks, Alison." Hanna nods with enthusiasm.

Alison says things like that, but she doesn't really mean them. She really is helpful when it comes to boys and clothes. She wouldn't steer any of us wrong.

But I still feel kind of bad for Hanna. "Maybe we should get to class."

"In a second. First, we have to take our group picture." Aria presents her camera with a flourish.

We all scrunch in close together and Aria holds the camera out in front of her. We gather around to look at the picture she took.

"I think we look cute." Aria states hesitantly. It doesn't really convince anyone, the more we look at the picture.

Aria is in front. She looks good. I'm next to her. I wouldn't say I look bad, but I look kinda drunk. But then again, Alison was leaning against me. That's probably why part of her face is covered by my head. The same thing happens with Spencer, with Ali's face head covering her. Most of Hanna's body makes it into the photo, which is probably why she's frowning now.

"Maybe Emily should take the photo. She's got long arms." I look at Alison. She sighs and continues. "That's why you're so good at swimming."

I smile so hard at her I think my face is going to crack. I was on the swim team in middle school. I plan on joining again in high school. The other me insists on me joining, only hinting that I'm going to met someone special. Even if that wasn't going to happen, I was going to join. I really enjoy swimming. I always have. Ever since my first swim lesson where my teacher told me I was a natural. Ever since then I loved being in the water.

"Hi. Could you take a picture of us?" Aria is holding her camera out to someone. It's the girl who smiled at me and Hanna earlier. She's with another girl, Pru I think her name is. We had some classes together in middle school, but we really didn't talk.

"Um, sure." The girl takes the camera and I take the time to study her.

I was right about her eyes being playful, like she knows a secret. But one she's having a hard time not blurting out since it's such good news that she has to share it. She looks at me like she's about to tell me I won free concert tickets. Or that I made it to the Olympics.

"Okay. Just press this button and look here." Aria gives a brief explanation.

Alison is glaring at this girl. I don't know why. She's being nice and doing us a favor. She didn't have to take our picture.

"Alright. One, two, three. Smile!"

I feel Alison put her arm around my waist. My heart flutters. But I end up laughing.

"Uh, I'll just take one more." The girl's voice falters a bit. She snaps off another photo and hands the camera back to Aria.

"These are great." Aria checks out the photos. "Thanks, um?"

"Paige. McCullers."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Aria." She says and then she introduces each of us. "This is Hanna. Emily. Alison, and-"

"Spencer Hastings. We've met." Spencer looks at the girl cooly. She has such a competitive streak and I wonder how the two know each other.

"So we have." Paige doesn't back down. "This is Pru."

The warning bell rings.

"Thanks for taking our picture, Paige. I'll see you around?" I don't know what makes me say that. But I'm glad I did because it makes her laugh.

"Yes you will." Paige flashes a confident grin.

"You can go now." Alison dismisses her.

"It was nice meeting you all. Most of you anyway." Paige cocked her head to the side and flashed an amused half smile.

This has to be the first time I've met her. It's hard to forget someone like Paige.