Okay so this is my new story and I'm so excited to post it! It's gonna be about 10 chapters long and does kind of get off to a slow start but I'm hoping you'll like it. It's au and set before season 1 so before Hanna becomes the it girl, when she's still trying to figure out where she belongs (which I will delve a little deeper in future chapters) but for now it's just her meeting Caleb and getting to know each other a little. Enjoy xxx.


Night Walkers

Just a couple kids on a summer street...


Hanna Marin let out a long sigh as she flopped back onto her bed, her hand shoving away the magazine she was half way through reading before she closed her eyes and pursed her lips.

Silence.

It was all she could hear and she hated it. Only a month ago her house was happy and full of life but

now the only sound was the low, indistinguishable voices of whatever movie her Mom was curled up on the sofa half watching, half crying to.

She let out another huff, rubbing her eyes as she glanced at the clock and saw it was 11:52. She was no where near tired enough to go to sleep so she made a quick decision and stood up, grabbing a jacket from her closet before making her way down the stairs.

The only light across the whole bottom floor came from the lamp that was sat on the table next to where her Mom was fast asleep, the credits of a film rolling across the tv screen.

A small stabbing pain settled in her chest as she took in her Mothers tired face, the dark shadows from lack of sleep and make up stained tears. She hated the silence the same way she hated seeing her Mom so broken, the same way she hated all the arguing that had come before. Sometimes though, she wondered if the shouting was better. At least then she knew she had a family and wasn't left to loose herself in her own thoughts every night.

Cool air hit her as she cracked open the front door and exited the house with a sigh of relief. For the past few weeks it had felt like the silence was circling her like the heat from the warm summer days, closing in and slowly squeezing the life out of her as she had to face up to the reality of the situation and accept what she had lost.

She stuffed her hands in her pockets as she started walking down the street, her eyes relaxing as she took in the quiet humming of the nocturnal birds before a familiar shadow caught her attention she she frowned. There he was again, sat on a curb at the end of her block with his dark jacket and dark choppy hair.

She had never noticed him properly before. That was until she walked straight into him in the hallway one afternoon, sending her books flying and him bending down to pick them up. And as he stood back up their eyes met and her breath caught in her throat; she had never seen a more beautiful pair of eyes before. Never seen a pair so dark, so velvet, so warm and yet stark cold at the same time.

"Watch where you're going." Was all he mumbled before he shoved the books back into her hands and stalked off down the hall.

It hadn't taken her that long to find out who he was and what his deal was. Caleb Rivers had moved to the school a little under two months ago, word was that he was in foster care, smoked cigarettes and had spent nine months in juvie.

What spiked her curiosity the most though, wasn't his criminal past or his rebellious behaviour but that at around midnight- every night- she saw his shadow strolling past her house and down the street. She didn't know where he lived or why he never seemed to go home or why he took the same route every night but before she knew it she was stood next to him. "Hi."

His eyes rolled as he turned his head to look up at her before his face softened slightly from the hard expression it had held before. "Hi." A thin line of smoke left his lips as he spoke. She gave him a short smile back as she watched him bring a cigarette to his lips and take a long drag before he stared back up at her. "Do you want to sit down or something?"

"Umm, okay." She mumbled, biting down on her bottom lip as she perched on the pavement next to him. "You go to Rosewood High, don't you?" She brought her knees up to her chest as she silently kicked herself for sounding too much like a stalker.

"Doesn't everyone in this town?" He shrugged, flicking off the burnt end of his cigarette before he brought it to his mouth again.

"I've just- I've seen you around." She nodded awkwardly, keeping her eyes ahead before she shifted her gaze to him and lost control of her mouth. "Why do you walk around every night? You always pass my house and... don't you ever go home?"

He let out a long sigh before stubbing out his cigarette on the floor and shaking his head. "Why are you here?" He asked as his reply.

Hanna frowned and looked down at her feet. "I just needed to get some fresh air, clear my head. My house is so quiet now and I don't really like it."

"Why's it quiet?"

"My Dad left my Mom a few weeks ago, he's still not moved all his stuff out yet but he's gone." She sighed, blinking away the tears that clouded her eyes as she told a stranger exactly what was keeping her up at night. "You still haven't answered my question." She looked up at him again.

"I don't like my house either," He said simply, sympathising with her slightly. "My foster Moms always there and..." He trailed off again, leaning back on his hands as he looked up at the sky littered in stars. "It's better out here."

He turned to look at her at the end and she gave him a small smile in return. She had always wondered about this weird boy, who everyone seemed to avoid once the rumours about his time in juvie got out- although no one actually knew what he'd done. Maybe that's what scared them more about him but she wasn't scared. She was curios and she knew he couldn't have done anything that bad or else he'd still be in prison. He was just... misunderstood. "Do you just sit out here all night then?" Hanna asked inquisitively.

"Sometimes I sleep at the house," He shrugged. "And sometimes I just go back in the morning to get my stuff."

Hanna nodded, focusing on the rows and rows of huge houses opposite, much like her own. Her eyes hooded over slightly as she let the dark sky soothe her.

A car driving past honked at them and both their heads shot up in time to see that it was full of rowdy teenagers, music blaring out the car stereo. "There's a party on one of these streets," Caleb murmured as he pulled out another cigarette. "You not going to it?"

Hanna shook her head as she watch him with intrigue. "I wasn't invited." She mumbled.

"Aren't you one of the pretty girls that gets invited to everything?" He frowned, cupping the end of his cigarette as he tried to light it in the summer time breeze.

A small smile graced her lips as she looked down in embarrassment and tucked a price of hair behind her ear before she told herself to calm down. All he'd done was call her pretty. "Um no, I'm not really that popular." Her embarrassment was over powered by her insecurities for a few seconds as she thought about where she stood in the schools social hierarchy that her and Mona were slowly trying to clamber up.

"So you're one of those pretty girls who wants to be popular." Caleb had to stop himself from rolling his eyes as he noticed how uptight her shoulders had become as they talked about popularity. "Well you can be a loner like me." He shrugged, shooting her a grin as he stood to his feet. "Let's go for a walk."

She didn't question him as she stood up and followed, tucking her hands back in her pockets as she took in his words fully. "I'm not a loner," She frowned at him. "I have lots of friends and a best friend."

"Lucky you." Caleb smirked back at her over his shoulder as she let him take a few steps ahead. Smoke billowed from from his lips as he walked, his body barley visible in the dark as his khaki green jacket and tatty grey jeans hung from his body.

"So where did you move here from?" She asked, trying to make conversation as she sped up a little to catch up with him.

"Lots of places."

"Well, where was the last place you stayed before here?" She asked him again as they headed down another street.

"Ravenswood." He answered statically.

"Oh," She nodded. "I've never been there." He didn't say anything after that and they slipped into silence as they carried on walking side by side as his cigarette slowly burnt out. "Why do you smoke?" Hanna let her lips take over again as she thought out loud, quickly trying to back her nosiness up with a reason. "It's bad for you."

"I know," A small smile crept onto his lips as he kept his eyes straight ahead. "I had a friend," He began. "He was more like a brother but he smoked since he was thirteen," His eyes clouded over with sadness as he paused his sentence and dropped his head. "He died but the smell of the cigs reminds me of him, I guess." He had never really had to justify why he smoked to himself or another person before but he felt sense of relief as he finally got to voice the reason behind his bad habit.

"I'm sorry," Hanna offered him a small smile before she too felt a wave of sadness over take her. "My friend died too," She bit her lip. "She was murdered and buried in her own backyard." It was as though this Caleb guy had cast a spell on her that made her ability to think before she spoke disappear as she told him all about Alison DiLaurentis.

"Who killed her?" Caleb asked.

"My other friends sisters boyfriend, they had some stupid fling as she was threatening to tell everyone about it so he murdered her." It felt like a weight has been lifted off her chest as she spoke about it for the first time to someone other than the people involved. "How did your friend die?" She asked him, hesitating slightly, as he turned his head away from her.

"Nothing to do with you." He sucked a deep breath in as his eyes settled into a glare and stalked ahead of her.

Hanna blinked, knowing she'd gone too far with her last question. His wound was clearly more open than the one she had for Alison and he obviously didn't go around chatting away his business to complete strangers like she did. She was an idiot who had been talking to a guy for less than an hour before she annoyed him.

She pulled out her phone from her back pocket and checked the time, using the fact that it was past midnight as an excuse for leaving. "I'm gonna head home now," She mumbled, not wanting to disrupt his walk anymore. She had only intended to walk around the block anyway and knew she had to get back before her Mom woke up and started to panic.

There was silence as she turned around, not expecting him to reply to her as she started walking back until his deep voice caught up with her. "I'll walk you home."

They carried on walking side by side yet again as a light midnight drizzle started to pour causing both Hanna and Caleb to tug up their hoods as clouds covered the clear sky.

"How come you came to talk to me?" Caleb asked suddenly as he watched the blonde haired girl out of the corner of his eyes.

"Um.." She trailed off with a shrug as she tried to figure out why herself. She hadn't really thought about it, just walked straight up to him and started a conversation. "I don't really know." She frowned before she took in the small grin on his face and relaxed hers into a smile too. "I guess I just wanted to know why you're always out at nighttime."

"Everything's better at night." He said simply. His brown eyes shinning as the glare from a dimly lit street lamp shone down on them.

"Why?" She took in his face again, his tanned skin and the long thick hair that was sticking out from under his hood.

"Less people." He shrugged and she accepted his answer with a nod. He felt slightly guilty for being so harsh on her before; in the two months he'd been in this town she was the first person to make an effort to come and speak to him, to smile at him and simply say hi, even if it did delve a little deeper than he'd have liked.

"This is me." Her voice interrupted his thoughts as she pushed open the white fence at the front of her house. "Thanks for walking me home."

"Anytime." He shot her a smirk as she took a few steps down her path, sending him a small smile over her shoulder. There was something about her he liked. He didn't know what it was but it left him wanting to know more about the small blonde that had walked with him for a while. "Wait, what's your name?"

"Hanna." She replied, turning around on her porch as he stood at the end of her path.

"Hanna." He nodded, smiling to himself. "I'm-"

"Caleb." She answered for him and laughed as he looked at her slightly confused. "I told you, I've seen you around school." She rolled her eyes at him.

He shot her a smirk and stuffed his hands in the pocket of his jeans as she reached for the door handle to let herself inside. "So, same time tomorrow night?" His teasing voice called as more of a statement than a question. "I'll pick you up." Before she had the chance to reply though, he was gone. Walking back off into the dark sky and leaving her to settle into bed with something new to think about before she drifted off to sleep.


Soooooo? Tell me what you thought and if you liked, I promise it'll pick up next chapter but I needed to set the scene and figure things out between these two. I also have some songs that I think fit really well with this chapter so have a listen if you like xxx.

Last Young Renegade - All Time Low

Teenage Satellites - Blink-182

Stay Awake (Dreams Only Last For a Night) - All Time Low