"Pass the Skittles."

"No."

"Pass the Skittles, Emily, please."

"No."

"I said the magic word!"

"It isn't my magic word."

"What is your magic word? Strap-on?"

I turned and gaped at my best friend, Spencer Hastings, blobbed out on the sofa, clutching a bowl of popcorn to her chest. At my face, she burst into laughter, rocking her head back. "I KNEW IT WAS! Can I have some Skittles now?"

"You are mean. For your information, the magic word was apple pie."

"Apple pie, abracadabra, there appears to be no Skittles here and Emily is proving herself a hopeless magician."

I scowled, slowly moving my hand towards the brightly coloured packet. She intently watched it glide slowly across the wooden table. "Faster. Faaaster. I need the rainbow goodness." She moaned.

Quickly, my hand flashed out, grabbing a pillow which had fallen onto the floor, and smacked Spencer across the face with it. She screamed with surprise, retaliating by flicking her foot out and catching me neatly in the ribs. I sucked my breath in with surprise, pulling the pillow back and whacking her several times until we rolled off the couch and ended up in a giggling heap on the floor, popcorn and feathers dusting the floor.

As we laughed hysterically, not even bothering to watch the movie which played on the Hastings' 42 inch grand TV in all its glory, I suddenly heard a thump on the door and abruptly sat up. "Spencer, someone's outside."

She sat up too, brushing popcorn out of her hair, popping some into her mouth. "Eh. Probably the pizza guy. I'll go get it."

I narrowed my eyes. "Nuh-uh. I am coming too. If I left you with pizza alone I can hardly imagine the consequences."

She pouted. "I am not that bad when it comes to pizza, Em."

"A vaccum cleaner would be an accurate description. Or, one of those waste disposal units. Makes me wonder how the hell you stay that skinny." I taunted, poking her bony little ribs.

She poked her tongue out at me, and sauntered downstairs, dressed in long pyjama pants and a oversized T-shirt which spelt "Talk Nerdy To Me" in glossy pink letters. As I followed her, the knocking intensified. "Pizza guy is desperate." I noted, walking into the Hastings' huge, open hallway, glancing at all the modern, expensive furniture which lined the room. Spencer's familys may be success nuts, but they sure knew how to decorate a place. I admired a tarnished blue-green sculpture of a female figure holding a lamp as Spencer swung the door open.

From the minute I heard her gasp, I knew it must be hella good pizza or a hella good-looking delivery guy. I screwed up my nose, delicately touching the sculpture with my finger. I'd gone off hot pizza guys a long time ago, when I'd finally realized I was gay. Spencer, however, was as straight as a ruler. And very easily susceptible to handsome examples of the male species, I chuckled to myself.

Suddenly Spencer choked. "A-Ali?"

My head shot straight up, and I whipped around, striding towards the door quickly. Ali? What? Just at the mention of her name my heart ached a little bit. I pushed past Spencer, to glare towards the figure standing outside, and then suddenly stopped in my tracks.

Oh my god. It so was Ali. Her bright blue eyes flicked to my face abruptly, and my heart just about melted down into my stomach. I gasped for breath- it was like being punched. Several times. Straight into my chest. Everything about her- her tiny dimples, her delicately manicured eyebrows, and tousled hair- was exactly the same.

Wait. Her hair. It took my brain several minutes to work out her hair was a completely different shade. When it was glossy blonde, now it was brown with slightly gold highlights... and plastered to her face, dampened by rain. Yet somehow it made her look even more beautiful to me. I stared at her, wishing so much to reach out and touch her, some kind of acknowledgement she was real, this wasn't some freaky dream...

She opened her mouth and spoke. "By "Ali" do you mean Alison DiLaurentis? Isn't she dead?"

I gasped as soon as she spoke. Her accent and voice had changed- it sounded almost kind of British now, with a definite higher octave. She frowned at me, looking over at Spencer who had pretty much the same expression on her face- absolute shock. "You all right? Both of you? I would make a extremely sick-minded comment right now, but I don't know you, so I'll shut up. Instead you both look like you need CPR. But I will not give it to you under any circumstances."

Definitely British, I thought, my befuddled brain slowly reaching conclusions. I looked at her a little more critically, feeling memories wash through me in vivid colour, memories I'd locked away long ago. She was definitely shorter than I remembered, only coming up to my nose. And, as she reached out a hand to push her hair back off her face, I noticed her nails were bitten down to the nub. God, Ali would never bite her nails. Where have you been, Ali? What's happened to you?

It hurt even to look at her, and I was dying to pull her inside- just to touch her would be enough- when Spencer jumped in. "You're... not Ali?"

She gave Spencer a duh look. "Congratulations for figuring that out. Apparently we bear a stunning resemblance, and that's probably because we have the same mum. What I need to know is, are you Spencer Hastings?"

"Wait, wait wait, hold up." I quickly said, holding my hands out, before the confused murkiness of my brain swept over me in a wave of disappointment. "You're Ali's... sister?"

She nodded slowly and sarcastically. "Grrreeeat job. I can see you in the near future winning a Nobel Prize for that no-shit-sherlock attitude. Yes, I am Alison DiLaurentis' sister. Half-sister actually. Now one of you must be Spencer Hastings. Which one? Eeenie... Meanie... Minie..."

Spencer cut her off. "That's me. Why are you here? Who are you? How'd you get here, I mean, oh my god, how'd you know Ali, and how'd you know me, and-"

"Hold up dude. One minute you're going Planet Zog on me and now you got a motormouth. Questions, questions oh so many. I will answer them if you let me come inside. In case you haven't noticed, it's raining. Outside. I am wet. And cold. And hungy considering I haven't eaten anything for the last five hours. Apart from crappy plane food. And I don't think that can be classified as edible. In the food pyramid it's somewhere below polystyrene trays."

I blinked. This girl definitely had sass and sarcasm, plus an odd kind of humour. And she was completely gorgeous. Just like Ali. I bit my lip, staring at her hopelessly. She looked up at me, raising her eyebrow. "Hey, big eyes, I know I'm gorgeous and all, but you can quit gawking at me now. Seriously."

Big eyes? This girl was nothing like Ali, personality wise. Yet looking at her made my tummy do flip-flops, and my heart speed up. I coughed, wrenching my eyes away, and stepped to the side so she could walk in. She yanked her shoes off, and walked into Spencer's hall, immediately plopping down on her couch. It was only now I started noticing what she was wearing- tight black jeans, with a red tank top and a faded looking denim jacket over the top. It suits her completely.

She looked up at Spencer and me still standing in the doorway, looking incredulous and frowned. "I must really look like her. I suppose that's it, hm? I remind you of her. Remind you of a dead girl. Well, that's dead cheerful. Ha. Made a pun."

"Yeah. Yeah, you look a heck of a lot like her. Bringing back some memories." Spencer affirmed, in a shaky, quiet voice. My eyes flicked to her, and she stared at her feet, completely pale. This is freaking both her, and me out, I realized.

The girl nodded. "I have seen some photos of her. Quite a resemblance. Funny I didn't turn out like you, Spencer. Guess I've got your kind of hair." She said in a thoughtful way, playing with a strand of said hair.

We both stared at her. Yet again. Weird thing to say. "What do you mean, "funny I didn't turn out like you, Spencer"?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

The girl sighed. "Well I think it's a bit of a shame really. Instead of nice high cheekbones like hers I get chubby little cheeks. Anyways, please sit, you two. There's a lot of explaining to do."

Neither I nor Spence made a move. She rolled her eyes, exasperated. "I don't bite. My exes can tell you."

Gingerely, we walked towards her, letting ourselves sink into the Hastings' luxury cream-coloured sphere chairs. I still couldn't take my eyes off her. She sat with her legs crossed, elbow on her knee and her chin resting on her hand. "Kay. So, you-" she gestured at Spencer "-are obviously Spencer Hastings of the family of Hastings. Whereas you-" she waved her hand at me- "are probably Emily Fields. I've seen you in news reports."

I nodded. "That's me. And who are you?"

Spencer rolled her eyes at my question, obviously desperate to get to the main details. I couldn't help but smile a little. Spencer always needed to know the facts first before listening to anyone. It was part of who she was. Her smarts, common sense and wit outplayed everything else. She'd only trust someone if they'd never lied to her. I can remember one time in kindergarten, when Spence actually got into an argument with another kid about exactly why Spot the Dog was friends with so many exotic creatures. When the kid refused to listen to her immediate logic about how Spot obviously lived near the Congo, since he was good buddies with a hippo, monkey and crocodile, Spence promptly picked up a toy brick and used it to bash the other kid over the head until he admitted it. I found myself wondering whether the kid ever suffered brain damage as a result of this vicious attack. After all, the kid did turn out to be No. 1 Jerk, Noel Kahn. Maybe the bashing over-compressed his jerk gland. I don't know. I'm not a doctor.

The girl cleared her throat. "My name's Tanya Kendall. Alright, um, I'm Ali's half-sister. And we have different last names because my mother... her mother too... gave me up for adoption when I was only about two months old. She couldn't bear to abort me apparently. A British couple who couldn't have kids adopted me, which is why I have this accent. I'm here because the agency gave me this address. They said my actual dad lived here. Not my foster."

Spence suddenly went more pale then ever. "S-sorry?"

Tanya suddenly leaned towards her, looking concerned and worried. Huh. An expression rarely seen on Ali's face. "Listen, Spencer, what I'm about to say is going to come as a real shock. Just brace yourself, okay?"

Spence gulped, gripping the cushions on the sofa hard. Tanya nodded. "I... I don't know how to say this without hurting you in any way. And I know this is going to be really hard for you. But... I'm your half-sister. As well as Ali's."

She eyeballed Tanya, a stony cold look in her hazel eyes. "What are you saying?"

Tanya took a deep breath, looking really worried. "I'm saying your dad cheated on your mum. With Alison's mum."

Spence exploded out of the seat. "WHAT?" She screamed, suddenly losing her composure.

"Whoa, whoa, back up, calm down, chill, sit down, c'mon, just sit, please, chill until I'm done telling you, c'mon!" Tanya jumped up, me following, despite my mind reeling. Ali's mum... and... Spencer's dad?

Spencer stared at her, grabbing my arms as I tried to pull her back down into the couch. "What are you saying?" She gasped. "Oh my god, no, my dad, he loves my mum so much, he would never-"

Tanya bit her lip deeply. "I don't think your mum knows. But yes. We have the same dad. I'm fourteen, so it was two years after you were born. He got Alison's mum pregnant. I'm the result."

In the eerie, weird silence which followed, Spencer simply bent her head, leaving all her perfect composure, her controlled emotions, her calm persona behind. She raised her hands to her face and began to loudly, hysterically, uncontrollably, sob.

Hey guys! Bit unusual of Spencer to cry so quick isn't it? Makes you wonder... what does she know about Tanya? *dramatic music*

Please review, this is my first ever Pretty Little Liars story- and no I haven't read the books, so any similarities are purely coincidental :P

Five reviews and you get the next chapter which I have already written... filled with even more drama! Yay!

Elmo xx