Chapter 1: New Beginnings

It's the first day of school back from the summer for Eliza - Alison's niece. Both Alison and Eliza are talking in the kitchen whilst Eliza finishes packing her school bag ready to go.

"Hey, so are you ready for school?". Ali asked enthusiastically with a smile on her face.

"It's okay, you don't need to treat me like one of your kids. My own parents let me down so I can take care of myself".

"Look, I'm sorry what you have been through with Jason being a bit MIA at the moment, but I'm sure he'll be back soon. He just needs some time to get his life back together again. I can't imagine how hard it must be as a single parent...".

Eliza cuts in "Well, I'm sorry I'm such a burden".

"You know I didn't mean it like that".

"Then how did you mean?".

"I wasn't saying you're hard work. He loves you more than anything, you are his world, that's why he wants you to stay here for a while so that he can continue to be the best father he can be. You're not hard work at all. It's just a lot of stress to have on one person to keep you safe when he works so much.

"I'm 15, I can cope".

"He knows that, but he doesn't want you to have to cope. He wants to protect you for as long as he can, it can be hard being an adult and have all the responsibility".

"Okay, I guess I can see his point a bit more. I just miss him that's all, and I miss home".

"I know you do". Ali says as she gives Eliza a short embrace and then goes on to say, "I know it's not the same, but you can phone or FaceTime him when you get home from school.

Eliza replies with a quiet "Sure". Accepting the fact that this situation will hopefully only be temporary and the quicker she adapts, the quicker it will seem until she gets to see her dad again.

"Could you also tell me things about my mom? Dad refuses to talk about her. The only thing he has said to me is that she was one of your friends in high school".

"Yeah sure". Alison says hesitantly at first. Thinking, she might be betraying Jason. But soon realised, Eliza has the right to know who her mother is.

"So are you all ready for school?". Alison changed the subject. "Do you want me to drop you off? I don't want you to be late".

"No thanks. It's not that far and I could do with a walk".

"Okay well have a great day. With those DiLaurentis looks and talents you'll be strutting the halls as one of the popular girls in no time".

"Well I don't know about that...". Eliza hesitated.

"Sure you will". Alison insisted, hoping to build Eliza's confidence. "You can tell me all about it when you get home".

"Okay, I'll see you later then".

"Bye".

As Eliza is approaching the school, she takes out one of her earphones to take a moment to take in the building. Starting school is daunting for anyone, so she uses that second to take in a breath to build up the courage to carry on throughout the day.

As the first class gets started she is sat next to a girl with long, straight, light brunette hair with subtle curls that have been tonged. As their Math teacher is talking the brunette is curious about the new girl and whispers quietly to introduce herself.

"You're the new girl aren't you?". The brunette whispered. Eliza just nods subtly not wanting to draw attention to them as she wanted to make a good impression on her first day.

"I'm Olivia Hastings". She said, continuing to whisper.

"I'm Eliza DiLaurentis". Eliza replied, whispering.

"Do you want to hang out with me and my friends at lunch?".

"Sure that would be great". Eliza agreed as she didn't have any better plans.

"Awesome. Sorry, I have to do these questions now otherwise I'll have my mom on my back. My family is super strict when it comes to studying".

The time came around to lunchtime, and Olivia and Eliza sat down for lunch with four other girls at the table.

"Let me introduce you to everyone. Here we have, Harper, Grace, Madison and Keira". All the girls offered Eliza a warm smile, giving her a friendly welcome. Harper and Olivia were the brunettes, Grace was blonde like Eliza and Keira and Madison had auburn hair.

"So where are you from, what brings you to Rosewood?" Keira asked, who is sat opposite Eliza.

"I'm from a town just outside of Cincinnati. I guess you could say family is the reason why I moved. My Dad and my aunt grew up here. But just after I was born, my Dad moved away because he couldn't cope with the memories he had of my mom who I've never met. But for some reason, I'm back here living with my aunt and her husband because apparently, that's what my dad thinks is best for me".

Olivia cuts into say, "Well, I think I can speak on behalf of everyone here that we are really glad to have you here, and we want you to feel welcome like we've all been friends for years". The others smile and nod in agreement.

"Thanks guys, that means a lot". Eliza spoke, feeling grateful for to have found school friends so quickly. It was like a miracle.

"So what did you do for fun back in Cincinnati?". Madison asks with a playful smile, as she was intrigued to get to know Eliza more.

"I like to do anything really, shopping, watching TV and films. But I've just started getting into sports. I've tried out a few, but I haven't got a favourite yet. Hopefully soon I'll be able to make up my mind.

"That sounds good. I'm on the swim team, maybe you might like to try out for our team?". Madison asked.

"Sure, I'll give it a go. When are the try outs?".

"I think Coach Fields said they were tomorrow". With the try outs being so soon, Eliza suddenly became almost overcome with mixed emotions of worry and excitement. She clearly didn't have much time to prepare.

"I'm not making you nervous am I? I hope I'm not pushing you into it". Madison asked as she watched Eliza's demeanour change.

"No you're not, honestly. I'm more excited than nervous, I just want to be apart of the team".

"If you want, I can help you train after school?". Madison offered, hoping to spend more time with Eliza. "We can swim some laps in the pool, no problem. The pool is always open after school".

"Thank you, that would be great". Eliza agreed with a smile on her face, feeling so lucky to have met such nice people on the first day of school. You can't get any luckier than that.

After Madison and Eliza's conversation about the swim team finished, all of the girls carried on eating their lunch whilst making up casual, everyday conversation.
Emily walks into the canteen looking like she is searching for someone. A fellow teacher or a student, maybe. Emily doesn't stay long. Only enough to walk a few steps into the room, to see the people in the room to then walking back out again. But it was enough time for Madison to look up and point her out to Eliza so she knows her face.

"Eliza look over there, it's Coach Fields. She's the Coach for the swim team". Eliza quickly, but subtly looks up and turns around to see the teacher Madison was talking about. Emily's presence almost took Eliza's breath away. Even though Emily was only wearing her work clothes, Eliza could still admire her beauty that exuded from Emily, both from within and on the outside. Once Emily had walked away back into the locker halls, it released Eliza from her daydream. Eliza then thought to herself that these try outs would turn out to be more interesting than she first intended.

"So that's the person I'm going to have to impress tomorrow?". Eliza asked, still feeling a little star struck from Emily's presence.

"Yeah, but I'm sure you'll smash it". Grace decided to join the conversation. "Our swim team doesn't exactly have a good track record. If it wasn't for Madison, the funding would be cut even more than it already has".

"I don't think I can take all the credit, Anna is pretty fast". Madison is one of the least arrogant people around, she will never take full credit for her success even though she trains so hard, and her physique shows that she puts in the extra effort.

"Come on Maddie, you were at least 7 seconds faster than her the last time our swim team were in a competition, you saw what the times were".

After Grace finished her sentence, the school bell rings signalling the end of lunch. As all the girls walk out of the cafeteria and into the halls in their squad, Eliza notices that when others walk past they're always the ones to move out the way for them. This is the moment she realised that she has become friends with the popular girls in her school, just like her aunt.

The school day finished for the day and Eliza was now swimming laps in the pool with Madison. Thanks to Alison living so close to the school, it only took Eliza fifteen minutes to walk home to get her swimming kit, to then walk back to school again to train with Madison.
As both girls were swimming, Madison was surprised at how fast Eliza swam with such little training trying. They were both trying their best to compete and keep up with each other. They both swam 2 lengths, to then stop to catch their breath from working their bodies so hard.

"You're good". Madison spoke, still gasping for her as she was trying to catch her breath. "Keep that pace up and you'll definitely be on the team for sure. Coach Fields would be crazy not to take you on".

"Thank you". Eliza responded with a smile on her face from Madison's compliment. "I have to go now though, my aunt will be wondering where I am, being the first day and everything".

"Of course". Madison agreed as her breathing got back to normal.

Eliza got out at the side of the pool, not needing to use the steps, probably out of laziness. She couldn't be asked to swim to the side to use the steps. But it gave Madison the opportunity to unintentionally check out Eliza's figure as Madison continued to relax in the pool.
Madison couldn't help but admire Eliza's beautiful figure when she finally stood up at the side of the pool. But inside, Madison was silently cussing herself from having these kind of thoughts about her friend. Because she knew that it was more than just admiring physical attributes. Madison knew she had a different kind of attraction than most girls had, but her sexuality was something she struggled with as she almost punished herself from having different feelings to other people, and she knew Eliza wouldn't like girls, so to have a crush on a straight girl would always end in heartbreak, but oh how little did she know about Eliza.

Eliza was now starting to make her way home when she saw Emily from a distance, walking to her car, Eliza assumed she stayed late with marking. Seeing her for a second time was almost more mesmerising than the first. From that moment, she knew she was starting to develop a crush, badly. It made part of Eliza more nervous about tomorrow than it should do, but as she practiced earlier, Eliza still felt fairly confident that everything would turn out okay.

"Hey, how was your first day?" Alison asked as Eliza got home, hoping that everything went okay.

"Yeah, it was pretty good actually. I think I've found my group of friends already. When lunch finished, I noticed when we were walking to class, all the other people moved around us. So I'm with the popular group of girls".

"See, I told you, you would be strutting those halls in no time. The longer you stay here, the longer you'll turn into a mini me. When you're father sees you next he'll barely recognise you".

"Talking about my father you said that you would tell me a few things about my mom". Eliza asked apprehensively about her mother, dying to know any new information about her.

"Okay, why don't you go and freshen up and we'll talk about it over dinner".

Half an hour later, Eliza came downstairs to sit at the table, now freshly showered and Alison had their meal dished out ready to be eaten.

"I thought Elliot would be home by now". Eliza asked Alison, from not seeing him all day.

"He said he would be working late". Alison spoke in a frail voice from the mention of Elliot.

"Oh, okay". Eliza didn't press any further because she knew how sad talking about made her aunt feel. "What are we having?"

"I hope pasta is okay?". She said as she walked over to the table with two plates, and put them down.

"I think you can guess I'm dying to know more about my mom, what was she like? Why didn't she want to look after me?" She questioned and then took her gust bite of pasta. Alison swallowed the mouthful that was in her mouth and then began to tell all that Eliza wanted to know.

"Your mother's name is Aria Montgomery. First, I'll take you back to a few years before you were born, though the story maybe a but patchy but bare with me. Your mother began a forbidden love affair with a different man that wasn't your father, his name was Ezra Fitz. It was forbidden because Ezra became Aria's school teacher after they hooked up. So when your mother found out he was her teacher, she ended the affair. In that space of time after your mom began an relationship with Jason, I think I remember they dated for 3 months when Aria became pregnant with you. You were born two months early from stress, because the relationship between your mother and father began to deteriorate, which only pushed your mother back to Ezra for support and guidance. In the end your mother fell back in love with Ezra, and the last I heard of her was she went away to get married and never came back, and that was a couple years ago".

"Do you still keep in contact with her?". Eliza asked.

"I lost contact with her after she moved away. We're still friends on Facebook so if you wanted to get into contact with her, you could do it that way".

"Maybe... I'll think about it. But if I do, promise not to tell Dad. I don't want to feel like I'm betraying him after everything he has done for me".

"I promise, it will be our little secret".

Hi guys! Thanks for taking the time to read my Fanfiction, I'd love to hear feedback from you. I'm sorry there wasn't any Emison for an Emison story, but I promise you in later chapters there will be Emison, so I hope to update you guys as soon as possible so you can get to the Emison part as quickly as possible.