The A-Game

hAngman

Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead

As the Liars go head on with "A" during hAngman, they realize that the game is a clue for them that will lead them to a new discovery.

Spencer Hastings

The girls screamed as the phone buzzed slightly, having slipped out of Spencer's hand the minute before. The girls watched with alarm as the Y faded away, Aria and Emily not daring to look at the phone, scared for the message they knew was about to appear. Yet, the letter had disappeared from the letters and appeared on the letter area. Aria and Emily turned back around just in time to see the blanks on the phone, now showing _O_Y. The girls calmed as they read the letters on the phone, deciding to stand there and stare for a while more before they made their decision for the next letter. Emily leaned over from behind the girls, staring at the letters left.

"How about… U?" Emily piped up from the back, making the two other girls turn in surprise, seeing as Emily was quiet most of the time. Spencer shifted on the keyboard to reach the letter 'U', Aria looking in anticipation, having helped Spencer get the first letter. As Spencer's finger reached and pressed down on the letter quickly, seeing as it seemed like a pretty good idea. _OU_Y appeared on the screen once again, all the girls staring expectantly at Spencer, hoping she would have figured out the word already. However, Spencer just cocked her head in confusion, obviously also struggling to think of anything that related to either "A" or Alison, Emily and Aria joining in the thinking instead of relying on just the brain of the team. Spencer's head scrunched up in thought, tapping her feet on the ground, when a message was sent to her phone.

Tick Tock, times going to be up soon. Hanna needs you Petty Little Liars, so come quick! Kisses!

-A

Aria Montgomery

Aria knew she was not the smartest Liar there. Aria knew that the Liars had the Brain of the group, and it wasn't her. But it didn't need to take someone that got full marks every time to know that -A was willing to hurt anybody no matter what, and that Hanna was in danger. Aria stood there, also deep in thought, thinking about the possible words. Journey? Aria shook her head. She knew it was impossible, seeing as it only had 7 letters. Aria opened her mouth though, suggesting that the letter A be chosen. Spencer looked over at her, before moving her fingers over to A and entering it in quickly. Aria watched as, like the other letters, it faded. And almost as soon as that- GAME OVER. A had disappeared into the used pile, adding the final part of the hangman, finally making the girls lose a point, and adding it to A's side. And that was it. The phone buzzed one final time as the game faded into a text…

Time's up! And the results? A wins again! Back to losers- the three Losers! Not it!

-A

Emily Fields

Emily stared at the last part of the message. Not it. That made Emily think about the time when Ali crashed her sleepover with the other Liars… and a few guests...

"Hey girls," screamed Alison from behind the door, "Planning a sleepover without me?" Spencer turned and walked towards the door that led into the living room of the Hastings Manor. Hanna got up and quickly hid behind a massive bowl of popcorn, hoping Alison would not see her like that, stuffing her face with the many flavors of popcorn. By the time that Spencer got to the door, Ali had taken off her coat and was brandishing two high heel shows in her left hand.

"You guys know that I would find out if anything went on in this town," Alison said as she made her way to the popcorn-clad Hanna, snatching a few from the bowl, "Han, honey, popcorn is NOT the lipstick color for you." Hanna looked up from behind the bowl, nervous as Alison looked at her with disappointment. The girls did not know this at the time, but Alison had talked to Hanna about her weight, and how she should lose it if she were to be a popular, pretty girl like the rest of them. Alison turned and proceeded to examine all the girls sitting together, bunched up on the carpet and staring at Ali as she stared back at them. A weird smile appeared on the lips of Alison, as she sat down and opened her mouth.

"Let's play… a game. A game in which we can all play!" Alison said, the smile never leaving her perfect face.

"YES!" screamed Mona, the creator or the Alison Fan Club, "Let's play!" Alison sat down as she stretched her hands outwards, lying back on one of the pillows propped up against the couch.

"It's called 'Not it', and it's really simple. It's just like a game of Hide and Seek- one person counts to ten, the rest say Not It- and run away, and the last to say it has to stay behind with the counter.. Get it? You can start"- Ali pointed at Alicia, a petite girl with blonde hair up in a pony tail. She might have been popular, but of course, Ali had done everything in her power to ruin Alicia, making her of lower status than Mona. Ali gave one more of her dazzling smiles as she turned and walked into one corner of the room, preparing to run away at top speed.

"Great." said Alicia, turning her head to face the wall. "One… Two… T"

"NOT IT!" shouted the five Liars, each turning and running upstairs. Ali stopped them, however, pulling them down.

"Let's get out of here guys!" Ali said, "Away from all those losers! Not It's not really a game. It's what we say when we don't want to talk to someone- a loser! Don't you guys remember all this? I briefed you about it last week! I thought you understood!"

And that was as far as Emily was willing to remember. The rest of the night had been a night horrible, second only to the sleepover in which the Lead-Liar Alison went missing. Emily stared up at the other girls as they realized what it meant. 'Three Losers'. Soon, all three of them were down in sobs, hugging themselves as they thought of Hanna.

A

A looked around the brand new lair they had received, covered with beautiful memoirs given to Alison by the four Liars. Touching the other ruby red ear ring that Aria had so generously given to Ali, A swept over to the section where she had put Spencer's gift, before moving their hand forward to pluck it off, sticking a piece of paper onto it and writing something. Before quickly getting out of the Lair and riding off, leaving behind a beautiful brand new white tote bag with the initials of H.M. written on it...