Ali meandered her way through the streets of a vast neighborhood on the edge of Rosewood, the sun setting over the city as she drove up the hill. She'd found Lauren's address on the school's online directory and was about a few minutes away from her house. The drive had been terrible with all the rush hour traffic, but she'd blasted the radio and that made it bearable. Lauren lived in one of the newer neighborhoods of the town with Mediterranean style mansions as opposed to the colonial style homes most of Rosewood's residents lived in. Her house sat atop the hill, and Ali knew it was hers as soon as she saw it because it as the biggest one on the entire street.

She slowed down to a roll as she pulled up, parking her car on the curb just in front of the lawn. There were two cars in the driveway and she could see several lights on through the large arched windows, which meant at least one of her parents had to be home. Shit. She'd actually been hoping no one would be there so she wouldn't have to do this. Alison was never one to shy from confrontation, but if there was one thing she had learned in her short time as a teacher, it was that parents hated being told their kids were doing something wrong. Especially when their kids were "perfect" like Lauren supposedly was.

Come on get a grip Alison, she thought to herself as she pushed open her car door. A brisk breeze swept through her blonde locks as she admired the sunset. As she started towards the house, she couldn't help but think to herself that maybe she was getting soft. A few years ago she would have barged into that house without a second doubt to give them a piece of her mind, but instead she was standing outside coaching herself. This was ridiculous; they were just your typical, wealthy, oblivious Rosewood parents. It was nothing she hadn't dealt with before she told herself as she walked up the paved path to their house. Honestly, if they didn't listen it was their daughter who was going to suffer. She really had nothing to lose.

She stood in front of the door about to ring the doorbell when it suddenly occurred to her that the cars parked in the driveway meant Lauren might be at home too. What if she was the one who answered the door? Would she let her in or slam it in her face? Anxiety swirled in her stomach and she hastily rang the doorbell. The noise echoed through the house as she crossed her arms over her chest rubbing her arms to keep warm. Glancing around the front yard, she found herself admiring how well kept it was. She was definitely going to have to get their gardener's number. The front door slowly swung open and Alison prayed that it wouldn't be Lauren behind it. Upon seeing a middle-aged woman that Ali safely assumed was Lauren's mother she breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Hi, Mrs. Foley," Ali began sticking her hand out with a disarming smile. Her mother shook Ali's hand, reciprocating her greeting with confusion written across her face. "I'm Mrs. Rollins, Lauren's English teacher," Ali continued, watching her mother's face now crease with worry, emphasizing her wrinkles. She noted that her mother was a bit older than she would have expected. "I know it's kind of strange to show up to your house like this, but I need to talk to you and your husband and Lauren."

"No, no, it's fine," her mother said ushering her into the house almost immediately. "Please come inside. It's freezing out there." Ali entered the house expressing her thanks as she slipped into the foyer. The inside of the house was every bit as extravagant as the outside with high ceilings and crumbling rock walls. The foyer was adorned with polished white marble and a large orchid plant standing at the foot of a vast curving staircase.

"Jen, who was at the door?" a deep voice called from beyond the foyer. A tall, well-built man emerged from the hallway with a glass of scotch in hand, Lauren's father presumably. Lauren was definitely a mix of both her parents; she had her father's height and dark hair, but she got her rail thin figure from her mother. Both of them were certainly more fair than her though.

"Dear, this is Mrs. Rollins; she's Lauren's English teacher," her mother began gesturing towards Alison. "She says she needs to talk to us about Lauren."

"Oh?" her father said knitting his eyebrows in confusion, his forehead wrinkling. He exchanged an unreadable glance with his wife. "Well, um, please take a seat in the living room then. I'll get you something to drink."

Before Ali could even protest, he had disappeared down the hallway somewhere and she turned to face her mother with an awkward smile. "You'll have to excuse my husband," her mother said with a chuckle as she led Ali to the living room. "For some reason he's very persistent about always offering our guests something to drink."

"Oh no, it's okay," Ali said in reassurance. "My husband does weird things like this all the time too."

Her mother turned to her with an eyebrow raised questioningly, "You're married already? But you're so young."

Ali could feel herself smiling nervously and she let out a little laugh. "Yeah, it was really impulsive, but it was the right decision at the time."

Jen nodded offering Ali a seat on the large sofa, while she sat down opposite her on a smaller one of similar design.

Ali took a look around the living room, admiring the artwork that adorned the walls. She also took notice of a huge showcase with little knick knacks and books, a vast section in the middle was filled with various trophies and awards that Lauren had accumulated over the years. There was everything from sports trophies, to her student of the month award from earlier this year and even a trophy from a spelling bee she had won in the sixth grade. Her parents were certainly proud of her. Ali scanned the room once more when her eyes caught the attention of three school pictures displayed on the mantle above the fire place. The one in the middle was undeniably Lauren, but the other two were senior portraits of a boy and a girl she didn't recognize.

Lauren looked a little different in her picture; she was a lot more tan, and her hair that she normally wore curled was straightened and a little lighter from the summer sun, the tips a fading ombré. She was smiling widely, with her cheekbones raised high and it actually looked kind of like she might have been laughing at something.

"Lauren's not at home right now," her mother began disrupting Alison from her thoughts. "I think she's hanging out with some friends. Did you want her to be here as well?"

Ali responded by shaking her head a little too eagerly. "No, no it's fine. Um, it might be better if she's not here actually."

Her mother frowned, crossing one leg over the other. She didn't say anything and the uncomfortable silence in the room was making Ali even more nervous than she needed to be.

"That's a beautiful picture of Lauren by the way," Ali said gesturing towards her photo in an attempt to ease the awkwardness. "I didn't think it was possible for someone to take a good yearbook photo," she joked. That was totally a lie. In fact, she prided herself on the fact that her school pictures had always been flawless. The one she'd taken for sophomore year just a week before that faithful Labor Day was a personal favorite. Even her drivers license looked amazing. She just figured it would be a good idea to butter up her parents before dropping the bomb that their daughter could potentially fail the eleventh grade.

"Oh god no, I can't stand it," her mother replied with a dry laugh. "Look at how dark she is; I always tell her to wear sunscreen before practice, especially in the summer, but she never listens. And her hair. I begged her not to do the ombré and of course she went off and did exactly that. It looked awful, but at least it's fading in the picture. I wanted her to sign up for the picture retake, but she was sick that day so she missed it."

Ali looked back at the picture with a frown. She'd actually thought the picture was pretty cute. Lauren wasn't wearing much makeup so she looked younger and more innocent; but mostly it was that she looked genuinely happy, and that was something Alison hadn't been able to say about her for a while. Maybe it was different when you looked at it from a parent's perspective though. Nonetheless she still quite liked the picture; it reminded her of the old Lauren, not the angry bitter girl from earlier this afternoon.

"Who are the kids in the other two pictures?" Ali asked trying to break the displeasing quietness that had fallen over them again.

Although her mom smiled as she gazed at the pictures fondly, Ali could have sworn she saw a glint of sadness in her eyes. "Those are Kyle and Kylie, my older kids." Ali had to hold herself back from laughing at the alliteration in their names, she'd always found that cheesy. It was kind of weird though, she had assumed Lauren was an only child, she just had that kind of attitude about her.

"Huh," Ali said softly as she tried to think back to if Lauren had ever mentioned having any siblings. "How old are they? They must be in college, right?"

Her mother looked down to the ground before looking to Alison and she swore she saw it again, that little flash of sadness in her eyes. "Well Kyle graduated from UC Berkeley a few years ago," she began with a small smile. "He's 26 now and he lives in California. He works at a start up company over in San Jose. He doesn't really visit much, although he'd like to, but that boy has just always been such a workaholic."

Ali nodded along putting small pieces together. A ten year age gap was pretty big; he likely hadn't been around for much of Lauren's childhood after leaving to go college all the way across the country. And it was probably hard for her not seeing him very often. "What about Kylie?" Ali asked. "What's she up to right now?"

In one moment, her mother's face went completely blank and she stared at something in the distance as she pursed her lips the same way Lauren did. There was a pause before she spoke. "Um actually, Kylie passed away a few years ago in an accident when she was-"

"Oh my god I'm so sorry," Ali immediately blurted out, accidentally cutting her off. Her mother smiled back weakly. "I- I'm really just so sorry," Ali said offering her condolences. "That must have been really hard for you guys. I can't imagine how it must feel to lose a child…"

She nodded in response. "It was certainly a tough time for all of us, but you have to accept that life goes on," she said with a shrug avoiding Alison's sorrowful gaze. "We all still miss her though."

Ali held back her own tears as things started falling into place in her head. There was so much she didn't know about Lauren. She'd always seen her as a very happy and lively girl; she never would have imagined that she could know this kind of sadness at such a young age. She looked back at the pictures, this time observing both Kyle and Kylie. Kyle had slightly olive skin and dark hair; he looked a lot more like Lauren than his sister. Kylie resembled their mother with smooth ivory skin and dark blonde hair. She had striking green eyes in contrast to the light brown of Lauren and Kyle, but she and Lauren did share the same glowing smile.

"Lauren's very different from her sister," her mother remarked catching Alison's attention. "Kylie was more of a wallflower, but Lauren loves being the center of attention." She chuckled to herself without taking her eyes off from the picture of Kylie.

Alison could sense that she was uncomfortable talking about Lauren's sister. It seemed like it was really difficult despite the facade of nonchalance she was putting on so she tried to change the subject to Lauren. But she found besides her recent performance in school she couldn't really think of anything else to say about her. Glancing around the room for inspiration, she just went with the first thing she saw, which happened to be a basketball trophy.

"So, uh, basketball season is starting soon. Is Lauren excited?" Ali said a little unsurely. She knew the kids had been in practice lately, but she didn't know if they'd actually started games. She just hoped talking about Lauren would ease the tension.

At the mention of basketball, her mother's face lit up and she beamed at Ali. "Lauren is beyond excited," she replied now much more animated with no hint of sadness. "It's all she's been talking about ever since field hockey ended. She stays late everyday to put in extra practice with her coach. I really think this is going to be the year for her."

Ali nodded along with a smile, encouraging her to continue, but she had no idea what she was in for. In the few minutes it took for Lauren's father to emerge from the kitchen with their drinks she had learned not only Lauren's basketball stats from the last three years, but also her field hockey, and track results, along with her GPA and PSAT score (she was waiting for January to take the actual SAT, but if her PSAT score was any indication her mother had no worries). Lauren definitely wasn't acting out for attention, her parents were way too proud of her. While this was great news for Lauren, Ali only became more uneasy at the thought of breaking the news to her parents

Lauren's father handed her a cup of coffee before sitting down next to his wife, with his own drink in hand. "So what did you want to talk about Mrs. Rollins?" her father asked. "Is everything okay with Lauren?"

"Oh please, call me Alison," Ali said waving her hand in dismissal to lighten the mood. She timidly took a sip of the coffee trying to gather her thoughts. There was no easy way to go about this, she just had to be brave and do it. Her parents were watching her expectantly waiting for an answer. "Your daughter is a very bright and intelligent young girl," Ali began. Her plan was to start off with a compliment and then ease them in. "She used to be one of the strongest students in my class, but there have been some problems lately. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay here at home with her."

Her parents exchanged a glance with an unreadable expression once again before her father turned back to Alison and said. "Everything is fine here, we haven't noticed anything unusual."

"Could you elaborate on what kinds of problems you're having?" her mother asked, her eyes narrowed.

She took another sip of coffee and spoke with absolute confidence. "Well, first of all she hardly shows up to class these days. I see her maybe once or twice a week, and when she does come she never turns in any assignments or participates in class. She's missed so much work these past few weeks; her grade has dropped down to a C."

Her father's eyes widened and he froze, the glass of scotch at his lips looking at his wife with that same inscrutable expression from before.

"Lauren has a C?" her mother repeated, her voice incredulous. The way she said it made it seem as if she couldn't possibly fathom the reality of this situation, like maybe Ali was making a mistake.

Sighing internally, Ali unzipped her bag, pulling out Lauren's six-week progress report. She placed it on the coffee table sliding it towards her parents. The paper was adorned with yellow and orange highlights signifying days of school and assignments Lauren had missed respectively.

Her parents were hunched over, their eyes narrowing as they scanned the paper. Her father leaned back massaging his temples and looked at his wife who's lips were drawn in a tight line as she continued to scrutinize Lauren's progress report. "I… I can't believe that this is happening," he admitted. "It's not like Lauren at all. She's never done something like this before."

"I know," Ali replied nodding solemnly. "That's how I felt as well. I actually tried to talk to her this afternoon at lunch and find out what was going on, but she didn't take it too well. She said some really awful things and stormed out of my classroom after I told her that I wanted her to come in and make up all her missing work. Then she never ended up coming to seventh period."

Her mother furrowed her eyebrows. "What did she say to you?"

Alison thought back to Lauren's words, the way she'd so easily insulted Charlotte and she decided it was something she really didn't want to get into with her parents. "Well, I don't really want to go into detail," Ali said. "I think it's more important that we get Lauren back on track. I know she's talked about going to Stanford, but that's not going to happen with grades like this."

"Is it like this in her other classes?" her mother asked, concern lacing her voice.

"I haven't really talked with any of her other teachers, but I do know that she might be kicked out of leadership because of her poor attendance," Ali said remembering her conversation with Jane earlier.

Her mother gasped audibly and her father put one hand on her knee in reassurance. "That can't be possible," he muttered half to himself. "Lauren loves leadership. She's been class president since fifth grade."

"Look, I can't do anything about that situation, but I am willing to let her make up all the work," she's missed," Ali offered as a condolence to her parents. They seemed so devastated to learn of Lauren's behavior; it came as a relief to Alison though, it was nice to know that her parents cared that much about her. "But if she continues to behave like she did earlier this afternoon, then then there's nothing I can do for her. Lauren needs to be willing to work with me."

"Oh don't worry she most definitely will be," her father assured. He looked at his wife ambiguously. "We're going to have a long talk with her when she gets home. Trust me, there won't be anymore problems from her."

"Thank you so much Alison," her mother said giving her a small tight lipped smile. "We really do appreciate what you're willing to do for our daughter. And I truly do apologize for any trouble she's caused you."

Ali smiled back compassionately thinking to herself how grateful she was that her parents were understanding about the circumstances. This had certainly gone much more smoothly than she had anticipated and she almost wanted to laugh as she thought about how nervous she'd been outside. The living room had fallen silent when suddenly the front door opened and closed with a loud thud.

"Speak of the devil," her mother murmured raising her eyebrows as Lauren's father took a long sip of his scotch.

"Hey Dad," Lauren's voice traveled through the hall over from the foyer. "Someone's parked in my spot so I had to put my car in the driveway behind your car. I'll probably move it in the morning so don't worry. Oh, and I don't have gas. Can you fill it up for me?"

"Lauren, can you come into the living room for a minute?" her dad called his voice carrying strongly.

"Ugh, but I have so much work to do," Lauren whined loudly as her footsteps thumped down the hallway. Ali almost let out a laugh; what a joke. She knew for a fact Lauren wasn't even planning on touching her homework. Moments later Lauren emerged from the hall, wearing the same clothes she'd worn earlier to school with her basketball bag slung over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in alarm when she saw Alison sitting on the couch.

"Come sit down, Lauren," her mother said in a commanding tone. You could tell she was not in the mood to mess around. Apprehensively, Lauren dropped her bag by the opening of the hallway before making her way over to sit down next to her mother across from Alison. For someone who'd just come back from practice, Lauren certainly didn't look too tired. In fact, she looked more alert than she had earlier that day.

"What is she doing here?" Lauren asked in confusion gesturing towards Alison. "What's going on?"

"Lauren," her mother said in a low irritated voice. "Don't be so rude."

"Alison here tells us you've been cutting class and missing assignments," her father began. "Maybe you should tell us what's going on because none of us seem to understand it," he said handing her the progress report.

Lauren snatched the paper from him, her eyebrows knitting as she skimmed the paper. She clenched the paper tightly and looked up at Alison with a spiteful glare. "You are such a fucking cunt," she spat bitterly.

Alison's eyes widened in bewilderment and her jaw dropped. She literally hadn't said a single word to Lauren this evening, how could she be so angry at her? More so than that she couldn't possibly begin to understand how Lauren had the audacity to talk like that to her, especially in front of her parents. Even Alison in her "glory days" wouldn't have dared cross that line in front of her mother and father.

Lauren's parents were equally mortified; her mother's face painted over in horror as her father tightened his grip around his glass of scotch. He whispered something to his wife and she nodded in response. "Go outside, we need to talk," her mother muttered as she stood up from the couch.

"Mom!" Lauren protested indignantly. "It's not me, she's the one-"

"Lauren, go with your mother," her father in a voice that was so rigid and steely it gave Alison the chills. Before he had kept exchanging obscure glances with his wife, but now there was no mistake. The look he gave Lauren was undoubtedly filled with anger.

Lauren got to her feet with a huff and her mother grabbed her by wrist dragging her out to the backyard. Ali watched as they disappeared out back, slightly disappointed that her view was obstructed by the blinds. As petty as it was, she kind of wanted to see Lauren get it from her mother.

Her father was staring at the curtains too, that vague look upon his face again. He finished off his drink with a deep sigh running his hand through his graying hair. "I don't even know how to begin apologizing for Lauren's behavior," he said solemnly. "I'm so sorry for this, you came all the way here out of concern for her and the way she just treated you so disrespectful." He paused, shaking the ice in his glass. "I'm not sure if you still want to work with her after that, but if the offer still stands my wife and I would be very grateful."

Alison was honestly so put off by Lauren's attitude that she didn't want to work with her at all. There were no words to describe how much she loathed her right now. But then she found herself glancing over at the girl smiling in her school picture and she thought to herself that the girl who had just been sitting across from her was not the same person. She didn't know what had made Lauren change so much, maybe it was because she was sad. It couldn't be easy to lose your sister at such a young age; Ali knew if anything happened to Charlotte she'd be devastated and Lauren probably felt the same way. But still it worried her that she saw Lauren going down a dark path and eventually becoming the kind of person she had been in the past. The kind of person who wasn't afraid to hurt others. One thing Alison had promised herself when she first started teaching was that she wouldn't let any of her students act the way she had, and unfortunately that held true for Lauren as well. As much as she didn't want to deal with her, Alison knew she had to do something before things got worse for Lauren.

"No, I don't mind at all," Alison finally replied with a fake smile. "I can meet with her at lunch and after school until she's all caught up."

"And maybe you could come over on the weekends too?" her father asked tentatively. "Just to speed things up."

Her first instinct was to nod and agree, which she immediately regretted. She was already giving up her lunch periods and after school time she could be spending with Charlotte for the little brat and now her weekends? But when she saw her father smile back at her in relief, she knew she had to commit to it; she couldn't let him down now. Well that's just great she thought to herself. Who wouldn't want to spend the weekend being insulted by an eleventh grade devil child who didn't even fill up her own gas?

"Thank you so much," her father said gratitude filling his voice. "You don't know how much my wife and I appreciate this and once again I am so so sorry for what Lauren said tonight. We'll be speaking to her tonight and trust me you will not have anymore issues from her. If you do, though, please give me or my wife a call. I'll have my assistant know to let you through if you call."

"It's no problem," Ali said thinking to herself how wrong her friends were. She was still a great liar, those bitches had no idea what they were talking about. Ali took a look at her watch, but she didn't even bother to check the time. "Oh it's so late," she remarked. "I should be going."

"Right, of course," her father said standing to his feet. "Please, let me show you to the door. I'm sorry for keeping you so long."

He was about to lead her to the front door when the glass door to the backyard flung open and Lauren's mother emerged. "Get inside Lauren," she called over her shoulder. Now with the door open Alison could see her, the young girl's face illuminated by the glow from the swimming pool. She was staring into the water, her eyelids drooping and the corners of her lips pulled down slightly in a frown. She didn't seem angry anymore, just so awfully sad. Even though Ali knew Lauren deserved whatever punishment her parents had in mind, for some godforsaken reason when she saw how unhappy Lauren looked she actually felt a twinge of pity.

"Oh, are you leaving?" her mother asked her eyes slightly widened. "Could you wait a minute? Lauren has something she wants to say to you."

Ali couldn't possibly imagine what else Lauren had to say to her and she didn't want to stick around to hear it. Besides, she was still standing outside sulking by the pool. When her mother noticed her still standing out back she sighed in annoyance and was about to go call her again when her father put his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'll deal with her later," he said reassuringly. She glanced outside at Lauren before nodding somberly.

"Alison, I can not convey how sorry I am for what Lauren said to you," her mother said sincerely as they walked to the door. "I can assure you that she will never behave like this again and if she does, please let us know." She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest as her husband opened the door, cold air rushing in. "Thank you so much. I can't begin to explain how much we appreciate you coming here."

"Well it's just my job," Ali said forcing a smile. "Have nice night you two," she added courteously. "And tell Lauren, I'll be seeing her tomorrow."

"Will do," her father said with a small nod. "Goodnight Alison and once again thank you."

She flashed them both a smile and waved before heading out into the night. As she walked down the path towards her car she noticed Lauren's BMW now parked in the driveway and rolled her eyes in contempt. It was a brand new shiny black 5 series. The only reason she even recognized it was because she had begged her father for one when she was younger but he had refused, claiming a $50,000 car was too expensive for a teenager. He bought her an Audi instead as if he expected her to drive it around like a middle class pleb. Of course Lauren would have one though. That brat probably got everything she wanted.

Unlocking her car with a sigh, Ali slumped in the driver's seat and ran a hand through her hair frustratedly. She leaned back against her seat letting out another long sigh. For some reason she just felt so defeated. Replaying the moment in her head, she couldn't believe that she didn't say anything back to Lauren. God, she actually was getting soft. As she stared out her window she found herself fixated on Lauren's car again. Maybe her parents bought her all these expensive things to fill the void left by her siblings. Alison herself knew a thing or two about parents who thought money was an acceptable replacement for love. But Lauren's parents were nothing like Alison's. They actually seemed to care about her; it was a shame that Lauren didn't see that, she didn't understand how lucky she was.

She started her engine to begin the drive home, this time without the radio. When she needed to think she liked it to be quiet. So she drove in complete silence running over that scene in her head over and over again. She really just wanted to understand Lauren, but the more she thought about what had happened tonight the angrier she got. But her anger wasn't directed towards Lauren; it was directed at herself. More than anything she was disappointed in herself for enabling Lauren to slander Charlotte and then herself and she hated herself for it.

When she pulled up in her own driveway she was so relieved to see that Elliot was at home. This whole day had just drained her and all she wanted was for Elliot to hold her. She unlocked the door and near immediately Pepe came bolting down the hall to greet her, his tail wagging happily. "Hi boy," she said smiling slightly as she bent down to scratch his head. His tail began to wag faster and Alison couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face. Pepe was such a sweetheart, he always knew how to make her feel better. He followed her into the living room where Elliot was sitting on the couch, watching TV with a beer in hand. His face lit up when he saw Ali and he smiled, scooting over to make room for her and Pepe.

"Hey baby," he murmured as Ali curled up on the couch next to him. Ali wrapped her arms around him and rested her head below his shoulder as he put one arm around her, holding her close. "How was dinner with your friends?"

"I didn't go," she mumbled lazily narrowing her eyes at the basketball game on TV. It was honestly such a stupid sport, no wonder Lauren was good at it. All they did was run back and forth and jump around. She watched as the player on the block spun around at least 4 times before finally shooting the ball, unable to understand why the crowd was going so crazy. He just looked like an oversized ballerina.

"What? Why?" Elliot asked, now concerned. "What happened? Did things not go well? Do you want me to talk to them?"

Ali shook her head with a little giggle. Elliot could be so neurotic sometimes. "No, no, everything went fine. They said they'll meet with Charlotte on Sunday, but I mean they were still obviously a little…" she trailed off searching for the right word. "They're reserved about it, but I think it'll be fine. Once they talk to Charlotte they'll see that she isn't dangerous."

"Okay that's good," Elliot said as he nodded thoughtfully. "Sunday's a good day; she won't have any appointments so she'll be relaxed." He lost his train of thought as his team got a steal and the point guard took it all the way down the court to make a layup. "Yeah that's my boy!" he cheered.

Ali frowned and huffed. "Change the channel," she demanded. "I want to watch something else."

"But honey," he protested gesturing towards the TV. "Look the Knicks are actually up! Come on just five more minutes!"

"No basketball is stupid," Ali muttered pressing her head further into his chest. Elliot had been neglecting the gym recently so he'd lost a lot of muscle, which made his chest soft and squishy. She liked it though; he was more comfy this way.

"Can we watch football then?" he asked hopefully but Ali shook her head vehemently.

"Sports are dumb. I want to watch The Bachelor."

Elliot frowned and he was about to argue that she'd already watched The Bachelor twice on Monday, but something in Ali's eyes told him to keep quiet. Albeit reluctantly, he surfed through the DVR recordings to play the most recent episode of The Bachelor. The episode began and Elliot rubbed Ali's back comfortingly. "Hey," he began softly. "If you didn't go to dinner with your friends, where have you been all this time then?"

He could feel Ali tense up, but then she let out a sigh and mumbled into his shirt, "I went to Lauren's house to see her parents."

Elliot frowned in confusion, partly because whole premise of The Bachelor made no sense to him, but mostly at Alison just said. "Lauren? Like the kid in your class? Why did you go to her house?"

Ali shrugged. "I don't know really; Aria suggested it and it seemed like a good idea at the time…" she trailed off as she remembered the encounter, feeling embarrassed as she recalled how weak she'd been.

"Did something happen? Did they say anything to you?"

Ali sighed again and shook her head. "No, her parents were actually really nice. They were totally understanding about everything, but Lauren didn't exactly react that well."

Elliot glanced down at her, encouraging her to go on. That was one thing she really loved about him; he was such a good listener. So she told him everything, and he sat there and listened to every single word without ever interrupting her.

Normally Elliot always had insightful things to say when Ali needed help. He listened intently and processed his thoughts before saying something and more often than not it would make her feel better. But tonight, when Ali finished her story all he could do was laugh. And it wasn't just a little chuckle; it was one of those big deep belly laughs that resounds through your entire body. "I'm sorry," he said through a guffaw. "But did you seriously let her call you a cunt to your face and not do anything about it?"

"Stop laughing," Ali whined pushing him away from her as she sat up on the couch crossing her arms over her chest. She was so annoyed; Elliot was supposed to be diagnosing Lauren with like a narcissistic personality disorder or something, not laughing at her. "What was I even supposed to say to her? Tell her that she's a spoiled little bitch?"

Elliot laughed again placing his beer on the coffee table before resting his hand on Ali's knee. "Alison, you went off on the vet the other day for calling Pepe fat. I can't imagine how you didn't say anything to a 16 year old girl who called you a cunt."

"Ok first of all Pepe is not fat, he's fluffy and it's cute," Ali said angrily defending the only being in this house she actually liked right now. She grabbed Elliot's beer and took a long sip before saying, "Honestly, I don't know what to do with her. I can't tell if I feel bad for her or I want to strangle her."

"That happens a lot with kids like her," Elliot explained. He dealt with stubborn patients all the time so he was no stranger to malicious unwarranted attacks. "Right now Lauren sees you as the enemy, but you have to show her that you really just want to be there for her. It's like when I first started treating Charlotte, remember? She hated me because she didn't understand that I wanted to help her. Lauren's probably going through something similar right now."

Ali sighed because she knew he was totally right. She really did want to help Lauren and bring back the girl that had walked into her class on the first day of school; the girl in that picture who had been smiling so happily. Alison could see that Lauren had a lot of potential and as her teacher it was her job to harness it and make her into something great. It was going to be difficult but Ali had never been one to back away from a challenge. "I still hate her though," she mumbled leaning against Elliot's shoulder.

Elliot threw his head back in laughter. "It's okay," he replied kissing Ali's temple. "If one of my patients called me a cunt, I'd probably hate them too."

"No, that's not why I hate her," Ali said as her stomach grumbled. "She has a 5-series."

"Like a BMW 5-series?"

Ali nodded closing her tired eyes, "Yeah. I want a 5-series."

Elliot frowned, "But I just bought you a range rover."

"I don't care. I want a 5-series."

Taking advantage of Ali's sleepiness, Elliot surreptitiously changed the TV back to the game. There were five and a half minutes left in the fourth quarter and his Knicks were down by almost 20. He scowled in annoyance at the game as he combed his fingers through Ali's hair. "What about a 3-series?"

"No, those are for poor people. I want a 5-series."

"Okay, I'll buy you a 5-series," he murmured leaning down to kiss her forehead. Ali's stomach grumbled again and they both laughed. She hadn't eaten anything since the Brew and she was starving, considering she'd skipped out on dinner with the girls.

"Is there any pizza left?" Ali asked looking up at Elliot her eyes big and wide

He smiled sheepishly scratching the back of his head with hand. "Um, actually I was really hungry so I finished it all since I thought you were eating with the girls."

Ali groaned and lightly punched him in the chest. Elliot let out a high pitched yelp that made Ali giggle. "You need to lay off the pizza and start hitting the gym again," she said as she sat up stretching her arms over her head. "You're getting soft."

"I am not," he protested puffed out his chest. He pushed up his sleeve and flexed his arms. "Look, I'm not even flexing!"

Ali laughed out of embarrassment. "Stop," she said as she got to her feet. "You sound like the freshman boys in my class."

Elliot's eyes narrowed in confusion. "What's wrong? Where are you going?"

"I"m going to Spencer's to see if she has anything to eat," Ali replied. "She's staying in the barn while she works on her mother's campaign."

Elliot nodded along in understanding, but he was too fixated on the game. There were now three minutes left and the Knicks had cut the deficit to 11, giving them a very slim chance at winning. "Come on Melo don't let me down buddy," he muttered under his breath.

Ali shook her head in annoyance as she headed out to the backyard, but it did give her an idea. Maybe she could learn about basketball so she'd have something to talk about with Lauren during their little sessions. But then as she slipped through Spencer's back door into her backyard she remembered how dumb basketball was and dropped the idea.

The door to the barn was slightly ajar so Ali just went inside without knocking. "Hey," she called to Spencer who was standing by her closet hanging up some clothes. "We don't have any food at home. Do you have anything to eat?"

Spencer laughed, shaking her head at Ali. This was so typical of her to just barge in. But she didn't quite mind, it reminded her of old times when Ali would sneak over after dinner and they'd sit in the barn talking as they ate ice cream. "Yeah, there's a box of leftovers on the counter," Spencer replied.

Ali grabbed a fork, opening the to go box to find a half piece of parmesan chicken and some baked vegetables. She wasn't too much of a chicken person, but right now she was too hungry to care. "Thanks so much," she said before proceeding to attack the chicken as if she hadn't eaten in days.

Spencer raised an eyebrow at her as she tossed her a bottle of water from the fridge. "You do know that chicken isn't going anywhere?" Ali rolled her eyes, her mouth filled with food as she caught the bottle.

"I know," Ali mumbled through a mouthful of food. She paused to chew and swallow. "I just haven't eaten anything since this afternoon. I'm starving."

"Oh yeah," Spencer said as she took a seat at the kitchen table. "You went to see that girl's parents, right? How did her parents take it?"

Ali took a long swig of water before continuing to stuff her face. As she chewed, she decided to tell Spencer, as humiliating as it was. Spencer was her friend, she'd understand the whole situation without judging her, unlike a certain someone who was sleeping on the couch tonight.

"Surprisingly they weren't the problem," Ali answered as she took another bite. "They were actually really friendly and kind. I explained to them what was going on and of course they were shocked at first, but they didn't overreact or anything. Honestly, I think they're just as confused as me. Anyway so we agreed that Lauren would come see me after school and at lunch and everything was going just great until Lauren came back from practice." Ali paused and sighed brushing her long hair out of her face. "Basically this story ends with her calling me a cunt straight to my face and I was so shocked I sat there and didn't say anything."

Spencer looked at her, completely appalled, before the corners of her mouth spread into a big wide smile and she threw her head back in laughter. She was laughing so hard she had to hold onto the table to brace herself.

"Why are you laughing?" Ali exclaimed her eyes widening in a mixture of annoyance in confusion. "This isn't funny, you're supposed to be on my side! Come on Spence I thought you were my friend!"

After taking a moment to compose herself, Spencer said, "Yeah, and as your friend there is no way I can believe you would sit there and not say anything at all to her. Geez, we were only kidding earlier when we said you got soft, but apparently it's true."

"No, I just grew up," Ali replied irritably. "Look, I'm not 15 anymore. I can't just go around saying whatever the hell I want to people without facing the consequences.

The barn fell silent for a moment before Spencer finally asked, "So what are you going to do about her then?"

"Just work with her on catching up on all the missing work I guess," Ali said swishing the water around in the bottle absentmindedly. "I wish I knew how to get through to her, but that girl is such an enigma. I can't seem to figure her out and it's really pissing me off."

Spencer propped her head up with one hand, pursing her lips in thought. "Hey, I've got an idea," she said her face lighting up. She leaned over the table pulling her laptop towards her and Ali raised an eyebrow. Throwing away the empty takeout box, she pulled up the chair next to Spencer sitting down beside her.

"What are you doing?"

"Opposition research," Spencer explained. "See like for my mom's campaign we do research on the opponent, you know to get the dirt on them and stuff. My parents always used to do stuff like this before they met potential clients. It gives you an idea of what they're like and what kind of things you want to talk about with them."

"And how does this help me?" Ali asked as Spencer pulled up the Google homepage.

"Honestly, I'm not really sure," Spencer replied with a little laugh as she began to type into the search bar. "I just want to know more about this kid. What's her last name by the way?"

"Foley."

"Foley?" Spencer repeated as she typed it in. "Wait, her sister's Kylie right? The girl that died a few years back?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Ali asked, raising an eyebrow at Spencer's bluntness.

"She went to school with us," Spencer said as she clicked on the first link that came up. "You know, the cheerleading girl."

"That's so weird," Ali muttered half to herself as Spencer browsed through the search results. "I wonder why I've never heard of her." But then again thinking about it, if she was younger than them she wouldn't have even gone to Rosewood when Ali had been a freshman. And when she came back mid semester senior year, socializing with underclassmen hadn't exactly been a priority given the circumstances.

"I'm sure you saw her around," Spencer replied clicking on a link about the field hockey state championship. "We were in leadership together, but I only spoke to her a few times. She was a nice girl from what I remember, pretty quiet though." Spencer paused for a second. "Wow, it must have been rough for her. Melissa and I might not get along, but I have no idea what I'd do without her."

"Yeah," Ali mumbled in agreement. She felt the same way if anything were to happen to Charlotte, but she didn't exactly want to say that in front of Spencer. She knew how her friend still felt and she wasn't looking for another confrontation tonight. "What does it say?" Ali asked peering over Spencer's shoulder.

"Not much," Spencer replied as she skimmed through the article. "Basically Lauren led the Sharks to the state finals and they were the favorite to win it. She scored two goals in the first half, but in the second half Saint Francis came back and shut her down. Then they scored three goals and ended up winning the game."

"Oh," Ali said flatly. She didn't really know what else to say. She'd briefly cared about field hockey when she learned that Ian was coaching it way back when, but now it seemed about as dumb as basketball. And it wasn't like she'd ever really understood it anyway. Sports were so stupid.

"Yeah I mean there's not a lot else besides articles about sports," Spencer said glancing at Ali.

"Let me see," Ali muttered grabbing the laptop from Spencer. Of course she was right though, Spencer was always right. They were mostly articles from the school newspaper. A lot of it was about basketball and field hockey games, a few track meets, and other random school related stuff like clubs and homecoming and spirit week and fundraisers. Besides that there was one article about her dad's business importing goods manufactured by slave labor that had Ali rolling her eyes. Accusations like that were like a businessman's right of passage in Rosewood. You haven't made it to the top unless someone accuses you of using slave labor. There was however one link about her sister that piqued her interest: Kylie's obituary.

Normally, Ali would have found these kind of things morbid and preferred to stay away from them, but her curiosity got the best of her. The article was short, but it described her as a kind, giving soul who only saw the best in all. It went on to talk about some of her accomplishments such as being head cheerleader, a National Merit Finalist and AP Scholar with distinction. She had just been accepted to the University of Chicago a few days prior to being hit by a drunk driver while on a late night jog. The driver was never identified.

Ali leaned back and frowned. It was really an awful situation and Lauren certainly didn't deserve to go through something like that. But still, it didn't explain her uncharacteristic behavior, especially considering it had happened nearly 5 years ago. She continued scrolling through the article, although at this point she wasn't really reading it anymore.

There were a lot of photos, including the senior portrait she'd seen earlier in Lauren's house. Most of them were childhood photos with Lauren and Kyle and some posted by her friends. At the end, there was a section where people shared their condolences. It reminded her of the comments left on her own memorial page wall. Although there was one glaring exception; the comment's on Kylie's page were overwhelmingly positive. In fact there wasn't a single nasty comment.

Ali suddenly felt an uncomfortable gnaw in her stomach and she hastily slammed Spencer's laptop shut. This earned her a pointed glare from her friend, but she wasn't really paying attention. Spencer's "opposition research" plan did nothing to help her and she was just as confused as she'd been earlier this afternoon. Maybe there was a lot she didn't know about Lauren, but there was one thing she was certain of: she wasn't going to rest until she finally figured her out.

Let me know what ya think and if I should continue, I appreciate any and all feedback, like even if you think it sucks pls tell me and I can try and fix it! 😊