I close over the gate at the front of my house before walking to Spencer's front door, turning when I hear my name being called from behind me. After pausing when I realise that its Emily, I wait for her to catch up and meet her with a hug.
"Oh hey Em! You ready to go?" I ask, referring to school.
"Yeah." She responds, slightly out of breath. "And Hanna said she's just leaving now and will meet us at the park with Aria."
I smile at her eagerness; she's the only person I know who's excited to go to school, and that's only because she loves all of us spending time together. Before I arrived, her and the others didn't even know each other really; they each sat on their own and didn't try to make friends, something that made it easy for me to pick them out as the "losers". Nobody noticed them or paid them much attention and I was the thing they needed; I made them feel special. Bringing them together was the best thing I've ever done; it made their high school lives more bearable and provided me with a circle of friends that I can really trust; as annoying as they can be sometimes, they are really decent people and I can tell that they're all grateful to me.
"Would they still love you if they knew what a whore you really are?" I hear in the back of my mind. "I mean, everyone else turned against you so why wouldn't they?" I try and shake these thoughts out of my head; when I remember the past I get insecure, and that's when I let my guard down. As much as I love these girls, they can't find out. Not now, not ever.
"Oh hey guys, shall we get going?" Spencer asks as she steps out of her front door and joins us, her brown leather satchel resting on her right shoulder.
I nod in reply and we begin the short journey to the park where I spot Hanna and Aria making their way towards us, the former waving a chubby arm at us and the latter running her hand through her hair.
"Hi Ali!" Hanna says cheerfully when we reach them as she offers me a Malteaser. "Want one?"
"I'm good thanks Han" I reply with a raised eyebrow. "And do you really think that you should be eating them this early in the morning?"
With this, her face changes to resemble that of a puppy who's been shouted at by its owner and I feel a pang of guilt before reassuring myself that I didn't say it to be mean; I was being helpful: Who doesn't want some weight loss tips? Besides, people don't call her Hefty Hanna for nothing, and it's not like she'll even remember what I've said after, like, an hour.
She offers the bag around the group and, when nobody takes one, she hands it to a homeless man sitting on one of the benches. He takes it off her and watches us suspiciously as we continue, with Spencer and Aria talking about the English assignment at twice the speed of a normal person's speech. As we turn the corner, I catch a glimpse of the man pouring the contents of the bag onto the pavement and watching the chocolate balls roll around, fascinated. I stifle a giggle before turning to Emily.
"So Em.."I begin. "How's swimming going? Have you had anymore interactions with the hottie with a lower back tattoo?"
She glares at me, her mouth falling open.
"I..it's.. it's good Ali, thank you, but.. um no..no I haven't…" her head drops as she finishes and I smile inwardly to myself. Poor Emily; she's still having a hard time accepting the fact she's a lesbian and won't admit it to anyone but me. Well it's not so much that she admitted; she's dating Ben, a guy on her swim team, and swears that she's in love with him, I just kind of found out : in the words of Santana Lopez, "I have awesome gaydar".
I'd suspected that she was gay for a while and so, one night in my room after school, I kissed her and- when she reciprocated- realised that I was right. That wasn't all I realised though; the way she made me feel with those kisses, I'd never felt like that with any boy before. As cheesy as it sounds, it was like fireworks and I'd give anything to feel like that again. She doesn't know though; we never spoke about that night again and, besides from me teasing her on occasion , nobody has any reason to think that either one of us is a lesbian, something which works in my favour; it's not something I'd want to advertise, and I have enough to hide as it is.
After ten minutes of gossiping and giggling, we arrive at Rosewood Day and make our way to homeroom.
"Ew. Who invited that?" I say pointedly as we pass Mona. "I mean as if her face wasn't bad enough, she came here wearing, well whatever that is." I sneer at her and the girls start laughing as we take our seats right in the room's centre: Me in the middle with Aria and Emily either side and Spencer and Hanna in front. They place their bags on their desks before gathering around my table, something that we've done every morning since I arrived.
"What do we have next?" Asks Aria, flustered as she starts to root inside her bag and mess with her hair again. I send a small smile her way; she hasn't been able to think straight since we caught her Dad making out with some student in an alleyway.
"You've got Biology with Hanna and Spence." I tell her. "Em and I have study hall." I grin as I think about how I have an hour to spend with her just doing whatever.
"The library?" she mouths, and I nod to confirm, causing her to beam brightly.
...
"I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace. Against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be." After closing "Great Expectations" (one of the books that Mr Harris our English teacher has asked us to read), I look up and meet Emily's beautiful brown eyes. "Did you get to that part yet?"
She nods and smiles slightly before leaning in and, before I know it, our lips are locked. She tastes perfect; I can tell that she's wearing vanilla chapstick on her gorgeously soft lips. After a few seconds, she pulls away and gives me a small smile, which I return without hesitation. The bell then rings, signalling the end of first period, and she jumps up before hurrying off to her next class.
I get through the rest of the day in a daze, the scene replaying inside my head, and am relieved when I return home and collapse on my bed. After lying there for a while, I hear my phone vibrating and I reach into my bag to retrieve it, smiling as I presume it's Emily. However, when I unlock the screen, I see that it's from an unknown number:
Don't look so relaxed. Make Emily come crashing down by midnight tomorrow or the whole school will know your dirty little secret. -A
I narrow my eyes. "A"? Who the hell is that supposed to be?! Then it hits me: Jason. It must be his idea of a joke; he was probably smoking outside school and saw us in the library through the window. I storm across the hall and barge into his room, where I see him lying on his bed and playing Rockband.
"What the fuck is that text supposed to mean Jason?" I demand, gesturing to my phone. He lets out a sigh and pauses his game before turning to face me.
"What text?" he asks in a bored voice. "Mom took my phone, remember?" Crap. He's right.
"Yeah. Sorry." I mumble before walking back out, closing the door behind me. Well if it's not him, who else will it be? Just then, my phone vibrates again.
Bet you're wondering who I am, but that's not important. Remember, before midnight or everyone will see the pictures of your pumpkin.
-A
I roll my eyes at the Cinderella reference. Who can this person be, and how have they found those pictures? CeCe is the only person with my number who knows about them, and she's my closest friend so surely she wouldn't have anything against me or Emily, especially as they've never even met!