Welcome to chapter two! It's the rest of the pilot episode. This chapter got to over 4,500 words which is ridiculous. I finished writing it at 2:30 AM (Which is when I'm also writing this Author's Note), and I didn't even realize what time it was until I was almost done. So I said fuck it, I'll just finish it. That also means that there's probably a few errors… Feel free to point them out, I'll be happy with any constructive criticism I can get. Remember to follow and review because that'd be super neat-o. If you have any questions, don't be shy.
~TheCanadianWonder.
Chapter 2: Pilot
One Year Later
Daisy sighed as she gave herself a once over in the mirror. It was her first day as a Junior at Rosewood high, and she felt anything but prepared. Especially considering that the day before was the first anniversary of Alison DiLaurentis' disappearance. She had barely gotten any sleep the night before because of that fact- the bags under her eyes proved that. Thank God for concealer.
"Hey, kiddo," Daisy's brother, Ryan Thorton, stood in her doorway, leaning against it's frame. He was dressed very professionally, which surprised Daisy. She was used to seeing her brother wearing worn out flannels- not unlike her own style of clothing- and old, ripped blue jeans. Not this perfectly tailored blue jacket and slacks.
"Hey, Ry. All dressed up with nowhere to go, huh?" She teased, while stuffing the rest of her binders into her brown, leather messenger bag which already held all of her other crap she needed for her junior year. It was mostly new, fancy pens- The 17 year old girl did love to write and a good pen made writing that much more fun. You'd think that considering how much she loved to write she'd pass English with flying colors, but you'd be wrong.
Ryan gave a short laugh before speaking, "Try again, Daisy-I've got a job interview. Gotta look professional." He shoved one hand into his pocket and let the other run through his hair that had a shade of brown that very closely resembled his sister's. "You need a ride?"
"No, I'm good, it's only like a five minute walk," She answered. She loved her brother, but sometimes she felt like it was hard to spend an extended amount of time with him, ever since what happened her Freshman year.
"Why don't you ask your little boyfriend?" Ryan asked only somewhat mockingly. "What was his name- Allan?"
"Andrew's not my boyfriend, first of all," Daisy rolled her eyes at her brother's assumption and teasing. "And second of all, don't pretend like you don't know his name. Besides, it's fine. I need the exercise anyways, plus it would just make both of us late."
Her brother would never admit it, but he couldn't help but to feel relieved. Their relationship had been strained to say the least- even more so ever since Alison went missing. "Alright..." He smiled. "Well, I'd better be heading out. Don't be late."
He turned and left Daisy's room and as he was walking down the hallway he could hear the young girl call out, "I'll try my best," Making him laugh slightly.
Daisy spent a good ten minutes putting together an outfit that didn't make her look like a hot mess after doing her makeup in record time- she had the rest of the year to show up late. Might as well be on time and make a good impression, right?. She straightened out her plaid skirt and tied the laces on her heels before grabbing her bag and descending the stairs to the first floor of the house.
"Dad?" Her call was met with silence, confirming her suspicion that both her dad and Ryan had already left.
A short walk later Daisy was on campus of Rosewood High. Her bag rattled against her back as she walked up the steps. It was when she saw a face that she hadn't seen for nearly a year that she had to do a double take- Aria Montgomery was back in Rosewood, after spending a year in Iceland of all places. Daisy understood though- sometimes she felt like she wanted to get as far away from Rosewood as possible.
And even stranger, Aria was talking to Emily Fields, the two of them chatting like nothing ever happened. Daisy had planned on walking by the pair unnoticed, but that didn't work out too well. "Daisy," Aria called when Daisy was a mere foot in front of her. Daisy turned on the balls of her feet, giving a small smile.
"Hey, Emily, hey, Aria," She spoke, walking closer to her old friends. "I almost didn't recognize you, Aria."
"Yeah," Aria laughed somewhat awkwardly. "I got rid of the pink a while ago. You've barely changed, though."
"I'll try and take that as a compliment..." Then it got awkward. Just like that Summer. After Ali went missing everything got weird between the five friends. They had all drifted apart when Aria had moved to Iceland with her family. It had taken some getting used to for Daisy, but she found other friends. There weren't many, but at least none of them had gone missing.
"It was meant to be one," Aria smiled. "You've always looked so..."
"Unapproachable?" Daisy sassed, the girls laughing together for the first time in almost a year. It felt kind of nice, but it still made Daisy just a little uncomfortable.
The girls ended up walking to their first period English class together, and Daisy found herself wishing she was anywhere else. It wasn't that she didn't like those girls- she used to be closer to them than ever. She just wanted to put everything from that Summer behind her. Everything. And being around Emily and Aria brought up a lot of memories.
"So I hear the new teacher's really hot," Emily said while each of them walked into the English room and sat down. Daisy grabbed a seat so Aria was sitting behind her and Emily beside her.
"I doubt it- the hot teachers always end up being assholes," Daisy turned in her seat to look at her old friends. Emily laughed with Daisy, but Aria was distracted and looking towards the door.
"Is that Hannah?" The short girl asked. Hannah had undergone quite the transformation since Aria left for Iceland. The once chubby and awkward 15 year old and become a model-esque, fashionable 16 year old.
"She's the 'it' girl now," Explained Emily. Daisy could only sense the smallest amount of hostility in Emily's voice. Emily was always the nicest one out of he six of them. Mona strutted into classroom not long after that. Her smirk was as wide and as condescending as ever. "And where there's Hannah there's Mona."
"That's Mona?" Aria asked in absolute disbelief.
"Yeah, I can hardly believe it either. The two of them went through there transformation together," Daisy told Aria, rolling her eyes and smiling.
Hannah waved at Emily and Aria, but she seemed to look straight through Daisy, like she didn't even see her. Which is what Daisy expected was the case. When she and Hannah had spoken they weren't hostile, but they did there best to ignore each other in order to avoid any awkward conversations.
"What's up with her?" Aria asked the fair brunette sitting in front of her. "You two fighting?" Her eyebrows furrowed in both confusion and worry.
"After what happened with Ali, and then you moving away… We all just kinda… Fell apart," Daisy explained somewhat apprehensively, not entirely sure how to word the whole situation to Aria.
The next person to enter the small classroom was another old friend- Spencer Hastings. She gave a curt nod and smile to Hannah who politely returned it before going to sit down in the front row. As was expected of a Hastings. "They're not so close anymore either," Emily spoke.
"So they're friendly, but not friends," Aria concluded. Emily and Daisy both nodded in agreement.
The room then fell silent as a man entered the classroom who Daisy assumed had to have been the new English teacher. Daisy swiveled around in the seat of her chair to face the front, contemplating whether or not she could get away with getting some shut eye in any of her classes that day. Probably not, she thought.
It was the teachers deep voice that distracted Daisy from her own thoughts. "Holy crap," He said, with a shocked look on his face. He seemed to have been looking past Daisy- at Aria?
Aria's face was flushed as she held her phone in her hand. "Sorry," She mumbled in embarrassment.
"Uh..." Stutters the man at the front of the class. "I'm Mr. Fitz, your new English teacher."
The rest of Daisy's school day was astonishingly uneventful. She expected her junior year would go just as well as her previous year- with her barely scraping by in every class and pissing off all her teachers by not handing in any homework. Same old, same old.
She caught a ride home with Andrew Campbell, a friend of hers. Yes, there was some shameless flirting that went on during the drive, but Daisy knew she had no feeling for Andrew that weren't platonic. The had been friends ever since Daisy stopped hanging out with her old friends.
She wasn't very close with his nerdy friends on the decathlon team- she wasn't smart enough to hang with that crowd, apparently- but her and Andrew had been close enough to consider each other to be friends. Not as close as Daisy had been with any of the girls, but they hung out every now and then when Daisy didn't want to be alone.
As she walked into her front door she knew not to expect anyone- her dad would have been working and Ryan spent minimal time in the house ever since he had come back from college. She was alone in the large house, and she would be for a few more hours, which wasn't anything new. She was used to that.
She trudged into the kitchen, the heels of her shoes clicking against the polished wooden floor. She sighed and pushed her curly hair out of her face whilst she opened the door of the fridge, looking for something to eat that wasn't total crap.
She grabbed a red apple, realizing that was really the only edible option- she made a mental note to tell her dad to go grocery shopping, or at least give money to her so she can buy some food. Although, if she was being honest he wouldn't trust her with his money… He'd probably be paranoid that she'd go nuts with even $30 and end up pregnant or dead or both. Macon Thorton did not hold a lot of trust for Daisy- he loved her and all, but he'd also once referred to her as his 'delinquent daughter' to his coworkers, so…
She went and sat down at one of the stools at the island, putting her bag on the seat next to her while pulling some binders out of it, setting them down on the island in front of her. High school teachers loved assigning disgusting amounts of homework even on the first day… Daisy did not appreciate it to say the least.
As Daisy was taking a bite out of the shiny, red apple she noticed something she must have looked over when she had first entered the kitchen. Small white rectangular sheets of paper sat in the center of the island. Her eyes furrowed- were they her dad's? Or Ryan's? She reached out her hand to pick them up- they were photos. She recognized the texture. She had taken a photography class during her first time in Freshman year at Rosewood High.
She turned them around to look at the photos and a harsh gasp escaped her lips, the apple falling from her hand and bouncing on the floor. They were photos. Photos of her. And Jason. Those photos could get both of them in trouble, even if they were from over a year ago. Drinking, smoking, kissing.
There were five in total. The last one was of her and Jason, his arms wrapped around her waist, the two of locking lips passionately- there wasn't much talking in there relationships, considering neither Daisy or Jason enjoyed talking about feeling and all that crap. There was a heart drawn around the two, drawn with what looked like heavily pigmented red lipstick.
Her phone pinged, and she almost didn't hear it she was in shock. She had no idea what the hell was going on. She took her phone out of her jacket's pocket and widened her eyes at what she saw after she unlocked her phone.
There was a text displayed on the screen that came from a blocked number. She could feel her hands shake as she read the message.
'Hooking up with an older college student, Dee? You and your brother aren't as different as you like to pretend. -A'
A? A for Alison? Alison was the only one who knew about what had happened between Jason and Daisy that Summer, along with what happened with Ryan. And Dee was Alison's nickname for Daisy- no one else was aloud to call her that. Daisy would probably have slapped them if they had.
What if Alison was alive? What the hell was she doing sending those photos and threatening texts? Daisy ran a hand over her face. This is insane, she thought tiredly. She thought that all that crap was behind her. Guess not. She suddenly remembered when her last photo was taken- that was the day that Alison found out about her and Jason…
~Flashback~
"Jason," A 16 year old Daisy spoke, in a playfully scolding tone. "Come on. Alison and the girls are in the backyard." Jason and Daisy stood in the older boy's room, Jason in his typical ripped jeans and an old shirt and Daisy wearing only a bikini with an oversized 'Ramones' t-shirt over it.
"Yeah, and you've been avoiding me for weeks now," Jason laughed, a boyish smirk emerging on his lips. "And I'm a selfish guy, Daisy."
"We agreed that we need to stop sneaking around as much," Daisy couldn't tell if Jason was listening or not as he ran his hands from her fingertips to her elbows. "Alison was getting suspicious, and you now how she is."
"Of course I do, she's my sister," Jason responded, his fingertips then dancing on her shoulders. "She'd either blackmail us or tell all of Rosewood."
"That's how she works," Daisy sighed, grabbing Jason's hands in her own smaller ones to stop them from distracting her. "And if she finds out about… Us… Then she'll find out about the other stuff. The parties, the drinking..." Daisy hated talking like that. All the seriousness. She'd rather be either making everything into a joke or getting… not sober. Daisy was not good with words. And feelings.
Jason clearly felt the same way as Daisy did about that conversation, because the next thing she knew, Jason's lips were planted on her own. The brunette melted into the familiar feeling of his lips, leaning into him and putting her hands on his chest.
She loved that Jason made things simple- she could pretend she was a normal teenage girl when she was with Jason. A feeling she never got around anyone else- not her brother, not her dad, not even her best friends. Jason made her feel like herself, and she didn't even know who she was yet.
Jason's arms wrapped around the shorter girl's waist. Their lips moved in synch with each other. Jason knew that what he was doing was wrong- not only was Daisy sixteen, she was one of his sister's best friends. But she never gave a shit about what a screw up he was, because she felt the same way about herself. They were both black sheep in the prefect town of Rosewood with all it's perfect people.
There was a bang of a door opening.
~End of Flashback~
It was a few hours after the whole A thing and Daisy was sitting on the bed in her room. Her books and binders were open in front of her, but she had finished her homework hours ago. After what had happened, Daisy sped through her homework in record time- or at least record time for her- hoping to distract herself from think about A and Alison and Jason and Ryan and her mother and everything else that was wrong with her life. Short story short, it didn't work. She just couldn't stop thinking about it, no matter how hard she tried.
Her phone pinged and Daisy could feel her heart race. She really didn't need another message like the one before. Of course, she decided, she couldn't spend the rest of her life being afraid of her own cell phone.
So she put on her metaphorical girl pants and grabbed her phone from her bedside table and felt a weight fly off of her shoulder when she saw who had texted her. It was just good old Andrew Campbell.
"We've got a decathlon meeting tonight (1st one of the year, if you were wondering.) Do you wanna sit in? Read the questions for us while we practic? We can go to the brew after. Don't feel like doing nothing tonight," The message read.
Daisy felt herself smiling at the message- that's exactly what she needed. Something to get her mind off of everything. Even if it was a lame decathlon meeting with her nerd friend. She texted Andrew back, telling him that she'd meet her at the school. She knew which class to go to-Andrew had dragged her to multiple meetings last year.
Daisy slipped on and tied up her high heels once more, grabbed her bag and bounced down the stairs to the first floor. She stopped by Macon's office- her father- to tell him where she was going. Normally he would have been apprehensive of her going out, but he knew Andrew and loved him.
She assumed it was because Andrew was so academically inclined and her father hoped that he'd rub off on her. He liked Andrew so much that he'd given her the keys to the car- after he had seen the texts from Andrew himself, of course.
So, the young girl ended up driving her father's car to the school. She was in a substantially better mood than she was a mere twenty minutes earlier, yet she still couldn't get all that A crap out of her head. She was desperately hoping that joking around with her friend would do the trick, though she doubted it.
She never did get to find out, though. To get to the school she had to drive by the old DiLaurentis house- of course the DiLaurentis' weren't living there anymore- but she couldn't get by it. There was a group of reporters, policemen and ambulances blocking the road, along with other confused citizens of Rosewood crowded around the road and driveway of the old DiLaurentis house.
The young girl pulled the car over, her stomach suddenly filled with worry and dread. She got out of the car and it took everything in her not to run towards the scene. Instead she walked quickly, her heels clacking loudly against the pavement. What she first saw made her feel sick to her stomach- a black body bag was being lifted onto a stretcher by two coroners with gloved hands.
She listened in to one of the female reporters who was talking into a microphone and facing a camera. The reporter had a feminine and professional voice as she explained what had happened that night. With every word Daisy's face lost more color and she felt even more sick.
They had found Alison's body. Her dead body. It happened when the new family who lived there was removing the gazebo in the backyard. Someone had murdered the fifteen year old and then buried her body in the dirt where the gazebo was to be built back then.
Daisy's eyes traveled the scene and she spotted two of her old friends- Aria and Spencer. She walked over to them briskly, a grim look spread across the faces of all three girls.
"Is this real?" Daisy asked when she was standing beside Aria and Spencer, each of them facing the DiLaurentis house. The silence that came after her question answer enough. Alison was dead.
"I heard the cops took Hannah to the police station today," Aria said, avoiding Daisy's question.
Spencer paled, looking at Daisy and Aria as she spoke. "You don't think she'd ever talk about-"
"The Jenna thing?" Hannah interrupted, coming up behind the girls. "We made a promise."
Alison was dead.
A Few Days Later
Daisy flattened her black dress. It hugged her torso and flared out at the waist. She was wearing black high heels and a black flower crown to go with it. She looked fit for a funeral. Alison's funeral to be exact.
Macon, Ryan and Daisy Thorton were all standing outside the Rosewood Catholic Church, where Alison's funeral was being held. The Thorton family was walking towards the church's large double doors, Daisy scanning all of the faces around her. She didn't even recognize half of them. She doubted most of them even knew Alison. That's how funerals always went.
"Thank you… The discovery of her body rocked her community, and today hundreds of mourners gather to say goodbye to Alison DiLaurentis," A male reported spoke into an oversized mic. Daisy suddenly felt like she wanted to throw up.
As soon as the three of them had entered the church, Daisy was approached by Alison's mother, Jessica DiLaurentis. "Oh, Daisy," She said loudly, making multiple people turn their heads towards the two. Jessica gripped daisy firmly by the shoulders. "It's good to see you. How about you go join the other girls at the front? For Alison?"
Daisy couldn't force herself to say anything, so she just nodded. She gave a wave to her family before heading to where the other four girls were. They all greeted Daisy politely, making room for her between Emily and Hannah.
"Poor Ali," Emily sighs, looking at the coffin with heavy sadness in her eyes.
"Can you believe what a scene this is?" Hannah says with a small noncommittal laugh.
"Alison would have loved it," Aria let a small smile cross her lips and Daisy couldn't help but join her.
"All eyes on her," Daisy agreed.
"Popular in life and death," Spencer murmured, only loud enough for the other girls to hear her. Aria nodded her head.
Hannah gave a look to Emily before rummaging around in her purse for a bit. She pulled out a black flask that was filled with an unknown substance and stuck her arm out in front of Daisy, offering up the alcohol to Emily.
"No thanks I don't-" Emily started, but Hannah interrupted her.
"Today, I think you do."
After Emily had taken a rather large gulp, Daisy grabbed the flask and took a few sips herself. "I know I do," She sighed.
Aria's cell went off in her purse, and she pulled it out. A worried look crossed her face as she read whatever was on the screen. "Anyone we know?" Hannah asked casually, though her tone was slightly accusing.
"No, it's just my mom sending me a text," Aria answered carefully. She looked up at her friends before putting her phone back in her bag, a look of realization painting her soft features. "Emily and I aren't the only ones who got messages from A, are we?"
Daisy tensed at the mention of A- she wasn't sure if it was comforting or worrying to think that she wasn't the only one who was being tormented by this A person. Did A have dirt on her friends too? Because that though was definitely more worrying than comforting, she decided.
Nobody answered, but the five girls had reached an understanding. All of them had heard from A. Spencer then turned in the pew, looking at something near the entrance at the church. "Oh my God," She exclaimed. "It's Jenna."
The five of them all turn around to confirm. And it was true. Jenna was there, sunglasses on, being lead around by an unfamiliar young man. Everything from Daisy's past seemed to be popping up all at once.
They didn't have time to further discuss Jenna Marshal's return, because Jessica DiLaurentis had seated herself beside the girls and began talking. "Did you see that Jenna Marshal was here? I didn't realize she and Ali were friends," Mrs. DiLaurentis sounded just as confused as Daisy felt.
"They weren't," Replied Spencer. Their conversation was once again interrupted when the Minister stood and began speaking.
"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away..."
The ceremony ended an hour later, and frankly, all five of the teenage girls felt emotionally exhausted. Daisy felt like she had been sitting in that damn pew for days. The girls all exited the church together, no one talking, but they all felt comfortable. They needed each other, even Daisy could admit, no matter how reluctant she was to start talking to her old friends again.
A man in his mid twenties dressed in a neatly tailored black suit approached the girls. Daisy's face paled considerably- she recognized this man, and she was not excited to have to talk to him."Emily, Daisy, Spencer, Aria and Hannah," He greeted in a condescending tone.
"Do we know you?" Spencer asked the man. None of the other girls recognized him, they all felt uncomfortable with him coming up to them and greeting them in such a way.
"I'm Detective Wilden," The man smirks. "I understand you were all good friends with the victim."
"Yeah, we were," Aria said, though Daisy had the feeling that the Detective already knew the answer.
"I'm gonna need to talk to each one of you," He says. The girls exchanged a coy, confused look with one another.
"We talked to the police when Alison went missing," Spencer told Wilden, slightly more hostile than before.
"You have our statements," Daisy agreed, hoping Wilden would let it go. She did not want to spend any alone time with Wilden. He was an untrustworthy asshole, in short.
"And I intend to go over every one of them, Ms. Thorton," Says Wilden, looking at Daisy directly. "This is no longer a missing persons investigation. It's a murder. Rest assured, I will find out what happened that summer." His tone was threatening, and Daisy felt even more queasy than before. Wilden walked away and the girls looked at each other. Did Wilden think that they had anything to do with Alison's death? Daisy didn't even want to think about it.
"Do you think he knows about..." Aria couldn't finish her own question, but Hannah answered it anyways.
"No. How could he?"
In that moment each of the girls phones went off one by one. They knew who it was from, they didn't have to say it out loud. They all pulled their phones out, looking at the message they had received, all of them identical.
"Oh my god," Aria breathed.
"This is… Ridiculous," Daisy almost whined. She was already over this.
"It's from-" Hannah started.
"I got one two," Emily said. Unbelievable. None of them need this.
"I'm still here bitches," Spencer started to read the text message out loud.
The five girls continued to read the text in perfect unison. "And I know everything -A"