A/N: Thanks again for being patient with the pace of the story - do let me know if you have any ideas for future chapters, I'm far from immune from the dreaded writer's block. Enjoy the chapter :')

Alison pushed the door to her locker shut with more force than necessary, a sign to CeCe that their conversation had ended. She parted with the other girl as she headed to a particular tree outside of the school. The feisty blonde hadn't had a conversation with her English partner since their confrontation a couple of nights ago. Alison wasn't even sure if she could call it a confrontation – the brunette had been so quick to back down. They'd spent the rest of the evening barely saying a word to each other, and when they did, Emily made no complaints about Alison's hostility. While the blonde was satisfied with crushing any competition, she couldn't help but be curious as to how far the taller girl would have gone to get her point across.

It hadn't helped that Mrs. Dilaurentis had spent dinner that night singing Emily's praises. Referencing her good manners, how pretty she was. Alison couldn't help but snort at the latter. Emily struck her as nothing more than average, if that.

Alison had found that despite not speaking with Emily, her thoughts had drifted to her more often than she was comfortable with over the last few days. She didn't expect that she would get any more trouble from her. The girl didn't seem to have much of a backbone. But she still couldn't help but wonder..

She wasn't even sure what she was wondering about. Physically shaking her head to clear her mind, she perfected her signature, impassive expression as she spotted Emily sitting in the spot where Alison knew she'd be.

"Alison..." the brunette hesitated sensing a shadow looming over her.

"How's it going?" The blonde asked, casually before taking a seat against the tree beside the other girl. She stretched out her legs and let her hands lie in her lap as she looked at Emily expectantly. The tanned girl's expression was confused, but not angry.

"Not great really," she gestured to the Biology textbook in her lap. "I never thought mitochondria would prove to be this important."

"Pity, I don't speak geek," Alison teased, but there was no menace in her voice. The blonde could tell that Emily was surprised as she let out a nervous laugh.

"So, how are you?" Emily asked after a minute, with a smile. Her question made Alison realise that she couldn't remember the last time someone had asked her that. The friends – or acquaintances that Ali had didn't usually bother with questions she found so trivial. They usually jumped straight to gossip, the good stuff. Alison couldn't even remember the appropriate response. She shrugged, nonchalant before proceeding with a question of her own.

"You want to start writing up that assignment after school today? Your place or mine?" She smirked after realising how suggestive the last part sounded, probably more so considering her sexuality, the blonde thought to herself.

Emily's smile widened as she replied:

"Actually, I can't tonight," she explained. "I have a date."

Alison scoffed, "Who asked a plain Jane like you out on a date?" her tone had lost its humour and was more of a sneer. The brunette's face dropped as she looked down at her lap, fidgeting with her fingers. She had been wondering how long this mock politeness from the ice queen would last. It hadn't even been five minutes.

"Well?" the blonde pressed, for a reason that even she wasn't sure.

"It really isn't any of your business." Emily replied after a pause while gathering up her books in preparation to flee. She felt the other girl stand up just after she did so herself. Alison spoke again just as the taller girl began to walk away.

"Wait," she said firmly, but it wasn't a demand. Emily cursed herself internally for turning around, and looked expectantly at the blonde.

"Give me your phone," she said. She continued quickly as Emily opened her mouth to protest. "I can just text you when we need to arrange a study date."

Alison could have kicked herself right there at her terrible choice of words and she could feel a faint blush creeping up her neck. Her ego swelled just a little when she noticed that Emily's tanned face was a more furious shade of red. The taller girl fumbled around in her bag to retrieve her phone, avoiding looking at the blonde's face. Alison saved her number in the other girl's phone and called her own phone so she could do the same. As Alison returned the girl's phone, their fingers brushed together ever so slightly, and Emily recoiled quickly from the contact. The brunette rushed to apologise, out of polite habit and Alison could already feel that she had forgiven her for her earlier rudeness.

As Emily hurriedly walked away as the bell sounded, Alison considered how she couldn't even manage five minutes without making a snide remark. This was generally an ability that she revelled in, it reminded people of who was in charge. She was used to wiping the smile off her unsuspecting victims' faces, and yet when Emily's face fell, Alison didn't feel the same rush of accomplishment she usually did. As she re-entered the school building, she vowed to be more cautious around the girl the next time they spoke. Nobody was going to guilt trip Alison Dilaurentis.

Emily zipped up her dress and sat in front of her mirror in order to make her face up for her date. It had come as quite a shock, when Paige, a girl and usually her rival on the school swim team had approached her with the intention of a date. The tanned brunette didn't really keep friends – with the exception of Spencer, and had had little interaction with Paige or any of her other teammates. However she'd been happy to accept the invitation, she'd begun to feel quite excited.

Emily sighed as she looked at her 'plain Jane' face in the mirror. Her opinion doesn't even matter to you, she reminded herself internally. Studying her features, she couldn't help but feel that Alison was right, though. She had an angular jaw and limp brown hair. And then there were her eyes, brown too. Emily had always felt that brown eyes were a bore. They didn't have the same intensity that blue eyes have, some blue eyes more than others…

She shook thoughts of Alison as she reminded herself that she was preparing for a date with Paige. Emily wasn't one for heavy make up, so it didn't take her long. She retrieved her hairband and tied her long hair back, into a high pony tail just as her phone vibrated.

Emily was shocked to see that the notification was from Alison, only she had saved her name as 'Ali'. The brunette knew that it was silly to get caught up on a minor detail like this – but she couldn't help but feel spec- Stop, she told herself. That's the kind of thing Alison does to make people feel like they're special so she can exploit them. Emily wasn't going to fall into that, but she read the text anyway:

Wear your hair down tonight. You'll look prettier.

Ali.

No greeting, no emoticons. Just a command that Emily could practically hear Alison barking out. The brunette suppressed the annoyance that she felt building up inside her as she debated whether or not to reply. Alison wasn't her friend, her family or anything more that implied that she had the right to order her around, least of all when it came to her appearance? Who does she think she is? Emily fumed internally. She eventually concluded that replying was a bad idea, deciding that she wouldn't let the impolite blonde put a downer on her evening.

After grabbing her belongings and stepping out of her bedroom door, Emily hesitated. Walking back into her bedroom, she stood once again in front of her mirror. She pulled the hairband out of her hair and let her hair hang loose. She almost gasped at the difference, and wanted to kick herself for what she did next. Emily left the hairband on her desk and waited downstairs.

As she waited for Paige to arrive, Emily wasn't sure whether she hated herself or Alison more. But if she wasn't aware of this before, she sure as hell knew it now.

Nobody said no to Alison Dilaurentis.