HANNA'S POV

Aria is staring at Spencer (again), while she sits on the opposite side of the cafeteria. Like, she literally couldn't be farther away from us if she tried. "Just look at her. She's gorgeous."

In the corner of my eye, I see Spencer kiss Toby. Aria sighs and turns away. She always does when she sees the two of them. "Damn it, Aria. If you're just going to sit there and drool over Spencer, then why don't you just go over there? I'm pretty sure there's no one sitting on her lap already!" Ali said loudly. I glanced around quickly, and Aria and Emily did the same. A few of the kids on the tables around us were whispering and looking at Aria weirdly. Spencer turned her head slightly, like she was straining to hear something. She shook her head slightly, refocusing on Toby.

"So, who do you think got the Soulmark?" I ask, trying to avoid looking at Aria and draw Ali to me instead.

"Soulmarks aren't real, Hanna. They're a trick." Alison snaps. We all look at her, shocked. Soulmarks are a part of life. Some people wait years to find their Soulmate. Some never find them. But everyone waits. "What? Think about it. Have you ever seen anyone with a Soulmark?"

"My parents have them." Emily mutters. Ali glares at her. Em lowers her head a bit. I give her a tentative smile, and she smiles back hesitantly.

"It's a coincidence. They're not Soulmarks. Just regular Marks, that happen to match. And are line things on their hands." We all must look like we don't believe a word, because she amps up the glare. "Look, it's true! And even if Em's parents do actually love each other, how do we know they're even soulmates? And isn't it weird that we never actually found out who got Soulmarks? All they said was that the ones who got Marked wanted to stay private. It might never have actually happened, and we have no way of knowing."

During Ali's rant, Emily shifted more and more in her seat, and clutched the sleeve of her sweatshirt in her palm.

"But what if it's true? What if I meet my Soulmate? It could be today, it could be five years from now, it could be five seconds from now. I don't know. But I want to find out." I told her.

"I'm sorry, are we assuming that you haven't already eaten the poor boy?" Ali simpered. God, I want to slap her. I can practically feel my hand flexing in preparation.

"Alison!" Aria and Emily burst out.

"You're being really rude to Hanna." Aria said.

Alison looked unaffected as she replied, "sorry, Han. But you believe what you believe and I believe what I believe. I'm entitled to my own opinion. Isn't that right, Emily?"

"Yeah, Han. Just let Ali have an opinion." Emily muttered, not glancing up at me.

I exchanged a look with Aria. Aria raised her hand and pretended she was biting on her nails. "For what it's worth, I think they're real," she breathed, "And yours is out there. And they'll love you, because it's all they'll be able to do, because they'll feel something just snap into place, like I felt when I first saw Spencer."

"Oh, my god! Sorry, Em. Let me help you clean that up." Alison exclaimed, grabbing Emily's wrist and a napkin. She pulled Emily's sleeve up, analysing her wrist.

"Ali, it's fine. You just spilled a little water, is all." Emily said quickly, trying desperately to pull her hand out of Alison's vice-like grip.

"What's that?" Alison asked. Emily visibly paled. "Oh my god." She glared at Emily. "You have a Soulmark. And you didn't tell me?" She frowned. I could practically hear the cogs turning in her head. "Oh, my gosh! We're mated!"

"Wait, what?" Aria, Emily and I asked in sync.

"It's so obvious! Soulmates are real. And you just turned sixteen. That must be, like, the minimum age to get one! And I'm not sixteen yet, so mine must show up on my birthday! That's why you didn't want anyone to know, because you got yours and I didn't get mine! It's so obvious when you think about it!"

Aria and I exchanged almost identical WTF looks. Emily opened her mouth to say something.

"Emily? Hi. I need to talk to you for a sec. Please?" A girl I didn't recognise asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Alison asked rudely.

"I'm Maya St Germain. New girl. And I'm guessing you're… Ali DiLaurentis."

"You know me?"

"Sure. You're like, the queen around here." Maya shrugged, then looked at us, and smiled warmly. I had a feeling I would like this girl. "And you two would be… Hanna Marin, and Aria Montgomery."

"Yup. That's us." We grinned. Happiness seemed to radiate from her.

"Great. I look forward to getting to know you all. I think we're going to be great friends." Maya smiled, then she apparently remembered why she came over here in the first place, and looked down at Emily. Her smile, if it was possible, grew wider. "Emily, do you want to go over there and talk?" She asked. Emily hastily stood up, pulling Maya away by the arm. "I really hope I can spend more time with you all. You seem like cool people." Maya called over her shoulder.

"I don't like that girl." Alison said before Maya was even fully out of earshot.

"Why? I like her." Aria stated.

"Yeah, she seems nice." I added.

"I don't trust her. What are she and Emily even talking about over there? Emily's my soulmate."

"Hang on, five minutes ago you were saying that Soulmarks weren't real. Now you've miraculously found yours without having a matching mark?" Aria frowned.

"Says the girl who is convinced her soulmate is a straight girl who's dating a guy."

"Shut up."

"Plus, she's a slut. She stole her sister's boyfriend. Twice."

"Shut up about her."

"And, come on, she's not even that pretty. I mean, the brown hair is a mistake, she should dye it, and that nose, my god!" (A/N~ On a side note, I sort of hate myself. It almost physically pained me to write that, cause Troian Bellisario is kind of my celebrity crush at the moment… I DON'T MEAN IT, TROIAN! I WAS LYING! I WOULD NEVER THINK THAT!)

"I have to get to class." Aria said, jumping up and storming off.

"Me, too. Bye." I said, getting up and following Aria.