1.4 - The Ali Situation

As the last bell rang at Rosewood Falls High, Hanna breathed a sigh of relief. The first day of school had officially come and gone, and she somehow made it through without so much as a scratch on her already flawless reputation as one of the resident Queen B's. As she skirted out the classroom door as quickly as possible, she saw a familiar head of dark brown locks rushing out of another classroom across the hall. "Hey Aria! Wait up!" She called to her friend with a grin as she ran up to her. "Hey! Okay so glad I ran into you, I think it's time we all called an emergency meeting at my place. Already texted Spence and Em, what do you think?"

Aria didn't even have to say what the meeting was about, Hanna understood her immediately. They had to talk about the Ali situation. She was officially back from the dead, somehow, and constantly guarded by that intimidating girl, Katherine. Whatever was going on, Hanna didn't like it, and she could tell from Aria's tone, and worried expression, neither did she. It just all seemed too fishy, and Ali had to be up to some of her old tricks. "I'm totally with you. Let's go."

The girls headed out towards the school's entrance where a sleek, midnight blue, 1960's Chevy convertible was parked, waiting for them to hop on in. And of course, in the driver's seat sat Aria's older brother, Damon.

"Well hello there ladies!" He shouted out at them from behind his dark aviator sunglasses. "Best first day of school ever?!" He teased with a smirk of delight at seeing his sister's friend Hanna. There was just something about that girl that either irritated him or fascinated him, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. His grin only grew larger as he saw every girl within a hundred foot radius staring right at him and his flawless car. Damon was a notorious womanizer in Rosewood, much to Aria's distain. She was constantly trying to get him to settle down, and he wasn't completely opposed to the idea, he just hadn't found the right girl yet.

"And just when I thought this day couldn't get any more boring, look who it is. Damon." Hanna threw a passive aggressive remark his way with a smirk equaling his as they hopped into the backseat.

Damon reached around his chair to lean towards them. "Is that any way to treat an old friend? Come on now, Hanna, you know you're glad to see me." He gave her a sly wink. Sure, Hanna had to admit, it was pretty fun to argue with him, even if he did drive her totally and completely nuts.

Aria had had just about enough of this however, and she gave him a mocking punch on the shoulder as she exclaimed, "Cut it out guys, let's go!"

Damon slid back into his driving position and revved the engine, just to give all the girls watching a little show. "Alright, as you wish." The engine sprang into action and the girls burst into laugher while they were knocked back into their seats by sheer force of the speeding start of the car.


"I'll get it!" Emily jumped off the couch she had really just sat down on in Aria's living room to get the front door. She swung it open to reveal Spencer Hastings, the only missing member of the group. "Yeah, we really need to talk." Spencer remarked off the cuff as she walked past Emily and made a beeline for the couch. "And hello to you too, Spence." Emily laughed as she joined the group again.

"Guys, something is seriously up." Spencer continued, making herself comfortable.

"Has anyone even talked to Ali since she's been back?" Aria questioned the group with a quizzical expression.

"No, no one can get near her without that Katherine freak getting all up in your face." Hanna scoffed with a throw of her hand.

"I just don't like this. I mean, we all knew she was back, but something's changed, something's different." Aria continued as she lay back into the couch.

"Well yeah, she's not like a ghost or a zombie! That's the only way I ever figured she'd come back from the dead." Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Hanna." Spencer checked her friend, trying to keep the conversation to a point.

"What, it's true! Come on you guys, who would have thought two months ago, we'd be here, talking about this?" Hanna was getting frustrated, not at her friends, but at this whole ridiculous situation.

"-A did. They knew this was going to happen, I'm sure they planned the whole thing." Emily remarked seriously, a grim expression on her face.

"You think Ali's working with –A? And Katherine?" Aria questioned.

"I don't know what to think anymore. All I know is we're getting to the bottom of this, any way possible." Spencer shook her head, trying to come up with a plan.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Hanna wondered out loud.

"Maybe it's time we all pay Ali a visit, and see what she has to say." Spencer crossed her arms as she spoke, and the girls all gave her an approving nod. This time, Ali wasn't getting away so easily, even if it meant confronting Katherine too.


All the other girls had gone, Aria was outside saying goodbye, and Hanna had volunteered to help clean up the snacks and things they had been snacking on in the kitchen. She was just washing the last dish as she heard footsteps accompanied by a familiar, sarcastic voice. "So, you girls all done with your little tea party?" Damon questioned her from the doorway.

"Yeah, sadly we all lost our appetites as soon as you walked in that door." Hanna scoffed as she worked on drying the last dish.

"Ouch, Hanna, you know just where to kick a guy when he's down." Damon moved closer, leaning against the counter right next to her.

"Really? What do you have to be so down about?" She squinted at him with a laugh. If she knew Damon Montgomery, it was only as the carefree, easy going, and totally narcissistic brother of her best friend.

"Oh, you know, life, the universe, everything." Damon took the dish out of her hand and put it on the counter, before moving much closer to her, maybe a little too close for comfort. "Did anyone ever tell you, you have the bluest eyes?"

"Did anyone ever tell you you've got the most annoying smirk?"

"Oh, you mean this one?" He was so close now their matching smirks were just inches apart.

"Mhmm if only I could do something to wipe it right off."

"Oh I can think of a few things..."

Hanna's eyebrows raised at his remark, but just before she could bite him back with her brilliant words, Aria's voice came shouting through the hall. "Hanna, your mom's out front!"

Hanna instead, cleared her throat and quickly backed away from Damon as she realized the slightly compromising position she was in. "Right! Thanks, yeah... coming Aria." Her brain in a bit of a mist, she made her way towards the front door, but glanced back at the man behind her who had put her head in a little bit of a spin.

"Goodnight, Ms. Marin." Damon winked back at her with a wave of his hand. Yes, she could be a lot of fun.


Spencer, Aria, and Emily headed outside towards the familiar car parked in Aria's driveway. "Hey Jer!" Spencer yelled with a wave at her boyfriend, Jeremy Gilbert, leaning against his car.

"Hey! You guys have a fun time?" He asked as he gave her a quick, obligatory kiss on the cheek.

"Of course, per usual." Spencer replied with a grin and a laugh, glancing over at her friends and trying not to reveal the truth about their meeting. That had to be kept a complete secret. She suddenly realized she was missing something before she could join him in the car to head home. "Oh gosh, totally forgot my bag. Aria, did I leave it in your room?"

"Yeah, I think I saw it there?" Aria tried to remember with a shake of her head.

"One sec, Jer, we'll be right back!" Spencer called as she and Aria took off back towards the house.

"Well, you look great... as always." Jeremy complimented Emily to break the awkward silence, but only regretted the words coming out of his mouth.

Emily let out an awkward laugh with a shake of her head. "Thanks, what does that mean?"

"Nothing, nothing." He laughed too, taking back his words. "Still want to go to the grill later?"

"Please don't tell me you're behind on your homework already."

"No! No – it's not a study thing, I just..."

"Want to talk about Spencer. You mentioned something earlier?"

"Right - yeah, that's it." Jeremy nodded, grateful she completed his sentence for him so he didn't make another awkward misstep.

"Well, I'm happy to help. Anything for you guys."

"Of course. Well I'm just excited to..."

But Jeremy was cut off as Spencer came back, bounding out of the house, bag in hand. "Found it! Okay let's go!"

"Right, yeah." Jeremy nodded as they hopped in the car.

"Later Em!" Spencer waved to her friend out the window before they sped off.

"Bye guys!" Emily chimed in with a wave, waiting for her mom to pull up any minute now.