THIS AFTERNOON

''Emi? Are you alright?'' Emily's father asks her, and the swimmer looks up. ''Yah .. yeah I'm okay.'' She smiles ''Can I be excused?''

Her dad frowns ''Are you sure you're not hungry anymore?'' Emily shakes her head.

''Nah ..''

''Well .. yes, okay then ..'' he mumbles.

Emily stands up and takes her plate with her to the kitchen. As soon as she places the plate down on the sink, she searches for her phone in her pocket and quickly unlocks it.

From the moment she felt her phone buzz under the table, she just couldn't wait to see if it was Maya. And yes indeed, she was right.

Maya : Looking forward to seeing you. I've missed your voice so much .. Kisses x

Emily smiles goofily. This all just seemed so normal. Like nothing had happened and it was just another one of Maya's cheesy texts ..

But things had changed, Emily knows that. She's just trying to pretend they didn't.


Next day at school, Emily is counting the ticking of the clock. Time just seems to stand still when you're in a boring math class, waiting for the day to go by so you can finally meet your former dead girlfriend again.

At lunchtime with the girls, Emily can barely contain her enthusiasm. She's eating her krispies with a big smile, not even trying to hide it. As she's walking over to the vending machine for some orange juice, her friends discuss the situation.

''Am I the only one who noticed Emily acting quite strange today? '' Aria whispers.

''No'' Spencer says ''I noticed it too.. What do you think is going on with her? ''

''I don't know, but it seems to be pretty good'' Aria's eyes light up ''Oooeh you think she met someone?''

''Oh, leave the girl be. '' Hanna interferes in the conversation ''She's happy for once and you're already planning on interrogating her? ''

Spencer and Aria look down and shrug ''Yeah ..'' Hanna continues ''She'll tell us when she wants to. Now shush 'cause she's coming.''

Emily sits down at the table and instantly feels a weird tension. The three girls are all suspiciously quiet, so she decides to find out what's going on.

''What'cha talking about?'' The girl asks.

Right on the spot.

The three friends quickly exchange panicked looks, before Aria speaks up. ''Oh, nothing , uhm .. just ... Orange juice.''

Spencer softly punches her arm and looks at her with a ''Are-you-serious?'' expression on her face. ''You know I'm not good at lying!'' Aria mouths back.

In the meantime, Emily already knows what's going on. She decides not to ask further on it though.

''So what are you doing after school?'' The swimmer asks, trying to change the subject.

''Hockey practice ..'' Spencer sighs. Emily's not surprised, when that girl is not studying, she's practicing. A true Hasting's daughter.

''I'm going to an art gallery with Ezra'' Aria says happily. She's always way too excited about these stuff. Ezra is, well, Mr. Fitz has been her boyfriend for some time now, but the girls still find it a bit uncomfortable that she's having late night rendez-vous with their English teacher.

''I'm just going to hang out with Caleb, I think. What about you, Em?''

Shit.

Fuck.

Wrong question.

Uh .. just, nothing .. Maybe uh, go for a swim or something ..''

Her three friends exchange smiling looks. Would they suspect something?

No, they couldn't.

Before the girls could start asking about Emily's afternoon, the bell rings.

Saved by the bell .. Emily sighs softly, before quickly getting up from her chair.

''I .. I've gotta go ..'' The swimmer says, before turning around and leaving the girls stunned at the table.

Aria and Spencer look at Hanna, raising their eyebrows. The blonde frowns ''What..''


Emily runs home and drops her bag in the hall. She grabs her phone and quickly texts Maya.

Emily : I just got home x

A few seconds later her phone buzzes already.

Maya : See u soon c: walking out of the door right now.

Emily smiles. She hops upstairs and pulls out her swimsuit and her bikini. She doubts for a second, before stripping off and putting on her bikini. She puts on a t-shirt and jeans over it, and looks in the mirror. She looks good.

But she has to hurry. She walks downstairs, grabs some food and takes her keys and phone.

As she walks out of the door, she suddenly feels the nerves rushing trough her body. She never expected this to happen. She still doesn't know what's going to happen. What if the phonecall was just a dream? What if everything was just a dream?

Everything is just so surreal.

Because the lake is actually not that far from Emily's house, she decides to walk. That way she has some more time to think.

But eventually she gets to the little path she has to follow to get to the lake.

Emily bites her lip, takes a deep breath, and starts walking forward.


Heheheh I'm sorry I just like to tease you guys..new chapter up veeery soon