AN: Happy PLL Day, everyone! I'm sorry that this chapter's a little shorter than usual, but at least we got not just one, but two cute Emison scenes in tonight's episode! Enjoy the new chapter!
Alison took the next day off again, not wanting to go back and face Paige so soon. She spent a nice day home with Emily, but the day after that, she didn't even see Paige at school. She wondered if the girl had stayed home or if she was simply off plotting Ali's destruction somewhere, but the blonde didn't care. It seemed that the talk of Paige's encounter with Mona had died down, and the jeers and taunts were being thrown at Ali again. She tried to ignore them as best as she could, knowing that she was just lucky Paige wasn't there. However, the worst didn't come until later.
After second period, Alison intended to make her way to her locker by herself today to hopefully surprise Emily. She tried to be quick so that Emily would not find her first, but it seemed she was too late, as she felt the brunette come up behind her and begin pushing her chair.
"Hey, Em." Ali greeted. "How was history?"
"It's Mona, not Emily," the person behind Alison spoke up, and Ali felt her blood freeze, wondering what Mona was up to.
The blonde was instantly on the defensive. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Just giving the people what they deserve." Mona's tone was light and airy, but Ali could detect the malice underneath the statement.
Ali knew that she was defenseless against Mona, and so she simply sat back, deciding to at least see what it was that Mona wanted before she tried to struggle. When they reached the end of the hallway, Mona put the brakes on Ali's wheels, and the blonde turned to give her a questioning glance, but before she could fully glimpse the brunette's face, she felt her hands being roughly pulled behind her back, and Mona's voice in her ear made the hairs on the back of Ali's neck stand up. "You are a horrible person, Alison."
"What's going on?" Ali cringed when she heard the uncertainty in her own voice.
Lucas stepped up in front of her. "I don't know if you know this, but I was the one who made your accident possible. The entire school wishes you had died, and if you had, I would be a hero right now."
Ali stared past him at the army of losers Mona had rounded up that were standing behind Lucas. They were all people who Ali had mocked and been cruel to in the past, and now here they all were, standing in front of Ali like a hit squad, and she was their target. For a moment, no one moved, and then Cindy and Mindy stepped forward with their arms crossed over their chests in an angry manner.
"You've been calling us gayrons for two years, and it turns out that you're the gay one after all. How strange," one of them mocked.
"We get it now that you were just picking on us to feel better about yourself like the lowlife you are," the other one spat.
Ali was surprised that they didn't stop there. The one who had most recently been speaking stepped forward and smacked Ali hard across the face. She bit back a cry of pain, and she struggled to get her hands free from Mona, wanting desperately to punch this bitch right back. After a few seconds though, her initial rage passed over, and she calmed down, thinking of Emily. Her girlfriend wouldn't want her to hit these losers, even if they hit her. Ali had been mean to them for years, after all. Emily liked it when she was kind, when she was herself. Ali's cheek burned where the nerdy girl had slapped her, but at that very moment, Emily pushed through the crowd before whirling around to fix them all with a glare, brown eyes blazing.
"What the hell is going on here?! She's in a fucking wheelchair! Isn't that enough for you?!" Emily yelled, and Ali jumped at the other girl's tone. She had never heard Emily use the F bomb before. The people to whom Emily was speaking didn't seem all that effected though, simply watching the brunette to see what she would do next. Ali was at least grateful that Mona finally released her hands, and she shook them out in front of her.
Then, Ali watched, a little shocked herself, as Emily's entire demeanor changed, her eyes taking on a soft look as she rushed over and knelt beside her girlfriend. "Ali, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Ali tried to brush off the other girl's concern, but she knew that Emily wasn't buying a word.
The brunette reached up to cup Ali's wounded cheek, and Emily's eyes hardened again when she saw Alison wince. She pushed up from the ground, turning her gaze to the crowd again. "How could you do this to her?"
The crowd didn't even seem fazed, and Ali knew what they were thinking. They were doing this to her because she had basically done the same thing to them for years, and they were tired of it.
"Wow, Ali, you've got your little girlfriend here to stick up for you now?" Ali heard someone sneer, and she should've known they'd start to taunt her about her girlfriend now that Emily was here. The brunette put her hand on Ali's shoulder, but it did nothing to protect the blonde from the losers in front of her.
"Haven't you heard? Ali can't do anything for herself anymore. Her girlfriend literally does everything for her," another voice said.
"She's totally useless," someone else snarled.
Ali was taken aback by the honesty in what was being said. She knew she wasn't useless. Emily pointed that out to her two nights ago, but Emily did have to do a lot for her now because she could no longer do it on her own, and she really wished that people would stop pointing these things out to her. Ali turned her head into Emily's stomach, and the brunette turned further into her girlfriend, wrapping a protective arm around the blonde. Ali tried to block out the jeers that were coming her way, and Emily was about to yell at the people around them again, but she was interrupted by a familiar voice before she could.
"What is wrong with you people?!" Alison lifted her head to see Spencer pushing through the crowd. "You all say that Alison is so awful, but you're proving yourselves to be no better than she was. In fact, you're worse. I mean, open your eyes. You're picking on a disabled girl in a wheelchair. Now, seriously, if you know what's good for you, get lost!"
The people around them might have made a spectacle of Emily's attempt to defend Ali, but they were scared shitless at the sight of an angry Spencer. The crowd dissipated quickly, many people rushing off silently to their next classes with wide eyes. Other people made sure to apologize to Spencer before running off down the hall. Even Mona left with narrowed eyes. Ali smiled to herself at the realization that even though Spencer hadn't abandoned Ali, she still had a lot of cred at this school. Clearly, everyone was still afraid of her, and Ali was glad to see that Spencer hadn't lost her popularity because of her blond best friend.
Spencer walked over to Ali with concern shining in her eyes. "Ali, what happened?"
"Cindy—Mindy—I don't even know who it was, but one of those psycho bitches hit me," Ali told her, finally feeling tears well up in her eyes; she didn't let them fall though, blinking them back before anyone had the chance to see them.
It seemed that Spencer had caught sight of the unshed tears though because her voice adopted a soothing tone. "It's okay, Ali. We'll put some ice on it."
"No, Spence. Go to class. We'll be fine," Alison assured, not wanting Spencer to have to miss class for her.
The brunette just shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere."
The three of them made their way to the cafeteria, which was deserted, save for the lunch ladies at the counter that were preparing the day's lunch. Spencer knelt down beside Ali while Emily went to ask the lunch ladies for an ice pack. The two of them sat there in silence, simply watching Emily, and Ali accepted the ice pack from her girlfriend once the other girl brought it back over. The three of them just stood there in silence for a few long minutes before Spencer finally spoke up. "What happened back there?"
Emily answered for Ali before the blonde could even open her mouth. "Mona brought a band of losers over to get back at Ali. When I got there, they were all saying awful things to her and apparently smacking her around as well."
Ali could tell that Emily was still angry by the way she was pacing back and forth with her arms crossed and her lips pursed. Spencer raised her hands in exasperation when she heard Emily's answer to her question. "I can't believe this! Maybe I should take you to your classes from now on. No one should approach you while I'm around."
Ali hesitated at Spencer's offer, and she looked warily at Emily. Ali would rather her girlfriend take her to class of course, but Spencer was right. If she took Ali to and from her classes, no one would even dare mess with the blonde. It would not only keep Ali away from Mona and her goons, but it would keep Paige away as well. The blonde could tell that Emily was thinking the same thing, but she didn't look happy about it.
"It's fine, Ali. I agree. Spencer has a reputation around here, and I'm just a loser. No one will bother you with her around, but I'm just making it worse," Emily said in a sorrowful tone, looking down at her feet.
Ali's face settled into a scowl. "Don't say that, Em. You know I don't care what people say."
"It's not about what people will say. It's what some people might do that worries me, and I don't want you to get hurt because of me." There was no doubt in Ali's mind as to who the 'some people' that Emily was referring to might have been. "Let Spencer take you to class from now on. It'll be better that way. Besides, you'll see me at lunch, and of course at home," Emily winked, and Ali couldn't help the blush that settled over her cheeks.
Spencer opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, another familiar voice spoke up, and the blonde turned to see Hanna striding into the cafeteria. "What are you guys doing here? You're supposed to be in class."
Emily raised an eyebrow skeptically. "We could ask you the same thing. Last I checked, you had a class to be in too."
Hanna shrugged. "I'm hungry. I came to steal a cookie." Hanna's brows furrowed as she noticed the ice pack that Ali was holding. "What happened to your face, Alison?"
"Some kids cornered me after last period, and one of them hit me." Hanna looked like she was going to say something more, but Ali cut her off. "I really don't want to talk about this anymore."
"Of course, Ali, but I'm sorry this happened to you. Despite what everyone here thinks," Hanna said with a distasteful grin before her features smoothed out again, "you don't deserve to be treated this way."
After Hanna stole one of the cookies in the basket at the counter while the lunch ladies had their backs turned, she came back over to sit with the others while she ate it. The four of them didn't talk much, and Ali didn't talk at all, too caught up in her thoughts. Her brain was still reeling with what had been said about her earlier. Could she really do nothing for herself?
After third period ended, Spencer and Hanna went to their next classes, and Alison found herself in Emily's car, the two of them going home again instead of back to class. Ali knew that this was something they had been doing a lot lately, and she knew she needed to stop at some point and just suck it up, but right now, she didn't think that day would ever come. The drive home was made in silence, Ali's head lying in Emily's lap and Emily playing with blond curls with one hand while driving with the other.
