"So…" Emily said. I giggled at how worried she looked. She glared slightly at my giggle and I shrugged. She stuck her tongue out at me and her nose creased in a really cute way. Her eyes shined with… something. Maybe she was just as happy as I was. I hoped she was.

"Shall we just say it?" I laughed, noticing how nervous she was.

"Say what?" She asked. Her forehead creased slightly.

"We're Soulmates, Emily." I said smiling.

"No we're not." Emily told me. Something inside me suddenly broke away. My smile fell off my face like butter running down hot toast.

"Yes we are." I argued. How could she think we were anything but? We had freakin' Soulmarks to prove it. Was she joking?

"No, we're not." She said, totally straight faced. She showed no signs that she was about to smile and say 'gotcha'.

I yanked my sleeve harshly up my arm. Then I pulled her sleeve back and held my arm next to hers. "Look." She focused on a cloud just above us. "Look at us. Look at our arms. We have Soulmarks. Matching ones. Please. These are real. Our connection is real. You have to believe me." Emily wouldn't look at me. She wouldn't even look at her own arm. I held our interlocked finger up so they were eye level with her. Our matching Marks seemed to glow in the sunlight. Once again, a warmth spread along my arm towards my chest, but it was a good warmth. A soothing one, that made my heart beat faster and stoked the metaphorical fire within me and made my whole body tingle from my head to my feet. "Emily, please. How can you not believe in something that is literally in front of your face?" She didn't look at me. And I got irrationally angry all of a sudden. "How could you be so cruel? Some people search their whole lives to find their Soulmate. And we have matching Soulmarks. And I'm standing here in front of you, begging you to even look at me. And you won't even do that."

Big, warm, beautiful eyes the colour of chocolate turned to look directly into mine. Despite my anger, my heart skipped a beat. "Look, Maya. The thing is I don't even know you. I just met you today and I've found out you're my… Soulmate, or whatever. And I have a girlfriend. I've had to hide my Soulmark the whole day, because I knew if she saw it, she'd flip. Then when she did see it she decided it was for her."

"Where'd she get that idea?"

"I don't know. But the reality is that I can't just… leave her for someone I've literally just met because a few lines on my arm told me to. Ali and I have been together for two years. We've been friends since our first day of middle school." Emily said pleadingly.

"And I understand that, and I have no intention of being a homewrecker or whatever, but the fact remains that we are Mated. We have matching Soulmarks on our arms. We have a connection, and this kind doesn't just go away." I said calmly. Emily looked full of guilt. It made me feel a little bad.

"Please. You have to understand." Emily pulled a lock of hair behind her ear and looked at me in a way that suddenly made her look older, and more vulnerable. "I can't leave her. I don't know what she'll do."

I opened her mouth to ask what she meant when I was interrupted by the girl herself.

"Emily! Time to go!" Alison DiLaurentis screeched, approaching us. She clutched Emily's arm as soon as she was within range and started to drag my Soulmate away.

"Listen up, new girl." Alison shrieked, spinning to face me. "It's your first day, so I'll explain this in nice, simple words so you get the point. Emily is mine. Not yours. Mine. She will never be yours. I don't care what you think. Or feel. Emily and I belong together, and I'm not going to let some little home wrecking whore ruin it for me." I opened my mouth, to say… I don't know what, but it didn't matter whether I said anything, because she raised her hand and slapped me across the face. "Got it, bitch? Emily, we're leaving."

Alison DiLaurentis, I decided as she kissed Emily hard while maintaining eye contact with me, was a vicious, evil, disgusting combination of a bitch, a harpy, and a snake. I don't like believing the worst of someone, but there was no good side of Alison, not if the stories were anything to go by. I clenched my hands into fists. My nails dug into the flesh so hard I felt warm blood trickle down my palm and through my fingers. Without even raising my hand, I could feel blood trickling down my cheek, which felt like it was on fire. What kind of ring was she even wearing that was sharp enough to draw blood?

"Hi. You're the new girl. Maya, is it?" A red head with a swim team jacket approached me, smiling. I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. "You're bleeding." I nodded again, eyes trained on Emily and Alison's retreating forms. "I feel like it's Alison DiLaurentis' fault."

"How did you know?" I frowned.

"Not my first time dealing with the Ice Queen." She smiled. "Come with me, I've got a first aid kit in my locker." She grinned, beginning to lead me away. I followed.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Paige McCullers."