*THREE MONTHS LATER*
Ever since our kind of date in Broadwater, Emily and I had gotten much closer. That certainly did not mean things were perfect between the two of us. But, we had talked a lot about some important stuff. Including Paige. Emily said they were broken up, yet every time Paige saw Emily at school, she would act as if the two were still dating. I guess that just was not my problem to figure out. Currently, Emily and I were in the middle of History class finishing our presentation on JFK's assassination to the rest of the class.
"The bullet so would have not survived." Emily explained, pointing towards a picture on the interactive board.
"Yeah, and look," I said, putting my finger on a diagram, "Two fucking snipers." Miss Ballinger just totally ignored my foul mouth, reason number a million to love this teacher.
"Gun couldn't shoot that damn fast." Emily added.
"But who could?" I asked Emily dramatically. A pause.
"CIA agents." We answered seriously in unison and everyone laughed. We wrapped up the presentation and the teacher gave us some praise.
Since we were the last to present, the teacher just said, "Do whatever you like. You kids are over worked nowadays. Take a selfie or sext, or whatever it is you use snapchat for. I'm off to the teachers lounge. No snitches." And she left.
"She's not a very good teacher, is she?" I thought aloud.
"Better than teachers who actually make us do stuff." Emily answered.
I looked at Emily before asking, "What do you want to do?"
"I could think of a few things." Emily replied, flirtatiously. We had been flirting back and fourth for a while now, but it never went anywhere, sadly.
"You wanna hang out at mine after school, watch a few movies?"
I looked at her with apologetic eyes, "I have musical practice. I could come by later, but by later I mean about 7. We're being worked really hard." So Aria and I did get the parts in the musical. Aria got Frenchy and I got Sandy. Some girl got mad that I got the lead role even though it was my second choice, and for a few weeks or so I had been convinced she was going to pull some Showgirls shit.
Surprisingly, Aria had convinced me to go to a load of clubs with her; art, yearbook, photography, glee club (which I was disappointed to learn that it wasn't an exact replica of the show Glee), and dance club (which she was just awful at, but she was definitely one of the hardest working girls in that class). The clubs ran on a three week cycle, and I was busy almost everyday after school. I was in a load of clubs, not just with Aria. After the girls and I got closer again, we all decided to join different clubs together just for fun, and to meet new people.
Ever since we found out we'd all have to do an extra year at the school, we basically said 'fuck it' for the rest of this year and decided just to have fun. Now that –A was revealed and long forgotten, and Mona was back and in our little circle (she came back in time to snatch the role of Jan in the play), we were able to just enjoy our lives.
Trust me, if I tried to tell you everything you've missed, we'd be here all week. But you'll catch up, slowly.
"I don't think my mom would be happy about you coming round so late, maybe tomorrow?" Em asked hopefully.
"Sorry, track practice."
"What time does it end?"
"It's only an hour, so you could come and just sit on the bleachers and watch if you want." I suggested.
Emily's eyes lit up, "Yay! Of course I will."
I smiled at Emily and grabbed her hand under the table. She ran her thumb up and down the back of my hand and I leaned my head on her shoulder. That day, I felt incredibly tired. History was boring when you were just allowed to sit there and do nothing. Quickly, Emily pressed a kiss to my temple. Emily grabbed her phone and put it in front of us, Snapchat open.
"Take a pic with me, I need to post something on Instagram or everyone will think I'm dead." She commanded and started going through the filters. She decided on the flower crown one. We took a few pictures and she posted the one where my eyes were scrunched up and I was doing a cute smile. My phone buzzed and I knew it would be updating me that Emily had posted the picture.
"I'm bored." I whined into her shoulder.
Emily huffed, "The bell's gonna ring any second now, Al, chill."
Being my petty self, I began to count the seconds out loud. When I got to around thirty, the sound of the bell blasted through the school. Hugging Emily goodbye, I kissed her cheek and made my way to the auditorium. Now I know to some of you it may seem that Emily and I had something going on, but that's just how we naturally acted around each other. We hadn't even kissed this year!
"Hey, pretty lady." I heard Mona greet me when she came up from behind and started walking next to me.
"Hey, Mona." I smiled and took her bag for her, because I was that considerate kind of person from now on. She asked me what scenes we were rehearsing today and I told her that we were doing dialogue only scenes, no musical numbers. She groaned and said that she preferred musical numbers.
"Really? I love both." I replied as we opened the auditorium doors to be greeted by a happy Aria. She looked over-caffeinated, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
"Ali, Mona! Guys, I have amazing news." She said as she bounced over to us. Being near Aria and her energetic nature made me instantly a bit happier. A massive smile carved itself onto my face.
"What is it, Ar?" Mona asked from beside me.
She smiled ever widen and I leaned over and swapped my raspberry iced tea with her Starbucks blonde roast, which had so much caffeine in it I was shocked she hadn't just dropped dead from drinking one a day for the last month.
"They changed the plan for today, we're doing Summer Nights!" The tiny brunette beamed.
"Well there you go, Mona." I laughed as I looked over at the other brunette.
"DiLaurentis! Montgomery!" Mr Hanley shouted from his seat behind the desk in the audience.
"God, is he ever happy?" Aria wondered as we went up to the teacher.
"Yes, sir?" I asked and Aria stayed close to my side.
"Bedroom scene, now." The teacher deadpanned.
I grabbed Aria's hand and dragged her up on stage, where Laila – the girl who was playing Rizzo – was waiting. She looked at me and motioned to the teacher, rolling her eyes. I laughed at the gesture.
"Okay, and go!" Mr Hanley directed, signalling the start of the scene. All the students sat down as the three of us began our scene on the well-made replica of the bedroom. Props to the set designers, really.
Taking a seat in the chair next to the bed Aria and Laila were on; we focused on the TV screen as a jingle for the Vince Fontaine show was played.
"Hey, Frenchy, throw me a cigarette, will you?" 'Rizzo' asked, and 'Frenchy' reached over and got a fake pack of cigarettes.
Aria looked over at me, "You want one, Sandy?"
"Oh, no thanks. I don't smoke." I answered and smiled.
Laila looked over at me, "Ah, go on try it. It isn't going to kill you."
I took the packet out of her hands and took one out. Pretending to inhale, I began to cough wildly.
"Oh, I should have told you, don't inhale if you're not used to it." Laila laughed.
Aria grinned kindly at me, "That's okay, Sandy. You'll get better at it. Then I'll show you how to French inhale." Aria took the cigarette to her lips and inhaled some of the 'smoke' inside and let it rise up slowly from the corner of her mouth, "That's really cool." She finished. I smiled as she said the line, remembering how much trouble the three of us had with it at the beginning. The first time we laughed so hard the teacher had to move onto the next scene.
"That's the ugliest thing I ever saw!" Exclaimed Laila.
Shaking her head, Aria said," Nah, the guys really go for it. That's how I got my nickname, Frenchy."
Laila cackled, "Sure it is." She looked to me and smirked, "I almost forgot! A little sneaky drink to get the party going." She cheered and pulled a bottle of fake Italian wine out of a brown paper bag. She took a swig of the 'wine' (Which was just half full of water) and handed to Aria, who mirrored her actions.
"It's kind of sweet. I think I like Thunderbird better." Aria admitted and Laila rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, suit yourself. Hey, Sandy didn't get any wine." 'Rizzo' pointed out and gestured the bottle in my direction.
I shook my head and smiled politely, "Oh, that's okay. I don't mind."
'Rizzo' raised her eyebrow at me, "Yeah, I'll bet you never had a drink before, either."
"Sure I did, I had some champagne at my cousin's wedding once."
We got through the rest of the scene okay, skipping over the song.
At half six, while the boys were practicing a scene, I sat down in the audience and pulled out my phone to find that the Instagram group chat with the girls had gone insane. The chat's name was always changing, and right now it was called 'Midnight Man'. From beside me, Aria and Mona both pulled out their phones and went on the chat. The most recent message I read was from Spencer, which said 'Albert Einstein didn't die for this' and I snorted. Swiping my phone open, I caught myself up on what had happened, discussing it with the girls next to me. Turns out that Emily and Spencer were arguing about some kind of women's rights issue while Hanna just sent pictures of Homer Simpson and RuPaul and said stuff like 'Furrie convention' and 'Fuck that'.
Spencer: that literally doesn't add up
Emily: IT DOESN'T MATTER
Spencer: what do u mean 'it doesn't matter' its literally what you've been talking about for the last two hours
Hanna: Crackheads have superpowers
Spencer: Em literally they did that to themselves
Emily: Well it's half of the fucking world
Spencer: not really no
Emily: u still can't say its fair
Spencer: nothings fair
Hanna: Edwin sizzle hands
Aria: ok Hanna me too
Mona: whats the T
Alison: don't
Spencer: do u think men r treated fairly
Alison: well bc they're the leaders of the world practically they treat themselves so yeah
Spencer: see Ali agrees that they cant be treated unfairly bc they have a position of power that theyre still not giving to women
Mona: they have a point, hun
Hanna: I wish Pluto were a planet again
Aria: me too
Emily: fine lets just drop it, I guess ur right
Spencer: HA THAT'S WHAT TAKING DEBATE GETS YOU BITCH
Hanna: GUYS LOOK AT THIS
Hanna sent a video of Jeffree Star.
Hanna: NO ONE SHOULD LOOK THIS SCARY
Hanna: why did the video not send ok
Hanna sent it again and Aria laughed.
Hanna: oh it did send
Hanna: my head hurts did it send
The three of us laughed as Hanna sent it a third time.
Hanna: just in case
Alison: You sent that 3 times
Hanna: it's like 3am
Alison: It's 6:30pm
Hanna: oh
Hanna: well
Hanna: it's just not the right time rn
Hanna: gorilla hour rlly
Hanna: yeah me too
Alison: Gorilla hour
Hanna: wait hold up
Hanna: why can I not stop thinking about aeroplanes?
Hanna: like
Hanna: theyre actually magic
Hanna: how do they fly?
Hanna: woah
Hanna: fucking hell
Alison: idk it's got to do w genetics or some shit
Hanna: isn't genetics animal tho
Alison: No its like the wirey things in electronics
Hanna: oh sorry I'm bella throne
Alison: You dumb bitch
Hanna: sorry I'm bad w RE
Mona: I want to go to a haunted hotel
Mona: I wanna go do a load of scary stuff
Spencer: we should do an Ouija board under Suicide Bridge
Alison: YES
Emily: NO
"Okay everyone, good rehearsal today. You're all free to go for the day. Rehearsal is cancelled until the 12th because the glee club needs the auditorium for rehearsal. Most of you are probably in the glee club anyway, right?" Mr Hanley asked and around half of the room muttered some sort of 'yes'.
The three of us walked out of the auditorium and headed towards the parking lot.
"I'm hungry, you guys wanna get dinner at The Grille?" Mona asked, getting into Aria's car (which we had both ridden to school in).
"I'm up for it. What about you, Ali?" Aria asked.
Without hesitation, I answered, "Fuck yes."
A/N: I hadn't realised it's been so long since an update! Sorry for the long wait, but here's the new chapter. Before you ask, you will find out what happened during those three months, and I did the flash forwards because a lot of people told me not to focus on –A or didn't care if I did or didn't. The texts between the girls is actually a shortened version of a conversation I had with some of my friends aha. I'll probs focus a bit more on Ali and her friendships w the girls to stop her and Emily rushing into things. And you'll find out why the girls have to re-do their senior year, even tho it's a little bit obvious. Let me know how u felt abt the formatting of this chapter, bc I'm still a little bit unsure. Please please please review! –Maisie
