Blue ink. It was written in blue ink. And he had had a blue pen. A blue pen which most likely wrote in blue ink.

This striking revelation soared into Alison's mind that very day of the letter exchange, around lunchtime as she skimmed through her love notes.

All of them had been written sloppily, almost carelessly, and in pencil. All, that is, except for one which had been written in blue ink. From a blue pen. A blue pen that she had happened to see Lucas putting a cap on just hours before.

She shook her head. "I'm Alison, for God Sakes" she kept repeating to herself in her head, trying to prove just why the note shouldn't hold any worthiness for her. But for some reason, reading every line of the considerably cheesy note made her heart ache. What the hell was going on?

She had long since thrown away the other letters she had gotten, disgusted at how unbearably dull they had been, commenting simply on, what Noel liked to call her "Bang Factor" in other words, her sex appeal.

Lucas's was simple, but in a different, fascinating way. A way she hadn't had much experience in comprehending.

Before she knew it, her blissful thinking ceased as a crowd of "fellow populars" sat down at her table. since she was there, it was of course already deemed the "it" table, so anyone who mattered fought to get a seat near her. This was long before the days of Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily.

She stuffed the letter into her pocket and immediately went back to being herself, gossiping with her classmates about who had the best shoes and the best hair and what the weekend plans were. Noel squeezed himself into a position directly across from her.

"So guys," he said with a grin, calling attention to himself from all angles of the table, "did you hear what this sneaky one did today?" He gestured to Ali with his eyes and a raised eyebrow.

Alison responded good-naturedly, rolling her eyes jokingly and responding, "oh Noel, shut up, will you?"

"What she do?" asked Mason, sitting next to Noel. Their conversation continued for a few beats, excluding Ali other than the occasional glance her way.

She sort of zoned out, their words becoming muffled in her head, almost like it was playing in slow motion.

Then, she found herself shooting a glance slightly to the right at someone who just took a seat at a lonely table, fidgeting with a text book in one hand and a tray of nasty cafeteria food in the other which to Alison, looked less edible than the tray itself.

"Still the queen, right Alison?"

Right away, her attention snapped back into place, noticing that Noel had concluded his story of the days events. It was kind of pathetic, she thought, that Noels big news of the day revolved around something she did. Then again, everyones often did.

"I'll always be the queen," Alison answered confidently, giving Noel a seductive look, one she knew made him wild. He smiled, almost shyly and nodded.

"Hell yeah!" He agreed.

"In fact," Alison said "I think round two of operation: dork heartbreak can begin right now," With that, she stood gracefully from her chair.

"What are you gonna do?" Mason asked, his voice full of anticipation, eating up every one of Ali's motions with a delicious curiosity.

"Just wait," was Ali's only response, other than a wink of her eye, as she turned in a flurry of vanilla and made her way to Lucas' table.

Lucas did a double take as she approached, but as soon as he comprehended who she was, his mouth slid agape, as if unable to be closed.

What was she doing? for the slightest second, she felt uneasy. what was her plan?

She figured she'd wing it, do something totally humiliating to him and then trot off with a sinister glint in her eye. Like she usually does. So why, why, why couldn't she bring herself to do it now?

"Hi Lucas," she said, her voice coming out far more flirtatiously than she had intended. He didn't seem bothered. His gaping mouth resolved into a somewhat adorable smile.

"Um, hello Alison?" He said it as if it were a question, as if he wasn't really sure if it were really happening or not.

Alison opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't find any words to say. She looked at him. For the first time ever, she actually looked at him. She saw his dimples and his ruffled black hair. She saw his loosely fitting Tshirt and his tray of food sitting parallel to a text book.

but most importantly, she looked down and saw something sitting in the crease of his text book page. a pen. A blue pen.

Alison's mouth quivered, hoping words would simply effortlessly fall out, as they normally did for her, but instead she had to catch herself and bite her lip swallowing until she regained her composure.

this was her chance. She knew now that he had written that letter. Blast him! Humiliate him in front of everyone! make his face turn red with embarrassment and rub it in his dorky little face just how out of reach she was.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

What? was she ok? she glanced over her shoulder at Noel and mason and the others. Their eyes were transfixed on her but they were too far away to know what was being said.

She turned back to lucas. how embarrassing, to be tongue tied in front of a nerd like him.

"I just thought you should know," she began…but then her eye flicked back to the pen. she quickly drew her gaze up, settling that she would avoid looking that way anymore and focus on the task at hand.

"I just thought you should know, that…" once again, she was at a loss.

'Should know what?" Lucas asked, his smile turning to a frown of confusion and concern.

"You should know that red is not your color." Of course she was referring to the red t shirt he was currently wearing with the word Bazinga from the Big Bang Theory television show splattered across the front. that was a lie of course though. The red complimented his black hair almost perfectly. of course, she would prefer to see him in a shade of blue which would really pick up the blue of his eyes…What the hell was she saying? Since when did she give a crap about what he was wearing?

Alison huffed pompously and turned away from his table. Instead of returning to her own, she headed for the cafeteria doors. she couldn't bare listening to noel and mason drag on about what she did or, in her eyes, didn't do.

Instead, she turned her head back over her shoulder to meet Noels confused countenance and sent a wicked smirk his way, indicating that she had in some way poked the fire already started by the note she had written. Noel however did not notice when she turned back around to head out the cafeteria doors, how her eyes also caught a seconds glance of Lucas who had returned his attention back to his text book, chewing cutely on his pen, which, happened to be blue, by the way…

"Hey, I'm glad you came."

"Shut up," Alison said, continuing her beeline for the back porch of the abandoned house.

Lucas didn't seem to take any offense by the comment, and continued leaning on the decaying banister.

"So what did you want to meet me about anyway?" She said, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes. The whole three block walk to the house she had contemplated ways to appear agitated and bitter and had settled on arm crossing and eye narrowing in addition to her disdain filled voice which, she didn't actually have to put much effort into.

"I just thought we should probably talk. You know, we haven't really had a chance to do that in a while." Lucas gestured to the porch swing that hung firmly from two ropes. It almost stood out of place on the putrefying deck that had had little maintenance since the previous tenants had left it some five years ago.

When they had found the swing, of course, it was hanging delicately from thinning cords, barely able to withstand the weight of the wind. Lucas and Ali had taken it upon themselves to fix it up and clean it off so that they had a somewhat decent place to sit. But that was long, long ago. Now, Alison only wished she could set the entire property on fire.

Lucas made his way to his seat and patted beside him with a raised eyebrow.

"You're delusional if you think I'm getting up there." She huffed back, rolling her eyes and settling them on a nearby maple tree.

"Fine." Lucas responded.

There was a beat of silence before Alison spoke up.

"So you wanted to talk. Talk." She commanded.

"Alison, I'm not an idiot," Lucas immediately plunged right in, arising from his seat in an inspired haste almost as quickly as he had sat down. This took Ali somewhat by surprise and she refocused her gaze on him.

He continued: "I know you had something to do with what Mona told me. Don't think I didn't see you and your band of followers there."

"How dare you!" she practically screamed. "Whatever Mona told you, it had nothing to do with me. You can't blame me for all of your problems, Lucas!" She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. Why the hell had she decided to come here?

"It's not my fault little miss Mona turned out to be as much of a freak as we'd all expected."

"Alison, stop it," Lucas said holding a hand up.

"No, Lucas. You stop it!" With each word, Alison made her way up the rotting steps until she was face to face with him on the porch.

For a moment, they stood, both in bitterness and hate and confusion.

"Mona told me," Lucas whispered, still keeping his eyes locked on Ali.

"Told you what?" she practically growled, studying every inch of his face and torn between wanting to love it and wanting to smash it to pieces.

"About Jason," he said.

Alison practically laughed out loud, but she restrained herself. What the hell was he talking about?

"What about Jason?" she snarled.

"About his parties."

"Wow, there's a newsflash. Hate to break it to you Lucas, but the whole fricken world knows about those."

Lucas continued as if she'd never interjected.

"Well you should know then. Right? About how he was hitting on younger girls there. How he practically had sex with all the girls in our class even though he's four years older?"

That was a bit of an exaggeration, yet she did admire how he was as disgusted by her brother as she was so she let him go on.

"What's your point?"

"What's my point? Come on, Alison. I know you already know."

"Know what?" she genuinely asked. Damn, she hadn't meant to sound so interested. Still, she couldn't help it.

Suddenly, Lucas backed a step away and studied her countenance like only he could to feel for if she was lying or not. Then he frowned.

"You really don't know?" he asked, literally appalled.

Alison rolled her eyes. Hadn't they already established this?

"No, Lucas. I 'really don't know,'" she mocked him. "What?"

Then, the lightbulb went off. She didn't need to hear it, it was written all over his face.

"Oh my God," she whispered, finally comprehending. Then, her face twisted into a sinister smile. This was too good to be true!

"Oh my God!" she repeated. "Mona and my brother?"

Of course, most people would be humiliated and thrown off by such news but Alison was intrigued more than ever. This was like the ultimate blackmailing jackpot. She had known all about Jason hitting on younger girls and doing…well, etc., etc., with them…that was her blackmail all along. But this? This was pure gold!

"That's what Mona told you? In the coffee shop?"

Lucas ignored her question, pretty much proving she was right. He reverted to his sheepish, Lucas ways and avoided her gaze, now seemingly ashamed of letting the cat out of the bag.

"I don't know what you're so happy about," he finally said, realizing this whole meeting was nothing but a bad idea.

"No, you wouldn't, would you?" she thought out loud.

Lucas didn't hear her though as he made his way back to the porch swing and sat down. He laid his head back and sighed loudly.

"Jason's an ass. What can I say? And Mona…well, come on," she snorted, "it's Mona."

"Hey, watch your mouth," Lucas shot back at her. She rolled her eyes and continued,

"My point is, I agree this is all totally F'd up. But, regardless of that, none of it has anything to do with me. So what did you exactly plan on accomplishing by inviting me here?"

Lucas peeked through his hands that had at some point clasped desperately over his face. Then, he shook his head and answered with a moan.

"Honestly? I was going to tell you to lay off."

"Lay off of what?" Alison scoffed.

"Lay off of Mona!" He looked up with a raised eyebrow and a confused look as if she was stupid for not understanding right away. "And lay off of me." He added.

"Lucas," she began, gaining fury herself. "I. Did not. Do. Anything!" she made sure to say the sentence deliberately slow and with a bitter hiss. "What? You think I told my brother to go make out with loads of girls from my school? Please." She flung a strand of hair behind her and casually leaned against a post, turning to look out over the porch. She couldn't help but notice the small plot of soil near the rotting fence. She could almost smell the daisy's they'd planted all that time ago.

"We'll add some life to this dead place." Lucas had said, scooping out some dirt with his hand.

"They'll never grow," Ali had retaliated with a smile. But she was wrong. They bloomed quickly and vibrantly and Lucas made a point of picking one and tucking it behind her ear every time they'd met up.

Of course, those flowers had long since wilted away and now that space was nothing more than a barren black splotch. She tried to convince herself she liked it better that way.

"You know that's not what I mean," Lucas said, standing and coming closer to her, breaking Ali from her daydream. "Although, I can't exactly believe you had nothing to do with her telling me."

"Listen, Lucas" she spat, returning her narrowed eyes towards him, "you should be thanking me right now. So what? Yes, I got her to tell you. But that's all I did. Got her to tell you the truth. Truth I didn't even know! So you're welcome."

"Oh yeah?" he said, arching his eyebrow and crossing his arms almost mockingly. "And how'd you get her to do that, huh Alison?"

Ali and him were at stalemate at this point, both of them squeezing their arms furiously over their chests and sweeping over each others eyes with daggers.

"It almost seems to me like…" Lucas began, then stopped himself. He started to grin and laughed a bit. Alison, however was not so amused.

"Almost seems like what?"

He looked at her like she had a joke written plain as day on her face. She hated it.

"It almost seems like you were…jealous."

"Jealous?" Alison snorted.

Lucas' only reply was a further arched eyebrow and a slight turn of his head, daring her to say something. She knew she had to tread cautiously. It was an accusation that had to be answered delicately. Too much of a reaction would lead to him believing she was being defensive. Playing it off too much meant essentially the same thing. Great.

Suddenly, the dilemma became null and void. The sound of a motor chugging made them both turn their ears to get a better listen. The engine shut off and they heard a car door open and slam shut. They gave each other a questioning look, the previous conversation luckily being left behind as their curiosity rose.

"Hey Ted, get the lawn mower, will ya?" a first gruffly voice swept through the air right as a second car door opened and shut.

"Yeah, yeah Paul I got it. Although I still don't see why we have to worry about lawn work now! The family don't move in for another two months!" a second voice, apparently Ted's, said over dragging footsteps.

"Because," the first voice, Paul, responded, a bit strained as if he were lifting something heavy, "they paid us. And that's good enough for me. And it oughta be good enough for you too." Right then, there was a thud against the pavement. "There," he said, brushing his hands together.

Ted sighed. "I'll take the backyard," he shoddily moaned. Then, there was the sound of mower wheels rolling loudly against the driveway and then disappearing as they hit the grass. With that, Alison and Lucas looked at each other in question of what to do.

Lucas took charge and grabbed Ali's hand, yanking her aggressively off the porch.

She froze though and pulled her arm away in a quick thrust.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, looking at him disgustedly.

"C'mon," he whispered, apparently nervous to be caught…caught doing what? Standing in an abandoned yard?

Ali rolled her eyes and turned, determinedly walking the opposite direction. So what if it wasn't even the right way to her house?

"Alison," he beckoned, but she ignored him. "C'mon! This isn't some abandoned house anymore. You heard them. Someone owns this place now. We can't just be trespassing…"

"Give me a break!" she continued on her trajectory, but he rushed beside her, whipping her around to him.

"Ali, don't be stupid."

"How am I being stupid?"

"Ummm," he pretended to think, "because there's a perfectly easy way to sneak out of here that way," he said pointing behind him, "but instead you're going this way just to cause problems. Just to make a hassle out of nothing. This is so typical Ali, isn't it?"

What was that suppose to mean?

"Get over me, Lucas." She demanded, walking even more purposely in her chosen direction.

"Get over you?" he asked, with a grunt. "Alison, get over yourself."

That was it. Ali turned on her heel and headed back to Lucas, a pointed finger leading the way. "Where do you get off talking to me like that you conceded, arrogant, ass hole? You were nothing before me and you are nothing now!" she paused briefly just to admire how the color drained from his face. Then she proceeded "You go ahead, Hermie. Go running back to Mona. You two deserve each other. Maybe, when you're old enough, you two can raise some freak show kids together and have a wonderful time living on the safe side of life admiring each others boring predictability."

"Where the hell did that come from?" Lucas asked, obviously shocked, his brow furrowed.

Where had that come from? It was pretty much every ounce of pent up rage Ali had gathered since she had first seen Mona and him together.

Ali breathed heavily, not knowing how to answer.

"Woah,"

Ali and Lucas both turned to see a rather rotund man in jeans and a bit too snug white T-shirt clasping one dirt covered hand to his heart and resting the other on a lawnmower handle. Ali gave him a onceover and deemed that he was in fact a Ted.

"Who the hell are you! I wasn't expecting nobody back here," he said, swiping the back of his hand across his sweaty forehead. He was already out of breath from pushing that mower a couple yards? Alison imagined he'd collapse from heat exhaustion within the hour.

"We were just leaving," Lucas spoke up. Ali turned back to him, once again pissed he was talking for her.

"You two lovebirds better stay out of here from now on. Private property now, you know?" Ted said. Alison cringed at the word "lovebirds."

"I tried to tell her," Lucas said, shrugging. "But she just can't keep away. See, this is where we first…you know…" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

Ted's eyebrows shot to the sky in acknowledgment and surprise.

"Right…right back here?"

Lucas smiled and nodded in response. Ali couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Oh hell no…" she began, but Lucas elbowed her in the side.

Ted, clearly not being the brightest bulb in the box, wiped his brow again. Gross…

"Wow. Well, uhhh…"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll do better to keep track of her." Lucas clapped his hand on Ali's shoulder. She tried to shrug it off, but he clasped it tighter.

"C'mon babe," he said, forcing her forward. The two of them swept past Ted, Ali's face contorted into anger and annoyance. "We'll find another place to…make our own." With those words, he turned back to Ted and winked, as if being men they understood the secret code while Ali, being a girl, would completely miss the message.

Ali had to admit, it was funny when she turned back and saw Ted almost swallow his own tongue in astonishment. But, not funny enough to let the scowl on her face lift.

When they made it to the street, Lucas relinquished his hold on Ali and put his hands in his pockets.

"What the hell was all of that?" Ali asked, not bothering at all to keep her voice down from any wandering ears in the neighborhood.

Lucas rolled his eyes good naturedly, shrugging his shoulders. "What? Wasn't that boring and predictable?"

Ali studied his face.

"You're unbelievable." She muttered darkly.

"You have to admit. That was pretty funny. Almost reminded me of old times."

Alison swiped her tongue over the back of her clenched teeth.

There was a breath of silence that lingered between them as their eyes met. Then Alison snapped back into reality.

"Yeah, well…" Alison began, still looking at him. She shook her head and rallied a wretched sneer to her face.

"Dream on Lucas," she huffed grimly, forcing her feet forward and leaving him behind.

"Alison," he called after her, but she didn't bother returning to him. Instead, she simply turned her head and blew him a sarcastic kiss.

"Thanks for the all the info by the way," she said scornfully, "I'm sure it'll come in handy." And with one more fake wink, she reset her sights ahead of her.

She considered adding another derisive remark just for good measure, but she couldn't bring herself to turn around a second time. Because she knew if she did, she may let it slip that the whole ordeal with Ted had reminded her of old times too. And those times were far, far behind her.