Here's the next chapter, as promised. Enjoy! Same disclaimers!
Alison stood in the Slytherin girls' dormitory, staring out at the murky lake and contemplating Spencer's last words. "Maybe we will." Was that a threat?
No, she assured herself. She wouldn't leave me. She's always like that, always getting in the last word. But she'd never leave. I just know it.
But look at Hanna, a little voice in her head pointed out. You thought you had her wrapped around your finger, and look where that got you.
"No, you're right," Alison said aloud. "Anything's possible. I've got to try harder."
"Talking to yourself, Dilaurentis?" a green-eyed brunette smirked from the doorway.
"Marshall," Alison answered stiffly.
"Who got you those?"
"What?"
"Those," Jenna pointed to not one but two boxes of chocolates sitting at the foot of her bed.
What on earth, thought the blonde Slytherin princess.
"Did you poison them?" she narrowed her eyes at Jenna.
"Please," Jenna rolled her eyes. "If I wanted to kill you, I'd be much more creative."
"Are you trying to scare me, Jenna?"
"Is it working, Alison?"
"No," Alison smirked. "I just love watching you try."
"You think you can make people bend to you," Jenna shook her head. "Use them to suit your desires. But you'll meet your match one day, Dilaurentis, and with it will come your end. It'll all boil down to a big show. And I'll be there. Front row, too." She walked toward the blonde in a snake-like manner until her face was merely half a foot from there. "It better be good. Wouldn't want to have wasted my precious Galleons, now, would I?"
And with another sinister smile, Jenna Marshall vanished as quickly as she came.
"Well," she sat up, pleasantly surprised to find two more boxes of my favorite chocolate boxes. "Somebody knows how to get to me. I suppose I should thank them."
She got up and skipped toward the Prefect dormitory of Ian Thomas. It felt nice going to his room again; ever since the incident with Melissa, both he and Melissa had had their eyes on her, so she'd had to be extra careful. Their interactions had, sadly, been limited to communal ones in the common room whenever he and Melissa had announcements for the rest of the house.
"What are you doing here?" To her dismay, Jason had answered the door instead of Ian.
"Where's Ian?" she demanded.
"Out somewhere with Melissa," Jason answered curtly. "Now get out of here before I tell him you came by again."
"Fine," she said stiffly. "Tell him thanks for the chocolates."
"Chocolates?" her brother raised her eyebrows. "He gave you chocolates?"
"Jealous?" Alison smirked, showing off her raspberry truffles.
"Those aren't from him," he shook his head.
"How would you know that?" she narrowed her eyes up at him.
"You can only get those from Hogsmeade, and trips have been cancelled indefinitely because of all the attacks," he replied. "He can't have gotten those for you. Not to mention Melissa would kick his arse."
"Whatever. Some brother you are, anyway." With a swish of her hair, she was gone.
Oh well, who am I kidding? She shook her head with a small, one-sided grin. He can do so much better than this. I was going to share these with him, but since he's off being controlled by her, more chocolates for me! She giggled as she ripped off the protective seal, ready to much on her favorite treats.
But what Alison Dilaurentis didn't expect was a clean, rectangular envelope with her name written in magenta on the front.
"I see you're stepping it up. Thank you for leaving a card this time."
She tossed it off to one side before popping a small truffle in her mouth.
"Oh my gosh, are those Honeydukes' World-Famous Chocolate Raspberry Truffles?"
Alison jumped at Mona Vanderwall abruptly interrupting her inner thoughts. "Mona," she growled under her breath.
"Can I have one?" she asked, the same wide, too-big-for-her-face grin plastered on her face.
"If I give you one, will you bugger off?" Alison looked at her exasperatedly, not willing to deal with the annoying girl's antics.
Mona gave a cheeky smile as she slowly devoured the truffle Alison gave her.
"So who gave them to you?" she continued. "These are really expensive, you know."
"How would you know?" Alison eyed her suspiciously.
"Who hasn't heard of them?" she giggled. "There was a special about them in the Daily Prophet the other day!"
The blonde girl shrugged as she placed the two boxes neatly on top of her trunk, making room for herself on her bed.
"Oh, Alison?" Mona's head popped in through the door.
"What, Mona?"
"I think you dropped this," she handed her the envelope that Alison had so carelessly dropped before Mona came in. "Maybe it came with the boxes?"
"Yes, Mona. Just put it on the table and get out already," snapped Alison, but by the time she looked up, she was gone. What a freak.
No matter how hard Alison tried to get back to her strategizing and contemplating about Spencer, Aria, and Emily, she found it impossible to do so with the meticulously clean white envelope glaring at her from her bedside table.
"Open meeeee."
The thirteen-year-old blonde jumped. "Who…who's there?"
"Alison Dilaurentisss," the envelope continued.
"Show yourself," she breathed.
"Alison…"
"Show yourself now!" she demanded.
Silence.
"I'm going insane," Alison shook her head. "I have to be, if I'm hearing voices."
"Down here."
Her green eyes automatically went to the envelope as she slowly reached for the envelope once and for all.
"Open…now…"
With a single swift motion, she broke the seal, and as she did so, a foamy sea green gas evaporated in the air.
"This isn't bonkers at all," she muttered angrily. What was so important that a stupid enchanted envelope had to talk to me inside my head, make me go crazy…?
Alison's face turned stark white as her eyes skimmed across the message.
Secrets don't stay hidden forever, sweetie. I'm watching, and I see everything.
Uh-oh, is this the beginning of "A"? And I know I said this was a prequel story, before Ali's death, but I was greatly inspired by the Halloween episode of Pretty Little Liars in terms of the tone, and I thought it was a good transition, especially since this story is slowly coming to an end. But don't worry, there will be a sequel, and much more to come! And about the voices Ali heard, if you're curious as to what it sounded like, I pictured the voices Harry heard before he learned he could understand and speak Parseltongue. On another note, this was Jenna's first legit interaction with Ali, other than just taunting people with Mona and Pansy, and I hoped you liked it! For me, she's just that bitch you love to hate! Ali's interactions with her and Mona are so different, yet so similarly creepy, and I wanted to show that.
Did I deliver with this chapter like I promised? I hope I did. Reviews and thoughts are appreciated! If you have any questions, post them in a review or send me a message! I love you all!