Prologue:
Alison DiLaurentis, a Senior at Rosewood High, rapped her nails against the leather interior of the $150ph limousine as she waited for her companion to return from the gas station. She smirked, knowing his last ditch efforts will be to no avail as she has no intention of ever losing her bet with him, and sleeping with him later that night, so the condoms he is no doubt buying right now will be staying in his wallet all throughout the night, and she will be treating herself to a night at the Hilton on his dime.
The deal was simple. Win Nationals and be elected prom king and queen and she will finally put out for him. Otherwise, he'd treat her to a weekend stay at the Hilton to recuperate from the 'shame' and emotional toll of losing her title to someone else. Little did he know however that Alison had struck a different bargain with the head of the prom committee, who was supposed to be tallying the votes for prom queen and handing out superlatives, to rig the poll so that Hanna Marin would win -at Spencer Hastings's behest- along with Sean Ackard, the guy she'd been crushing on all throughout school but never managed to win over due to her disproportionate proportions.
It was sweet of Spencer to ask Alison to rig the election so her friend would win, and finally get to have a dance with her dream guy. And Alison would've jumped at the chance to put Hanna in her place and be a force for chaos, winning prom queen in her stead, and dancing the night away with the guy she'd been crushing on had she not already promised Noel that she'd have sex with him if she won. Considering the sex thing was the ace up her sleeve, she was reluctant to throw it away for nothing so she let Hanna have her day, but in exchange, she'd take something that Spencer wanted to have.
Spencer Hastings wasn't exactly the most popular girl at their school; too abrasive to really fit in but too pretty to be sidelined, she'd been stuck in an awkward place until Alison decided to include her in her entourage. However Spencer never seemed to realize the gift she was given, and often spoke out of turn or challenged her. Alison was growing weary of her ungrateful attitude and decided she had needed to teach her a lesson of some sort, so she had her sister's boyfriend kiss her and took a photograph of the event in order to show Spencer to stay in her place.
Spencer of course reacted negatively but she knew better than to antagonize her from now on. She'd been defeated and Alison had finally managed to bring the taller girl to her knees. In fact, to ask her to install Hanna as prom queen, she had forced her to crawl on said knees, in order to curry favor, and although begrudgingly, Spencer relented and sank down to her knees, bowing her head down, and crawled over to her feet, begging her for help.
And now that Spencer knew her place, it was time she learned how things work. You can't have something for nothing. You can't get something without giving something up in return. Alison had taught Aria that lesson a while ago when she took Noel from her; in exchange for keeping her father's affair a secret. Now it was time Spencer learned it too. So in exchange for Hanna's dream coming true, Alison would take something from Spencer. Something she'd wanted just as long, if not longer.
While it wouldn't serve her plans to take away something like Valedictorian from Spencer, because she fit her requirements for that role, being someone she controlled, who was naive enough to think they still had some agency when it came to things, that she could scapegoat if things went bad. But something like a title that came with no real power would be perfect. Something Spencer had coveted that didn't really mean much to anybody but herself. Something symbolic like the "Most Likely to Succeed" superlative, which she'd craved ever since her sister had been awarded it a few years ago.
So Alison would take the superlative Spencer needed to prop up her self esteem, the superlative she thinks will win some of her parents' love, knocking her down and teaching her a lesson while indirectly giving Hanna a confidence boost... until she realizes Sean has no interest in really dating 'hefty Hanna' and the humiliation finally gives her the motivation to shed the weight. She'd tried forcing her to diet before but with a lack of real motive whatever progress she'd made was marginal. And sure she'd wanted Hanna to pick up her act, since she made the rest of the group look bad, but had she really stepped in, she risked Hanna either hating her or becoming too successful and she didn't need the competition.
Noel finished shopping and let himself back in the car. He draped his arm around Alison, completely unaware of what the night has in store for them. Though while a Southerly wind breezes through town, it brings with it a change nobody had anticipated.