Karla took a taxi through Rosewood streets and it pulled up outside Hollis Bar and Grill. She looked in the seat beside her at today's newspaper, on the cover was Alison DeLaurentis's face with 'Still Missing' above her head. Karla shook her head, grabbed her bag and left the taxi before paying the driver and walking into the bar. It had been a year since that night in the barn, Karla had always partially blamed herself for Ali's disappearance due to the fact she was messing around with her brother rather than keeping an eye on the girls. After the disappearance of his little sister, Jason and his family packed up and moved as far away as they could get, away from all the stares and questions. Aria was the next to go, her father took a sabbatical in Iceland and took his family with him. After that the remining girls drifted apart, Karla and Hanna never spoke of the night their best friend went missing. It was too painful, Karla's guessed that was why the group never kept in touch. All the memories they had together were with Alison, without her they felt like strangers to each other. Jason kept in touch for about three months before the letters and texts stopped coming, his last message was that his parents were sending him to Rehab to kill his drug and drinking habits.
Inside the bar Karla walked to the table in the back and took a seat before she ordered herself a pasta salad and a glass of wine. No one ever batted an eye at Karla's ID, it looked professionally done. It wasn't, of course, it was as fake as Prudence Finn's tits. While she was enjoying her food and multiple drinks that she was ordering herself, she looked up when the door opened and she stared wide eyed at the girl the girl who walked in. It wasn't hard to see that it was Aria, even without the pink in her hair and the goth clothes, she looked the same. Karla wanted to get up and say hello, but seeing the guy at the bar check her friend out made her stay sitting and smirk.
Karla sat nursing her 4th glass of wine while eavesdropping on the two at the bar
"Can I get a cheeseburger, please?" Aria asked the man behind the bar
"You got it." He replied. Karla watched as Aria spotted the wanted notice for Alison and looked down.
"You all right down there?" the guy that was checking her out asked
"I'm a bit jetlagged. I just got back from Europe." Aria smiled
"Where in Europe?"
"Iceland." Aria tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear. Karla smirked into her drink, that was a move Aria did when she liked someone.
"I spent some time in Reykjavik before I went to Amsterdam. It's a great city." The guy smiled and closed his book
"So, do you go to Hollis?" Aria asked smiling
"Just graduated. I'm gonna start my first teaching job." Hottie said grinning
"I... I think I'd like to teach." Aria smiled as a new song came over jukebox "God, I love this song"
"B26." The guy nodded "What's your major?" Karla raised an eyebrow, the guy obviously though Aria was in college
"Uh, well, I'm leaning toward English." Aria lied making Karla smile
"That's what I'm teaching."
"Well, and I write too, but... So far, it's mostly personal. Just for me." Karla frowned she didn't know Aria wrote
"I'm impressed." The guy smiled
"Why?" Aria questioned
"Well, I tried writing." The guy got up and slid into the seat next to Aria "I didn't get very far. You're lucky. If you're writing for yourself, It's pure passion. Maybe you'd let me read something of yours."
"Yeah?" Aria beamed "You'd really want to?"
"Yeah. You're smart, you've travelled, Great taste in music. I Like to know more about you." The man flirted
"Yeah. I'd like to know more about you too." Aria flirted back.
Karla stood outside the bathroom reapplying her lipstick when Aria and the guy came out,
"Well" Aria looked at Karla shocked as did the guy "Fancy see you here"
"Karla!" Aria hugged her tightly and Karla returned the hug
"So, aren't you going to introduce us?" Karla smirked looking at the awkward man
"Oh!" Aria blinked "Karla this is Ezra, Ezra this is one of my best friends Karla Marin"
"Hey" Ezra smiled
"Hi" Karla grinned "So I'm gonna go, I'll see you later" she waved and left the pub slightly swaying with all the alcohol she had in her system. When she got outside her iPhone dinged, she rummaged through her bag for it and checked her messages
Careful Karla, underage drinking is a crime. Then again it wouldn't be the worst crime you committed, now would it?
*A*
Karla stared in horror and shock at her phone
"Alison?" she breathed shocked
~The Six dolls~
"Aria? Emily?"
Aria and Emily were both interrupted from walking to English class when they heard a familiar voice call out their names. Turning around, they both smiled at Karla who was making her way towards them.
"Hey girls!" Karla grinned and they began to continue to walk to class.
Aria's eyes bulged out suddenly at the female at the end of the hallway, "Is that Hanna?"
"She's the 'it' girl now, well next to Karla of course" Emily informed her.
"Yep, baby sis is all grown up" Karla smirked "And where there's Hanna, there's Mona." Aria gaped again when Mona strode confidently next to Hanna. Mona had ditched the huge glasses and was thinner as well, dressed in tight revealing clothes and a face painted with makeup.
"Wow. Talk about a makeover," Aria commented in awe.
Hanna noticed them and gave a small wave, Karla winked at her sister before checking out Noel Kahn who was walking passed
"What's up with her? Are you two fighting?" Aria asked Emily
Emily shook her head, "We didn't just fall out of touch with you Aria. We all fell out of touch with each other."
The girls all walked into the class. Aria was surprised when Karla followed them in and took a seat at the back
"Since when is Karla in our classes? She's a junior" Aria said looking at Emily who frowned
"Karla missed the past school year. She was held back." She said
"Why did she miss school?" Aria asked concerned
"No one really knows" Emily shrugged "There are rumours of rehab or even Radley Sanatorium, but only Hanna and their mom know the truth."
"Poor Karla" Aria sighed, but then she spotted Spencer walking into the class and smile shyly at Hanna who smiled back
"They're not so close anymore either." Emily told her
"So they're friendly, but not friends," Aria commented with a sigh. Just then the new teacher walked in and began to write his name on the blackboard. The man turned and looked right in the middle of the desks where one girl in particular sat,
"Holy crap"
Karla smirked at the young, handsome and dark-haired English teacher who was staring wide-eyed at an equally shocked Aria.
'Oh, Aria you naughty girl' she thought
In fact, the whole class was staring between the two of them when Aria's phone rang and she embarrassedly opened her message after apologizing to the teacher.
"Uh, I'm Mr. Fitz, your new English teacher," Mr. Fitz spoke after Aria pocketed her phone again.
The next day after school, Karla found herself in the coffee shop sitting drinking a latte. She was playing with her phone a shadow cast over her, she looked up into a face she hadn't seen in months.
"Darren!?" Karla cried shocked, Darren Wilden – One of Rosewood's finest, and one of Karla's once best friends stood in front of her
"Karla" Darren smiled. It had been a while since they had seen each other, that was why it was hard to tell her the news. "Karla listen" Darren pulled a seat next to her "I need to tell you something"
"What's wrong?" Karla frowned
"The station was given footage of your sister – Hanna, stealing a pair of sunglasses. I was on my way to arrest her when I saw you come in here." Darren told her
"Hanna doesn't steal" Karla denied
"We have proof" Darren told her
"Please don't arrest her Darren. She's my sister" Karla pleaded, Karla had spent time in the holding cells before and it wasn't fun
"I have no choice" Darren shook his head, he made to stand but Karla grabbed his hand
"Just let her off with a warning." Karla pleaded "Do that for me and we can pick up from where we left two years ago"
Darren stared at the beauty in front of him, her outfit showed a lot of skin which pleased him and cause most of the blood in his body to rush south. Darren would be kidding himself if he said he hadn't missed the girl, but she was always Jason's girl, even when he wasn't around.
"What about Jason?" he asked, the last thing he needed was Jason DeLaurentis to put him back in hospital again
"Jason left" Karla stated bluntly "He stopped writing and sending messages after about three months. He's not here right now, you are" her fingers trailed seductively up his arm
Darren pulled Karla up by her arm and looked into her eyes, he moved his face closer before he paused for consent. Karla grabbed the back of his head and pulled his lips to hers. They stood for a few minutes at least getting reacquainted with each other's mouths. The pulled back panting
"I've missed you" Darren smirked and playing with Karla's hair
"I missed you too." Karla smirked "I forgot how good you were at doing that" she winked "So, will you do it?"
"Fine, but only for you" Darren nodded and smiled slightly when Karla squealed and hugged him
"Thank you!" Karla pulled back "Now make sure you say to my mom straightaway that Hanna's getting a warning or else she'll worry and try to seduce you into getting the charges dropped, I know my mom."
"Okay no problem" Darren winked before kissing her again ad leaving the building, getting into his car and driving away to arrest Hanna.
Karla sat back down in her seat
"Shit!" she whispered to herself. It seemed like all the feelings (good and bad) she hid away about Darren Wilden just came flooding back with one kiss. "Thanks a lot Hanna, now all I need is Jason turning up and my head will be officially messed with." Karla got up and left too, she waited back at the house for Hanna and her mom to come back from the police station.
~The Six dolls~
Karla had changed her clothes into a cream jumper with bronze sequins on the shoulder, light blue skinny jeans and cream high heels. She sat waiting for her sister and mother to return home from the police station. She only hoped that Darren did what she asked, Karla felt a little ashamed of using her body to help her sister, but her feelings for Darren ran deep. Darren and Karla met during Eric Kahn's party, Karla was 15 and Darren was 24. Their relationship had been illegal from the start, but to them age didn't matter. Their relationship had only lasted six months before someone found out and they had to end their relationship to avoid being outed which would cause Karla to be shunned by her peers and for Darren to lose his job. Karla and Darren adored each other very much during those six months, they would spend lazy days in bed during the holidays and weekends and go to the movies and take walks in the park. Karla knew how cruel Darren can be and how ruthless he was as a detective. That didn't mean Karla was ignorant of his wrong doings, in fact Darren and Karla often had problems on how he would treat women when they were together. Since their kiss earlier that day, that was all Karla could think about. Before she dated Darren, she was with Jason for a year, then they broke up because of his drug use. Then when Darren and Karla broke off their relationship, Jason swooped back in and helped comfort his ex-girlfriend. Jason was aware of how the two lovers felt about each other and if he was being honest, he was jealous. Three months after Darren and Karla broke up, Karla started dating Jason again which did not come as a surprise as nearly everyone knew how they felt about each other.
Karla looked through her phone when suddenly it rang, she looked at the caller ID and saw it was Darren that called her
"Hello?" she called into the phone
"It's done" Darren's voice came over the phone "Hanna got off with a warning, your mother didn't suspect a thing"
"Thank you, Darren" Karla smiled
"Your welcome" Karla could hear Darren's smirk over the phone "I have to go, I've got paperwork to go through"
"Okay, see you soon"
"Bye beautiful" Karla blushed and hung up the phone. She sat for a moment when she heard police sirens, confused she got up and left the house just as Hanna and Ashley pulled up in the drive way. Hanna got out the car and together they walked to where the noise was coming from. They both hurried when they saw the police cars and an ambulance outside the old DiLaurentis house. The sisters traded looks when they found two people pushing a body bag on a stretcher across the lawn, and they pushed their way forward.
"I heard the cops take Hanna to the police station today," they overhead Aria telling Spencer who stood at the front of the crowd.
"You don't think she'd ever talk about –"
Hanna interrupted Spencer, "The Jenna thing?"
"We made a promise, we aren't about to break it," Karla added, standing by Hanna's side and sharing a small smile with Spencer.
After a few minutes of watching the crowd disperse, Karla ran after Hanna who had run off back to the house with tears running down her face. Karla ran into the house ignoring the empty drive way and she found Hanna curled up on the sofa with the news on the TV
"The current owners of the residence were in the process of demolishing the structure to make room for a renovation project when workers made the gruesome discovery. The parents of the deceased were unavailable for comment, but a family spokesperson confirmed the gazebo was under construction. The summer 15-year-old Alison DiLaurentis disappeared. Tonight, the family is asking for privacy. As they come to terms with the sad ending to a year-long mystery, and local authorities are coming to terms with the fact a killer is at large in Rosewood."
Karla sat down beside her younger sister and hugged her to her chest and they both mourned the loss of their best friend. Karla opened her mouth to say something when there was a knock at the door.
"Stay here" Karla told Hanna who nodded, Karla got up and walked to the door, her heels clicking along the wooden flooring. She opened the door to find Darren standing there
"Karla" he breathed and frowned when he saw the tear marks on her face
"Darren" Karla sniffed and let him in, as soon the door was shut Karla found herself being pulled into a hug.
"I'm so sorry" Darren whispered, he may have known Alison very well but she was Karla's best friend
"What are you doing here?" she asked pulling away and wiping her eyes
"I came to see you. I needed you to know that I've been put in charge of Alison's murder case" Darren told her, wincing at the flinch he caused when mentioning 'murder'
"What does that have to do with me?"
"I means that I will cracking down on the you and girls." Darren said sadly "I have no choice, I can't be seen playing nice. I will not allow Alison's murderer to go free."
"You'll be accusing us won't you" Karla said sadly, she knew it was not Darren's fault, a lot of things happened that night last summer. It also wouldn't do any good to have Darren stopped being nice when he was not exactly none for being a nice man.
"I'm sorry." Darren looked down "I should go, I'll leave you to it" he cast a look to Hanna who had thankfully not looked over to see who was at the door
"Stay" Karla said before she could stop herself "Stay the night?"
"Karla, your grieving" Darren began but was stopped when Karla kissed him roughly. Darren knew he should pull away but he couldn't do it, so he let himself be pulled towards the stairs and up them. The two disappeared into Karla's bedroom not to be seen again until the next morning. The two lovers were so busy with each other they didn't notice the shocked tearful blonde that stood in clear view of the stairs watching them.
~The Six Dolls~
Two days later Karla woke in a bed that was not her own with a muscular arm wrapped around her hip. She rolled over to face Darren who was awake and watching her
"Good Morning" Karla whispered
"Morning" Darren smirked and brushed his hand over her naked chest
"I should get going soon." Karla stated sadly "Ali's funeral is in 4 hours"
"Do you want some breakfast before you go?" Darren asked concerned, Karla had been quiet over the last few days. Not that he'd been expecting her to be happy, but he had never seen her like that before, it was going to make his job even harder.
"No thank you" Karla kissed him softly before getting up and pulling on her clothes from the night before
"I'll be along at the end of the funeral, I need to tell the girls about the case" Darren was pulling on a pair of joggers
"Does it really have to be at the funeral?" Karla asked slightly angered "They should be able to grieve without suddenly being accused for her murder."
"I'm not going to accuse them" Darren shook his head and wrapped his arms around
"I'm sorry" Karla sighed "Today is not a good day" she turned in his arms and they kissed.
"I'll see you soon" Darren smiled "Do you want to come over later?"
"I think I'll spend some time with the girls. Tomorrow maybe" Karla kissed him again before she picked up her car keys and left the apartment, driving home to get ready for the funeral.
Karla and Hanna firmly held hands as they walked into the church for their best friend's funeral. They stopped by the coffin where they found Emily and Aria staring sorrowfully at it and Hanna reached out for Aria's hand with her free one while Karla did the same with Emily's.
"Poor Ali," Emily spoke up.
"Can you believe what a scene this is?" Hanna was referring to the reporters
"Half these people didn't even know her" Karla said looking around all the people
"Alison would have loved it," Spencer commented as she joined the four girls.
"Karla" Hanna nudged her sister and nodded to the younger male who was standing next to Mr and Mrs DiLaurentis. The man looked over and made eye contact with Karla
"Jason" Karla breathed, her eyes widening as her ex-boyfriend smiled at her before turning back to his parents. Suddenly Karla's phone went off, she quickly looked at the message missing the nervous looks from the other girls.
Looks like you're in trouble Karla. Big bad detective or Ex drug addict, who will you choose? Kisses Bitch *A*
Karla quickly silenced and locked her phone before looking around for any clues as to who sent the text. Finding no one, she sat down beside the girls at the front where Mrs DiLaurentis said they should sit.
Hanna rummaged through her purse and passed Emily a hip flask of alcohol.
"No thanks. I don't –"Emily began to refuse, but Hanna merely pushed it into her hand and said, "Today, I think you do."
Aria's cell began to ring, and the girls involuntarily stared at it with a terrified emotion across their face.
"Anyone we know?" Hanna asked in a would-be casual tone.
Aria shook her head defiantly, "It's just my mom sending me a text," she suddenly paused, her eyes scrutinizing Karla, Hanna and Spencer, before speaking in a trembling voice, "Emily and I aren't the only ones who got a message from 'A,' are we?"
They didn't have to say anything, but their faces said it all. Spencer suddenly gasped, her eyes widening at a girl that had just entered the church, "Oh, my God. It's Jenna."
The four other girls whipped their heads around and stared at the dark-haired girl in shock. She was walking with the aid of a young man they didn't know and wore sunglasses, depicting that she was blind.
Mrs. DiLaurentis moved toward the girls and said, "Did you see that Jenna Marshall was here? I didn't realize she and Ali were friends."
"They weren't," Spencer ground out firmly.
All conversation about Jenna was halted as the Minister began talking, "The lord giveth and the lord taketh away –"
Once the ceremony was over, the five girls rushed out of the church, desperately wanting to discuss the return of Jenna Marshall in Rosewood when a voice called out
"Emily, Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and …" Darren trailed off as his eyes connected with Karla, "And Karla."
"Do we know you?" Spencer spoke up, ever the curious one.
"I'm detective Wilden. I understand you were all good friends with the victim." Darren said
"Yeah we were." Aria said
Darren nodded, of course he already knew beforehand, "I'm gonna need to talk to each one of you."
"We already spoke with the police when Ali went missing," Spencer informed him firmly
Darren focused on Karla, "And I intend to go over every one of your statements. This is no longer a missing person's investigation. It's a murder. Rest assured, I will find out what happened that summer." And without allowing the girls to say anything, he walked away.
"Do you think he knows about?" Aria nodded her head towards Jenna who was entering a car.
"No. How could he?" Hanna negated instantly.
In unison, each of the girls phone blared with the arrival of a text. Hesitantly, they opened the text message and gasped.
"Oh, my God!" Aria exclaimed.
"It's from –"Hanna couldn't finish her sentence as Emily gasped out, "I got one too."
"This bitch is really starting to annoy me" Karla glared
Spencer began reading the text out loud, "I'm still here, bitches –"
"And I know everything. A," the girls chimed in, each of them staring at one another in horror.