ALL RIGHTS GO TO MARLENE KING

Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. - Neil Gaiman

Chapter 1: Bitch is back

Emily's POV:

When biology was finally over I walked into the cafeteria where I saw Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Alison standing surrounded by a bunch of students, including Mona and Lucas.

Mona showed us a video of what happened in the church and surprise surprise, Alison had lied. I had really thought that she had changed, but now she's starting with the loser Mona stuff again? I glared at Alison but she just walked straight passed Mona and into the bathroom.

"That's the last time I underestimate that bitch." She sneers, reversing back to the 15 year old Alison.

"How are you going to spin this one around Ali? We know you are a great liar so i'm sure this is going to be a good one." I snap back. If she thinks she can just go back to her old self and have us follow her around like lost puppies she's way out of her league.

"Everything I told you last night was true," Ali made eye contact with me for a brief second and I understood the double meaning in her words, "She slapped me first I swear it."

"I didn't tell you because I felt terrible about it." She continued, almost in a begging stance.

"Loser Mona, really? We're back to that again?" Hanna snapped, crossing her arms tightly.

"I know how it looks, but you know what she's capable of, I mean she set me up." Ali fought back.

I just stare at her, Mona may have altered that video but she didn't make Alison say those things. I can barely look at her, after last night I thought things would be different but I guess I was wrong.

"Mona has done a lot of things to trick us into believing things were real when they are not, I mean Spence you landed in Radley because of one of those elaborate stunts she pulled." Ali continued.

I was tired of her excuses.

"Maybe Mona deserved it, but you went out of your way to lie to us. Again." I snarled at her, walking out of the bathroom with everyone following after me. Everyone except for Alison.

I avoided Alison the rest of the day but when I had finally got home I sat in my room watching some old movie when I hear footsteps entering my room.

"How did you get in?" I ask, startled by her sudden appearance.

"Your mom let me in." Ali answered, standing there awkwardly.

I ignore her stare and let my focus return towards the black and white movie in front of me.

"Em, I know I screwed up. Em will you please look at me." She pleaded, her voice breaking.

As much as I wanted to ignore her, my heart ached at the sound of her voice, so I tore my eyes from the screen and stared at her face.

"Why wouldn't you just tell us the truth, it's so much easier than lying."

Alison walks over towards me and sits down but I refuse to look into her eyes because I'm afraid that if I do, I might forgive her instantly. Yeah, Love sucks.

"I didn't tell you the truth because I was afraid I was going to lose you." I hear the sincerity in her voice but I didn't want her to have power over me again. She doesn't own you, Em.

"Please." She whispered. Ali stretched out and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, a simple gesture that she'd done a thousand of times before.

I turn to face her, big mistake, her piercing blue eyes makes me lose my breath for a second. Ali looks broken but also desperate, like she needs me to forgive her. It reminds me of the day in New York.

When she notices me starring at her she leans in slowly, but my better judgement tells me that she's just doing this so I'll forgive her quicker, so I stand up and walk away from her.

"It's not going to fix this." I tell her coldly before walking out of the door.

Down the hall I hear the TV in my room, the police are talking about Alison's case. I walk back in and stand next to her, we share a second of eye contact but I turn my attention back towards the news.

When the detectives announced that they were going to be announcing who's in Ali's grave I text the girls SOS.

"Come on." I demand and grab Ali's wrist gently, pulling her downstairs with me. Neither of us speak as we wait for the others to arrive and luckily Spencer and Toby arrive quickly and so does Aria and Ezra. Now only Hanna. Everyone is talking to each other about who they think might be in her grave.

When Hanna and Caleb finally walk in I turn the volume up.

"Guys, it's starting." Spencer announces and everyone sits down, grabbing their partners hand nervously while Ali and I just stare at the screen.

The police start talking about Ali's mother and I hear her inhale a sharp breath and she automatically reaches for my hand, I accept it and our hands intertwine.

"..We've received confirmation tonight that the name of the victim that was buried alive on the DiLaurentis property was Bethany Young." We all share the same confused looks on our faces. Who was Bethany Young?

"..Bethany was from the Radley Institution and that she was believed to have run away on the night that Alison DiLaurentis was allegedly kidnapped." The officer continues.

"Did they just say allegedly?" Spencer asks worriedly. If the police finds out we've been lying, we are screwed.

Just as we were rapping our heads around the news, a loud noise went off and the windows shattered. We all feel to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Caleb yelled.

"Are you okay?" Aria asked.

I crawled over towards Alison and checked with my eyes to see if she was okay, when I saw that she didn't have any cuts or anything I grabbed her hand, helping her stand up.

We all run outside to see Toby's house on fire.

"Is there anybody in there?" Toby runs over to his house to check.

That's when our phones went off. I nearly fainted at the familiar sound.

Did you miss me bitches? - A

"It's from A." Aria stated.

"What does it say?" Ezra asked.

"Did you miss me bitches? - A."

"It can't be," No. A is dead, I can't keep living in fear, "Shanna's dead."

"Where's Toby?" Hanna asks frantically.

"I- I don't know." Spencer replies, looking around.

Why can't this bitch just be gone? What did we really do that was so bad to make us deserve this torture? My thinking was interrupted by Toby's house exploding. I quickly ran over towards Alison and ducked over her.

Before the police could show up we ran away from the scene and into my broken living room. We started discussing how this could be a possible new A.

A couple of minutes later everyone left, leaving me with time to think things through. My moms going to be home tomorrow, she's going to ask about the broken windows. Why can't my life be normal. My biggest worry right now should be what collage I'm going to, but no, now I have to worry about this bitch again and Ali.

Alison. The girl who has hurt me on so many occasions yet I still can't find a way to completely stay away from her, no matter how toxic she is for me. Love really does suck. I fall down on my bed and groan into my pillow.

Just as I was about to fall asleep I heard the doorbell ring.

I walk downstairs and open the door, surprised to see a familiar blonde standing there.

"Alison?" Why was she here this late? I can still see remains of tears prickling in her eyes and the sight makes my heart hurt.

"Em, do you mind if I sleep here tonight? I don't want to be alone." Ali has been starring at the ground this whole time, fiddling with her fingers, until she looks up and meets my glance. Her blue eyes meet my brown ones and I feel my knees giving up on me.

"Uh sure." I opened the door wider and we walked into my bedroom. My heart was pounding heavily agains my palms.

I left to go to the bathroom and when I came back I found her petite body draped across my bed. How can someone look this beautiful while sleeping? I lay down next to her, trying not to wake her up, but as soon as I crawl under the sheets she automatically curls up closer towards me, begging for my warmth.

I slowly reach my arm over her shoulder and start stroking her gold locks. After 20 minutes I feel my eyelids beginning to drop. Before I knew what I was doing I lean down and press a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"I hate how I can't stop loving you, no matter what you do." I whisper into her hair before falling back and into a dreamless sleep.

"When I woke up I felt cold, I looked down and saw that Ali wasn't here. I got out of bed and downstairs into the kitchen.

"Good morning honey." My mom says, giving me a hug. When did she get back?

"Hi mom, when did you get back?" And where is Ali?

"About an hour ago, I went into your room and it was freezing, Emily you should really close your windows." Mom answered, pouring herself coffee.

Did she see me with Ali? It's not like we were doing anything but I don't really want to explain why we were sleeping together at all.

"Di- did you see anything?" I stutter lamely.

"Only your open window." Mom takes a sip off her coffee, raising her eyebrows.

I was about to walk away when she stopped me.

"Did you hear what happened to Toby's house? It's awful," I nodded in agreement, "Good, so now you can tell me what the hell happened in the living room!" I cringed at the sound of my moms voice, she's rarely mad.

"The explosion caused some objects to fly through the window."

"Why didn't you call me or the police? Someone could have snuck in the house, Emily!" Mom yelled at me.

"I know, i was so tired, i wasn't thinking."

My mom nods and walks away with her coffee cup.

I run upstairs to my room to see a note lying on my desk, it was addressed from Alison.

Hey Em, sorry that I wasn't here when you woke up but your mom came home and I figured you didn't want to explain that so I left through the window. Xo - Alison

I blushed a bit when I read the 'Xo'. I picked up the note and put it in a special box where i've kept all special things between me and Ali ever since 7th grade.

School went by quick, and by lunch time Hanna, Ali and I sat down next to Spencer and Aria at our table. We started talking a little about Caleb when Ali suddenly brought out her phone. A worried look plastered on her face.

"Oh my god." She held it out in front so everyone could see.

"What is it?" I asked but instead of getting an answer she pressed play.

It was a video of someone burying her mother alive. I looked over at Ali's pained face and I wanted nothing but to reach out to her, but I didn't.

"Oh my god Ali." Spencer whispered grabbing onto her arm.

Ali's phone beeped again and a message popped up.

"I buried your mom the same way I watched her burry you. - A." Everyone sat in shock. We knew A was a monster but this time A had actually killed someone.

Ali sat still, barely breathing, before leaving the cafeteria and into her next class. I stood up, going to follow her but Spencer pulled me down.

"She needs to be alone, and we have class now." I debated silently wether I should ignore Spencer and follow her, but I guess she's right, Ali needs to be alone now. We left the cafeteria and walked into our next class.

"A killed my mother." Ali stated.

"Who could it be, Mona? Someone working with Shanna?" I ask.

"Or someone we haven't even thought of yet." Aria groaned.

"Spence are you okay?" I tore my eyes of Alison and looked over at Spencer who was a sitting statue.

"My dad didn't do it, I accused him of murder but he didn't do it." Ali stared at me with wide eyes and I gave her the same reaction.

"It makes sense why you thought he did." Hanna replied.

"Unless your dad's A." Wait what? Aria can't be serious. Spencer's father wouldn't put her through that much pain and misery.

We all raise our eyebrows at her.

"I'm sorry, just putting it out there." Aria said, defending herself.

"No he can't be, he thought that I killed Alison, now Bethany." Spencer said in disbelief.

"Some things never change, and now we are back to square one." Ali said.

We started talking about Ezra and connections from Ms. D to Bethany.

"I can't wait for answers, I need to leave town, now." Is she crazy? She can't leave, not when I just got her back.

"But you just got back here." She can't leave, I won't allow it.

"But the only reason I came back here was because I thought A was dead." No, I can't let her break my heart again. Just when I've realized that I still have feelings for her, she wants to run away? No way in hell.

After awhile Spencer, Aria and I left, leaving Alison with Hanna.