"Em, ready to go?" Alison asked me, the next morning. I stood up and she pecked my gently on the cheek. I smiled and nodded, I looked at her, admiring her silently. You know when there are those people and you just… you can never get mad at them, no matter what they say or do? Well Ali's one of those people. What can I say? I'm in love.

She was fully clothed and had my clothes in a folded pile on the edge of the bed. She walked behind me as she began making the bed.

"You seem tense?" She said in a bit of an accusing tone. I nodded, agreeing. "Why?" She sounded concerned.

"I'm just a little nervous about the swim meet today." I answered, and I was, but I was also worried what she was going to do about Ben.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine, I know you will, you always do. And besides, I'm going to be there the whole time." She said smirking, Alison always smirks. "And Aria, Spencer and Hanna will be there." She added on.

"And… Ben will be, too." I said hesitantly. I felt like screaming and crying all at once. But I couldn't, not with Alison here. I didn't want to add another thing Ali could hate Ben for. When she was done making the bed she walked out the door, talking as she went.

"It'll be fine, I promise." She told me, her voice silenced as she walked down the stairs and I could no longer hear her. I finished putting my clothes on and I went out to the car that I borrowed from my mom for the weekend. She was out of town with her friends, and my dad went with her. Neither one of them knew I took the car, and I hope it stays that way. I had the whole weekend alone. Ali was in the driver's seat. I hopped in and buckled.

"Ready?" She asked me, not really caring if I was, and I nodded. On the way home we talked about the swim meet for a while. But I changed the subject pretty quickly.

"Ali… what are you going to say to Ben?" I asked, staring at the cars in front of us, some going faster, and some going slower, we zipped past some, while others zipped past us.

"It will be… an in the moment thing. Don't worry about it, okay?" She said it as if it was a question, but I had no choice; whether it was okay or not okay. This would be one of those times where no matter how much I asked, she'd change the subject, and there would be no way I'd get a real answer. So I dropped it. The silence broke with Alison's curiosity.

"When?" She asked.

"What?" I answered. But I knew what she meant. I just wanted to hear it before jumping into an answer.

"When did he do it? How long ago?" She answered me, and I had no choice but to tell her.

"I told you last night… he did it a few days ago, and he won't care what you do. He'll only do something worse if you say anything." I said, my voice getting louder and louder as each word escaped my lips. Her facial expression twisted with pain in her eyes, a frown appearing. "Sorry… I'm just really worried, Ali." I said quietly, cowering down. I felt terrible, I tried not to yell at Alison, but it was hard sometimes.

"Well you have nothing to be scared of. I won't let him hurt you. Not ever again." She told me and I almost began to believe her, but how could I when everything in me was screaming for help and no one could give it to me. Could Alison really make a difference? I would assume the answer to that question would be no. Nobody could.

Alison and I arrived at the swim meet fifteen minutes early. Spencer greeted us at the door, smiling, but looking suspicious.

"Hey, Spence," Ali said, smiling sweetly at Spencer. Spencer stared at us, looking from me to Alison, she had a confused expression on her face; the one she usually wears when she's debating something in her head.

"Something wrong, Spencer?" I asked. She shook her head, but kept the same expression with her furrowed eyebrows. "Well… I have to go to the locker room and get ready, we'll talk later." I said as I began backing away from our little triangle, we looked like the gossip girls, and as true as that may have been at times, it bothered me.

Starring Role, a song that perfectly described mine and Alison's insane relationship, jingled quietly, it sounded muffled. I pulled my cell phone out of my purse, and read the text I'd just received.

How would your mom feel about you and Ali?

-A

I stared at my phone in silence, confused, the number was blocked.

"You okay, Em?" Someone asked me, I didn't bother looking.

"Yeah, I'm… fine, I'm just a little worried… about the meet." I told her, I walked to my locker and entered the combination. I put my swimsuit on and my hair in a ponytail, I placed the swim cap on top, covering every bit of hair I could. I grabbed the goggles and brought them out with me. I went over to where my team was meeting and we talked strategy. I wasn't listening; instead I went through all of the possibilities. Who could be A? Was it… Ali? No, it couldn't be Ali, why would she do that? I mean, I knew she did things like that a lot, but she wouldn't do it about that. She wants to keep it a secret just as much as I did… right? Maybe more.

"Is that okay with you, Emily?" The coach asked me.

"Wait… what?" I asked her, I was totally out of it. Everyone looked at each other, they all looked unsure of whatever they had decided upon.

"Paige didn't show up tonight, will you be our anchor swimmer?" She repeated. I nodded slowly, considering it.

"Um… sure," I said, forcing a smile.

"Emily, are you feeling alright?" Coach Fulton asked me. I nodded, hopefully I was reassuring enough. I began explaining why I was acting weird.

"I just… didn't get a lot of sleep last night, and I'm a little nervous… and…" I finished, she looked worried still. "I have to go to bathroom." I told everyone, dismissing myself. I made eye contact with Alison, urging her to meet me in the hallway. I waited outside the door, pacing. She walked through the door, and grabbed my hand. It was somewhat surprising, but it could have been a possessive gesture.

"Did you send this message to me?" I asked her, pulling my phone out of duffel bag. She looked at me as if I was crazy. I unlocked my phone and went to my inbox, showing her the threatening message. She shook her head.

"Emily, if anyone finds out about us, I'm screwed." She said getting quiet. I nodded agreeing, because I would be screwed too. Just then Ben walked past us, he winked at me.

"Can I talk to you?" He looked at me casually, like nothing was different. This didn't surprise me, he's been acting as if everything was the same since the whole thing, but Ali was very surprised.

"Sure you can," Ali answered for me, staring him down. He walked over and attempted to kiss me, I dodged it the first time.

"Come on, Em." He said, smiling playfully. He grabbed my wrist, and pulled me in for a kiss, he had a tight grip that I couldn't get out of. But I moved my head, so he kissed the side of my neck.

"No, Ben, stop it." But he kept trying to kiss me. "Ben, get… get off of me." I told him, Ali tried to pull him off of me, she ripped his hand from my wrist, and I realized that I was in the most unbearable pain.

"Does it look like she wants to kiss you, you sick pervert?" She said through gritted teeth him, he started backing down.

"I… have to go, the swim meet is about to start," I said with an apologetic look on my face, but when I went to open the door, I couldn't, it hurt too much. Ali walked over to me and held my arm up to examine it.

"There's a mark there." She said blankly, her eyes showed the emotion she was really feeling; fear.

"They're counting on me." I said, leaning against the wall and slid into a sitting position on the ground as I spoke. "There's a medical specialist inside, or there usually is, we'll go talk to him, and… and he'll figure it out." I said, finally looking Ben's way. He just stared, but when Alison looked at him he turned his head, facing the wall.

"Do you see what you did? And I also know what you did the other day, I suggest you leave Emily alone, Ben." Alison said, her voice sounding more furious than I've ever heard. She helped me stand, and she opened the door for me. I stood by the entrance as she walked to Coach Fulton to tell her the news. Coach walked over to some guy leaning against the wall and brought him to me.

"Can I take a look at your wrist?" He asked me, a serious expression on his face. I nodded, near tears, and he lifted my arm to examine just how Alison had done. "Does this hurt?" He asked me before gently squeezing parts of my wrist at a time. I winced in pain as his finger touched my arm. "I'm pretty sure it's broken, you're going to need to visit a doctor, understand?" I , disappointed.

"Aren't you supposed to know this stuff?" Alison glared in his direction.

"I don't want to give you false information," he seemed so serious about his job. I grabbed Ali's arm with my other hand and tugged lightly, only hoping to get her attention.

"My mom will take me." I lied, Ali grabbed my hand and brought me over to where she had been sitting with Spencer, Aria and Hanna. She looked at me as if asking my permission to tell what really happened, I shook my head.

"Emily, what was that about?" Aria asked, and I just looked down, waiting for Alison to do the explaining.

"He specializes medical attention. She slipped in the hallway, he thinks she broke her wrist." She told them, she rolled her eyes angrily at the fact that he didn't know for sure what was wrong. Hanna rolled her eyes too, Aria's eyes widened and Spencer had the same look on her face as earlier.

"Do you want us to come to the hospital with you?" Spencer asked. I shrugged.

"If you guys want to come with us… of course you can. I don't want to make you, though." They looked at each other simultaneously, all agreeing.

"I'm driving," Ali announced. No questions were asked, we all walked out together in silence. I sat in the front seat. Ali slipped her hand into mine, where her fingers fit so perfectly in normal circumstances. I held back a yelp. She pulled back immediately and I swallowed. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out. It was an email.

Do you think the girls noticed? I know I did.

-A

There was an attachment this time, it was Ali and I in the car last night, when she was undressing me, and we were kissing… I shut my phone off immediately. I stared at the ground. We stayed silent throughout the car ride. When we got there I asked Ali to help me find the bathroom. When we finally found it, I couldn't decide what to say…

"Ali, how did he… or she, or… or it get the video?" I asked. "They were watching us the whole time, that's really creepy." I told her.

"Emily, nobody could have taped that but you or me, and I sure as hell didn't do it." She said accusingly. I stared at her in awe... I couldn't believe she thought it was me. I would never do that, ever. I wanted to keep it a secret just as much as her. We stood outside the bathroom as she yelled and I started to get impatient. My eyes watered at the thought of her thinking I could have done that.

"Please, don't be mad, I promise Ali, I promise, I swear, I didn't do it. I would never do that to you. The question isn't who did it anymore. Do you think this 'A' person is bluffing or being serious? Do you really want to take that risk; do you really want the whole entire school knowing?" I asked her. What if… it told everyone? What if it sent the video to the whole school?

"Em, I believe you. We just need to figure out who this is and give them a taste of their own medicine. What if it's Ben?" She said contemplating the thought. I shook my head in doubt. A tear fell gently from my eyes. "Emily, are you okay? What happened?" She asked me concerned.

"My wrist just… really hurts. I need to go see a doctor." I told her, holding my wrist lightly. She hugged me and made me follow her to the desk.

"We were at a swim meet and she slipped and fell, the medical advisor said we should come here and get it checked out immediately." She told the receptionist.

"Okay, well here are a few forms you can fill out and after you're done you can take a number and-"

"He said immediately," she said impatiently.

"I'll need to see some ID," she told Ali. I looked down. We had to have someone over 18, didn't we. She pulled out a fake ID.

"My name is Vivian Darkbloom, here's my ID." She examined the card thoughtfully.

"You're a brunette in this photo." She said with a suspicious expression.

"Ever heard of hair dye?" Alison asked her, her tone getting worse and worse by the second. I could tell the lady was getting ticked off. "Listen, she's really hurting and…" Alison went on and on, flailing her arms to emphasize, until she hit my wrist by mistake. My eyes flooded with tears as I tried not to cry. She turned around to face me. "Oh my God, Emily... Emily I'm so sorry!" She said. I could barely breathe as I tried to hold in the tears.

"It's… oh, it's… ouch. It's fine." I finally got out. My voice got all high and I finally started crying. I tried as hard as possible to pretend that it was nothing. She was finally showing emotion. And really this time.

"Please, just get a doctor out here as soon as possible, like now, to come and look at this, I'll fill out the forms in the office, but I can't stand to see her hurting like this. Please." Exasperation sounded in her voice. The receptionist nodded and walked to the back room.

She came back out with a man. "This is Doctor Kane, here are the forms, fill them out while you're in there with her." The nurse talked to Alison mainly, treating me like a child. Spencer, Aria, and Hanna were still standing by the entrance, watching the scene Ali had caused. They came over to us and joined the circle of conversation.

"Is everything okay?" Aria asked. I nodded responding to her concerns. "Em, why are you crying?"

"Aria, if you broke your wrist, I'm sure you'd be crying too." Alison snapped at her.

"I'm Doctor Kane, you must be Emily, and you must be Vivian." He said giving a small glance towards the both of us. "And are these friends of yours?"

"Yes, this is Aria, Spencer, and Hanna." I said pointing to each one individually, through tears.

"I'm afraid they'll have to wait out here, we'd like to have the smallest amount of people in the room possible. Vivian of course, you can come. You are the legal guardian, correct?" He asked pleasantly.

"Yes sir," She answered with her artificial Alison smile that she gives to people that she finds annoying. It was really obvious to all of us that she didn't like him, but he took it with a grain of salt and went on.

"Alright then, if you'll just follow me." He said and turned, he started to walk. Ali and I trailed far behind.

"Emily, I'm so sorry for hitting you. You know I didn't mean to." She said and I laughed.

"Alison, I know it was an accident. I'm not mad, believe me. I could never get mad at you. And… it didn't even hurt that badly so you have nothing to worry about." I explained smiling.

"Obviously it did hurt, Em." She said, and I nodded.

"A little," I answered still nodding. "But, it doesn't hurt as bad anymore. It only hurts when I touch it. She was on my right and we held hands as we walked down the hallway. We walked into the doctor's office and dropped each other's hands. I sat on the bed and he started examining my arm. I stared at Alison, she's so beautiful, and the way she curls her lip while she's concentrating is so cute. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Come on to the X-Ray room please." Doctor Kane asked me. I followed him in there and he asked Alison to stay, she sat down and began to fill more forms in. While the X-Rays were being taken, I thought about Ali and everything that had happened between the two of us recently. Doctor Kane came into the room and asked me to follow him back to the other room.

When I got there Alison stood up. She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the doctor to announce how bad my wrist was.

"It's broken pretty badly. You'll have to wear a full arm cast for a while. You'll come see me in a month to see how well it's healing." He told us, I nodded. "If you'll just follow me over here so we can get a cast on you?" he asked. "And Vivian please wait here, I'll need to talk to you about the expenses." He said, nodding her way.

"Can't we do that in the front?" She asked.

"I'd prefer not to," he said back. I followed him to a chair where I was supposed to wait. He walked off, a man walked up to me.

"What color cast do you want?" He asked me.

"Can I go to the bathroom first? I need to go pretty bad." He nodded and pointed towards the bathroom. I walked off, but instead of using the bathroom I went to the outside of the room Alison was in, there were no doors, just curtains, so I decided to listen in. I needed to know how much it was, because if I didn't have enough, that meant my mom would find out.

"There was a mark on her arm as well; it doesn't look like she slipped. It looks like she's being physically abused." He told her.

"She has a boyfriend… I suspect it was him. I'll talk to the school district." I heard Ali say. I heard footsteps, and I began walking back to the chair.

"So, what color cast did you want?" The guy asked me. His name tag read 'Logan.'

I shrugged. "Pink, I guess." I answered. He walked off to get the materials for the cast. I pulled out my debit card and handed it to Alison who had just walked over.

"What's that for?" She asked me.

"Give it to the front desk," She stared at me for a second. "Ali…?" I asked her slowly.

"I'll pay for it. I should have pulled Ben off of you." She said, and my mouth dropped open.

"Ali, you did pull Ben off of me. I'm lucky you were there when you did. It wasn't even close to your fault, just give them the debit card and everything will be over with." I told her. I couldn't believe she could ever blame herself for this.

"No, I'll pay for it. Okay?" She said, and before I could answer, she walked towards the front desk.