I was dreading going to the high school. It didn't feel like starting over, it felt worse than that. I was that girl. The younger sister of the dead girl; if Aria and the other felt weird when Ali died, imagine how it must feel for me. I was holding my schedule in one hand, my books under my other arms. I heard the bell, and I hurried down the hall to the classroom, and I turned into the room, breathless, when the teacher stopped talking, and looked at me with the same expression that the whole class did. With wonder and amusement. I handed the note to the teacher, and my cheeks burning, I went and sat in the only empty seat in the front seat in front of our teacher.
Everyone was staring at me, I could feel it. They knew who I was, and soon the gossip would start. Those who didn't would think I had a striking resemblance to the dead girl. I turned, and saw one familiar face, sitting in the back of the next row over. He had light brown, slightly spiky hair, as if parts had been gelled, and he was decked out like a typical Rosewood boy, like how he had a lacrosse Rosewood Day windbreaker on. I couldn't put a name to the face though. But a memory of Ali and her friends hanging out at Aria's house popped up. I had gone over eventually, to tell Ali dinner was ready, and the boy was the person who answered the door…he had a strange name though…something European and unique. He was Aria's younger brother…my age…our sisters tried to push us together a many times- thinking it would be cute, whereas Spencer, always disagreeing with my sister, thought it would be weird.
He'd always been cute, but I'd never told him that. We were from the same world, but didn't fit together. We thought cooties existed then.
As soon as the bell rang, I went up to speak with the teacher, and he slung his backpack over his shoulder and was the last to leave besides me. I walked out a few minutes later, and started walking down the hall, when he came up beside me and said hi. I almost jumped, but blinked away the expression of surprise on my face. Should I say hi and his name, to show I remembered him? It was manners, but I couldn't recall the name.
"Charlotte right?" he winked.
I suddenly flashed back to when we first met.
"Hey, I'm Mike." He'd said grudgingly.
"I'm Madeline."
He had scrunched up his nose and said, "Like that little nun girl or whatever in those kid's books?"
His parents had laughed and I shook my head. "I hate those stories. The pictures aren't even pretty!"
That way the ice was broken, and he said, "You look more like a Charlotte…or a Courtney…something with a C."
"Well, Madeline is my name. Deal with it. I'm not going to change it." I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned.
"Want to play video games with me?" he said suddenly.
I then scrunched up my face, "Boys play with those things in a dark room…no way- not my idea of fun…why not a board game- Candy Land or something."
"Sure!" he grinned. "C'mon! It's under my bed!" He'd pulled my hand, and we sprinted up the stairs quickly. He was the first person to ever call me Mads. Then, the name stuck. He thought my full name was too prim and proper. He was one to talk. Michelangelo.
"Michelangelo." I returned with a burst of remembrance and pride. I remembered!
"I haven't seen you in forever Mads…" he began, and then Noel Kahn called him over, and he followed. Apparently the gorgeous older boy had taken Mike under his wing. I'd had a puppy love thing for Noel ever since I could remember. That's why Mike and I grew apart when we were about 11. We didn't want to talk about Noel's gorgeous, smoldering eyes, or his soft, dark hair. He wanted to play Wii and Playstation.
I frowned, where had those days gone?
Later, I was going to my locker after a day teetering in between tense and alright, when Hanna Martin came up, and Mona Vander…something came up on my other side.
"Maddy!" they exclaimed with fake enthusiasm.
"Hi…guys." I'd never liked them. I mean Hanna was sweet and ok, but never someone I'd liked very much. Aria I liked more- maybe because I saw her almost as much as Ali. Emily was like a nice older sister, a role model. And Spencer…well…I thought I was better than her, straight away, which wasn't right. Of course, before I'd left town a few years ago, we settled our differences. Why let Ali in between us?
"So, you staying with us for a while?"
"Do you really want to be seen with a freshman?" I retorted, and shook them off. No way was I going to be used by them. I didn't see any of the other girls that day, but I knew it was only a matter of time before I did.
I got home, and immediately, Jason asked me how my first day at the high school was. I shrugged, took a bagel from the plastic bag in the kitchen and left, carrying another bagel outside to Toby.
While he worked, I sat under one of the trees and did my homework, and at random intervals, we'd talk to each other about something. Just random stuff- school, gossip, work, life…all that good stuff.
The next day, I did the same thing after school, and Spencer drove up and went to greet her boyfriend when she saw me.
"Ali?" she gasped, and cautiously inched forward. Then I looked up at her, and she noticed my hair and facial features and let out a breath, almost like relief. "Oh, hey Madeline."
"Hey Spence." I said back cheerfully.
She was giving me a look that she seemed almost worried by Toby and me, by our closeness. Was she seriously afraid of losing him to me? I silently laughed. Toby and I were friends, I didn't want more, and he was happy with Spencer. I wasn't one to sabotage a relationship. Toby and I had been friends since around when Mike and I started to drift. Even when Toby became the weird kid, I stuck by him. He was grateful for that, and I stuck with him from across the country when he was accused of killing my sister. He was an outcast, just like that Lucas kid in his grade- but I didn't care about reps. I became friends with people for who they were, not for popularity- Ali was the opposite. Of course, I was automatically popular- the almost identical younger sister of the famed Alison Lauren DiLaurentis.
Spencer had nothing to worry about.
My next meeting with Ali's friends was with Emily, at a swim meet. She was swimming, and when she got out of the pool, she saw me standing by the door in the corner, clapping for her, and she looked shocked at me. As if she'd seen a ghost. Then she came over, a towel around her body, and she asked quietly, "Ali? Is that you? Did you dye your hair?"
Apparently the gossip wasn't getting to some people. You would've thought Hanna would have told them, but no.
"It's Maddie." I smiled, and she looked even more afraid. I had the same smile that Ali did on all her missing posters, so I understood.
"Maddie." She sighed finally. "Toby told me you were in Cali- how was it anyway?"
We small talked, and it wasn't awkward- it was like old times. I'd thought it'd be harder to talk to Ali's old friends again, thinking they'd only think of Ali when by me. While they did at first, they got over it.
Yes, for me at least, things were good in ol' Rosewood.
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Sorry, the beginning is background. It's getting better very, very soon though!
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