Chapter 2

About a week had passed since Emily Fields began attending Rosewood High School. She continued to hang out with Spencer's group. She was growing increasingly close to them, especially Hanna. For some reason, the two of them clicked really well. She was happy with her new friends, and her mother was just happy she was making friends at all. Pam knew that starting over in a new school would be tough for her daughter, but they had to do it. With her father in the army, they needed money, and if Pam wasn't working, they weren't making any money. A new job was the only way to make it through life. She knew Emily's amazing swimmer talents would get her into a great college, and Pam would hate herself if money was the reason she couldn't go to the college of her dreams.

Arriving in Mrs. Berg's classroom for another day of French class, Emily sat down in her seat behind Spencer. The two girls began talking about their life almost immediately, but were cut off when Mrs. Berg called Spencer to talk to her.

"What is happening?" Spencer asked, worried, getting up from her seat. Emily shrugged her shoulders, giving Spencer an apologetic look.

But of course, Mrs. Berg wasn't angry with Spencer or anything. It was far from her being in trouble. Actually, it was good!

"Miss Hastings, you are one of my top students already. Last year, you scored incredibly in your French class, and that's why I have to ask you something," Mrs. Berg began. "One of my students came to me with a concern. She's been struggling to keep up with French for a long time, ever since last year. And now she's fallen behind, so... she asked me to find her a peer tutor. It's for credits, of course. Would you be willing to tutor this student?"

"Mrs. Berg, it's an honor that you asked me to tutor this student," Spencer began, "but I can't. I'm swarmed this year. I have to focus on preparing for the SATs, and I'm in so many AP classes. I have to worry about keeping my own grades up. I have clubs, and field hockey... I don't think I have the time for this."

"No, that's alright, Spencer. It's such a shame, though. She really needs help, and I've asked other top students, such as Andrew Campbell, but I've had no luck," Mrs. Berg said, sighing. "I don't know how I'm going to get her the help she needs. I don't want her to fall behind any further. I can't ask just any student. They have to be qualified. I can't have a peer tutor that doesn't know what they're talking about. I hate to see her struggle."

"And I hate turning your offer down," Spencer said with a sad look on her face. "Look, I think I have a solution. Emily! She's the new girl here, she hasn't signed up for much yet. And she's really good at French, trust me, I know."

"She is doing very well in my class. She got a perfect score on our first quiz," Mrs. Berg agreed. "Are you certain that she's a qualified student?"

"She's not a native speaker or anything, but she knows her stuff," Spencer guaranteed. "Emily, come over here!"

The tan skinned girl furrowed her eyebrows, getting up from her chair, and joining the teacher and Spencer.

"Am I in trouble or something?" Emily asked.

"No, Emily, you're fine," Mrs. Berg laughed. "Spencer was telling me what a great French speaker you are!"

"Really? Uh... Thank you, Spencer," Emily said, raising her eyebrows. "But what is this about? Why is she saying that?"

"I asked Spencer to be a peer tutor for a struggling student in one of my classes," Mrs. Berg explained. "But, she has a very busy year. She's enrolled in many clubs and sports. Since you're an excellent student in my class, I was wondering if you had the time, and would like to tutor this student. She really needs help. It would be so kind of you."

"I would love to!" Emily exclaimed. "Would this be worth credits?"

"Of course," Mrs. Berg said, nodding her head. "Are you busy with anything conflicting? Something that would make scheduling have certain times. Within reason, of course. Don't mention things like sleeping time. I think I know my boundaries for that kind of time."

"Well, I will be trying out for the swim team, but that's not for a bit. So, I'm good until then," Emily said. "After tryouts, if I do happen to make the team, then I would have to tutor after 5:00 PM."

"Sounds good to me!" Mrs. Berg exclaimed. "Emily, I can't thank you enough. I'll notify you as soon as I finalize everything. This is amazing of you. You're really helping her."

Spencer smiled, walking back to her seat.

"Wait, so who am I even tutoring?" Emily asked. "I know I don't know a lot of names around here, but I'd like if you could tell me anyways. If it's not a problem, that is."

"No, it's no problem, since you've agreed to tutor her," Mrs. Berg answered. "Her name is Alison DiLaurentis. I believe she is in this class period. Am I correct?"

Emily's eyes widened as she nodded and said, "Yeah... you're correct."

Just then, Emily saw Alison freaking DiLaurentis walking into the classroom. She was laughing with some posse of hers, and then entered the room, taking her seat. Emily swallowed hard. She couldn't believe that she would be tutoring Alison soon.

After class, Emily grabbed Spencer. She had to inform her of the shocking news: she was tutoring Alison! It was big, right? Spencer had told her to stay away from Alison for vague reasons when they first met. She didn't know why Spencer had bad history with her, but Emily did know that she, herself, was afraid of Alison, without even knowing her well. She was taking Spencer's word for it. Alison seemed scary. Like the kind of girl that would ruin her if she did something wrong... She wanted to live dangerously at her new school, but she wasn't sure that she was ready to handle somebody like Alison DiLaurentis.

"What is going on?" Spencer asked. "You've been freaking out ever since you talked to Mrs. Berg! Is tutoring that scary for you?"

"Well, it wasn't... not until Mrs. Berg told me the student that I'm tutoring!" Emily cried.

"What are you talking about?" Spencer asked. "Who did you get? If it's some crush of yours, then you should be happy. It's like bonding time. Tutoring always brings people together in those romance movies. Haven't you ever seen that?"

"The person I'm tutoring isn't some hot guy that I like," Emily confessed. "Spencer, I have to tutor Alison DiLaurentis."

"What!?" Spencer cried. "Cancel on Mrs. Berg now!"

"I can't! I just made the commitment to it," Emily said, sighing. "I can't just quit on her because someone told me to stay away from the girl. It can't be for personal reasons. Maybe she's not as bad as you're making her seem."

"Oh, she is, honey," Spencer said, raising her eyebrows. "She is truly horrible. You'll be pissed off at her in seconds. She loves making people mad. It's her forte. And she loves it. Just tell Mrs. Berg some lie. There has to be some way to get out of it. Mrs. Berg can't force you to tutor her."

"Spencer, I can't do that," Emily said, giving her a look. "I made this commitment. Alison needs the help, so I need to live up to what I said I would do. If it's as horrible as you say it is, I'll quit. But for now, let me just test the waters. We should go to chem now, or we'll be late for class."

The girls entered their chemistry class.

Mr. Locke, the chemistry teacher, had a new seating chart posted on the smart board. It was a picture of everyone's names, next to a new lab partner. They switched lab partners every one to two weeks. Mr. Locke liked to make sure things didn't get old and repetitive in his class.

Spencer read the board, and a lump grew in her throat. Toby Cavanaugh. She was supposed to sit next to Toby freaking Cavanaugh! He was the hottie on the football team. He had a perfect body, a perfect face, a perfect smile, and he was a nice guy. Who wouldn't fall for that? She didn't know how to be his lab partner. She had been secretly crushing on on him, but nobody knew. Not even Aria or Hanna knew about her crush.

"Hey," he greeted, sitting down next to her with a warm smile. "Did you do your lab procedure for homework last night? Are we good to go for the lab today?"

Spencer nodded her head weakly.

"Are you ok?" Toby asked, and she nodded her head again. "Cool. Then let's start the lab now."

But the whole period, she couldn't take her eyes off of him. And just lucky for her, the first person was about to find out about her crush on Toby. And it was Emily, who observed the whole thing. To make matters worse for Spencer, Mr. Locke had a little announcement to make.

"I don't mean to interrupt your labs, but I just wanted to let you know that since this unit is a much longer one, you're going to be working with your current partners for about over a month," Mr. Locke explained. "This unit is incredibly long. Get comfortable with your partners."

Toby smiled and said, "So, I guess we're partners for the next month?"

Spencer faked a laugh and scratched her head. Oh god.

After class, Emily walked up to her before she could go to history class.

"Am I crazy, or were you checking out your new lab partner!?" Emily teased.

"You're crazy," Spencer confirmed, turning away.

"Wait up!" Emily cried. "Do you like him or something? He is cute, I admit."

"Cute? Are you freaking kidding me!?" Spencer cried. "I never talk like this. Never ever. So forget you heard me say it. I'll only say it once in my life, but that boy is freaking gorgeous! And he's nice! And he's perfect! And I just want to kiss those perfect lips of his! Ok, now forget we talked."

"You like him!?" Emily cried. "I knew I wasn't crazy!"