Reykjavík, August 2010

'I can't believe it's been a year already' Aria thought to herself. She and her family were about to leave Iceland and move back to Rosewood. It was a bittersweet sensation, but also painful to an extent. After all, that small town had been her home for practically her whole life. In the last year, though, it became the place where some of her worst memories resided. Alison going missing one of them.

"Hey, you packed everything yet?" Her mother asked, disrupting her train of thoughts.

"Yes, it's all done" the brunette assured with a small smile.

"Sweetie, how do you really feel about this? You can talk to me, sweetheart; I know it must be hard for you after everything that has happened" Ella tried to prompt her daughter to open up. Aria had been extremely reserved on the topic and she was worried.

"Honestly I don't know. So many things had changed… I don't know what to expect" the brunette confessed.

"Well, at least you're going to see your friends again. Arent'you excited? You'll have so many things to tell each other" she beamed, hoping to cheer her up a little.

"Yeah…" Aria smiled back. She didn't have the heart to tell her mom that she had lost contact with everyone. It was hard enough admitting it to herself.

[Meanwhile in Rosewood]

Emily spent the last months mourning her missing friend and trying to move on at the same time. For a long time she had been simply numb. Then she found a way to channel all her conflicting emotions into sports, and that helped her to come to live again. So she devoted herself entirely to swimming. It wasn't like she had much more to focus on.

Spencer however was another story. To everyone she was the same dependable person as always: student council president, straight-A student, field hockey team captain, perfect heir from a good stock. But that was the facade; inside, she was a mess. She was just out of rehab, her parents didn't trust her, Melissa was her usual bitchy self and she was tired and alone. And she was the one to blame, partially at least. She remembered vividly when things really started to go down:

[Flashback]

The four of them had been summoned by the police to answer some questions about the night Alison went missing. Despite being almost a month, they were all still flabbergasted by the events. There was a lot of pressure on them, and being constantly questioned by their parents and the detectives working the case did not help. To make things even worse, she had just finished her last bottle of pills and now she was starting to exhibite whithdrawal sympstoms. She was irritable, and sweating, and she was cold and she didn't know when was the last time she had a good night's sleep. She just wanted to sleep, to disappear into nothingness and finally put her mind, her body to rest. But she couldn't, not now that she was held into an interrogation room waiting to be questioned; not now that her friends were shaked and upset and restless and wouldn't stop talking, and that was when she reached her breakpoint.

"WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP FOR A FUCKING MINUTE?" she lost it.

The other three immediately stopped their chatting and turned their heads at her, intimidated by the sudden outburst. They were looking at the brunette like she had lost her mind – little did they knew she probably had. Then the door opened and two officers sat down and they had to focus on other things.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Hanna asked when the interview was over and they were exiting the building. Spencer ignored her and kept walking ahead of them.

"Spencer! Wait damnit!" the blonde shouted. She exchanged worried glances with Aria and Emily; no one had an idea of what was going on with their friend.

"Spence, you're acting strangely lately. Talk to us" Aria pleaded.

"I know it's been hard dealing with all that happened, but we're in this together" Emily supplied.

"SPENCER!" Hanna yelled in annoyance, putting her hand on the brunette's shoulder to make her turn around. Spencer swatted her hand away, more forcefully than she intended.

"Back off" she growled.

The blonde was dumbfounded, they all were. The girl in front of them was a complete stranger who appened to look a lot like their friend, their composed, well-mannered, ever so kind friend. She couldn't be the Spencer Hastings they knew and loved.

"Spence…" Aria began to interject, but to no avail as she was immediately cut off by the angry brunette.

"Back off, I mean it. I'm too freakin' tired to hear whatever you have to say. I won't do this right now. I need to be alone for a bit". And with that she was gone, leaving behind her back her three very concerned, very irked best friends.

All hell broke loose from there: the withdrawal, her parents finding out about her little problem with amphetamines and everything that came within. And in all that shit, she managed to push away three of the most important people in her life. She ruefully congratulated herself.

[End of flashback]

Hanna was almost unrecognizable: she lost weight, changed her look, and she was popular now– so much so that she became the new Rosewood's High it-girl. She was confident and brash, now, too. That's what happens when you go from shy, chubby girl to runway model in less than a year. Also, she had a boyfriend. Sean. He was a walking stereotype: tall, handsome, athletic, sweet. He was a good guy, with lots of qualities. And he was interested in her, so why not? It wasn't like there was someone else on her mind, was it? And even if that was the case... no, better to drop it here.

Anyway, last but not least, Hanna had a new best friend and that was none other than Mona Vanderwaal. A while ago that name would have not rung a bell to anyone at school, now they were among the most popular ones. It was odd, really, how Loser Mona and Hefty Hanna managed to ascend the social pyramide.

They were currently hanging out at The Brew when she caught a glimpse of the tall, slender brunette that had just entered. Her heart skipped a beat, because the resemblance with her tall, slender brunette friend was uncanny; it couldn't have been otherwise, because the woman who was now ordering a cup of coffee was her sister, actually. While not so discreetly observing Melissa Hastings, Hanna lost herself in memories of last autumn:

[Fields' household, October 2009]

"So, the Odissey opens in medias res – in the middle of the overall story" Spencer clarified when she noticed Emily's vacant expression, "with prior events described through flashbacks" she went on with her explanation, but Hanna had already zoned out.

It was their freshmen year and they decided to study together at Emily's place that afternoon. She joined only for the prospect of a sleepover later in the evening, where was to be expected lot of pizza and a good movie. Sadly, all too often the good things in life came with sacrifices. Not that she was putting much effort in this study session; she was too occupied staring at her newly discovered crush. Yep, her mind finally catched up with her heart, leading her to realize her true feelings for Spencer. And now, now she had no idea of what to do of them, so she just kept staring. What a creep. Luckily, the beautiful brunette was kind of dense when it came to things like this. 'So much for be the smart one…' Hanna thought. Unfortunately, one that was not dense at all was Alison. The queen bee in fact immediately realized what was going on with her blonde friend and smirked to herself. Yeah, she hadn't changed after all…

Hours later, they were all snuggled together on Emily's couch watching a horror movie when, during a particular cruent scene, Hanna hid her face in the crook of Spencer's neck and in return Spencer protectively wrapped an arm around the blonde's shoulder. Again, no one noticed but Alison, diabolic smirk once more on her face.

When the movie was over and the others went to change into their pajamas, the two blondes remained alone in Emily's room and Alison took the opportunity to strike.

"You know Han, I'm really worried about you" she said cryptically, looking intently into the other girl's ocean blue eyes.

"How so?" the smaller blonde replied, sincerely confused.

"I noticed the way you look at Spencer" Alison dropped the bomb. Hanna gasped, but found herself unable to speak. "Oh sweetie, don't worry I won't tell anyone. But you have to be more careful, Hanna, or Spencer might notice".

"Would it be that bad?" Hanna meekly asked, more to herself than else. "I mean, maybe she could feel the same. Maybe…"

"Maybe what, Han? It's better if you don't keep your hopes up, wouldn't want you to delude yourself"

"But…" Hanna tried to say something but came up with nothing. Of course Alison was right, how Spencer could reciprocate her feelings? That was impossible. Her eyes started to tear up.

"Oh honey, don't cry. You'll get over her in no time, I'm sure. Besides, what Spencer would say if she saw you right now?" the young Dilaurentis sneered.

"Yeah, you'right. I shouldn't worry her, she's always so kind to me…" Hanna replied with adoration all printed on her face. She couldn't help it.

"Yeah, right. Hanna, I hate saying this to you, now of all times, but I think you mistook her kindness for pity" Alison scored the final bowl.

That was the last straw for Hanna's heart: she had never seen things this way. She didn't want to believe Alison. And to be honest she didn't, in her heart she knew that what the other blonde said was simply bullshit. She wanted to scream at her that, but tears were already streaming down her face, and her chest ached and her voice was lost somewhere in her throat. She ran away to lock herself in the bathroom. It was half an hour later when someone came knocking to the door, calling her name.

"Hanna" the voice shouted.

"Hanna. HANNA!" another voice, this time, brought her back to the present. She smiled innocently at a very irritated Mona.

"Where did you just go?" her new friend asked.

"Uh? Ah, I was just thinking about a rumor I heard" the blonde replied.

"Oh, anything interesting?"

"Yeah… apparently Aria and her family are coming back next week" Hanna shrugged.

'Really now?' Mona arched an eyebrow at the news. 'Maybe it's time to resume the game…' she thought excitedly to herself.

A/N: So, this was more like a transition chapter but I hope I gave you some useful insights about the carachters: where they come from, what are their thoughts, how they changed and adjusted and why. Let me know what you think? ;)

I also would like to thank you again for reading. Thank you in particular to zak194 and TheMidnightSociety: your kindess is heart-warming.

p.s: I won't be able to update until next week. My friends came up with this idea to go on a road trip, how could have I said no?! :D