Pretty Little Liars: Paying the Cost

Chapter 5 of my Pretty Little Liars story, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pretty Little Liars or their characters.

Season 1: Episode 5

Alison grinned as she entered the Khan household, all decked out for the party.

'I see the Kahn family always through the best parties as usual...Noel's really gone all out.' She reflected.

It was true the Kahn family was well known for their impressive parties, and this one did not disappoint. The place was thronged, luckily they lived in a big enough house for such large parties to exists without causing too many crowding problems. Dressed up classy in an elegant and stylish dress, Alison couldn't help but smirk at how heads turned when she entered and began weaving her way through the crowds, looking for Emily. She took note of Hanna who was with Sean, the two of them were with some of Sean's friends and the boys were all talking and laughing, Hanna had a strange look on her face and Alison couldn't help but wonder.

Catching the other blonde's eye she subtly shook her head. 'Don't do anything stupid, Han.'

She just hoped Hanna would take note of the subtle signal, but had very little hope of that actually happening. She finally spotted Emily hanging out in the kitchen, chatting with Maya. As she made her way over to them she took note of Mona, sitting at one of the tables, talking and laughing and looking 'important', flanked with Amber Walther and a bored looking Spencer.

Reaching the other girls Alison greeted them.

"Hey girls, so, I made it." She said.

They greeted her in return and Emily added.

"Glad you could, that dress' a good look for you." She paused and then shrugged. "It's certainly deflated Mona."

Alison subtly glanced back and saw Mona was indeed staring daggers at her while everyone around her talked, Spencer having slipped away from the group.

Maya then explained. "Yeah, everyone kept sneaking glances at her the moment she arrived, until you arrived and they started doing the same to you."

"She was riding that wave of 'adoration' and now thinks I stole her thunder when all I did was make myself look good for my own benefit." Alison summarized. "Well, too bad for her."

Finally spotting Spencer, Alison excused herself leaving Emily and Maya to their own devices. She followed Spencer who headed out into the back garden, when Alison emerged she saw the party had spilled out here too, albeit more spread out than the throngs of people inside. Approaching Spencer cautiously Alison began to consider, out of all her old friends, Spender had always been the hardest to read.

"You gonna just linger back there or are you gonna come up and talk, Ali?" Spencer then said.

Alison sighed but stepped right up to join Spencer on the porch balcony.

"So, how is Emily. I'd ask myself but with Mona being how she is…" Spencer began.

"Don't worry, I get it, you don't have to explain." Alison replied. "She's doing okay, she actually seems...happier."

Spencer sighed. "Happier huh, I wonder if we all. We're not good friends for Mona, we only befriended her after seeing her reinvent herself and take over your old position...We just wanted to stay popular and, now I'm wondering if it was really all worth it. Especially since Emily is happy without it."

Alison bit her lip, unsure what to say, finally all she could say was. "Listen, I know it's hard but...you shouldn't let fear of Mona change you into something you're not. It's a lesson I've learned from what I tried to do. But I swear, before you think that, I'm not trying to just, break Mona's group and have you guys back as mine."

Spencer shrugged and turned to head back inside, her words were quiet but Alison caught them.

"Maybe...you should break her group up, it'd set us all free."

Alison turned and stared in shock, she couldn't have heard that right.

XXXXX

Aria grimaced as she finished her drink, still trying to get that image from two days ago out of her mind. She couldn't believe it, her father was doing it again, she had confronted him about it and he had given some lame excuse but once again promised that it wasn't him rekindling the affair with that woman Meredith, rather it was him making it clear that things were over and never could start again.

'Yeah, sure, I'll believe that when I see it dad...but still…' She thought to herself.

She couldn't deny she was worried but still couldn't bring herself to betray the secret, something she had told her father she would when she caught him the first time. Now she was in a difficult position.

"Hey Aria, you made it, excellent."

She looked up, startled and saw a tall boy, short dark brown hair, blue eyes and fair skin, his features coming together in a ruggedly handsome kind of way and she knew right away who he was and gave her best smile.

"Well thanks, but shouldn't you be feeling that way about all your guests." She quipped. "The host surely can't show favouritism to just one guest, Noel."

Noel Kahn just smirked and leaned against the wall next to where Aria was also leaning.

"So, what are you doing all by yourself, I thought you'd be with your friends?" Noel asked.

Aria shrugged. "They're around somewhere, I just needed some time alone."

"I see." Noel replied with a charming smirk. "Interesting, so…"

Aria bit her lip, starting to feel anxious, noting right away that he was flirting with her, something which made her feel uncomfortable given her current problems. She immediately began trying to figure out how to escape this issue. She got her chance when she spotted Sean suddenly come downstairs quickly, a look of frustration on his face while Hanna came down shortly afterwards in tears and hurried outside.

"Um, excuse me." She said quickly.

She hurried after Hanna.

She caught up with Hanna, relieved that Hanna had stopped.

"Whoa, Hanna, hey...hey, I-" She began, unsure.

Hanna sniffled but turned to her and bit her lip. "Aria, I...sorry, I. It's stupid."

Aria shook her head. "Not if it's upsetting you like this."

"You know how I always talk about trying to lose my...you know, with Sean." Hanna began. "I just tried and he stopped it, he said we shouldn't...why would he refuse me, I just…"

She shook her head and began sobbing again.

Aria shook her head, knowing what Hanna was thinking. "Hey, it's okay. Look, maybe he has his reasons but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you, there isn't. If he doesn't want to do something like that, with you...that's his loss."

Hanna sniffled again but smiled, thankful. They were startled by movement close by and raised eyebrows upon seeing Emily and Maya emerging from a quiet part of the garden, both looking startled and flustered, as if they had just made a startling discovery at the same time, likely about each other.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.