Pretty Little Liars: Paying the Cost

Chapter 8 of my Pretty Little Liars story, enjoy.

Reviews

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks, glad you enjoyed, hmmm, well, it does cause them problems still if they did so. Well, okay, I can get that, but you can't deny, she has some rather damning evidence.
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks and cool, hopefully :)

Now onto the story.

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

Season 1: Episode 8

Alison sighed to herself as she finished eating breakfast for that morning, as she looked up at Jason who was still eating, head down, eyes narrowed, clearly lost in thought or struggling internally with something, it made her uneasy. In the end she couldn't stand by anymore, she knew she had to say something, the problem being of course that she didn't even know where to start. So she decided to just try and make it a gentle push.

"Jason." She spoke up, getting his attention. "What's going on?"

He blinked, suddenly anxious before he replied. "Nothing, why, what are you talking about?"

She sighed. "Jason, don't do this, I know something is bothering you, just tell me what it is?"

"Ali, it's nothing you need to be concerned about. Now please, that's enough." Jason replied quickly, too quickly.

Ali narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "Typical, you just can't help it, can you...I thought you would be different."

Jason tensed. "Ali, you-"

"You're just like mom and dad, always keeping secrets from me, always acting as if there's nothing going on when you are clearly trying to hide something." She snapped, glaring at her brother.

"Ali, I just-"

But she wasn't listening. "Forget it, I'm done with this."

With that she stood up and stormed off. Watching her go, Jason sighed sadly and shook his head before standing up and approaching the living room where his laptop was sitting. He opened it up and checked it, reading the latest news article about Bethany Young's death.

'A serial killer, this is why mom and dad were so against Alison coming back here...The killer started about a year and a half ago…' He reflected. 'That's him killed four people, they all look...God, is this why Ali is so worked up, she's been looking them up too and she has to have noticed this.'

Shaking his head he decided to start doing some digging, seeing if he could find anything and everything he could about the Rosewood Serial Killings. But that wasn't all he had to do, he picked up the phone and dialled a number.

"Hello, Radley Sanitarium, how may I help you?" The voice at the other end finally said.

Jason took a deep breath and prepared to ask the question he needed to ask, to know.

XXXXX

It was the start of another day, Emily sighed as she finished getting dressed, simple casual clothes and no make-up. She was done with all that nonsense Mona had put her through. She narrowed her eyes, considering the incident from last night, trying to defend herself from her mother regarding the pictures. She had stewed on it all night, struggling to sleep because of it, but at that moment, her phone buzzed and she checked it, her glare softening when she saw it wasn't A, it was Maya.

"Hey, listen, do you have time to talk before school. I'm starting to think we really need to discuss the party."

Emily sighed. '"So do I Maya, so do I...and I've had enough of this, this hiding.'

She was finally able to make sense of a lot of things in that moment, enough that she had made up her mind and decided enough was enough. So she quickly replied in agreement to meeting Maya and then began to head downstairs, Pam looked up from what she was working on for breakfast in the kitchen.

"Emily…" She began awkwardly.

Emily sighed. "What, mom?"

"I'm just worried, you-"

"Well, stop being worried. I'm done hiding." Emily explained, firmly.

"What?" Pam gasped. "Emily, this is-"

Emily shook her head. "Mom, please, this is enough, I can't hide anymore, I'm done pretending to be someone I'm not...If you can't accept that, I'm sorry, but that's how it is."

Pam was frozen, shocked and unable to find the words, unsure how to even react to this. Normally if Emily talked like this she'd have something to say, not what she was saying exactly, but her tone.

"I have to go, I need to talk to Maya." Emily explained.

With that she left and Pam didn't respond, unable to respond, unable to figure anything else out, wondering just how things got into this situation.

XXXXX

Hanna stood by the doorway of the room, glaring at the two girls she saw with Mona. She knew them all too well, Naomi and Riley, two girls desperate for popularity.

'So desperate that they're sucking up to Mona...as usual.' She thought to herself grimly. 'Honestly, why does Mona not just put them in their place.'

But even as she watched, she saw Mona was smiling, as if enjoying their sucking up which left Hanna uneasy.

Finally Mona spoke up. "Are you gonna just stand there, Hanna? You're making people uncomfortable."

Hanna rolled her eyes but walked over, seeing Naomi and Riley getting up and leaving, Amber smirking and winking to Mona before joining the other two and continuing the talking to them both.

"So what's with the sour face, doesn't suit you and could ruin your make-up you know." Mona quipped as Hanna sat down.

Hanna shook her head. "I don't know why you waste time with those two, they're hardly worth it, they just suck up to you hoping to get some reflected popularity."

"On the contrary, Hanna. I know exactly who is just after reflected popularity, for example, Emily. Compared to say, Amber, who is actually popular and knows how to toe the line." Mona replied.

"Oh yes, Emily." Hanna remarked. "Funny how quickly you decided to just remove her from the group, what happened to, we are all equal and make decisions like this together. But the minute it came to getting rid of Em and getting Amber right into this little group."

Mona glowered, clearly not happy. "I can't believe you're saying this Hanna, you are my best friend, we've had each other's backs during those years. Yet you would defend someone who betrayed us, you know what she did and why she had to go."

"No, actually. I don't understand why she had to go. Just for talking to Alison, that's hardly a crime, it's not even remotely fair, just sounds like pettiness." Hanna shot back.

Mona stood up, eyes blazing. "You need to watch your step Hanna, if you really value your place in this school, don't forget how things used to be for you and everything I've done for you."

With that she turned and began to stalk off but stopped dead. Hanna stood up and soon saw why Mona had stopped, both girls stared in shock, as did a number of others, a few even whispering as they watched Emily enter the school, with Maya. The two of them openly holding hands, their new relationship clear.

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