I have to admit that the lack of reception I got on the first chapter of this story didn't exactly give me much motivation to keep this going, but I decided I'd keep going with another chapter or two and see how it goes. I do ask that if you're reading and enjoying this story that you take a moment and let me know what you think. It's your feedback that makes me want to take the time to edit and upload these chapters!
One
The real Courtney DiLaurentis wakes the next morning to the sound of a rooster crowing somewhere in the distance. She rolls from her right side to her back without opening her eyes.
Something feels wrong. Her usually cushiony mattress is too firm under her back. And the air is hot, sticky. She waits for a moment, expecting to feel the usual little gusts of air from her ceiling fan. But the air is still and muggy.
Courtney rolls back onto her side, pushes herself up, opens her eyes…and screams.
No more than two feet away from her, staring what feels like directly into her soul, stands a three-foot tall Mrs. Claus statue. Courtney sits up with a gasp. Her hand moves to her pounding chest. How did one of her mother's creepiest Christmas decorations get into her room?
But one quick glance around her hits her with the realization – this is not her room. She's lying underneath the stiff, new sheets in the guest room.
It's then that the events of the past night come crashing back. Hypnotizing her friends. Her fight with Spencer. The struggle with her twin. And then their truce, and the agreement that allowed Courtney to walk back into the house instead of tumble into the depths of the hole in the backyard.
Courtney. Her real name, one that she's barely uttered in years, fills her head. Almost subconsciously, she feels the space on her little finger where her "A" initial ring used to sit. It's bare. She handed her signature ring back to its rightful owner last night, along with the blue string bracelet, which she'd barely been able to slip over her hand.
The room seems to tilt as Courtney heaves herself out of bed and pushes past a few boxes of old photo albums to get to the mirror on the wall. Her mother certainly did more to prepare this room for her sister's arrival than she ever did for Courtney herself, but it still looks more like a holding room for forgotten things than an actual bedroom.
And that's what you are again. The forgotten twin, a little voice in the back of Courtney's head taunts as she stares at her reflection. It's her same blond hair tied back in a ponytail, her same blue eyes, her same ears that stick out just a bit more than her twin's. There's a smudge of dirt near her left ear, leftover from the sisters' scuffle the night before. Courtney swipes it away with the back of her hand.
She can hear faint voices coming from the first floor. The clock beside the bed indicates that it's almost nine. She squares her shoulders and gives her reflection one last, lingering look. It's time to face the music.
Courtney exits the guest room and pauses on the landing, peering over the railing into the kitchen below. Mrs. DiLaurentis is already dressed and made up, bustling around placing fried eggs on plates. Mr. DiLaurentis sits at the table in his dress shirt and tie, the newspaper in hand. Jason is nowhere in sight.
Courtney's stomach twists at the sight of her twin – Alison – sitting beside their father. She's already dressed as well, in a dark pink t-shirt and jeans. The outfit sends a wave of nausea through Courtney. It's almost exactly the same ensemble as she wore the morning of the first switch, the one Courtney copied head to toe as the first stage of her plan.
She glances back toward the guest room. Last night, she dug through the suitcase her sister brought with her from the Preserve, eyeing up the clothes that were now hers. There was nothing that even came close to Ali's current outfit, and Courtney is sure her sister knew that. It almost feels like she's sending a message: Not this time, bitch.
Courtney is debating whether she can get away with crawling back into bed and pretending to sleep for another hour or so when Mrs. DiLaurentis happens to glance up. She catches her daughter's eye and waves cheerfully. "Oh honey, you're up!" she calls up to her. "Come on down, I fried some eggs for breakfast!"
Feeling trapped, Courtney slinks down the stairs. Mrs. DiLaurentis hurriedly serves her a plate of eggs and bacon as she slides into the seat as far from Alison as possible. Even Mr. DiLaurentis folds up his paper and sets it aside. Courtney's not sure she's ever seen that before. "How did you sleep?" her mother asks, her voice high-pitched and sickly sweet.
Out of the corner of her eye, Courtney sees Ali turn her head away and roll her eyes down at her eggs. She feels a twinge. Just days ago, she was the one fighting back revulsion as her parents rolled out the red carpet for her sister. Now she's the one getting the special treatment. She's the twin everyone thinks is making a grand return from the hospital.
Courtney has to admit, it's a little cloying. But considering her whole life has just been snatched out from under her, she figures she should take her wins where she can get them.
"Not too bad," she says, trying to mimic the sugary sweet voice her sister was putting on over the past few days. "I'm just still adjusting, I guess."
Mr. DiLaurentis sets his coffee cup down on the table. "I have to go into the office for a few hours. When I get back, I'll work on clearing that junk out of your room."
Courtney's mother beams like he's just announced a cure for a horrible disease. "That'll make you feel so much more at home." She looks between the girls. "And why don't the three of us have a little girls' shopping day this afternoon? Courtney, you'll need a whole new wardrobe, of course. And maybe we can get you a few new summer dresses too, Ali."
The idea of spending the afternoon alongside her twin isn't exactly Courtney's first idea of a good time. Ali must feel the same way, because she mutters down at her plate, "Can't. I have plans with friends."
Courtney's heart skips a beat. Has Alison already gotten in touch with Spencer and the others? She realizes that she hasn't seen her phone since last night – it's not impossible to believe that Ali could have snatched it up from the grass. And after all, Courtney realizes with a twinge, it technically belongs to her twin now.
"What friends?" she asks without thinking, desperate to know the answer.
Ali gives her a sly smile as she lifts her glass of orange juice to her lips. "Just my usual group. Don't worry, sis. I'll introduce you to everyone, eventually."
The words are chilling to Courtney, but Mrs. DiLaurentis claps her hands together in delight. "I'm so glad to hear you say that, Ali. See?" She turns to Mr. DiLaurentis. "I knew she'd start to come around."
"Well," Ali says with a shrug, "I was just thinking that maybe you were right the other day, Mom. Maybe us shutting Courtney out was part of the problem. We need to be a family again."
The several bites of egg Courtney's eaten threaten to revolt. How can their parents not see that Ali is now waxing poetry the same way that Courtney was just yesterday? But Mr. DiLaurentis is smiling proudly. Mrs. DiLaurentis looks ready to burst.
"You know," she says with an almost conspiratorial smile, "your father and I were thinking that it might be nice to have a little gathering, introduce Courtney to a few friends and neighbors that way."
Courtney's head snaps up. "A party?"
Mr. DiLaurentis raises his hands. "Nothing big, don't worry. And we won't do anything that you're not comfortable with."
Ali sets down her fork and smiles broadly. "I think it's a great idea. Can I invite my friends?"
Mr. and Mrs. DiLaurentis exchange a shocked look. "O-of course," their mother stammers. "That would be wonderful."
Ali seems to pick up on their surprise. She shrugs. "You guys have probably noticed I've been a little…tense since Courtney came home." She looks between their parents, her gaze staying stubbornly away from Courtney. "I've been thinking that maybe keeping this secret is really weighing on me. Being honest with my friends might be the best thing for me."
Mrs. DiLaurentis smiles and pats her hand. "That's very thoughtful of you. And what a great way to smooth things over after last night, too."
Ali nods as if she's been thinking the same thing. Courtney digs her nails into the palm of her other hand. Last night, when the girls reentered their house, they were surprised to see their mother home and their father awake. Alison snuck upstairs unseen while Courtney regaled their parents with the details – well, some of the details – of the botched sleepover. It was only after she'd bid them good night and gone upstairs as well that the girls made the switch back to their real identities.
There's another agonizing ten minutes of tentative planning and discussion before Courtney manages to extract herself from the table. Ali excuses herself to the bathroom, but Courtney lingers in the hallway, out of sight, as Mr. DiLaurentis gathers some legal briefs and Mrs. DiLaurentis collects the dishes.
"It was good to see Alison so upbeat," her father mentions. "I've been worried about her."
"I knew she just needed some time to adjust," Mrs. DiLaurentis says. "But did Courtney seem okay to you? I thought she was a little quieter than usual this morning."
Courtney's heart stops as her father replies, "Maybe a little. But I'm sure it's just the homecoming excitement wearing off."
"I just hope this isn't too much for her," Mrs. DiLaurentis says with a sigh, and Courtney slips away and up the stairs, not wanting to hear more.
She's nearly worked into a panic by the time she gets to the doorway of her room. All she'd been worried about in the weeks leading up to her twin's return was her parents discovering what she'd done and shipping her off to the Preserve. It hasn't occurred to her that even though the girls have switched back, the same could still happen.
What if they found out about not just one switch, but both? Would they be okay with it, now that the girls have switched back to their real selves? Somehow Courtney doubts that. She still took over Alison's identity for a year and a half. She still forced Ali to take her place at the Preserve. Just because her twin seems oddly willing to move on now that she's gotten her name back doesn't mean that their parents will be.
Courtney has just reached the top of the stairs, lost in thought, when a hand wraps, vice-like, around her arm. She yelps in surprise as she's yanked into her old bedroom.
"What are you doing?" she gasps, feeling a jolt of fear as Ali shuts the door quickly behind them.
Her sister faces her with crossed arms. Her chin is raised high in the haughty demeanor that hasn't changed in years, but Courtney can sense her unease. "I wasn't lying," she snaps, as if challenged. "I do have plans today."
Courtney tries to ignore the feeling of her stomach bottoming out. "Already?"
"Aria texted this morning." Ali nods toward her phone – Courtney's phone – lying on the bedside table in its glittery pink case. "We're going for ice cream this afternoon. To try and make amends after last night."
"Oh." Courtney tries to make her lean against the wall look casual, and not like she's trying to stop the room from spinning. It hasn't fully hit her, until right this moment, that giving Ali back her name also means giving up her friends. She touches the back of her head, still sore from Spencer shoving her on the concrete path last night. Was that the last interaction she'll ever have with any of them?
"You wrote down plenty of those bitches' secrets in your diary," Ali says with a sneer. "But it's not enough for me to convince them that I'm you."
Courtney feels sick to her stomach. "So what do you want me to do about it?"
Ali takes a seat primly on the edge of the bed. She gestures toward the stool at the vanity. "Sit down. You need to tell me everything. And you can start with every detail of that fight with Spencer last night."