A/N: Thanks for the follows/favourites/reviews! Much appreciated :)

Chapter 2

Emily

It was their last class of the day, and Emily was trying her best to pay attention to what Mr Fitz was saying, but really, she was just copying down notes off the board with no idea what she was writing. Her mind was totally elsewhere.

She was still debating with herself whether to tell them at Hanna's tonight or not. She wanted to tell them all at the same time- it would be less awkward that way- but just the thought of actually going through with it was making her feel sick with nerves.

She could just play it by ear and see how she feels at the time? Yeah, that seems like a better idea. She exhaled a breath, letting herself relax for now.

She tried to tune back into the speech that Mr Fitz was giving about 'The Catcher in the Rye', but after a few moments she felt her eyes starting to drop.

She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg, causing her to jump in her seat. A few people sitting beside her noticed and were now staring. Emily could feel a blush creeping up her neck.

She turned to her right to glare at Paige, who was laughing silently in her seat. Paige quickly scribbled a note on the corner of her notepad, sliding it to the edge of her desk so that Emily could read it.

Should have saved some of that coffee.

Emily mouthed 'ha ha', rubbing the spot on her leg that Paige had kicked, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that Paige's smile caused.

Of all the girls in the world, she had to have a crush on Paige, a crush that was persistent and refused to go away, no matter what she did; it was driving her crazy.

It was partly what was holding her back from telling her friends that she was gay. When she thought about telling Hanna, Spencer and Aria, she felt anxious; it was a big deal, it was normal to have some apprehension. But when she thought about telling Paige, she felt physically uncomfortable. She wasn't sure why; it's not like she would ever tell Paige about her feelings for her. Nothing would come of her crush.

The reason why she wanted to tell everyone at the same time was because the thought of telling Paige when it was just the two of them alone was too scary to even contemplate.

Thankfully she'd managed to start acting relatively normal around Paige again (for most part anyway), even so much so that she invited her around for a movie marathon the night before. It had felt just like old times, apart from when they accidentally brushed hands and Emily's heart felt like it could burst out of her chest at any moment. She hoped that Paige hadn't noticed anything strange.

She was happy that last night had gone well. She'd been avoiding spending time with Paige these past few months, ever since she realised she liked her as more than a friend. She'd needed time to sort her head out, but it had been hard; she missed hanging out with Paige and felt increasingly guilty every time she'd had to make up an excuse as to why she couldn't spend time with her. But, hopefully the worst of it had passed. She'd eventually get over Paige and things would return to the way they were before.

The bell signalling the end of class snapped her out of her thoughts, the room suddenly filling with the noise of chatter and chairs being scraped back against the floor.

Emily packed up her stuff, shoving her books into her bag and filtering out into the hallway with the rest of the students. She made her way to her locker, starting to sort through what work she would need to take home for the night.

"Hey, Emily!" She looked behind her to see Noel Kahn approaching her, a stack of flyers in his hands. "Party at my cabin a week on Friday, hope to see you there." He handed her a flyer. "Don't lose that, you'll need it to get in." He gave her a wink before moving on to the next person who he deemed worthy enough to invite. She rolled her eyes.

Emily saw Spencer walking towards her, flyer in hand. "I see you've been 'chosen' too?" she asked.

"Yup," replied Spencer. "Noel is such an ass." Emily nodded her head in agreement, seeing Hanna, Aria and Paige approaching with flyers of their own.

"So, we're totally going to this, right?" asked Hanna excitedly, waving the piece of paper around. They all sighed collectively; of course Hanna would want to go to this. Hanna seemed to sense their reluctance. "Come on, it's the first party of senior year. We can't miss it," she stated, as if there was no other choice in the matter.

"Could be fun," Aria shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Fine," Paige and Spencer said simultaneously, everyone's gaze turning to Emily. She was still reluctant, but seeing their pleading eyes was enough to make her give in.

"Okay, okay, we'll go," she said, throwing her hands into the air. "But on one condition- we spend as little time as possible near Noel."

"Deal," Hanna agreed, sticking her flyer out towards Spencer. Emily, Paige and Aria mirrored the action. Spencer stared at them, finally rolling her eyes and collecting their flyers to keep them safely in her bag.

They began to walk towards the parking lot, Paige falling behind to walk beside Emily. "How's your leg?" she joked.

"Oh, yeah! Thanks for reminding me," replied Emily, smacking Paige lightly on the arm. "That was actually sore."

"Sorry, I was just trying to save you from the embarrassment of snoring in class. Don't think Fitz would be impressed." Paige grinned as Emily just shook her head, once again trying to ignore the butterflies that were fluttering away inside of her.

"You want a lift?" Emily asked as they stepped outside. Paige nodded, making their way to Emily's car.

"See you around seven-ish!" Hanna shouted from across the parking lot, giving them a wave before getting into her own car. Emily swallowed, hoping the night ahead would go smoothly.

Emily pulled up to her house, stepping out to see a man and woman pulling boxes out of the back of their car in front of the old Dilaurentis house. She glanced at them curiously as she walked to her front door.

Entering the house, she found her mom on the couch reading a magazine. "Hey, honey. How was your day?"

"It was alright," Emily answered, placing her keys on the table and shrugging off her jacket. "Is that the new neighbours out there?"

"Yeah, they got here this morning. I've already been over and met them, they seem nice enough." Her mom put down the magazine, standing up to take Emily's jacket from her, hanging it beside the door.

"Is it just the two of them?"

"No, they have a daughter too. You and your dad can meet them tomorrow. I've invited them over for dinner."

Emily sighed internally. "Oh, do I have to?" She couldn't help the whine that laced her words. "I'm already swamped with homework, and I'm going to Hanna's later so I can't do a lot of it tonight."

"Yes, you have to. These people are going to be our neighbours for god knows how long; we need to make a good impression as a family, so make sure you do what you need to before you go to Hanna's." She patted Emily on the cheek before walking towards the kitchen.

Emily closed her eyes and exhaled heavily, making her way upstairs to start on some homework.

Paige

She jumped off of her bike when she arrived at Hanna's, wheeling it up the path and leaving it at the side of the house. She knocked on the front door, looking out into the street while she waited to see if she could spot Emily's car.

She must not be here yet.

Hanna answered the door, smiling when she saw Paige. "We're in there," she said, nodding her head in the direction of the kitchen.

Paige walked past Hanna, making her way down the hall and into the kitchen. Aria and Spencer were already there, sitting on stools at the kitchen island.

"Hey, where's Em?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," answered Spencer, glancing at the time on her phone. "She shouldn't be too long, it's almost quarter past. I'll text her." Spencer began typing away on her phone as Paige removed her jacket and placed it on the back of a chair.

"You know, it's actually good she's late. I wanted to ask you guys something." Paige took a seat, clasping her fingers together on top of the counter. "Does anyone else think Emily's been acting kinda weird lately?"

Aria's eyebrows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure exactly, there's just something different about her." Paige scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. She didn't know how to describe it. "She acts kinda jumpy and on edge at times, or completely zones out mid-conversation; it's weird. I started to notice it not long after she broke up with Ben. Speaking of, has she even told us why she dumped him?"

"Well," started Hanna, "I have no idea about the first part of what you just said, but I've asked her a few times about Ben and all I get are vague answers, like 'It just wasn't working anymore' or something equally lame. She won't tell me anything specific."

Paige nodded distractedly; Emily had given her a similar response when she'd asked about it. "I think we should ask her tonight; you know, make sure everything's okay." Paige's words were met with nods of agreement.

"Sure, but don't expect to get an answer," shrugged Hanna. "So, will I phone the pizza now or wait for Em?"

"By the time the pizza's delivered she'll probably be here, I would just phone it now," said Spencer.

Hanna walked down the hall, phone to her ear. Paige could hear her voice ring through the house as she spoke to the person on the other side of the line, her thoughts still stuck on Emily.

"Em hasn't responded to my text," Spencer stated, looking up from her phone with a slight frown.

"You know what?" Paige thought suddenly. "She probably fell asleep. She actually almost dropped off in English today." Paige smiled at the memory. "We stayed up late watching movies last night and had training early this morning; I think it took its toll on her."

"And where was my invitation to movie night?" Aria asked, pretending to be offended.

"And mine!" added Spencer.

"We were watching horror movies," Paige stated simply.

"Ahh, say no more," said Spencer. Paige and Emily had a love for horror movies that their friends would never understand, and the worse they were, the better, in Paige's opinion. Making fun of awful horror movies with Emily was one of her favourite hobbies.

"Hey, where are you?" Paige looked to Spencer, seeing her on the phone. Paige couldn't make out what Emily was saying, but she sounded like she was in a rush. Spencer laughed, hanging up the phone after saying, "Okay, hurry up! The pizza's ordered."

Hanna walked back into the kitchen. "Was that Emily?"

"Yeah," responded Spencer, looking at Paige with a smile. "She fell asleep."

Emily

Emily had been abruptly awakened when Spencer had called. Her head had shot up from where it had been lying on her Biology textbook, her cheek peeling from the page.

Shit. She definitely hadn't meant to fall asleep. She'd answered the phone, jumping off her bed and giving a quick explanation as to why she wasn't at Hanna's yet.

Once she hung up, she looked at her Biology homework. She shook her head at her pathetic attempt, having only managed to answer three questions out of ten before she passed out.

She quickly changed her now crushed-looking t-shirt for a fresh one, grabbing her phone and making her way downstairs.

She entered the kitchen to get a drink of water, feeling a bit groggy after her nap. Her parents were sitting at the table, having just finished their dinner.

"Hey, champ," her dad smiled. "Your mom was just about to come and check on you. Were you not meant to be going out at seven?"

"Hey, Dad," Emily said, walking over to give him a hug, floundering for an excuse as to why she was still here. "I was just trying to finish some homework since I won't have the full night to do it tomorrow." She smiled weakly, hoping they believed her. She didn't put it past her mom to make her stay in and really do her work if she had known she was asleep almost the entire time she was in her room.

Her parents smiled at her proudly. It looked like she was in the clear for now.

She opened the fridge, opening a bottle of water and relishing in its coldness. "Right, I'm going. See you later." She gave them a quick wave and started to walk towards the door.

"Don't be too late!" she heard her mom shout.

"I won't!" she answered, pulling on her jacket and opening the front door.

Emily walked into Hanna's kitchen, seeing her friends starting to pull pizza slices out of the box.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "I hope you weren't going to start that without me."

"Sorry, you were taking too long," shrugged Spencer, biting into a bit of pizza. Emily's stomach growled. She hadn't realised how hungry she was until now.

Paige pulled out a chair beside her and put a plate down in front of it. Emily smiled gratefully, sitting down and feeling warmth spreading through her body when her knee touched Paige's.

They managed to demolish the huge pizza pretty quickly, followed by ice-cream that Hanna pulled from the freezer. Emily felt uncomfortably full, rubbing a hand over her stomach.

"God, I think I ate too fast," she complained. She looked around, seeing she wasn't the only one. Paige's head was almost on the counter, doubled over in pain.

"Same," she heard Paige mutter towards the floor.

Emily reached out, rubbing a soothing hand over her back. "Just think, we've got tomorrow morning to look forward to when we have to run this off."

This caused Paige to look up at her, eyes narrowing in mock anger. "Why? Why would you say that right now?"

Emily laughed, squeezing her shoulder before standing up and helping Hanna gather up everyone's plates to take to the sink.

Five minutes later and they had moved through to the more comfortable setting of the living room. Emily relaxed into the cushions of Hanna's couch with a sigh. Aria sat next to her, the other three girls on the couch opposite.

"So, the new neighbours moved in today," Emily told them. "And my mom invited them over for dinner tomorrow."

"Wow, your mom moves fast, Em," Hanna said, raising her eyebrows.

Emily pouted. "Tell me about it."

"So have you seen them? What are they like?" asked Aria.

"I only caught a glimpse of a man and woman; I haven't actually spoken to them yet. My mom says they have a daughter. That's all I know."

"She'll probably be going to our school then," Hanna concluded. "I hope she's nicer than Ali."

Spencer turned sharply to look at Hanna. "Are you kidding? She couldn't possibly be worse than Ali."

Emily's thoughts veered off from the conversation at the mention of Alison, memories from the pool party flashing through her mind. That was the party that had changed her life, in a way. It was due to Alison's vicious nature that Emily's feelings for Paige had come to light. If it hadn't been for that day, Emily's feelings for her could still be lying deep in her sub-conscious.

Emily still resented Alison for that, on top of a million other things the girl had done to her over the years. Living next door to Alison Dilaurentis had definitely not been easy.

She suddenly noticed Paige waving at her from across the room. "Earth to Em; where are you?"

She blushed. "Sorry, just thinking about something." She shook her head, shifting uncomfortably, trying to focus back on her friends.

Paige pointedly looked at Hanna, then Spencer, then Aria, raising her eyebrows. Emily felt like she'd missed something. She was about to ask what when Paige rolled her eyes, looking straight at her and saying, "Okay, spill. What's been up with you lately?"

Emily stiffened in her seat, looking around the room with wide eyes. What was going on? Had they been talking about her? She felt her heart rate increase.

Swallowing, she looked at Paige. "What do you mean?"

Paige leaned forward, arms resting on her knees. "You keep spacing out, and... I don't know, just acting weird." Paige stared at her with a confused expression.

"Yeah, and what happened with Ben? You've never explained," added Hanna.

Wow. Okay. She didn't expect tonight to go like this. Without even knowing it, they had given her the perfect opportunity to come out.

She took in a deep breath. Should I? She could play dumb and pretend that she didn't know what they were talking about.

Or, she could summon the courage and finally say what she wanted to. Come on, you can do this.

"I'm gay," she blurted out.