A/N: There's no POV switch in this chapter, because the last chapter was Emily's beginning chapter and this one is Ali's beginning chapter. Chapter 3, however, does have a switch, and most chapters will, but not all of them.

Also just a side note, after watching PLL last night, I realized that I like in no way can predict what the hell is gonna happen every week on PLL, so I really won't be able to match up everything that happens, obviously. However, I'm going to try and incorporate all of the Emison moments from the show, as they come, into this story :) Obvs I will also be adding my own :P You'll see what I mean in the next chapter :)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own PLL!

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I was laying face down on my bed, contemplating what to do about my crazy, messed up, shit pile of a life that I'd come back to, when my phone rang for the billionth time. Huffing, I finally rolled over and grabbed the thing, answering it without looking at the caller.

"What?" I demanded.

"Chill, Ali," came Hanna's voice at the other end of the line.

"What do you want, Hanna? I thought you were doing school work with Travis," I stated, already bored of this conversation.

"Yeah, well, he canceled. I just called to tell you that my mom said there was an update about that girl," Hanna explained, "the one who died."

I bit my bottom lip nervously. I didn't like the topic of the dead girl in my grave. I didn't like that everyone thought she was me and now it seemed like a lot of people decided that she had died instead of me. That was the worst part, that they all thing that I could've died instead of her. The thing was, it was probably the truth. Whoever had set out to kill me all that time ago had to kill somebody when he or she was sure that I wasn't coming back. But even when the common townsperson had no idea about all of that, they still wish I'd died instead of that poor girl.

Sometimes I wondered if maybe that would've been easier for everyone.

"What'd they say?" I asked finally. I was a little surprised that Hanna hadn't already started talking about it, but I figured that she understood how this was a touchy subject.

"Well, they released some pictures. She's nothing special. Blond, though, and she was about the same height as you," Hanna explained, sounding as though she was looking at the pictures as she talked.

"Is that all?" I wondered, my voice quiet.

"Yeah, I guess," Hanna answered. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I assured her.

"Ugh, you and Emily are both doing that today," Hanna muttered. "Is something going on between the two of you, by the way?"

I tried not to scowl. "No, Hanna, I promise you that there's nothing going on between us."

"Okay, but you know that you can tell me if there is. I won't judge," Hanna reminded me.

"Yeah, I know, but there's nothing," I insisted. Wait, is that a lie? I bit my lip as I contemplated it. There wasn't anything going on between us right now, but… "Well, actually, Han…"

"Yeah?"

"I told Emily that when I used to tease her about liking me, back before all of this stuff, her feelings toward me weren't always one sided," I admitted. If I was going to be more honest now, why wait?

"Aw!" Hanna cooed, and I narrowed my eyes, rolling them at the other blonde.

"Emily doesn't believe me," I stated, affectively cutting off her cooing.

"Why not? Isn't that like what she's always wanted to hear?" Hanna asked.

I shrugged, and then realized that she wouldn't be able to see it over the phone. "She said that she doesn't know if she can trust me."

"Oh," Hanna said, sounding as though she could understand where Emily was coming from. I tried not to scowl and glare into the empty air.

"Do you believe me?" I asked. Silence. "C'mon, Han," I pushed.

"Look, Ali, you did a lot of bad stuff to all of us. It's kind of hard to blame Emily for not believing you," Hanna admitted.

"Okay yeah, but do you believe me?" I demanded to know.

"I have to go, Ali, talk later!" Hanna exclaimed, and the line ended. I groaned and fell back against my pillow. Why didn't anyone believe me? Would none of them ever believe a thing I say again?

I sighed, sitting up and getting up off of my bed. Laying around and acting like I was depressed wasn't the solution. I decided to put away the new clothes I'd bought at the mall, but that was finished within five minutes, and I found myself without anything to do.

I paced across my room for a few minutes, and then my eyes caught on the bottom drawer of my desk that was next to the door. I hadn't really ever thought of that thing in a while, the only locked drawer on the desk. I had a few journals in there, ones I hadn't ever wanted anyone to find. I know that my friends thought they'd access to the most important ones, but in some ways, they never did.

There was a picture frame set up on the desk, and in the back, under the part that you removed to put in the picture, was the key to the drawer. It was wedged tightly between the picture and the frame. I took it out and then proceeded to unlock the drawer.

There were five journals squeezed into the drawer. None of them were labeled, but I knew which one I wanted right now by the way the pages were more worn. I pursed my lips as I retrieved the journal from the drawer. I left the thing unlocked for now, because I would likely seal this journal back in there. I didn't want anyone to see it.

I opened the book carefully and took a deep breath. The pages were a little wrinkled from all of the use. Actually, this journal hadn't stayed in this drawer while I was gone. No, this was one of the few things I happened to have with me when I ran away, and I was so grateful about that.

The first page read, in very careful handwriting, "Emily".

I swallowed thickly. Emily might not believe what I told her was true, but it actually was. I wasn't sure about my feelings for Emily now, just like she wasn't sure of hers toward me now. But I definitely had feelings for her years before.

I flipped through some of the pages, and stopped on one that had dry tears stained on it. There were a ton of scribbled words covering the left page, feelings and thoughts. I couldn't remember when exactly I'd written it.

The sigh I let out next was a little shaky, and I closed the journal. I had written in it while I was on the run, too. Just little notes and things, feelings really. Feelings I had thought were completely gone by now. But seeing Emily again—and not from a distance—and talking to her… it was bringing all of my feelings back. I wasn't sure I liked this. I wasn't scared of liking Emily… or maybe I was.

I bit my lip, and went to slide the journal back into its drawer. Then I locked said drawer and hid my key back in my picture frame. I couldn't read all of the things I had once written, or it would bring back a surge of memories I'd tried to forget. Good ones, bad ones.

My phone beeped from where it was laying over on my bed, and I made my way over to it, hoping to whatever was out there that it wasn't this new, mysterious A. Luckily, it wasn't. It wasn't who I wanted it to be from either, though. Just Spencer, with an update on Toby's condition.

From Spencer- Toby's doing better. They're keeping him in a medically induced coma for tonight, and they'll wake him up tomorrow and keep him under observation for a little while.

I replied with a quick message of support and then went to my other text message conversations on my phone. I hadn't texted Emily much since I got back, mostly because she hadn't really seemed like she even wanted me back until two days ago. Now, though, we seemed back to square one.

Finally, I decided to text Emily.

To Emily- Hey, can we please talk?

There was no response, but it also hadn't told me that Emily had read my message either. I sighed and set my phone down. Just as I did so, it beeped. But this time, it wasn't any of my friends.

From Blocked ID- Is your favorite puppet finally losing interest? I know everyone else is. Everyone wants you gone. –A

I swallowed thickly. It felt like the year before I ran away all over again, only worse, because all four of my best friends were sucked into this mess. Was this all my fault? What if I had just died like I was supposed to?

To Emily- Please? I really think we need to talk.

Still no response. I looked back a the text I'd gotten from A and shook my head. I couldn't let A weasel its way into my mind. A would do anything to make me doubt myself and my friends. He or she would do anything to drive me out of Rosewood again. Whoever this was, it was definitely someone who wasn't at all happy with my return from the dead.

I gave up on texting Emily, because she clearly had no interest in talking to me at the moment. I wish she could just understand that I wasn't lying to her, not this time around. I needed her to trust me, because I couldn't lose her. That would be the last thing I wanted. My past feelings for her aside, she really had always been my favorite of our friend group. She really listened to things I had to say, and she could joke around with me.

She had always seemed like the only person who really got me, and I told her so once. Now, she probably thought that me saying that was a lie as well. Did she think it all was a lie? Did she think that I was just one big lie?

By the time I fell asleep that night, I had gone back and forth with all of my conflicted emotions and thoughts over and over again. I was truly very tired.

The next morning found me getting ready for my third day back at school. Pretty much everyone there hated me now, after that video that Mona edited. I couldn't believe that everyone believed it. It was so obviously edited.

I touched up the last bit of my makeup right before I left, and then I left my house after saying a quick goodbye to my dad. It was weird living with just him. I missed my mom, a lot. But I wasn't one to show a lot of weakness, so I put on my best "I don't have a care in the world" face and started toward the school.

Spencer met up with me when I was halfway to the school. "Hey, Ali," she greeted.

"Hey," I answered, glancing at her face. She looked tired. "Didn't sleep much?"

"It's just so weird, me and my mom not living with my dad," she admitted. I nodded with a little bit of understanding. "What about you?"

I shrugged. "I have a lot going on."

"You know you can talk to us," Spencer reminded me. "All of us. We want you to be okay, Ali."

I gave her a serious look. "How can any of us be okay, Spencer? A is still out there, or at least another A. We don't know if this will ever stop, Spence."

"Hey, I haven't wasted two years of my life trying to figure this all out to give up. We're all going to figure this out, I swear. We figured out Mona and Shana. This will be over, Ali," Spencer promised me. I gave her a half hearted smile.

"I hope you're right, Spencer. For all of us."

I hope you all liked this chapter as much as you liked the first one. I think they're hopefully going to get better though, so yay :)

Like it? Love it? Hate it with a passion? :P Let me know in a quick review, or PM me if reviewing isn't you thaaaang :P Also please follow me on Twitter at BrittzandTana :D Tweet me that you read this and I'll follow you back :D By the way, LOVED the response I got to this fic! So glad you like it!

Time for me to say random stuff! Haha if any of you guys read LMLY... well, one time when I was writing it, I set an alarm for 9AM on a weekend and labeled it "UPDATE LMLY" because FF hadn't been working the night before and I didn't want to forget to update it. I still use the alarm all the time, especially now that it's summer and waking up at 9 is like early for me. But I haven't changed the label on it, and so it still goes off every morning and it's like "UPDATE LMLY" and I'm like lol I would if I could :P

Okay! Next up on today's FF Line-up! SOWK, one of my Dantana stories, should be updated within the next couple of hours or so, unless I get interrupted with something like food lol. But it'll definitely be up today :)

Have a great day lovelies! Please review :)