Here's the second chapter for you guys!

Enjoy and let me know what you think from the chapters so far.

Thanks!

Days pass and it's finally time for the fair. Mona didn't get too many people to come from the alumni's considering it was so last minute, but she did get a decent amount. Not to mention I helped. For example, I got Carter Nelson, Tori Jackson, and Kelly Arnold involved. They had all been a few familiar faces from my basketball and softball days in high school. All of them had moved off to different states for college, but now they are back in Pennsylvania, no longer in Rosewood but close enough to visit. When they got the call from me they were thrilled and were all on board with no begging from my end. To add on top of that gang, I even got Annabeth Richmond, my British friend from Rosewood High, who moved to town in 12th grade from the United Kingdom. She never left since she went to Hollis with me, and we've been close friends for what feels like ever. So it wasn't hard to reach out for the favor. She was never into sports, but knowing that I'd be around it made her more comfortable to agree. I attempted Spencer, considering she had played field hockey for what felt like a decade, but as of now I haven't heard anything back from her. Not a shock considering it feels like all four of the girls (Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily) had drifted off the map on me in the last few years, even with the visits home.

When my friends went off to college I stayed behind here in Rosewood to attend a local college with Annabeth and my highschool bully Alison DiLaurentis. Now what kept me sane from not only being around Alison all the time but also from my own mind of flashbacks and fears were my family-friends, (being more like my uncle, aunt and brother than anything else) who made sure they had my back when I had to balance out work and school. While Toby, Ezra and Annabeth made sure my mental health was taken care of from everything else. The girls drifted off more and more as years passed and things never really were the same, but I made due with who stayed by my side despite everything that's happened.

As I'm looking at the roster to who will be attending the fair my surprise is seeing Alison's name. She's not only here to play at the field hockey game from having some experience as a kid, but she also happens to be a teacher at Rosewood High School and is supporting the cause. This girl came back to Rosewood not too long before Thanksgiving in our senior year of high school, and made our lives hell despite claiming to be different. Somehow she manages to be on my good side enough not to rip her head off considering she went to Hollis College for her degree too, making us forced to interact in town and at school so I did my best to play nice, be friendly, but she didn't make it easy whenever her old ways popped up to impress others. To this day she still tries to be on friend terms, feeling what she put me through before she disappeared and after was justifiable. However, I don't give her the benefit of the doubt at all anymore. I'm nice if I absolutely have to be, but I don't prefer it.

"Hey, guys." Speak of the devil.

Alison's soft voice comes, making me close my eyes in annoyance that she still has that innocent tone. The once popular girl with a mean personality likes to make people think she's not that same girl from years ago, but I can see past all that.

However, I keep calm as I stare at Mona, who was in the middle of giving me the schedule for the day. I even shift my eyes to Annabeth since she walked over to say hi to us and I have to do everything in my power not to react the way I used to when we were in high school, which would have been throwing my fists into Alison's face. So I take a breath and slowly turn to her, plastering a smile onto my own face. "Alison. It's been a while." I say casually.

She half smiles, hearing the hint of sarcasm in my voice. This sarcasm is mainly because I'm usually dodging her when we see each other weekly at Ezra's bookstore whenever I have to grab food or coffee and she happens to be there. So she knows she's on thin ice with me. I may have given her a second chance when the girls went missing from CeCe so we could find them, but outside of attempting to play nice during college and now, that was the closest I ever let her be an actual friend. "Still hate me I see."

I smirk a bit, half laughing. "Me? Hate you? What gave you that idea?"

I shift my eyes to Annabeth for a second and see her give me a soft smile, the type where she's trying not to laugh at my tone. But then she puts her head down as if to make it seem like she's reading something on her phone so that she doesn't make the situation worse. Me and her together is madness, because we vibe off of each other's energies and the chaos that follows is like 2 kids having a field day.

Then I hear Alison sigh a bit, seeming irritated by my attitude and turn back to her. "Jessie, come on. I've apologized a million times over the years."

I nod in a way of not really caring, "I'm aware." I say sarcastically.

She sighs again, staring at Mona for a second as if wanting some backup but she obviously doesn't give it to her. Then she looks back at me, completely ignoring the fact that Annabeth is even here. "We are the last ones from our group who didn't move out of Rosewood. Can't you just give me a break?"

"Why would I do that?" I say with very little emotion now, staring back to the paper that Mona gave me.

"Because we've been through a lot together and it's better to be allies in a town like this."

"That's not a convincing argument." I keep staring down at the paper in my hands, not really too focused on her.

"Jessie, please?"

For a second I ignore her, then I humor the conversation, "We may have been the last two from their group, but I have friends outside of them." I look up now and stare at her for a second because having to explain this is annoying, "You were never one of those people."

She seems a bit shocked by me saying this, which she shouldn't have been considering our teen years together were not ideal. "You're really just going to write me off? Like this town doesn't bond us in some way."

I watch her for a second, trying to get a vibe from her. Sometimes I swear she's pulling my leg by wanting to be my friend in any way, as if she deserves that. "Our past history may be from years ago, but that doesn't mean I have to forgive you for it." I say simply with a hint of anger behind my voice.

Her face goes slack from my tone becoming angry with her, seeming to be slightly taken off guard. But then she shifts her eyes and stares at Mona again, like she's thinking before saying. "But you were able to forgive someone who almost killed you? She was going to throw you off a cliff."

I slightly flinch from that image coming to my head, remembering that day like it was yesterday. Seeing Mona's dark and unsympathetic brown eyes, how she kidnapped me on the night of the masquerade ball like it was no big deal and held me against my will in that motel while tied and gagged to a chair. Everything about Mona that day wasn't her, her mental health literally almost killed me for the sake of vengeance without meaning to. I've been able to move past it...or at least enough to function around her, but Alison mentioning this has my breath for a second pick up and I even see the small familiar smirk on Alison's face as if she enjoyed picking on me again.

"That was so uncalled for, Alison." Annabeth's British accent seeps into my ears and I faintly hear Alison say something back, but it's all slightly faded from my panic.

A hand grazes my fingers now and I look to the side, knowing it's Mona. But when I look my eyes flash for a second and I see Mona in that black hoodie, making my heart sink before my eyes flash again and she goes back to normal. Now I see that she's wearing a Rosewood Sharks t-shirt with jeans and a soft smile on her face to relax me because she knows how my reaction to flashbacks look from seeing them before. "You're okay." She whispers gently to let me know that she's here without letting anyone see my panic.

I take a deep breath, blinking hard to make sure she doesn't change again. Then I slightly smile back at her before looking at Alison again, composing myself. "I should not have to explain the difference between you and Mona." I say in my normal tone.

"Yes…" she says with a hint of anger now, sounding like her old self. "You do, because I've never stooped that low."

I press my lips together, trying not to laugh. "Are you joking? You've stooped so low I've had to literally pull myself off of the ground from getting beat up by your minions on more than one occasion."

"And I've apologized for it!" Her voice rises slightly and a few people stare our way in curiosity.

Not caring about the stares I continue, "Your apologies mean absolutely nothing to someone who suffered through your relentless bullying." I have a pointed finger towards her now in frustration, "No matter how much you try to justify what you've done by saying you never tried to kill me."

"But..."

"It was from pettiness over me being friends with Aria and Spencer. So yes, stooping low was your thing." I don't bother to let her finish because she doesn't get it. "And no, you don't have a valid excuse for why you did those things the way Mona had. You just wanted to have fun."

She grinds her teeth slightly, her eyes flamed a bit. There's the girl I once knew. "And yet you're being petty for letting the actions of something I did as a kid defy a potential friendship."

I half laugh now, "Friendship?"

"We were once."

"For the sake of the girls so we could find them. We were never friends, Alison."

"I think it was a good start."

I shake my head, "It's not one I cared for and not one I need from you." What's so hard for her to grasp that I don't like her.

Her lips tighten a bit, as if ready to lose it. "You really are a piece of work."

I smile a bit, "Is that supposed to offend me?"

"More like put you in your place."

"Oh you'd know all about that wouldn't you, Queen Bee?"

"Don't test me, Four Eyes."

My face slowly drops to those words and I see her face goes slack from realization, "Really, DiLaurentis?"

"Jessie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"Of course you did. You get triggered and you go back to your old ways."

"No, Jessie I…"

I finally step towards her now, cutting her off and end up close enough that she has her eyes directly to mine from being the same height. "How about I knock my fist into your face? I can go back to who I used to be too ya know."

Her face now goes pale, seeming a bit scared of me even. I know she used to be on edge with testing my patience when she got back from her few years of being missing, so this probably reminded her of how I used to fight back when I was tipping over the edge.

"Jessie…" Mona's voice slowly cuts in because now I'm getting heated.

I stare at Mona when her hand sets itself around my wrist, another grabbing my shoulder and I know it's Annabeth as they gently pull me away from Alison so I don't make a scene. I know this is their way of keeping me put because once I snap from my temper it's not easy to go back.

My eyes lock with Mona, her gaze relaxing me gently before I take a breath and stare back at Alison. "She learned from her mistakes and earned my trust. You never did. Because when I tried in college you blew that chance too. So sorry, but not sorry." I finally answer her stupid question.

Alison's face switches to being a little upset in a sad way, which is a bit abnormal for someone like her. She rarely lets things get to her, especially when it comes to me. But as the years have gone by it's felt like she's been trying to be on better terms more and more, as if she's desperate for a friend. People in this town have barely liked being around her once high school finished. She started to see the real world as it was, not giving her chances from her past. She screwed over a lot of people growing up.

I take a breath, always having a slight fear in the back of my mind towards Alison, towards the girl who used to bully me relentlessly. But I try not to let her affect me anymore, so I turn my head away from her, patting Mona's arm gently as I tell her I'll set the schedule onto the bulletin board and meet up with her soon to discuss more with her boss. Then I give Annabeth a quick reassured smile that I'm okay before heading off to the board.

...

I stare at the board for a few long seconds before pinning the paper onto it. Seeing people from my past that had a bad impact on me is never easy. Mona is the only person I've been able to stay friends with who made my life hell when she hurt me because I knew that wasn't her fault. She didn't intentionally do what she did, her mind without medication wasn't her own. It was multiple people at once sometimes. This Mona loves me, but mentally ill Mona hates everyone's guts. Especially the ones she felt were taking Hanna away from her as a friend back then.

"You okay?"

I take a breath and smile to the voice behind me, turning around to see Noel. I try to keep the smile but then I just shake my head lightly. "Alison's here."

His face drops slowly. That's the type of reaction a normal person shows when they hear her name, which is something I appreciate from the people who grew up with her. "You're kidding."

"Wish I was." I shake my head as I look back to the board of names, "Apparently she's playing field hockey."

It's quiet for a few seconds before he stands beside me. "Did she give you a hard time?"

"Kind of."

"What did she do?"

"Went back to calling me my old nickname when I wouldn't give her the chance of a friendship."

His face slowly drops, "Please tell me she didn't."

I give him a lopsided smile, "Not surprising since it's her."

"Doesn't give her the right though."

"Also doesn't give her the right to try and justify past actions so we can move on and be friends."

He snorts a bit and this gets my attention to look up at him now, his face is amused with a smile and his hand is covering his laugh. "Sorry. Sorry. She's just full of it."

"Thank you. Someone finally agrees with me." I smile gently at his reaction.

"You know I've always backed you up with her."

"And I appreciate each moment you have."

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

I smile at him more, leaning into him a bit. "I know you will. And I love you for the kind heart you have."

He smiles gently, staring at the paper I put on the board. "You sure you want to stick this out? With her being around."

I rub the back of my head a bit with a shrug, "No. But I'm not going to leave either. We're not in high school anymore where she can feel the satisfaction that I'm going to buckle under her words."

"You've definitely come a long way with her." He sounds proud as he says this.

"Easy when her acting like she's changed isn't as convincing" I laugh a bit, "She has to try harder to prove to people she's not that same kid. So I can take a little bit more advantage of the situation."

"And I am 100% for that revenge."

I laugh and nudge him, "Still got the bad boy side in you."

"Only for you."

I smile gently, "I appreciate that you still have a soft spot for me."

He smiles back at me and smooths my side bang behind my ear, "I'll never stop."

I press my lips together, watching him a bit. "I do miss you."

He tilts his head a bit, "I'm always here."

"I know." I half laugh, a little embarrassed for admitting this to him. "But as more, ya know?"

His face gets a little blushy and it makes me smile at him more, "Don't be a tease, Brant."

I laugh now, giving him a playful smirk. "It's how I roll, Kahn."

He presses his lips together, "Keep testing me, Jessie 'cause I'm going to just scoop you right up and we'll miss this fair."

Now I press my lips together and get a little blushy. We haven't dated in ages, we've kept ourselves on friendly terms since but the teasing we tend to do on occasion is getting hard to ignore. "Noel Kahn, don't you dare."

He gives a soft smirk and playful grazes my chin with his hand, "I would. However, I might just let you ponder on this moment." He backs up slowly and then walks away, "See you later!"

"Why you little shit." I say under my breath, only half surprised by that because he's always been the one who leaves the teasing to a max level.