I'm baaaack! I decided to come back to this story because after reading it again, I really did give this story an amazing start, and I figured I'd try to write for it again, and I'm so glad I did. I had a blast writing this chapter. If anyone here has read my other story, If It Isn't Love,I am still working on it. I know it's been a while but I'm taking my time to make sure I do it as close to perfect as possible so bear with me. Update coming soon on that as well! My updates probably won't come very quickly being that my college classes begin again in a few days, but I promise I will do my best. Anyway, this chapter is pretty short but I just wanted to get this out to you guys! Make sure you leave a comment and follow this story! I hope you guys enjoy it! XoXo -EmisonEverAfter
Within seconds, Hanna had unlocked the door, swinging it open in front of the brunette.
"Geez, calm down there gladiator! I was only joking with you. I'm pretty sure all of Carter Hall just heard you yelling." Hanna says while reaching for Emily's hand pulling her into the room.
Emily rolls her eyes as she allows herself to be dragged into the room by her best friend. She proceeds inside, putting her bags down on her newly decorated dorm bed as Hanna crawls and plops down into her own bed with her legs crossed Indian style.
Their dorm was very small, and the two girls' beds were only a hop, skip, and jump away from each other, which was fine with Emily. Being that this is all new to her. She enjoys having her best friend so close until she gets used to being away from her mother.
Emily's mom is what you would like to call a helicopter mom. She was in charge of everything that Emily did. This was something normal to Emily, especially because she was also her teacher at home. Their relationship had been through many ups and downs. The biggest obstacle was Emily's sexuality.
Emily had known for a very long time that she was not like most other girls. Discovering she liked girls caused her and her mother much turmoil in their relationship for many years, but over time, she softened up and accepted Emily for who she was. Emily was proud of who she was, not ashamed or deterred by the possible backlash of being different and that is something her mom grew to admire about her daughter. Since then, their relationship has been better than ever, and she misses her mom very much.
At the sound of Hanna's voice, she was pulled out of her thoughts.
"Oh my gosh, Em, tell me everything! How was your first day?" Hanna says excitedly, staring at Emily waiting for a response.
"Ugh, Han it was actually quite a mess."
Hanna raised a curious eyebrow at the statement.
"What happened?" She asks with concern lacing her voice. Emily runs a hand through her hair before falling back onto her pillow and releasing a deep breath.
"Well, for starters, I was lost and walked into at least four of the wrong classrooms before finally finding the right one. By the time I got there, the class was being dismissed and I missed the entire lesson." Emily covers her face with her hands recalling the unfortunate series of events from the day.
"On top of that, I have a partnered project I have to participate in, and I've only been on campus for one day. I don't even know how to work with other people!" She says exasperatingly. The thought of the project is a point of stress for Emily. She's never had to work with anyone before. She's never even studied with someone else before.
Hanna looks at Emily with a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry today was such a drag for you." Hanna hops down from her bed, her face now sporting a mischievous look before jumping onto the bed with Emily, causing her body to fly off the mattress. Hanna has always been highly energetic.
"But hey look at the bright side!" She says while grabbing Emily by the shoulders and pulling her upright from her laid-down position.
"At least now you have someone to walk you through your first couple of days of class. This whole experience of being on campus is new to you, and maybe this will help you adjust. You know, meeting new people and possibly even making new friends. Of course, no friend will be better than me, but I don't mind sharing you with a few people." Hanna says quirkily and winks at Emily.
Emily sighed and laid a hand over Hanna's, which was still gripping her shoulder. "Yeah, maybe you're right, Han. My partner seems nice enough."
"Oh yes, who is your partner anyway? Is it a girl? And if so, is she hot?" Hanna is now wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at Emily.
Emily's mind wanders back to the moment she had seen the girl. She had long blonde tresses that fell over her shoulders and sparkling blue eyes. She wore a tight purple top with white ripped skinny jeans and knee-high boots with a heel. She notes that she seems slightly overdressed for a college class, but since the girl was a sight for sore eyes, she could pull it off, no questions asked. This is the type of girl that will have all the guys in the palm of her hand.
"Hot isn't even the word I would use, Han. But I can tell she's straight just by looking at her so no reason to wiggle your brows at me." Emily responds with a smirk and a playful laugh.
"Oh hun, you'd be surprised at how many hot girls like girls these days. I mean look at you." Hanna retorts while bumping her shoulders to Emily's playfully causing a smile to form on her lips. Hanna loved to hype up her friend and remind her of how beautiful she was. The brunette tends to downplay herself.
"Who is she? I can tell you what I know. I know everyone around here." Hanna says as she hops off the bed to grab her laptop and opens her social media accounts.
"Her name is Alison."
Hanna stops in her tracks and looks at Emily with wide eyes. "Alison? As in Alison Dilaurentis?"
"Yeah, that's her."
Hanna slammed her laptop shut and walked back to Emily's side. "Em, you have to stay far away from that girl." The blonde scoffs before continuing. "Is it too late to get a new partner?"
Emily looks at Hanna with confusion written across her face at how irritated the blonde seemed to become at the mention of Alison's name.
"I mean, Hanna, I am new to the class, and I joined halfway through the semester I think it would be pretty poor of me to be making demands right now." Emily looks back to her friend to see her with her head down, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers.
"Hanna I don't understand-" Emily begins to question her friend before being cut off.
"You wouldn't understand because you didn't go to school with her. But I did, and trust me, she is awful."
Emily could not help the dumbfounded look that had spread across her face. She would have never expected this reaction from Hanna. Even though her interaction with Alison was brief, she would have never assumed that about her at all. She seemed very normal. Maybe even a little awkward.
"Alison was literally the school mean girl at Rosewood prep. Not only was she the queen of mean, but she was also a man stealer."
Man stealer?Emily thought to herself. It all made sense. "Wait, is this about Shawn?"
Emily begins to have a flashback to Hanna's second year in high school. Her friend had shown up at her front door with tears streaming down her face and makeup smeared on her eyes. Hanna had just been broken up with by her first love and she now remembers her saying that he had fallen for someone else. That same day she had seen him leaving the high school with another blonde. She now realizes that the blonde must have been Alison.
"It's not just about Shawn. I'm so over that now! But yes, she was the one who got him to leave me and she is just genuinely not a good person Em! The worst part was she didn't even want him! She just used him for attention and was done with him in a week." Hanna says with her eyebrows tightly knitted together and her arms crossed. Emily notes that for someone who was over the situation, Hanna surely was wound up tight right now.
"Well Han, I'm sorry she was the one who put you through that. But don't worry, we're just partnered for this project. I'll only have to deal with her for about two weeks, that's it. Okay?" Emily tries to reassure her friend.
Hanna takes a deep breath and walks over to the brunette.
"Listen Em, you are your own person, and I can't tell you what to do or who to talk to or befriend. But just be careful, okay?" Hanna reaches out and puts a hand on Emily's shoulder. "Alison has always been a pretty mean-spirited person. She's known for using people and throwing them away when she has gotten what she wants from them, and I would hate to have to kill her for fucking with you."
Emily reaches out and hugs her friend. Hanna has always been very protective of her. Emily has always felt like Hanna treats her like a sheltered baby bird. She understands where the over-protectiveness stems from and Emily knows that she has not had as many social interactions as a normal person, but she can take care of herself.
"Well, I appreciate your concern, Han, really. But I promise I'll be fine. We're not 6 years old on the playground anymore, I can handle myself." Emily says attempting to soothe her friend once again.
"But I promise I'll keep my head on a swivel around her just for you." Emily adds.
"Good. Now let's talk about more important things." Hanna says before taking a deep breath and taking a seat next to Emily again.
"Did you see any hot guys for me?" She says, raising an eyebrow at Emily, and the brunette lets out a deep laugh in response before rolling her eyes at her best friend.
On the other side of the yard in Brown Hall, Alison was also just getting back to her dorm where Spencer awaited her arrival.
"Where have you been? I've been waiting on you." Spencer says never looking up from her laptop as she studies. This is nothing new for Spencer as she has always been known as a brainiac. She's always been top of the class in every grade and she doesn't plan on stopping now in college.
"Sorry mom, I went to get a smoothie from the cafe first, is that okay?" Alison quips back.
Spencer finally looks up from her laptop. "As long as you're okay with the fact that I started the study session without you."
"I'm sure I'll survive." The blonde says rolling her eyes as she sits across from Spencer.
"So you got the new girl as your project partner. Emily was her name right?" Spencer says crossing her arms in front of her with a smirk tugging at the ends of her lips.
"Yes, What about it?" Alison says while pulling her books and laptop out to join Spencer.
"Nothing, you just seemed a little⦠taken aback, when you saw her." Spencer's tone changes as she puts emphasis on her words, and Alison doesn't miss the inflection. Alison also knew that Spencer was going to call her out on her out of character moment. Even she doesn't know why she reacted the way she did. Why she was stumbling over her words like an idiot when she met Emily.
She thinks back to the moment the girl walked into the room. She had long dark brown hair and tan skin. Her legs were long and strong and Alison could not figure out for the life of her how she had never seen this person before. She's sure she would have remembered. She has the looks of someone that you don't forget when she walks into a room.
"I mean, yeah I was more confused than anything. I'd definitely never seen her before. And you know there's not many people around here that I've never seen before."
"So confused, that you could barely get your words out? I've seen you in a lot of situations before and I've never seen you break your stride never not once." Spencer responds quickly.
Alison quirks an eyebrow at Spencer's pointed question. Alison knew that Spencer knows her almost more than she knew herself but sometimes it really pisses the blonde off that the brunette literally never misses a thing when it comes to her. Of course, she noticed the nervous feeling she got when she spoke to Emily, but she's positive it was only because she was taken off guard by the girl she'd never seen before a day in her life.
Hollis College was basically like a second version of Rosewood prep. It's mostly all the same people who have grown up here. Barely anyone comes to this small college from out of state or anywhere else. Sure there are a few people here and there from nearby towns, but none of them look like Emily. She stands out.
But for the life of her she couldn't figure out what Spencer was trying to get at with all the questions. Spencer was still across from her with the smuggest grin on her face.
"Why the hell do you keep looking at me like that?" Alison snarkily responds. She tries not to speak like that anymore but the way Spencer was looking at her was grinding her gears.
"Oh, no reason. Just asking questions that's all. She sure is pretty though, right?" She says while she puts her focus back on her studies.
"Yeah, she is." Alison responds absent mindedly before opening her books, having every intention to ignore any further questions that Spencer may have about this girl.
"Hm," Spencer remarks while giving Alison one last look before speaking again, closing her books and gathering her things.
"Well, since you were late, I've finished all my studying for the time being. I'm going to head to the student center to meet up with Aria and start brainstorming for this project." Spencer throws her bookbag over her shoulder and walks towards the door, but before walking out she turns back to say one more thing.
"You know maybe you should do the same and plan something with Emily. Remember the earlier you start, the better the result will be." She then walks out of the door.
Alison rolls her eyes at Spencer as she leaves. She swears that the girl is never not doing something school related. But she also knows that she is right, so she pulls the paper with Emily's number on it out of her pocket and types out a text to her.
Alison: Hi, it's Alison. When would you like to start working on our project?
Alison closes her phone, places it on the desk, and attempts to begin studying for her math class. She definitely had a heavy workload taking 4 classes at once but it's nothing she can't handle. Before she could even start, she felt her phone vibrate and saw that she already had a response from Emily.
Emily: Hi! I'm available tomorrow after my last class ends 4. We can get together then if it works for you.
Alison: That works for me. Do you want to meet at Hawk's Cafe?
Alison sits her phone down again. Trying to focus on her studies but for some reason, she can't seem to stay focused on anything. She decides to give up for now and try again later. Maybe she needs to unwind a little bit. She closes all her books and lies down on her bed, staring at the ceiling when her phone goes off again.
Emily: Sounds good to me. I'll see you then :)
Alison: Perfect, see you then.
Alison decides that's a good ending point for the conversation and closes her phone. She doesn't know what is weighing on her so heavily today that she can barely find it in herself to be able to keep up with her daily routine. Wake up, go to her classes, study, shower, sleep. Sometimes, she would study in different places and study for different lengths of time, but other than that, there wasn't much variance involved in her day to day routine. Other than an occasional party over the weekend. She has done a good job of keeping a low profile since being here, especially since she's trying to change the public perception of herself in this town. But today, she couldn't seem to do it. She thinks to herself that everything felt normal until she embarrassed herself in front of Emily today. She can't believe that she even cares so much. It really wasn't too bad of an interaction, but it's all she can think about and it's nagging at her every nerve.
Alison shakes her head trying to free her mind of today's events, eventually deciding to crawl under her covers and attempt to sleep. Anything to make her not have to think for a while.
