Practice

Dark Paradise (Part 1)

Chapter Notes

There’s two parts to this chapter.
In this story Alison is not as outgoing as she is in the TV show.
Thanks for reading.

The next time it happened, it was Hannah’s fault.

They were all having breakfast. Emily was far too interested in her pancakes, and Alison had been going on for at least ten minutes about how Noel Kahn had actually asked her on a date, like it was some kind of surprise.

Like there was anyone who wouldn’t want a date with the prettiest girl in the world, Emilyè thought, as she chewed her pancakes with more force than necessary.

She did her best to ignore Alison’s excitement, shoveling her breakfast in her mouth at an alarming rate just to make sure she had a good excuse to keep from participating in the conversation, and it wasn’t until Alison’s revelation about never having been on a date and having no idea what to do or what to expect that Hannah stepped in and broke Emily’s heart.

“Just have Em take you on a practice date. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”
So of course, Emily’s head shot up at the sound of that, and she just stared at Hannah like a deer in headlights with her cheeks stuffed and syrup dripping out of the corner of her mouth.

“What,” Emily deadpanned, the sound barely intelligible through the pancakes half-chewed between her teeth.

“Emily Fields,” Spencer started, dropping her fork onto the table, “what did I tell you about talking with food in your mouth while we’re in a restaurant?”

Emily’s eyes shot to Aria’s incredulously as she finished chewing, silently begging her to save her from Hannah’s suggestion and Spencer’s impromptu parenting, but Aria was too busy looking at Spencer with wide eyes and her mouth in an ‘O’ at the smart girl’s sudden outburst.

“It makes us all look bad,” Spencer grumbled in defense, when she realized they were all staring at her.

“So what do you say, Em?” Hannah clapped her hands together, changing the topic back to her previous suggestion.

She seemed awfully proud of herself. “I say not gonna happen,” Emily snapped back, but immediately regretting it when she saw Alison’s eyes fall.

“C’mon Em, it’s just –”

“It’s fine, Em,” Alison interjected, cutting Hannah off. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“If it’s a big deal to you then it is a big deal, Ali,” Hannah argued. She kept her gaze trained on Emily, eyes pointed like she was personally offended.

“It’s just, like, it wouldn’t be the same, you know? Part of what makes a date so exciting is that you don’t know what to expect,” Emily tried to cover herself, but she meant what she said (mostly).

“Except that if you were listening, at all, Emily, you would’ve heard the part where Noel told her to plan everything. Boys this generation are so lazy, I swear,” Hannah replied, shaking her head.

“So why don’t you help her plan something for them to do? You’d be much better at it than I would be,” Emily countered, not missing the way her and Hannah were bickering about a practice date for somebody else over breakfast while their friends just stared at them in disbelief.

Sometimes she hated the effect Alison had on her. “Because I have plans with Aria today,” Hannah shrugged.

“You do?” Aria cut in.

“Yes, I do,” Hannah answered too sharply.

“Wait, you want me to do this today? That gives me, like, no time to plan anything!”