Cruel Summer | Jason Dilaurentis

Prolouge

September 2009

Five girls were in the Hastings' farm house drinking and giggling the night away, the music blaring out of a speaker at top volume. Aurora Jenkins danced around the room with a bottle of alcohol and a dazed grin whilst the other four watched her in amusement.

Suddenly the lights turned off and the music came to an abrupt stop. This caused Aurora to lose her footing and collapse into a heap on the floor.

"Woah, what happened?" Aria Montgomery spoke, turning on a flash light to see clearer.

"It must be the storm." Spencer Hastings said in return "Are you alright Rory?"

The girl in question was trying to pull herself back up with the help of Emily Fields and Hanna Marin, all while chanting a mantra of "I'm fine," and "I got this" It was quite clear that she was not fine and that she most definitely had not got this.

Then, a deep creaky noise rang through the barn , make all of the girls feel on edge. "Somethings out there!" whispered Aria, an expression of terror gracing her face.

"Yeah, no shit Aria!" Aurora said with worry lacing her words, "I'm going to go check it out." A chorus of protests came from each girls mouth, but the blonde only chuckled, "oh come on, what's the worse that could happen?" And with that, she disappeared out of the door, slamming it shut behind her for effect.

Rory turned her head to the left and, as expected, she saw Alison Dilaurentis stood by the door with a smirk on her face. The mischievous smirk was mirrored by the Jenkins girl as she started to yell; "Hello! Is anybody out there?" It was becoming difficult to hold in her laughs now, but somehow she managed to carry on, "Hello? Show yourse-" she cut herself off by quickly placing a hand over her mouth.

Her friends' worried calls filled their ears as she ran to a spot next to Alison, giving her friend the signal to push the door open. The four girls in the barn screamed, standing up from their spots on the sofas. They slowly crept towards the entrance, jumping and letting out loud gasps when they heard the sound of glass shattering. After they regained their courage, they started moving towards the door again, trying to catch a glimpse of what was causing all of this mayhem. Ali counted down on her fingers and once she got to zero they both jumped out shouting "Gotcha'!"

The looks on all of the other girls faces were priceless, Rory and Alison finally let out their laughs, leaning on each other for support.

"So not funny you two!" Spencer scolded, slightly embarrassed after getting played like a fool.

"I thought we were hilarious, don't you agree Ali?" Aurora said with a teasing tone, she was quite proud of her and her best friend, they knew how to make things believable.

Alison seemed just as smug, "Of course my darling Aurora, maybe we should run away and pursue a career in comedy." That comment finally seemed to win the girls over as they all began to laugh along, everyone sat down again.

"Ali did you download the new Beyonce?" Hanna questioned in a sweet voice, always eager to get the approval of her friend.

"Ugh not yet." Said the Dilaurentis girl in return.

"I'm loving her new video." Emily commented, an innocent smile on her face. She was a loving girl who made everyone comfortable enough to talk about anything and everything.

"Maybe a little too much, Em." Alison snarked, this caused Aurora to roll her eyes while the rest of the girls all giggled awkwardly. Ali had told her about the whole kissing fiasco, and the blonde seemed to be laughing forcibly as she recounted how Emily thought that the kiss the two shared meant something. Rory saw through her act though, it was obvious it meant  a lot to both parties involved, she decided not to push her best friend to talk about it, Ali would tell her when she was ready.

Desperate to save Emily from further scrutiny, she shoved the cup of cheap alcohol towards Aria, "Your turn!"

Aria took the cup what and shrugged as if to say 'Why not' and took a long sip. This made the rest of the girls giggle.

"Careful Aria!" Spoke Spencer through her laughter, "Drink too much and you'll tell us all of your secrets." This caused the girls laughs to double in volume.

"Friends share secrets" Alison told them, her tone strangely serious "That's what keeps us close." Her voice quivered at the end of her sentence.

To lighten the mood Aurora turned to Aria teasingly and said "Drink up!"

While the rest of the girls were distracted, Rory made eye contact with her friend, trying to read her emotions and see why she was acting differently. Alison stared back a her with a look that said one thing.

They were doing this.

Tonight.

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