Like Romeo & Juliet

Chapter 1

This is a tale about two Rosewood families, the Hastings and the Cavanaughs. They used to be quite close. The two families would get together for celebrations, barbecues, and other nonessential get together activities. Until one unfortunate incident occurred that tore the two families apart. No one is quite sure what got between the two families, but some say it involved a legal dispute and a fist fight between the two heads of the households. Fifteen years have gone by and that feud still remains to this day. The two families now avoided each other out in public. They no longer got together for cookouts. The two males did not go golfing together. When they did cross paths, it always resulted in an ugly scream match and snide comments. Usually between the adults of the family. The two families would never know peace. Until one day, the stars just might align for the two families to make amends, or things could end in a bigger tragedy. Is this the Rosewoods version of Romeo and Juliet?

*Hastings*

Summer is a glorious time for teenagers to hang back and take a load off after a hard school year. Some like to spend it by going away. Others prefer to stay busy. Some use the summer to build up their extracurricular activities. One could never have too many extra activites on their college applications. Spencer spent a lot of her summer taking AP classes. She is setting herself up to graduate high school by the end of winter semester. She has her colleges all lined up. After all that hard work she did over the summer, it was time for her to have some fun.

Tonight is the last free weekend of summer before school starts. The DiLaurentis family is hosting a masquerade party. Everyone in town is invited. They throw this party every year. It's become sort of a tradition in this town for families to attend. It was a party she and her family always attended. These parties were always a fun little game for Spencer and her friends on whether the stranger they'd meet for a night would somehow end up being their prince Charming. She's never met anyone really interesting at these parties though. It was always the same people every year. She pretty much new everybody in town, but on the rare occasions, someone new could attend this party. Despite the repetition of the whole thing, Spencer was really looking forward to tonight. All of her friends will be there. She won't have to worry about anything school related. Just a calm, care free night of swaying your troubles away.

For the party, Spencer wore a long black dress with dark red floral design starting from the neckline descending down the shoulders to midway down her back. She accessorized by adding a pair of black spiral earrings, an expensive black and gold necklace given to her by her grandmother, a pair of black stilettos, and a black sequin mask covering her forehead, the outline of her eyes, and half of her face. Spencer felt pleased with herself as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her newly washed hair was curly, pinned up and styled to hang along her left side.

"You look lovely."

Spencer looked up over her shoulder to see her older sister Melissa dressed in her own fancy long gown. Her dress was big, black with a silver glittery spiral design flowing all along her dress. She was holding a little black and white mask between her own two hands. Spencer smiled back at her sister.

"Oh, please, have you looked in a mirror?"

"I know," Melissa smirked. "I look amazing."

"Are mom and dad ready?"

"They said to go along without them."

Spencer's eyes went wide, "really?" But mom and dad never miss this event. I mean, they don't participate in the whole masquerade nonsense, but they never miss a chance to enjoy a good cocktail."

Melissa shrugged, "They both have big cases coming up that they have to prepare for. They're swamped."

"Okay," Spencer shrugged alone. "I'm ready."