the first time i saw you ↬ emison

; twenty eight

emily's pov

i wake up, and see ali standing up, her hands covering her face and sobbing.

i rub my eyes and get up. "ali?" i ask groggily. "are you okay?"

she looks at me and runs over to the bed. she wraps her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.

"what happened, ali?"

"everyone knows," she mumbles in my shoulder.

hanna wakes up. "are we late for school?"

i shake my head.

"has paige told anyone yet?" hanna yawns.

i slightly nod.

"i'm sorry, ali." hanna says, rubbing her eyes.

"come on get up," i say, letting go of alison.

"i don't wanna go," alison cries.

"alison, i know, but you have to face it. this is not going to disappear tomorrow, you have to face it."

"emily's right," hanna says. "we'll go with you."

+++++++

"i don't know if i'm ready guys," ali, gripping my hand, hard. tears start to come down her cheeks.

hanna pats her shoulder. "no one is going to do anything," hanna says.

"really, han?" alison sarcastically asks pointing outside the window.

people have been swarming hanna's car, waiting for ali to come out. thank god, hanna has tinted windows.

i grabbed Alison's hand. "you're gonna get through this," k tell her.

her scared face softens and she smiles at me.

"ready?" hanna asks.

alison nods and i smile.

hanna pops open the door. she struts out like a superstar, pretending like everything was normal.

i get out of the backseat and face the crowd. i look away, and open the door for alison.

i walk through the crowd and hear murmurs.

looking good!

ew, them together?

so she dates a girl, but she doesn't date me?

i ship them!

ooh, i heard that emily ditched paige for ali

paige seems just spread rumors. I'm pretty sure ali is straight

o, she's into the ladies

"i like both," i heard her mumble.

it did kinda surprise me, i only thought she was lesbian, i guess she's bi.

hanna puts her arm around her and guides her through the group of kids. somewhere along them, we see 3 familiar faces. aria. spencer. mona.

they come rushing towards us.

"why didn't you answer our texts or calls?"

"is this true?"

"em! did you and ali kiss?"

i stay quiet.

they look shocked and they're eyes widen.

"oh my gosh! it's true," aria whispers, running her hands through her hair.

"how come you never told us?" spencer asks.

"i guess, i wasn't ready. i mean, i am popular." alison says. "only hanna knew, and that's cause em told her."

"are you sure this is what you want?" mona asks me, smiling. i nod.

"okay, then!" hanna says. "i guess we just have to get through today."

"don't worry, ali, we'll be right here." aria tells her looping their arms together.

+++++

all of us walk out the school, pretty confident and proud that we survived today.

"let's go to the grille," hanna suggests