The Pretty Little Lying Game (A PLL and TLG Fanfiction) *PAUSED*

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I gasped and began breathing heavily, as if I'd been swimming underwater and had just come up for air. I'd never gotten so much from a single memory before. And, apparently, according to my info, Alison and I used to be good friends. Until our clashing power dynamics brought us down.

I stared down at the four girls Emma had just met. The names were exactly the same as the ones Alison had whispered to me so long ago. These were her friends! But where was she? Wouldn't she have shown up herself if she wanted to contact her dear friend for another catfight?

"Well, why are they here breathing our air?" Charlotte hissed snottily, pulling the hem of her dress.

"We are here about Alison, in case you didn't hear the first time," Emily whispered.

Laurel gaped, quickly covering her mouth with a sleeved hand. Madeline bit down on the inside of her cheek, and Char disgustedly batted an eyelash.

"Alison, huh? Where do you know her from, the strip club?" Laurel muttered.

The girls rolled their eyes. Typical. Just from the picture and the video they assumed that these girls didn't play nice. Even in their worst days, Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer were never this bitchy or rude. And they had reasons to be!

"Guys, stop!" Emma said to her friends. "What is this about Alison?"

"Oh, nothing, except for the fact that she's been missing for a year and a half, is probably dead, and we just found out she used to know you." Aria tilted her head to the side and smiled innocently.

Madeline's eyes shined, like  they were brimming with tears. She tried to fight them back, claiming to have allergies, but it was obvious she was tearing up because of Thayer. Charlotte sympathetically took her hand.

"What?! Missing?" Emma flashed back to the snuff video. She'd found out Sutton was dead pretty quickly. Imagine how they felt! A year and a half of searching and uncovering, desperate for answers, for anything about their friend.

Emma would've gone crazy, dealing with that and high school, not to mention regular life. She had only been doing this for a couple months and she was already willing to shoot herself in the head, watching someone else do all the work. Emma scolded herself silently. Since when was it okay to think something like that? Especially in the middle of solving her twin sister's murder.

I nodded from above her. The joke was not amusing in this crisis, as I was the one dead, thank you very much. My friends looked guilty and nervous. Had they experienced the same stuff with Alison as I once had? Mads seemed to be especially shaken up. Probably because not long ago the same thing happened with her brother. And me. Not that they would ever know.

I eyed the eight people standing by the canyon trails in front of the Catalinas, divided up into two opposite—and unfortunately rivaled—groups. Ali's new friends stood on one side, stretched out into a line. Spencer, acting like alpha, was at front, then Hanna, Emily and Aria. My old friends were clustered around in a small circle around my twin.

It was even more clear who was the leader there, no questions necessary. But I was supposed to be the one surrounded by loving friends—friends I knew would jump at the chance to be able to save me and protect me. What would they do to these new girls?

"Yes, missing. We can't discuss the details here, it's—" Emily glanced over at Madeline, Charlotte and Laurel.

"—personal," she finished.

"I—I'm going to bring them home," Emma stumbled, jutting a thumb in the direction of her (my) house.

She was instantly faced with three glares. Bringing friends of the enemy home? Not a good move.