soon enough ➳ pll

Chapter One- Prologue

The Hastings' barn was well lit, but the five girls inside could still feel the chill of the blustery winds outside. It was labor day weekend and these girls were spending it together before they had to go back to school that Monday. Hannah Marin, Spencer Hastings, Aria Montgomery, Daisy Thorton and Emily Fields were giggling like school girls- which, of course, they were.

Daisy wondered when the one girl missing from their party of six would finally show up- Alison DiLaurentis. She said that she'd be late but it had been a few hours and she was expected to show any minute.

Thinking about Alison led to thinking about Jason- which, for Daisy, was never really a good thing. Nor was it a legal thing. She may have been a year older than her other friends, since failing her first attempt at being a freshman at Rosewood High, but Jason was still nineteen, which put him a good three years older than her. And she was a minor.

But it wasn't like no 16 year old had ever done anything illegal... Just that night the 6 teenagers had managed to get a hold of some beer to drink amongst themselves. And Daisy knew for a fact that Spencer was popping pills like they were Tick-Tacs. Daisy hadn't told a soul about that and she wasn't planning on it. Secrets were meant to stay secret.

Still, she felt extremely guilty about what was going on between her and Jason- especially since Alison had found out. Not just about Jason, but about the drugs and the alcohol. It wasn't enough to send Daisy to rehab or anything, but Alison had been holding that secret along with many others over her head. That was Alison for you.

The girls had already been drinking the aforementioned beer and having fun for a few hours. They were dressed down to their pajamas and there was a familiar pop beat blaring through the speakers in the barn. It was then that the lights turned off all at once and the music went silent. The girls froze in terror. Daisy held her breath as twigs snapped outside the barn door.

"What happened?" Emily asked, her eyebrows furrowed with worry- was someone out there?

"It must have been the storm," Spencer said soothingly, though it sounded as though she was trying to convince herself of it more than anything else. Almost immediately after she had finished speaking, there was a loud squeak of a door.

"Something's out there," Aria insisted, tensing her shoulders and running a hand through her pink-streaked hair.

"An animal? Maybe?" Daisy whispered, only just loud enough for her four friends to hear. The door to the barn creaked open slowly, frightening the young girls to no end.

"Guys?" Hannah said, her voice quavering even more than those of her friend's. The five creeped towards the then opened door, with Daisy, the ever fearless and optimistic, at the front.

"Gotcha!" A blonde girl jumped out from behind the door and the girls screamed with fright- though there was no need. It was their friend, Alison DiLaurentis.

Aria, Emily, Hannah and Spencer all looked more than a little pissed off, while the other two began laughing together. Daisy enjoyed the lightheartedness Ali had suddenly brought in. For the past few weeks there had been serious tension between the group of girls.

"That's so not funny, Alison," Spencer complained, flicking the switch to turn the lights and the music back on.

"I thought it was hilarious, girls," Alison said, a grin playing on her naturally pink lips. "Right, Daisy?" Daisy fought the urge to roll her eyes- Alison was always dragging Daisy into her shit.

"Right," She replied calmly- and maybe a little sarcastically. "I mean, we are here to party, right?" The other girls laughed with their friend as they settled back on the luxurious sofas that were set up in the barn.

Later, after more than a few drinks, the girls were messing around, talking about nothing and everything. "Ali did you download the new Beyoncé?" Hannah asked dotingly. It was no secret that Hannah was on the bigger side and she had always looked at Alison with an adoring eye. Alison was everything Hannah wanted to be.

"Not yet," She replied with a smile.

"I have," Added Daisy. "It's bad ass."

"I'm loving her new music video," Emily said with enthusiasm. Daisy and Aria both began to agree with her but Ali interrupted, as she so often did.

"Maybe a little too much, Em," She said, a not-so-innocent tone to her voice that made Emily look down sheepishly.

Ali grabbed the tall red glass- the one she had earlier filled to the brim with alcohol- and handed it to Aria, who grabbed it with dainty fingers. "Your turn," Ali spoke. "Go on. Or if you don't want to, Daisy can go for you. She's had a lot of practice." Daisy glared unconvincingly at Ali for that comment. It was crap like that which made Daisy question her friendship with the younger girl.

Without a second thought to anything Ali said, Aria began to chug from the red cup. The other girls giggled and laughed in glee. "Careful, Aria," Spencer mocked. "Drink too much and you'll tell us all your secrets." The girls laughed once more.

"Friends share secrets," Ali said, taking time to look each of the girls in the eye. "That's what keeps us close. Drink up."

It was early the next day- like really early. Way too early for any humane person to be awake. Especially six hungover teenage girls. And yet Daisy found herself being nudged awake by Aria. Hannah and Emily were both up too, but Spencer and Alison were nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Ali and Spencer?" Hannah was the one to ask the obvious question.

"I don't know," Aria said worriedly.

Daisy got up and off the couch, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Couldn't they just be back at the house? They're both early risers, right?"

Aria shrugged and began to walk to the barn's doors, where she almost ran into Spencer. "Ali?" Aria asked an array of questions with that one word, to which Spencer just shook her head.

"She's gone," Spencer confirmed. Daisy's shoulders tensed- but then again, Always was pretty reckless. She was probably out with some guy... She hoped.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Aria almost snapped.

"I've looked everywhere for her," Spencer looked like she was about to cry. "I think I heard her scream."

"Jesus Christ," Was the only thing Daisy could muster. Was Ali really gone?