UNSTEADY 🅰️ LUCAS GOTTESMAN [book one]

A YEAR LATER

...

HALEY didn't need the newspapers, or the sympathetic stares to know it had been a year since that night, the night her friend vanished without a trace. But Alison wasn't the only thing to have disappeared. Her whole family did too. They couldn't stick around in the small town of Rosewood where their daughter had vanished. The Montgomery family were next to go as Byron and Ella packed up their children, relocating to Iceland for a sabbatical year. And then there was her own father, who left his family for another, leaving three heartbroken girls behind.

While the rest of her friends didn't leave physically, they checked out mentally. Emily focused on swimming and Spencer focused on winning, leaving her and Hanna to join forces with loser-turned-it-girl, Mona Vanderwaal.

"Could I see the Pradas in the front?"

The young salesman swallowed thickly as he watched Hanna bat her mascara coated eyelashes at him "I'll have to put some in the back."

"But they're all maybes."

Haley rolled her eyes as she leant against the glass counter, tossing her brunette curls over her shoulder. She had become accustomed to her sisters antics. The younger Marin twin had changed a lot over the year, with her waistline shrinking and her blonde hair glowing brighter, she had become the new Alison.

A petite raven haired girl approached with a brightly colored scarf wrapped around her neck "Hey, is this me?"

Haley's nose wrinkled at the sight "Or is it a little too much Mama Vanderwaal?"

Mona let out a mock gasp, playfully nudging the girl before turning to Hanna "I am loving those glasses. How much?"

"350." Hanna retorted with a shrug as she turned to look at her reflection only to spot Spencer across the floor, perusing the racks of clothes "We'll be right back."

Haley's eyebrows raised as her sister looped her arm through hers, leaving Mona to go back to her shopping "Where are we—" her dark eyes widened in realisation as she spotted the familiar girl just in front "And here we have a wild Spencer Hastings in the average teenage girls natural habitat."

Spencer rolled her eyes with a smile as she watched the twins approach. Hanna raised an eyebrow as she let her grip on Haley drop "I cannot believe you actually have time to shop. I mean, you're interning for the mayor, taking classes at Hollis, and redoing the barn. And in your leisure moments, you facebook and tweet."

"You know me." Spencer shrugged "I like to stay busy."

Haley scoffed in disbelief "It's called a summer vacay, Spence."