CHARISMA - the sweet unknown {PLL}

Warehouse Games - Part 1

"Hi girls", Mrs Montgomery seemed slightly confused to find Alisha, Emily and Spencer in front of her door unexpectedly. 

"Hi", Emily gave her a smile, which she somehow managed to put on her face authentically, "is Aria home?" 

"She's in the kitchen", she replied and stepped to the side to make way for the girls to come into the house. After a quick hesitation they walked inside and went to the kitchen. They heard Aria talking to her brother Mike, she sounded happier than they'd expected to find her. When she noticed her friends, her expression changed. 

"What are you doing here?" she asked. 

How could she actually be surprised about that, Alisha thought, they'd told her about the Hanna thing. Has she already forgotten about it? Or did she really not care at all? 

"We're here to discuss this thing", Spencer said and pointed her head towards the empty living room, "you know? Our school project." 

A little reluctantly Aria followed them back into the living room. Alisha quickly grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to drown their talking so nobody would be able to hear them. With her arms crossed in front of her chest, Aria gave them a questioning look. "So?" 

"Please, spare your attitude for later", Alisha said, "we have to save Hanna." 

"And we can't do it without you", Emily added. 

"Why do you have to save her?" Aria asked and narrowed her eyes. "And why can't you do it without me?" 

"Uhm, remember a certain A?" Alisha said snappily, "She's forcing us to. And she wants you to come along, for some reason." 

"I'm not playing along anymore", Aria said certainly, "If you guys enjoy her attention, go on then. But I'm not interested." 

"We're not doing this on purpose, Aria", Spencer said calmly. She didn't seem to be worried or mad about Aria's attitude. But she was probably just being diplomatic, as usual. "We literally looked everywhere for Hanna, but we couldn't find her. A few minutes ago we received a message from A. She offered us a chance to save Hanna by completing some tasks. The first one was to get you on board." 

Aria shook her head, "Oh really? Why didn't I get the text then?" 

"Because we've moved beyond texts", Alisha hissed, "You'd know, if you hadn't been ignoring us all week." 

"A sent Alisha the worst birthday surprise", Emily filled Aria in, "it was a doll head covered with mud and worms, so disgusting. Dolls seem to be her new thing, apparently. We found four barbie dolls in Alisha's car today, one for each one of us. There was a phone, too, that A is using to communicate with us now." 

"Weird, how things always turn up at Alisha's house or car", was all Aria said in return. 

"Are we back to this again?" Spencer asked, not sounding as diplomatic anymore. "We've been with Alisha every second of the day. She couldn't have put the dolls there herself. Listen, I don't know what's bothering you lately. But if you care about Hanna just the slightest little bit, you should come with us." 

Aria stared at Spencer and hesitated. The past days had been hard on her and she did feel like she had to decide between Ezra and her friends. Believing that they caused this themselves made it easier for her to ignore them. But part of her doubted that they'd set this all up just to separate her from him. She untied her arms and loosened her shoulders, "I'm getting my jacket."

The girls waited for her outside, gathered around Alisha's car. They were glad Aria agreed to come with them, but they had no idea what was coming up next. It was already getting dark and quite cold. Luckily, Alisha had decided to put on a hoodie instead of a dress or anything too light for this kind of activity. "This feels like a scavenger hunt", she sighed, "just not a very fun one."