Pretty Lies || Inspired by PLL [ON-GOING]

chapter one

Rose Benson gripped her pillow, trying to remember every little detail about what had happened, and whether it was all just a dream. One thing was for sure: she was laying in a sleeping bag she loathed, all the way in the corner of Alex's room, with makeup that hadn't been washed off and a black tank top complete with shorts. But whether or not they snuck into Gabby's house, whether or not they hurt Gabby, was unclear. It was the same sensation you had when you were hungover; struggling to remember events that had occured in the last twenty-four hours, a massive headache searing in your head if you forced yourself to try to remember. Rose, the girl with the eclectic memory, couldn't remember a thing. At least, her own mind blocked herself from remembering, perhaps because she would break down at the memory. Had Alex seriously stabbed Gabby? Had they seriously ran from the scene? But then she remembered... it was all on tape. Ignoring the friendly advice (more like a command, really) to not touch the tape they had hid in the back of Alex's closet, Rose scampered out of bed and quietly crawled to where she wanted to go.

She was going to get the tape. Holding in any squeal she wanted to let go of, she silently dug through the blonde's closet, feeling for the tape that she remembered putting there. And finally, her painted-red nails wrapped around the small camera, and she pulled her hands towards her. As soon as she got out of the mess Alex had in her closet, she slowly shifted the door closed, and crawled back into her sleeping bag, holding on to the camera as if her life depended on it. Rose slid her feet into her sleeping back, appreciating the sudden warmth that filled her body, and flipped open the camera. And there it was.

The most recent video was that of the event. She pressed play, ensuring that the volume was on near-mute, not enough for the other girls to hear. Her finger shook the moment it touched the screen, and she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to relive what had happened, whether or not she wanted a confirmation as to what had happened. But there wasn't enough time to pause the video once it started right in front of her eyes.

Alex had just thrown Gabby's blanket to the floor. The video seemed to be a little fast-paced, because next thing you knew, Tori was positioning herself as to run into Gabby and hold her body against the wall. And by the moment Rose blinked yet again, the spear had already situated itself in Gabriella's chest. As the redhead watched the clip, she felt her breathe stop, and she remembered a memory she had thought she had forgotten ages ago.

Rose dashed down the middle school hallway as fast as she could, purely focused on getting to Gabby, who was putting her textbooks into her locker. "Gabs!" she had welped, stumbling over her combat boots, letting her braids wave side to side. Rose looked like a complete fool: long, printed socks, a plaid skirt, hand-me-down knitted shirt, and big, black glasses. The redhead had her braces taken off just last week; and she felt so much more confident about her smile that she forgot how... un-cool the rest of her appeared. Gabby turned around as soon as she smacked her locker door closed, and smiled at her best friend. "Hey Rose," she grinned, "Why so happy?"

Rose had looked at her and laughed. "So what? I'm not aloud to be happy without a cause?" Gabby looked at Rose, and could tell that the redhead had a pure reason to be all giggly. After a moment of silence, Rose finally gave in and took a paper out of her bookbag. "I got a hundred on my mathematics pop quiz!"  Gabby laughed, totally seeing something of the sort coming. A split second after Rose put the quiz back in her bookbag, Gabby froze and looked behind her best friends shoulder.

"It's them," she muttered. Rose turned around, and sighed at the sight of who Gabby was referring to. The most popular girls in school. The girls who thought that they were absolutely perfect, and knew how to be a complete bitch. Alex, with her freckled face and blonde hair, smirked walking down the hallway, looking at Tori and Erica. Tori, on the other hand, pushed a girl to the side, only because the petite girl didn't realize who was coming closer to her. And Erica looked perfect as per usual.