Careful, Ali ➳ Emison

Chapter 5 | Buddy System

Alison paced uneasily in front of the three eager girls who watched her every move, all while Emily stood somewhere nearby with her arms around herself, her eyes uncomfortably wandering to the ground every few seconds. They were in a deserted shed at the very end of the park, a well-hidden place only the five of them knew, where A couldn't find them.

"Well?" Spencer demanded, looking at Alison for answers.

Alison stopped in her place, shooting Spencer a warning look. "I'm thinking," she said in a sharp tone.

"Who sent this text?" the witty brunette asked, looking at the girl in suspicion.

"I told you, I don't know who sent it," the blonde pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Well, you must have a few suspects in mind," Spencer challenged.

"Try a few dozen," the queen bee retorted in anger. "Do you want me to make you a list?" she offered cynically, finally successful at getting Spencer to hold her tongue. "Don't worry, Spence," Alison informed her with a fake smile, "your sister's way up there."

"You said this has been going on since Halloween?" Aria asked in bewilderment. Alison nodded distractedly in response.

"Em, is this the real reason you wanted us to cancel our intervention?" Hanna asked, a little hurt by Emily's lie. Emily nodded sadly, feeling dejected and guilty for lying to the girls.

"What intervention?" Alison piped up.

"Well, we saw that you had some pretty heavy mood swings lately, and we wanted to confront you about it," Aria revealed cautiously in a quiet voice.

"Yeah, but Emily made us drop it," Hanna added, looking straight at the brunette who refused to meet her eye.

Alison gazed at Emily from the corner of her eye and gave her a small nod in gratitude.

"Wait, hold up," Spencer spewed again, saying in an accusing tone, "just how long has Emily known about this? You even got her to lie for you?"

"Take a breather, Hastings," Alison intervened quickly, unconsciously protecting Emily, "Em found out less than two days ago. On her own."

Silence formed amongst the three girls, each taking in the news.

"Does anyone else know?" Hanna asked unsurely.

Alison shook her head lightly. "No," she sighed, "only the five of us."

"And this 'A' person," Aria quipped.

Alison rubbed her forehead tiredly, "Right."

Hanna looked around the nearly empty shed warily. There was only some old bird-watching gear lying around, from the days that the business still ran. Almost all the lights were off, aside from a dusty lamp that they'd turned on, making the place look absolutely eerie. "Look, can we please just get out of here? This place is more creepy than the boys' locker room," she said in a panic.

"No. If you want to ask me questions, do it here," Alison stated. "It's not safe to do it out there, not with that bitch on the loose," she added.

"Are you saying you think it's a girl?" Spencer inquired, anxious to get some sort of a lead.

"I'm saying, they're a bitch either way," Alison answered, unimpressed.

"Wait, what about the two of you?" Aria asked slowly, looking at Emily and Alison.

"What about us?" Emily frowned cautiously.

"Well, with all due respect to this 'A' person, you two kissed. Are we not going to talk about that?" Aria said in wonderment, making the two girls share a short glance.