A For Aria

It's quite simple, really. In a rather complicated manner. All they had to do was look around what A gave them, look at everything that happened because of what A gave them, and they would realize.

A for Aria.

Aria Montgomery. The victim, the innocent girl who was never meant to get hurt.

It was meant to be a simple little joke. She never planned for it to blow so far out of proportion, but as everyone knows. A little lie is harmless, until it turns into a chain reaction.

She was a much better actress than she was given credit for. She was the pretty little liar. She hid everything from everyone. The girls, her family.

It all started when she found Byron cheating. Alison tried to make her tell her mom. Key word in that statement? Tried.

"It's my dad calling," she really didn't want to answer. This would be the conversation she was dreading.

"Don't answer," that was the simple answer. The solution that would suffice for now, but wouldn't help in the long run.

"Look, I have to!" as much as she was disgusted with her father, let's face it. He was her father.

"He'll try and talk you out of telling. You can't do that to your mom. You have to tell her, Aria, before somebody else does. Then you'll lose both of 'em." She knows that Alison's words are true, but she can't, she won't, bring herself to believe it. Just...no.

She goes home, and she lies on her bed. She feels numb. She doesn't know whether to feel angry, upset, or betrayed. Then, her eyes narrow dangerously.

Was Alison threatening her? Was she threatening to tell her parents? Who did she think she was? And just like that, everything clicks.

Alison had power over her. Over all of them. Over her, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna. There was nothing they could do about it. It was about time that changed.

She knows. At that point, Alison and Jenna were no longer friends. They used to be. Then, things changed. Alison tried to form this group. This big group. Consisting of the most unlikely people, and Jenna just...didn't make the cut. And just like that, with the snap of her fingers, she cut off all ties with her best friend. 

Jenna hated her from then. They all knew that. So Aria called her up, and asked for her dirty little secrets. Then she found one.

Ian Thomas. Little Alison DiLaurentis, sneaking around behind their backs with her friend's older sister's boyfriend. The perfect little problem.

The one man who thought he had nothing to lose. That he'd never get caught.

The idea was, to buy a phone, a new number, and buy it under a different name. So she went to Toby Cavanaugh. He hooked her up with a friend, got her a new number. Got Mona on her side. The side of revenge. Granted, it took a little while, considering how she and Alison kept blowing her off. But amazingly enough, she agreed.

And that, was the beginning of the mystery of A. The beginning of the messages that Alison got.

They were at the vending machine outside school. Talking, laughing, just the two of them. The others were pre-occupied. She was looking around, distracted, as if trying to find someone. Their eyes connected, and she nodded subtly, trying not to get noticed by the blonde next to her. Yet, Alison noticed. She turned around and looked straight at Toby, who appeared busy on a phone.

"What's up with you and Cavanaugh? I heard he's rather dangerous." her voice is teasing, but there's this underlying tone of concern.

"Oh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it, okay?" just then, her phone rings, signaling a new message. Let the lying begin.