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[Margo_Saturn]

It started with a lie.

As most things in Rosewood do, it seemed like everyone's secrets started that way.
In a few more days it would be the anniversary of Alison DiLaurentis' disappearance and nobody in Rosewood could escape that fact.
Yet, in some regards, the quaint little town went on as it always had. Rosewood high school was still up and running, the most powerful families were still scheming and Alison's previous squad...
Well, somethings can change a lot in a year.

Aria had just returned home from a year-long vacation to god-knows-where in Europe.

Hanna was hitting just about any shopping mall with her new partner in crime Mona Vanderwall.

Spencer, as per usual, was trying ever so hard to keep up with her sister in more ways than one.

Emily kept struggling with the fact her parents didn't know her as well as she'd like.

And Leila. Where else would she be on her last day of summer but stuck in her boring waitress job?​

 

[Margo_Saturn]

Leila Vaughn

As soon as the clock struck one pm Leila basically had one foot out the door already. Sometimes, she'd joke that this was a reverse Cinderella effect. Instead of things disappearing and getting worse once time was up, she was actually liberated from the tiny cafe and let out into the real world. Thank heavens it was the last day of summer. It's not like she was a Spencer Hastings type, studious to the point of getting tunnel vision focused only on Harvard, but something about the whimsical charm the cafe once held seemed to vanish this summer. Maybe it was the sixteen years of being on this dreaded earth that had begun to weigh on her, but then again, maybe it was just the poster that would always haunt her, even when she found herself in the cafe serving people their orders at rush hour.

Missing
Alison DiLaurentis
Would now be sixteen.

She was sure the others had caught sight of this hideous reminder, staring right at them. An invisible girl still being the loudest person in town. Always calling attention. However, unlike Jenna's cane or Mona's pathetic cries that to this day echoed through her head, this wasn't something they could easily avoid. She had tried before, but ripping these search posters down and ripping the front pages off of newspapers only seemed to cause her to feel a sense of guilt more than relief. Aria would probably say it was pretty similar to a tell-tale heart where the paranoia and anxiety stick onto you like a piece of chewed gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe.

For now though, the seprent-like grip these images had over her began to slowly slip off as she put more distance between herself and that damned light post with every step she took. Normally, before any of this insanity happened, she'd be off to meet her friends. But at this point, it was hard to even tell if she had any friends so the only other plausible option was to head home for the day, have some leftovers she'd brought with her from the cafe and pass out until tomorrow morning. Instead of a realized version of her plan, she was greeted at her aunt's door by her cousin, Cassey, having more than a little trouble with a cigarette she'd probably managed to snatch out of her mother's purse. "Might wanna take it easy on your first time, smokey." With a rueful frown, the thirteen-year-old girl threw the cig on the ground and stomped it out. "Just don't tell anyone, okay? Anyway, shouldn't you be front lining as Aria's welcoming committee or something?" As much as Leila would've liked to, she wasn't able to hide the surprise on her face. "I didn't know she was back in town." But now that I do know I'm not making any plans on visiting anytime soon. It was just something about the fact that she hadn't told Leila. Emily? It made sense, they weren't super close. Hanna? They played off each other pretty well but Hanna was as reckless as Leila was calculated and they would not mesh well together in the long run. Spencer? HAH! As if that was an actual possibility in this lifetime. After that night though, Aria and Leila stuck to each other like magnets. They were each other's support in the ups and downs. They both promised to keep in touch even while she was away in Europe but soon the conversations that began at night and lasted all the way till dawn dwindled and became little more than courtesy messages until they became nothing. Leila had thought about addressing it a few times but it wasn't like she was about to get down on her knees and beg Aria for attention. She'd gotten over that with Alison.

With a lazy shrug, Cassey returned to her seat on the porch and Leila sauntered to her room. For whatever reason, she wasn't really feeling all that hungry anymore.​

 

[Mxtivated]

His face was smooshed into the carpet, the smell of alcohol lingering in his nose while his body ached. He groaned loudly feeling a ‘hammer’ constantly smacking his head. In other words, he drunk too much alcohol and his head was paying the price.

Noel Kahn, his best friend and the school’s bad boy was hosting one of his ‘famous’ parties. Tom had declined wanting to spend the night in playing video games instead of dealing with a hangover before ‘8:40 am Monday’ had rolled around. He only had a limited amount of time to set up his x-box before he received his next call from Kahn. “Thomas, it’s only a small group of close friends. Come. I won’t bring out the booze,” Noel said. It didn’t take much begging for Thomas to be persuaded into attending this ‘small get together.’

When he arrived, the music was already pounding in his ears. He doubted that Noel even knew half of these teenagers. He knew he shouldn’t of trusted Noel, he should’ve known he wanted him drunk. And that’s exactly what happened.. drinking, dancing and yelling during songs he didn’t know the words to.

He opened his eyes squinting at the light, as he pulled his body that ached off the ground. It felt like had just run a marathon as his whole body seized up. Or an elder who had sat down for too long, he supposed the second one was more accurate within his case. Noel was already awake with his signature smirk on his lips as he chucked him a packet of aspirin and a water bottle. “Learn to handle your alcohol bud,” he heard Noel tease ruffling his hair.

Tom rolled his eyes- Noel was like his brother. They had known each other their whole lives and managed to remain close even if they differed from each other. He didn’t drink enough to get use to it unlike Kahn. “Thanks,” he sighed slipping the pain medication into his mouth. Letting it balance on his tongue, he unscrewed the lid of the water bottle taking a huge gulp of the liquid.

 

[Margo_Saturn]

Leila Vaughn

Small vibrations came from Leila's alarm clock, slowly moving it towards the edge of her nightstand until it dropped to the floor, automatically disconnecting itself from the plug. She'd been awake for a few hours now, mostly due to how early it'd been yesterday when she went to bed. Now, her stomach was growling but she was all too preoccupied in her room's bathroom to pay the slightest attention to that. Despite not being a generally anxious person she was worried about being seen alone. That could go one of two ways, with her being either a lone wolf or a loser. None of the two were ideal, but she knew which one she'd choose in a heartbeat. And out of the many things Alison had taught her, how to make an impression was one of them. Leila examined herself in the mirror, her hand directing her face to be reflected upon certain angles in the mirror. With a final caress that went from her jaw to her shoulder she finally finished with her hair and makeup. Only one more thing to do before breakfast. Her pills. It was probably a little too early to be bringing in any real clients, but people who were addicted didn't really care if it was the first, or the last day of school, they just wanted a fix and she couldn't be any happier because of it.

Although her hunger wasn't as strong as it usually was, having already eaten some fruits and a bowl of cereal, she still couldn't help feeling the knot in her stomach. This was only amplified when she reached Rosewood highschool. Wasn't this what she had wanted? Maybe she hadn't really given it as much thought as it deserved. How foolish was she to think she could escape Alison's "midas' touch".

It had already become something of a habit for her to bike most places she needed to go, cafe excluded since they didn't have a bike rack, but there was no way she was arriving on a bike the first day of school while most of her classmates rolled up in their own car. Most notably of them all, Noel Kahn, who always seemed to be wearing a cocky grin. With an eye roll, Lei waved the thought away, going around Kahn's now parked car all while he and whoever he was riding with yelled out to her. Fucking burnouts. She couldn't wait to have one of Noel's friends or even the guy himself come looking for her pills, eating out of her hand.

First period was English and was bound to be interesting, if only because this was the first class she shared with the rest of the girls. As Leila crossed the entryway to the classroom, she took a quick discreet glance, revealing none of the girls were already seated. In the interest of being seen, not heard, she took one of the seats closest to the wall, upfront. Just as she arranged her bag, Hanna and Mona made their grand entrance, calling much more attention to them then Leila had, who had mostly just attracted whispers. The brunette didn't really want to greet Hanna, but it seemed Hanna had noticed her, sending a small greeting her way. No use in ignoring her, so with a fake smile she waved. "Look at you kissing up to the social hierarchy." There was no need to look behind her to see the speaker's face. "I believe in a thing called manners, Aria. I wouldn't really expect you to know since you basically left me hanging for a whole year." She was mad at the quasi-European, no doubt about it, but a part of her missed their bantering shown by the genuine smirk on her face. "Look...we can talk about that later. For now, let's see you and your manners handle Spencer then." with Aria's arm resting on Lei's shoulder, she directed her sight to land upon none other than Spencer Hastings, seemingly enthralled in conversation with Emily. While Fields only gave the girls a small smile, Spencer addressed them outright "Nice to see you back in town Aria. Leila, you're here too." Aria made small talk while the Leila only scoffed and turned her attention to the classroom door. Just then the new teacher entered the classroom, only to look like a deer in the headlights as soon as he turned his attention away from the board and towards the students. Okay. Odd but okay. Leila was even more confused after Aria whispered "I'm sorry." She'd have to remember to ask her about what that meant later, as now, the professor had finished collecting his thoughts. "Okay, so, on the matter of your yearly projects. You'll be paired off to read Shakespeare's classic, Macbeth. After that, you'll need to bring a unique analysis and presentation of the book accompanied by a sculpture representing a scene of your choosing. Oh, and you should be keeping a log of the whole process because I know some of you won't have an issue with trying to start and finish this on the last day." A small round of laughter could be heard throughout the classroom through Leila's own smirk vanished as soon as the pairings were announced. Leila Vaughn, Thomas Jones. Great, Noel's lackey. Why couldn't she have been paired up with Aria? Emily? Hell, she'd even take Spencer.​

 

[Mxtivated]

Tom expressed his gratitude more times than needed when Kahn gave him a fresh set of clothes. His other clothes reeking in a plastic bag he'd pick up on his way home, as Noel refused to take them in his 'baby.' He didn't quite understand how metal could be your 'ride or die.' He didn't question it, it was the closest he'd ever get to a girlfriend so he figured he'd give him his moment to be in love with at least something. After changing into the clothes that no longer reeked, he sprayed Kahn's 'girl repellent' cologne over his body- even he knew the cologne wasn't the problem. Running his hands through his hair, he made himself presentable as if he had a reputation to uphold. He was the furthest away from the 'it' crowd. He headed back downstairs following Kahn out to his car.

Time went by before they finally ended up in the school carpark with only minutes to spare. They had only been in the school a minute before Noel was yelling at a girl. Some may call it flirting, others would call it harassment. He figured it was more harassment, but it didn't stop Tom from upstaging him earning a high-five from Kahn. His life ambition is to earn validation from Kahn by being an utter 'gentleman.' After hopping out of the car, he glanced towards the timetable he had stuck in his pocket. "English, freaking great..." Tom sighed rolling his eyes. Kahn just smirked as per usual clearly thinking up a cheesy insult to make the boys teeth grind. "Toughen up buttercup," he muttered squeezing the boy's shoulders. "Think of all the hot girls in there, they love poetry Tommy."

Thomas rolled his eyes. Unlike Noel Kahn, he did commit to only one girl. He had committed to Allison Dilaurentis, even told her he loved her before it was all over in a blink of an eye. He had found out about certain things she had done while they were together and questioned her loyalty to him- it didn't end well for either of them. After that, he found it harder to even want to be with one person. Instead, he decided to keep friendships rather than relationships. At least, they'd last longer on average.

Taking a seat at his desk in the back row with Kahn and a few of his mates. Watching as Mona entered the classroom, for a moment, they both locked eyes. But instead of saying anything, he watched as she sat down with Hanna. He didn't even understand how she could tolerate Hanna or that friend group after everything Allison did to them. She was the only one who knew about Allison if he knew she'd be apart of the A squad eventually- maybe he wouldn't have said anything. Hearing his partnership, he heard the sound of loud laughter escaping both Noel's and his jock friends mouths. "Shut up.," Tom said rolling his eyes. He wished he had anybody else, even Moana. "You're in for a treat Tommy boy," he heard Noel open his 'smart-ass' mouth again nudging him in the side of Kahn in the side of his ribs. "She's waiting for you."

Tom sighed getting up from his desk taking the seat next to Leila's luckily one person had moved from her table. Taking a seat beside her, he turned to her "let's make a deal. You do the project and I'll proofread it when you're done.." he said coldly not bothering to introduce himself.

 

[Margo_Saturn]

Leila Vaughn

She hadn't been waiting for Thomas so much as she'd been staring blankly at the clock that hung from the wall, hoping the minutes would pass by faster and be given the chance to regain her composure in the hallway before having to deal with this. Before leaving her own seat behind Leila, Aria placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before making her way to Noel himself. It seemed like both of them would be sharing the same sentence with the only real difference being the name. Seriously, the two even smell the same she noted as Thomas sat down next to her. During this whole process, he drew attention to himself simply because of his cologne which was undoubtedly Kahn's signature scent, yet another hand-me-down the pair shared.

Although he didn't recognize his face, indicating he was either new or not too outstanding, she was still able to determine which clique he came from by his appearance and his hollering friends. Aside from that, it had been a long while since she last attended a Kahn party, the last one hadn't ended on the best note and it was probably safe to assume neither she or the girls would ever be invited again. This last fact didn't really haunt Leila who had never managed to figure out why Alison and Aria were seemingly so close to the guy who just appeared to be a stereotypical jock.

When the screeching of the chair beside her finally stopped, Lei managed to tear her sight away from the clock, which only indicated a mere thirty more minutes before the end of class. She began counting down in her head all while turning her attention to Tom. She was about to speak up before he beat her to it, resulting in a very different offer than the one she was going to propose. Despite knowing this should clearly enrage her, she couldn't help but let out a laugh "Oh really now? You'd be oh so generous as to do all that? Here I was thinking you'd forfeit all the work and have me make you a sandwich." Tom clearly was not amused by her retort, only further indicating he seriously expected her to do all the heavy lifting. The girl beside him settled down and adopted a much more serious look "I know you only work for your alpha there, but there is no way I'm letting you off the hook. This tough guy showcase might work with whichever other loser is willing to do your algebra homework for nothing in return but I don't think you know me very well if you expect this to work in your favor. So here's what we're gonna do: We're both going to read the stupid book in no more than two weeks and after that, we're going to meet up at the park to start working on the project, partner." She hoped she didn't have to resort to any other tactics to get the boy to cooperate. She wasn't exactly sure how he was doing in English but she personally needed to get at least an A-. Having finished setting things straight she got up from her seat before one final comment "And my name is Leila. Though something tells me we don't really care about each other's names." She then adjusted her shirt and made her way out of the classroom. She knew very well there were still fifteen more minutes to go until class finished, thanks to her mostly accurate mental clock, but at this point, she didn't much care.

When she found herself in the bathroom a bell signaled the end of first period, the halls now flooded with the stream of students moving from one place to another. While the rest of her classes had some familiar faces, even including Noel and Thomas at a certain point, but she avoided any more unnecessary conversations. It was around the time lunch came by that she found herself in yet another dilemma. Seating. Luckily this was pretty much solved before she even had the idea of eating alone outside when her arm was grabbed and laced together with Aria's. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all.

Once they were seated the two began to talk about their partners for the English assignment, with Aria not being as critical of Noel as Lei was of her respective match. There was a certain urge to ask her about her ties to the new professor but it was clear she didn't want to talk about it, as she pretty much danced away from their first period as a while after they were through commenting about Macbeth and honestly, why ruin a good moment with the insatiable hunger for more secrets? At some point though, Aria seemed to lose focus and turn her attention to Kahn and his group who had just arrived at the cafeteria, a little too loudly, probably seeking attention. Leila, however, was too focused on the message she'd received from an unknown number: Need an A to pass English? You'll need some Adderall, some abandonment issues and a missing friend. -A​

 

[Mxtivated]

His face remained serious, she was the last person he wanted to be associated with even if it was worth credits. He'd rather fail than be her partner. Hearing her comment, the sarcasm dripping from her voice made him roll his eyes more than once. He thought she'd be happy with his request, not for the work side of it obviously, but at least they wouldn't have to communicate with one another. He glanced behind him seeing Kahn hadn't ended up with much better, but at least Aria might've agreed to do the work. She loved English, at least that's what she claimed to Mr Fitz. He couldn't wait until he helped reveal that to the rest of the town's population, maybe one of all of the girl's secrets if A wanted him to. "Work for Noel? that's a joke," he corrected his voice stern as he scoffed loudly. Noel Kahn didn't scare him, he'd tell him 'no' if he didn't want to do something. He was nothing compared to Allison or A's wrath.

Rolling his eyes, if only she knew how tough or capable he was. If only she knew how her words would influence his desire to carry out more of A's desires at her expense. "I like my girls feisty," he said with his own signature smirk forming on his lips knowing exactly what he was doing. "Keep bossing me around, I love it when you talk dirty to me," he said keeping his eyes cold, his smirk only growing in size proud of his Kahn like actions. Rolling his eyes again, he decided to say his name only so she'd put it on the assignment. "Thomas," he responded.

He had spent the rest of the period engaged in a game on his phone, the classic game of space invaders while he talked to his friends after moving back to his original seat. Finally he was making his way to the school's cafeteria to have himself a meal, his stomach grumbling with stomach pain failing to eat breakfast this morning. His hangover leading to a lack of appetite. Noel Kahn’s arm was slung over the boys shoulder as they made being reckless teenagers. The main topic ideas were football, girls and the party they attended last night. They sat down at a table in the middle of the room that was practically reserved for them.

“So Tommy.. did you have fun last period?” Noel asked with a smirk sitting on his lips. Rolling his eyes, “was Aria fun to work with, did you keep it in your pants?” Thomas said then excusing himself from the group. He saw eating Lucas alone, so he decided he’d keep him company by sitting at his table. “Hey man,” Tom said sitting down with his sand which bag taking a bite.

Lucas glanced up at him with confusion written all over his face cocking his eyebrow. “What are you doing here Thomas? Ignoring my texts all summer and now you want to talk?” Lucas said, Tom could see the fire within his eyes. He had a point, he didn’t respond to all his messages... well none really, only one. Tom sighed. “You know I was busy—“ Thomas said.
“Save it thomas, I don’t want to hear it,” Lucas said standing up and making his way out of the cafeteria enraged.

 

[Margo_Saturn]

Leila Vaughn

Was she really that surprised Thomas was late? Leila was probably an idiot for even thinking he was late. What's worse is, she'd done her part. A little unwillingly, but she forced herself to read every page of that boring book and analyze its main themes. What had most likely happened was that he somehow found out Leila couldn't afford to flunk this class and left her to do all their work. Maybe the same 'A' that had texted her had also been texting him. She already knew Aria had received similar cryptic messages so it wasn't too outrageous to think this mysterious individual was just trying to pit as many people as possible against each other. Especially now that Lei knew who exactly Thomas was.

Maybe before she hadn't recognized his voice, or his face, or his horrible attitude right away, but ever since their little dispute at class and the constant feeling of something going over her head, she'd finally matched the name and face to a distant memory. As all memories, it was tied to Alison. The blonde had actually spoken of her new fling a few times, making it seem like nothing more than a casual form of entertainment. At the time, there wasn't much to think of it. That was until the two had some sort of falling out and Alison was coming for blood. The girls all giggled and laughed as they jokingly berated their leader, "That's so harsh!" "Poor guy's not going to be able to show his face anymore, and we just found out who he is!" There were even a few incidents where the girls stumbled across Tom himself, some of the most notable occasions being at Noel's parties, and with no regard for consequences, Alison would still make sure the new kid in town was seen as the outcast even outside of school. Leila never did anything to stop it, mostly because she never felt all that bad for him. Not in the same way she pitied Mona. But then again, none of the others stood up for him, and even if they had, was it really plausible that a few people could stand up to Alison and the rest of her followers? Unlikely.

All that probably helped place her in the middle of Rosewood's park, lazily slumped over the bench, laptop and book neatly placed beside her. She'd give him five more minutes. No more. If he failed to arrive she'd do the whole project herself, no problem. But she'd tell Mr. Firtz who'd really done all the hard work. Hopefully, he wasn't too oblivious to care. Every few seconds, she'd lift her left wrist, displaying a simple clock, counting the minutes down. Finally, 3:46 rolled by. Well, I tried giving this a shot but It's not like the guy's- Here. One way or another Tom was walking towards her, looking just as frustrated as she was at this point. She quickly corrected her expression to a more neutral one. Someone had to be the adult in this situation. "Thomas, glad to see you made it. Please, take a seat, we might be here for a while."​

 

[Mxtivated]

Tom was dreading studying with Lelia later this afternoon. For once, he wasn't genuinely trying to run late. Instead, he had to pick up an order of cupcakes and deliver them to Hanna Marin. He didn't understand why Moana wasn't capable of doing it alone, she had two hands and two legs. He felt in control and better about himself watching one of Allison's followers sob as they ate their feelings away. He knew it was cruel and unforgivable, but he didn't care about her or the rest of their group. One at a time, he and Moana would take them down.

Tom and Allison used to be happy, they would spend their Saturday nights cuddled up on his old ragged couch in front of his old box television. Or they'd go on road trips to different towns where no one knew who they were, so they could be together in the public eye. At first, he didn't care that they had to be secretive- he really liked her. But as he fell in love with Allison, he began overthinking. Was he really that embarrassing to be seen with? Breaking up with her sent Allison over the edge. His favourite rumours from her were that he had STD's and that he spied on girls in the school locker room. He knew it was easy for others like Noel to tell him not to care. But when others believed it, they never looked at him the same way and he could never find himself another serious girlfriend. He supposed that is what she wanted.

Another time, he walked into the school cafeteria and he could remember her sticking her foot out. Not seeing it, he tripped spilling food all over his principal who was roaming the cafeteria at the time. His classmates laughed, pointed fingers and he felt helpless. That's why he started going to the gym more often, working on his confidence and never being the 'more vulnerable, nice guy' because it got him nowhere. The constant embarrassment was enough to change him. He never wanted to feel that vulnerable again.

Tom approached the frustrated girl who waited for him in the local park. He took a seat beside the girl running his hand through his hair, he wasn't only frustrated for this project but also Moana wanting his help. Who did she think she was? She only contacted him when she needed him and he was too stupid to say 'no' to the girl. He took his book out of his bag slamming it down on the picnic table forcefully. He was pissed, he just wanted to go home to sleep. "Let's just get this over with," he spat out as he opened his notebook. He had read a few pages of the novel but not all of it- with his other school work and A duties... he had no time.