ONE

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THE MORNING SUN was peaking through the opened curtains in Tatum Burkharts bedroom, a reminder of her laziness the previous might. As her eyes began to flutter open, the light shined right into them. Trying to shield her eyes, she rolled over too far and accidentally rolled off her bed. As she pushed herself up from the floor, she silently scolded herself for the leaving the curtains opened, and made her way to her closet.

She pulled a quick outfit together, realising she didn't have time to be picky after ignoring her alarm five times, and made her way downstairs.

"Good morning, Tum Tums." Her mother greeted, placing a plate of breakfast in-front of her daughter. Cringing at the old name, her brother fake gagged, getting a soft elbow in the arm by Monica.

"I thought we agreed that nickname died with dad." Tate reminded her.

"Would you prefer if we went back to calling you tater tots?" Corey joked, taking her glass of orange juice out of her hand, and downing it.

"I'd prefer if you just didn't talk to me." She stood up from her seat, and slung her bag across her shoulder. "Okay, we have to go or we'll be late, bye mom." She gave her mother a hug, and headed for the door.

Coming up behind her, Corey took note of her very high heeled boots, and scoffed. "You want to break your neck on the first day back?"

"Is that a threat?" She joked. "Well if you embarrass me at school, then yes." He retorted, getting shoved out the door by his sister.

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As they pulled up to the school, Tatum realised how unprepared she was for another year spent without her old friends—besides Emily Fields, the only one who stayed in contact with her. She took in a deep breath and rested her head on the steering wheel. Taking in the faces of the many students surrounding the school, she pulled herself together and hopped out of the car. This was gonna be a long day.

Jeremy Hastings, a friend of her brothers, and the brother of an old friend, had been staring at her since she pulled up, and he wasn't the only one. Ryder Hawkins, another friend of her brothers, was practically drooling at the sight of her. He quickly picked up his camera, and snapped a few pictures of her, while Jeremy and Mike made their way over to their best friend.

"Make sure you're out here when schools over, or ill go home without you." Tatum warned her brother. He repeated what she said in a mocking tone, and ran when she lifted her hand up to him. She then spotted Emily Fields talking to Aria Montgomery and made her way over. "What a sight for sore eyes."

The shorter brunettes eyes lit up at the voice of her oldest friend, and she wasted no time in spinning around and throwing her arms over Tatum, who immediately returned the hug. "It's so good to see you." She whispered.

"It's been way too long." Aria told her, tightening the hug.

The three girls began making their way inside, and to their first class. "I saw a poster of Alison yesterday." Aria told them.

"It's awful." Emily began. "I mean, we all know she's dead." Tatum and Aria stopped in their tracks, heart plummeting at the thought. Obviously the thought had crossed Tatums mind, but she never heard anyone say it out loud, and she didn't like the sound of it.

Emily turned to look at the distraught look on both their faces, immediately feeling guilty for putting the thought in their heads. "Right?" She asked.

"I just never heard anyone say it." Aria told her sadly, getting a slow nod from Tatum in agreement.

Taking their seats, Emily decided to let the girls in on a little rumour she heard. "I hear the new teachers really hot."

"Doubt it." Tatum sang, watching him fumble his way into the room. Right behind him was Kai Harrington. He sent Tatum a small smile, taking the only free seat at the front of the class.

Eyeing the pair, watching them stare at each other, Aria turned to Emily. "What's going on there?" She wondered.

"They spent most of the summer together, pretty sure they're dating." Emily informed her. "Not that they'd admit it." She shrugged, focusing back on the teacher who was staring at Aria.

Tate was forced out of her daydream by the buzzing of her phone in her pocket. She slipped it out of her pocket, careful not to get caught with it. Reading the text, her breath got caught in her throat.

wait until they find out what
really happened that night 
-A

Noticing her pale face, Emily reached over grabbing her arm. Tatum shook her hand away, looking at her with a wide eyed stare.

"Are you alright?" She worried.

The brunette quickly pulled herself together, nodding her head frantically. "Yeah, i'm fine." But Emily knew her well enough to know she was lying.

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Corey was sat in his living room, dodging his head around Tatum as she paced in front of the tv. He was just trying to catch up on the newest episodes of The Walking Dead, and ended up having to deal with her panicking. He offered to listen to whatever she was worried about, but she couldn't get a full sentence to leave her mouth without starting over—so he gave up on that plan and went back to ignoring her.

After contemplating what to do for the better half of an hour, Tatum grabbed her keys and headed for the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" Corey asked with a mouth full of popcorn. But, she was already out the door. "Okay, have fun!" He yelled out after her.

Pulling up at Emily Fields house, Tate rushed to the door, nervously swinging her keys. She knocked about ten times, impatiently waiting for the door to open.

When the door finally opened, Emily was standing there with oven mitts on her hands. "Sorry, I was making cupcakes." She sent her a smile, standing to the side to let her in.

"I, uh, can't stay long. I just need to talk." She took a seat in the kitchen, staring at the cupcakes in front of her. Reaching out to take one, she was met with disappointment once Emily smacked her hand away.

"Not for you."

"Okay, well, i'm just gonna come out with it." She took in a deep breath, letting out a shaky one in return. "I got a text."

Emily widened her eyes, taking a quick look around the room. "From 'A'?" She whispered.

"You too?"

"Do you think it's Alison?" Her best friend wondered.

"She's the only one who knew." Tate admitted, playing with the old bracelet on her wrist.

"Knew what?" A branch hitting against the window caused both girls to jump up from their seats in fear. They both placed a hand on their hearts and walked towards the window.

Outside Emily Fields window was a dark figure, moving around in a bush. Tate felt her heart plummet to her stomach. She grabbed onto Emily's hand, pulling her down behind the counter.

"Oh, my god, we're gonna die." She whined, clutching Emily's arm for dear life.

"It's probably just a cat.." Emily told her, but she didn't sound convinced.

After another half hour of talking, Tate decided to go home. The evening air was damp. Walking out in the cold, she scolded herself for not taking a jacket—and even more for parking so far away.

When Tatum reached her car, she noticed something etched into the condensation on her back window. She slowly crept her way up to it, taking a quick look at her surroundings.

'i love you'

She slowly made her way to the drivers side, fearing the thought of someone watching her—which someone was. Her car wouldn't start, and it was starting to drive her crazy. "Come on." She muttered.

Someone smacked a hand on her window, causing Tate to let out a little scream. Her heart started beating again at the sight of her brothers friend, Ryder.

"You need a hand?" He offered with a smile.

"Um, no..i'm fine. I'll just walk home, pick it up tomorrow." She stepped back out into the cold, rubbing her arms for warmth.

"I-I can walk with you." He stammered, slipping off his jacket and handing it to her.

She politely accepted the jacket, and the offer. That was her first mistake.

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Tatum was way too familiar with funerals. Her father had passed two months after Alison went missing, her aunt and uncle had been in a terrible accident and never made it through the night and all her grandparents were dead. Now, she had no choice but to add to that list.

The service was dragged out, and no amount of alcohol from Hanna's flask could've gotten her through it. Arm in arm with each other, all the girls made their way outside.

An agent—who was no stranger to Hanna, made his way towards them. "Emily, Spencer, Tatum, Aria and Hanna." He listed them off, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Do we know you?" Spencer wondered, looking at her friends for an answer.

"I'm detective Wilden." He introduced himself. Tatum got a bad feeling from him, but she couldn't explain why. "I understand you were all good friends with the victim."

"Yeah, we were." Aria told him, emphasis on the last word.

"I'm gonna need to talk to each one of you."

Scoffing, Tatum took a step forward. "Our friend just got buried, and you're already on our trail?" Spencer took hold of her elbow, pulling her back. "It's ridiculous." Tate whispered to the taller girl.

"We talked to the police when Alison went missing." Spencer informed him, not letting go of her friends arm.

"And I intend to go over every one of your statements. This is no longer a missing person's investigation. It's a murder. Rest assured, I will find out what happened that summer." As Wilden left the group, all their eyes landed on Jenna.

"Do you think he knows about...?" Aria began, only to get cut off by Tatum.

"How could he? I mean, unless he was there, you know, stalking us." Emily hit her arm with a look telling her to shut up. She glared at her best friend, muttering an 'ow'.

The girls froze when all their phones rang out with a text. Tate sighed, copying the rest of them by taking out her phone. They all let out a gasp, looking at each other.

"Im still here, bitches." Spencer read.

"And I know everything -A."