chapter one
pilot
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THEN

Five friends lounged around Spencer Hastings barn as they blasted music and talked, while waiting for the last of their friend group. It was easier to drink because they were inside, and no adult could catch them doing so. Adalind was sitting next to Emily while Aria, Spencer and Hanna sat in separate chairs around them. They were just enjoying the moment of being together and laughing until the lights suddenly went out.

"It must be the storm." Spencer stated as she started lighting up candles. "Yeah, mum told me it'd be bad tonight." Adalind said as Aria turned on one of the flashlights that they had with them. Adalind looked around making sure everyone was alright as the creek of the barn door. "Guys...something's out there" Aria shaky asked and pointed the light towards the barn doors. The barn door slowly creaked open. Adalind was straining her ears to see if she could hear anything from outside, but she couldn't so she just gave up. "Guys..." Hanna trailed off slightly. The girls stood up and huddled together and slowly walked towards the barn doors.

The girls inched towards the open barn door and huddled closer while everyone held each other's hands tightly as they heard the sound of glass shattering on the concrete made all the girls scream and huddle closer to each other as they continued walking toward the barn door, when someone jumped out from behind the door scaring all the girls but it was someone that they should've guessed who would do something like this. Alison Dilaurentis. the group's leader, and the queen bee. "Gotcha," she yelled happily for scaring her friends once again while her friends screamed then, sighed in relief that it was only Alison.

"That wasn't necessary, Ali." "That's so not funny, Alison!" Adalind and Spencer said in sync as Alison walked into the barn and the rest of us walked back to our seats. Ali laughed in response to the words of two of her friends. "I thought it was hilarious, girls." She chuckled and walked to one of the chairs they had left for her which was next to Emily and once everyone had sat down, they had eventually found the funny side in it and began to laugh as well. "Ali, did you download the new Beyonce?" Hanna excitedly asked Alison with a big smile.Alison sat down. 

"Not yet." Alison sighed and turned her phone off after checking it. Emily smiled and looked down towards her lap slightly before adding to the conversation "I'm loving her new video." which she instantly regretted once hearing Alison's reply. "Maybe a little too much, Em." Alison replied to her tilted her head toward Emily with a knowing look on her face that none of the girls caught but Alison's look is enough to make Emily suddenly close in on herself from her friends. Alison suddenly grabbed a cup and handed it to Aria.

"Your turn. Go on." She encouraged, more like insisted Aria to have a drink. Adalind and the rest of her friends watched Aria take a hesitant sip of the drink before eventually she took a rather large sip that had all the girls laughing like crazy. "Careful, Aria. Take too much, and you'll tell us all your secrets." Spencer teased her and then everyone chuckled. Alison just giggled and leaned back into her seat and spoke. "Friends share secrets. That's what keeps us close." Alison said before she turned back to Aria with an encouraging smile. "Drink up."

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Aria was the first of the four to wake up as she looked around to look at her friends, who were all sound asleep, apart from Alison and Spencer who weren't there. She furrowed her brows at the missing girls, then looked over to Adalind, who was still passed out next to her. "Addie." Aria shook her. "Adalind, Wake up!" she shook her cousin. "What Aria?" Adalind asked as she lifted herself up before she turned to Hanna and shook her awake, at the same time as Aria woke Emily up.

"Where's Ali and Spencer?" Hanna asked her friends onced she noticed they were missing. "We don't know." Adalind answered before she and Aria stood up from their places on the floor. "Ali, that you?" she asked as she saw someone walking towards the barn. "She's gone." Spencer said as she came into view. "What do you mean she's gone?" Aria asked. "I've looked everywhere for her." Spencer told them. "I think I hear her scream." she added. "Oh god." Adalind muttered as she covered her mouth.

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NOW

"You gonna go see Aria?" Nathan Barlowe asked his daughter as the family of three sat in their kitchen, eating breakfast. "Yeah, I told Aunt Ella not to tell her, I wanted to surprise her." Adalind said, making her mother Lorelai laugh as she shared an amused look with her husband. "I'm sure you'll spook her love, knowing you, you'd wait in her room." Nathan said, making Adalind laugh as she nodded. "Was planning on that, Uncle Bryon told she had gone out, so i'll go over later, bring a book and wait for her." Adalind said before getting up and putting her plate into the sink and grabbed a mug and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Just make sure you don't give your cousin a heart attack love." Lorelai said with a smile towards her daughter.

"I won't," Adalind said, waving her in a dismissive wave, making Nathan laugh as he shook his head. "Just be back here at a reasonable time, schools tomorrow, okay?" Lorelai asked as she got up and joined her daughter in the kitchen. "I will, I promise mom," Adalind said before leaving the kitchen. "She's gonna absolutely scare Aria," Nathan said knowingly as he looked towards his wife who nodded. "I know," she said before going back to her husband and wrapping her arms around him. "But Aria's used to it, Adalind's been scaring her like this since they were twelve." Lorelai said, making Nathan laugh and nod in agreement.

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Aria had just come back from the pub where she had made out with that guy when she turned to see her cousin in her room, making her let out a shocked gasp as Adalind laughed. "Jesus Addie, you scared me," Aria laughed out as Adalind brought Aria into a tight hug. "I missed you, it was boring without you here," Adalind mumbled into Aria's shoulder. "So, tell me why you're so bubbly." Adalind said with a teasing smirk.

"I may have... met a guy," Aria admitted as Adalind let a smile slip onto your face. "What's he like?" Adalind asked as she sat on a box Aria had laying around in her room. "He was sweet, he's an English major." Aria said, making her cousin gasp. "You hooked up with a college boy?" she asked with a wide smile, but Adalind couldn't say much, she was in a relationship with an older guy once. Aria laughed and threw a pillow at Adalind. "We didn't hook up, only made out." she corrected as she smiled, thinking of the guy, making Adalind smile softly at her, happy to see Aria happy.

"Have you heard from him?" Aria's question broke Adalind out of her thoughts. Aria had been the only person Adalind had told about her and Jason DiLaurentis. "No, left a couple voicemails after he left but got nothing back." she replied, making Aria sigh and get up and pulled Adalind off the box and into a hug, making her cousin hold onto her. "I'm sure he's fine, he's probably got some help." Aria suggested, and she felt Adalind nod into her shoulder.

"I know, it just hurts, but I understand." Adalind said, pulling away slightly, but staying at arm's length. "He can't ignore you forever Ads, he loves you." Aria said, comforting her cousin, who smiled at her. "You think so?" she asked, her insecurities surfacing. Aria nodded sharply. "I know so," Aria assured her, making her smile. "Thanks for being my rock Ari," she said with a smile before they both sat down on the floor for the next half-hour, catching up on what it was like is Iceland.

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Adalind was waiting outside of the school for her two cousins, when she saw uncle Byron's car pull up and Mike get out. "Good luck today mike," she said as he walked past her, he had sent her a smile before entering school. Adalind turned to see Aria and her father talking in the car, making her furrowed her brows, it looked like a serious conversation but she didn't have time to dwell on it, cause soon enough Aria stepped out of the car, making Adalind walk up to her as she watched her fathers car drive off. "You okay?" she asked, snapping Aria out of her thoughts, causing to look at her cousin.

"Yeah... Yeah i'm fine," she mumbled and her and Adalind were about to walk towards school when someone called out to Aria. "Aria?" they heard, making them turn to see Emily walking up to them with a smile on her face. "Emily." Aria said with a smile before they shared a hug, before Emily looked over at Adalind and sent her a smile "Hey Addie." she said, making her smile. "Hey Em,"

Despite the friends splitting up, Adalind never lost touch with everyone, she still talked to them, just not all together. "When did you get back?" Emily's question to Aria knocked Adalind out of her thoughts. "Yesterday." Aria answered. "I almost didn't recognize you. I think the last time we saw each other, you had a pink stripe in your hair." Emily said to Aria, making Adalind laugh. "Yeah, well, when your parents want you to be yourself and you don't know who you are..." Aria trailed off. "You wore it well." Emily assured her. "Em's right." Adalind agreed.

"You should have called, It's so weird just running into you here." Emily said to Aria, making her sigh. "Oh. Well, we've kind of lost touch, Emily, remember?" she said sadly. "That's what we had to do." Emily said. "I saw a poster of Alison yesterday." Aria said, making Adalind frown, she had as well, she had since she went missing, since she hadn't left town after it happened, she was there for the aftermath. "It's awful. I mean, we all know she's dead, right?" Emily said as they were about to walk up the stairs to the school, making the girls freeze as the bell went. "I just never heard anyone say it." Aria said, making Adalind sigh. "I think people are too scared to say anything." she mused as she walked into the hallways of Rosewood high, and it wasn't long before the three had entered their first period class.

"So, I hear the new teacher's really hot." Emily said to the girls, making them laugh as they sat down in their seats and soon enough Hanna walked into the classroom with Mona. "Is that Hanna?" Aria asked, looking over at Emily. "She's the 'it' girl now." Emily said, making Adalind nod in agreement when Aria looked at her. "And where there's Hanna, there's Mona." she added making Aria gasp as they looked at Mona. "That's Mona?" she asked. "Can you believe it?" Emily asked as she shook her head. "Wow. Talk about a makeover." Aria muttered as Hanna waved at them. "What's up with her? You two fighting?" Aria asked. "We didn't just fall out of touch with you, Aria. We all fell out of touch with each other, except for Adalind, of course." Emily said, making Aria sigh as Spencer walked into the classroom, making brief eye contact with Hanna. "They're not so close anymore either." Adalind said to Aria.

"So they're friendly, but not friends." she said with a nod and Adalind nodded just as the class started and the new English teacher walked into the classroom and wrote his name on the board and underlined it before turning around to face the class. "Holy crap." The teacher muttered as he saw someone in the back of the classroom, making everyone look in that direction, causing everyone to turn and see that the teacher was looking at Aria. "Uh-oh." Adalind mumbled as she looked between Aria and the new teacher, her eyes widening, already putting the dots together as Aria's phone went off. "Sorry." Aria said in a low voice as she went through her bag to find the device. "I'm Mister Fitz," the new teacher said after clearing his throat, to continue introducing himself. "your new English teacher." he said, making Adalind sigh, this wasn't going to go well for Aria.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

"Please tell me he wasn't the guy you made out with yesterday?" Adalind whispered to her cousin as they walked through the hallway of rosewood high. "Yeah, he is." Aria mumbled in reply, making Adalind sigh. "This... is not gonna be our year is it?" Adalind asked, making Aria shake her head no. "Are you gonna talk to him about it?" Adalind asked as they stopped at her locker, Adalind needing to put some of her books away. "Yeah, after school, so hoping no one walks in or overhears." Aria said with a nod. "Good," Adalind said, a smile on her face. "But, real question, are you gonna try and see him again or stop?" Adalind asked, turning to Aria, who wore an unsure expression on her face. "I don't know, and I know it's wrong because he's my—our teacher but i... I felt something with him." Aria said, a smile slipping onto her lips as she remembered their conversation before they made out in the bar bathroom.

Adalind sighed as shut her locker before turning to her cousin fully. "It might be wrong but I can't say anything, I mean god, I was fourteen when I first kissed Jason, and he was twenty." Adalind said, making Aria sigh. "You're right, but maybe I should try and stay away, and if I can't, well, we'll see what happens." Aria said with a nod. "Just do what you feel is best, Ri," Adalind said as smiled. "Now, i've gotta talk to a teacher, so i'll see you later, but i can drop you home afterward, i drove today." Adalind said, making Aria look at her wide-eyed. "You driving?" she asked, hesitantly. "Okay! I accidentally hit a cone one time and you won't let me drive you anywhere." Adalind complained with a smile and a laugh before walking away as Aria laughed before walking away from her cousin's locker.

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Later that day, Adalind had gotten home from school school and dropping Aria home, who was silent the entire drive, Adalind didn't try and pressure her into talking, she knew something had happened when she went to talk to Mr. Fitz. She was in her room, sitting in the bay-window in her room as the sun went down, she was just enjoying the quiet of the house since her parents were still at work for another hour. She was reading when her phone went off, a message notification, making her look over at it, making her get up and pick it up to see who had messaged her.

BLOCKED ID
your friend's brother?
wow adalind who knew.
⎯ A

Adalind dropped her phone back onto her dresser, she gulped and ran a hand through her hair. Someone knew, how the hell did someone know and who the hell is 'A' was it Ali? Was she still alive somewhere and just messing with her?. "I'm going crazy." she whispered to herself before she grabbed her key's from her nightstand, she decided she needed to tell someone about this, talk to someone, that's why she was going to her cousins.

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"Wait so this 'A' person texted you as well?" Aria asked as Adalind paced around Aria's room. "Yeah, what did your text say?" she asked, stopping and crossed her arms, looking at her cousin who sat on her bed. Aria sighed before handing Adalind her phone. "Maybe he fools around with students all of the time. A lot of teachers do. Just ask your dad." Adalind read out, confused, causing her to look at Aria. "What does this mean?" Aria sighed before deciding to tell her cousin what happened a year ago. "Dad cheated on mum with one of his students." Aria admitted, making Adalind gasp. "Did you tell Aunt Ella?" she asked, moving to sit on Aria's bed. "No, Dad told me not to, said he didn't wanna ruin the family or something." Aria mumbled, making Adalind sigh but before she could respond, Aria's doorbell went off, making the cousins look at each other before deciding to go see who it was.

Turns out it was Emily who had needed to talk to them, she was just hoping Adalind was there as well. "I'm sorry for just stopping by." Emily says as she, Adalind and Aria sit on Aria's porch swing. "No. Anytime, Em. C'mon, you know that." Aria smiles softly at her as comfortably. "Somebody left a note in my locker." She said as she slowly turned to the cousins."Let me guess, from an 'A'?" Adalind asked as she leaned over Aria to look over at Emily, who slowly nodded her head. "You too?" Emily asks shyly, Aria nodded in reply. "Do you really think it's her? Is it possible?" Aria questioned, looking at Emily with her furrowed brows. "Only Alison could have known." Emily told Aria. "What? known....known what?" Aria and Adalind asked in sync, confused. "It was..." Emily trailed off softly. "Personal?" Aria finished Emily's sentence.

A few moments of silence before they spoke again. "I really believed she was dead." Emily mumbled before sighing softly. "Yeah, yeah, we all did." Adalind mumbles back. "Could she really be back?" Emily wonders. "I think she's playing with us." Aria stated. Emily looked at Aria with brows furrowed. "Why would she do that?" she asked, and the cousins looked at Emily as if she was even thinking before talking, she sighed softly. "It's Alison that we're talking about here. I mean, wasn't that her favourite sport?" Adalind retorts slightly angrily.

"Should we tell someone?" Emily asks while fiddling with her fingers in her lap. "I don't...I don't know about you, but...I can't." Aria shakes her head lightly. There was a moment of silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable, it was nice. "I'm glad you're back." Emily mumbles and turns to Aria and smiles softly at her and Aria smiles back before answering. "It's funny...I mean, even though I grew up here, I feel like a total outsider." Aria states and shakes her head and looks at Emily. "Me too." Emily answered with a sigh, "Sometimes i wonder what it would be like if me and my family moved when Ali went missing but, i think i'd miss everyone too much." Adalind said before resting her head on Aria's shoulder.

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Later that night, Adalind and Aria were driving around, they had picked up some food, deciding to go to Adalinds for the night, since Aria hadn't gotten a chance to see her aunt and uncle for a year. They were driving down Alison's street when they saw police surrounding the place, making them confused and Adalind immediately parked her car and the two got out, staring at the police and the people that surrounded Alison's old house and it wasn't long before both Aria and Adalind caught sight of Spencer standing behind them, also staring at the scene. Adalind and Aria are quick to walk to her, as they look behind them at the scene one more time before they reach where Spencer was standing.

"I heard the cops took Hanna to the police station today." Adalind said to Spencer, making her turn to Adalind in surprise. "You don't think she'd ever talk about.. " Spencer started but was cut off. "The jenna thing?" Hanna said, making the three girls turn to her. "We made a promise." she added, making Adalind sigh as she and her friends continued to look at the mess of people around the house, before she reached out for Hanna's hand and squeezed it, and Hanna sent her a small thankful smile.

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After a while, they separated, Aria deciding she needed to be alone tonight so Adalind had dropped her home but not before hugging tightly before she drove herself home and the lights were on in the living room, so she assumed her parents had come home and were in there. Adalind slipped inside, shutting the door quietly as she walked inside, heading towards the living room, following the sounds of their television.

She stopped as her parents watched the news, before her father noticed her at the door and sighed sadly and it didn't take long before her mother noticed too. Adalind didn't say anything but walk over to her parents let a sob as she rested her head in her mother lap as Lorelai tried to console her daughter and that's how they spent the night, Adalind's parents holding her as she cried over the loss of her friend, once again.

⎯⎯⎯⎯

Adalind sighed as she looked outside at the car window. Her and her family had just arrived at Alison's funeral, and she felt like she was suffocating already. She got out of the car, shutting the door softly before wrapping her arms around herself before spotting Emily and Spencer at the door, making her walk up to them, and they quickly noticed her as well, opening their arms to her as well they hugged each other as the parents greeted each other and it wasn't long before they were walking inside the church.

Mrs. DiLaurentis had asked the girls to sit up front, knowing it what Alison would have wanted, so they did, and not long after Hanna joined them, sliding beside Adalind, who wondered where he cousin was, but soon enough she caught sight of Aria entering over her shoulder, making her relax. She watched as Aria zoned out, looking at the happy picture of Alison sadly before Hanna grabbed her and made her look over at the girls, who smiled at her softly, before sitting down with them.

Adalind looked ahead at Ali's portrait as she walked towards the front and sat next to Aria. "Poor Ali." Emily whispered. "Can you believe what a scene this is?" Hanna asked with a smile on her face. "Alison would have loved it." Aria said. "Popular in life and death." Spencer muttered. "She would have loved the attention." Adalind mumbled before Hanna pulled out a flask, handing it to Emily who shook her head. "No thanks I don't..." Emily started and shook her head but Hanna cut her off, "Today, I think you do. Hanna smiled softly at Emily after she took the flask from Hanna but soon, she was frowning, as they heard Aria's phone go off, making them all look over at her. "Anyone we know?" Hanna asked hesitantly. "No, it's just my mom sending me a text." She said but then she noticed how everyone was looking at her. .

"Emily, Addie and I aren't the only ones who got messages from A are we?" Aria asked, causing them to share a look before Adalind let out a shaky sigh. "Oh, my God. It's Jenna." They all heard Spencer whisper, making them whip their heads towards the entrance, seeing Jenna Marshall walking in before focusing on the funeral. Mr. and Mrs. Dilaurentis sat beside us, "Did you see that Jenna Marshall was here? I didn't realise she and Ali were friends." She spoke in confusion. "They weren't." Adalind answered.

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After the ceremony had finished the girls walked out of the church together, Adalind walked with Emily and Spencer as Aria and Hanna were ahead of them. Her parents had gone home, letting her have some time with the girls. "Emily, Spencer, Aria, Adalind and Hanna." someone said, making them turn to see a detective, walking up to them, making them stop. "Do we know you?" Spencer asked. "I'm Detective Wilden. I understand you were all good friends with the victim." He said as he handed Spencer his card before shoving his hands in his pants pockets. "Yes. we were." Adalind said softly back. "I'm gonna need to talk to each one of you." He remarked with narrowed eyes at each of the girls. "We talked to the police when Alison went missing." Spencer answered with confusion. 

"And I intend to go over every one of your statements, as this is no longer a missing persons investigation. It's a murder. Rest assured, I will find out what happened that summer." He said before walking away from the girls before they saw Jenna enter a car before they turned around, away from the detective that was watching them. "Do you think he knows about..." Aria began only to be cut off by Hanna. "No. How could he?" she said as shook her head just before the sound of their phones going off made them flinch and share a look before grabbing their phones.

"Oh my God." Aria and Adalind mumbled together.

"It's from." Hanna said.

"I got one too." Spencer and Emily said.

"I'm still here, bitches . . ." Spencer began reading the text.

"And I know everything. A." They all finished reading the text as they looked at each other in fear and shock.

⎯ AUTHORS NOTE
WELCOME TO 'TEEN SPIRIT' i can't wait to get more into her character and i hope that you guys like this book as much as you like my other pretty little liars fic <3