A is for Alison
By Ry_Rain
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, they all belong to Sara Shepard, and now ABC Family. I'm just borrowing them to have some ABC fun.
Rating: PG-13, maybe pushing R due to some curse words, but I don't think so
Summary: Hanna remembers a night before Alison's disappearance after getting a photo from A.
Spoiler: All of the first half the of the first season.
Author's Note: Just another entry in the ABC fics I've been obsessed with lately. Also, I wrote most of this on the metro to and from my editorial meeting, on my Blackberry, by typing it into a email to myself. Very little editing went into that part once I got home. Oh, and I know the first two lines seem kind of like I cheated, but I really think they work with the story.

Enjoy!

A is for Alison.

Bitchiest as can be.

Cleverly, she didn't trust anyone with any of her secrets, but for some reason, every one trusted her with theirs. Alison liked to use those secrets for her own gain. She knew what kind of party Hanna had wanted to throw for her birthday slash end of school, but of course Alison had to throw a big party for the end of school herself and her parents were going to be out of town, making her party even more appeasing.

"Don't let her get to you," Emily said to Hanna after an attack from their blonde friend.

Emily was the nicest of their group, thought Hanna as she spread out on her bed and looked at her friend. She wasn't overly competitive like Spencer, and while Aria was nice, she wasn't able to stop Alison's attacks, or at least didn't have the guts to say something. Emily always said something. She always had the other girls' backs, even if she wasn't outright standing up to Alison.

"Fuck her," added Spencer as she walked into the blonde's bedroom. "This is your birthday Hanna, you should be able to do whatever it is you want to do."

"Guys, you know whatever Alison says goes," Aria commented, putting down the bowls of popcorn and potato chips. "You should just have a small get together, maybe even just us five girls."

Hanna knew what she had to do, but it wasn't what she wanted to do, and that really bothered her tonight. Alison's insistence on controlling everything had never bothered her before, she was just glad to be considered part of the group. She didn't want to end up like Mona. There was something different about how Alison was insisting on throwing the biggest end of year bash this time, almost like there was something more to it.

"I dunno, guys. I really think Alison is up to something with this party," Hanna voiced. She looked at all the other girls. "You didn't think there was anything odd about her behavior?"

"Just, don't think about it tonight," Emily interrupted. "We're here, she's not, let's enjoy our movies, since we actually got to choose them tonight."

Knowing the swimmer was right, Hanna nodded and threw Aria the remote. She watched as Spencer put in the DVD and settled into the pile of blankets and pillows she had created on the floor at the end of the bed. The blonde could feel Emily looking at her, worried how she was handling the party drama. She glanced over and shrugged then focused on the TV.

Little did the four girls know, Alison did have a reason behind wanting to throw a big end of year party. It would be the last one she ever attended, but it wouldn't be the last summer in which she was the center of attention. A year later the whole town would be showing up for her funeral, the discover of her body making the national news.

Maybe she hadn't really planned the whole thing, Hanna thought as she sat in the quad, looking at the picture A had sent her. She had always wondered about Emily and how close she was to Alison. Yes, she would occasionally stand up to the blonde, but she never downright defied her. Not that Alison ever did much to the other girl.

Now Hanna had a picture of Emily kissing Maya, the girl who's family had moved into Alison's house. She knew the two girls had been getting close, what with Maya staying at the Fields' house for a couple days after Alison's body was found.

Ordinarily, Hanna wouldn't be sitting by herself at lunch, she had been eating with girls since Alison's funeral, but the picture had thrown her for a loop. Why hadn't Emily talked to her about Maya? Had she talked to either of the others? She doubted Spencer or Aria would have any problems with it. They all just want the others to be happy.

Perhaps Emily was worried about what her parents would think. Her mother always seemed kind of uptight, not even liking Aria's pink streak back in the day.

Quiet. The quad was too quiet. Hanna sent a text. She needed to talk to someone about this. Hopefully, Emily wouldn't get too mad about it. The blonde had never been one to gossip about her friends, not even now, with Mona. Aria, Emily and Spencer were never brought up in conversation, even before the four of them had become friends again.

Recently, Hanna had been wanting to pull away from Mona. The other girl was becoming too much like Alison. No, the brunette had never talked bad about her, but she constantly talked bad about others. Hanna did the same thing, but as she remembered Alison more and more, she realized how much she was probably hurting others.

Spencer sat down on the bench next to Hanna. "Is everything okay Hanna?

Thinking, Hanna regretted texting the other girl. She couldn't spread Emily's business all over town. "Everything's fine. I'm sorry. I had something I needed to talk about, but now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't."

Unfortunately, Spencer would not accept that and Hanna should have known she wouldn't. "Hanna, you texted me saying 911. I figured you had gotten an email or text from A. What's going on?"

"Victory for Spencer. She always gets her way," Hanna joked. "I did get a note from A, but, its not actually about me." Spencer just looked at her. "Look, I'm sorry for making you rush here, really. I just can't tell you."

"Well, I guess I can understand that. I know if you received a note about me, I wouldn't want you talking to the other girls about it," Spencer answered.

"X-rays showed that Alison had suffered a blow to the head," Hanna said. "It makes me think of that country song, 'Pray for You,' especially the chorus. I know it's horrible, but, it's all I can think of."

"You ever pray something would happen to her? Were you ever that mad at her?"

"Zillions of times," Hanna answered. Spencer nodded. "It's been eating inside of me ever since she went missing." The blonde sighed. "A sent me a picture of one of us, not you, or me, and it's not really a picture that Aria or Emily would want anyone to see. And no, it's not of the two of them, it's just one of them." She shook her head. "I dunno, I want to talk, but I should probably talk to the person in the picture first." Spencer nodded again. "Yea, I need to just stop rambling." Spencer chuckled. "Let's go inside, they're probably wondering where the hell we are."