Ali pov
Emily pulls up a few minutes after I get the text. and with a shaking hand I open the car door and slide into my seat.
I look straight ahead or down at my lap but not at Emily. I can't, not when I'm hiding a secret like this, something I can't even tell her.
"Everything went okay?" she says creasing her brow and putting the car into gear.
I nod. "Yeah."
She flicks her eyebrow up at me. "Oh?"
I nod again.
She drives and occasionally glances at me. I was mute the whole ride.
Emily pulls into my house driveway and I get out of the car and walk to the door, she is on my heels.
Once the door closes, she pushes my against it and holds me there.
"Maybe you didn't know this already, but I can tell when you're lying and I don't like being lied to."
I chew nervously on my bottom lip. "Im not lying, I just don't feel that well. I ate too much at the Brew."
Emily squints at me and nods. "Oh, so you got full on coffee and muffins? Since when?"
I push her off of me. "Since today." I walk to the couch and plop down.
"Alison," Emily has a warning tone and I can tell he is getting irritated but I still can't say anything to her.
The guilt of the whole situation is eating me up and I feel like spilling everything.
"Look," I start. "Im just sleepy. It was a tiring day for me and a nerve wracking one too. Let me cool off."
That's not a lie at all, it's the truth. It's just a vague truth.
Emily folds her arms and nods but I can practically see her brain churning, trying to find something wrong and trying to detect my lies.
She sits across from me, on the love seat. "So, what is this guys name?"
"You don't know him." I lie.
She shrugs. "Okay? What's his name."
I quickly think of something. "James."
She nods slowly. "James."
I look at her and she's looking at me.
I know she can still see through my cover up but I lay on the couch and close my eyes, though I could never sleep.
Hanna is one of my best friends, and if she found out that I knew about Caleb and Kiera and I didn't tell her...
I don't even want to think about what will happen. Maybe she would understand one day when I tell her that A made me. Maybe she won't ever talk to me again.
Ever since Emily gave me another chance, I've wanted nothing else but to be open and honest with her and with everyone else. No more unnecessary lies and secrets, but I can't do that right now. It's either go by A's rules or else... and you never know what that or else could be. A isn't afraid to take a life.
Emily pov
I watch Alison sleep for a bit and I get up and go upstairs.
I don't know what her problem was and why she feels that she couldn't tell me. She should know that she can confide in me anytime and that I will always be there for her.
Huffing and pushing the thoughts aside I enter my room and flop on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, I note that I haven't had real alone time in a while.
Like, alone time meaning everything is okay and I'm okay and there is no A texts to worry about.
While also noting that, I note that since I haven't been idly alone in a while that I don't know what to do with myself. Spread on my bed like a star fish, I try to remember what I liked to so in the house when I was alone.
Cleaning.
Though the house isn't necessarily dirty, it is messy. That isn't how it typically was and should be.
I decided to start in my room and work my way out so I walk to my dresser and take off all the trash: scrap paper, candy and snack wrappers. I fix all of my perfumes and things like that into neat rows.
I look under my bed and grabbed all the shoes, clothes, and socks that were there and make a laundry pile and I went to my closet and put my shoes in there in neat rows.
After cleaning everything in my room, the only thing left to do was to bring the clothes downstairs and do the laundry.
I drop my clothes into a basket and carry it down to the washer. I separate the coloreds from the white and I decide to do colored clothes since we have more of those.
I drop Alison and my own's clothes into the washing machine after checking all the pockets of each article of clothing. It is a habit I picked up from my mom.
"You never know what you'd find in an old pair of jeans. Always check the pockets to make sure you don't damage anything valuable."
So far all I've pulled out it tissues and loose change, but I find something else in another pair of jeans.
It's the picture of me and that girl, the girl who looks a like like me- too much like me.
With all that was going on, this picture slipped my mind completely but now I have time to really think.
Who is this girl?
I wrack my brain for answers. I'm the only child, I only have 5 first cousins and 3 of them are boys and the other two girls are 3 and 5 years older then me. This girl looks my exact age.
I stare at the picture, trying to remember anything from this day. The background is dark, making it impossible for me to determine a venue.
We both wear pink tank tops and pig tails on the sides of our head.
The back of the photo has my moms script on the back:
Emily & E
The rest of the writing that comes after that was scribbled over and smudged with a black marker.
I try to hold it up to the light to see if I could still read the indentations, but those were gone too.
I decide to call my mom about this. I need to know who the girl in the picture was.
