Pretty Little Liars: The Beginning {Episodes 1-10} (REVISED)

29. Emily 🏊‍♀️

That morning, Ben pulled up in front of Emily's house in his car, waiting for Emily and Maya to come out so that he could take them to school. Since Emily didn't have her own car, and she usually got up pretty early for school and didn't want to wake her mom up, Ben usually took her to school. It worked better for them, since they both had swim practice in the mornings during the season.

The girls came out of the house and climbed into Ben's car. Emily sat in front next to Ben and gave him a hello kiss on the cheek. She was still somewhat shaken by the text she had received the previous night. She couldn't risk anyone else finding out about it, especially not Ben. The ride to the school was pretty quiet, since Ben and Maya didn't really know each other that well.

"So, Maya," Ben said as they approached the school, "now that you two have slept together, you've gotten further with Emily than I have. What should I know?"

Maya smirked and glanced at Emily. "Good girls don't kiss and tell," she said.

Ben chuckled. "You don't strike me as a good girl."

Emily rolled her eyes and smacked Ben gently on the shoulder. "Shut up, Ben," she said.

Ben ignored Emily. He had a bad habit of doing that, ignoring her when she asked him to do something. It always irked her, but today she almost wanted to actually smack him. Maya was having a hard enough time adjusting to her new life in Rosewood, and Ben picking on her wasn't going to make it any easier for her.

"So did you get much sleep? 'Cause I wouldn't have," he said.

Emily was shocked that he would even say something like that. The most she and Ben ever did when it came to anything sexual was making out. She barely would even let him reach under her shirt, much less go all the way. She knew Ben was starting to get impatient with her, but she just didn't want to do it with him yet. She wasn't ready.

Maya, on the other hand, seemed cool and collected with her response. "I don't know about Emily, but I slept like a baby," she said nonchalantly. She was much better at brushing off Ben's lewd comments than Emily was. They pulled into the school parking lot, and as soon as the car stopped, Maya practically jumped out of the car. "Coming, Em?"

"Yeah, I'll catch up to you," she said, remaining in her seat.

"Bye, Ben," Maya said, as she closed the door to the car and walked up the stairs into the school.

Ben waved goodbye to Maya as Emily turned to him, eyebrows raised. She was ready to let him know exactly how she felt about what he had been saying, but something else was tugging at her mind. "We were just messing around," Ben said before she could even start talking. "What are you so weirded out about?"

Emily leaned forward and kissed him hard, with more passion than she had used in a long time. She had to prove to herself that what she had felt last night was nothing more than a fluke, nothing more than finding herself missing Alison and being overwhelmed by those emotions. But when she kissed Ben, those feelings that she had, or thought she had, didn't show up. There was nothing. Ben's breath was hot, his tongue too invasive, and his lips too rough.

Did that mean she had no feelings for Ben anymore? No, of course not. She still cared very deeply for him, but was it the same as it had been? Had it ever actually been love? Emily couldn't tell. None of the memories that she had of her and Ben's relationship looked the same anymore. She kissed Ben, but she couldn't help but let her mind wander to—

Someone banged on the hood of the car, laughing loudly. Emily pulled away from Ben quickly and glanced out the windows. A group of Ben's friends had crowded around the front hood of the car, they were all pointing and laughing. "Get a room, Ben!" one of them called. "And rock it!"

She saw one of the guys taking pictures of them and started to force her way out of the car. She heard Ben try to call her back, but she was too busy ignoring the catcalls and jeers from the guys by the car. As Emily tried to push through the crowd, she saw Hanna approaching. She was glad to see a friendly face and made her way toward her.

"Looking good, Emily!" another boy called. "You're looking good, too."

Hanna turned to him, a disgusted sneer on her face. "I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" she snapped. Hanna pulled Emily away from the crowd and walked across the street to the school with her. "You okay?"

"Not really," Emily said with a shrug.

"You know, I never thought of you as someone who'd be comfortable with PDA," Hanna said.

Emily chuckled slightly. She knew Hanna was just teasing. "Maybe I'm not the person everyone thinks I am," she said.

"Who is?"

Emily and Hanna walked into the school together. Emily was trying to ignore all of the mess of feelings inside her mind at that moment. Ben's friends hadn't made anything easier for her that day. With A circling around in her mind, and Alison and Maya in the centre of the mess, she had no idea what to do next.