A year.
Just one whole year it took for things to feel unfamiliar and different. It was naive to think that nothing would change in three hundred and sixty-five days, but feeling like an outsider in her hometown wasn't what the fifteen-year-old girl was expecting. She had prepared herself that coming back wouldn't be an easy transition, but feeling like she didn't belong in Rosewood hit her hard.
Harder than she thought.
Not to mention she would be in class with students who were a year older than her. Having the Mayor of Rosewood as her Father made things difficult. To him there was no room for mistakes, it was either be perfect or face the consequences.
Most people assumed he was always away with work which is why he allowed her to go to Iceland with the Montgomery for the year, so she wasn't alone after the disappearance of Alison.
Yet the Mayor had nothing to do with that, in fact he was long gone when the Iceland trip was first mentioned, Mrs Montgomery was the one who invited the young girl along once she had a deep conversation with a certain individual.
The girl was grateful her father had left her, she just hoped he would stay gone.
Just like Alision.
"I need a ride to lacrosse" Mike's voice echoes through the house, causing the girl the snap out of her thoughts.
A smile appearance on her face, as she hears her best friend's voice. Maybe even her only friend. It was a sad reality of her life; she may have been known as part of Alison's posse at one point but all it took was an assumption from the leader for her to lose all her friends.
Because who would stand up to Alison? It was pretty simple. No one would or could in fear of what she would do.
Before she left for Iceland, she and Mona were becoming closer and now she didn't know how the girl would react to her being back. She hoped things would be alright, but it was too soon to tell until she talked to her.
"Leah?" Ella calls out the girl's name, making her turn to head to her bedroom door. "Is everything alright?" she questions with hints of concern in her voice.
When they had arrived back, she had left many calls and texts to Michael letting him know that Leah was back and could come home. When she received no response and had been told he was no longer the mayor. That was when she started to became worried.
The facts were right in front of her.
She just didn't want to believe it.
Leah softly smiles at the women before nodding her head "Yeah, it's just a little strange that's all." She explains.
"I bet" Ella hums gently "Why don't you call the girls? You and Aria could get together with the others." She offers before instantly regretting her words as she watches the girls face change.
"Mrs M" Leah sighs, nibbling on her bottom lip "I appreciate everything you've done for me, and I know Aria's your daughter but just because we were civil In Iceland doesn't change things." She quietly expresses.
It would have been disrespectful to ignore or to be rude to Aria while they were in Iceland. Now that they were back, she wasn't going to force herself to be nice when they didn't try to do the same.
"I understand." Ella purses her lips with a nod of her head "Come on, I think Mike's going to explode."
Leah shuck her head with a small laugh "It's a little funny." She comments, as her and Ella walk out of her room towards the stairs.
"Got Lacrosse today?" Mr Montgomery asks his son, as he begins to take things out of the boxes.
"it's first try-outs," Mike explains, as he looks through the different boxes. "And all my stuffs in about a hundred boxes." He says causing Leah to rolling her eyes at how dramatic he was being.
"A Hundred?" Ella says tilting her head to the side, with a raised a eyebrow.
"You know what I mean." Mike replies, playfully rolling his eyes at his mom.
"Your lacrosse stuff? It's already in your room" Leah speaks up, "You mentioned on the plane, you would need them straight away." she explains.
Mike eyes light up seeing his best friend before rushing towards her "You are the best" Kissing her cheek before running up the stairs and calling out "Thank you."
"Well, that hasn't changed." Bryon remarks with a small smile, glad his son wasn't afraid to show how close he and Leah had gotten.
He had a lot to make up for, a lot of apologising to do, and most importantly a lot of trust building to do and not just with his daughter Aria for making her keep such a secret, but to Leah as well.
He was desperate and used the girl's weakness against her to keep her quiet too. Something that he will regret doing for the rest of his life.
"I'll go see if he needs any help." Ella states walking back up the stairs, leaving the two girls alone with Byron.
"Listen, I know coming back here beings up a lot of memories." Byron begins to say glancing between his daughter and Leah. "Are you both ok?" he questions.
"Dad, I'm still keep your secret, ok" Aria states with a blank expression covering her face.
"You're literally blackmailing me, so I don't really get a choice." Leah comments, crossing her arms over her chest.
Leah couldn't handle lying to Ella who had helped and supported her so much, it wasn't fair for the women to think one thing when she knew something completely different.
Bryon had stepped in and mentioned her place in the house could easy be changed if she said anything. Which is why she normal would keep for distance from the man, he was nothing more than a coward.
"I meant; are you ok with Alison?" He clarifies.
Both girls were silent, thinking different things yet the outcome was still the same. Alison had been gone for over year now and she still seemed to be everywhere. Aria knew this topic made Leah annoyed and could see the girl wanting to roll her eyes.
Alison and Leah always had a complicated relationship, but they would always have each other's back. Until the day Alison dropped her like she was poison with no explanation.
Without even realising the rest of the rest of the girls did the same.
"We're gonna be late" Mike announces running down the stairs with his gym bag, making the girls internally sigh in relief, before walking out the house behind Mike.
After Aria starts to drive to the school, Mike turns to his best friend "Will you be alright?" he whispers.
He knew Leah would rather hide how she truly felt about things then say the true. She was getting better at opening up to him, but she would still never admit some things out loud.
"Why ask, when you already know the answer." Leah replies, looking out the window.
"I wanted to see what you would say." Mike confesses, before giving her hand a quick squeeze "If things turn for the worse tomorrow, just shoot me a text and we can take the day off."
They were so similar and yet so different; their bond was so natural and easy. They understood each other without having to say a thing.
"Thanks" Leah smiles "But I don't want your mom thinking I'm a bad influence." She says a little worried.
"A bad influence?" Mike says in disbelief, "Oh come on, my mom loves you." He says shaking his head.
She hadn't realised or didn't want to realise that she had been part of his family for so long now, but she was always so wary of the word family. Like she was rather be seen as a guest than be involved in a family or have a family.
It was always sad to hear but he never pushed her too much, knowing how easy it was for her to retreat into her shell again.
"Okay"
"See you tonight" The boy states as they arrive at the school before getting out of the car.
"Hey" Aria calls out to her brother "What time am I picking you up?"
At first it was odd for her to see her brother and Leah be so close, but now she was just grateful they had each other. She had never seen Leah so relax with anyone compared to how content she seemed with Mike.
She couldn't ruin that.
"Uh six?" He offers.
"Ok," Aria turns to Leah in the back of the car "Wanna go get some food?" she offers with a soft smile.
"Sure" Leah replies with a nod of her head.
It was better than going back to the Montgomery and watch Bryon pretend to be the perfect husband and with Ella thinking that everything is fine. Normally her and Mike would watch a movie, but I guess instead she's getting food with Aria.
After arriving at a bar and finding a seat, the pair ordered some foods and waited in silence. It was the first time they had done something together alone. There was always someone with them in Iceland.
"I'm sorry" Aria blurted out, as she stared at the missing person's sign of Alison.
"What?" Leah furrows her eyebrows, a little surprised at the apologise.
"There was no reason for us to stop being your friend." Aria explains looking at the picture of Alison. "I should have stuck up for you, we all should have."
"I would love to believe that Aria" Leah sighs rolling her eyes "But if she were still here. You wouldn't be apologising right now. In fact, I bet I would have been her new target." She mutters looking around the bar.
"I wonder what my nickname would have been?" Leah adds tilting her head to the side "Maybe twining with Mona? Loser Leah? I mean it rhymes."
"Leah..." Aria trails off, she didn't know what to say because everything Leah was saying was true.
Alison had so much power over the girls, and they didn't even know it. They were so scared of losing her that they didn't think of the possibility of not having a friendship with the girl might have been better.
"I'm just gonna go wait for Mike to finish at school." Leah says standing up from her seat.
"I'll see you later." She says before heading for the exit when her phone dings with a message.
Thinking it was Aria wanting her to come back, she takes her phone out of her jacket pocket and reads the message causing her to freeze.
Loser Leah is so boring, Lonely Leah suits better. It must suck to know your not wanted.
-A
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Little teaser to my new story
Hope you guys are ready <3