After me ~ Pretty Little Liars Fanfic

one

I'm the only one with no alibi and the only one who can't remember a single thing from that night.

24 Hours Earlier.

"You can totally do it" My older sister's friend, Alison, encourages me as she brushes her fingers through my brunette curls. She lets out an exhausted huff as I shake my head for the fourth time in 5 minutes. "Isn't he supposed to be your best friend in the entire world." Her tone is almost mocking as she says it. Ali was always the leader of the group but never really close to either of the girls individually. They worshipped the ground she walked on before she disappeared and now, it's almost as if she's just here because she has no where else to go. "I'm sure you can ask him for one dance. Aren't you supposed to be a Hastings? I thought you're supposed to be fearless." She adds, definitely mocking me this time. My personality has never matched that of my sisters. They spent their entire lives fighting to be the number one daughter, the one with the highest grades, the one with the most perfect life and I sort of just slid under the radar. I stare back at Alison, trying to read her expression as I realise she's waiting for me to protest again. I've always wanted to be a part of Ali's group and now that I'm finally in it, I'm realising it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

"I can't, Ali. I'm telling you." I groan looking at myself in the mirror as she rolls her eyes at my reflection, still running her fingers through my hair, trying to style it in the way she's been doing for as long as I can remember. Aria Montgomery, another one of my sister's friends, is throwing a party tonight seeing as her parents are out of town. Well technically that's not true, she was 'convinced' by Alison to throw the ranger of the century. I think Ali is trying to relive her youth since she lost so many years of it. I change my gaze to Aria who's pacing back and forth, no doubt worrying that her parents will catch wind of the party and ground her for eternity. Considering I've been forced to hang out with Spencer and her four friends pretty much my whole American life, I was invited too.

I'm Mackenzie Hastings. Yes, I am the daughter of Veronica and Peter Hastings and yes, I am the younger sister of Melissa and Spencer Hastings. I live in that massive house with the massive fence in Rosewood, Pennsylvania- right next door to the DiLaurentises. You're probably wondering where I've been all these years right? Well, it's hard to be apart of the story when your parents have shipped you off to boarding school in England for the last 3 years of your life. Ever since Alison went missing, everything went crazy and pretty much everyone I grew up around got killed so my parents thought I would be 'safer' in a place where I know nobody and stick out like a sore thumb.

"You can! He's just Aria's kid brother." Ali shrugs, looking down on me as I stand in her bedroom and she holds her clothes up against me. Hanna and Emily sit on the bed applying makeup and surfing the web at the same time. Spencer is currently on the phone to Toby who I'm assuming can't come tonight because of how loud she is shouting at him.

"I don't even know what to say to him" I shrug as Alison throws yet another scarf around my neck- the count now? 4. "I was at an all girls school for 3 years"

"I know you were but you've been back for a month and seen him practically everyday"

"He's with Mona. I don't know why you're bothering" Hanna says bluntly. I watch as Emily's face turns from content to horrified.

"Hanna!" She exclaims.

"What? I'm just stating the obvious." Hanna shrugs, wide eyed.

"She's right Ali" I groan. I hate all this dressing up and boy chasing. I'm not like Melissa and gets engaged to every boy I meet and I'm definitely not like Spencer and kisses everyone I talk to. What? We were all thinking it. "Mike barely even notices my existence"

"Not true" Spencer says entering the room. "Aria told me that he's spent an hour and a half getting ready for tonight" She adds and the rest of the girls squeal as if they're just normal teenage girls and absolutely nothing bad has happened to them.

"I just want to have a good time tonight" Hanna says out of the blue.

"I think we deserve it" Emily adds. The girls have all just graduated from high school and I've just enrolled into Rosewood High School for next semester. Great. They can't wait to move to the other side of the country whilst I get to be stuck here in the place where nothing good ever happens.

"So you've heard absolutely nothing from 'A' recently?" I question. I watch as each of the girls looks to each other, exchange a glance and then snap on a completely fake smile.

"Nope" Spencer shakes her head. Everyone thinks she's such a great liar because she can think of excuses on the spot but I know better. I can see straight through her. I'm not going to bug her about this- they hate revealing things about A to anyone in case they start getting threatened too. I only found out about A when I broke into Spencer's phone so that I could call myself to find my cell.

"Whatever you say Spence" I shake my head. I do find it extremely creepy that someone out there knows everything about my family and everyone I've ever known. I wonder what they have on me? There's not much to tell- I'm a complete sweetheart. Ok maybe not a complete sweetheart. I did accidently cut a girl's ponytail off at boarding school when she stabbed me with her compass. I also may have hit someone's dog on my first driving lesson. Don't judge me! It's not like I blinded anyone or faked my own disappearance or anything.

"Can we not talk about psycho bitch A right now?" Hanna groans. "What should I wear?"

"What about this?" I say grabbing a tight blue shirt from Ali's closet and handing it to her.

"No she can't wear that" Alison says snatching it out of my hand. "I mean you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone do you double H?" Ali says slyly. She always knows how to make these girls feel bad. I'm not surprised that Spencer wasn't too bothered when Ali went missing- she only started freaking out when she thought that she'd done it. I look at Hanna who has already subconsciously wrapped her arms around her waist and is looking at her feet. Hefty Hanna has been buried so deep that most of town has completely forgotten about Hanna's previous weight problem.

"I think you'll look nice in anything you wear" I say sympathetically. "You don't have to be so rude Ali" I cross my arms across my chest. "They did all help you get back to Rosewood" Not that anyone would want to come here voluntarily. You've probably all seen it on the news by now, Alison DiLaurentis went missing on September 1, 2009. The cops thought they found her body a year later but in actual fact Ali was still alive and on the run. Eventually, Spencer and the rest of the 'liars' as they became known around town, found her and brought her back to 'safety'- everyone in town thinks that everything has gone back to normal but little do they know.

A is back.

A is out for blood.