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

43. Hanna 💋

Hanna sat in possibly the most uncomfortable chair in the principal's office, waiting impatiently for Wilden to actually talk to her about something. What was the point of excusing her from class if he was just going to sit there and stare at a yearbook from a million years ago? He had made it sound like something important was going on, but he was just flipping through the yearbook from her freshman year, analysing every page and photo.

She couldn't understand why she had to deal with him so much. If there was a way to get him out of her hair and leave her family alone, she would gladly do it. Seeing him dressed in nothing but a towel that morning had been the absolute final straw for her. She'd never get that image out of her head.

"I keep coming back to this ninth-grade shot," he said finally, "of you and Alison on the steps." Wilden turned the yearbook around and pointed to the picture. Hanna couldn't even remember when that picture was taken.

"What about it?" Hanna asked.

"Well, you made a lot of changes between ninth and tenth grade. Lost some weight, started styling your hair like Alison's," Wilden answered.

Hanna shrugged. "Is that a crime?"

Wilden shook his head. "No, just an observation."

"No, she helped me make those changes," Hanna said.

Wilden looked surprised at this. Hanna wondered if she should've kept her mouth shut. Maybe that was a slip up that would make her look even more guilty. "Did she really?" he asked. "Did she ever regret it? Start seeing you as her competition?"

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Nobody competed with Alison. You'd be stupid to even try," she said.

"Why?" Wilden asked.

Hanna tried to find the words that could answer his question. Anyone who had known her would know exactly what she had meant by that. Alison could've done anything that she wanted, and nobody would've been able to stop her from doing it. Whether it was stealing your boyfriend or starting a rumour about you, she could do it without even thinking about it.

"Ask him," Alison whispered in Hanna's ear. "You'll never know unless you ask."

The cafeteria was pretty much empty, since everyone was going back to class. Lunch had ended a couple minutes before, and Alison and Hanna had stuck around to finish talking about Noel Kahn's cabin party later that week and snoop through the yearbook Ali had purchased. Sean Ackard was sitting at the other end of their table, also seeming to procrastinate going back to class.

Hanna's crush on him had only gotten stronger over the course of the last couple of months. This party was the perfect excuse to finally gather up enough courage to go up and talk to him, but she just couldn't bring herself to talk to him about it. Alison was trying to convince Hanna to finally do it. Hanna just didn't think she could.

"Now," Alison advised as Sean started to get up.

Ali shut the yearbook and stood up from the table. Hanna appreciated her distancing herself from the situation. She was nervous enough as it was without someone peering over her shoulder to watch the whole thing go down. She bit her lip, deliberating for a second more. She finally decided that the sooner she asked him, the sooner it would be done and over with. After all, the worst thing he could say was no.

"Um, Sean?" Hanna asked, standing up from the table. If she stood up, maybe she would look a little bit thinner. "Did you hear abut the party at Noel Kahn's?"

"I heard," Sean said with a smile.

Hanna's thoughts started to go fuzzy with nerves. "I don't know," she said sheepishly. "I was—I was thinking about going, so I'm just wondering if you want to go too. With me."

Hanna rocked back and forth on her heels, waiting for his response. Sean looked kind of confused, and Hanna couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing. Alison appeared at Hanna's shoulder. "Everyone's going," Ali said. "She's going. I'm going. Why aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I am," Sean said, that smile now directed at Alison.

Alison smiled sweetly at Sean. Hanna felt a little upset with her. Hanna had finally convinced herself that she could talk to Sean all on her own, and of course, Ali had to swoop in and take all the attention for herself. She should've known better than to think that Sean would ever think about going to the party with her. Not with Alison around anyway.

Hanna felt her eyes starting to brim with tears. Now she remembered the picture that Wilden had shown her all too well. Wilden was still pestering her with questions about the stupid yearbook. "What about this guy?" he asked, pointing to a picture of some guy that she didn't recognise. "Did she ever talk about him?"

Hanna didn't quite hear the question. "What?" she asked, still thinking about that awful day with Alison.

Wilden rolled his eyes. "Stay with me, Hanna. This is important," he scolded.

"Why? What's the point?" Hanna snapped.

She was so over his demands. Hanna had had enough, enough of his stupid questions, enough of his presence in her house, in her life. She needed to find a way to just get out of this office and back to pretending like everything was fine.

"The point is I'm trying to flesh out the details of that summer," Wilden answered.

"So you can ask me how much weight I lost?" Hanna practically shouted. "By making it look like Hefty Hanna wanted Alison dead so that I could replace her?"

Wilden closed the yearbook slowly, looking her dead in the eyes. Hanna had never wanted to hit him so bad since the first night they met. "I'm not questioning you as a suspect, Hanna," he said. "We're just having a chat. Besides, one can't underestimate how much the past informs the present."

"Really?" Hanna asked as Wilden crossed the room to sit on the side of the large desk separating them. "So, you're still the same party boy you were in the class of '96? Did you call me down here to do keg stands?"

"Wow, looks like somebody's been doing their homework," he jeered.

"I like to know who's joining us for breakfast. And, by the way, my tenth grade picture isn't even in that yearbook," Hanna said. "I had mono and missed the deadline. Now, my make up picture is in my living room, which you must've seen while you were wearing a towel. Is that how the police build their cases these days?"

Wilden clenched his jaw as Hanna stormed out of the room, her blood boiling. She knew that it was probably a bad idea to backtalk a cop, especially one that had been tasked to clear her from her shoplifting adventure, but she just couldn't help herself. Wilden had completely taken over her life at home, and he had no right to invade her school. This was the one place she had left that she didn't have to think about what he was doing to her mom. She was done.