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

12. Hanna 💋

The Marin family was Rosewood's biggest fan of Chinese takeout, a fact which was evidenced by the frequent scent of orange chicken wafting throughout the kitchen in the house. Hanna's mother pulled two plates out of the cupboard and began to move the food from their styrofoam containers onto them, still in her work outfit. Hanna walked into the kitchen and grabbed some silverware to set the table.

Hanna still was having trouble believing that Aria was back from Europe. It had felt like forever since she had had a class with her, and she looked so different from the girl Hanna knew a year ago. For example, the stripes in her hair had finally grown out, and she walked with an air of confidence she had ever seen before. Hanna was proud of how much Aria had grown in the last year. Alison would've been too.

"I ran into Ella Montgomery today," Mrs. Marin said as she finished moving the food. "Why didn't you tell me Aria was back?"

Hanna rolled her eyes. "It's not like we're still friends," she said.

"She didn't know your father left," Mrs. Marin sighed as they took the plates of food to the table and sat down. "I hate telling that story."

Mr. Marin had divorced Hanna's mother the summer before Alison disappeared, but he hadn't officially moved out of the house until the fall after. Naturally, Hanna and her mother had tried to keep the whole thing a secret for as long as possible, but of course friends of the family and a few nosey neighbours noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Marin were no longer a package deal. It was still an extremely sore spot for Hanna, and it would probably always be one for Mrs. Marin. Hanna couldn't imagine what it would feel like if her husband left her for some skank and her daughter.

"So change the story. I did," Hanna suggested. Ashley looked up at Hanna, with a soft chuckle. "You grew up. You grew apart. It was mutual, and, honestly, we're much better off without him."

"Hanna," Ashley started. Hanna could sense the beginning of a lecture coming. "Say it enough, and you'll actually start to believe it," Hanna said with a small smile.

They began to eat, Hanna picking out the parts of her salad that she didn't like and Mrs. Marin absentmindedly taking a sip of her glass of water. "Well, I have to admit, it does sound a lot better than the truth," she said.

"No one needs to know that we got dumped," Hanna said bitterly.

Mrs. Marin set her glass on the table with more force than was necessary. Hanna knew she shouldn't have said anything, but it was the truth. She was just as hurt by her father leaving as her mother was, and she couldn't help the way she felt. Her mother gave her a cold look across the table. "We didn't get dumped. I did," she said.

"He left both of us," Hanna argued.

Mrs. Marin shook her head as Hanna's phone rang. "If that's Mona, I'm staging an intervention," Mrs. Marin said as Hanna pulled her phone out of her pocket.

The only person who ever called her this late was Mona, so it was no surprise that her mother assumed it was her. She was probably texting to tell her that she wanted to go on another shopping spree soon. Hanna raised her eyebrow a little bit at the text. It wasn't from Mona after all. It was from Spencer. Hanna couldn't even remember the last time she had received a text from her. She supposed that since their conversation earlier that week, maybe Spencer wanted to rekindle their friendship.

WE NEED TO TALK!!!

- Spencer

That was a strange thing for her to have sent this late. What could they possibly have to talk about that couldn't be summed up in a text message? "Hanna, it's dinnertime," Mrs. Marin said sternly.