42 - The Talent Show

The five girls were walking peacefully to their lockers at the end of the day after exiting English class - or, not so peacefully for Alison, who was a big bundle of nerves due to the fact that the talent show was taking place that same day - and the hall began filling with students exiting their classes.

"So, Ali, how are feeling-" but before Aria could finish her question, she was inturrupted by a masculine voice.

"Yo, DiLaurentis!"

Alison turned around in her spot, her semi-curled hair flying over her shoulder, to find Derek Baldwin, a junior football player, along with his equally-beefy friends lightly jogging towards her.

She eyed him up and down in confusion as to why he was speaking to her. Sure, they'd exchanged a few conversations over last year, but even that was merely in parties and she'd never really spoken to him at school. "I just wanted to ask..." he started, looking slyly between her and Emily, "who's the guy in the relationship? Because my bet was on Fields, but I don't know, I guess you could be pretty feisty, too."

"Your bet?" Emily asked, bewildered.

The brunette's eyes flickered to Alison's for a second and in her own reflection in Emily's eyes, she could tell her face had stayed neutral, probably because of the Queen Bee attitude that was already tattooed in her brain, making her keep her walls guarded.

"Yeah! Shit's pretty big, we went up to twenty bucks for this bet," he said enthusiastically, as if it was completely normal to make a bet on their relationship. "So, which one of you wears the pants?" he leered.

Alison swallowed bitterly, the anger igniting up in her body faster than the speed of light.

"You know what, Derek, go back to screwing your sister and leave me alone," she snarled.

"Ali, breathe," Emily tried, placing her hands on Alison's shoulder from behind. She didn't calm down instantly, rage still boiling frantically inside of her. "Let's go," the brunette made a move to expertly maneuver Alison from the situation, knowing the guy was just vying for a reaction out of her girlfriend.

"Someone likes 'em bossy," someone from the group murmured, making them all laugh obnoxiously.

"Say whatever you want about me, you pathetic inbred," Alison stepped closer with a dangerous glint in her eye, "but if you say one word about Emily, I swear I'll-"

"So, it is DiLaurentis! McFarland, you were right! Everybody bring your money to McFarland," Derek said in amusement as he turned to his friends, referring to James McFarland, the guy who had supposedly bet in favor of Alison being the "male". Again, he was yet another guy that Alison had held no grudge against up until that very moment.

Alison could swear she saw red in her eyes at this point. The fact that people made a bet about them wasn't the thing to throw her off, it was the fact that these jocks were stupid enough to mess with her. Alison DiLaurentis had plenty of power in her reach, they should've known that. She clenched her fists and jaw, making her jawline seem even more defined, and Emily knew it wasn't the time, but she found Alison's frustrated look majorly appealing.

"Listen to me, assholes!" she barked at them. Their laughs slowly dissolved at the almost murderous look in her eyes and Derek turned around to see her, crossing his arms over his chest. "In case it wasn't clear enough, we are two girls. No boys. And after seeing you and your meathead friends, you just gave me another reason why."

"Next time, think before you open your mouth, Derek," Spencer snapped, stepping beside Alison to shield Emily, who still looked fairly shocked at the interaction.

"Aww, because I'm so scared of you, miss preppy girl," Derek laughed indecently. Spencer squinted her eyes in annoyance at the obvious insult at her wardrobe, but Alison sent her an appreciative look and the witty was just glad she had stepped up to help.

"You should be," Aria said, "Spencer's parents own like, half of this town."

"Look, princess-" but he wasn't able to finish his sentence once he felt extremely excruciating pain rush through each cell in his lower body anatomy. Alison bit back her amused expression as Hanna stepped back after effectively kneeing his in the groin.

He whimpered, covering his manhood with his hands and fell to the ground in pain. "What the hell?" he shouted weakly.

"Damn, Hanna," Alison breathed out with an impressed chuckle.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool my best friend, you're dead freaking meat." Hanna threatened, crossing her arms over her chest. Her friends knew the girl deeply believed in the expression 'actions speak louder than words', but they didn't think she'd do this!

"Guys, let's go," Emily said urgently as a teacher rounded the corner, not wanting another case of two-week detention like Spencer and Toby had gotten for breaking the no-violence rule at their school. Everybody's eyes were on them, which was pretty accurate considering they were standing distinctively in the middle of the hallway, so it wouldn't be hard for the teacher to place the blame on them. "Please," she added hastily.

"Yeah," Alison breathed out, "I think we're done here." She grabbed Emily's hand and the girls walked out of the place quickly, rushing through the main hall and exiting the front doors of their school, only stopping in the middle of the parking lot.

"Sometimes you just have no choice but going down to their level," Alison grumbled, shaking her head with a deep sigh. She had no idea why people were suddenly thinking they could subvert her authority as the ruler of the school, or question her enough to make such a remark about her relationship. Had she gone soft? Oh, who was she kidding, of course she has.

She'd never thought that dating Emily would cause people to see her in a completely different light and even go as far as to insult her like that, but she would be lying entirely if she said she regretted making the decision of asking Emily to be her girlfriend. Or kissing her. Or showing her that her feelings were never one-sided. Because anything Emily-related was something she would never regret, even if she had to set some idiots in their place every now and then to make that happen.

Emily rubbed her lower back in comfort. "It's okay, Ali. He really did deserve it," she said as she tucked a strand of golden hair behind Alison's ear.

"I thought it was over. You know, after what Ali did in the cafeteria the other day." Aria said in disappointment.

"Yeah, well, apparently not everybody was there to hear it," Alison responded, looking back to the entrance of the school as if Derek and his friends were about to walk out from it for a second round.

"You know we'll always be here for you two, right?" Spencer said seriously, looking between Alison and Emily.

"Yeah, we've got your backs," Aria joined.

"Exactly! Whenever you need to kick someone in the nuts, hit me up," Hanna laughed, and the girls chuckled and shook their heads in amusement.

"Thank you, girls. You four and the boys are," the blonde exhaled with a small smile, her voice uncharacteristically raw, "well, you're the best things that have ever happened to me. You'll always be my best friends."

"More than friends. Sisters." Emily corrected with a meaningful gaze at every one of their friends' eyes.

"Well, except you and Ali because that would be just weird." Hanna scrunched up her nose. "It'll be like 'Cruel Intentions' all over again."

They shivered in agreement.

"Great, Han, thanks a lot for the nightmares," Aria cynically let out. The thought of Alison and Emily being siblings just threw her off and she tried to block that image out of her mind. Especially since her, Hanna and Spencer practically barged in on the two after they'd had sex that one time.

"You know, this whole thing feels awfully clichéd, but I strangely like it," Spencer smiled with a rarely-seen fond grin.

"Aww, come here," Hanna drew them all into a group hug, and they all playfully groaned in reluctance. "You guys are my family."

"Em, remember when I told you there are moments when I feel like we could be a part of a TV show?" Alison asked, still hugging the girls, Aria to her right and Emily to her left.

"Yeah?"

"This is one of those moments," Alison nodded, the corners of her lips lifting in a wistful smile.

They all grinned amicably and softly parted away from each other.

"I have to ask," Spencer began in an amused tone, turning to Alison, "was there any basis to that 'screwing your sister' comment you told him?"

"Oh, I just made that up. But that freaked-look on his face after I told him that got thinking that there's maybe something to look into here," Alison smirked in entertainment, and they all laughed scandalously.

"Hey, by the way, Ali, when's the talent show?" Aria questioned as it seemed that they all needed to separate soon.

"Seven thirty," Alison answered with a sigh, the thoughts of the horrid show once again flooding into her mind.

"Great, we'll be at your house at six to do your make-up," Hanna said cheerfully.

"And pick an outfit," Aria added.

"Yeah, because no offense, Em, but we don't really trust you with those things," Hanna shrugged with a playful grimace.

Emily merely rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, see you later," Alison agreed, her and Emily walking away from the group and in the direction of her house.

XXXXX

Noel Kahn parted from his friends after finishing up their football practice and went over to his car. He was pretty excited for his date with Mona tonight - they were going to go for a walk in the botanical gardens in Brookhaven and then head over to the talent show to cheer Alison.

He drove to The Brew, exiting his expensive Porsche and locking it behind him. He entered and scanned the place. Being - arguably - the most popular guy in Rosewood High, he saw a few familiar faces, but the most well-known were a blonde and a brunette chatting by the cashier counter.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" he asked as he approached them.

"Oh, hey, Noel," Emily greeted him with a simple smile.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had a date with Mona," Alison asked.

"I do, I just came to pick up some stuff on the way over. Em, can you get me one cappuccino, one latte, and two chocolate cupcakes to-go?" he asked the fairly-new barista.

"Sure," Emily agreed, going over to make Noel's order.

"What about you? Don't you have a talent show to get ready for?" he turned to Alison.

"I do, and Emily and I were planning to hang out at my house until the girls came over to do my make-up and whatnot, but then, she got a phone call. Her boss asked her to cover two hours from someone else's shift. Emily said that maybe I should stay home and 'relax' because I'm nervous," she air quoted, "but the only time I'm relaxed is when I'm with her." She saw a small grin appear on Noel's face. "I didn't want to be selfish and tell her to stay home so I just came along with her."

"There you go," Emily called brightly from beside the register as she returned. She placed down two to-go cups and a brown bag containing two cupcakes on the counter. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting better at making these coffees," the brunette said in self-satisfaction along with a sweet smile.

"Of course you are, babe. You've always been a quick learner." Alison winked at Emily.

"God, at least wait till I leave," Noel joked, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry about her, Noel," Emily laughed with her cheeks flushed, teasingly pushing Alison's shoulder.

"It's alright, I'm used to it," he taunted, shrugging humorously.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," Alison playfully grumbled, not able to keep a small smile from tugging on her lips.

Noel acted as though he hadn't heard what she said and leaned slightly towards Emily, whispering just loudly enough for the blonde to catch his words, "Ali can be kind of a handful, huh?"

Emily shook her head with a light chuckle as Alison flicked his shoulder, getting him to recoil.

"Idiot," Alison muttered under her breath with a tiny smirk as Noel just laughed in amusement, reaching for his wallet. Emily watched the two of them with a small grin. Anyone could tell the two were old childhood friends.

"No, it's on the house," she dismissed when he pulled out his money, "I learned that I can do that every once in a while as long as my boss doesn't see."

"Nonsense, Em, take the money," he said sternly.

She gave in, taking his money in defeat. With the money in her hands, she turned back to him, "But-"

"Nope, no buts. I insist. Keep the change. I'll see you guys tonight," he said as he grabbed the bag and the tray of two cups and left.

"Do you want me to help you with anything?" Alison asked Emily after Noel was no longer visible.

"No, Ali. It's my job, not yours," she grinned, turning her head away shyly. Alison echoed her smile, simply staring at the adorable girl in front of her who could make her break into a smile at any time of the day. "You can sit down at a table, you know," the brunette notified her.

"Oh, but I'd much rather stand here and watch you work in your uniforms," she said with a coy smirk, her head tilted. "Are you sure your boss isn't into you or anything? Because these clothes are weirdly tight," she giggled, leaning her forearms on the counter.

"I'm pretty sure, Ali," Emily laughed. "She's a straight, married woman. And they're not that tight," she added, getting defensive.

"Uh, yes they are," Alison scanned Emily's body, not bothering to hide her desire.

"H-Hello," an older man stood at the other side of the counter and greeted.

"Hi, sir, how may I help you?" Emily asked politely, sticking to that same line that Angie had told her to ask the costumers.

"Well, you see, I-I saw you when I came in just now, and I would..." he stuttered, staggering in his place. "I would like your number. But I mean, I don't know if you're interested in - well..." he stumbled over his words awkwardly.

"I'm sorry, I'm not following," Emily said tentatively, holding her confused face.

Alison narrowed her eyes at the man. He had to have been at least fifty years old, and he was going around, hitting on girls their age? Didn't he have a wife? A family? A freaking life? In her mind, no other word but disgusting could've been used to describe him.

"I-I saw you glancing up at me when I came in, so I decided to be bold and just ask for your number. Are you into bold men?" he wiggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner, even though he seemed anything but bold to her.

Oh. OH! This was actually happening. Emily's surprised face shifted into discomfort in a matter of seconds.

"She's not into men, period," Alison quipped with a tight 'you-better-run-while-you-still-can' smile.

He darted his eyes between Emily and Alison, then back to Emily.

"I'm sorry, did you want to order anything?" Emily asked, trying to make the painfully awkward situation a little easier.

"I'll take one tall glass of you," he tried to flirt still. "You look delicious enough," he quipped again, smirking to himself.

"God," Alison groaned as she face-palmed him. Emily's bewildered expression almost made her burst into laughter. She would've turned to threaten him with her vicious words under any other circumstances, but seeing as Emily was even more horrified than her, this whole situation just seemed plain ridiculous in her eyes and she couldn't help but make fun of it a little.

"Alright, I'll... I guess I'll take a cappuccino," he sighed finally. Perhaps he understood that Emily was clearly not interested and rather disturbed by his suggestion. Yet... he was still gawking at her and it made her very uneasy. Maybe the uniforms were too tight.

Emily nodded at him and made him his order quickly. She then turned around, handing the man his coffee hastily.

"That'll be $2.70, please," she said to him, keeping her voice as neutral as possible.

He handed her a ten-dollar bill. "Keep the change, sweetheart," he winked at her.

Emily watched him as he left, clearly baffled still.

"I thought he was gonna ask you to see his pill bottle collection," Alison remarked, making Emily turn to her with an annoyed look that said 'don't even start'. But she had already started. "Or ask you out to dinner. You know, prune juice and marmalade."

This time, Emily couldn't help but chuckle a bit under her breath, shaking her head lightly.

"Or-"

"Okay, okay, that's enough," Emily laughed.

"He was right about one thing, though," Alison said, not breaking her gaze with the brunette.

"What's that?"

"You really do look delicious," Alison smirked. She came forward and grabbed Emily's hips, pulling her closer.

"Ali, I'm at my job," Emily chuckled, looking around nervously.

"Ugh, fine, I'll just sit here and watch you then," Alison said, taking a seat on the stool next to the register. She turned to the brunette, placed her elbow on the counter and rested her chin on top of it, staring at Emily with a small smile.

"I-I can't concentrate when you look at me like that," Emily let out a timid giggle, ducking her head. Alison kept looking at her, grinning wider because Emily was just so damn cute it made her once-cold heart flutter miraculously in her chest.

"It's not my fault you're so beautiful," she replied, gazing at Emily in awe, like she was the only girl in the world. And in return, Emily loved her compliments, if the thin layer of blush on her cheeks was any of an indication.

Emily was about to reply to her, but as yet another customer appeared behind the counter, she gave Alison an apologetic smile and turned to greet them.

"Hi, ma'am, how may I help you?"

XXXXX

"I've always wanted one of these window seats," Alison admitted as they both sat down on Emily's particular window seat. They had decided to go through Emily's house to pick up some clothes and other necessary items before going to Alison's house, since they'd agreed Emily was staying the night.

"Your voice sounds distant, Ali. That only happens when you're nervous," Emily acknowledged, tilting her head knowingly.

"Believe it or not, I'm actually very nervous," Alison said, as if answering Emily's unasked question.

"I know it's not usually a very convincing promise, but you have no reason to be," Emily coaxed warmly. "I genuinely believe you can win this."

Alison smiled at the conviction behind Emily's words. Her heart warmed at the thought of Emily genuinely believing she was the most talented person in Rosewood. Even though the town was relatively small, it still meant a lot to her.

"Even if you don't win this, I'm still your number one fan, Alison DiLaurentis," Emily continued, gazing at Alison in adoration with a soft smile.

Alison chuckled softly. After a few moments, her smile faded and her face turned serious. "I didn't always have people believing in me, you know. And I sure as hell don't believe in myself anymore," she looked at her feet, her knees folded against her chest.

"Hey," Emily inched closer to Alison, sitting next to her instead of opposite of her, both of them fitting in the surprisingly spacious window seat. "I believe in you. And there's no reason why a beautiful, talented girl like you wouldn't believe in herself."

"Well, thanks, mom," Alison said with a teasing smile.

"Shut up," Emily rolled her eyes playfully. "You know, there's this famous Marilyn Monroe quote," she continued. "It goes, 'Always, always, always believe in yourself, because if you don't-'"

"'-Who will, sweetie?'" Alison finished, sharing a smile with Emily. "I know that one. Thank you, Em. For believing in me."

"Of course," Emily assured, pulling Alison closer to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Alison rested her head on Emily's shoulder and smiled affectionately at the familiar smell of lavender shampoo and the faint scent of chlorine from last night's swim practice.

"Ali?" Emily asked.

"Hmm?" Alison hummed, her head turning to the crook of Emily's neck, like a little kid snuggling up with his teddy bear.

"You're still nervous, aren't you," Emily stated knowingly.

"You know me too well, Em," Alison said as she smiled weakly and got up, going to her phone to check the time. They still had half an hour before the girls showed up.

Emily swallowed, looking at Alison's body up and down in the stylish navy blue sundress she was wearing. Emily's favorite color. The dress rose slightly when Alison bent down to place her phone back in her purse and the brunette's eyes settled on bare thighs. "I know how to relieve your stress," she blurted out before she could even realize what she had said.

Alison straightened up and whipped her head in Emily's direction.

Hello there, bold Emily, she mused.

"What did you have in mind?" she smirked.

Emily walked over determinedly and placed her hands on Alison's hips gently, turning her towards the bed as she herself took a seat down on it. Alison quickly followed, straddling her lap, one knee on either side of Emily's hips, as the brunette held her hips tighter. She bent down to kiss Emily's lips sweetly in the process, and they both giggled into each other's mouths as they leaned back and hit the bed with a thud.

XXXXX

"It's so crowded up here!" Hanna complained in irritation. "It's like you can't move anywhere. There are so many people. No wonder you're so nervous, Ali."

"You are like, the queen of not helping," Spencer scolded Hanna, who merely shrugged in return.

They all took their seats in an empty row. The large amphitheater reminded Alison of their school's auditorium, only this one was much more well maintained and much, much bigger.

"Han, I'm not nervous because of the amount of people. I mean, look at me. Since when have I been scared of being in the spotlight?" Alison laughed bitterly and shook her head. "I'm scared of singing in front of people in general. Even you guys didn't hear me sing."

"Only Em did," Aria acknowledged in realization.

"How is she, then?" Hanna turned to Emily in question.

"Larger than life," Emily smiled proudly at Alison, who blushed at the compliment. "But you have to hear it yourself to understand."

"Ladies and gentlemen!" an awfully loud noise cut through the large room that made everyone wince and cover their ears quickly. The person who was talking had realized it too, since he over-dramatically signaled the crew to lower his volume, waving his hands exaggeratedly. Once they did, he turned back to the microphone.

"Sorry about that, folks," he apologized. "I'd like to welcome you to our lovely town's annual talent show!" the man said enthusiastically, and the whole room burst into clapping.

"Hey, isn't that-"

"Yeah," Spencer interfered Toby's question.

"Harris," they all said in unison, staring at the man who had flown them out to Paris and funded for it all.

"First off, I'd like to ask all of the contestants to head backstage and get ready for their performances, because we will be starting shortly," he requested.

Alison got up from her seat with a sigh, followed by Emily. "What are you doing?" the blonde asked her in confusion.

"You really think I'm gonna leave my nervous girlfriend alone backstage?" Emily defended with a caring smile.

Alison grinned gratefully and grabbed Emily's hand, leaving their friends after they'd wished her good luck. They walked hand in hand to the backstage area, where all of the contestants were getting ready. There was barely any room to sit or stand from the amount of people.

Half of the town must've been competing in this thing, Emily mused.

Alison managed to grab a seat on the couch and moved a little further so Emily could squeeze in.

"Thanks," Emily sighed, plopping down on the couch.

"Sure."

"Ali," Emily said once she noticed that Alison was looking around endlessly, eyeing the other contestants. "Alison," Emily tried again, raising her eyebrows. The blonde just kept glancing around so Emily reached out her hand and softly grabbed Alison's chin, turning the girl to face her. "Ali," she finally said once her girlfriend was looking into her eyes.

"Yes?"

"When you'll go out there, I'm gonna go back to the auditorium-"

"What? But-"

"Ali, let me finish." Emily said. "I'm gonna head back to the auditorium, and I'll sit where we sat with our friends earlier. It's right in the middle."

Alison looked at Emily strangely. She didn't understand where the brunette was going with any of this, and she certainly didn't appreciate the girl abandoning her in the middle of all of this.

"If you need encouragement or if you just want to, search me in the crowd, Ali. You can focus on me and imagine you're singing only to me if it makes you feel better, okay?"

Alison finally understood why Emily was urging her to look at her so badly. Emily was worried that she'd get stage fright or blackout and forget all the lyrics, so she wanted her to imagine singing only to her.

"Besides, I heard that that trick with picturing everybody in their underwear doesn't work," Emily shared and Alison laughed wholeheartedly. The blonde was sure there was some sexual joke about seeing Emily in her underwear somewhere in what the girl had said, but she chose not to comment on that. A few seconds of silence passed as their laughter died down.

"Emily," Alison's voice barely came out as a whisper but the two were close enough for Emily to hear her. She reached out and grabbed Emily's cheek gently, sighing, "I love you for caring so much." She brushed a strand of hair behind Emily's ear in affection, then brought her hand back on her cheek, "Thank you."

Emily turned her head to kiss the inside of Alison's palm, "You're going to do great, Ali."

XXXXX

Some people had gone on stage already and they were all pretty good, in Alison's opinion. One did stand-up comedy, another played the cello, a group of girls danced, and there were a few more acts. The blonde was still in her seat on the couch backstage next to Emily, running her unusually lightly moist hands on her thighs over her dress nervously.

She really wasn't all that used to being anxious about things, so this was new territory for her, and what could she say? She didn't particularly like that feeling.

The room was starting to slowly empty out and she knew she was close to being called out since it was in the order of last names and they'd just reached the letter D. She breathed in and out, thinking maybe she could relax a bit before-

"Alison DiLaurentis?"

Oh, shit. "That's me," she answered while standing up.

"You're up next," the crew guy said indifferently, unaware of the nervousness swirling inside the blonde's body.

She nodded in response, turning to Emily who rose to her feet as well. "You're still the most talented person I know, Ali," Emily reminded her honestly. "And I don't care if you win this or not, I'm just glad you get to share your amazing voice, because everyone deserves to hear it."

Alison grabbed Emily by the sides of her jean-jacket collar and kissed her, sighing as she did. "Wish me luck, mermaid," she said with her lips brushing against Emily's.

"G-Good luck," Emily stuttered, in a daze by the kiss, making Alison laugh at her reaction.

Just then, they heard the unmistakable sound of clapping from the crowd as the current contestant finished her act. Alison exhaled a breath and gave Emily a kiss on her hand, walking away and letting go of the brunette's hand slowly, as if she didn't want to.

Emily watched from behind the scenes as Harris presented Alison and the stage went dark so the stage workers could bring in the piano. Alison settled on the piano bench and prepared herself. Meanwhile, Emily rushed back to her seat in the auditorium. Once she opened the doors to the area where everyone sat, all people's eyes flew to her. The insane unison was almost comical.

"Oh, whatever," she mumbled under her breath at everyone's curious looks. She didn't have time for this, she had a purpose she had to achieve. She walked over to her friends and just as she sat down, the lights on the stage went back on and the crowd cheered for Alison.

She noticed Alison's eyes subtly searching for her so she lifted her hand slightly and waved at her, allowing the blonde to find her more quickly. It wasn't necessary though, because Alison could find Emily in any crowd easily.

Emily smiled at Alison, just to show her she was there and that she had her full attention.

"Hi everyone, I'm Alison DiLaurentis," Alison presented herself once the clapping subsided. "Some of you may already know me," she began but was cut off by the sound of more claps and hollers, making her giggle a bit as her nerves eased and she slipped back into her confident persona. In Rosewood, everyone knew her. "So, my girlfriend, who is sitting out there in the crowd, thinks I'm singing a song called 'Fight Song', which is what I was going to perform. Now, she doesn't know that what I'm actually going to perform is an original song I wrote, in my diary of all places," she said, causing people to chuckle admiringly up at her.

Emily shocked expression almost made Alison want to burst into laughter on stage but she restrained herself, turning to the piano and adjusting her microphone. "This is called, 'I Can't Fix You'." (AN: This is an actual song of Sasha's but there's no piano version of it, so I put the original song up there 👆and imagine Alison performing it acoustically with a piano).

Alison began playing the intro, letting her fingers fly effortlessly on the keys. She remembered the other day when she had played the piano for Emily for the first time and how the brunette was so impressed with her. One of the best things about having Emily as her girlfriend was the fact that she was always so supportive of everything she did, and Alison loved her for that.

"I can't fix you," Alison started, singing softly. "You've got to face these demons on your own. And I can't save you, but I promise you you'll never be alone."

Emily was in a living paradise at the moment, and she shared a look of awe with Jason who was sitting with his parents one row ahead of where Emily was sitting with the rest of her friends. She felt herself smiling at Alison's beautiful, angel-like voice.

"Take my hand and take a deep breath, you don't have a lot of chances left," Alison sang with her whole soul and she had a feeling the audience liked it from the expression of investment and interest she viewed on many people in the crowd. She took a look at Emily who was grinning from ear to ear like an absolute child, proud over the roof of the song Alison wrote and composed all by herself. Next to her, were Hanna and Caleb, holding their phones up and recording the whole thing. Aria and Ezra had brought along their expensive, old-school cameras so they could take copious pictures, and Toby and Spencer were looking up at her like two proud parents. She had so much love for every single one of these people, it was incredible.

"When the road is long and it's dark as the night, if you get too scared just hold me tight, you're the only one who can make things right. And I can't fix you," Alison finished the chorus, thinking to herself how this wasn't so horrible as she continued to the end of the song.

The audience's cheerings at the end sure was something, and Alison wasn't surprised when she found herself enjoying the positive attention. She did give the performance of her life - Alison DiLaurentis didn't half-ass anything.

Having people look up to her, and really look up to her, not just be scared of her, gave her a rush that she couldn't quite explain, but she definitely liked it. She smiled at the audience, then left the stage as the lights went dark to prepare for the next contestant.

Next thing she knew, her friends were meeting her at the exit of the backstage area and she was flying straight into Emily's arms, which wrapped around her lovingly. "Ali! You were so great!"

The rest of her friends joined the hug, leaving her mushed between seven different people. "Ow! You're squeezing me," she laughed in delight.

"Oh right, I forgot only Emily was allowed to do that," Hanna mumbled to Spencer, who rolled her eyes along with Alison and Emily who had also heard her comment. They backed away from her eventually, allowing her to breathe.

"You were awesome, Ali," Aria chirped happily.

"You really were," Spencer confirmed.

"Yeah, Ali, I'm really glad we all came," Hanna said in a genuine tone.

The rest of her friends grinned in agreement, and she felt warm all over the place. Next thing she knew, her family was coming backstage, praising her proudly, mostly her mother, who pulled the 'I told you so' card in regards to performing on the show like the woman had wanted her to do for years now.

Emily was talking to Spencer and Toby in the meantime, glancing at her every now and then. Their eyes would meet, and Alison would catch Emily blushing timidly and looking away with a smile. Alison would lie if she said she hadn't grown extremely fond of the way the brunette's cheeks tinted red under her gaze.

Later, they went back to the auditorium. With all the time they'd stretched out backstage, there were now only a few more acts left and they took their seats to watch them. Once the very last contestant left the stage, Alison felt her heart pounding loudly against her ribcage, knowing they would announce winner soon.

Harris returned to stage soon enough, smiling broadly at the audience. "So, everyone, I hope you all enjoyed these incredible performances as much as I did."

The audience clapped and cheered, but Alison couldn't take it any longer. She zoned out in order to relieve her stress just a little bit, but then she felt warm skin touching hers and she looked down, seeing Emily's fingers interlacing with hers softly. She directed her gaze back at the stage in anticipation as they seemed to be finally getting to the point.

They announced the winner of third place, and Alison didn't know if she should feel happy or sad that it wasn't her.

"And the second place goes to..." Harris drew the word dramatically, opening his envelope rather slowly, leaving the crowd both annoyed and full of anticipation.

"Alison DiLaurentis!"

Alison didn't comprehend the words until she heard loud cheers and felt Emily kiss her cheek happily. She stood up, still shocked as people all around the room hollered and clapped. She walked over to the stage, seeing people from both sides to the aisle smiling at her approvingly, and that's when she grinned herself. She continued walking the stage with a pep in her step, turning her head back to Emily who was beaming at her and raising both thumbs enthusiastically.

She got on stage, Harris immediately recognizing her. "Alison, hey! Congratulations!" he hugged her, handing her a golden trophy. She watched as the first place winner, that same one who had done the stand-up comedy act, walked up to the stage and received his first-place award. He was very funny in his act, she had to admit.

The old her would've marched right up there and demanded first place, probably shouting at the judges something along the lines of, "Alison DiLaurentis doesn't do second place!"

But there she was, holding her trophie proudly as the large crowd cheered for her and her eyes zoomed in on her favorite person. She was definitely the real winner.