CHAPTER 1

THE PRINCESS OF ROSEWOOD DAY

Alison DiLaurentis strode down the hallway at RosewoodDay Middle School, her kitten heels clacking, her blondhair bouncing, and her plaid uniform skirt riding high onher thighs. The earth science teacher poked his head outhis classroom door and raised his eyebrows. The overheadlights, which made everyone else look washed-out andpale, brought out the honey tones in Ali's skin and thegreen flecks in her eyes. Her footsteps seemed to march intime with the school's "between classes" classical music.And as she rounded the corner toward the cafeteria, thecrowds parted for her as they might a regal queen.

Which she sort of was.

It was springtime, almost at the end of her seventhgrade year, and Ali and her friends ate at the best tableoutside, a large, square four-top that had an excellent viewof the baseball diamond. Emily Fields, Spencer Hastings,Aria Montgomery, and Hanna Marin were already seatedand taking out their lunches: sushi rolls from the FreshFields counter and soft pretzels from the cafeteria.

Ali waved at them from the doorway. Spencer brightened.Hanna pulled an extra container of sushi rolls outof her bag and set it in Ali's place. Emily gazed at Ali witha small, excited smile, perfunctorily brushing a few stray leavesoff Ali's favorite seat. Aria laid down her knittingand gave Ali a huge smile.

As Ali walked across the courtyard, everyone's eyeswere on her yet again. She could hear the admiring whispersand the appreciative whistles. Devon Arliss, whowas in Ali's history class, ran up to her as she passedand slipped her that afternoon's homework, which she didn'teven have to ask Devon to do for her anymore.

And Heather Rausch, whose sister worked at the Sephora in the mall,handed her a gift bag full of samples from the newest makeup line."You're the only person besides the employees who gets to try these out,"Heather said proudly.

"Thanks," Ali said to Devon and Heather, shootingthem aloof smiles. It felt like she was a VIP celebrity: Shewas so precious and desirable, you had to be on a waitinglist just to get near her.

Ruling a school was, in a word, awesome. She hadtrends to launch (she'd single-handedly gotten everyoneat Rosewood Day to wear lime-green nail polishthis spring); people to cut down (planting that fake lovenote from Kirsten Cullen to Lucas Beattie was perfectrevenge for when Kirsten had criticized her field hockeyskills); parties to plan (the spring-summer season was thebusiest); and girls to upstage. Including her very bestfriends.

She walked up to them at the table. "Hey, bitches!"Her friends smiled brightly. "Hey, bitch!" they all saidin unison, though Emily looked embarrassed. Even theteachers barely flinched when they heard bitch in the halls,but Emily had practically been brought up Amish, andshe was still cagey about swearing.

Ali pulled out the old Polaroid camera her father hadgiven her and snapped a photo of them, the girls grinninghappily. Even though Aria was the group's officialphotographer/ videographer, the Polaroid was Ali's thing - shenever went anywhere without it. At first, she'd carriedit around so she wouldn't forget certain details about hernew life in case she got caught and sent to the Preserve.She wanted proof of the cute boys she was friends withand the sunniest spot on the patio where she and herfriends sat for lunch every day. Now, taking regular pictureshad become a habit.

"So what's up?" Ali asked as she lifted the lid of thesushi. Hanna had picked Ali's favorite - spicy tuna roll withextra wasabi.

"I saw Lara Fiori after gym," Aria said. "She was wearingthe same Marc Jacobs sandals you had on last week.

A total copycat."

Ali snorted. "Not it," she said, referring to the gameshe'd re-purposed from her brother, Jason. It was thecatch-phrase she and her friends said about anyoneunpopular or uncool.

"Agreed." Spencer fished something out of her bagand handed it to Ali. "Kirsten Cullen gave me an inviteto a party at her country club this weekend. Should I sayyes for us?"

Ali studied the invite, which was on creamy card stock.

"It looks perfect, Spence. Definitely."

Spencer looked pleased. "We'll have to shop fordresses, huh?"

"Ooh, Bloomie's got a new shipment of DVFs in,"Hanna said excitedly. "I called them obsessively allmorning and had the salesgirl put some on hold for us."

"Nice," Ali said, holding her Vitaminwater bottle up toHanna's in a toast.

Emily leaned forward. "Have you heard from Matttoday?"

Ali picked at her nails. "Only a million times." MattReynolds had been Ali's boyfriend, but he moved to Virginia lastweek. He wanted to do the long-distance thing, but she wasn'tfeeling it. Although he was the cutest boy in seventh grade,she'd never really been that into him. But as the cutest girlin seventh grade, it was only right that they dated.

"I'm over him," Ali went on. "I'd rather hang out withyou guys any day."

Her best friends of a year and a half blushed just asgratefully as they had the time Ali had recruited them tobe her new clique. And Ali had a lot to thank them for,too. If they hadn't been in her family's backyard that day,right at that critical moment, things would be very different.Everyone at Rosewood had accepted Ali's new groupquickly, and the other girls' popularity had skyrocketed. Itwas a win-win for everyone.

They'd had a lot of fun times. Like at her family'smountain house in the Poconos. Or at the many partiesthey'd been invited to, holding court while all the othergirls tried to impress them. Or that time last year whenthey'd skinny-dipped in Pecks Pond, the many sleepoversthey'd had, the hundreds of hours of phone conversationsand shopping trips and spa days. Ali had made thesegirls over. They'd gone from nothings to somethings, allbecause she was Alison DiLaurentis.

Of course, what they didn't know was that she wasn'tAlison DiLaurentis. But Ali didn't like to think about herpast anymore. It was something she'd learned in grouptherapy a zillion years ago: If you think only positivethoughts, it will lead to a positive life. Her old existenceas Courtney was gone.

She looked at Aria, who'd just picked up her knittingneedles and a skein of pink mohair. "Are you makinganother bra?"

Aria nodded, then held up half of a C cup. "You like?"Ali fingered the soft fabric. "You could seriously sellthese at Saks." Then she looked at Spencer, who waspenciling something into her day planner's calendar."God, Spence, you have the best handwriting."

Spencer brightened. "Thanks!"

Ali told Hanna the new sunglasses she'd bought fromH&M were amazingly chic, and she tugged on Emily'sponytail and said the boat neck T-shirt she was wearingreally showed off her muscular shoulders. Paying the girlscompliments felt good - not only because they complimentedher back, but also because it drew them closertogether. There was nothing in the world more powerfulthan a clique of girls who were honestly best friends - notjust frenemies. It was something Ali had wished forall her life.

All the same, Ali couldn't resist asserting that she wasjust slightly better than the rest of them. She pulled out hercell phone, looked at the screen, and mustered a laugh."Cassie sent me the funniest text earlier," she said, referringto Cassie Buckley, a girl on the JV field hockey teamwith Ali. "She's so hilarious."

"You're still hanging out with her?" Emily...