Chapter 9, A, B, and C

Courtney DiLaurentis's Perspective

I think it's been a few days. I'm not quite sure. My days are blurred together. I've written, read books, and watched TV. B has been nicer to me than I thought. One day, B turned around from his swivel chair and told me that A was coming to dinner tonight.

"Huh?" I looked up from the book I'd been reading.

"A is coming to dinner tonight. Be on your best behavior, Court." I nodded.

" I'm always on my best behavior, B." I said, grinning. B nodded and went back to hacking whatever it was that B hacked. Personally, I thought that hacking was A's thing. I didn't know too much about A, other than the notes and the few sentence conversation I'd had with him, her, it, whoever. The weird thing was that A's voice sounded a lot like a voice that was familiar to me- I just didn't know who. I stared at the wall. Maybe when A spoke again, I'd figure it out. I had always been a teensy bit smarter than Ali. I had the better memory. Ali. B told me that A would tell me tonight about Ali's fate. Trying not to panic, I spent the remainder of the day reading, as I was learning to love reading. I knew my friends would think that I was out of my mind. My favorite school subject was a secret from everybody but Ali and our friends. It was actually science. Ali sometimes called me a nerd. Soon, it was almost time for A's dinner. B gave me a yellow strapless dress and black flats that he said would be gorgeous on me. He was totally right. I looked like a life sized Barbie doll. B had gotten me makeup and a mirror so that I could look nice for dinner. I had deeply appreciated the gesture and had gotten to work on my appearance. I was even given a curling iron and a flat iron- (my hair is wavy, so it can go either way) Tonight, I curled my hair. Wow. I looked flawless. B told me to sit at the table to wait for A. I had hopped up on the stool and drew a mental picture of A. A would probably look identical to B, which wasn't very hard to accomplish, because B was covered in black from head to toe. I assumed that B was a guy because B sometimes acted like an idiot with his opinions. So, I had decided that B was a guy. I saw B tense.

"A's here!" B hissed. I looked up. My assumption of A was- spot on. Dressed from head to toe in black and looking identical to B.

"Well, well! B and C! Good to see you." A greeted mockingly in a deep voice I knew that had to be fake. Although B had warned me to keep quiet, I couldn't resist saying one tiny joke.

"You forgot D and E and the rest of the alphabet, A." I said, laughing.

B clenched his fists, but I could tell that he was trying not to chuckle. B looked at A's reaction. A didn't do anything for a moment. Then A started to laugh. But it was an actual laugh. A high pitched laugh. A girlish laugh.

"You're" I started to say. "A girl." I finished, puzzled. I had previously suspected that Ali had turned down a guy and he'd become A as revenge.

A shrugged.

"Oops!" A said in the voice that had spoken to me before I'd been kidnapped.

"Guess the cat's partially out of the bag! Why are you so surprised at my gender?"

"Uh, because I thought you were in love with Ali?" I asked.

A burst out laughing again.

"In love with- Oh Courtney, you're funny! If you want to start talking about your sister now- I guess I should say your twin, because you've got three sisters-all you have to do is ask."

"I want to talk about Ali." I confirmed. "And me," I said as an afterthought.

A leaned back, partially tipping the chair.

"Alison was the meanest person I'd ever met. If you were ever bullied, Courtney, which I think you were, because I hacked into your records at the Radley, and they don't match with your personality. She sent you there, didn't she? But anyway, you understand the way I feel. She ruined my life, so I'm ruining her life."

"Is this the part where you say you're going to kill both of us?" I asked.

"Oh, I won't kill you. As long as you don't find who either of us are. That brings me back to my plan." A checked her watch. "As of ten hours ago, your sister is on the way to the Preserve at Addison-Stevens for a nice long stay. Oh, and here's the funny twist. They think that Alison's pretending to be you and that she did something terrible to you. Alison's going to be in there until she turns eighteen! She'll be insisting that she's herself, and no one will believe her!" A sang giddily. I couldn't stop myself from gasping. Poor Ali...

"What did she do to you? Why did we deserve this?" I asked. A shrugged.

"She turned everyone against me. She deserves everything she gets. You, on the other hand, you at least tried to stop her from bullying me. You were kind. You were even kind to Jenna, although your sister decided she was an enemy. I know exactly what you did to her, and I know it was an accident. Like I've previously said, I know everything. So I'll release you on your eighteenth birthday. My birthday gift to you. Are you all caught up now?" A asked, seeming bored.

"I'm good. Can we have dinner now?" I asked. But my head was spinning. Ali, stuck at a mental hospital? This was terrible. As much as I didn't want to think this, a tiny piece of my brain was whispering, It's her turn to suffer in there. You're twins. Twins should share the same experiences. Do everything together! But that wasn't a good thought, the right thought. It was wrong. I had to get Ali out of there. While I was thinking, I looked at A again. On A's shoulder, I saw a strand of- was that hair? Huh, that was odd. I concentrated. The hair's color. That was a major clue. What color was that? It was.... white-blond. Who has white blond hair? All of a sudden, I sat bolt upright. I was shaking. It all made so much sense. Both A and B noticed and turned. I knew there was a big shot of dying after I said this. I'm sorry, Ali! I have to say this! I can't help it! I love you! I thought. Then I looked A straight in the eye- or at least where I thought A's eyes were, and said,

"I know exactly who you are."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A/N

Hey Guys! 1) Sorry I ended with a cliffhanger, I could not help it, it was way too much fun :). 2) Please comment/and or vote, I welcome any constructive criticism (As long as it's not mean), praise is nice too though;), and just please keep on reading no matter what! And finally, 3) OH MY GOSH I HAVE ALMOST 1,000 PEOPLE READING THIS STORY!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL YOUR SUPPORT!

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Jess