Courtney DiLaurentis (Book Character)

Courtney DiLaurentis was the identical twin sister of Alison DiLaurentis. She is also the girl who Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily knew as 'Ali'. She was killed by her sister soon after completing seventh grade.

Physical Appearance:
Courtney has wavy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Throughout the second half of the series, people notice that the pictures of Courtney posing as Ali in middle school look different from images of the real Ali in her earlier school years. Though the girls are supposedly identical, some characters are confused by the little differences in facial features that they see in these pictures.

Biography:
Courtney was psychologically troubled and wanted to be Alison. She hated her twin and told her she didn't deserve her life while attempting to drown her in the swimming pool at their Connecticut home. Consequently, the family moved to Rosewood and Courtney was placed at the Radley, a mental institute. She occasionally came home on the weekends, but she was forced to stay in the house, as the DiLaurentis family pretended they only had two children. She stayed there for about three years until the Radley was closed down. Her parents planned to send her to the Preserve at Addison-Stevens in Delaware, but she did not want to start over.

One weekend, Courtney was staying at home while her parents were planning to switch her between institutes, and she was having yet another fight with Alison. It was the same weekend the Time Capsule competition at Rosewood Day was announced, and everyone wanted to find or steal a piece of the flag. Ali had bragged that her brother Jason already had a piece and would give it to her. Aria, Spencer, Hanna and Emily each wanted to steal Alison's piece for their own reasons, but when they arrived in the DiLaurentis backyard, they noticed each other and came out to confront each other. Courtney noticed this from the house and came out to talk to them. Courtney had stolen Alison's 'A for Ali' ring and she pretended she was her sister, lamenting about her flag already being stolen and discussing what she drew on it. Her mother Jessica, believing she was the real Ali, came out to tell her that she was leaving. Courtney barely acknowledged her and kept up the chatter to see if her mother would really be fooled into taking Ali in her place. Jessica hesitated briefly, but she then left with Ali in tow.

Courtney was immensely relieved that her plan worked; she was now Alison DiLaurentis. She had to figure out her sister's life quickly and so she couldn't maintain Ali's friendship with Naomi  and  Riley. Instead, she deliberately got in a fight with her twin's best friends and she set her eyes on the four girls she talked to in her backyard. The girls were shocked but flattered that the most popular girl at Rosewood Day wanted them as her friends. Throughout sixth grade, the five most popular girls in Rosewood had a great time together. However, the next year, things had started to change for the worse. Courtney had a knack for discovering dirty little secrets of each of the girls and dangling it over their heads in public. She also kept secrets of her own and started to distance herself from her friends, often choosing to hang out with high school girls from the field hockey team.

Their lives suddenly grew more complicated when Courtney decided to get revenge on her neighbor, Toby Cavanaugh for spying on the girls while they were changing. She intended to launch one of his fireworks near his treehouse, but she saw him molesting his stepsister Jenna Cavanaugh. She was so shocked that the firework launched out of her hand and directly toward the treehouse. As a result, Jenna was blinded and Toby took the blame, even though he saw Courtney and intended to tell the police. However, Courtney threatened to tell everyone about his sexual assault of Jenna, so Toby in the end confessed to lighting the firework and he was sent off to boarding school in Maine. The girls were horrified by the event and named it "The Jenna Thing." After the accident, Courtney made friendship bracelets for the girls and made them promise to never tell anyone what really happened. Three years later, Aria confesses to Jenna that they were involved in the accident, but Jenna tells Aria that she and Courtney had bonded over "sibling issues" and they had planned the whole thing to get rid of Toby. And even though it didn't go quite to plan and resulted in Jenna losing her sight, she couldn't be happier that Toby was finally gone.

One of Courtney's biggest secrets was her affair with Ian Thomas, a high school senior who was dating Spencer's sister Melissa. Spencer also liked Ian, but neither she nor the other girls had any inkling that Courtney liked him too. In her diary, Courtney wrote that she was offering Ian an ultimatum: either he breaks up with Melissa, or she would tell everyone that they were going out. The implications would be damaging since he was an adult and she was very clearly a minor. To celebrate the end of seventh grade, Courtney and the others decided to have a sleepover to kick-off the summer and on the evening of the last day of school, everyone gathered in Spencer's barn apartment. However, that same weekend, Alison was home from the Preserve and was furious with what Courtney had done.

While the other girls were generally happy, she made teasing statements to them which made everything tense between them all. She told everyone about how she knew how to hypnotise a person and insisted on trying it out on them. It took some convincing, but they eventually agreed. Before she could get to Spencer - the last one not yet hypnotized - Spencer had jumped up and refused to do it. She opened her window blinds to let some light in, but Courtney noticed her twin hiding right by the window with a camera. She ignored her and argued with Spencer before storming out. Spencer followed her to the edge of the Hastings property and they continued their argument. Courtney dropped the bombshell that she was seeing Ian and that she convinced him to kiss Spencer. As she continued to taunt her friend, Spencer shoved her into the stone wall of the Hastings property. Courtney recovered quickly but noticed someone up ahead in her own backyard. Assuming it was Ian, she excitedly ran off and ignored Spencer, who would be the last person to see her alive. However, Courtney was in for a nasty shock: Ali was waiting for her instead of Ian. The two argued viciously before Ali pushed her into the vast, deep hole that was dug up to build a gazebo, sealing her fate.

Just a few days later, the construction crew poured concrete into the hole, unaware that Courtney's body was lying in it. A campaign to find "Alison" was soon started by her family, and the real Ali was quickly sent back to the Preserve to avoid the media attention. Three years later, the St. Germains moved into the home and were planning to put in a tennis court where the unfinished gazebo stood. When the construction team excavated the concrete, Mrs. St. Germain saw Courtney's body and screamed. The police swarmed the property and reopened the investigation as a murder case. Courtney was buried under Alison's name.

Friendships/Relationships:
Alison DiLaurentis:

Courtney's hatred for Alison went beyond jealousy or even reasonable dislike: she wanted to be her sister and did not believe she was worthy of being Alison. When they were about 7 or 8 years old, Ali and Courtney were playing in their swimming pool. Courtney playfully dunked Ali's head under the water but suddenly kept her submerged, telling her "You don't deserve to be Ali. I do." Since then, the hatred was enthusiastically returned by Ali. When she was forced to take Courtney's place at the new mental institute, she was livid. She had a perfect life in Rosewood and Courtney successfully co-opted it, all because of Spencer, Emily, Hanna, and Aria's unexpected appearances in the yard. They provided the perfect distraction for Courtney and Ali hated them for it. She despised Courtney so much that she killed her with no regrets. She seemed to think she could take her life back afterward, but she was sent straight back to the Preserve.

Spencer Hastings:

Spencer and Courtney had a complicated relationship. They were close friends and shared many interests, but they often got into fights the most. Being raised by no nonsense lawyers, she was the only one that was tough enough to stand up to Courtney. She often teased Spencer about not making the JV hockey team and having a crush on Ian. On the night of her death, Courtney taunted her friend for always wanting what she had and never being able to be as close to Ian as she was. Her last interaction with her friend thus ended on a very negative note.

Aria Montgomery:

Besides Spencer, Aria was the only other friend who wasn't totally enchanted by Courtney. In fact, she felt keen resentment toward her for constantly bringing up her father's affair with a college student. She was there when Aria discovered them making out. In the last several weeks of Courtney's life, Aria avoided her as much as possible, unable to deal with her teasing.

Hanna Marin:

Hanna idolized Courtney and wanted to emulate her. Of the four girls, she was the most surprised and flattered that "Ali" wanted to be friends with her. She was overweight due to her stress-based overeating after her parents' divorce, and Courtney's constant jokes about her weight made her feel worse. Hanna never fought back and sometimes felt like she deserved the teasing, believing she was worthless. Courtney would tell her lies such as fidgeting would make her skinnier, and Hanna usually believed her.

Emily Fields:

Emily also adored Courtney, but not for the same reasons as Hanna. She had strong feelings for her friend and expressed them by kissing her one day. Courtney was initially shocked but soon found it a source of amusement. She often pointed out things connected to gay people, such as the gay parade, and asked Emily what she thought. Emily was embarrassed by her crush's teasing, but she maintained a sense of overprotective feelings. Courtney jokingly called her "Killer" because she was so jealous.

Ian Thomas:

Ian was quite philanderous and liked flirting with other girls, especially Alison DiLaurentis. The real Alison was creeped out by him, but Courtney had a huge crush. Once she became Ali, she pursued a relationship with Ian while he was with Melissa. She often teased Melissa, saying things like "I never noticed but you guys make such a cute couple!" and "Are you sure going to Prague for two weeks is a good idea? Ian just might get a new girlfriend!" She wanted total commitment from Ian, but he never seemed interested, especially since he could get in trouble if the wrong people (Ali's Parents, Spencer and Melissa's Parents and his parents) knew that he was dating her. He seemed to be the source of Courtney's increasingly odd behavior in the spring of 7th grade. She would constantly check her phone and be upset if there were no texts. She told Hanna she was mad at Spencer during a field trip and cried inexplicably while glaring at Spencer, perhaps implying that she actually didn't tell Ian to kiss her. Courtney wanted to meet with Ian the night of the sleepover to make her ultimatum. Unfortunately for her, Ali got to her before Ian did. He actually saw the two arguing (as did Spencer) but he was drunk, and he was only able to tell that the person with Courtney was blonde. Based on the television show, it is strongly hinted that he may have been the one that killed Alison.