Aria groaned as she marched into Spencer's room and flopped down on Spencer's bed, her face landing on a pillow. She threw her cell phone across the room lightly and it landed at the door with a soft thud.

"Everything okay?" asked Spencer, looking up from the pile of textbooks surrounding her on the couch. "I thought you wouldn't be back until later." Aria was spending the week at Spencer's house while her mother went to a teaching convention in New York and her father took her brother Mike to a lacrosse tournament in California

"Nooooo," Aria mumbled through the pillow she had pressed up against her face, willing herself not to start crying. She never thought she'd have to deal with this kind of crap.

Spencer walked over and sat down next to Aria on the bed. "Did something happen with Holden?" He and Aria were supposed to be at the Grille, studying for tomorrow's big test in health class. But Aria mumbled a no and didn't elaborate. Spencer listened to the rain pelting on the windows for a few awkward, silent seconds until Aria pushed the pillow away from her face.

"Ezra's being an ass," she said sadly, fiddling with the tassels on the pillow.

"What did he do?" Spencer was surprised. The way Aria talked about him, she thought Ezra could do no wrong.

"He called me when I was studying with Holden and asked if I was busy. I said yes, but he was being really weird and said that he needed to see me."

"Why did he need to see you?"

"He didn't say. But then I said I was with a friend, and he kept asking where I was and who I was with. When I told him it was Holden, he turned into some weird, jealous freak."

This, too, was surprising for Spencer. From what Aria had told her, they never had problems with that kind of thing. Aria admitted to Spencer that she figured if Ezra was going to take such a risk by dating someone under 18, he must not be looking at other women. But she never talked about him getting worried about her fidelity. "How was he being a jealous freak?"

Aria groaned. "He kept asking why I was spending so much time with this 'other guy,' and why would I 'rather be with Holden' and not him, and 'what did I actually DO with him?'"

"Oh, God," said Spencer. She started rubbing Aria's back; this sounded like it was going to get messy. "What did you say back?"

"I told him he was making a big deal about nothing and that I would leave if it was such a big deal. Then I hung up." Ouch, thought Spencer. That probably wasn't the best way to end that conversation. "After that, Holden got upset because he saw that I was upset and asked if I needed to be somewhere else, so I told him I was sick and then came here."

Spencer frowned. "Why did you lie to Holden? He's a good guy; you could have told him you needed to be somewhere." He really was a good guy. Spencer knew that he had been close with Aria before she was part of the Ali clique, and when they hung out now, he was always acting like a gentleman, pouring sodas for people and holding open doors.

"Because I really didn't want to see Ezra after that. And because I actually DO feel sick."

"Are you okay?" Aria didn't answer and rolled over on to her back, her eyes closed. Spencer put her hand on Aria forehead in a motherly way. "You feel like you have a fever."

Aria glanced at Spencer and sat up. "I'm fine. I just have a bad headache. I hate fighting with Ezra. What would he think I'd be doing on a Sunday afternoon? He's been so weird lately."

Spencer awkwardly wrapped her arms around Aria and squeezed her tight. "It'll be fine. He'll get over himself. And until then, I'll go make some coffee."

"Do you have any decaf? I don't want to stay up too late. I want to sleep this off."

"Has there ever been any decaf in this house, ever?"

Aria started to laugh, but she dissolved into a coughing fit. When she stopped, Spencer rubbed her friend's back and whispered, "Hey, it's okay. Everything is going to be fine." Aria nodded, encouraged by her friend. Neither of them had any way of knowing how wrong Spencer was.

A blaring siren from an ambulance woke Aria with a start. She sat up on the sofa surprised, and then settled back down. She pressed her palm to her burning forehead and sighed. Her head was throbbing and that irritating ambulance wasn't helping. In fact, it sounded like multiple ambulances. She stared out into the rain, trying to see what direction they were driving, but the storm was too heavy and she couldn't see a thing. Maybe one should come pick me up, she thought. I'd go to the ER, get some antibiotics through an IV, and wouldn't have to deal with Spencer anymore. She insisted that Aria call her between every period while she was at school to make sure that she hadn't spontaneously fallen into a coma,like THAT was going to happen. She just had some 24-hour flu, she was sure. But she felt too crappy to go to school, which really didn't improve her experience in the Hastings' home. It wasn't so bad living there when she'd arrived last Friday, but when Aria started getting sick yesterday, Spencer turned into SUCH a mommy, insisting Aria sleep downstairs on the couch where it was cooler, constantly waking her up to check her temperature, and bringing her hot tea all throughout the night when she couldn't sleep.

It WAS nice having Spencer so caring, though. Aria had kind of drifted out of touch with her mother in the last few weeks since she moved out. As for her father, they hadn't been on goods terms for a while, ever since she told him about her and Ezra. It had gotten better recently; she could say his name now without her father turning bright red a mumbling that he had to make a phone call. But things were still frosty to say the least, which was why it was nice to have someone caring about he so much. She suspected Spencer had never gotten a lot of that, either. Her parents weren't very loving, at least to Spencer. That was part of the reason she and Spencer were so close: it was nice to have someone to care about outside of their crazy families. But the nurse act was getting irritating.

Suddenly, the phone started ringing. That, on top of the sirens from outside, was really loud. Aria covered her ears with a pillow and snuggled back down into the couch, letting the answering machine pick up. "Hi, it's Holden, calling for Aria." Holden? Aria flipped onto her back to listen. "You weren't in health this morning, so I figured you had stayed home sick because you didn't feel well yesterday. I just wanted to call to make sure you were okay and wanted to know if you want to come by with your homework, or bring you some soup or something. Call me if you need anything. Feel better."

Aria sighed. Holden was so sweet. He had been her only friend for years before she got close to Alison. They spent every minute together when they were younger, especially because their families were so close. But they drifted apart when Aria joined Ali's inner circle. Ali constantly teased her for being in a "deep, passionate bromance with a dork like Holden," as Ali always said. Holden had been nice to her even when she was a kooky little kid, but it was easier to stop seeing him to have to deal with the torture. She'd hoped they could be friends again after Ali went missing, but as soon as Aria got back from Iceland, Holden's family left for Portugal. Since he returned, though, the two of them had gotten close again, especially since her friends weren't so judgemental of her "bromance" anymore.

BLEEEP. The alarm on Aria's cell went off. She sat back up and grabbed it off the coffee table. It was set to go off five minutes before each period change at school so she would be awake when Spencer called. She peered at the phone's screen; she had a missed call from Holden and a new voicemail from Ezra. Curious, she played it over speaker phone: "bbbllllrgrgrggpphphphhhsshhs shh." THAT was a dissapointment. She was hoping for him to call and apologize, but he probably butt-dialed her. He just got an iphone and couldn't seem to operate the touch screen. Aria checked the clock: 11:27. Spencer would be headed to lunch at 12:30. Just thinking about food made Aria queasy. But her throat felt itchy and dry. She coughed a few times and sat up. Wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, she shuffled towards to kitchen to get a glass of water. She stumbled when another siren blared. What was with all of these ambulances? Aria filled a glass with tap water and reached for the remote. Hopefully the TV would drown out those sirens. The television flickered to life and the daily news came into view. "BREAKING NEWS!" declared a dramatic newscaster. Breaking news in Rosewood? The only news in Rosewood was about Alison. Aria turned to the TV, curious to see what the scum-sucking reporters had dug up. Hopefully, it wasn't about her. When she saw the story, the glass slipped from her hand, shattering around her feet.