1997
Aria Montgomery could see for miles from the tiny square window in her treehouse. Or at least, it felt like she could. Being 7-years-old and standing only 42 inches tall, seeing anything out of her usual range of sight was like seeing the entirety of America laid out before her. But in reality, all Aria could see from the window was her next door neighbor's backyard and sometimes that heads of the family that lived two doors down bobbing up and down along their fence line.
It wasn't a very interesting sight, but neither was anything else in Rosewood, Pennsylvania. The quaint and polished town that seemed to be appealing to every adult was quite the snooze fest for the children of the suburb. All of the houses looked the same, all of the grass was cut to the same height, all of the buildings were bare on the outside save a couple of signs taped to windows here and there. Before second grade, Aria described the town as gray and boring. Now, as a graduate of Mrs. Barnes second grade class, Aria described the town as gray, boring, and monotone. She'd read that word in one of the books she had to read for a report. Mrs. Barnes told her what it meant, said that a word like that was usually not added to a kid's vocabulary until they were ten or eleven, and then proceeded to make Aria 'student of the week' for her rapidly expanding vocabulary.
Being the reader and lover of words that Aria was, she clung to the word that made her classroom famous like a security blanket. She worked it into her compositions, used it in her daily conversations, and even made a list called "Ways to Make Summer in Rosewood a Whole Lot Less Monotone" and tacked it to the wall of her treehouse, right next to the window. She was determined to replace the word monotone with a livelier, more interesting adjective by the time summer came to an end. And that mission started now.
Aria sat cross-legged in the middle of the wooden box held up by two Oak branches, staring at the list, sipping on a juice box, and trying to commit every word to memory. Ride our bikes to the Rosewood Lookout at sunset WITHOUT our parents. Decorate the inside of the treehouse completely. Form a secret society with a handshake and everything. Avoid playing the Mike as much as possible (he's just too little and annoying). Make the world's best driveway mural with sidewalk chalk. Run a successful lemonade stand. Create a dog walking service. Learn how to do flips off the diving board. Learn a new word every day.
A thin layer of sweat was beginning to form on her forehead, a result of the sweltering heat that inevitably came along with the month of June. Pieces of her chestnut brown hair were sticking to her neck, despite the fact that she'd tied most of it up with her favorite pink scrunchie. Every once in awhile a breeze would blow through the window and cool her off for a brief moment, but the minute it stopped, she was back to suffering, each time a little worse than the last. Aria knew that the only thing that would take her mind off of the heat was her best friend, and partner in crime as her parents called him, Ezra Fitz. He was supposed to come over right after school, but as usual he was late.
Just as Aria was about to descend down the steps of the treehouse to begin her manhunt for her friend, she heard the back door open and the goofy sound of Ezra's voice thanking her mother for a juice box.
"Hey Aria, catch!" Ezra called out from the ground, looking up through the hole in the treehouse floor that served as a door and waving his juice box in his hand.
Aria held out her hands and waited for the plastic container to fly up and into her hands. When it landed safely in her palms, she smiled, "Got it! Now, get up here so summer can officially begin."
There were a few seconds of silence before Ezra's head appeared through the hole and he flashed his missing-teeth smile, "I think summer started the minute we got off the bus this afternoon."
"Hush," Aria rolled her eyes. The words 'shut up' were a big no-no at her house, although that's what she really wanted to say in response to Ezra's smart-alec comment. "We've got a lot of things to plan and this is no time for your sass."
Ezra laughed, pulling the rest of his body into the space and taking a seat across from Aria on the floor. "You're bossy."
"Am not," Aria frowned.
"Are too," Ezra argued playfully.
"Well if I'm so bossy, why are you my friend?" Aria huffed, asking the question as if she didn't already know the answer.
They were destined to be best friends before they were even born. Aria's mom, Ella, and Ezra's mom, Diane, were sorority sisters that happened to become next door neighbors. When they found out they were pregnant at about the same time, they saw to it that their children would grow up attached at the hip, and so far, they had. Their play dates started just days after Ezra was brought home from the hospital. A then three-month old Aria took to her new friend like a fish to water. He was someone to look at that looked like her. He was someone to "accidentally" hit with her rattle. He was someone that understood her baby talk. As she grew older, Ezra continued to be Aria's "someone". He was someone to play with at boring family dinners at nice restaurants. He was someone to wait at the bus stop with. He was someone to go on adventures with. And for Ezra, Aria was his "someone" too.
"Your mom pays me," Ezra repeated the line he'd heard his father jokingly use during playful fights with his mother.
Aria stuck out her tongue, "Very funny."
"Aren't I?" Ezra beamed.
"Anyways," Aria exaggerated her word to show her urge to move on to the next topic. "I've made a list." She gestured behind him to the slightly worn piece of paper on the wall. Ezra turned. "It's all the things I want us to do this summer."
Ezra furrowed his brow, "What does monotone mean?"
"Without vividness or variety," Aria responded cheerfully. She loved teaching Ezra new things since he seemed to be the one always teaching her. He excelled in math and science, while she only had a knack for English. She constantly had to ask for help on their "algebra" homework, but was never asked for assistance on a reading assignment. It seemed like everything just clicked for Ezra, so when the opportunity to teach him something he didn't know presented itself, Aria seized it.
"Oh," Ezra nodded. "Well there's a lot of variety on that list."
"Thanks," Aria grinned. "What do you want to do first?"
Ezra pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, something Aria had learned meant that he was thinking hard about something. "How about we…form a secret society."
"Perfect," Aria said, secretly happy that she didn't have to argue on that activity's behalf since that was the one she really wanted to do first.
"So what kind of secret society are you thinking?" Ezra pulled his knees up to his chest and wiped a bead of sweat from his nose with the back of his hand.
"I don't know," Aria shrugged. Despite formulating the idea months ago, Aria hadn't give much thought to what their society was be a society of. "Friendship?" She spitballed.
"Lame," Ezra shook his head. "Let's make it something cool. Something like a society of crime fighting superheroes."
Aria's lips curled into a snarl, "Ugh no. We're 7. We can't exactly do what the police here do."
Ezra scoffed, "My dad says the police in this town are s-h-i-t-t-y. Apparently they don't do anything useful for anyone." Aria's eyes widened at the word Ezra spelled out. Of all the words Aria wasn't allowed to use, that one had to be at the top. Well that one, the b word, and the f word, although Aria wasn't quite sure what that one was yet.
"My mom says that your dad is full of it," Aria parroted the words she'd heard her mother say on countless occasions after their families got together.
"Full of what?" Ezra cocked his head to the side.
"I don't know," Aria crossed her arms over her chest. "It, I guess."
"What else does your mom say about my dad?" Ezra asked curiously.
"Nothing," Aria shook her head. That was a lie, but of course, Aria wasn't going to tell Ezra that. Her mother was never particularly fond of his father. She called him pompous and abrasive, two words that Aria had to look up to understand. She said that Diane could do better than Michael, but never to her face. No, those judgmental words were reserved solely for Aria's father, Bryon's ears, when Ella thought that Aria was no longer paying attention. But unfortunately, Aria always was. She knew things she wished she didn't; things maybe Ezra didn't even know. For instance, Aria knew that his parents were on the brink of getting a divorce. Ezra was still deluding himself into thinking that their fights were harmless.
"Are you sure?" Ezra coaxed, his voice soft and weak. Maybe he did suspect something was going on after all.
"Would I lie to you?" Aria reached across and placed a small hand on Ezra's knee. The answer was yes. In fact, she just had. But she didn't lie to him often, so that was enough to solicit the opposite answer from him.
"I guess not," Ezra sighed. "I still think being crime fighters would be a cool society," He directed the conversation back on course. "We don't have to fight actual crime. Maybe we could just pretend to. We're pretty good at playing pretend."
They were. From pirates to 'teenagers', Aria and Ezra played it all, and they played it well.
A small smile formed on Aria's lips, "I have an idea. What if we formed the Secret Society of Elite Spies? We could fight pretend crime, but we could also go around and spy on people. We could dress up like ninjas and listen for danger around Rosewood."
"That sounds awesome!" Ezra nodded vigorously. "Yeah, I like that idea."
"Great," Aria stuck her nose in the air, proud that Ezra liked her idea enough to commit himself to its' society. "Now we need to take an oath." Aria pushed herself up from the floor, then motioned for Ezra to do that same.
"Why?" Ezra looked up at her quizzically.
Aria sighed. She thought that it was obvious. "Because that's what you do in a secret society. You make promises that you have to keep in order to keep your spot in the club. So stand up, raise your right hand, and repeat after me."
Ezra stood up, shaking his head. "Why do you get to come up with the oath?"
"Because it was my idea," Aria rolled her shoulders back to appear more confident.
"We're kind of co-founders in this society. I say we both make up the oath," Ezra pushed.
"Okay fine, whatever," Aria snapped. "Jump in when you have something to add." She lifted her right hand in the air. "Now, repeat after me. I, Aria Montgomery…but like, say your own name."
"I, Ezra Fitz," Ezra brought his hand level with Aria's.
"Vow to never, ever, ever tell anyone about the Secret Society of Elite Spies, unless we both agree that that person can know all of our classified secrets," Aria whispered and Ezra repeated. "I vow to only use my skills for good." I vow to only use my skills for good. "I vow to attend the weekly meetings of the society which will be…every Tuesday afternoon." He agreed. "I vow to never let Aria's little brother, Mike, join in on the action because he's a baby who should only play baby stuff."
"Harsh, Ar," Ezra laughed.
"Well, it's true. Now repeat it," Aria hissed. She had never been very fond of her little brother, but her distaste had intensified as of late. Mike was 5 now and wanted to be all up in her business. If Aria was in her room with her friends playing Barbie, Mike wanted to be there, even though he hated playing dolls. If Aria was in the treehouse with Ezra, Mike was usually sitting in the grass below, crying about how Aria wouldn't let him up. And if Aria went for a bike ride, Mike wanted to tag along, which always slowed her down since he still used training wheels. It was beyond annoying.
"I vow to never let Aria's little brother, Mike, join in on the action because he's a baby who should only play baby stuff," Ezra echoed. "Oh, I got one. Repeat after me this time. I vow to tell Aria…except you say Ezra…every secret that I learn on my spy missions so that we're always on the same page."
Aria did as she was told. "Okay, last one. Most importantly, I vow that this Secret Society of Elite Spies will keep us together forever. Once a member, always a member."
"Most importantly, I vow that this Secret Society of Elite Spies will keep us together forever," Ezra smiled. "One a member, always a member."
Aria dropped her hand, grinning form ear to ear, "Perfect. Now all we need is a handshake and this society will be official."
The two kids spent the rest of the afternoon making up handshakes, writing down their vows on sheets of notebook paper, coming up with passwords to enter the treehouse, which they were now calling their Super Secret Spy Headquarters…SSSH for short, and talking about how epic their summer was going to be. How could it be anything but? They were secret spies now with heads full of creativity and hearts set on having fun. Plus, they'd just made an oath that made them promise to be best friends forever. And as 7-year-olds with naïve interpretations of how the world worked, they thought their vows were eternally binding.
If only they knew that in just 10 short years, their worlds would be rocked in such a way that no friendship, no matter how strong, could survive. If only they knew that n just 10 short years, the two members of the Secret Society of Elite Spies, the two kids who spent their entire lives attached at the hip would go their separate ways with no intentions of meeting back up again. If only they knew what they would become, maybe they could've saved themselves the heartbreak of what was inevitable.
A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of Of Playground and Parenthood. If you're coming from my last story, Rumor Has it, welcome back. If you're completely new, hi! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I have a lot planned for this story, so I can say it's going to be quite the juicy ride. Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter in the reviews. I love, love, love reviews. They're so motivating, so please don't hold back. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you want to hopefully see in this story, whatever. I'm so excited to start this new story and I hope you guys are too.
I want to say that this story will be jumping back and forth between the past and the present (their childhood and adulthood). So the next chapter will take place when Aria and Ezra are 26. I hope that's motivation to stick around for the next chapter!
-Erin xoxo