"Morning darlings.." Alison smiled as she pulled her floral duvet off of her legs, which she and Emily had slept under during the best friends weekly sleepover.
Alison sat on the edge of her bed and stretched her back and neck before getting up to look out of her window into the grassy area below. "The loser's back home.." she commented. The loser being her brother Jason. Jason was her 21 year old brother who was never at home. He and his friends would spend their time getting high and drunk and trying to get girls to sleep with them. It amused Alison when she would hear stories about her brother's friends' failed attempts at getting laid - although she was surprised but disgusted at the fact that her brother got lucky every time.

"Your brother's kinda cute.." Hanna said still dazed from being woken up.

"For God's sake Hanna.." Alison scoffed before walking into her ensuite bathroom.

"He is.." Hanna whispered nonchalantly. Aria looked at Hanna and smiled before getting up off the inflatable mattress she had been sleeping on. Walking over to the window Alison was standing at a few moments ago, Aria watched as Jason performed his morning workout. She'd seen him do it a few times before when she'd slept over at Spencer's house. Spencer lived next door to Alison and Jason and had a direct view into the DiLaurentis backyard. Although she'd probably never admit it to Alison, she agreed with Hanna. She thought he was pretty cute and with regards to the couple of conversations she'd shared with him, he wasn't a loser like Ali made him out to be. There was some depth to his character. He wasn't just a one dimensional being. He had dreams. He aspired to be someone but just wasn't strong enough to resist the influence of his friends.

"Quit staring." Alison muttered as she walked past Aria when she came out of her ensuite, pulling Aria from her gaze.

"Oh sorry.." Aria whispered as she turned away from the window, but not before one last peek at Jason who was now looking up at Alison's window.


Jason stood to stretch as he finished his set of push ups in the backyard. He had gotten home last night and early morning workouts helped with his hangovers. As he continued to stretch he took a look at the place he calls 'home'. Was this really his home or just a house? Jason had a bad relationship with not only Alison but his parents. He always let them down with his bad decisions in high school and they had never forgiven him for them. He looked up at Alison's window and saw the pretty pink haired girl at her window. He liked that girl but had no idea why she liked Alison. Picking the towel off the grass, he walked back into the house to get a glass of well deserved water.

"My mom bought waffles and pancakes for us to have for breakfast!" Alison announced as she came down the stairs. Jason rolled his eyes as he leaned against the sink with the glass of water in his hand. Of course his mother bought them breakfast. His mother worshipped Alison and gave her everything she asked for and more. Jason was used to it, so it didn't bother him. "You better not have eaten those pancakes Mom left." Alison warned Jason as she and the girls (minus Aria) entered the kitchen. Jason scoffed and walked away shaking his head. He was on his way back upstairs when he bumped into someone on the middle of the stairs.

"Oh!" he heard. "Sorry.."

Jason looked up and saw Aria in front of him. "That was my fault.." he smiled.

Aria smiled back. "How have you been?" she asked quietly, to prevent Alison from hearing her.

"I've been better but I've been worse too so I can't complain." he replied. "How have you been? How's school?"

"It's bearable.." Aria sighed. She lied. She hated it there. She was nearly failing at every subject and was so close to being enrolled into summer school.

"Something's going on at school.." he commented. "What's going on?" Jason asked before he sipped from his glass of water.

Aria sighed again. She wished he wasn't so observant. "I might have to go to summer school.." Aria crossed her arms over each other.

"What are you struggling with?" Jason asked still standing on the step below Aria.

Aria was about to reply when she heard her name being called. "I better go.." she whispered.

"Okay.. don't be afraid to talk to me later about this. I want to help you." Jason told her genuinely.

"Thanks." Aria smiled as she rushed past him to go and be with the girls.

"What took you so long?" Spencer asked as Aria came into the kitchen.

"Yeah, I just had a bad stomach." Aria lied. There was no way she could tell the girls she'd talked to Jason. She'd never hear the end of it.


The girls had their breakfast and carried on their gossiping from last night.
"I was so shocked when I heard that she'd slept with him, but you know what they say 'shy on the streets, sexy in the sheets'. We all thought she was frigid but she's obviously a goddess in bed if Cameron slept with her." Alison gave her opinion on the girl who sat behind her in History, who's virginity had been taken by the hottest junior in school.

"I was shocked too!" Emily agreed.

"You do realise Cameron and Sasha have been seeing each other for nearly a year.." Aria blurted out unintentionally as she stirred her cup of coffee.

"You're lying." Alison replied as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why would I lie?" Aria asked as she looked at all the girls sitting around the table.

"So, what else do you think you know?" Alison asked defensively.

"Um.." Aria looked at the girls again. Were they really expecting her to reveal all she knew about Cameron and Sasha's relationship. "Well, I know they've been seeing each other for ages, Sasha's a really nice girl actually, she's just nervous around people she's not familiar with..."

"Why would Cameron go after someone like her?" Alison asked.

"Because he likes her? I don't know Ali. But what I do know is that he is a totally different person outside of school. The cool high school jock character is just a facade. He likes coffee and and to read.."

"How do you know all of this?" Spencer asked.

"I see him and Sasha every weekend at the coffee shop just outside of town."

Alison rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Moving on. Did you all see what Mona was wearing the other day? Specks really needs to evaluate her life. She looks so awful every time I see her."

"Ali.." Aria moaned.

"What? Aria I get you were friends with her. But you two don't even talk anymore so why are you moaning?"

Aria sat back and shook her head, allowing Alison to continue. Completely zoning out of the situation, she thought back to six months ago. Six months ago, Aria and Mona were really good friends. Like really good. They would meet up every lunch time and at least once at the weekend. They shared the same interests: both loved literature and music. She and Mona were just leaving the Brew when they bumped into Alison. Alison shot them a dirty look. But her face softened when she saw it was Aria. Aria and Alison were becoming good friends after they had been introduced to each other by Emily.
"I haven't seen you all weekend, where have you been?" Alison asked Aria.

"Um, I've just been spending time with Mona." Aria smiled at Mona who smiled back. Alison, who was taller than the 5'2" pair, looked down at Mona emotionless and didn't even bother to say hello.

"Great. Let's go girl. Everyone is going to Em's." Alison gripped Aria's arm and dragged her away from Mona. Aria looked back at Mona sympathetically and mouthed 'I'm sorry. I'll call you later.' to her. She watched Mona walk off sadly.

This would happen regularly. Alison would appear out of nowhere and drag Aria away from Mona - leaving her alone and sad. After a while Mona got sick of it and completely separated herself from Aria even deleting her from facebook. They stopped speaking three months ago and Aria missed her, but knew her friendship with Alison couldn't allow for her to be friend's with Mona again.

The girls got up and helped Alison put the dishes in the dishwasher before heading into the lounge to watch tv.


Jason was sitting in his room listening to his iPod as he flicked through his high school leavers yearbook. He heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's Aria, can we talk?" he heard from the otherside.

Getting up from his bed and opened the door. Aria stood there still in her pjs with her arms crossed over her chest just like on the stairs. "Come on in. Are you okay?" he asked as she walked into his room.

"You said you wanted to help me.." she said, referring to their conversation on the stairs.

"Oh yeah. So you might have to go to summer school?" Jason asked, hoping he was correct.

Aria sighed and sat down on the edge of Jason's bed. "Yeah.." she replied sadly.

"Tell me what classes you're struggling in.."

"Math, Physics, History.." Aria bit on her lip, embarrassed that she was having to admit to her struggles.

"I can help you if you want.." Jason suggested. "I got all As in those classes." he told her.

Aria raised her brows, slightly surprised that he'd managed to get such good grades, despite of the activities who took part in during his last three years of high school. "Would you really do that for me?"

"Of course! I don't want to see you fail, knowing that I can help you do well."

"Thank you." Aria smiled as she ran her hands over her knees.

"Come and see me before you go home and I would have hopefully found all of my notes and then we'll talk about when and where we can meet."

"I appreciate you helping me. I was nearly at the end of my tether." Aria told him.

"I'm glad I can help." Jason smiled at her.

"I better go back downstairs before Ali starts questioning what I've been doing." Aria looked at Jason before standing up and walking towards his door.

"Aria.." he called.

Aria looked back at Jason. "Why do you and the girls let Alison rule your lives?"

"I don't want her to. But if I ruin my friendship with her, I'll have no one. Literally no one. I've lost good friends because I'm friends with her.." she told him sadly.

"That's a shame. But don't be scared to branch out and find new people."

"Like who? People don't like me." Aria swallowed. She was getting upset - Jason could tell.

"How about me?" Jason suggested trying to prevent her from getting even more upset.

Aria furrowed her brows and laughed a little. "Really?"

"Yeah, I think you're a nice girl. We should be friends." Jason smiled.

"I'd like that." Aria smiled as she walked out of Jason's room and closed the door behind her.


Aria joined the girls again downstairs. They hadn't even noticed she had gone and come back, which Aria was thankful for.
"What are our plans for later?" Hanna asked as she sat on one of the couches in the lounge.

"I don't wanna leave this house." Alison told them.

"What can we do though?" Emily asked.

Alison sat up and smirked. "I have the perfect idea!" Alison stood up and pulled Emily with her. "Follow me girls.." she said excitedly. All the girls ran back upstairs, Aria following behind them, she really was not in the mood. "For God's sake Jason!" Alison shouted. Aria had no idea why she was getting angry at Jason.

"Watch where you're going brat!" Jason spat back. "Get out of my way." he said annoyed as she pushed past Alison, Spencer, Emily and Hanna to get to the stairs. Stepping down the first, he looked up and saw Aria he smiled and continued to walk down.

"This is perfect!" Alison sang.

"What is?" Aria asked as she walked around to the front of the group.

"You and Hanna need to stand outside of here and keep watch for Jason. If he comes back, yell 'I'm so fucking bored.' Spence, Em, come with me." Alison rushed to her room down the hall to Alison's room and came back out with a tube of hair removal cream. Waving it in Aria's face as she walked into Jason's room and then into his ensuite. Aria stood outside of Jason's room and had an uneasy feeling. She couldn't let Alison do whatever she was going to do. Jason was a nice guy. He was going out of his way to help Aria with her studies. Alison emerged from the ensuite with a huge smile on her face. "Someone's going to get a surprise when they wash their hair today. Let's go before he comes back." Emily, Spencer and Hanna followed her with Aria following reluctantly a few moments later.

They all sat on Ali's bed flicking through fashion magazines when they heard Jason's shower being turned on. Alison squealed. "I can't wait!" Aria sat on Ali's bed for a few moments contemplating what she should do. Going with her instinct she ran out of Alison's room, down the hall, into Jason's room and then into his ensuite.

"What the fuck?! Who is that?" Jason shouted when he saw a figure in his bathroom.

Aria yanked open the shower door. "I'm so sorry!" she got in with him and tried to find his bottle of shampoo. Finding it she picked it up and threw it out.

"What did you do that for?" Jason asked as he held his junk in his hands to keep some of his dignity.

Aria sighed. "Ali.." she started before she realised the situation she was in. She looked Jason up and down before quickly turning his shower off. Staring at his abs, she told him that Ali had put her hair removal cream in that bottle.

Jason clenched his free fist. "Excuse me.." he said politely as she stepped out of his shower and wrapped a towel around him. "Alison! You fucking psycho!" he yelled as he walked down to her room.

Aria sighed and stepped out. Wringing her hair in his sink, she took of her shorts and wrung them out too before putting them back on and returning to the warzone she had undoubtedly caused.


After getting into some dry clothes and having given Jason time to cool down. Aria went to his room for the fourth time that day. "I'm sorry, I didn't stop her. I had no idea what she was planning on doing before it was too late." Aria told Jason as she sat with him in his room as he out all of his History notes in a ringbinder for her.

"How mad is she that you stopped me using it?" Jason asked, dismissing Aria's apology.

"Oh she's mad. But I don't really mind. Emily will have her calm and back to her wonderful self in no time." she said sarcastically. Alison was never wonderful.

Jason smiled when he noticed her sarcasm. "Here." he handed her the ringbinder. "I'm guessing you don't want to come here for tuition.."

"Can you come to mine on tuesday evening?" Aria asked as she stood up.

"That's no problem." Jason smiled as he stood up. "Do you want a ride home?" he asked when he noticed Aria's huge bag.

"Only if it's not a bother."

"Of course not." Jason smiled and picked up Aria's bags. He followed her out of his room and down the stairs.

"Bye girls. Love you." Aria said before walking out of the front door, loud enough for all the others to hear as they sat in the lounge.

Aria followed Jason to his car. "The passenger doors fucked up so you'll have to get in through my side." Jason told her as she placed her bags in his trunk.

"Oh man.."

Jason laughed. "Don't worry."

Aria walked around to the drivers side, placing the ringbinders on the backseats she did her best to elegantly manoeuvre herself into the passenger seat. "Ow." she said quietly when the gear sticked poked her.

Jason smiled as he watched her before getting in himself. Reversing out of the drive, he smiled at Aria. He was glad she was they way she was. He was glad that she didn't fully conform to Alison's expectations and he was glad she was open to the idea of them being friends even after all of Alison's badmouthing about him.

It was early days but after Aria's actions today, he knew he'd found a great and trusted friend, in his little sister's best friend.