I don't own anything

Ezra's POV

We arrived at Aria's beach house where the party had begun already. Elliot and I were inside the house and looked around. Music was playing loudly on the background, and there were quite a lot of people. Most of the girls had changed out of their dresses into bikinis and denim shorts. This wasn't a boring home party someone might throw in a small apartment; this was a real party. Is this what life is like in Newport?

I was going to get something to drink when I saw Aria talking to some girl. A beautiful smile spread across her face as she listened to what she was saying. She was really pretty. I'd never met a girl like her before. She didn't have to anything to draw my attention to her.

Soon I caught Nathan walk towards Aria and wrap his arms around her. He pressed a kiss on her bare shoulder whilst his hands were running on her body. It was eating me up inside watching the things Nathan did to her. I had no reason to be annoyed though - Nathan was her boyfriend, and I was just a new boy who lives in the house next to hers.

At some point during the evening I found Elliot and we went to fill our plastic mugs with strawberry punch that was put on the kitchen island.

"What exactly made you want to come here?" Elliot asked.

"We live here now. I thought it would be good for us to get to know new people" I couldn't tell him the real reason was a beautiful, brunette girl standing with her friends few feet away from us.

"Maybe you're right" He admitted, albeit a little reluctantly.

"Maybe Newport isn't as terrible a place we thought it would be" I continued, trying to make him see the good side of this place.

"I don't know about that, but I do know this punch is horrid. I'm gonna go queue for the beer" He muttered and walked to back porch.

"Hey there" I heard a familiar voice from behind me and when I turned around, I saw Aria.

"Hey" I smiled at her.

"So, how did a guy like you end up form New York to Newport instead?" She asked and took my mug from me, taking a sip of it.

"My dad was offered a job here. Are the parties always like this here?"

"Aria, are you gonna participate on round two?" A long, brunette girl shouted before Aria could answer me.

"I'm coming Spence!" She yelled back and turned towards me again. "More or less" She finally answered my question and smiled seductively before joining her friends again.

A little later I was starting to get drunk too, and I decided to go out to get some fresh air. I walked across the porch full of people and to the beach. I saw Nathan and three of his friends walking in the same direction I was. Soon they were in front of me and Nathan punched me in the chest.

"I don't know who the hell you are or why you even are here, but you can to your home and leave my girlfriend alone" He said aggressively. He tried to punch me again but I grabbed him and punched him a lot harder.

"If that was supposed to scare me off, you failed miserable" I said calmly.

"What's your problem, dude?" He asked pissed off.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" I asked back, equally pissed off. He didn't answer verbally; instead, he hit me straight in the stomach.

I was at my knees for a second or two before standing up again. I hit him back so that he fell backwards and onto the ground.

"Ezra, what the hell are you doing?" Elliot exclaimed from somewhere and separated me from Nathan.

"Who the hell are you?" Nathan asked furiously and watched him straight into eyes. He tried to fight him too, but Elliot wasn't taking any of it.

"His brother" He spat at Nathan's face. "If you're clever you, drop this" He continued, holding him by his collar before punching to the ground. When Elliot turned his back, Nathan hit him despite his words.

"You or no-one else will come here to tell me what to do!" He shouted. "This is how you deal with things in Newport. And you" He continued, turning to me, "Stay away from Aria." After that he left with his friends.

Elliot and I stood from the ground and saw a group of people in front of us, Aria amongst them.

"Let's go home" I muttered to Elliot who merely nodded, and so we started to make our way away form the house.

The next morning I woke up suffering from a head ache, and when I got up from my bed felt a twinge in my rib. Nathan's fist hurt afterwards, and judging by the pain I wouldn't be surprised if my rib was broken. Despite the pain I got up and went to kitchen to take some pain relief.

"What on Earth happened to you?" Mom said when she saw me, seemingly shocked.

"Nothing" I mumbled sleepily.

"Then why are walking like that?" She continued in her same shocked tone. At that precise moment Elliot decided to appear in the kitchen, too.

"And do you have a bruise on your cheek?" She asked, sounding more and more upset.

"I don't know. Do I?" He asked bemused.

"Now stop it the both of you and tell me what exactly happened" She said firmly.

"What's going on?" Dad asked light heartedly as he came into the room.

"Boys have fought" Mom said simply.

"´They what?" He exclaimed and looked at the both of us. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from trouble?" He asked, his good humour long gone.

"We didn't start it" I defended us.

"It doesn't matter who started it. What matters is that you weren't supposed to come home all bruised!"

"If someone's starts punching you, will you stand there doing nothing about it?" Elliot rose his voice to match our dad's.

"Who did this to you?" They both asked us in unison.

"A guy at the party. Can we jut drop it?" I said, already fed up with the subject. "We promise you it won't happen again."

"Just this once. And if it ever happens again, we'll want to know who it is" Dad reluctantly gave up.

"It won't" I repeated. A moment later our parents went to run some errands, and Elliot and I stayed at home alone. I took a packet of cereal and two bowls and walked to sit at the table. I poured the cereal and milk into the bowl when Elliot started his rant.

"Who was the guy from yesterday and what happened?" He asked.

"His name is Nathan and he's Aria's boyfriend" I explained as shortly as I could.

"Did something happen between you and her?" He went on.

"No, we were just talking." Elliot looked sceptical. "I'm not stupid enough to do anything with a taken girl! Besides, I don't do relationships" I said matter of factly.

"There was a time you did" He shrugged.

"But not anymore" I said firmly.

Aria's POV

I was preparing myself for the ballet practice that was about to begin pretty soon. It had been my hobby since I was four, so it was a huge part of my life. So huge that I wanted it to be my future job. I looked at the clock I realized I'd have to leave now if I wanted to make it in time.

I ran the stairs down and bumped into my mom.

"Where are you off to?" She asked perplexed.

"To the practice" I replied and went to seek for the car keys.

"I almost forgot" She breathed. I grabbed the keys and opened the door where Nathan was already standing.

"What are you doing here?" I asked annoyed. When Ezra and his brother left the party, we had an argument. I was mad at him for hitting them both. I know they hit him too, but Nathan had started it all.

"I wanna talk to you" He pleaded.

"Well I don't" I said and stepped forward.

"I'm sorry!" He said.

"I don't have time for this, the practice start in 20 minutes" I muttered and stepped into the car. When I was there, I ran to the changing rooms and changed into my dancing gear. This was what I needed right now. Ballet was a way to relax and get away from everything else for a while. I want to think of nothing else than the movements for a while.

When I walked out of the doors of the dance school and looked at my phone. 5 calls and 3 texts. All from Nathan of course. I knew we'd have to talk about it at some point, but right now I didn't have the energy.

I drove to a café on a pier, where I was supposed to meet the girls. I stepped in and saw all of them sitting at the table we always sat at.

"Hey, sorry I'm late" I said and sat beside Emily. "Did you order already?"

"No, we wanted to wait for you" Emily replied.

We all ordered pancakes, since this place had the best pancakes ever, and cups of coffee.

"Are you still fighting with Nathan?" Hanna then asked. All three of them had had the honour to witness my argument with him.

"Yeah. He wanted to talk about in the morning but I didn't. Now my phone is full of his calls and 'I'm sorry' messages."

"But you are going to make up with him, aren't you?" Emily asked cautiously.

"Of course" I mumbled.

"I don't get it. Nathan did it because he was jealous when you talked to another guy. I think what Nathan did was romantic in a weird way" Hanna said. We all looked at her. "What?" She asked confused.

"At the point where he punched Ezra and his brother to the ground all the romance was gone" I said dryly. "He didn't have to deal with it with violence."

"He has a brother? What part did I miss?" Hanna asked, eerily interested in all of a sudden.

"I think you were too drunk to remember, even if someone had told you" Spencer spoke up for the first time. We ate our pancakes and joined each other on our way back home.

I drove to our front yard and went inside the house. I called out to see if anyone was home, but no-one responded. I went to see if dad was in his office, since his car was parked in front of the house. The door was slightly ajar, and I could see him reading some papers.

"Hey" I called out to him.

"Hey. How was your practice?" He said and smiled warmly.

"Fine" I said before the doorbell rang.

"If anyone asks for me, I'm not at home" He sighed.

I went to open the door, and two men in suits were standing there.

"Is Byron Montgomery here?" One of them asked in a low voice.

"No, he's not at home" I lied to them like he had requested me to.

"Well, when he comes home will you give him this and tell him to call?" He said and gave me a business card.

"I will" I said and closed the door. I went back to my dad and gave him the card the men had given me.

"Thank you darling. I didn't have time for them now" He explained.

"Is everything alright?" I asked him.

"Of course" He said without hesitation. I nodded and went to my own room. I opened the door, and a happy Pancakes jumped towards me.

"Hey buddy" I said softly and sat down on the floor. I stroked his adorable ears whilst I thought about me and Nathan. Everyone said we're meant to be together, but are we?

I am particularly grateful for the ONE review I got last time :) I'm not quite sure if you like this story, please review so I know if I should continue writing this.