I'm not entirely happy with this but I don't think there's much else I could have done with it! Let me know what you think :)

"But I don't care what they say; I'm in love with you. They try to pull me away but they don't know the truth. My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing."

My first few days at Augusta's School for Girls passed by in a blur. I was shown around campus – not that I could remember anything from it- and to my room, which was to be shared with two other girls in my grade, Rose Milson and Amy Day.

I'm sure they were lovely girls but I was in no state to interact with them. It felt like I'd left half of myself in Rosewood. My thoughts were constantly on Ezra. What was he doing? Where was he? Did he miss me? Did he know where I'd gone? Had my parents told him? I couldn't even ring him; my parents said they'd go to the police if I did.

My classes were my only escape from him and how much he must hate me for just leaving. Since I'd started in the middle of the semester, I couldn't even take a day off to get my bearings. So, I buried myself in my studies, immersing myself in algebra and chemistry and French like I'd never done before, anything to get my mind off of him. Spencer would be proud; I was going to have grades to rival hers.

I was dreading English on Wednesday. How could I open 'To Kill A Mockingbird' knowing that he wouldn't be quizzing me on it? How could I open a poetry book or Shakespeare or 'The Great Gatsby'? I'd given everything to our relationship and, as a result, everything had become our relationship.

That first night, after I had finished all my homework, some that I didn't even need for another week, I crawled into bed, trying to keep myself from being overcome by tears. It probably wouldn't be the best first impression I could give the girls, but what did they expect? I'd just moved to a different state for crying out loud!

I could hear them muttering to each other and tried to drown them out. I'd be friendly next week. I was too depressed right now.

"Aria?" I heard one of them whisper. I pretended to be asleep. I wasn't ready for awkward questions I didn't know how to answer.

"I think she's asleep."

"Do you know why she moved here?"

"I heard that she got caught up in a murder investigation." If only they knew. "Betty-Louise said that her best friend went missing." I frowned, how had the story spread that quickly?

"I heard that she went insane." I couldn't help myself, I snorted. My game up, I sat up and turned to face them.

"It's rude to eavesdrop," Rose pointed out from her bed, flicking her long, brown hair over her shoulder.

"It's rude to gossip," I replied with a grin.

"Touché," she said, smiling warmly at me.

"So," Amy said, "Were we right? Did all of that really happen?"

"What she means is," Rose said, shooting Amy a glare, "How come you moved here?"

I sighed, if I didn't tell them now, I'd have to eventually.

"Yeah, my best friend went missing last year. She was murdered."

They both gasped, muttering their apologies. I nodded, used to such words.

"That's not why I moved here, though," I said.

"Then why?" Amy asked, scooting forward on her bed.

"My parents didn't like my boyfriend," I told them, "He was seven years older than me." It was vague but it was true. It felt so good to say that out loud, I'd never referred to Ezra as my boyfriend to anybody but him.

"He was twenty three?" Amy gasped. Her blue eyes were wide from shock.

"Yeah," I nodded, "But it never felt like that. Age was never an issue with us." My eyes unexpectedly filled with tears. "I-I didn't even get to say goodbye!" I wiped at the tears furiously. I was sick of crying. It was exhausting.

I couldn't even bring myself to think about the girls. They needed me now more than ever. My parents said that they'd tell them where I'd gone in a few weeks, once I had assured them that they knew nothing about me and Ezra. They were taking every precaution they could to ensure that I'd never see him again.

"I'm really sorry, Aria," Rose said, getting up and handing me a tissue, "What's his name?"

She climbed back into her bed and looked at me expectantly. I glanced at Amy, who had a similar look on her face. I couldn't tell them the truth, it was too risky.

"Noel," I lied, "Noel Kahn."

I sat with the girls at breakfast the next morning. I was really beginning to like them. Rose was a lot like Emily and Amy kind of reminded me of Spencer. She was really smart and seemed to kind of lack tact when it came to talking about Ezra, or 'Noel.

"So, is he hot?" She asked suddenly, causing me to choke on my coffee. I made it the way Ezra liked his, one sugar and a drop of milk, desperate to cling onto everything I knew about him.

I didn't answer and laughed when Rose elbowed her.

It made me miss the girls. Summer seemed so far away and I couldn't wait to go back to Rosewood and see them again. Still, it felt nice to have Amy and Rose around, like a little piece of home was with me.

I made my way to English with my heart in my mouth. I wasn't ready to face the beautiful syntax of legendary writers without him on the other end.

I took my seat, one in from the window, ironically enough, and pulled out a notebook.

The class began and I couldn't bring myself to look up. This was our lesson, our subject. My eyes filled with tears as the reality of my situation caught up with me.

I was really here and he was really there and we would really never be together again. I watched as the tears splashed onto my page and bowed my head lest anybody notice. I couldn't do this. Not without him.

"Miss Montgomery?"

I couldn't – I – I needed him – I couldn't...

"Miss Montgomery?"

I snapped out of it and looked up into the worried eyes of my new English teacher, Ms O' Callaghan.

"Sorry," I apologised, hoping that she wouldn't notice the tear tracks and so very glad that I'd skipped the makeup today, "I was just..."

"Away with the fairies?" she supplied. I nodded sheepishly. "Well, please rejoin us. It seems you have some catching up to do." I nodded again and picked up my pen. This was going to be a really long year.

I hope you liked :) I can't wait until Wednesday morning when I can watch the new episode online! :D Now go review, or I'll send Jenna to stand and stare at you. Sometimes, I feel like she can actually see... :/

Katie x