CHAPTER TEN

ARIA

Sitting slouched against the porch railing, Aria looked, unseeing, out across the yard in front of them. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart and bid, with all of her might, for the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks to go away. She hadn't even started the story but she felt as if she was on the verge of losing it.

Sensing her unease, Ezra reached over and took her hand in his, gently running his thumb back and forth across her knuckles. His soothing touch seemed to be the trick as Aria instantly felt calmer and ready to start talking.

"I was nineteen when this whole thing started, fresh out of high school," Aria began. She took a deep breath, tightening her grip on Ezra's hand, before continuing. "My brother, Mike, he was only seventeen, a junior…"

FLASHBACK, MIKE

"Hey, Mikey, I hear you're going to get kicked off the lacrosse team if you don't get your grades up next quarter," a senior yelled across the locker room at him. "Looks like your pretty boy face ain't going to save you this time." Mike rolled his eyes at the snickering that then ensued after the obnoxious comment.

Slamming his locker close, he headed for the exit. "I've got everything under control, don't worry about it," he threw back over his shoulder. If there was anything you could count on in high school, it was that if something could be gossiped about, it would be. He didn't feel the need to add wood to the fire.

Rounding the corner of the school hallway, Mike's eyes fell on a short, nerdy looking girl attempting to push a stack of books into her locker. Just as she almost had them all in, the entire pile fell out onto the ground.

Mike quickly made his way over and started to help pick up her things.

"Oh, thank you. You don't have to help me though," the girl said quietly. She glanced up at Mike, pushing her thick, horn-rimmed glasses further up onto her nose as she did. A blush filled her cheeks as she realized a kid out of the popular crowd was helping her.

Mike flashed her a small smile, gathering the books into his arms before standing. "It's no problem, really. I'm Mike by the way."

"Mona," the girl whispered. They stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say next, before Mike broke the silence.

"Mona Vanderwaal, right? You're a senior?" Mona nodded at his comment and a thought struck him. "Hey, you're in all the AP classes and on the scholastic team every semester, aren't you?"

Mona stared at him in confusion, probably wondering how he knew so much about her. Mike liked to know things about everyone, though. He never wanted to be accused of being a stuck up jock. And Mona, for some reason, had always struck an interest for him.

"I'm kind of struggling with a few of my classes and was wondering if maybe you'd help me out? Keep me from getting kicked off the lacrosse team?" He flashed her one of his heart melting smiles and waited on baited breath, praying she'd say yes. At this point, it'd take a miracle to keep him on the squad.

Mona reached forward and took her things out of Mike's arms, turning to shove them in the locker before looking back at him. "Sure, I can help you. Just… can you do me a favor if I do?"

Mike nodded, not even hearing her request before agreeing. "Sure, anything."

"Get your jock friends to leave me alone," Mona whispered, staring down at her shoes. She hugged her bag tightly to her chest before glancing up at him. "I don't want to be picked on anymore."

ARIA

"So Mike got Mona to start tutoring him for his classes," Aria continued. She picked at a piece of fraying fabric on her jeans with her free hand for a moment. "I didn't know her well because she was a grade below me but Mona… she'd always been the shy girl in class. She was extremely smart, everyone knew that. But she was so introverted that it was hard to hold a conversation with her. When she started hanging out with Mike, though... she gained a lot of confidence. Enough so that they even started dating."

Aria glanced towards Ezra and saw that he was completely engrossed in her story. She flashed him a small smile, thankful that he cared enough to listen to what she had to say.

"They kept their relationship a secret, of course. Everyone at school would have had a field day if they knew Loser Mona was seeing that jock kid Mike. They were polar opposites, but definitely in a good way…"

FLASHBACK, MIKE

"Hey, you! I've been wondering where you were all week. I've barely seen you," Mike greeted Mona. He had been swinging on a play set in the middle of the park, waiting for her to arrive.

Dropping into the seat next to him, Mona smiled softly before kicking off against the ground. She didn't respond to his greeting and Mike began to worry. She was normally never this quiet anymore.

"Is everything all right?" He asked.

Mona shook her head and he watched as a single tear fell down her cheek. Mike instantly stopped his gentle swinging and turned to grab one of her hands.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked in concern.

Mona was quiet for a moment before answering. "Everything, Mike. Everything's wrong. No one at school likes me, we have to keep our relationship a secret… I just, I can't do this anymore."

Before Mike could stop her, Mona was taking off, eager to get as far away from him as possible.

A few weeks passed with nothing more than a few stolen glances shared in the hallways or across the lunchroom. Mike tried, at every opportunity, to talk to Mona but she wasn't having any of it. Finally, he was heading out of a lacrosse practice for the day when he watched her disappear into a ladies room that he was fairly sure was vacant. He took the opportunity and followed her in, locking the door behind him.

"What-" Mona stopped short, appearing like a cornered animal. Seeing that it was Mike who had followed her in, she instantly broke down into tears, covering her face with her hands.

"Mona, I am so sorry for what's happened between us. I don't want to keep our relationship a secret anymore. I'll go tell all of my friends. I'll change my status on Facebook. I'll do whatever it is that you want me to do in order to have you back." Mike came to stand in front of her, taking her hands into his own so that he could see her face. "Mona, I love you."

"I'm pregnant," Mona whispered.

Mike's heart dropped into his stomach and he stumbled back a few steps. Her news completely turned his world upside down. They'd slept together one time. ONE time.

One time is all it takes.

ARIA

Aria shakily pulled her knees up to her chest, well as far up as she could get them in her current state.

"So did they keep the baby?" Ezra asked quietly. She could tell that he was hesitant to ask questions but eager to hear what else had happened.

She nodded her head. "Mona didn't want to at first but Mike convinced her. He told her that the baby was both of their responsibilities and just because they hadn't planned on having one, they couldn't just kill another human being. He- he was attached to that child before she even gave birth. Mona ended up dropping out of school to get home schooled by her parents and Mike quit the lacrosse team so that he could spend every moment possible with her during the pregnancy."

Aria smiled a bit, happy to recall the pleasant parts of this story. "They named me and Mike's best friend, Connor, as the godparents when the baby was born. We were all happy for them. Sure, it'd happened a little sooner than anyone would have liked but everything happens for a reason."

FLAHSBACK, MIKE

"What should we name him?" Mona asked quietly. Staring down at the little blue bundle in her arms, she watched as Mike ran a finger softly over the baby's cheek. He was unable to tear the huge smile from his face as he stared down at their son.

"Noah," he replied in a whisper. "We should name him Noah. After my grandfather."

The night that little Noah was born was the happiest night of Mike's life. He had no idea, however, the chaos that would ensue within the upcoming weeks.

A few weeks later…

"Mona, please!" Mike begged. He watched in disbelief as she threw every baby thing that she could get her hands on into a big duffel bag. Tears were streaming down both of their faces and Noah sat in his car seat on the bed crying in confusion.

"I can't do this, Mike! I'm not ready to be a mom. I thought I was… but I'm just not," Mona sobbed. She turned to pick up the duffel bag in one arm and the baby seat in her other, heading out of the room and down towards her car. "We're too young for this. I'm finishing my schooling in a couple of weeks and then heading off to college. Where will you be, Mike? You'll still be here in Rosewood, finishing high school."

"We can make this work, Mona," Mike cried. He watched as she buckled Noah into the back seat and turned to open the driver's door. Taking a deep breath, he wiped the tears from his cheeks before approaching her. "At least let me drive you to the adoption agency. I want to be there for my son."

Mona thought for a moment, but solemnly shook her head in agreement. She allowed Mike to climb in the driver's seat as she got in on the other side and refused to make eye contact as they backed out of the driveway. The drive lasted all of about two minutes before Mike felt unable to keep his feelings bottled up any longer.

"I love you. And I love Noah. We can do this, Mona. I know we can," Mike started. "Just give it a chance. I'll-"

"No, Mike, this is better for all of us. He needs a stable life, we can't hold onto him for our own selfish reasons."

"We're not being selfish! He deserves to have his parents!" Mike yelled. "Us, Mona, he deserves us!"

The tears streaming down Mike's face suddenly blurred everything in front of him. He couldn't see Mona. He couldn't see the road. Hell, he couldn't even see the steering wheel right in front of him. Everything was a blur and the screaming child behind him only deafened the situation. Before Mona could respond to his cries, the squealing of tires against the pavement drowned out everything around them. The crunching of metal and glass was the last thing that was heard before everything went quiet.

EZRA

Aria was then unable to hold herself together as she recalled the horrific day that had claimed her brother's life, along with Mona's. She collapsed, sobbing into her hands. Ezra wasted no time in pulling himself over to her side and wrapping his arms around her shaking shoulders. He pressed a few kisses into her hair and whispered soothing sounds into her ear as tears fell down his own face.

"Noah, by the grace of God, survive the incident unscathed. He has a small scar on his forehead, just below his hair line, but it's fairly unnoticeable for the most part. Mike and Mona... they didn't make it and I gained full custody of Noah that night. Mona's family didn't want him and I was all he had," Aria went on after a moment. She lifted her head and wiped her cheeks as she attempted to finish the story. "My parents tried to help me raise him for a while but they couldn't look at him without seeing Mike. It was too much for them. They ended up moving to Iceland about a year after Mike's death and they send us money in the mail every month."

Ezra shook his head in disgust. How could her parents just abandon them like that? What kind of people were they?

"About a year ago, Mike's best friend Connor showed back up," Aria continued. "He was really close to Mike and took his death extremely hard, using that as his reason as to why he hadn't been around since he'd died. I believed him."

Aria let out a shaky sigh, pushing some stray hair behind one ear. "I let him get to know Noah, he was the one that even taught Noah about writing the letters. I guess he learned that from when his dad had passed away when he was a kid. Noah was only a toddler, though, so he didn't understand who Mike was or why we were so sad whenever he was brought up. I wanted to keep it that way."

Ezra nodded in understanding. A child that young shouldn't have to carry that much sadness around. He didn't deserve that.

"Connor and I got really close and I… I fell for him. I'm not sure, looking back now, whether that was because I truly did love him or because he made me feel close to my brother again. Whatever the reason, we dated for a while and after one drunken night this is what happened," Aria said, motioning towards her swollen belly. "Spencer had been living with me, helping out with Noah and all but had moved out when I started seeing Connor. She said she never trusted him. I guess she was right because as soon as he found out I was pregnant, he was out the door. He never truly lived with us so there was nothing really for him to pack. He just left a note saying that he couldn't handle another situation like Mike's. I found out a while later that he had joined the Army right after leaving. I'm not sure where he's stationed or what's happening with his life but- I don't need him. I've got Noah. I've got this baby. They're what keep me going."

Ezra sat in shocked silence. Aria had definitely been right. Her story wasn't easy. He pulled her tighter to him and pressed his face into hair on her neck for a moment. How was he supposed to respond to this?

Lifting his head, Ezra gazed down at her for a moment before pressing a slight kiss to her forehead.

"You. Are. The. Strongest. Person. I. Have. Ever. Known," he told her. He wiped one last stray tear from her face before continuing. "You're right. You don't need them. You're spectacular all on your own and you deserve nothing short of the best. My grandfather once told me that you never know what the biggest day of your life is until it's already happening. You won't know until you're right in the middle of it. You've had yours, Aria. And you've survived, better than anyone could have ever expected. Just… keep surviving."

I'm sorry this chapter was so long but I didn't know how to chop it down without cutting out important parts of Aria's story. Anyway, I hope everything made sense and that you all understand where Aria and Noah are coming from now. Just to summarize: Mike and Mona are Noah's biological parents but were killed in a car accident. Aria adopted him and is now pregnant by Mike's best friend. I hope you all liked this chapter, and don't worry, more drama is to unfold lol. Review please!