**Chapter 12**

***Aria's POV***

My mom didn't say anything when she found me in Mike's room the next morning, I know she wasn't intending to wake us up, but the frantic searching for me and calling my name brought me right out of slumber. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw us curled up together and I could see her face soften when she watched Mike pull me closer when I tried to move out of the bed. I was anxious about going to school today and even with my warm brother next to me, I couldn't fall back asleep. I managed to untangle myself from Mike's limbs and head back to my room.

I took a long shower, today was probably the warmest I had felt since I had been back. I got dressed in my sweats in the bathroom again before heading into my bedroom. My stomach was roiling, so I skipped breakfast deciding instead to head to the coffee shop. While I was doing my make-up the other girls called, Emily giving the morning update on Sarah. Hanna was more fixated on making sure we were all going to school today. They questioned again if we were sure that Andrew was Charles and every time that they brought it up, I felt more and more anxious about it. I hoped that the DNA test would be back soon so that we knew for certain that Andrew was Charles and that he couldn't get out of jail.

I headed out the door, driving over to the Brew. I still wasn't sure if I was ready to go to school or not. It was strange, the idea of being in a crowd was both terrifying and reassuring at the same time. I knew that I couldn't keep track of everyone and their movements in a crowded place, but I also felt safe having other people around. That no one would hurt me when there were other people there. All the warmth that I had stockpiled in the last few hours drained from me as I drove to the coffee shop, leaving me to tuck my hands into the pockets of my jacket to minimize their chill.

I ordered a latte to go, but when I turned towards the door, I felt my anxiety sky-rocket as my feet rooted me firmyl to the floor. My breathing picked up speed and I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. I turned away from the door, heading over to a corner where there was an empty chair. I slipped into the chair, putting my bag down on the ground and clasping my paper cup between my cold hands. The heat felt wonderful. That seemed to be a problem for me since I had been back, I was cold most of the time, even in the sun. I sipped at my drink, trying to find the courage to go to school. After about ten minutes, Ezra came over placing a Danish on the table next to me.

"Here, comfort food." He offered with a smile before taking the seat next to me.

"Wow, what an attentive host. Do you do this for all your customers?" I teased, taking another drink from my latte.

"Only for the ones that order coffee to go and then stick around. What's wrong?" He questioned.

I was infinitely grateful that he wasn't mad at me about the incident the other day. Or at least that he hadn't brought it up yet. I gave him a sheepish smile, realizing that I hadn't answered his question. "We're going back to school today."

"Are you ready for that?"

It would be fine, the corners of my mouth pulling up in a forced smile. I needed to put on a brave face. I just needed to make it there and then it would be easygoing. I opened my mouth and a shuddering "No." came out instead of the planned platitudes.

"Then don't go. You can play hookey." He offered. "You deserve that."

"I don't want to hide out at my house all day." I rebutted. And it was true, I didn't want to be a homebody, where all I did was hide out at my house and avoid the rest of the world. I couldn't stand the thought of slowly shutting out the world, one step at a time. It seemed like a slippery slope that would keep me firmly locked away in my room, and giving up because I was afraid seemed like the first step down that slope. I wanted to forget this all ever happened and just be a regular teenage girl again. I almost laughed aloud at that thought, that was maybe a bit much.

"Then stay here, you can use the desk in the back."

I thought about it for a moment, worried that it would be awkward given our last interaction. But I didn't want to go to school and definitely didn't want to go back home and face my parents. This seemed like the safest middle ground. Not a step down the slope, but maybe towards making better choices for myself. I could feel the tension in my shoulders release. Just because Hanna wanted us to go back didn't mean I had to.

"Thank you. I'd like that." I gave him a smile and he nodded. He turned to leave and I knew that I couldn't let him walk away without setting things right between us. "Ezra, I'm sorry about the other day. For freaking out on you."

He sunk back down into the seat next to me, the weight of the world settled on his shoulders. His face had settled into a serious expression when he sat back down and for a moment I regretted bringing it up.

"It's really my fault. I should have been more careful." He replied, slowly reaching out to touch my knee and I didn't flinch away from him. He rested his hand there for a moment, testing the waters and while I wished he had touched my hand, this wasn't bad.

He left and I grabbed my bag, deciding to move into the back area where the desk was waiting for me. I set my laptop up, connecting my camera so that I could look at the photos on it. I began flipping through the pictures, tagging a few that I wanted to look at later. I saw one of the corner of my room, where the doll was staring hauntingly at the camera. I tagged that one, before moving on to the next. It was the first photo I had taken when I got back. My first sunrise. Then the images shifted to ones I had taken of other students at the school. I continued to flip through, til an image of Andrew Campbell smiling at me was on the screen. He smiled at me, while in the next photo he leaned over to the person next to him. I couldn't comprehend how he had smiled at me, and yet he could torture and kidnap my friends and me. I enlarged the photo, wanting to find some detail there to prove to myself that he was Charles. I searched for details, looking at his hands. There was movement behind me and I moved to close my laptop, not wanting anyone to see my fixation on Andrew. I knew this was probably not the healthiest way to deal with things, but I needed to be sure.

"You know, if you don't want people to think you're hiding something, don't act like you have something to hide." Ezra said from behind me.

I was proud of myself for not jumping at his approach. I turned and gave him a small, sheepish smile before lifting my laptop so that he could see the screen.

"I was just realizing that I know nothing about him. I trusted him, spent time with him. And all I knew about him was what he told me. I just don't understand how he could be capable of that. How no one had realized just how much he hated us." I looked down after speaking, feeling the conflict.

It was such a shocking difference, between the way he treated us before and after. The punishments and torture, the nightly visits when his hands had bruised my skin and ground my bones together.

"What do you want to know?" he questioned, not diving into what I had opened up about, for which I was grateful.

I grinned when he said that. I knew that he was going to use his research skills, those same detective skills that he had used on Ali, to help me get over this. He left to go do some digging on his computer, find out where Andrew's medical records were being kept if he could, leaving me to my own devices. I went back to my pictures, flipping past Andrew, knowing that I would get the information that I needed about Andrew. An image of Jason popped up on my screen, he was playing basketball, shirtless. I felt heat in my face that I had taken this picture, back when Ali was still dead. There had been something about the way that he had moved which made me turn my camera on him. I flipped to the next image the evidence of why I took the photos. This one focused on the ground, where the ball was bouncing, how his legs were placed in the middle of a turn, and his shadow cast on the court. I stared at the image before grabbing out my phone, not wanting to wait until tonight to talk to him.

-Aria: How is your day going?- I texted, looking back at the screen before marking it as one to come back to.

My phone buzzed and I smiled at how fast he had responded.

-Jason: Boring. I'm at the school for extra counseling hours, but without any students.-

-Aria: I'm sorry you're bored. Why the extra hours?- I typed back before turning back to my computer.

I flipped through the images, really liking the ones that were the close-up images. Looking at them made me look forward to tonight even more. His next text came through as fast as the last and I had no doubt that he was definitely bored.

-Jason: I had heard these four girls might be coming back today. But only one showed up.-

I blushed at his text, that only Hanna had gone to school. I felt guilty that no one else had shown up and it made me wonder what had happened to the rest of the girls that they didn't go to school today either.

-Aria: How long are you going to be at the school?-

Ezra walked back in after I sent the text and I jumped at the fact that he was back so suddenly. Or maybe I had been so absorbed in my phone that I hadn't seen him coming. He opened his mouth to apologize but I shook my head and gave him a smile.

"I found the number for the hospital that his medical records should be at. I figured you would want to be here when I made the phone call." He suggested, putting the paper phone book down on the table next to my computer.

I smiled at the fact that he had a real phone book; I wasn't even sure where you could find one of those these days. It was such an Ezra thing, like the typewriter that was up in his apartment. My phone buzzed again and I couldn't help but look down at it, excited to have gotten the reply from Jason, but also nervous about Ezra seeing it.

-Jason: I'm here until two if you want to come grab a hug.-

I smiled at the text before turning back to Ezra, who was staring at me expectantly. I gave a shrug, not wanting to mention the plans I had with Jason. I typed a quick reply before flipping the phone shut and grabbing the phone book.

"It'll look better if you have a receptionist make the call for you. Makes you seem more like a detective." I explained, typing the number into my phone and making the call.

When the nurse answered the phone, I made up some bogus reasoning for needing the information and a name for Ezra before passing the phone off to him. He took it, trying to get the information from the nurse.

"They can't give out medical information over the phone. I would need to contact his family." He sounded frustrated that he couldn't find anything out.

"What about his birth place and date? Could you get that?"

"No, it's all sealed with the rest of his adoption paperwork."

I froze, so Andrew was Charles. He must be, the adoption just proved it. It didn't matter if the hands were wrong. Andrew was Charles and that was that.

"So he's adopted?" I clarified.

"Looks like it. Sorry I couldn't get you the information that you wanted." He apologized.

"It was worth a shot." I said with a shrug, knowing that if I let on that his adoption was the information that I really wanted that he would want to know what I knew.

I looked down at my phone, sad that I hadn't gotten another message from Jason. It was only about 12:30 now, so if I went now I could go see him while he was still at the school. It would be better than facing his dad at the real estate office. I grabbed my bag, packing away my laptop and camera.

"Thank you for today." I said, slinging my bag over my shoulder before heading out of the coffee shop.

**End Chapter**