Arriving home from the beach, Aria rested her surfboard against the wall outside the front door and went in to find Brax sitting on the sofa with Heath. Getting changed in her room, she grabbed her school bag off the floor and made her way into the kitchen.

"How was school today?" Brax asked, retrieving a beer from the fridge and leaning against the counter as he removed the bottle cap.

"School was fine," Aria replied with a frown, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Brax told her, taking a swig of his drink and continuing, "It's just that I bumped into Miles earlier and he mentioned that you've been having a few issues with the work in his class..."

"My heads been a little preoccupied recently is all," Aria stated with a shrug, reading through the English assignment that she had to do and mentally groaning.

The truth of the matter was that she was struggling and had been for a while, but admitting that she needed help wasn't something she'd ever felt comfortable doing. Growing up, she had been taught to fight her own battles and that was exactly what she'd been trying to do with little success.

"You know you only have to say if you're having a hard time and I'll do what I can to help, but I can't do anything if you won't talk to me."

"I didn't want to be a burden," Aria mumbled, "You already have so much going on... I didn't want to add more stress."

"You are a lot of things, Ari, but the one thing you will never be to me is a burden,"Brax added, taking a seat opposite her, "Talk to me."

"I've been struggling for a while," Aria admitted in a quiet voice, keeping her gaze on the table to avoid seeing the look on Brax's face, "It's not that I don't know the answer because I do, but then I write it down on paper and it doesn't sound right..."

"Then you get frustrated with yourself and give up, because pretending that you don't know is a better option than looking like an idiot in front of your classmates."

"They already hate me," Aria confessed, noticing the flash of sadness in her brother's eyes, "I don't want to give them more ammo to use against me."

"Okay, this is what I'm going to do," Brax told her, "I'm going to talk to Miles tomorrow and see if he has any suggestions on how we can help, perhaps he'd be willing to work one on one with you."

"Thanks, Brax."

"You don't need to thank me, it's my job as your older brother to look out for you," Brax said, standing up and kissing her head as Kyle joined them with a smile in greeting, "If you're stuck, I'm sure that Kyle will be happy to lend you a hand..."

"Would you?" Aria inquired, looking at him and smiling when he nodded in response.

"What do you have to do?"

"I have to translate three Shakespearean quotes into modern day English," Aria explained, showing Kyle the sheet with the quotes on, "I think I have the first two figured out."

Spending the next hour working on her assignment with Kyle, Aria felt better about the words that she was putting on the paper and placed the finished piece in her folder without any hesitation. Hugging Kyle in thanks, Aria joined the others in the living room and curled into Heath's side as she focused on the movie they were watching.

Heading to bed early, Aria found herself waking up in the middle of the night and climbed out of bed to get a drink. Reaching her bedroom door, she froze and listened as Brax's voice reached her ears.

"I don't want to scare her, Heath."

"Neither do I, but if we're right and Pirovic is behind this, then she needs to know," Heath argued.

It had been a while, since she had heard Pirovic's name and even after two years it still sent a jolt of fear down her spine. Jake Pirovic had first made his presence known in Mangrove River, when he decided to try and screw over their dad Danny. It hadn't gone to plan, but it had ended up with Danny being arrested and Aria in hospital.

Waking up early the next morning, Aria sent a text to Andy asking him to meet her at the beach and snuck out before anyone else woke up. Spotting Andy already waiting when she arrived, she walked over to him and stood beside him.

"Everything okay?" Andy asked, glancing over at her with concern and waiting patiently for an answer.

"My brothers think that Jake Pirovic is behind the attacks on me and the restaurant, which means that this is only the beginning." Aria replied, realizing that she was shaking from the mere mention of his name, "I'm scared, Andy, but I can't tell my brothers that without them switching into overprotective mode and you were the only other person I thought of that would understand."

"What about your boyfriend?"

"What about him?" Aria added with a frown.

"Shouldn't he be the one standing here?" Andy stated, turning to look at her, "Why didn't you text him?"

"I... I just," Aria stammered, unable to piece together the right words, "You were the first person I thought of, whenever I'm upset or scared it's you that I want around... you calm me down."

Running a hand over his face, Andy pulled her into a hug and Aria relaxed into his warmth. She truly did like Romeo, but the truth was that Andy was the one that came to mind in her hour of need and that had to mean something.

Authors Notes: Just wanted to say a quick thank you to those who have kept up with the story so far and also to those who have left feedback... it's much appreciated. Now for a dilemma that I'm currently facing in regards to this story, I've been reading around some other Home and Away fanfics and noticed a trend with Romeo being the love interest... my question for my readers is: Do I stick with Romeo or do I have Aria realize that she has feeling for Andy Barrett?