Chapter Two

The car radio played softly in the background, filtering in and out of her ears, but not actually being absorbed. She sat in the drivers seat of the car, her hands planted firmly on the steering wheel. The school looked still; all students and teachers were in their classrooms in the middle of second period. In her lap, her phone buzzed wildly again; another one of her friends worried about where she was. Aria closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the head rest.

She took a deep breath. This was the last place she wanted to be, especially since English was her next lesson. Maybe if she left now she could miss the rest of the day and claim she was sick? Her eyes flew open as someone knocked on the drivers side window.

"Aria?"

Damnit.

Rolling down her window, Aria looked at her friends who had grouped around her car.

"Aria where have you been? We have been so worried." Emily's eyes swam with concern, and at that moment Aria really appreciated Emily's kind nature.

"Sorry, I slept in." Her words stuttered as she scrambled to think of an excuse. She was a terrible liar, especially when it came to her friends.

"Did your phone sleep in as well? We've been calling you all morning!" Hannah had pushed to the front of the group and crossed her arms over her chest, a disapproving look shaping her face.

She didn't bother to reply as she grabbed her phone and bag and proceeded to get out of the car.

"Why aren't you guys in class?"

It was Spencer who spoke this time. "Are you kidding? We thought 'A' had finally go to you, we spent the whole morning trying to find out where you were."

A pang of guilt rose in her chest as Spencer continued.

"We even called your dad to see if you were home sick."

Shit.

"You called my dad?" Aria choked out.

Breathe.

"Yeah, he didn't sound to happy about it either."

Panic.

Emily moved forward and placed her hand on Arias shoulder. "Don't worry about it, he was probably just worried about you."

Wrong.

Arias stomach churned and the familiar feeling of dread reared its ugly head, but she forced a smile at Emily anyway.

They walked in close unison to their next lesson, and chatted quietly outside the room while they waited for the previous class to finish. Their words were just muffled sounds to her as they talked among themselves, but she pretended she was listening none the less. Aria almost couldn't stand it when they started talking about their problems.

Kayleb and I had a fight, blah blah blah.

Can't swim for a couple of months, boo hoo hoo.

Can't choose which college to attend, rah rah rah.

She resisted the urge to yell at them, tell them they where being absurd and those weren't problems. She held the look of contempt back and instead portrayed her fake compassion.

Students where filtering out of the classroom, and she could see in the corner of her eye a blurred figure at the front of the class. Her heart leapt in her chest hopefully.

She knew she shouldn't tempt fate, but she needed to see his face, to look in his eyes, even if it was only as he greeted the class. After feeling like a cold empty shell for the last week, she needed to feel some kind of warmth again.

She took her normal seat, and sat quietly, waiting for him to finish cleaning to blackboard.

"Good afternoon everyone." He smiled as he turned around, and for a brief moment, time stood still as his eyes met with hers. Longing burned inside of her, a deep longing to stand up, walk over to him and hug him.

I can't do this.

She looked away quickly, cursing herself for letting him make her feel like this.

"Today we continue our look at the Greek philosopher Plato..."

Ezra began to walk through the desks, handing out sheets to the students as he spoke.

"Before we start I want to remind you all to hand in the essays I assigned to you last week. I want them on my desks before you all leave today."

Shit!

She knew she had forgotten to do something last night. She had sat down and started to write her essay, but then...

His hands were around her neck , squeezing so tightly the air was cut from her lungs. Her hands pulled at his fingers frantically while she choked out pleads for him to stop. And then his face which was contorted with anger, suddenly fell and recognition loomed in his eyes. His grip loosened, his hands fell to his side and Aria dropped to the floor.

The memory assaulted her mind so suddenly that she couldn't stop the loud whimper that escaped her throat. She clamped her hand over her mouth and bowed her head, hoping no one had noticed. But when she chanced a look around, she couldn't help the sinking feeling as she noticed all eyes where on her.

"You disagree with what Plato said, Miss Montgomery?" He wasn't mocking her, but trying to defuse the situation. She was thankful for that.

"No sir."

His face was calm and professional, but his eyes betrayed the lie. His large, projecting, beautiful brown eyes. So full of emotion. Damn him!

She looked away, too afraid that she might yell out all her secrets to him.
He cleared his throat and continue his lesson, making a point not to look at her again. She didn't mind, it made the lesson go so much quicker.

She kept her eyes on the clock, watching the minute hand tick closer to twelve. An escape plan was already formulated in her head; as soon as the bell would ring she would use some of the other students as cover and duck out the door before he could say: 'Miss Montgomery, could I have a minute.'

He knew her too well to know when something was wrong, and all he had to do way use his 'Ezra' charm and she would crumble and tell him everything. She was too weak at the moment. But She couldn't let that happen, he was already going through so much after finding out Malcolm wasn't his son. Aria just couldn't bring herself to add to his burden.

On cue the bell sounded, and she was up out of her seat and out the door before Ezra could even bat an eye. She walked straight to her locker, just in case he followed her out, and waited for the others there.

"The hell was that?" Hannah hissed as she walk up to Aria, Spencer and Emily close behind.

"Nothing, it just hurts too much to be around him." Arias voice had turned melancholy; her forehead creased.

She looked around at the other girls, all of whom looked back at her with pity. At that moment, Aria confirmed that she could never tell them about her father.

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! Please let me know what you think of this chapter :)
Also, who watched the finale!? I refuse to believe that Ezra is A! My theory is that he was just so angry to find out that A was still stalking his beloved Aria, and it had dawned on him that she broke up with him to protect him.

What are your theories?

-Snellee