The girls' uniforms for Spenser had been slightly altered, nothing drastic, but there were rumors that this was the first chan

The girls' uniforms for Spenser had been slightly altered, nothing drastic, but there were rumors that this was the first change in twenty years. The girl's skirts would be an inch shorter and red plaid, no blazer was required, button up shirts were allowed to be fitted now, girls now wore normal ties, still the knee high socks, but still the changes were considerable. Ari surveyed her uniform with little approval and less interest. She muttered a "Whatever" and started getting dressed. Pulling on worn out black Chuck Taylor Converse over her red, plaid, knee socks. The top couple buttons of her uniform were undone showing her silver cross necklace. The necklace used to belong to Jude, but when he graduated and went away to college he'd given it to her. There was a leather thong around her neck as well; the amulet lay on the front of her white button up. The amulet was a heavy looking gold discus, not terribly large in actual size, but with a weightiness about it. On the discus was a silver wolf made of what appeared to be beaten iron, above the wolf was a soaring eagle in a russet color similar to that of Ari's hair. Ari hastily tucked away the pendant, grabbed a couple binders from on top of her dresser and left the room hastily. She hurried down the hall past several open doors that whistles and catcalls came out of, to the end of the hall and started banging on Reid's door heavily Tyler opened the door and let her in, Reid was still dozing on the bed in his sweatpants. Tyler rubbed the back of his neck

"You know I can never wake him up…" he said wearily, Ari sighed and nodded putting one of her hands on Reid's bare back letting half her hand coat over with ice and the other half ignite with flames. Reid jumped up oput of bed after a moment, swatting at his back with a panicked expression on his face. Then he looked down on his bed and saw Ari sitting there with a calm amused expression, he realized what had happened in an instant and why. He fumbled for his dresser and started getting dressed in a rushed fashion. Ari lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling with a look of utter boredom written across her face. Reid glanced over at her lying on his bed; her skirt had hitched up on the side of her leg showing off her thigh all the way up to her hip. Reid sucked in a sharp breath and finished dressing. He couldn't help being turned on by Ari, he knew it was strange since they'd been close for so long, it was just his nature.

"I'm ready let's go." Reid said pulling on his blazer, Ari got up quickly

"Good lord, you take forever to get ready" Ari said following him out of the room "and I'M the girl Reid!" she finished shaking her head. Reid chuckled as they rushed to class with Tyler in tow. On the way to class Caleb and Pogue joined them with Sarah and Kate already in tow, Pogue and Kate were fighting already

"Jesus, why can't you just stop flirting with every guy you see like you're still single!" Pogue said angrily

"I'm not flirting! Why don't you trust me at all! You're so stupid when you get like this!" Kate said rushing off to her next class. The group stopped by Pogue's locker; he stared at it for a moment before coiling back his fist and punching the metal door, which dented slightly. The group parted easily with routine, letting Ari past to calm him down, she reached over and laid a small hand on his arm

"Easy there Pogue, talk to me," she put her other hand under his chin so his eyes would meet hers "Do you trust Kate?" Pogue looked away frustrated, he was silent for a moment "If it takes you that long to think about it you don't trust her enough. You two need to sit down and figure some things out." Ari said firmly, she let go of his arm but still stood there "If you're going to be with her, you have to trust her." She said quietly, looking at him, she turned, walking away with Reid, who slung his arm around her shoulders and planted a kiss on the side of her head

"You are so good at that." He said smiling and shaking his head, Ari shrugged

"He just needs to figure out whether he can be happy with her or not; and if he can't he needs to stop dragging his feet and end it" Ari said in a matter of fact tone. They had their first hour together, so they kept walking in the same direction, Ari linked her hand with Reid's hand that was hanging over her shoulder, not caring what everyone would think; her and Reid acted like this all the time. Ari was never sure exactly where she stood with Reid, she knew she was his best friend and vice versa, but he acted like he was her boyfriend as well. However, since she'd never had much interest in dating anyone at Spenser it'd never been a problem. Ari shrugged off her train of thought as they made their way over to some seats in the back of the lecture hall. The lecture hall slowly filled up, Reid and Ari were both slouching in the chairs; Ari doodling in her notebook, Reid playing with a Chinese finger trap intently. Brody Allow, one of Aaron Abbott's cronies, slid into the seat next to Ari, she didn't so much as cast a sidelong glance at him, but Reid knew that below the surface, everything was in turmoil. Only people Ari trusted were allowed within a foot radius of her, she scooted closer to Reid, not taking her eyes off her doodle. Brody didn't get the message and scooted up next to her and put his hand on her thigh under her skirt. Ari immediately reacted removing his hand from her and moving to the other side of Reid into an empty chair. Reid passed over her stuff wondering why she hadn't knocked him out like she had Aaron, it would be a typical Ari reaction to anyone she didn't know touching her. He looked over at Brody who looked disappointed, Reid's mood and face darkened at the thought of anyone bothering Ari. The Chinese finger trap lay on the desk forgotten as he clenched his fists under the table repeatedly. Brody was never going to mess with his best friend again.