I blew a piece of my black hair out of my face before once again glancing down the street.

It was Monday morning and I was freezing. Luckily it wasn't raining, which was a miracle all in itself. Lexi usually would have picked me up and we'd be at school by now. I stamped by feet in order to keep them from freezing to the ground and let out an annoyed huff, my breath coming out as frost.

I pulled my coat tighter around my frame as a gust of wind blew. I was slightly warmer, thanks to my coat, but I still had goose bumps the size of Everest.

I checked my mobile for the millionth time, hoping for a text message explaining her absence. I glared at the screen, willing for it to signal that there was a message for Lexi. As if God had heard my prayers, it chimed an annoying, high-pitched tune.

I eagerly read what Lexi had sent, only for my mouth to fall open in shock. S

Where are you? School is starting soon. - Lexi

I typed back a message as fast as my frozen fingers could manage.

What? Where are you? You're supposed to be picking me up, remember? - Aria

Uh... no. Your mom rang me and told me you already had a lift. I thought she just wanted to give you a ride so she could have another one of those mother-daughter moments that she loves. - Lexi

My breathing hitched.

She said what?!

I hastily crossed the lawn and flung the door open, immediately turning to the kitchen.

Mom was happily humming to the radio, mixing a large batter of pancakes that she'd probably consume all by herself. Marley was sitting at the kitchen table, staring intently at her reflection in her spoon, whilst her cereal slowly sunk under the milk.

She is a strange one.

"Mom!" I said, desperately trying to get her attention. She turned around, a wide smile on her open face. Her brow furrowed as she took me in.

"Aria? Why are you still here?" She questioned, absentmindedly rubbing her hand over her swollen stomach.

I frowned at her. "You told Lexi that someone was picking me up today."

She crinkled her forehead before smiling. "Yes. This nice boy called to say he'd give you a lift this morning." She paused to wink at me before continuing on, obviously thinking she was doing me a favour. God, she was so oblivious. "I told him that it'd be your pleasure. I called Lexi to give her the heads-up." Mom smiled even wider and turned her attention back to the pancakes.

I stared at her back with wide eyes. "Who?" I asked, desperately trying to keep my voice from rising. "Who is this 'nice boy' that I am giving the pleasure of driving myself to school?"

The problem with my mother was that she was too relaxed and involved sometimes. She loved being the matchmaker, but I knew of no body that could have offered. No boy had really shown an interest in me before.

Mom hummed tunelessly before replying. "Oh? It was that nice friend of your brother's."

My breathing hitched and my heart rate sped up dramatically.

"Paul." Mom continued, still oblivious to the breakdown I was surely about to have.

I banged my head against the doorway of the kitchen. I knew that it wasn't mom's fault. She and dad didn't know a thing about me getting tortured on a daily basis. They actually thought that Jared and I were still close.

I was contemplating on whether to pretend to faint or fake a sudden, terminal illness when the doorbell rung. I froze and slowly lifted my head from where it was resting on the wall.

"Guess that's him. You better hurry, Aria, or you'll be late." Mom called in a sing-song voice, her eyes still glued to the batter in the frying pan.

"Bye-bye!" Marley cheerfully sang, following mom's lead. She grinned widely and waved to me, before resuming her staring competition with her own reflection. I gulped.

Great. Just great. You're about to possibly die and you're mother and sister are more concerned about pancake batter and spoons. Life sure is mighty fine, aint it?

I slowly started making my way to the door and weighed my options.

One: Pretend to faint, hit my head and temporarily die until the ambulance arrives. Then I shall pretend the greatest medical miracle had occurred and miraculously recover before they check my pulse. Then I would probably have to go get a check-up at the hospital and be told to stay home for a few days.

Yes, yes! Go with option one! It'll also get you out of that date!

Two: Run. Or at least, walk to school.

... Option one! Option one!

Three: Call Lexi for a lift.

Seriously! Option one! The doctor might even give you a lollipop! Loll-i-pop... loll-i-pop...

Four: Accept the ride from Paul and hope he doesn't decide to ditch me somewhere or try to rape me.

Seriously, woman! Option one! Quick! Pretend to faint... now! Okay, now! ... and... now! Dammit, work with me here!

I couldn't go with option one, no matter how tempting. I knew that it would put great stress on mom and stress during pregnancy wasn't recommended. Anyway, she'd probably forget about the pancakes and then the house would burn down.

You can't be sure that will happen. And you never know til' you try it... so... faint!

Option two was pretty much out, considering that there was a chance that there'd be a downpour any second and I'd catch a disease such as hypothermia. Option three was a dud, as well. Lexi wouldn't drive all the way to my house and back when she was already at school.

Option four was the only that remained.

I reached the door and took a deep breath, ignoring the string of curses my inner voice was now screaming out.

Please, please, please let it be by some chance be the mailman... or the milkman... hell, a fireman even!

I opened the creaky door to see a slightly nervous looking Paul, who was in the mid of running his hand through his hair. All the anxiety and worry disappeared from his face as he saw me open the door, a sunny smile replacing his troubled frown.

"Hi, Aria." He smiled widely at me, his eyes seeming to light up even brighter as he said my name. It was as if he didn't even remember last night.

I just stared back at him, a flat look on my face. Paul's big smile wavered and disappeared somewhat. Good. Paul, smiling? It just didn't look normal. It was more natural for him to smirk.

Paul cleared his throat and signalled with his hand toward his truck that was parked on the street.

I stepped outside cautiously and took one last, longing look inside before the wind blew the door shut with a bang!

I sighed and reluctantly faced Paul, who was staring at me with a indescribable look on his face that made me feel awkward.

What a weirdo.

I waited uncomfortably for a few seconds before realising that he had no desire to do anything other than stare at me.

"Uh..." I cleared my throat. "So... um... are we... are we leaving now?"

My voice sounded soft and timid, even for me.

A look of hurt flashed across Paul's features for a moment before he nodded quickly. "Yeah." He turned around, seeming reluctant to do so, and hurried toward his truck.

I quickly examined him from behind as I tried to catch up with his fast pace. He had definitely changed since that day in the cafeteria. The biggest change of course, was his hair, which was cropped short. He had also grown taller, which I had also noticed the other night. In the clear daylight, I could now also see how much more muscular he had seemed too gotten, along with Jared. His biceps were huge and it made me nervous.

Do you think he knows that steroids shrink his -?

I coughed loudly, not really wanting to hear the rest of the sentence. Paul's head whipped back to me, almost examining me for anything that was out of place. I smiled an innocent smile, acting like I hadn't just coughed at a voice in my head.

Paul looked confused, but smiled back and reached to open the passenger door for me.

I hesitated, looking down the street. Was it too late to make a run for it? But it wasn't like I had any other way to get to school, and Lexi would kill me if I didn't show up today. We had the double date today after school at the La Push Diner, and Lexi was planning to spend the whole day coaching me on how to not act like an awkward penguin the whole time.

I eventually climbed into the passenger seat and stared out the window, thinking intently. Why did Paul want to give me a lift, anyway? It had to be a prank. Over the years, Paul had tricked a lot of plainer girls into going out with him, only to break them down and humiliate them afterwards. It was a form of entertainment for him and his friends. This had to be one of those times.

Well, he should know that he's playing fire. And he's going to get burned.

I smiled to myself. Paul thought that he could get anyone to fall at his feet. He thought that he could fool me and then embarrass me. Paul liked to play games, but I'm not a loser. And he'll see that.

I jumped slightly when I heard Paul shut his door and start the car, pulling me back from my dreamy state.

Paul immediately started fiddling with the heater, seeming intent on getting the perfect temperature.

I leaned my head against the window. "Why do you want to drive me to school?" I murmured to him, still looking out the window. Even though I had figured out his plan, I was curious about what his go-to excuse would be.

Paul glanced up from his current task to look at me. I turned toward him and raised an eyebrow.

He seemed to think carefully before responding slowly. "I've been thinking about what you said last night, how you wouldn't accept my apology. You said sorry was just a word. I know that's true, so I'm trying to show how sorry I am through my actions." The corniness made me want to roll my eyes. What movie had he stole those lines from?

"I also just want to get to know you better. I haven't ever gotten chance to. And, like I said, I know sorry is just a word, but I'm still really sorry about these last few years, you know..." He whispered the last part and looked into my eyes, almost begging me to understand. I fought the urge to scoff.

Yep, definitely a prank. But you gotta give it to him, he's one hell of an actor.

Paul could see the doubt on my face and sighed as he dragged his eyes from mine and started driving. "Anyway, Jared is my best friend and I should get to know his family."

I couldn't stop myself from snorting, not caring if it wasn't considered attractive and polite. "Yeah, you guys are totally best friends. It really looked that way when he tried to break your jaw the other night."

Paul's eyes flashed to mine. "Friendships have their ups and downs."

Of course I knew that. Lexi and I had our fights every now and then, but not anything like what I'd witnessed. "Jared looked like he was actually going to murder you or something, and vice versa."

Not that anyone's complaining.

"Guys just sort out their shit differently, I guess." Paul shifted uncomfortably and quickly changed the subject. "Why were you at the beach, anyway? It's not good to go outside alone, especially at night."

I stared at him in disbelief. Was he serious?

He noticed my face and quickly spoke again. "I mean, uh... you could have gotten sick or something. Or fell into the ocean. And... uh..."

I laughed quietly at his rambling. This made me widen my eyes. I was laughing because of Paul. This wasn't normal. Meanwhile, Paul was proudly smiling at me, probably happy that he had made me laugh.

"I was at Kylie's party. Lexi dragged me there but then ditched me." I scowled at the memory.

Best friends are just awesome.

"What?" I jumped slightly at Paul's angry voice. I stared at him with wide eyes. His hands were shaking slightly on the steering wheel and he stared at me with angry eyes. I shrunk back and his eyes widened as he realised what he was doing. His hands stopped shaking and his eyes softened.

Is he on crack?

"I'm sorry." Paul spoke softly, as if trying to not scare me.

Good bloody luck with that.

"Just... she shouldn't have done that to you." He looked at me sincerely. "Heaps of bad things can happen at parties, especially with that many people and that much alcohol." My brow furrowed.

"I don't really mind as much as I make out to." I replied truthfully. "These things happen."

I wondered why I could speak naturally with Paul. It as wasn't uncomfortable as I thought it'd be, and, so far, he hadn't cted like his normal asshole self..

I sighed and leaned back into the seat, fiddling absentmindedly with a loose string on my coat. "What were you doing at the beach, anyway? You could have gotten... sick or drowned in the ocean or something." I said tentatively at him and he grinned.

"I don't get sick."

I didn't miss how he avoided the question.

Probably cause he was stalking you and just doesn't want you to know.

I was about to voice how he didn't answer properly when my phone rang out shrilly from my pocket.

After searching through multiple pockets, I pulled out my phone triumphantly and saw it was Lexi.

"'Lo?" I answered lazily, looking out the window.

"Where are you? School started, like, 10 minutes ago! You better be coming today, we have a lot to go through for this afternoon. And who is this mysterious person that is driving you to school? Why am I not allowed to know who it is? Tell me!" I restrained myself from laughing at Lexi's questions.

"Bye, Lexi." I didn't really want to deal with her right now. And besides, if I told her who was driving me to school, she would probably go into shock.

"Don't you dare hang up on me, Aria Ainsley Cameron! I will hunt you down if you do! I want answers, no, I need answers! If you hang up, I will never talk to you again! Don't you dare hang up, I'm serious! Now-" I hung up in the middle of Lexi's rant and slipped my phone into my pocket.

It was silent for a moment before Paul spoke. "Uh, everything ok?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Yeah," I sighed. "Just the best friend calling up to do her best friend duties. I told you she wasn't that bad."

Paul snorted. "She punched me in the face."

So did we, once upon a time. Did you miss the crook in your nose when you looked in the mirror this morning?

"She's got character," I replied, grinning at the memory.

We turned into the school parking lot and I was surprised when I realised that getting a lift from Paul wasn't as bad as I had thought.

We stepped out of the truck, and, after an awkward moment where we just looked at each other, I mumbled a quick thanks after we got out of the car, before racing to my homeroom.

For rest of my first lessons, I was terrified of the wrath that awaited me at lunch in the cafeteria.

Lexi.

You're gonna die. My voice sang cheerfully. She's going to hunt you down and kill you.

During the last lesson before lunch, I slumped my head down on my desk and considered pretending to faint, hit my head and temporarily die until the ambulance arrives.

So now you go with option one? Typical.

. . .

Sorry if there are some things misspelled or some bad grammar in this chapter; I didn't really have time to re-read through it, so forgive me for my mistakes. I'm sorry that I had to rush at the end a bit, but I was running out of time to finish this chapter.

Thanks to all who reviewed/alerted/favourited this story. You have no idea how happy I get reading every single review, and I appreciate them all, even the critical ones because they help me improve.

So I finally put in some Paul & Aria action! Boo-yah! Yeah, it took me ages to think of how they could actually have a proper conversation, as it's not like Aria would willingly talk to him.

Yeah... anyway, next chapter is the date scene with Aria, Lexi and the two guys from Forks. Yeah, there are some MEGA surprises in the next chapter! Wanna find out? You got review... please?

Question of the chapter: Should Aria find out the secret from Jared, Paul or by accident?