Chapter Four

It was the day of Alison's funeral. It had all been organised very quickly - within a week, in fact. Since then, Aria had been spending a lot more time with Emily. It was nice to spend some time with someone who was going through the same as Aria, and Emily was a really lovely person. It felt nice to have someone to eat lunch with again.

Aria was walking towards her car when Emily ran up to her. The streaks on her face told Aria that she'd been crying, but then again, so had Aria.
"Hey. I just wondered if you wanted to ride with us. For the..." Emily trailed off. Out of everyone, Alison's death was hitting Emily the hardest. She was always so sensitive; Aria remembered her crying when they went to see the tigger movie with Aria's little brother.

Aria took Emily's hand and squeezed it.
"sure," she whispered. "it's gonna be ok, em."
Emily smiled back. "are you ready to go?" she asked.
"sure," Aria replied, linking arms with Emily and walking toward her mothers car.

"Aria?", Emily asked, "are you coming?"
Aria was looking out of the chapel window. Alison's funeral was about to start and her eyes were puffy from crying.
"just, give me a minute. I'll meet you down there," Aria said, composing herself.
"Sure," Emily said with a smile.

Aria stood alone for a minute, thinking.
"Was she a friend of yours?", some one asked. Aria glanced up to see Ezra, every inch of his gorgeousness so close to Aria's body. But she resisted the temptation to lunge into him. Instead, she scowled, "do you care?".
"I don't know what I feel worse about," Ezra replied, "having to stay away from you, or being a jerk about it."
Aria felt warm tears roll down her cheeks. She bit her lip and nodded, "she was one of my best friends."
"I'm so sorry, Aria."
"For Alison, or for being a jerk?"
"both." he whispered.
"thank you. It means a lot,"
"Aria. I've made a mess of things, and I've landed you in the middle of it all. With all your going through... And just the... I... I don't know what to do."
Aria sighed. "I would never want to do anything that could get you in trouble." she kissed him on the cheek slowly, and then pulled away. "Goodbye Ezra.", she said, tears now freely falling down her face. But as she walked away, her grabbed her arm and pulled her into him. He held her face in his hands and wiped away her tears.
"Don't cry." he whispered. And suddenly, his lips were on hers, his hands in his hair. His kiss was like fire, and for a second, Aria kissed back. But she knew Ezra was right before. It wasn't meant to be. She pulled away slowly, and stroked his face, remembering what Ezra said to her in his classroom.
"We just can't..." she whispered. And with that, she walked down the stairs, feeling sick and confused. A range of emotions were running through her head - she didn't know what to do.

As she was stomping down the stairs, Aria received a text message. At first, she thought it might have been Emily wondering where she was. But as she glanced at the phone, she realised the number was blocked. The message said;

"Trust me, he doesn't care about you. He gets some serious ass, remember... Never mind sweetie, theres always your science teacher?"

Aria instantly felt sick. It was obvious that someone had seen her and Ezra together at some point, someone knew. But Aria thought about the text - "he doesn't care about you sweetie.." Maybe it was right - that was just Ezra's game. Wether it was or not, this was her best friends funeral. She guessed she should start focusing on that point.

Aria walked into the chapel. It was filled, almost every seat taken. There must have been hundreds of people here. Mrs Di'Laurentis was at the back, welcoming people as they came into the church.
"Aria, honey!", she said with a hug.
"hey..." aria replied.
"I told the girls to all sit at the front - it's what Alison would have wanted. Aria nodded and walked towards the front, her eyes on the large oak coffin. How could this be happening? How could Alison be dead? Surely it wasn't possible?

But it was. Because aria was at her funeral.
"aria," Hanna whispered. "you ok?"
Aria snapped back into reality and nodded, reaching for Hanna's hand. Hanna smiled and shuffled up, letting her sit down. Sitting next to her was Spencer, and Emily was on the end.

Hanna was wearing a really beautiful dress, and her blonde hair, tied back into a loose bun, looked lovely.

"you look amazing." aria whispered.
"thank you" Hanna smiled. "how was Iceland?"
"it was... Beautiful... How have you been?"
"I've been better. But, you know. Lost some weight, discovered make-up..."
Aria giggled. "you were always gorgeous." She said. Aria turned her attention to Emily. "hey em, sorry for leaving you..."
"it's fine..." Emily replied, distantly.
At that time, the preacher stepped forward.
"the lord giveth," he said, "and the lord taketh away."
Out of the very corner of arias eye, she saw a tall man with light blue eyes and dark hair, staring at her, a longing in his eyes. Aria smiled at him nervously, and Ezra turned away. Aria was certain she saw a tear run down his cheek. And she really doubted he was crying about Alison.