Chapter 3
It's "A" Surprise
I was calmly teaching Aria how to swim. It was a great day, earlier me and Aria went to the Dairy Shack to eat some Vanilla ice cream. And then, she asked me to teach her how to swim.
"C'mon Aria," I laughed splashing her with pool water. She shook her head.
"I'm scared of drowning, Noel." She said nervously. I laughed at her once again. "It's not funny, Noel."
"It is..." I swam toward her and got off the pool. She backed away from me.
"Noel, what are you doing?" She asked. Her voice was trembling. I suddenly wrapped my arms around her, then, I jumped toward the pool bringing her with me. She screamed as we landed in the chlorinated pool water. Then, she wrapped her arms tightly around my neck and her legs wrapped tightly around my waste as if the pool was going to eat her alive. "Don't let go of me, okay?" She nervously asked.
"How can you learn if I don't let you off?" I asked her.
"I don't want to die yet, Noel."
I leaned in and kissed her lips softly. "I would never let you die." I kissed her again, this time I added more pressure to our kiss. She moaned as I let my tongue in her mouth, completely exploring the velvety walls of her cheeks. I backed her to the corner of the pool and she moaned again. Then, she pulled away.
"Enough, we're at the pool." She said with a breathless tone in her voice. Then she cleared her throat. "About my swimming lessons. Can we get to it now?"
"I thought you didn't want to anymore?" I teased.
"I changed my mind."
All of a sudden Ezra Fitz was in front of us and he has a gun pointed towards Aria. Then, a loud bang was heard...and the pool was covered with blood.
"Aria!" I shouted loudly when I opened my eyes, I saw white walls, and I'm in a hospital bed. I looked at the wall clock, it was 3:45 in the morning. And the calendar was marked December 23. It was two days before Christmas. How long was I out? Three days?
I vaguely remembered what had happen at school. Then, I tried to stand and I felt my back hurt so bad that I had to go back to my laying in bed.
I closed my eyes.
I was in the music room...
It was the last day of school before the Christmas Vacation...
Aria was there with me...
We were taliking about...Ezra Fitz being...
Being A...
Then a car was heading toward the music room...it hit us but I covered Aria with my body that's why my back hurts like hell.
Oh shit! Aria! Is she here at the hospital? I have to see her, now!
I tried to limp my way to view if Aria is in one the rooms then, I saw her. She was so very pale. Her face was flushed and full of gashes. Yet, she is still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. I slowly walked toward her, maybe she was just sleeping. But when I called out her name. She didn't answer. She's still out from the car that hit us.
Then I saw a note on the end table full of balloons, pictures and greeting cards. The note stood out because it had a kiss mark. I opened it and I froze
Pretty little Aria in a not so pretty little hospital gown. Aw, how sad. Maybe they should cut off your oxygen supply and just let you die...
I'll see you in hell
-A
I crumpled the piece of note and threw it in the trash bin. I walked toward Aria and kissed her on the cheek even if it means that my back would hurt like hell as I did so. Then I leaned in on her ear to whisper.
" Aria." I paused, willing myself not to break down. "I'll get A or Ezra or whoever tried to kill us, I promise."
With that I limped back to my room.
The next few days had been like hell. I had physical teraphy for three days and had to wear back braces for about a week. But my suffering was nothing compared to Aria's. She hasn't woken up since the "accident" according to the police. I was beggining to think that Aria might not wake up ever again. The whole warranted me to cry.
Aria's mom was always by her side so I can't exactly stay long. But whenever I get the chance to visit her, I do.
That Saturday night I waited for Ezra to go out on a date with Ms. Wilden. Officer Wilden's little sister. I took the chance and broke into his apartment. So, as I entered, it smelled like pot. He was probably a pot head and my insinuations were proven when I saw his collection of pot hidden in his table drawer. As I snooped around, I saw a box. It's black and quite heavy. I opened it and I saw pictures of Spencer, Aria, Hanna, and Emily. They were candid shots. But what bothered me was the picture of Aria sleeping in the hospital, but I was shocked to see something more. Ezra is in a picture with Allison. And they were in a beach.
Ezra really is A. There's no doubt.
I took the picture that he is with Allison with me, and I showed it to Hanna, Spencer, and Emily. They were all shocked.
"How'd you get this?"
I looked at me feet, shuffling them awkwardly. "Well, paid Mr. Fitz a little visit."
Mona sat next to Hanna she had this weird look on her face. "You're the one I saw going down the rail yesterday. That was so cool."
Spencer shot Mona a look.
"What?"
"Stop encouraging him, Mona" the she turned to Noel. "That was dangerous, Noel." She quipped. "Someone could've walked in on you snooping."
"Well no one caught me. At least we now know that this guy is up to something." A moment of silence passed and it was down righr eerie.
Hanna and Mona exchanged looks. "Noel," Hanna paused. "Aria woke up already. She was looking for you earlier, you should go visit her."
I brightened. "Really, she has?"
I knocked on the door and Aria turned to face me. She was smiling and I couldn't help but smile as well. "How are you?" I asked as I sat on the edge of the hospital bed.
She smiled a watery smiled. "I'm doing better." She paused as she shifted uncomfortably, and as a result she winced in pain.
"Are you okay?" I asked as I took her hand in mine and gave it a slight squeeze. She nodded. She then gave me a soft kiss on my lips. I felt blood instantly rush to my cheeks.
"What was that for?" I asked.
"For trying to save me." She paused looking out the window then back at me. "Thank you." She mouthed.
I leaned in and kissed her softly but before I knew it I was getting passionate, so before anything could even happen, I pulled away slightly. I smiled at her and she smiled back. It took me a moment to realize that I am in love with a girl like Aria Montgomery.
The next day, Hanna, Spencer and Emily asked to see me at The Grille. They said the have something important to show me. I arraived a little bit late because I was with Aria the whole night at the hospital because she had a queasy feeling that someone was coming-probably A.
"Sorry, I'm late." I said as I sat next to Hanna. "What'd you want to show me?"
Spencer turned from Hanna to Emily, the at me. Hanna nodded. Spencer took out a yellow-ish new paper from her tote bag and handed it to me. "Read the highlighted article." Her hands began to tremble.
Missing Ravenswood teen found murdered in her backyard-suspected murderer, an AP English teacher.
Monday, January 8, 2009, sixteen-year-old Lindsay Anderson was reportedly missing after forty eight hours of not coming home to her parents' house in Ravenswood—some twenty three miles away from Rosewood Pennsylvania. According to reports, the teenager was last seen talking to her AP English teacher Ezra Scott Fitzgerald after their classes. A particular student saw the two of them talking loudly, and Fitzgerald seemed angry because the teenager was planning to tell the principal of what he made her do.
But before Lindsay could even go to the principal, a witness saw Fitzgerald taking Lindsay inside his car and forcing himself on the young girl.
Lindsay's parents are still grieving after her body was found in her backyard just three weeks after she went missing. And reports are all pointing out to the victims' English teacher…
I didn't finish reading the paper because the whole thing made me worry about Aria even more. Then, as if on cue, Hanna spoke. "Hey, didn't that old lady tell us that night we went to Ravenswood to find Allison, that one of us was touched by the one Alli, feared the most?" She turned from Spencer to Emily and they both nodded.
"Maybe she was talking about Aria." Spencer said. "I mean, Ezra is the one who pushed himself onto Aria…" Spencer trailed off, she looked like she knew something.
I clenched my jaw and spoke. "What did Ezra do to Aria?" I asked, my voice was a little louder than usual and the people from the table next to us looked at me.
Spencer leaned to my ear to whisper. "He raped her and forced not to tell anyone."
I felt my stomach go in knots. "That bastard." I tried to stand but Spencer hked my arm and yanked me down to sit.
Emily spoke up. "Noel, you've got to calm down." she paused, playing with the rim of her glass. "that was my reaction when we first learned about him raping Aria." she looked away. "but trust me, that really doesn't help anything."
Then it hit me. That night when Aria and I were stuck in the cabin two years ago before Allison went missing we went on a ski trip in Alaska. She and I made love, but she said that it hurt a lot…was that it? Is that a sign that Fitz already raped her before I even got the chance to make love to her? But it didn't make sense when Ezra Fitz wasn't in Rosewood yet. Is it because Ezra studied at Hollis and ended up seeing Aria visiting her father?
I remembered that night perfectly. It was in a cozy cabin, and we lost the key. I remember taking my coat off for her because it started to get a lot colder. Then, I ended up on top of her and we were just—you know…
It all made perfect sense to me, and that everything is starting build. And yet, everything seemed to fall apart.
To be Continued….
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