A/N For those of who thought that Aria and Ezra were getting together when she was 13. That's not the point of this story. They're going to fall for each other very slowly, and he's not going to start seeing her that way until she's about 16 or 17. Just wanted to clear that up. Enjoy! Please Review!

It was September 14, 2007, said Aria's journal, and all that was written in that day was "Tomorrow is my birthday!" Aria was excited and she had been dropping hints about what she had wanted for her birthday since February of that year—a cell phone.

"Please," she begged her father while he was working in his study.

"Can I?" she asked her mother while she was watching TV.

That had had responded with words like "maybe" and "we'll see." Her father had even asked her. "Are you sure you're not too young?"

She was frustrated and impatient. She was turning thirteen not three. Her friends had things like cell phones and iPods. Why couldn't she? She went to bed that night, anticipation building, but eventually exhaustion won and she succumbed to sleep. When she woke up the next morning, September 15, she hurried to get dressed. However, she was careful in her appearance. She wore a green top with jeans embroidered with flowers. She ran a brush through her hair, put on her favorite pair of sandals, and dabbed on some lip gloss. Then she rushed downstairs.

Her father was sitting at the table, a cup of coffee and the newspaper in his hand. Her mother was busy making chocolate chip pancakes while Mike rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and happily sipped his chocolate milk.

"Good morning, Aria," greeted Ella, smiling. "I made your favorite for breakfast."

She smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart," began Byron, setting aside his newspaper. "Ready for your big day?" He looked at Mike. "Mike?"

"Happy Birthday, Aria," he said absently taking a bite out of his pancake.

She looked at her father expectantly. "The presents are where they always are, Aria," answered her mother. "On the window seat in the living room."

She found three bags waiting for. All of them were sparkly and featured white tissue paper. She brought them back to the table where she tore into them. The first bag featured a pair of shoes her mother knew she had wanted. The second gift was a necklace made out of clear crystals and matching earrings. As she began to open the third bag, it started to make sounds. "No way," she cried. The bottom of the bag revealed a box from the electronics store, a shiny black flip phone inside. She looked up at her parents.

"Really?"

"Yes," said her father smiling at her. "You're getting involved in school and going out with your friends so we thought it was about time."

"How come I can't have one?" Mike whined.

"Because Aria's thirteen," answered Ella, "and you're not."

Byron got up from his place at the table and kissed his daughter on the top of her head before heading to work.

"Look at my little girl," he mumbled to himself, "growing up."

Aria didn't remember much about the rest of the day except that her friends managed to bring her a cake for lunch and they sang happy birthday to her in choir. What she did remember about September 15, 2007 besides the shiny black cell phone was when she went over to Ezra's.

She rang the doorbell, and waited expectantly.

"Aria," said Ezra as he opened the door. "Happy Birthday." He leaned against the doorjamb smiling when he saw her happy face.

"You remembered," she squealed.

"Do you want your present before or after you go to the tree house?"

Her smile faded and her forehead knitted together in confusion. "You got me a present?"

Ezra sighed and led her into the house. "Actually, Grandma left you a present. I just wanted to make sure you got it."

"Really?" said Aria, she was even more confused now.

He reached for a small box on the coffee table and handed it to her. "I think she would have wanted you to have it."

Aria opened the box tentatively, and her eyes widened when she what was inside. "Mrs. Springer wore this almost every day," she whispered.

"She loved angels," responded Ezra. "She told me once she believed that they watched out for her. Grandpa gave this to her this on their thirtieth anniversary."

He grabbed the necklace from the box and put it on Aria. A diamond angel rested just above the top of her peasant blouse. "Are you sure?" she asked. "She was your grandma and she meant a lot to you."

"I know she meant a lot to you too," said Ezra. "Your mom told me that you used to come over here a lot. You spent time with them when I wasn't here." A look of regret briefly crossed his face. He swallowed. "Yes, I'm sure."

Aria fingered the angel. "This is my favorite birthday present," she announced solemnly.

He looked at her. "What else did you get?"

"My parents got me a cell phone," she exclaimed excitedly. "Look." She took the phone from where it was resting in her back pocket and thrust it in his face.

"Let me see," said Ezra examining it. He flipped it open and pressed a few buttons. "Now I think it's ready."

"What did you?" asked Aria worriedly.

"I put my phone number in it," replied Ezra.

"Really?" she looked up at him.

"Call me if you ever need anything. A ride. A trip to the bookstore. If you can't get a hold of your parents. Whatever."

"Thanks Ezra." She gave him a quick hug.

"The tree house is waiting for you," he said.

"Actually, I came to invite you to dinner. Mom's making ravioli again. She said you were looking skinny." She clasped a hand over her mouth. "I wasn't supposed to say that."

Ezra laughed. "I have been eating less than usual lately. Lots of take out. I can't cook so I've been trying to make microwave dinners, too." He wrinkled his nose. "It hasn't worked out so well."

"Well, dinner's at six," she offered.

He smiled softly. "I'll see you there."

That night for her September 15 entry Aria wrote down what she had gotten for her birthday and who had given it to her. Then she glued a picture of herself into the pages, wearing a green top and smiling.

On September 24 Ezra was at dinner again. He was back again on October 10. Soon, his presence became a regular feature at the Montgomery household. An open invitation was extended for dinner every Wednesday night, and he eagerly accepted. Ella was a good cook and his home was lonely. That's why it surprised Aria that she saw him on October 12. It was a Friday. She was in her backyard lying on the grass looking at the stars. It was one of last warm nights of the year, and she wanted take advantage of it.

"What do you think is up there?" asked a voice.

Aria looked over to the fence and saw Ezra on his side of it. She looked back up at the sky. "I don't know. Something beautiful," she answered.

"There's a legend," he started.

"Yes?" she prompted.

"It's a Greek myth. It's about Andromeda. She was a princess, and to save the city she was chained to a cliff by the sea, so that she could be sacrificed to the cracken, a terrible monster. But Percy killed the cracken and saved her and her people. It is said that the gods honored them by making them a constellation when they died. They're somewhere up in the stars, frozen in time."

"How do you know so much?" asked Aria. She saw him shrug in the moonlight.

"I went to college."

"What do you think is up there?" she asked him.

"I hope something wonderful," he answered.

"Me too," she responded.

That night she wrote in her journal "Note to self: look up the legend of Andromeda."

By November 20, the most beautiful leaves were gone. Aria was tired of school and ready for Thanksgiving vacation. She was also frustrated at the thought of not being able to sneak over to Ezra's to read uninterrupted in the tree house because of the cold.

She was glad when he rang the doorbell two days later on November 22. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

"Hi, Ella," she heard his voice downstairs. "I'm heading to my dad's for Thanksgiving tomorrow and I was wondering if you could keep an eye on my place until I get back on Sunday."

Aria heard her mother reply and wish him a Happy Thanksgiving.

"Can you give this to Aria?" he asked. "I think she'll enjoy reading it."

A few minutes later Aria heard the front door close. Her mother came into her room and knocked softly on her door. "Ezra came by and asked me to give this to you." She handed the book to her daughter. It was another Steinbeck book. The Grapes of Wrath.

"That was nice of him," said Aria, flipping through the pages of the book.

"Yes, it was," responded Ella. "I'm glad he's going to visit his dad. I think he misses his family." She turned around and left the room, leaving her daughter with the new book.

Aria sighed and opened it to the first page. She began to read, soon lost in her thoughts, her mind absorbed with the words on the page. She entered a world very far away from birthdays and Thanksgivings and mindless star-gazing. She sighed and thought about the misfortunes of some and the blessings of others.