A/N Thank you for the wonderful reviews. They're lovely. Please keep them coming. It keeps me motivated to finish. For the readers out there who think that Aria and Ezra are getting together before she's seventeen that is not the case. They're relationship right now is friendly and builds a foundation for what happens later in the story.

The summer of 2009, Ezra left for California. On June 15, Aria wrote in her journal "Mr. Fitz had a heart attack." As usual, he left Ella his spare key and asked Byron to watch his house. This time, he didn't leave her a book when he left. She wasn't sure when he would be back.

She spent the summer with Hanna and Emily while Spencer traveled with her family. They slept over at each other's houses, went swimming at the community pool, and even baby-sat Mike a couple of times. With Ezra gone she didn't sneak over to read in the tree house. Often. Instead, she became concerned with her impending entrance to high school. She seemed to paint her nails a different color every day, and started rummaging through vintage stores for unique pieces of clothing. She even got her mom to let her to put pink highlights in her hair.

She bought a new journal made out of black leather. On June 28 she wrote about Hanna's awesome new shoes. On July 4 the words "family reunion at Aunt Ruth's" were circled. July 21 the only notable even was that "mom made ravioli for dinner," and on August 2 she baked a cake in honor of Spencer's birthday. On August 13 the sentence "Emily made the high school swim team" ended in an exclamation point. One August 15 the word "Ezra" and "home" were underlined.

He went over to her house that day, but she wasn't there. She was hanging out with her friends at Hanna's house. He wanted to let Byron and Ella know that he was home and to tell them that his father had passed away.

"His dad died a few days after he got to California," Ella informed Aria and Mike at dinner. "Ezra stayed to put his father's affairs in order."

"So tragic," mourned Byron.

"Does this mean that Ezra's moving to California?" asked Mike taking a bite of his sandwich.

"No, honey. He sold his father's house and put some things in storage. With that and a funeral to plan, that's why he was gone so long," responded Ella.

Byron shook his head. "He's so young not to have a family."

"We're his family," stated Aria firmly, looking up from her dinner. "We're his family, now." That said, much to the approval of her parents, she turned her attention back to her food.

The next morning, August 16, Aria went over to Ezra's. She put on a new blue blouse and black shorts, feeling particularly proud of her appearance. When she got to his front porch she rang the doorbell twice waiting for him to answer. When he did open the door, his hair was tousled and he was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Aria," he stated, blinking against the brightness of the sun. "What happened to your hair?" he exclaimed, the pink highlights catching her attention.

"Do you like it?" she asked, shaking her long hair free of its ponytail.

"It's different," answered Ezra carefully. He stood in the open doorframe and she noticed that he hadn't invited her in. "Did you come here to use the tree house?" he asked.

She swallowed. Something felt off. "Actually, I came to see how you were doing. Mom told me your dad died. That's why you were so long in California."

He nodded. "Among other reasons."

Aria was about to respond when one of those reasons, wearing nothing but one of Ezra's button down shirts came up behind him. "Who's this?" she asked Ezra, pushing her dark hair out of her face.

He turned his head to look at her. "This is Aria. She's the girl from next door."

"Oh," the woman responded. "I'm going to make coffee. Do you want some?"

"Sure," he responded. "I'll be in the kitchen in a minute." She kissed him on the cheek before leaving.

Aria watched as she faded into the darkness of the house. "Who's that?" she asked him.

He sighed before answering. "That's Jackie. She was my girlfriend in college and one of the reasons I stayed in California so long." He rubbed his face before he continued. "We reconnected when I went home, and now she's teaching at Hollis." He shrugged. "It's funny how things work out. She was there when my grandparents died, and she showed up at the funeral when she heard my dad had passed."

Her looked at him, waiting a moment before responding. She tried to will the catch in her throat to go away as she responded in a voice so quiet that he almost didn't hear her. "I was there for you too." As she turned and made her way back to her house, she recognized that something was bothering her, and it had to do with that woman who was with him, but she didn't know why she felt like that. She wrote the word "lonely" in her journal that night.

On August 20, she walked into Rosewood High for her first day of classes. She had received her schedule in the mail, and her mom had told her where her classes were. Her dad had kissed her forehead and wished her a good first day of school. Mike hadn't said much at all.

She was tugging at her black top as she stood in front of her locker, looking back and forth from the slip of paper in her hand to the number engraved on the blue metal sheet. It seemed to be the right one. She turned the combination lock to the correct numbers, and it magically swung open. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Aria," exclaimed Emily, as she exited the bathroom. She gave her friend a quick hug.

"Hi, Em," said Aria, half-smiling. The familiar face was making her feel better.

"What's your first class?" asked Emily as the girls began to walk down the hallway.

Aria looked at the sheet of paper in her hand. "English I with Mrs. Welch."

"Me, too," said Emily looking at her own piece of paper. "I think Spencer and Emily have her first period too."

"That's good," said Aria, looking at the room number plates for the one that said 103. "That means if we ever have trouble in that class, Spencer will be there to save the day."

"True," responded Emily, laughing as they entered the classroom. "Here we go," she murmured.

Later that evening, Aria was sitting on the back porch swing when Ezra called to her from the other side of the fence. "Hey, there."

She looked up from her history textbook. Setting it down in the space next to her, she hopped up and walked over to him. "Hi," she answered.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"My first day?" she responded. He nodded. "Well, I think. But I was nervous. Really nervous. But Alison looked as cool as a cucumber. It was like she always belonged there."

"High school is a tough crowd," he replied. "I remember my first day at Rosewood High."

"Did you have lipstick on your teeth after you left the bathroom?" she retorted.

"No." His shoulders shook with silent laughter. "But I did manage to spill coffee on myself before first period had ended." He looked away sheepishly.

She giggled and then quickly sobered. "Where's Jackie?" she asked, looking around him to the windows that gave a view of the inside of his house.

"She has her own apartment across town."

"I thought she was living with you." It was a statement, but Aria's questioning tone made it more than that.

"No, she's not." Ezra didn't give any further explanation.

"Are you coming to dinner on Wednesday night?"

"Of course," responded Ezra with an easy smile. "What's your mom making?"

"Not sure," Aria responded. "Any requests?" she smiled back at him.

"I'm sure anything you suggest will be great," he answered. The talked a few more minutes before she went inside to finish her homework. Her journal entry for August 20 mentioned lipstick, Emily, Alison, lockers, schedules, and teachers. But on the last line of the page Aria wrote "Everything is going to be okay."

A/N Please don't hate me about Jackie. Like with Simone, there's a purpose. Plus, I'm trying to parallel the show as closely as I can while making it believable. I promise Jackie is still a psycho bitch who we love to hate and will be rejeted by Ezra later.