Chapter 2 : Miss Fields and Spencer Hastings

"Come one lily, sweet pea, wake up," said Aria softly, stroking the blond girl's hair.

Lily-Ann looked at her with excited eyes.

"It's today isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah Lily it is, today is your first day of kindergarten and my first day of work. Are you excited?"

The little girl nodded, but soon her smile faded and was replaced by a sad and worried expression.

"What if the other kids don't like me?" she asked, "I am scared of not making any friends."

Aria looked at her tenderly.

"Oh Lily! Of course you will make friends! Just stay the kind and polite girl you always are. I have an idea; if you are shy to play with the other kids, why don't you look around and go talk to another girl or boy who is also shy? You could share toys and I'm sure you' become great friends," Aria said, trying hard to reassure the poor girl.

"Are you sure?" Lily asked still slightly worried.

"Yes I am! Now come on, let's get dressed. I made pancakes!"

"Pancakes? Yeah!" exclaimed Lily.

"Ok, here is her bag. I put everything she could need in it; her solar cream, her hat, her running shoes, socks, spare clothes, snacks, no peanuts, she's allergic, her epipen in case she eats peanuts, her..." rambled Aria before being interrupted by Lily's new teacher, Miss Emily Fields.

"Miss Montgomery, it's going to be all right! You chose the best kindergarten in all Pennsylvania!" joked Miss Fields, "Lily-Ann will be well taken care of," she reassured her.

Aria managed a small smile. She was so stressed. Ever since moving to Rosewood eight months ago, it was the first time that she left Lily. She usually brought her everywhere. She had even brought her to her interview at Rosewood High! She had been lucky that the principal had a soft spot for children.

"I'm sorry," Aria said to Miss Fields, "It's the first time that I leave Lily-Ann ever since... you know..." she trailed off.

Emily knew what Aria was talking about, but she also knew that it was still a delicate subject for her and she respected that, so she delicately changed the subject. Aria was really grateful to her.

"Do you start working today Miss Montgomery, " asked Emily politely.

"Yes I do. And please, call me Aria," she said with a smile.

Aria felt uncomfortable being called Miss Montgomery by Lily's teacher considering that they were about the same age. Miss Fields was probably 24-25 years old, just like her. She was a tall young woman who probably came from some exotic judging by her unusual tanned skin. She had long wavy hair and big brown eyes. She had a caring smile and deep down Aria knew that she could trust her with her little girl.

"Well, Aria, in that case you can call me Emily. Now, I don't want to be impolite, but i suggest you leave if you don't want to be late at work," said Emily flashing a big smile.

Aria looked at her watch and was surprised to see that it was already 7:45.

She glanced at Lily just to make sure she was okay and was instantly relieved. She was already happily chatting with a cute girl wearing a blue plaid dress with white ribbons in her curly brown hair. Lily had made a new friend.

She turned back her attention to Emily.

"Yes, thank you, I should get going."

As she was leaving, Aria caught Lily's glance and waved silently. The girl replied with a happy wave before she went back to coloring with her new friend.

Aria left feeling happy to see her Lily already at ease.

"Room 1140... room 1140... where is the stupid room 1140?" yelled Aria in her head.

She was almost late at her first day f work which consisted in a meeting with all the other English teachers of the department. It was supposed to be held in room 1140 and Aria had thought she would find it without difficulties, but no one had told her that this school was huge!

She was starting to panic. What if she couldn't find the room on time? It was her first day of work, what would her colleagues think? And what would the principal think? Would she regret her choice of hiring Aria? If she lost her job, how would she afford taking care of Lily or paying for the house and the taxes? She couldn't live on her heritage forever.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that Aria didn't see the person turning round the corner of the hallway and bumped straight into her.

"Ouch!" said the stranger.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" said Aria, feeling really bad for bumping straight into a young woman, "I wasn't looking where I was going," she added.

"It's all right, I wasn't looking either," replied the woman.

She then eyed Aria suspiciously.

"Who are you? Are you the new English teacher? I've heard they hired someone but I didn't know what to expect. The last teacher they hired only lasted two months. He was quite... I'm sorry, I'm rambling," she said, "I'm Spencer Hastings, I'm the Politics and Law teacher," she introduced herself.

"Hum...Hi! I'm Aria, Aria Montgomery... I am the new English teacher," she said quite startled.

"Oh that's so great! I mean, don't get me wrong, but almost all the teachers who work here are old, well except Ezra Fitz, so I miss having someone of my age to talk to. I'm so glad they hired you! You'll see it's a great school. I actually went to high school here. Well, I lived in Rosewood my whole life! What about you? Where are you from?" she asked almost out of breath after talking so much.

That girl was right. If she could talk that much to a stranger it meant that she really needed a friend. But the tall brunette seemed nice and Aria was glad. Maybe she's finally make a real friend in her new life.

She didn't know how to answer Spencer's question without rising questions she didn't want to answer about her... situation.

"I'm from New-York," she simply said.

"New-York? Wow! How come you moved here?" Spencer asked. She really was a curious person.

"Oh, they had a job offer for me here in Rosewood and I wanted come change. The big city wasn't for me anymore." She didn't say much but she hoped that it would satisfy Spencer's curiosity.

"Hey sorry to be impolite, but I really have to go. I have that meeting with the other English teachers in 5 minutes and I can't find the room 1140. Would you mind?" asked Aria.

"Sure! No problem," Spencer smiled.

She guided Aria trough a tone of different hallways until they arrived in front of a wooden door above which it was written in black: 1140.

"Thank you so much Spencer!"

"No problem! If you need anything my office is at the end of the second hallway to your right, number 1350. Don't hesitate!" she said before leaving.

Aria was really grateful. That Spencer Hastings seemed like quite a good friend.