Chapter 3: MysteryMan.

The next day Aria woke up a little brighter, after realizing Spencer was right, she was not any of the things those pathetic Rosewood High students had called her she was feeling rather good about herself. She found herself actually not hating going to school for the first time in two weeks. Aria never really loved school but she didn't hate it either, although she had to admit it was a lot easier getting up in the morning when she and Ezra were together, seeing his smile and hearing his voice woke her up in the morning but now that they were broken up a part of her dreaded it but not entirely as deep down she still had feeling for him, a part of her still loved him and always would even if she couldn't look at him without a million memories flashing through her mind in the blink of an eye.

Aria arrived at the school just in time to spend five minutes with the girls. She had given Hanna's a miss last night and decided to dedicate the night to pampering herself and indulging herself in a mountain of books. Spencer had arranged for them to meet at Aria's locker so that she could check if there was any more nasty notes and get rid of them before Aria could even know of their existence, however Spencer was pleasantly surprised by what she found in their place and couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"What are you smiling at?" Aria asked Spencer as she approached the girls.

"Good morning to you too" Hanna said sarcastically

"Sorry Han" Aria said giving the blonde a hug.

"Seriously though what are you smiling about it's kind of creepy" Hanna said causing Emily to agree with her.

"You'll see later" Spencer said cryptically "We should go, and let Aria put her things in her locker since the bells about to go, bye Ar see you in chemistry." Spencer said before dragging Hanna along with her to History.

"Things must be going well with Toby if she's smiling like that" Emily said aloud

"Thanks for the image Em" Aria said sarcastically

"Sorry, see you in math" Emily said before leaving Aria alone. Aria unlocked her locker apprehensively and took a second before opening it up, hoping there were no more notes.

Slowly she opened the door and her stomach dropped. Inside was a stack of notes yet again, only this time they were stacked neatly, like someone had placed them in there. Aria's stomach then became a pit as she began to think 'A' had something to do with this.

She took the stack out of her locker and dared to read them there and then instead of a small bathroom stall. Upon opening the first one her face changed from a frown to a smile, a smile that got bigger and bigger the more notes she read.

The first note she read had simply the word 'Beautiful' written on it.

The second said the word 'Intelligent'

The third said 'Kind'

The forth said 'Smart'

The fifth said 'Petite'

The sixth said 'Strong'

The seventh said 'Brave'

The eighth said 'elegant'

The ninth said 'graceful'

The tenth and final note had more than one word on it and said 'Aria, these are the words that count; these are the words you should listen to. Forget the other notes and focus on these, these are the ones that tell the truth the ones that matter, remember that.

P.S. If you ever need me, you know where to find me.'

After reading the last note Aria couldn't help the tears that were trailing down her cheeks. Only unlike yesterday these were happy tears, she couldn't believe what Ezra had done for her, especially now that they were broken up, even though he hadn't signed the note she knew it was him by his writing. Aria took a small second before wiping her tears away and looking around to see if anyone had seen them. She was shocked to find the hallway was empty not a soul was in them, she took a glance at her watch 8.20, 'crap' Aria thought, she had missed nearly half of first period. 'Screw it' Aria though. She was doing much more important things.

She reached into her locker, right at the back and pulled out a rather tattered piece of paper before checking something on it before throwing it back into her locker, shutting it and practically sprinting down the hall. With in minutes she reached her destination and knocked on the door.

"Come in" The voice called, not even looking up to see who their visitor was. Aria opened the door and stepped in gently closing it behind her.

"You didn't have to do that you know" She said causing Ezra to stop what he was doing and look up at her.

"Do what?" He asked playing the dumb card.

"The notes" She said holding them up so he could see them. "I know it was you, the hand writing was a dead give away" Ezra kept his eyes on her whilst she spoke then looked down once she had finished. He placed the lid back on his pen and placed it back in his pot before speaking.

"You got me" He told her holding his hands up momentarily in surrender.

"Why?" Aria asked.

"Why what?"

"Why did you write them?"

"Because you needed a reminder of who you really are" He told her not taking his eyes off of her.

"You didn't have to do that" She said once again only this time she received a reply.

"Yes I did" He shot back before standing up and walking toward her.

"Why didn't you tell me what was happening Ar?" He asked.

"Because it's none of your business any more." She told him looking away.

"Yes it is." He told her placing his hands on her arms and making her look at him.

"They wouldn't be saying that stuff if it wasn't for me."

"It takes two to tango Ezra."

"Exactly! Meaning this is my fault too." Aria sighed in annoyance at the fact that he was right.

"Fine, if you want to blame yourself too that's fine." Aria said moving out of Ezra's hold and pacing the room.

"How can I fix this?" Ezra asked hating to see what has been happening to the love of his life.

"There's nothing you can do Ezra." Aria replied frustrated with the situation and leaned on one of the desks.

"If you think of anything, anything at all you let me know and I'll do it, I promise" Ezra said looking at Aria again who seemed to be more interested in her shoes.

"There isn't but if I think of anything I'll let you know" She said avoiding his gaze.

"Thank you" He said.

The room then became quiet and there was a silence between the two however for the first time since their break up it wasn't awkward it was just silent.

"I should go, I have Chemistry and if I'm late I'll get a detention"

"Do you want me to write you a note to give to the office for missing Math?" Ezra asked, not wanting her to get into any trouble.

"Yes please, if you don't mind"

"No problem" Ezra replied as he began filling in the small yellow form, he handed it to Aria and the tips of their fingers touched making both of them feel a spark of electricity. They looked at each other briefly before Aria made her way to the door, just as she opened the door Ezra spoke up.

"I miss you" He said causing Aria to stop in her tracks, she took a deep breath before turning and looking at Ezra. "I miss you too" She said before turning and leaving.

Hey guys here's chapter three I hope you enjoy it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter it's one of my favourites J Please review and let me know what you think. As you all know reviews = motivation and updates.