When we get to school I have a donut in one hand and my skateboard in the other. We are chit chatting as we walk, not paying attention to the world of Rosewood. Ever since he saved me people have been gossiping about our closeness, spreading rumors that we were more than friends because he offered to be my guardian. It was an odd offer, but since he felt responsible for me when he saved my life he thought it was the right thing to do. Especially since the Hastings weren't exactly parents of the year and the Montgomery's were nowhere to be found. So I would have honestly been okay with living with him rather than with the Hastings, and I half wish I had done it because things may have gotten better but I unfortunately still have a hard time wanting to be with them after basically forcing them to notice me.

As we get up the steps there's the commotion of people staring at us. Some because they think he's cute and others whisper the usual rumors between us, but we both ignore it as I stuff the last piece of donut into my mouth and head over towards my locker.

"You're good for me to head out now?" He says as he stares down at me, leaning against the lockers next to mine.

I smile up at him and nod, seeing people still staring in the corner of my eye. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Amber rarely bothers me while at school. She likes to wait till no one witnesses things. "

He sighs and shakes his head, seeming annoyed. "I don't get why you don't tell someone about her and her gang."

I laugh a bit, watching him with a serious look. "That's a joke, right? Do you not remember growing up with mean kids?"

Now he half smiles, shrugging. "I do, but I don't remember them being this bad."

"Well, you were better liked than me." I say with a soft tone of a joke, nudging him with my finger. "And now you'll be a well liked teacher."

The look on his face is strong, but the emotions in his eyes makes me know he hates that I struggle in more ways than just losing my family. "Just know I'm here if you need me to straighten them out."

"Yes, Mr. Fitz." I give a soft smirk, trying not to laugh.

He just shakes his head playfully and then gives me a hug, telling me he'll see me in class for my first period and walks down the hall towards the teachers room. Once out of sight I open the top locker, my locker, and put some of the notebooks and folders for my other classes into it, leaving the ones I need for my first few classes in my backpack.

Once done I place a small mirror on the inside door of my locker and stare into it. As I fix my side ponytail who I see looking back is the same light skinned girl with a softly freckled face, ginger hair, green eyes, glasses and as the years went by, no more acne. But I know I'm not completely the same girl. Or at least not the same girl I used to be. This Jessie isn't who I once was, filled with life and love. This Jessie is broken, hurt and tired all the time. Finding things hard to get through from being an orphan, and a foster child. Things aren't the same.

The top locker to my right opens up, bringing me back to reality and I look to the side, smiling brightly at the girl who owns it. "Hey, Jessie." The tall girl with tan skin, brown eyes and a dark brown long ponytail says to me with a smile back. "How was your summer?"

Emily Fields. This girl has been in my life for a while, but we didn't get close until a few years ago. Why? Because that was when Alison disappeared from Rosewood, and ever since then, me and Emily have been thick as thieves. Or at least until the accident. It was the best moment of my life. Our closeness became something we could rely on, and confide in each other. We have a lot in common, but because of Alison we never noticed it.

I shrug softly to the question as I close my locker, because it wasn't exactly bright with it being the first summer without my family. "It was okay." I finally get out after a second processing, now leaning my back onto the lockers and kicking one of my legs up to rest up behind me. Then I stare up at the 5'7" in a half girl with my arms crossed over my chest, "How was yours?"

She smiles down at me and nods gently as she puts some things into her locker too. The summer was taken up mostly by Mona since she had comforted me with my emotions on a lot of levels, and I had a hard time opening up to really anyone outside of her. She didn't make things feel like I was going crazy. "Great actually. Did a lot of swimming, needed to make up for my lack of focus for the last couple years."

I half smile, understanding what she meant since now I'm in the same situation of losing my own focus. She'd been out of it since Alison disappeared. Emily seemed to be the closest to Alison, like her own personal bodyguard or something. It was a little odd, but I didn't know Emily well enough at the time to judge her on loyalty. Now though, I see that she is like that with anyone, but it still irks me that she'd ever be that loyal to a girl who bullied people for fun.

"Well I'm glad you're back to swimming like a champ." I say with a small laugh, "Been hoping to see some metals on you this year."

She smiles back and closes her locker, turning to me. Her face now slightly sad looking, "How have you been?" The way she says that has me know she's being cautious.

That right there makes my heart sink. I hate when people bring up my feelings, how I'm doing. It has been months since my family died, but I still don't like talking about it. So I nod and lie, "Good. Really good." I smile as I get off of my locker and head towards the classroom across from our lockers, Ezra's classroom and my first period of the day.

That move right there has Emily on my tail in an instant, half running after me. "Don't lie, Jessie. It's okay not to be okay."

I groan a little, getting the same pep talk I've been getting since my life turned upside down. Of course I know it's okay not to be okay, but it's also not okay to always show those emotions. It's bad enough to remember it, but to constantly be asked how I am is just a punch in the throat for me.

"I know, Em." Is what I decide to say instead, feeling her grab my shoulder gently and blocks my way from walking. She's a couple inches taller than me as I stare up at her, taking a gentle breath. "Seriously, I'm fine. I just want to move past what happened."

She gives me a sad smile, squeezing my shoulder in comfort now. "I understand that. It's an amazing attitude. But I haven't seen you put a true smile in months. I'm worried about you."

I half smile, grabbing onto her hand from my shoulder and pulling it off, now squeezing her hand in mine. "I appreciate your concern. I appreciate everyone's concern. But for now let's just get through the day back in hell, shall we?"

Emily half smiles at me with a soft laugh and squeezes my hand back, nodding. I can tell she's having a hard time letting this conversation go, but she just says. "School is hell isn't it?"

I laugh and smile before nodding and ushering her inside our first period class with Ezra.

...

The first thing I do is walk over to the far corner of the classroom towards the back windows, Emily following behind me as we talk a bit more. She seems pretty excited for the new school year, while I absolutely hate the thought of being here. Since I was always being picked on it never made this place my number one spot to be. However, now being on the good side of the popular kids it has me a little higher on the totem pole, but my old bullies still reminding me of my past doesn't make my life any easier. Other than being Alison's punching bag to make a point to other non-popular kids, I'm also a minority. I got made fun of for being half white/hispanic on my dad's side, and full hispanic on my mom's side almost daily and had to suffer through seeing my brother get it worse. Even though he always resembled my dad in his height, facial features and his green eyes, he also happened to be a slightly darker skin tone than me and our dad, getting that from our mom along with the deeply dark brown hair. While I got dad's bad eyesight, red hair, green eyes and freckles. But I also got the lighter skin, or what people would consider being "white enough to blend in", which always made me want to punch people in the face, and unfortunately led to us being called the "local spicks". That of course was never the highlight of my days despite our family not being the only minorities in town. But our parents were the only mixed couple in Rosewood, so it made us higher on their bully list.

I see Hanna and Mona, smiling over at them with a nod of hellos as I continue to walk with Emily to our seats. Since Mona and Hanna became popular Hanna lost a lot of weight, her blond hair more tamed than it used to be, and has become pretty snobby. Apparently becoming the main people in school now required her to follow Mona's lead on feeling like they are entitled to being bitches to others. I have attempted to try to guide them to be nicer, but they are so into making sure people know their names and fear them that they don't really follow my lead.

"So I hear that the guy who pulled you out of the car is our new teacher?" Emily asks gently, knowing I still get triggered by the mention of the accident as she sits in the seat in front of me, while I take the last seat in the last row by the windows.

I smile and nod, leaning back against the seat a bit as I slouch in it lazily. "He is. Ezra is pretty excited. He didn't think after he graduated that he'd get an offer this quickly."

She keeps her body turned in her seat so she can look at me, drumming her finger on the back of her chair as if feeling uncomfortable. "You know everyone is talking about how hot he is, right?"

And there it is. That's why she seemed awkward. Telling me something like that about the guy who is basically like my big brother now is weird. But I laugh it off. "That doesn't surprise me. He's young, and not bad looking at all. Anyone would want the cute new guy to be their teacher."

She smiles and laughs softly, an eyebrow slightly raised. "Now that surprises me to hear you agree since, you know….those rumors spreading about you two." She says it in a low voice so no one overhears.

I take a breath and shake my head, rubbing my nose a bit. "I'm so sick of those rumors." I half laugh in amusement, "He saved my life and now he feels like he owes my parents to look out for me. We've gotten to the point where we are more like siblings than friends."

She puts her hands up in surrender, smiling. "I didn't think it any other way. Just thought you'd be more careful on how you word his cuteness."

I just smile at her words, "I'm not going to disagree on a point being true. I don't care what people think of me anymore." Of course this isn't true, but she doesn't need to know that.

I have a feeling that she doesn't exactly believe me by the slow narrow eyes she starts to give me, knowing me better than I probably realize so I immediately avert my eyes a bit to my desk to avoid her gaze. But before she gets the opportunity to dive deeper into this conversation, a shocked, low and slow female voice comes to our ears.

"J-Jessie?"

I blink slowly and my eyes shoot back upward, watching Emily for a few long seconds as my mouth goes dry. I end up gripping to the edges of my desk, my heart skipping a beat for so long I thought it stopped. I know that voice. I know that voice like the back of my hand. But I can't take my eyes off of Emily, because it feels too much like a dream and I'm afraid she won't be there when I turn to look. Even Emily seems a little off her game as she watches me for a few long seconds before she turns to the voice.

"Jessie…" the voice says again, now sounding sad. Or about to cry. "Jessie, I'm so sorry."

I gulp gently, my heart in my stomach now before I get the courage to slowly look to the side, my breath now picking up a bit I shift my entire body in my seat towards the voice until she's in view. This short girl with long dark brown hair, hazel eyes and light skin is standing in the middle of the isle of desks a couple of rows from us. My mouth slowly opens and for a second I can't even speak. My best friend is standing right there, her eyes watering as she stays frozen in her spot.

"Aria…." That's the only word that I'm able to form at this point. There's no way after three years of her being away, with six of those long months not having my family and just wanting so badly for my best friend and her family to come home that she's actually here. But I'm not able to believe it as I blink at her, everyone now staring our way in complete silence.

After a few long seconds of just watching each other she maneuvers her way through the desks till she's standing beside me, now staring down at me while I'm still sitting in my seat from shock. It feels like forever that her eyes are glued to mine before I finally stand up, her gaze now upward while I look down at her. We used to always be around the same height, but it seems I've grown in three years, now being 5'5" while she has barely grown at all, maybe no more than a couple inches from 5 feet. But she definitely looks like she's matured. She looks older, more tired. Even her hair is no longer experimented with pink highlights in them.

Before more words can form she lunges forward and wraps her arms around my neck, making me "oof" softly as I'm pulled to her level. I take a breath when I feel her hug, still seeming not to be real before I slowly wrap my own arms around her and set my chin to her shoulder, my eyes watering now.

"You're here." the words get stuck in my throat, gripping her tighter.

She nods and takes a breath, squeezing for a second before pulling away. She stares up at me and wipes her eyes, "We're so sorry, Jessie. When dad recommended no electronics he promised that we'd come back after. So we didn't get anyone's emails till recently." She just continues to shake her head as if she couldn't believe that they made this mistake.

In all honesty, I'm pretty furious that they disappeared on me. I get why Uncle Byron wanted to get off the electronics while away for a while, (they've always been more like family than friends to us. So we've always called each other's parents our aunt and uncle) but it's just too much to handle that when this all went down I couldn't reach any of them. And I felt alone even when I had people with me. But I keep myself contained for her benefit and for the benefit of not making a scene and just hug her again.

"It's okay. I'm…. I'm okay." Not true obviously, but I wouldn't let her feel bad about this. "I just missed you." My eyes scan a bit, everyone's eyes are on us and it makes me a bit uncomfortable. Emily even has a smile on her face as she nods in reassurance to me, probably sensing my mixed panic of people staring and having Aria back.

Then she pulls away again and watches me for a while, wiping her eyes quickly and stares at her feet for a second before staring back up at me. "I missed you too." She takes a breath, "We should have never gone to Iceland. We missed so much, and we let you down."

My throat closes up a bit from that comment, closing my eyes I shake my head. As much as I'm upset that they weren't around when this all happened, she shouldn't feel like traveling was a bad thing to do. "You didn't let me down. How could you have known this would happen?"

Her face slightly lightens up, softens even, but she doesn't seem completely convinced of what I said. Her brain seems like it's turning from the look of deep thought on her face. "I just hate that we weren't here for you." She finally says as I usher her to sit down in an empty seat in the isle next to us.

I just shake my head again, placing a hand lightly onto her hand and then sit down at my seat. "We'll talk more later." Is all I say, before staring off behind her. "Our audience is a little nosey."

Her head slowly turns behind her, seeing everyone watching us. Her face gets embarrassed as she looks at me, then her gaze scans over to Emily, her eyes now widening in surprise. "Em?"

Emily gently smiles, nodding. "Aria." She says from the fact that she hadn't noticed her from all the comotion between the two of us. "Been a while."

"Nah, has it?" I chime in jokingly, "She was certainly here for the last three years, I'm sure of it."

They both stare at me with a laugh and smiles, shaking their heads but seem relieved for breaking the awkwardness. I just smile back, taking out my things from my backpack as they have their own conversation now. Catching up, seeing how things have changed since she's been back, which apparently she's been back since yesterday and I'm half tempted to ask why she hadn't looked for me then. Instead I just continue to listen as Em tells her that Mona and Hanna are the "it" girls now and how she doesn't talk to their old friends anymore. Then a tall, light skinned girl with long dark brown hair, Spencer Hastings, walks inside and half smiles at Hanna. When we see this Emily tells Aria that Spencer is on nice terms with them all but aren't friends anymore either.

"You've missed a lot." I add when they finish, watching as Ezra finally walks into his class after he settled up in the teachers room. He makes eye contact with me for a split second and I smile at him with a nod of reassurance before he puts his things down onto his desk. The poor guy looks like he's going to pass out from nerves.

Aria notices my interaction as she turns to look at him, but by the time she does he's not facing us anymore. He's now writing on the board. "Who are you looking at?" She asks gently and stares back at me.

"The teacher." I say shyly, knowing that could have been taken the wrong way.

"Is he cute?" She asks playfully.

I laugh, rubbing my forehead. "He is. But that's not why I was looking at him. I was trying to calm him down 'cause he's new."

She watches me in confusion, her eyebrow up slightly. "So...you know him?" She asks simply, "As in possibly friends? Or more?"

Now I shake my head and laugh even more, "No...oh, no. Not a chance." Then I take a breath, "It's a little more complicated than just being friends." Now I'm biting my lip as I look at her, she knows me well enough to see when I'm irritated or overwhelmed. "He's the guy who saved my life the day of the accident."

Her mouth completely drops, seeming to not be able to process what I just said. But before we can get more into it, Ezra turns back around and introduces himself to the class. Then his eyes land towards my area and his face kind of goes….slack? Which confuses me. I know he's nervous, but why is he acting like he just saw a ghost.

But before I can think more about it his voice goes into a noticeably whispered, "Hol-y crap." Before clearing his throat in embarrassment.

That gets everyone's attention now as they all look our way, and for some reason it feels like they are scanning their eyes on me and my face is now beat red. This makes me slump more into my seat as I put my eyes to the window now. I have no idea why he's reacting this way, but I don't appreciate him embarrassing me.