- Aria's POV -

Even as I walk through the doors of my school the next day, my mind was a mess. I push past the ocean of students to reach my locker, where Zoe and Liz were already waiting. Dumping my things into the locker, I give my friends a tight smile.

"Hey," I greet. I'm not really in the mood to talk so much today—especially since the note.

"Don't 'hey' us! Why, exactly, did I have to cover for you yesterday, while you were with Miles?" Zoe whisper-yells.

"And you weren't answering any of our texts or calls, either. What's going on, Aria?" Liz steps in, a frown on her lips.

I know I'm not going to win this argument. Sighing, I bend over and whisper in their ears, "I'll tell you why I snuck out later, but when Miles and I were coming back home . . . we found a note. And it was addressed to me, from my parents' killer."

Zoe and Liz gasp, their eyes wide with worry and curiosity at the same time.

"What did it say?" Zoe questions, quirking a brow.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and show them a picture of the note I took yesterday. Once they've read it, they look back at me.

"It's definitely addressed to you. But what if it's just someone playing a prank on you? Miles was there, wasn't he? It could have been him." Liz points out matter-of-factly, her arms crossed and Zoe nods in agreement.

It takes me a minute to register her words. What if it really was someone just playing a prank? But I know it wasn't Miles since I was watching his every step. I remember when the incident occurred, many people would pity me. But the 'bullies' of the school, including Maya and her friends, would always play cruel pranks. Leaving teddy bears in my locker, a knife stabbed into the stomachs. Or that one time when someone had painted the inside of my old locker red, and detailed it so much that it looked like actual dried blood that leaked out at the bottom.

Then again, I never told anyone about the music playing or the empty tray of cookies left on the coffee table beside Lydia and Paul, or Zoe and Liz. And whoever wrote the note clearly knew about all of those things.

Finally, I answer them. "No, it wasn't Miles. I know it wasn't him. Besides, the guy doesn't even know my parents are dead, he thinks my aunt and uncle are my parents."

Zoe scoffs. "How many times has he heard you call them by their names?"

"Plenty," I shrug.

"Exactly. Does he ever wonder why? God, he's such a stupid boy." She facepalms herself while Lizzy starts cracking up. "What about others? Could anyone else be pranking you?"

I shake my head. "I don't think so. No one besides you guys and Lydia and Paul know about . . . the details."

Liz scrunches her nose. "'The details', that just sounds wrong."

Rolling my eyes, I shut my locker the second the warning bell rings. Just as we start walking away, a voice from behind stops us.

"Shortcake! And her friends!" Miles exclaims, his best friend Hunter Gibbs chuckling along.

I know Hunter. He's been in every class of mine since the second grade, but we never really talk. Maybe when we're put in groups or that time when he gave me his condolences. He's pretty popular, too. With brown eyes and hair that was short and wavy, his bright smile and personality would make any girl swoon. I won't even deny the little tiny crush I had on him in fifth grade, but thankfully I quickly got over that.

"Hey, Aria. Zoe and Liz." Hunter nods at us, then he and my two friends abandon me to have their own conversation.

Miles grins at me and I respond with a scowl. "What do you want?"

"You,"

"Either you say something that's actually worth my time or you move out of my way." I glare.

His smile drops as he throws his hands up in surrender. "I just wanted to talk to you, Shortcake. About yesterday."

"What about yesterday?" I sigh.

"The note. What did your parents say?"

I flinch at his words, surprising myself at my reaction. He doesn't seem to notice, though.

I don't have any freaking parents, my mind screams.

"None of your business," I growl, spinning around and heading for the direction of my math class when the bell rings again.

I'm happy no one stops me for two reasons: one, I don't need Miles interviewing me anymore and two, if I didn't make it to class in the next twenty seconds, Mrs. Cockroach is going to kill me, and I really don't know if I'm exaggerating or not.

I take my seat at the back, sitting right behind Maya, and her 'best friend'—Marley—next to me. Because Math class is so utterly boring, I always like to stir up some trouble. I guess now you know why Mrs. Cockroach hates me so much.

So while she starts with the lesson, I turn to my right and grin wickedly.

"Hey, Mallory." I start.

She turns to me with a look of disgust and I mentally laugh at her expression.

"It's Marley," She spits, flipping her bleached blonde hair.

"Sorry, Mallory." I give her a sarcastic smile.

"My name is not Mallory. It's Marley, do you need me to spell it out for you?" She hisses.

"Yes, please, Mallory." I bite my lip to restrain myself from laughing at her red face.

"For the love of God, it's Marley." She argues, while I continue my purposely ugly doodle of Mrs. Cockroach and write Marley's name at the bottom, knowing she doesn't have a signature.

"Okay, Mallory," I smirk when Cockroach starts walking around the classroom.

"No, dumbass. Marley." The blonde beside me hisses again, and I have the urge to draw a snake on her desk.

"Mallory," I repeat slowly, like a two year old learning to speak. But while she's distracted by her annoyance, she doesn't notice me crumple up my doodle into a ball.

"You know what—" She stops talking when I throw the ball of paper at her face.

Marley screeches and grabs the crumpled up doodle and aims at me. I duck just in time, then lift my head up to see Marley's frightened face.

I turn around, putting on a poker face as I look up at a very angry Mrs. Cockroach that was just hit in the face with the paper ball. She glares at Marley, who sends me a glare. I smirk when everyone turns around to watch the drama.

Mrs. Cockroach opens the paper up and stares at it in shock and embarrassment.

"MARLEY WATKINS, DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!" She yells and accidentally drops the doodle to the ground.

I watch silently as some of the students lean over to see what's on it, and soon the whole class starts to burst out laughing, with me probably laughing the most.

Wow, even Maya's snickering at Marley.

And the best friend of the year award goes to: Maya Gray!

Marley screams and lunges at me, but I quickly jump off of my chair and laugh in hysterics as Marley tackles Cockroach.

"GET OFF ME, YOU EVIL CHILD!" Mrs Cockroach yells, trying her best to push Marley off her.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!" Marley retorts.

Oh my god, I am so happy that random kid across the class is recording the whole thing.

"Hey, Luke! You better send that to me!" I laugh and he gives me a thumbs up.

Finally, Marley seems to realize that who's she's attacking isn't me, but her Math teacher. She scrambles off Mrs. Cockroach in panic, her face flushed.

"Oh my god, Mrs. Cockroach! I am so so sorry! I swear I didn—"

Mrs. Cockroach only grows angrier as she struggles to stand, her hair a bird's nest. She narrows her eyes at Marley.

"Marley, go to the principal's office, now!" She cries, pulling at her hair and stomping back to her desk when Marley leaves the room.

"AND MY NAME IS MRS. COCKRAINE, NOT COCKROACH!"

●●●

I was still recovering from the events of Math class at lunch, seated at our regular table. By now, the whole school saw the video after Gabe posted it, and then it was reposted again and again. Apparently, Gabe had started recording when I was doodling and irritating Marley.

This is probably the first time I've thought Math class was fun.

"I still can't believe you did that." Zoe laughs.

Liz's eyebrows shoot up. "How can you not? This is Aria, we're talking about!"

"Touché," Zoe says, taking a massive bite out of her burger.

"Guys, I'm right here. Now, let's talk about something more important, shall we?" I wink at Zoe.

She gets the message and smirks along with me while Lizzy looks at us in confusion. "What?"

"So, Liz. How's Ryan?" I ask.

She goes red at the mention of his name. "Um, he's fine? Oh! I forgot to tell you guys, he invited us to his party on Saturday."

This is not where I wanted the conversation to go.

"I'll go with you. What about you, Aria?" Zoe asks.

I shrug. "I don't know. I might be busy, with the whole case thing. What if they find something?"

My friends nod in understanding.

"Alright. If you change your mind, just give us a text. I'll send you the details anyway, just in case you decide to come and none of us can pick you up." Lizzy says.

"Okay, so back to Ry—"

"Hello, ladies. Mind if we sit with you?" Hunter plops himself down beside Zoe, throwing his arm around her shoulder.

I guess since Zoe's been friends with Hunter for a while, she doesn't really mind. But I, however, do mind when Miles sits on the other side of me with a goofy grin. And before any of us even know it, Ryan joined and gave Lizzy a quick peck on her cheek when he sits down next to her, across from us. I raise a brow at her and try not to laugh at the tomato in front of me.

"That was some video, Shortcake. You really like messing with people, don't you?" Miles smirks, chewing on his slice of cheese pizza.

"Yeah, Aria. You've got one weird brain." Hunter laughs and throws a fry at me. I flick it back at him, but it ends up in Zoe's hair.

She picks it off and shoots me a glare.

"Sorry," I say, but I don't sound the least bit sorry.

"I like potatoes!" Liz blurts, causing a silence while we all look at her. "I mean, they are seriously awesome. They can be turned into so many things! French fries, chips, mash, roasted, baked, salad, hash browns, wedges, and more. They're just like the base of every yummy food and—"

"Um, Lizzy? We get it, you like potatoes." Ryan chuckles and flicks her nose.

All of us start to laugh at her little speech about potatoes. Typical Lizzy; she always blurts out random things when she's flustered or nervous. In this case, I'm guessing being so close to Ryan was the cause of her rant.

"Shut up." She mumbles.

"Are you guys coming to my party?" Ryan asks, still smiling.

"Hell yeah." Miles and Hunter say in unison.

"Zoe and I are. Aria might not." Liz pouts.

Every pair of eyes at the table lands on me.

"Why not?" Hunter breaks the silence.

I shrug. "Busy."

"Oh thank god, I won't have to see your face then." Miles fist pumps the air.

Then why is this idiot even sitting here?

"Why are you even here, then? And for your information, Aria is gorgeous. Stop kidding yourself, Prescott." Zoe defends, leaning over me to glare at him.

Miles was about to say something but is interrupted when a certain someone places herself on his lap.

"Hey, baby." Maya purrs and I try to slide away from them as much as I can.

Miles looks freaked out for a second and lurches backwards, then pushes Maya off his lap. I snort at her astonished face and her cold eyes snap up to me.

"You! My best friend is suspended for a full week because of you!" She yells and points at me.

Scoffing, I say, "Oh, please. Some best friend you are. You found it just as funny as everyone else, Maya. I saw you laughing like a dying cow myself."

Miles and Zoe start to roar with laughter and soon enough Hunter, Lizzy, and Ryan join in.

"Ugh! Why are you hanging out with this parentless freak anyway, Miles? She's not worth your time!" Maya spits and my eyes go wide.

She did not just say that.

"Watch it!" Liz exclaims.

"Parentless fre—what?" Miles shakes his head in confusion.

Maya only smirks in satisfaction.

This girl, I'm going to rip her freaking throat out.

It's only then when I realize Zoe tugging on my arm, standing up with Liz.

She bends down and whispers something in my ear, "Not here, Aria. Come on."

Sending one last glare at Maya, I stand up and storm out of the cafeteria with Zoe and Liz right after me.