- Aria's POV -

"Hello, my little angel. And Chewbacca." I coo, taking Hailey's hand and helping her into the backseat of Paul's car. Chewbacca follows in after her, taking his own seat.

I lean over, debating whether or not dogs wear seatbelts. I have no idea, so just in case, I buckle him in.

After the crazy and horrifying field trip, I went to go pick up Hailey from her house, along with her dog. She was very hyper today, probably because I promised Hailey I'd take her to the mall and buy her a dress for her birthday, which was in two weeks.

We stroll into my room and I let Hailey use my phone and connect it to the speakers and play whatever music she wants. Thankfully, she doesn't pick any of those kiddie songs or else I really wouldn't be focusing on completing the painting. Instead, I would be cringing every five seconds.

Hailey and Chewbacca get into the same position from yesterday and I pick up where I left off immediately, detailing the dog's fur and Hails' red coat.

A couple of minutes later there's a knock on the door.

"Come in!" I call, and Hailey mimics me with a goofy grin.

Paul pushes the door open and smiles at the sight.

"Hey, girls. And Chewbacca," He says, bending down to pet the dog. "I was wondering if you guys wanted some fresh pineapple juice?"

"Oh, yes, please! Can we, Aria?" Hailey looks to me with her big, adorable puppy dog eyes.

Laughing, I put everything down and nod. With Chewbacca trailing after us, Hailey and I sit on the stools by the island in the kitchen. Uncle Paul pours us some juice and does the same for himself, then sits across from us.

"So how's the painting going?" He asks.

"It's great. Much better than my last one, to be honest." I say, nudging Hailey.

She giggles. "And I'm the star!" Chewbacca barks, and she looks down at him. "Oh, yeah. Chewbacca's the star, too."

"You sure are, Hails. Are you excited for your birthday?" Paul asks, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

What six year old isn't excited for their birthday?

"Of course I am! Aria's going to take me dress shopping soon. Did you know that?"

Uncle Paul shakes his head and cracks a smile. "When are you guys going?"

I answer with, "As soon as the painting's done," and arch a brow. "Why?"

"We're running out of Oreos. Could you grab some at the grocery store?"

Of course he wants more Oreos. Much like Aunt Lydia, Uncle Paul is an Order addict. Me, on the other hand, lost my taste for them because I ate so many when I was a kid and eventually got bored of them. I guess that's a good thing though, it's a lot of sugar.

"Yeah, sure. Anything else?" I take our empty glases and dump them in the dishwasher.

Uncle Paul shakes his head. "Nope. That's it, thanks kid."

I smile in response and proceed to travel back into my room with Hailey and Chewbacca following.

"How much longer until it's done?" She asks, adjusting her beret.

I look back at my artwork. It was nearly done, I just had to detail it a bit more and finish the background, but I can do that even without them.

"Half an hour, at most." I say, but Hailey frowns. "See the big numbers on my phone? When it says six three zero, then I should be done."

I show her the time on my phone. She nods in understanding and grins, proud that she just learned something new.

Focusing, I put more detail into the curls of Hailey's black hair, framing her angelic, round face. Her dark eyes twinkled with adoration as she looked down at her pet, and I try my very best to include that in the painting itself. Finally, almost exactly thirty minutes later, I finish off with painting in her little dimples.

Stepping around the easel, I put my brushes in the pockets of my arpon. Chewbacca barks. I put my hands on my hips and gesture for Hailey to come see the painting, and she claps her hands.

"Wow, it looks exactly like me and Chewy! It's awesome. But, uh, where's the background and your name?" Hailey asks, confused.

I wave it off. "That can be done in fifteen minutes. For now, we better go to the mall if you want to buy a dress."

Hailey jumps up and nods. "Is Chewy going to stay here?"

"How about you go ask Lydia or Paul if they can look after him while I go wash up?" I suggest, putting my paints away and washing my brushes.

"Okay," She says, skipping out of the room with Chewbacca trailing after her to go find either of them.

I walk into the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror, taking in the random strokes of paint all over my face and arms. Shrugging, I decide to skip taking a shower since I'm too lazy. Throwing my annoyingly long hair into a high ponytail, I come to a conclusion that I need a haircut, desperately.

Walking downstairs, I call for Hailey and slip on my shoes. "Hails, let's go!"

●●●

Shopping with Hailey for a dress turned out to be harder than I thought it would. She's an extremely stubborn and picky girl when it comes to fashion.

"How about this one?" I hold up a frilly yellow dress that reminds me of the sun.

Hailey fakes a gag. "Ew, no way! It looks like pee."

So it reminds me of the sun and it reminds her of pee. . .

I chuckle and pull out a a purple one instead, but she declines right away. Thirteen dresses later, I find a cute, simple poofy red dress.

"Oh, that's pretty." Hailey comments, admiring the dress.

"Want to try it on?" I point to the changing room. She grins.

After helping her get into the dress in the stall, Hailey says, "This one."

The dress ends right below her knees and has a pair of matching green shoes.

"Okay, then. Let's go get food." I say, taking the plastic bag from the employee after paying for Hailey's outfit and heading for the food court. We settle on buying KFC.

"Thank you, Aria. I really love the dress." She smiles, plopping herself onto a chair and digging her hands in a bucket of chicken popcorn.

"It's no problem, little angel. You helped me out with the painting, it's the least I could do." I smile back, taking a bite of the fried chicken. "What do you want for your birthday?"

"For you to be there. I want you to meet my friends so I can show them my big sister." Hailey says, almost shyly.

See? She's the cutest!

My mouth curves into a smile. I'm happy that she called me her big sister, like I'm her role model.

"Of course I'll be there." I say with a wink.

Eventually we leave the mall and enter the grocery store. Hailey grabs a basket and helps me on the search for the Oreos.

Distracted by looking at the wonders of foods on the shelves and in the freezers, I end up jumping at the sound of Hailey's sqeaul and dropping packets of pasta on my head.

Aw, crap Now I have to put this back.

"Miles!" Hailey runs towards a figure at the end of the isle.

Sure enough, the Miles Hailey's running to is none other than Miles Prescott. As Hailey's short arms wrap around his legs in a hug, he seems caught off guard.

Aw, double crap.

"Hailey? What are you doing here? Where's your mom?" He questions, picking her up and looking around.

Hailey giggles and points to me. "I'm not here with Mom. I'm here with Aria."

Instantly, I grab one of the packets that I dropped and cover my face with it. This doesn't really make any sense. How did they know each other if Miles just recently moved here?

"Huh? Wait, you know Sho—Aria?" Miles quickly corrects himself. I can tell they're coming over to me because of his footsteps.

Giving up, I sigh and continue putting the packets back, then look Miles dead in the eye.

Hailey nods. "Yup. I've known her since forever. Aria, this is Miles. Miles, this is Aria."

"We've already met." I tell Hailey, who just laughs like it's the craziest thing in the world.

"How do you know Miles?" I ask her.

He puts Hailey down at looks at me with amusement. It takes everything in me to not punch him in the face.

"His mom and my mom are friends. He's also coming to my party! Right, Miles?"

He smiles at her and nods. "You bet. I wouldn't miss your birthday party for the world."

Well, shit.

"That's cool. Great. Amazing. Now, Hailey and I are on a quest. Bye, Miles." I say, taking Hailey's hand and faking a smile.

Miles winks at me and grins at Hailey, then walks off in the other direction.

"Wow. I think you guys should get married." Hailey announces.

I gape at her. "Yeah. . . no. Come on, we have to find those Oreos."