My Life in Rosewood

Chapter Twenty-One

"I can't believe this happened." Aria mumbles to herself Monday morning during our free period. Mumbling to herself seems to be her new thing these days. I know something is up with their stalker, but she still keeps me in the dark.

This odd behavior makes me look at her from my drawing pad. We're both sitting on a bench in the courtyard with other kids sitting at tables during this free period. I have my back to one of the pillars with one of my legs stretched out toward her on the other end of the bench while my other leg is bent towards me holding up my book to draw on. My foot is on her lap, my light blue jeans slightly ripped up at the knee from falling off my board this morning. They need to fix those sidewalks. She was doing homework while I'm drawing a sketch for my art class but when I look over at her she's now looking at her phone, seeming annoyed. She's been a bit off all day. I haven't asked about it to give her the space, but now she kind of made it too obvious.

"What's up?"

For a second she seems to not notice I said something, then it processes and she looks at me. She takes a breath and shakes her head, "I...what?"

I half smile, "You mumbled that you can't believe something happened. What's wrong?"

She bites her lip, "It...has to do with the person I told you about." Now she presses her lips together, "The person we can't talk about."

I know who she means obviously, their stalker. But I take a breath 'cause I feel like she needs to spill what's bothering her. "Tell me." I say simply, "I don't care what it is, just tell me so you can get it off your chest."

Her eyes bug out a bit, "Jessie, no. We had this conversation."

"Aria..." I set my other leg straight and put the sketchpad down onto my lap and stare her dead in the eyes, "You can't expect me to know what's going on and not offer some type of help. I know you want to deal with it yourself, but it's been over a month since you told me and you're still having issues."

"Jess..."

"No, Ria." I don't let her finish, now swinging my legs over the bench and scoot closer. "I need to know. I can't do this anymore."

Her eyes are wide as she looks at me, almost like she's going to pass out in a way. Her face looks stumped, not seeming sure if she knows what to say. Then finally she shifts her eyes away from mine and looks around the courtyard, as if searching for wandering eyes. Then she looks back at me, her eyes saddening now. "You're not going to like it. And I'm sorry in advance."

This confuses me to a huge extent. Why is she apologizing when it's about her problem? "Um...okay?"

"Jessie, this is hard for me to say."

"Ria, breathe."

Aria takes a deep breath, running her hand through her long dark smooth hair. Then she opens her mouth and says, "The person who doesn't leave us alone made Hanna send my mom to the museum I was at."

I blink slowly, not understanding what she's getting at, "Why is that a bad thing?"

"Because this person was trying to get me caught with the guy I've been seeing."

It's like nothing else processed besides that last part and I smile, "You're seeing someone?" I half laugh, "Why didn't you tell me?"

She bites her lip again, closing her eyes and this makes me scared now as my smile drops. "Because it's Ezra."

My head spins from her words and my face goes into confusion at first, before that confusion turns into disbelief. Then both of those go away as my emotions spiral into what feels like I'm going crazy, and then lastly, anger. So I laugh, a half hearted one. "You..." I laugh a bit more, then clench my jaw. "You've been what?!"