My Life in Rosewood

Chapter Twenty-Five

Quick note to my readers - Im sorry that my updates have stopped gor a while and unfortunatelyit may continue. When I first started this story I was rewatching the series. This helped to keep up with the chapters and write as I watched. I had done as much as I could at once at the time to keep the updates ahead of where I was with my writing. But with my hiatus stopping my need to write this allowed the recent uploads to the story to catch up with my current chapters, and now I'm lagging a bit behind. The chapters will continue to take place in season two of the tv show, and still in their junior year of high school. I am trying my best to motivate myself to start watching the show again so that I can write more and keep up with the chapters. Thanks for your patience!

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Monday morning comes and it is hard to get out of bed because of how tired I am. I feel like I have gotten no sleep, tossed and turned most of the night with the thought of how school would go. I have a lot of worries about what we'll see walking in today knowing that it's after a major event, and the fact that my best friend is involved in that event is going to make it worse. Aria didn't want to be there early so she just lays in bed for an extra half hour as I get ready, then actually gets up once I'm done. I can see the look of fear on her face as she laid there and the dread when she got out of bed. I wish I could help and I know I can't because neither of us know the damage of what's going on at school right now. We know all the chaos in town alone is a lot of staring, pointing and whispering. That only being the adults in town, there's no way to know what teenagers will do to her. I sure as hell don't want to know either, but Mike felt it would be easier for her and the girls if we go in first to check the situation of what people are saying so that they are somewhat prepared when they come in later.

Once ready to go we both walk out the door and head to school. We decided to walk instead of getting a ride from Andrew today, feeling the walk would prolong us getting there too quickly and have a talk as we do. He knows I'm nervous about the aftermath of Ian's disappearance and all the gossip that has been following his sister and my friends, and I know he's nervous because he's her brother so it's natural to be protective but also aware that we both might get some heat for being related or friends with what they feel are liars.

"Why do I feel like we should have just stayed home today?" I say to him under my breath as we climb the steps to the front of the school.

"Because we're here to support them." He whispers to me as we get stared at with mixed looks. I'm not sure whether to say something to them or just ignore it.

"Aria doesn't even want to come, Mikey. I can't say I blame her."

We get to the top of the staircase now and I feel his hand grazing mine lightly to calm me down, "Just breathe. We have to make it easier on them by having their backs, okay? No fights, no making a scene."

I do take that breath and nod to him, "I..yeah, okay."

He smiles gently and gives a small laugh because he knows that staying calm and not making a scene is hard for me to do sometimes. But he doesn't comment on that, knowing that I already know how my temper can be.

"Well look who showed up." We hear a voice behind us before we can even make it through the front doors.

I close my eyes and I tense up because I know who it is, now forcing myself to turn around and see Rachel standing on the steps with a couple of her friends that I don't really know.

When I don't react they all give small smirks and I can feel Mike scoot a little closer to help me know he's here. "Nothing to say?"