I wake up with a hand on my shoulder. "Ari." Laura says. I open my eyes. She's on her knees next to me. "Yeah?" I say. "You okay?" She asks. "Oh, yeah." I say. "We made you cereal." She says. Laura? Making cereal voluntarily? Either she wants something or feels bad for me. I'm leaning more on her feeling bad for me. Mya brings me the cereal. Meg turns on SpongeBob. "Guys, I'm not stupid." I say. "What?" Meg asks. "I know why you're doing this. You feel bad for me." I say. "But, I'm fine." I laugh. "No you're not." Laura says. "Yes, I am." I say. "Just eat your dang cereal." She says. I eat the cereal as they eat too. "See, SpongeBob's happy. So am I." I say. "SpongeBob just got torn in half." Laura says. "But he's smiling..ish." I say. Laura stares at me. "Are you gonna be smiling if you get torn in half?" Laura asks. "Sh! You're ruining SpongeBob." I say. "If I didn't feel bad for you, I would so hurt you right now." She says. "Ha! You feel bad for me!" I say. "No.. fine, yes." She says.
"I'm fine." I say. "No, you aren't." Mya says. "I'll show you I'm fine." I say. I get up. "Yeah?" Meg asks. "That's it. If I won't fine, I wouldn't have got up." I say. "We're going outside. You need fresh air." Mya says. "No." I say. "Yes, get clothes on. Now." Laura says. I glare at her, but I go and change. I put on sweatpants and a hoodie. I put my hair in a braid and put on a beanie. I put on sneakers and then put on the sunglasses I got yesterday. "Happy?" I say. I brush my teeth and everything as they finish getting ready. Laura takes my arm and drags me outside. "I'm outside. Yay! Sun! Air! Let's go inside." I say. I start going up the stairs but Laura pulls me back down. "Girls day out." She says. "But, can't it be a Girls Day In?" I ask. "No." Laura says. We get on the sidewalk and I refuse to move. Laura and Mya look at each other and nod. They pull my arms and actually drag me into town.
My heels slide against the sidewalk as they drag me. "Meg. Can you get these crazy people off of me?" I ask. "Sorry, Aria. I'm with them." She says. "Oh, come on, guys." I say. "I can walk." I say. "We know you, Ari. You'll just run home." Mya says. "No, I won't." I say. "Yeah, right. We know you, Aria. You'll walk for a little bit and then trick us." Laura says. "Okay, I promise." I say. They both stop. I don't break promises, and they know that. "I promise I won't run. I promise to go on this stupid Girls Day Out." I say. They let go of me. We all start walking. "I don't know how to cheer you up." Meg says. "Then don't try. I don't need cheering up. I'm fine." I say. "Promise that you're fine?" Mya asks. "I.. I can't promise that." I say. I've never broken a promise and I don't plan on it. Promises are meant to be kept not broken. "Aria, we're your friends. We know you aren't fine. So just admit it." Laura says.
"Okay- Laura, Mya, Meg- I'm not fine. My heart's broken. I miss Louis. I miss the boys. Louis's got a girl now, and I'm happy for him, but I'm sad that it's not me anymore. He's moved on. I told him good-bye. It's over, and I admit- I'm kinda upset. Happy, now?" I say, spreading my hands. "Aria, we didn't mean to.." Laura says. "I know. I'm- I'm sorry." I say. I start running off. They follow, but I'm a lot faster than them. I run through town and go to some woods that I used to go into as a kid. Barely anyone goes in there anymore, but people still go in there- and I haven't been in forever. I run to the pond that my grandpa would take me to so we can fish. I sit on the rock, we'd sit on and stare at the water. I remember my grandpa would tell me how good of a fisher I was. He'd make me laugh with fish jokes and we'd eat out next to the tree. I was really close to my grandpa- until he died a few days before Christmas a couple years ago.
My grandpa would give me advice about everything. I wish you were here, Grandpa. I miss you. I think to myself. "I know what you're thinking." A voice says. I look at the trees and find Laura. "How'd you find me?" I ask. "You loved this place. You'd always come home talking about it. I came once, remember? I hated it. But I remembered where it was because you wouldn't shut up about it." Laura smiles. "Go away." I say. "No. You're my cousin, Aria. You're heartbroken and I'm not gonna sit here watching it." She says. She sits next to me. I hear a buzz from my phone. I check it. It's from the boys, except Louis: What happened with you and Louis? "Why would they ask that? Wouldn't Louis tell them?" I show Laura the message. She puts her arm around me. "It's heartbreak. You wouldn't tell us what happened. He's probably not telling them what happened." She says. "But he's got a girl. He should be fine." I say. She hugs me, "Maybe."
"Should I tell them?" I ask. "Louis will tell them when he's ready." Laura says. "But I don't want to make them mad by not saying anything." I say. I hit reply and text them back: What do you mean? "You're a good person, Aria." She says. "No." I say. "Yes, you are." She says. The boys reply: He's upset. He won't tell us why. I frown. I text them back: Tell Louis that I said I'm sorry if I made him upset. And tell him, he'll feel better if he tells someone. And I wanted to tell all you guys sorry too. I put my phone away. Laura texts Mya and Meg. "We split up." She says. "Laura, does it hurt being away from Zayn?" I ask. "Yeah, Ari." She says. "Then why can't we just forget?" I ask. "We can't forget. Because we don't want to." Laura says. "But I don't want to hold on anymore." I say. "Aria, hold on to it. Or it will get lost, and you might not ever find it again." She says. Hold on to it. I think.
Laura gets up and holds out her hand. I take it and get up. She puts her arm through mine and we start to walk. We get out of the woods and walk back to town. We meet Mya and Meg. "Aria." They smile and run to me and Laura and hug us. "Are you okay?" Mya asks. "Yeah." I smile. "This time, I believe you." She says. She smiles. "Let's go home, besties." Laura says. We go home. "Now, I know something to make you happy. Sing a song." Laura says. "You know me so well." I laugh. "I'll film you. I love this job." Mya says and pulls out her camera. I think for a second and then I sing Where We Land by Ed Sheeran. When I'm done singing, I smile. I hug them all. We play games all day. As it gets late, Laura fixes us supper. We all eat. "Thanks, Laura." I say. She smiles, "Don't expect this everyday." I laugh.
After a while I get on the computer. I get a request from the boys. I hand the computer to Laura. "It's for you." I say. She hits accept. "Hi, Ar- Laura?" Liam says. I sit in my chair. "Oh, yeah. You aren't excited to see me." She says. "Laura! I've missed you so much." Zayn says. "Zayn!" She says. She smiles a huge smile. Mya sits next to her. "Mya." Harry says. "Harry!" She says. They both smile. Meg comes behind them and waves. "So, where's Aria?" Niall asks. "She's in the bath." Laura says. "Sleeping." Mya says at the same time. "She's sleeping in the bath..." Meg says. "Very funny. You all are terrible liars." Liam says. Laura looks over at me. I sigh and go sit next to Laura. "I was getting food." I say. "Hi, Aria." They say. Louis's not there. My heart breaks. "So, is Louis okay?" Laura asks. "He told us.." Liam says. "Guys, I'm not feeling well. I'm gonna go to bed. See you tomorrow?" I say. "Aria, wait." Liam says. I leave and take a shower. I lay down on my chair and close my eyes.
I lay there. "She was upset." Laura says. "Louis is." Liam says. "It's sad." Mya says. "They're perfect for each other." Harry says. "Yeah, and now they can't be together." Meg says. "And she's said good-bye..." Niall says. "It's like a fairy-tale without a happy ending." Laura says. "They both deserve to be happy." Zayn says. "They both deserve the best." Liam says. "They should be together. I've never seen Aria happier than when she was with Louis." Mya says. "Yeah, the only time she's ever been happier is when she was with grandpa." Laura says. "I wish we could somehow make a plan to get them back together." Harry says. "Yeah, but they need to do this without us messing with it." Mya says. "Yeah." Niall says. I try to stay awake longer, but being how tired I am, I fall asleep.
