𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐄! | 𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐆𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐘

two.

"olivia!" the girl didn't even know who called her name, all she knew was she needed to get as far away as possible from the brunette stood in front of her. which is how she ended up bent over the sinks in the girls bathroom, barely able to catch her breath. she had told herself she was over this, that she was over aria. she'd assumed she'd never have to see her again and had adopted an out of sight, out of mind headspace. but here aria montgomery was, stood outside rosewood high as if she'd never left. but she had left and olivia had created a whole new version of herself without aria.

"oli!" kalani burst through the doors with iris in tow, both of them looked extremely worried so olivia could only assume that kalani had filled her in on their search for the girl. olivia had never told kalani or iris about her relationship with aria, she'd just mentioned that she'd always been closer with aria than any of the other girls. "we didn't know she was back," iris breathed out. "we would've warned you." olivia shook her head, taking a couple of deep breaths in and out. "it's fine," she said, realising how many times she had used the word fine to describe her mental state across the last ten minutes. it was looking more and more like she would not be feeling fine anytime soon.

"it's obviously not," kalani pointed out. "or else you wouldn't look like you're going to throw up." olivia straightened up, staring at her reflection in the mirror. 14 year old her stared right back at her, the same red eyes and pale skin she had a year ago, first when alison disappeared and then again when aria moved. she didn't like the person that was currently staring back at her in the mirror, not when she'd worked so hard to get over everything. "i'll be ok," olivia said, unsure on whether she was reassuring her friends or herself. "i've just got to get through this day and then it'll be great," she continued. "i'll just ignore her, what are the chances of us having any classes together?"

"you won't have classes together," iris chipped in. "it's a big school, she'll be somewhere else." spencer hastings was in most of olivia's classes, at first it had been awkward but now they had settled to greeting each other and being civil, it had felt weird at first to make small talk with someone she was once so close with. hanna and emily were the same, she had math and english with both of them, emily always acted like they were still best friends, like there was still some hope that they'd all end up becoming a group again. hanna on the other hand had undergone a major change after alison left, she became the new it girl of rosewood high alongside mona vanderwaal. she'd say hi to olivia if they passed each other in the corridors but they all felt like completely different people now, it just wasn't the same.

"i have classes with the other girls," olivia turned to face kalani and iris, pulling herself together as quickly as she possibly could. she couldn't be panicking over aria in front of them when she'd never panicked over the other girls, it would look suspicious. she had to be as cool as she possibly could be about this, she could worry and stress all she wanted when she got home. "it's not a big deal," olivia flashed her fakest smile at her friends. "it was just weird seeing her." kalani and iris exchanged subtle looks that olivia probably wasn't meant to notice. "i'm going to get to class," olivia continued before either of them could crack out a pep talk. "i'll see you at lunch?"

"we can walk with you," kalani suggested. both kalani and iris shared most of the same classes which left olivia on her own most of the time. she had never really minded though, she loved her friends but she liked having her own time as well. "your class is on the other side of the building," olivia pointed out. "it's ok, i can walk myself." kalani smiled sympathetically at her. "plus i've got that new english teacher so i'd like to not be late," olivia skirted around both of them and out through the bathroom doors before they pitied her even more.

she took a deep breath as she approached her english classroom, seeing aria had thrown off her entire morning so she hadn't even gotten a chance to put her books in her locker yet. the weight of them had begun to weigh her down, not that she cared at that moment. diverting to her locker would make her late and given her luck, she'd probably run directly into aria. not that she was expecting much from her with the way she looked at her outside barely fifteen minutes previous.

spencer waved slightly at the girl when she entered their english class, olivia smiling towards her. the strange feeling had subsided a long time ago, they were acquaintances now and nothing more. she made her way toward the back of the classroom, it was only when one of her classmates moved out of the way that she saw her. sitting in the seat beside emily fields was aria montgomery, olivia cursed herself for picking the seat behind emily and wondered was it too late to move. if she'd arrived earlier, she probably could've moved but pretty much every seat was now taken and she didn't seem to have much of a choice considering emily had already spotted her. "hi!" emily smiled widely as olivia passed. "hey," olivia replied, her voice coming out more hollow than she'd intended. "how was your summer?" she kept her eyes firmly away from aria, it would look weird if she suddenly started avoiding people just because she was near. "good," emily nodded. "we-" the door shut behind her just as she started her sentence which olivia was grateful for because her 'we' was sounding a lot like it included aria.

olivia took her seat as she watched the man approach the board at the front of the classroom. he wrote out the name mr. fitz across it as olivia rooted around her bag for her english textbook. the door swung open, noel kahn entering five minutes late as usual. olivia could see the way aria tensed up, the way she straightened in her seat and the small gasp that escaped her lips as if she hadn't expected him to be in her class. noel had a pretty similar reaction before mr fitz cleared his throat, snapping both of them out of their trance. noel took the last seat left before mr fitz continued talking.

aria had always made a show of giggling and acting like a lovesick puppy whenever noel was anywhere near them, she'd done it mostly to appease alison and to prove that her and olivia were nothing. not that aria and noel were ever anything either but now olivia was curious, she wondered what had went down between them. she shouldn't have been as curious as she was, because she wasn't supposed to care about anything that involved aria or the other girls anymore. her phone buzzed loudly in her bag, drawing olivia out of her thoughts. aria's presence had also thrown off her silencing her phone once she'd walked through the doors.

"no phones in class," mr fitz said with a sigh. "sorry." she wasn't the only person that apologised, aria spun around with a quizzical look on her face but olivia ignored her, glancing down at her phone. her breath hitched in her throat as she read the text in front of her.

looks like you've been replaced, better ask your ex-fling what she's been up to lately! - A