pretty in pink|| l.h.

01.

aria walker had just recently dyed her hair pink, and duckie was the first person to notice, like always. "your hair is looking particularly... bubblegum today." he commented.

"is that supposed to be a compliment, duckie?" his name wasn't really duckie, it was calum, but in second grade when the two met, he was notorious for wearing socks with small ducks on them. calum ruffled aria's hair with a laugh.

"of course it is. you know how much i adore you, right?" to this, aria shook her head. her best friend was always saying things like this, telling her how much he loved her, and being overprotective towards any potential suitors. aria continued to walk, calum trailing slightly behind her, and when the bell rang, aria's pace quickened.

"coming to class today?" she questioned, plucking calum's hat off his head and placing it on her own.

"debatable. i dunno if i'm ready." the two reached the classroom door and calum opened it gingerly, ushering aria forward. "and welcome to another day of higher education!" he snarked. aria nodded to his comment, and entered the classroom.

aria's car stood out in the parking lot, seeing as it was the only bright pink car parked. aria would admit it, she'd gone through a phase. her father still believed that she was as obsessed with the color as she'd been freshman year, so that was the car that had pulled up her driveway the day after her sixteenth birthday.

she'd admit, the car was a bit of a fixer upper, but it hadn't let her down yet. even with it's lack of style and tendency to shut down completely at red lights, aria couldn't have asked for a better car. before aria was able to get into her car, however, she was blocked by a certain caramel-haired boy that had been pining after her since freshman year- though aria wasn't sure pining was the right word for it.

"hey there, pretty lady." ashton irwin leaned against aria's car with a sly smile on his face.

"go away please." aria clicked the unlock button on her car and reached for the handle, but ashton slid in front of it.

"you know, we're graduating in what, three months? and you still haven't gone out with me." ashton shook his head, letting his hair fall in his face. "we should hang out."

"i hope you know i'm not having sex with you. ever." aria pulled her sunglasses down onto her face.

"why not?"

"i don't want herpes." aria smiled fakely at the boy blocking her path, who scoffed and put a cigarette in his mouth.

"you know, you're a bitch, aria." he then stood up straight, and turned away from aria. "you might wanna see a doctor about that." ashton stood up, allowing aria to open her car door, and then walked back to his peers, who didn't refrain from giving aria dirty looks.

after a ten minute period of aria sitting in her car alone, there was a knock on the window. she blindly clicked the unlock button, and calum's head almost hit the door trying to get in. he reached into aria's console and produced his john lennon- like glasses, placing them on his face. "ready to go, girl?" he flipped down the visor and shamelessly checked himself out in the mirror, just to make sure his hair was acceptable.

"let's blast, duck man." aria placed her hands on the steering wheel, and the two of them were gone.

aria's job at the record store was incredibly boring. barely anyone bought records anymore, the damn things were becoming obsolete. it was a wonder the store was still open, all thanks to aria. she'd managed to convince half of the town's population that they absolutely needed all of the records they could find, and now people were just coming in so they could hang them on their walls.

michael climbed down a ladder, staring at the ceiling. he'd just finished stapling new posters to the ceiling, as if it wasn't covered already. he smiled at aria, who'd just entered the shop, and regarded the new posters with an amused look. "they're nice." she pointed upward, and michael nodded.

"i know, right?" the man jumped down from the ladder. "so, how was school, pinkie?" michael ran his fingers through a clump of aria's hair, admiring the new color.

"fine, i guess." aria jumped over the counter to take her place at the cash register. "dana almost got me a detention, and that creep ashton tried to hit on me again."

"hasn't he been asking you out since freshman year?" michael yelled from the back room, emerging with a fresh stack of records.

"yep. he's never gonna get the hint." aria clicked the cash register's buttons before it opened, and she began counting. "oh, mikey! you'll never guess what happened in calc today." aria began to tell her story, with michael only half listening, when the door bells chimed. aria only looked up when the person in front of her began to speak.

"hey, aria, right?" aria looked up, and there was luke hemmings, the high-class popular boy, someone she never thought would know her name. "is this record any good?"