pretty in pink|| l.h.

02.

aria jumped over her counter again, taking luke's record from his hands. "uh, them? it's not their best, uh..." she searched through a stack of records. "i like this one, its more upbeat, you know?" she handed it to luke and placed his back in the pile.

luke looked at the record with squinted eyes. "i've never heard this one before." he nodded absentmindedly, and aria used the long way around to get back to her cash register. "i guess i'll take it." he handed it back to aria, who punched in the numbers on the price tag, causing the register door to fly open.

"that's $10.40." she could barely look luke in the eyes. how could someone have such a beautiful face and not be staring at it all the time?

"what?" luke had handed the money to aria, and he was now looking at her with a tilted head. had she said that out loud?

"oh! nothing, nothing." aria tried a small smile at luke, who smiled back as aria gave him his change. he stuffed it in his pocket, and looked out the shop windows, seemingly recognizing someone. "thanks for shopping." aria sheepishly commented.

"yeah, thanks for the record. i'll see you tomorrow at school." luke stepped away from the counter and then out the door before michael spoke.

"he's a cutie, ain't he?"

dana walche was never one to sit down and shut up, and aria constantly wondered why she still talked to her. she always got her in trouble, just by being around her.

aria hated gym as much as the next girl, but dana seemed to have a rivalry with gym. she wasn't overweight, she just hated moving. most of all, though, she hated the people in their class. they didn't like dana just for the pure fact that ashton irwin had almost tripped over dana's foot one time.

instead of cowering in fear, like most people did, dana decided to embrace the fact that almost everyone hated her. she used this to get him out of class all the time. today, dana was stuck on annoying lucy carver.

"mrs. johnson?" aria expected nothing less of lucy. "dana's bothering me. again." lucy shifted her weight to one side and crossed her arms, staring intently at dana. aria smiled as the girl argued her detentions with the gym teacher.

"well, aria was there. she saw what happened!" dana pointed to aria, and her eyes widened slightly. "right, ari?" that was a nickname she'd always hated.

"what?" dana smiled at aria wider than she should have, and aria nodded slowly. "oh, yeah. definitely. it was all just a big misunderstanding... probably." aria looked up to the gym teacher, who shook her head.

"just leave, walche. you know where to go, right?" the gym teacher had set up a room for her more problematic students, and dana was so comfortable in there, she'd started bringing posters to hang up. "and walker, you can see the principal after class." mrs. johnson stuck a pen behind her ear, and then turned to the rest of the class, signifying that she was done with the conversation. "and what are the rest of you doing? keep running! we don't want push-ups, now, do we?"

the principal, mr. willard, was not an intimidating guy by any means. aria was just close to tears because the only other time she'd been in the principal's office was because she'd reported a fight- between dana and ashton. of course, she'd sugar coated it in dana's favor, but she'd reported it nonetheless.

mr. willard had to keep from smiling when aria had entered the room. "now, do you know why you're in here today, aria?" he looked down, shuffling his papers, and aria sat in the squeaky chair across from him.

"i'm guessing it's not because i'm getting an award, is it?" she let out a shaky laugh, and mr. willard shook his head for a moment.

"unfortunately, no." he coughed, as if he wasn't sure what else to say. "ms. walker, don't let ms. walche drag you down. you're a good student, you know?"

"she's not going to drag me down, mr. willard. she's actually really nice, and-" aria began, but mr. willard put his hand up.

"if you keep on fraternizing with kids like her, sooner or later, you'll be smoking pot or drinking, whichever one looks worse on college applications." mr. willard looked aria in the eyes, as if he was actually concerned for her personal welfare. "maybe you should try being with kids like... like ashton irwin. or luke hemmings! they're nice boys."

aria almost laughed out loud when mr. willard named ashton. ashton was one of the worst kids in the school, he just never got caught. "okay, mr. willard. i'll try it out some time." aria began to stand up, but mr. willard stopped him.

"ms. walker, will you please tell calum hood to come see me about his... letter to the school board?" aria smiled at that. writing an angry letter to the school board was such a duckie thing to do. "whenever you see him, let me know."

coincidentally, calum was the person waiting for her outside the office. "looks like you've turned into a badass, eh?" he was a step behind her as the two walked down the hall.

"don't worry, duckie. i'll never forget you."

a/n:

another one done. except this one is not good :(

okay, i'll probably update truth soon so you should go check it out!

-kt