Always Leave Everything Good to the Very Last Minute
<Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men begins to play in the background>
“AH!” Gary screeched.
“What is it?” Jack asked him.
“It’s 3 PM and we haven’t finished our essays!”
“Oh shit.” Luna and Flash realized.
“Did any of you even start your essays?” Aria asked. “Anyone besides Yaoyorozu that is?” She continued, upon seeing the younger girl raise her hand.
Yuffie groaned and Alice’s head hit the desk.
Well, guess that answers that question.
“Does anyone have anything written down?” Mercury frowned, looking at his own blank piece of paper.
“I was thinking,” Yaoyorouzu hesitated. “Maybe we could write something together? I know we’re all here for different reasons,” She babbled, “but, would Vice Principal Torrance even care if any of us felt bad about our decisions? Dubious as they might have been?”
She had them there.
“So, let’s write something on one paper, one essay from all of us. Together.”
“But, what would we even write about?” Aria asks.
They all shared a look.
=\=
*Ten Minutes Later…*
“Do you think Torrance will like it?” Momo asks them.
“I think he’d care less about liking it, and more about finishing it.” Alice says.
Flash looked up at the clock and froze. “Oh, shit. Merc, you gotta get out before Torrance comes back.”
“I’ll go with him.” Aria says, opening the door for him. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.”
Shrugging, Mercury followed after her and headed back to the darkroom.
The second they got inside Aria pulled him into her arms and gave him a full kiss on the lips. Mercury just closed his eyes when the younger girl pulled away, the taste of her cherry lipgloss lingering on his teeth and tongue.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since you saved our assed when we broke into the teacher’s lounge.” Aria giggled, then froze. “Oh, shit! I’ve gotta go!”
Shaking himself out of his stupor, Mercury grabbed a hold of her hand, “Wait a minute!” He said.
“What?”
“Back in the library,” Mercury paused, “You said that part of the reason you hooked up with Fitz was because you wanted your first time to be with someone you were happy with.”
Aria’s nose scrunched up as she thought back on it. “Yeah, I did.”
“And, are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Happier now?”
Aria considered the question.
She thought about how her life had been – before and after the move, before and after Ali.
She, Hanna, Emily, Spencer and Courtney were (and still are) the girls everyone loved, envyed, and wanted to be.
She had friends and admirers, went to the parties, and still had the notoriety; hell, Aria had genuinely considered dating or finding a steady boyfriend, maybe someone like Noel Kahn (Pretty Little Liars Series)? But, that was before everything went to shit.
And now… Well, Aria was still popular (somehow), she and her friends were still the center of attention (albiet, for entirely different reasons now).
Mercury Black was her polar opposite: an outcast avoided by many, involved in capoeira and gymnastics instead of football or baseball, someone who said and thought whatever he damn well pleased and didn’t give a crap about who or what it was because he did it; existing on the fringes instead of in the spotlight with people like Alice and Luna.
Truth be told, Aria hadn’t expected much to happen today.
But… She had fun today. For the first time in a very long time, Aria had had fun. She had spoken with and made friends with people she didn’t think she could be able to befriend, let alone hold a conversation with.
And the friends she had made today – like the friends she had in Emily, Spencer, Hanna, Caleb and Toby – they were the people whose opinions truly mattered.
They were the people who actually gave a shit about her as a person. They didn’t care about her social status, nor did they pity or ridicule her for being used and cast aside by a selfish asshole who used his dick to get a good story out of her.
They knew the real Aria Montgomery instead of the mask she wore every damn day–the mask she had to wear nowadays.
Aria remembered when her mother had encouraged her to just be herself way back when everything was simple and she knew where she stood with people!
But, that begged the question, was Aria happy now?
“I’m better.” She answers honestly. “I am, a helluva lot better than I was this morning.”
Mercury smiles at her; it’s an honest smile. “That’s a good place to start.”
=/=
“Oh my God.” Flash realized.
“What?” Alice asks him.
“Luna gave me a hickey!”
Luna’s head snapped at attention.
“Get the fuck outta here.” Gary scoffed.
“She did not.” Yuffie gasps.
“She did! Look!” Pulling down the collar of his shirt, they noticed a string of very noticeable purple and bluish-red bruises littering the athlete’s collarbones and neck.
“Holy shit, she did!” Jack laughed.
Getting up, Luna walked over to them, appraised the hickies, and said, “I did good.” Before kissing the uncharacteristically flustered Flash on the cheek and headed out the door to get Aria.
Stunned the athlete grinned, “I think I’m in love.”
“Dumbass.” Yuffie grinned affectionately, to which Alice tutted quietly and cuffed her upside the head.