CHAPTER 1

"Meredith?" Aria called out, stepping into the cool-aired house. A sigh escaped her lips after she was greeted with silence, which meant her stepmother was still gone. Her needs to escape the humid filled air were finally fulfilled. Spencer, Hanna, and Emily stood behind her, backpacks and purses slugged around their shoulders. They all kicked off their shoes at the door and stomped their way to her room, listening to Spencer's rant on her latest American History exam and how she was positive the only reason she received a 96 was because she used a pen, rather than a number two pencil.

"Why wouldn't you ask the teacher about it?" Emily inquired, shutting the door to my room once we all entered.

"Ask Mrs. Gretchen?" Spencer questioned cautiously, her bag landing on the carpeted floor with a thud before hopping onto the bed next to Hanna, who was intently skimming the latest Seventeen magazine. "You're telling me to ask a seventy year old lady why I hadn't received those last four points. You know what she told me the last time I asked her why I didn't get the full points? She told me I was being greedy. You know what else she asked me? 'Why isn't beating allowed at Rosewood High?' I can't tell you how fast I left that room."

Aria chuckled, understanding the kookiness of the older lady. She had her for American History as well.

"Oh my god, did you guys know that overalls are becoming a thing again?" Hanna's face was buried in her magazine, but Aria could already guess her crinkled nose and open mouth had shaped her face. "Overalls make me look really short."

"Being short isn't that bad, Han," Aria told her, slipping out her phone from her pocket and looking through one missed text message she had before scrolling over to Twitter.

"You're only saying that because it works for you," Hanna sighed. She flung the magazine in midair and it landed on the floor in a heap. "Screw it. If they're bringing back overalls, I'm going back to glittery pumps."

"Can we save the fashion drama for later and talk about tonight?" Emily busted through, her back going from slumped to straight in a matter of milliseconds.

"I see someone's excited for her mystery date," Spencer piped, a sly smile crossing her face. According to Emily, she had been getting these love notes from a girl that had eyes on her for years and wanted to expose herself. In Aria's opinion, she chose the perfect place to meet up — Rosewood's annual Masquerade Ball, which would take place that night.

"Not gonna lie, I'm beyond excited," Emily agreed, flashing a cheeky grin.

"Do you have any ideas?" Aria asked, "you know, to who it might be? Was the handwriting recognizable?"

Emily responded by standing up and grabbing her clutch bag, digging through, and throwing out a bunch of neatly folded notes on the floor. Aria, Spencer, and Hanna all joined Emily on the ground in a rush, picking up some of the notes and trying to determine whose writing looked familiar.

"'You wanna know who's beautiful? Look at the first line,'" Aria read off, giggling afterwards. "Aw, that's really cute."

"Meet me next to the punch bowl at the MB tonight — the Masquerade Ball," Spencer translated with a gasp, even though she already knew this piece of information beforehand.

Aria peeked at a few more notes and put them side-by-side with each other. "They're pretty... see how she doesn't dot her i's and her j's? She uses small circles."

"I think Allegra does that," Spencer investigated.

"That foreign girl with that heavy Italian accent?" Hanna whooped, "she's really pretty."

"No... I don't think so," Emily said, "in one of the notes, it says she's known me for a long time. Didn't Allegra move here only last year?"

"A year is a pretty long time, Em," Hanna insisted. Emily shrugged, continuing to look over them with squinted eyes.

"Do you have your dress picked out, Aria?" Spencer asked. A smile lit up Aria's face as she nodded and stood up to rush to her closet, where a zipped bag remained hooked on the rack. It was spaced out and had it's own rack, which made it seem as if it was the most special out of them all. She stripped the bag down until the dress was shown. Her hands reached for the top and she held it against her body, turning around to display what she used all of the money she worked off to buy. The three girls all gasped in unison; Spencer's jaw even dropped a little.

"It's so..."

"Perfect!" Hanna finished for her. "If none of the guys noticed you before, they totally will now."

"But I'll have a mask on," Aria reminded, her insecurities kicking in again. She didn't believe she was as pretty as the girl she was before. Ever since her mother passed away, her father and stepmother, Meredith, lived with her. Then, her father decided he'd move elsewhere for a year for a business opportunity. That left herself and a woman who had severe mental problems, literally. She was a nutcase. Aria never felt like herself at home because of all the strange orders she was given, like scrubbing the blonde's feet until it was softer than a baby's bottom or creating a chicken flavored cake for Meredith's tiny poodle. The inheritance that was left from her mother was taken away by Meredith. She had done her hardest to show Byron that Aria would be irresponsible with the money because of her age because she was only seventeen, and succeeded with her pleads. It was decided that her money and belongings would be put on a hold under Byron and Meredith's accounts. What Aria's father didn't know was that Meredith had been cashing out money for herself.

Ever since her father left the country, Aria had to pick up a job to fend for essentials - such as school supplies, clothes that would last the rest of the year, car insurance, and even food very occasionally. Sometimes, Meredith would go days without picking up groceries from the store and went out to eat instead. Aria was completely grateful that Mike, her younger brother, didn't have to go through everything she was going through. He left with their father.

Aria rarely wore the artistic outfits she wore before. The money to do so was now gone. She refused to accept cash from Hanna, who always tried to slip her something in the beginning, when the dilemma only started. She said she was in the same predicament a few years ago with her mother and knew what she was going through. Aria still wouldn't take anything, despite the rumors that began to spread about 'the daughter who has to skip meals because she can't fend for herself.' No one dared pointing a finger at Meredith because she had built a nice reputation for herself at Rosewood. No one could believe a beginning teacher would ever treat someone so awful.

"I think it's safe to say you've won best dress," Emily assured. The other two girls nodded. Aria turned to look at the mirror in the right corner, peering at her reflection as well as the dress. It was a new era dress, which flowed down to her ankles. It was a deep blue, like the color of the ocean when a sunset gazed over it and changed into a darker tone. There was a nice cut to it at the collarbone, and only one strap that was thicker and softer than the rest of the dress. It was curvy-friendly, meaning it'd hug her hips perfectly and expose her swift curves, the ones that she never showed off anymore because they were hidden under loose dresses or baggy sweaters. She couldn't help but to smile at the possibility of a potential shining moment. It was the first time in a long time that she had felt so... confident.

The door swung open, which caused the talk about Emily's secret admirer to pause, and in stormed crazy-eyed Meredith. Aria's heart almost belted out of her chest. Why was she here? The last time she had walked into Aria and her friend's gatherings, she mortified her and told them about how she still slept with her stuffed pig, Petunia. It gave her comfort in those dire times of melancholy, but she didn't want her friends to know that.

"Why are your friends here?" Meredith barked, "they need to leave. I've already told you — no friends today."

"I never get to have my friends over," Aria opposed, her eyebrows scrunching. She had only spoken back once and earned two months' worth of punishment with no phone or electronics, no friends outside of school, and no outside privileges. It was home to school and back for ten weeks straight. Regrettably, talking back for the second time was a horrible decision.

"You're not going to that Ball tonight," she notified, opening the doors wider, "and your friends can get the hell out of my house."

Aria's jaw dropped as her friends frantically accumulated their items and whisked out of her room. She was left to face the wrath of her wicked stepmother.

"If you ever talk to me like that again, especially in front of company," Meredith started, "I'll make sure you have a taste of hell. You're going to be there anyways. I'll be back around midnight, I'm going to Carlito's for a dinner rehearsal. I want to see the entire house scrubby clean by the time I get back. If I see so much as a speck of dust, you're going to be sleeping in the treehouse for a week. Got it?"

And with that, Meredith exited the room and took any and all hope that Aria had for herself. She waited to hear the door slam, which seemed to take a century, before sinking to the ground. She didn't know what on earth she was going to do, but whatever it was, she had to do it fast.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, a method she used to prevent tears from flowing. Picking herself up from the ground, she dusted off her school clothes and found a cleaning apron and slipped it over herself. The short brunette took one last look at her magnificent dress, uttering an audible sigh. She picked up her duster and exited her room, thinking about all the fun and action she'd miss out on.

At least her friends would be there. She'd have to settle experiencing it vicariously through them.

Ezra Fitz nervously fiddled around with his tie, trying to finding different variations to tighten it up before giving up and throwing it on the couch of his living room. Besides his best friend, Hardy, advising him to attend, he had no real reason to go. He didn't even have a date, nor had he been in Rosewood long enough to befriend a female friend his age and single. It wasn't that it was a difficult task since being Rosewood's newest, youngest, and most notably not in a relationship took a heavy toll on how everyone viewed him. He had a small idea of the rumors but no idea how massive they had become. But he simply wasn't interested in only the typically upper-class females that had nothing but money and looks to be presented. He wanted to meet a woman with talent, passion, and fire.

He traveled around to his kitchen, grabbing the glass of red wine and downing it in seconds. He was tense, that was for sure, but he didn't know why. He just hoped and prayed that no one would recognize him under his suit and mask. He knew his curls would give him away, but he wasn't up for gelling it down or creating a quiff. He was never a charming man, and you'd see many of his college friends say the same thing. Girls didn't fawn over him back then, which was why it was so strange that they were doing it now. He strayed away from attention, but was it possible to escape a spotlight that followed your every move?

The familiar ringtone of his phone made him groan. He was already busy trying to figure ways to disguise himself, he didn't need interruptions. He answered it only to make sure it wasn't someone of any type of importance. He didn't bother to look at the caller ID.

"Hello?" he said, heading back to the mirror and positioning his black mask over his face. His hazel eyes were able to be seen, unlike the other mask he tried on, which had no eye holes.

"Ezra!" he heard the voice of Hardy through the phone, "are you getting ready, man?"

"Sort of," he replied honestly, taking off the mask and setting it on top of the counter next to his typewriter.

"Hurry up," Hardy urged, "there's only two hours left before it starts. You want to get there early so you can scope out the hot chicks."

Ezra chuckled at his comment. He knew his friend had taken a liking to women lately, especially the brand new ones from outside of the college they were at together. He had bad luck with relationships, and Ezra always gained extra pocket money just betting on how many days it would take for Hardy to get bored of a girl and dump her or vice versa.

"I'm not there to look for a woman," he replied, shaking his head, "I just want to enjoy myself and have a good time, like you said."

"You think having a good time is eating snacks alone and dancing on the floor by yourself?" Hardy asked, "have you seen your dance moves? You look like you're being electrocuted."

He gasped at the insult. "That's not true!"

Hardy guffawed. "Alright, okay. I'll show you later."

"You're going too, right?" Ezra wanted to confirm. He wasn't up for being alone at a social event. At that point, he preferred getting to the stacks of essays he had to grade and then curl up and read Tender Is The Night for the billionth time until he fell asleep.

"Yeah," Hardy replied, "but I'll be working at the front desk. They said they'd pay me a hundred dollars to work the entire night and I need a new guitar amp."

Ezra sighed dramatically at the sound of that. It looked like he'd have to fend for himself. "I guess I'll see you there."

"See you later."

He hung up the phone and headed to the bathroom to floss for the third time that hour. He wasn't expecting to find anyone special that night, but he had gotten it all wrong. There was a special little lady that was the last person he'd position himself with in the real world that he'd be meeting. The peak of his predetermined course was coming up soon. And it would hit him hard, right in the heart.

A/N: Hey, hey! here's a new ezria story i've been working on which is most likely going to be a threeshot (maybe a fourshot/fiveshot, we'll see) but i'm really happy to share this with you and i hope you enjoyed it. do you think aria's going to be able to find a way out? and if she does, will her and ezra find each other at the ball? those questions will be answered in the next chapter.