in my veins | jason dilaurentis [discontinued]

six

CHAPTER SIX

The upstairs portion of the Montgomery house was unusually silent as Arabella walked out of her bedroom, the brunette having finally moved back in - at Mike's request of course. She wasn't exactly as bitter as she expected herself to be. Her father knew to keep his distance, and for that she was grateful, and her mother was letting Arabella be for the time being. It still sucked, though, that she wasn't allowed to socialize with her friends anytime her parents were around.

According to her mother, Arabella wasn't even supposed to be around Spencer as long as she had been. Not that it mattered since it didn't limit Arabella's frequent text messages to Hanna, Emily and Spencer. Her parents may have a watchful gaze over her at all times, but they didn't have her phone password. And even if they did, the brunette had an iron grip on that thing.

As Arabella was making her way over to Aria's room to see if she was ready for school, she bumped into Mike, who had been just coming out of his bedroom and seemed to be in a hurry. "Whoa, easy there speedy," Arabella playfully scolded her brother.

"Mike, breakfast," their mother's voice came from inside Aria's bedroom.

"Sorry, AJ." Mike grinned sheepishly, rushing past her, shouting back a reply to Ella in the process, "I'll grab something later."

Arabella walked forward to stand in the doorway of Aria's room, just in time to hear her mother say, "Mike, on the other hand, may not be on the same page about me being back."

Aria shrugged it off, "No, he's fine."

"Why shouldn't he be?" Arabella asked rhetorically, her tone indifferent. "At least he has a social life."

Ella sighed, turning to give her daughter a hard look, "I know this not being able to see your friends is probably really tough."

"Yeah, that's an understatement," Aria scoffed, walking past Ella and making her way out of her room and into the hallway, Arabella following.

The two girls came to a halt once their mother began speaking again, "You do know that we're only doing this because we feel it's best for you. For all of you."

Arabella and Aria shared a look, both disagreeing with Ella but choosing to drop it. This would all fade eventually, anyways. At least Arabella hoped it would. She couldn't go another day without seeing her friends daily. Not with A on the loose and her best friends being the only line of support she had when it came to that lunatic.

"Now..." Ella trailed off, gesturing to herself as Aria and Arabella turned around to face her.

Aria raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"How do I look?"

Arabella smiled, "Nice." She squinted, eyeing her mom's get-up curiously. "Nicer than usual. Why?"

"Because today is my first day..." Ella trailed off, making more arm gestures in hopes that either Aria or Arabella would remember.

"Of being a full-time teacher! Right!" Arabella chuckled, looking down for a moment. "Sorry, I-I've just been kind of..."

Aria looked up, noticing that her sister wasn't going to finish, most likely because Arabella didn't want to talk about what's been happening lately. "So, do they-do they know what class you're gonna teach?" Aria asked.