Our Battle Cry

Aria's POV

I was running through the woods. I was being chased by something but couldn't tell what. All of a sudden I was in a giant clearing. I couldn't see anything beyond the clearing.

"Aria… Aria… You must be careful. Learn to trust yourself fully… Aria… Heed my warning," some voice was calling to me. I couldn't see anyone else near me when all of a sudden there was a passage of some kind in the clearing. I started running towards it. I was almost there when a figure appeared from the opening.

"Don't be afraid my child. I know who you are," It said. The figure looked like a woman dressed in a 16th century dress that was white. She had long hair that reached down past her back. "You must be careful, don't let the bigger problems over shadow what is going on right before your eyes," she said.

"Wait! What are you talking about?" I asked. I took a step towards her when she slowly started disappearing right before my eyes.

"Heed my warning child. Be careful of what's happening around you. You must trust yourself to become who you were meant to be," were her last words before she fully disappeared.

I woke up and stared at the ceiling while trying to regulate my breathing. The dream kept replaying over and over again in my head. After a few minutes I finally got up and got dressed in a pair of running capris and a white sports bra and t-shirt. I was walking downstairs when I heard voices in the kitchen.

As soon as I was in the doorway I could see that all of the guys were sitting around the kitchen table while scarfing down food. It didn't surprise me to find all of them in there. What did surprise me was that they all had no shirts on. Up until this point, I was used to seeing them with some sort of shirt on, even if it was just a tank top. Jared was the first to notice me in the doorway. Slowly all conversation stopped and everyone was waiting for something to happen. I sat down in between Jacob and Leah, putting me almost directly across from Sam. Emily set down a plate in front of me and I smiled at her to show my thanks.

I was about to eat when one of the boys asked, "So, that guy that tried to kill you the other day, is he your boyfriend?"

I looked up and saw that it was Paul who had asked. I surveyed everyone's faces. It seemed like no one had a problem with the fact that I knew him. Well, everyone looked apprehensive about my answer. I looked Paul in the eye before speaking.

"He is not my boyfriend. I knew him before I came here, yes. I was friends with him, yes. But the guy that attacked me… I don't know that guy." I kept my gaze even with Paul's while I responded to him. "If you'll excuse me, I promised Phyl, Emma and Wei-Wei that I would meet them at the beach. If that's alright with you?" I asked while standing. Sam nodded his head and all of the guys just stared at me. I don't think that they were used to seeing many people stand up to Paul and be that harsh to him.

I walked out the front door and took the path that would lead me to the beach the quickest. On my way there I texted Emma and told her to meet me at the beach. Once I saw the ocean, I smiled. I headed towards the water until my feet were only a few feet from where the waves were running up the sand.

"Hey," I heard from behind me. I turned around and found Phyl, Emma and Wei-Wei looking at me. I smiled and them and turned back so that way I was facing the water once again. We inadvertently made a line that went Phyleesha, Wei-Wei, Emma and then I. I watched as Wei-Wei walked until her ankles where submerged in the water.

"Everything okay A?" Phyl asked. She had turned to look at me with the left half of her body facing the ocean.

"I lied," I said. All three of them turned to look at me. "I told Sam and the guys that I barely know Damien. I said that we were friends. That I don't know who he is now. But that's a lie. I know exactly what he is. He's finally showing us who he truly is," I continued on while not making eye contact with any of them.

"You didn't lie Aria. You don't know who he is anymore. Hell! None of us do! He's completely different from the person that we knew back home. He played all of us. He was the master of the game and web of lies that he spun," Emma said while moving towards me. She put her arms around me and gave me a hug while facing the sun.

We stayed like that; all three of us silent and not moving, watching and listening intently to the ocean and the sounds around us.

"We'll stop him," Wei-Wei said. She turned her back to the ocean and faced all of us. "It's our job to stop him. It's our problem now. Not for one of us, but for all of us. We can stop him, together," she smiled at us. It was then that I knew that our friendship was forged with the tightest bonds.

"Hell yeah we will! He won't stand a chance against all of us," Phyl said. Once she finished she did a cart-wheel and landed in a karate pose that Wei-Wei pushed her out of and had all of us laughing at her.

We decided to hang out and goof off for a bit before going back to Sam and Emily's house. It was nice to relax with the people who I trusted most in the world. We had finally stopped laughing after I shoved Wei-Wei into a larger wave that came up the beach. We were all laying down with our legs bent and backs on the sand, just staring up at the sky.

"So… what's going on with you and Jacob?" Emma asked.

"Ugh! Not you guys too!" I complained.

"Too? Who else is bugging you about him?" Phyl asked.

"Oh no! Nothing is going on between us! And nothing will happen between us," I said vehemently.

"Why do you say that?" Emma asked.

"Because, I can chance getting him hurt. He already was almost hurt or maybe even killed by Damien the other night…" I trailed off.

"I think that you're scared that this boy could make you feel like your old self…" Emma whispered.

"What do you mean, like my old self?" I asked.

"You changed once you and Damien broke up. You guys were together for so long that it was like you didn't know how to be your own self anymore! You were always sad and didn't want to do anything with anyone… Then the thing with your brother happened and you moved here… You're slowly becoming the Aria that we all became friends with," She explained to me. I had never realized that I had changed myself after what had happened.

"We love you A. We just want you to be happy. Nothing will stop us from being happy for you," Wei-Wei said.

"Ditto," Phyl and Emma chorused together.

"Thanks guys. I love you too" I said while taking a turn to look at each of them.