Coffee & Biscuits

12|the plan

"That was a mistake, I realize that now. But can you honestly say that you would've believed me if I would've told you this before the party?" Rebecca asked.

The answer to that was no. Aria knew herself and had Rebecca approached her before she would've dismissed her. Called it a poor attempt to ruin her quest for votes just to secure her own win, so she had a point there. Since Rebecca had come clean with Aria she felt the need to do the same. 

"No you're right. Before the party I had my assumptions about you, I even tried to dress like you once and my mother ended up punishing me for it. My views of you changed a little bit then, but not enough to believe what you said." Aria confessed.

Rebecca took the information in and then smiled. It didn't look like she was that bothered by the words, almost like she had heard them countless times before. Despite the situation Aria was still curious why Rebecca had become 'The' Rebecca George and if she kept it as a badge of honor or painful baggage. 

"I was the first of the girls to enter puberty, did you know that? Breasts, hips and curves in all the right places by the age of twelve; that made me a target. Nobody taught me how to make it stop, how to be seen as anything else than a body, so I created an alter ego for myself. Instead of fearing them I made them fear me." Rebecca explained.

"Why didn't you tell someone about what these boys were doing to you? Someone could've stopped it." Aria tried but Rebecca only laughed.

"Don't you think I tried that? I told countless people about my troubles and they all chuckled at it, told me it was the price to pay for being beautiful. That's why I couldn't tell you this before, because you would've judged me just like they did." 

Aria stood and for the first time today she felt powerful. When she thought about Brody and his friends she didn't tear up or buckle in sadness but instead she stood tall with both feet on the ground, staring at a girl who was equally as terrified as she was but not yet broken. Even if the events from last night still colored her dreams into nightmares, she wanted this to be over and if it meant teaming up with Rebecca it might be the only way to ensure the cycle was broken. 

"What would you need me to do? If I went along with this plan of yours, I mean." Aria asked carefully.

Rebecca's  eyes lit up as she got her hopes up about Aria joining her but nothing was written in stone. Aria still believed that they needed to do this the right way, after all her father was a lawyer and knew how the justice system worked. If they didn't have enough evidence or waited too long the charges might be inadmissible and then they would have prolonged the process for no reason. 

"You have to act normal, as best as you can, and stay in the race for prom queen. We need to make those boys think we're willing to keep their secret, but on prom night we will expose them." 

"What if the police say we coerce them into confessing? My dad is a lawyer, he knows everything about these types of legal issues. If we can't prove without a shadow of doubt that they did these things to us, to other girls, we have no case."  

"So we'll make sure that we have what is needed to warrant an arrest. Perhaps you can talk to your dad, vaguely I mean, and ask him what sort of evidence we'd need to have in order to secure a conviction." Rebecca suggested.

The two girls continued planning what to do, beginning Monday, and little by little Aria started to feel better. But she knew that this was just the beginning and the potential that it will get harder was something she had to appreciate.

---

To help her mother in the kitchen served as a great distraction for Aria on that Saturday. Catherine had gotten a sudden urge to revamp the baked goods at the cafe and apparently she had been researching new and fun recipes to try, all morning. After Rebecca had left Aria's mood had changed and despite not being fully okay she was at least smiling. 

As they shoved another cheesecake in the fridge mother and daughter took a moment to talk while cleaning up the kitchen. 

"Who was the girl that came over before - a new friend from school?" Catherine looked pleased.

"Yeah you could say that." 

Catherine looked perplexed as to why her daughter looked so somber. It was one thing to pretend in school but at home it was near impossible. Catherine could sense what mood her daughter was in without looking at her and that's what was happening now. Even with Aria's back turned her mood obvious.

"Something is wrong with you, I can tell. Did something happen at Maya's house last night?" Catherine asked softly.

"No mom, I'm just tired and need to catch up on some sleep." Aria lied.

Catherine placed her palm on Aria's shoulder and created a warm feeling. If Aria thought she was done crying a new wave of tears proved her wrong. The memory of hands on her body; ripping her, tearing her clothes and digging their nails into her skin - it was a feeling she knew would linger. When she met Catherine's eyes she wondered if her mother carried a secret similar to hers. She had seen pictures of her mother as a young woman and naturally, she was beautiful. 

Was it intrusive to ask?

"Mom; what was high school like for you?" Aria asked.

Catherine chuckled and stared into the abyss while thinking, "High school was good for me. I wasn't a popular girl on anything like that, probably more an every-day-girl than anything else. Why do you ask?" 

"We've never talked about your high school days, really. I'd like to know." 

Catherine moved over to the kitchen table and gestured for Aria to have a seat too. This were the grounds for a deep mother and daughter conversation and would've a happy one if Aria didn't have a hidden agenda behind it. If her mother had actually gone through something similar, only then could she tell her - only then she'd understand why Aria had now chosen not to report the crime right away.

"I never thought I'd be ashamed to say this but...I wasn't all that exciting in high school. I enjoyed my friends and the occasional party but nothing crazy."

"What about boys, did you have a boyfriend?" 

Catherine laughed softly, "I see--that's what you're curious about. No, I never had a boyfriend in high school because my mother wouldn't have let me. Of course I was jealous of the popular girls and the attention they got, I wish some of it would've been directed at us 'ordinary' girls - but that's all in the past now." 

"How do you know they wanted the attention, in the first place?" Aria asked.

"Oh I don't know, maybe the way they would carry themselves. It was such a stark difference from who I was, I suppose I always assumed they craved it. That's why I was so alarmed when I found you in that outfit that night, because you remind me of who I was in high school and if we are anything alike you wouldn't know how to handle that type of attention. I just wanted to protect you."

Aria was torn between her feelings and especially now when she had learned about Rebecca's ordeal too. Her mother meant well by wanting to protect her but Aria was sick of being looked at like a child. She had lived a rather protected life but still found herself in that horrific situation she was in last night, if anything she needed to be the protector of other's right now. Aria decided to keep her mouth shut about last night or hinting anything about it, instead she felt more determined than ever to go through with the plan and in the end showing everyone that Aria Willows was not the girl they thought she was.