"Okay I have another one," Chris says turning his phone off and looking at Aria who sits opposite him.
The two are at the shopping centre for the day since Aria just got her weekly pocket money and what's not better than spending it on clothes?
"Hit me," Aria says, crumpling up her empty crisp packet, dumping it into her bag.
"Ouch," Aria whines rubbing her shoulder, "Not literally!" She glares at her best friend who's laughing his head off , thinking his actions were really funny.
"Okay," Chris snickers, calming down a little. He clears his throat, "Want to come over and watch porn on my flat screen mirror?"
Aria's jaw drops open before she starts laughing. "I think I might have to add that one into my list of pick up lines on my notes app."
"No!" Chris exhales horrified. "Please don't tell me you have a list of pick-up lines as well as jokes!"
"I would. But that isn't the truth. And i've always been taught not to tell lies."
"Hey," Chris says not listening to what Aria is talking about. Instead he's distracted, his eyes following someone across the shopping center."Isn't that Tracy?"
"Tracy?" Aria questions. "Tracy who?"
"The Tracy from your home!" Chris says standing up to get a better view at the suspicious girl. "Yeah it is. Come look!"
Aria stands up as well, swinging her bag over her shoulder while making sure her phone is safely away in her pocket.
"Why's she sneaking along like a weirdo?" Chris asks.
"No clue."
The two set off to follow her. Not creeping along like weirdos. Finally, they follow her into a store called 'H&V' - a shop that sells movies and CDS.
"It's Saph and her boyfriend," Aria whispers, standing by the CD section. "What a creep. Why is she following them around?"
"Oh that can't be good," says Chris as they watch a security guard pop up and walk over to Tracy.
Just as Aria thinks things can't get any weirder, Tracy stands on her tiptoes, peeking over the top of a cardboard display. Watching Sapphire and her boyfriend kiss.
That is, until she knocks over the display right ontop of them causing all the CDS to fall over.
Chris and Aria look at each other before laughing hysterically, having to run out of the store so they don't get told off themselves.
***
"What are you guys doing?" Aria questions with a turned up nose. She slowly pushes Gus's bedroom door open to see Liam and Frank looking through the younger boy's diaries.
"Guys!" Aria yells in shock. The boys slam them closed with wide eyes, putting them behind their backs. "What on earth are you doing? And why does it reek in here!" Aria pinches her nose tightly trying to block out the smell.
"Gus writes about everything in this place," Liam tells her, quickly shoving the book he was reading in his back pocket and snatching the one from Franks hands to give it to Aria. "Look."
Aria takes the notepad from his hand, her nosiness getting the better of her. "My gosh," She mutters, flipping to a certain page. "This is about us," she tells the two boys with wide eyes.
The three sit down on the floor, flipping through the article about June 6th.
"I went to the shopping centre with Liam, Aria and Frank. The burger smell made Franks tummy gurgle, but we didn't have any money." Aria starts reading out to the others.
"Aria waved her money at Frank, making fun of him for having none. But she wouldn't let him use it to get himself some food, claiming she was saving it for later."
"I remember that," Frank grumbles.
"So Liam said, 'let's do the dive."
Liam lets out an unbelievable gasp, "He wrote about the dive!"
"First we looked in the bin and found some chips. And then Liam said 'Jackpot'. And Frank said, 'sweet as.' He did not say sweet as what. Liam pointed at a man and Frank said, 'yes that one.'"
Aria remembers that day and what they did. They walked into the man, making the chips from the bin go about the floor. Then persuaded him to give them all money for some chips because he 'knocked theirs on the floor'.
'The food was nice, but Liam said 'you mustn't tell anyone because if you do we are dead meat."
"That cheeky mother fucker," Aria sighs. "I didn't see him complaining while scoffing down those chips."
Suddenly, before the trio could close the note pads, Gina comes walking in. "What are you three doing?"
"Just - uh- tidying Gus's room." Liam says trying to be casual but failing.
"What and reading his private notebooks while you're at it? Huh? Give them to me, come on. Come on!"
The three bend down, collecting up the young boy's many notepads before reluctantly handing them over. Liam remembering to give the one that is still in his back pocket.
"Right, I want you to tidy Gus's room before he gets back. Right?!" Gina tells them, pointing a stern finger at Aria who's trying to sneak away. "You too young lady." Then the older woman turns and walks away.
"Thanks a lot, now i'm stuck tidying. I don't even tidy my own room yet alone someone else's." Aria grumbles, picking up a trash bag filled with moldy food.
"Right, we need them pages otherwise we're in serious trouble." Liam says trying to come up with an idea.
"What was in that one you hid?" Frank asks.
Liams eyes go wide, whipping his head round to the only girl in the room to make sure she isn't listening. "I don't know what you mean." He dismisses.
"Oh," Frank grins, eyes flicking between the two teens. Liam just shakes his head.
—
"We finished," Says Frank as the trio enter the office interrupting Gina and Mike who were also - looking through Gus' notebooks.
"Do you uh- want us to take the notepads as well?"
"No!" The two adults say in sync.
"Wow guys, don't be suspicious at once!" Aria jokes but no one gives her a second.
"I think these notebooks," Mike says instead, not wanting to be caught out by the children. "Should be locked away until Gus gets back."
The teens stare at the adults in front of them who also stare back. Aria raises an eyebrow at Mike who crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow back.
"Fine," Aria mutters pulling the two boys out behind her. "Time for Plan B." She whispers quietly.
—
"Gina!" Frank yells running into the office a few minutes later catching her attention "Your Alien plant."
"My slipper orchid?"
"It's been," He claps his hands together making her jump. She dashed out of the room, Frank rushing after her.
"Mike!" Liam panics jumping into the office. "The toilets overflowing!" Mike runs out of the room with Liam following after him this time.
With the two adults preoccupied with the boys, Aria sneaks into the office. She heads over to the cabinet where the notebooks are stored, flipping through them all to find the page about the burger dive.
During her find, she came across many things she does not think she should have seen. Like Mike's excuses about his silent but deadlies, Gina's secret nickname, and something else that caught her eye in confusion.
Here, in what must be the most recent notepad, is an entry talking about a conversation Gus overhead Frank and Liam talking about.
About Aria.
Aria quickly skims over the page, the sentences, 'mustn't tell Aria' and 'I don't know if she feels the same' standing out to her.
But before she could carry on, footsteps are heard in the hall. Aria picks up the last notepad, quickly finding the right page and ripping it out so the adults never hear about it.
Aria quickly hides behind the door, waiting until Gina's back is turned before quickly running out the office. Gina turns around quickly, but doesn't see anyone there so she brushes it off as someone running up the stairs.
Flopping down onto her bed, Aria sighs in relief. But the thought of what she saw about the conversation between her two boy best friends, swimming around her head.
However, there was one thing the girl forgot to do. And that was to actually put the notepads back where they were before.