Picture of Aria (not her actual outfit)
Played by Katherine McNamara
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*Lacey's POV*

I walk into the school and towards my locker. I see Jace standing against the lockers and put a smile on my face. "Hey there Jace. What are you doing?" He looks up and smiles.

"Hi Lacey. I was waiting for you. I wanted to ask if your doing anything tonight?"

"Yeah, sorry. Got a family thing." By that I mean Ryley and I have to check out some areas around town.

"Oh too bad. Well some other time then, yeah?" He smiles at me and I notice he has dimples. I smile back and nod. He pushes off the lockers and walks away.

"Hey. You're the new girl. Lacey, right?" I turn around and see a girl around my height. She's got long red hair and brown eyes. She's wearing a yellow top, dark blue skinny jeans, and purple converse. Well at least she doesn't look like a slut.

"Yep." I say popping the 'p'.

"I'm Aria Johanna. You seem like you need some friends and I would love it if we could hang out." Friends? I'll ask if it's okay with my parents later.

"Sure thing Aria. You don't seem slutty so we'll get along." She laughs and we start walking.

"So what classes do you have?" I hand her my schedule and she compares our classes.

"Oh! We have AP Chem, AP history, gym and lunch together." She squeals. I put my hands over my ears.

"Oh lord. Please calm down." I beg her.

"Sorry. I tend to squeal a lot." She smiles sheepishly. We say goodbye and part ways.
*lunch*

I walk into the lunch line and buy some pizza. I see Aria waving me over and I sit with her and some other people.

"Hey. So everyone This is Lacey Bentley, she's new here." I wave. "That's Cameron-" she points to a short blonde. "Everyone calls her Cam. That's Jackie-" she points to a girl with jet black hair. "We call her Jack. And you know me. We're just waiting for one more person."

"And by the way, I'm the sister of the weirdo who is late." Jack says.

"Well hi Jack, Cam. Who are-" I get interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey sorry I was late. Had to talk to the teacher about something." I turn to look at him and Aria starts introducing us.

"Jace glad your here. This is Lacey." She points to me and I wave.

"We met. He actually showed me around yesterday. So Jace, you hang with this crowd?" Aria gasps and I quickly add, "not that you guys are bad. I just didn't expect it."

Jace laughs and sits next to me. "Yep. Why, you jealous I'm hanging around other girls?" He smirks and I burst out laughing.

"Me? Jealous? In your dreams, pretty boy." He raises an eyebrow, still smirking. "What?"

"Did you just call me pretty? I'm not pretty," he pouts. "I'm hot. I will also except sexy."

I ruffle his hair and laugh. "Awww, your cute." He grumbles something I can't hear and fixes his hair. I eat my pizza in about 3 seconds and notice everyone staring at me. "What'd I do?"

"How can you eat that fast?!" Aria.

"How did you not choke?" Cam.

"That wasn't cute at all." Jace.

"I was hungry, I don't know, and I don't care what you think of me Jace. I'm still hungry, you lot gonna eat your food?" They all burst out laughing but didn't give me food.

"Nope!" They all say laughing. I pout and cross my arms.

"Oh I forgot I have to call my mom. Be right back." I get up and go to the hall. I take out my phone and dial my mom.

"Hey mom... I made some friends today... their really nice and cool... yeah, well Jace, that kid I told you about yesterday is part of their group... yep my plan is still on... okay bye."

I walk back into the lunch room and grab Jace's sandwich.

"Hey! That's my sandwich!" Jace whines.

"I'll pay you back." I say taking a bite.

He smirks. "I know just how you can pay me back." I stop eating and turn towards him. Just then he leans in and kisses my cheek.

"What the fuck did I just walk into?" Cam asks coming back from another table.

"I stole his samich." I say taking another bite.

"Then she said she'd pay him back." Aria says.

"So he decided to be his stupid self and kiss her cheek as payment." Jack finished.

"Oh, so the usual?" I laugh and they all look at me.

"He always does this? Really?" They nod and the bell rings. "Welp, I gotta go."

Everyone gets up and leaves. Jack stays with me cause we have next period together. "You wanna know something Lace?"

"Sure. What cha got?"

"We always steal Jace's food. And his payment is always a kiss. But it's always on the hand, not cheek."

"So...?" I say confused.

"He only ever kisses a girl on the cheek, forehead, or lips if he really likes her."

"And that means?" We walk into the classroom and sit in the back.

"Jace obviously likes you. He's only ever liked one other girl, but she doesn't like him and she moved away. He's been a player for a few years, and no one seems to interest him. Until you came along. He wouldn't stop talking about you yesterday, going on and on about how beautiful and smart and funny you are. I'm just hoping you can change him."

The bell rings and we face front. She's pretty funny, thinking he likes me. Even if he did, it would mean nothing to me.