Chapter 1

Ezra POV

Ezra Fitz walked into Rosewood Day High School for his first day ever being a teacher. He looked around at the building he was now proud to call work. It wasn't the most developed school but it was enough for him. He could still smell the paint from where the walls had recently been painted in preparation for the new year. He walked through the halls toward his classroom. He glanced down at the piece of paper in his hands has he stopped in front of a door. 'Room 36' was written down. He peered up at the room number and smiled before opening the door. He turned on the light and stood in doorway taking in the room. It was bare aside from the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom, student's desk across from it, and two chalk boards, one behind the teacher's desk and one on the wall beside the student's desks. He walked further into the room and set his briefcase down on his desk.

He turned toward the door when he heard the slight chatter from the hallway now being filled with kids. He walked out the door and headed to the principals office. He stepped through the doors and waltzed over to the front desk. The woman behind the desk looked up at him while on the phone and smiled holding up a finger signaling for him to hold. He grinned back and nodded. When she went back to talking on the phone, he used the chance to give her a once over. She didn't look much older than him. She was blond with cool blue eyes. Her voice was so soft it sent chills down Ezra's spine. When she hung up the phone she turned to him.

"What can I do for you?" she asked smiling. She lightly bit her bottom lip and looked him up and down.

Ezra noticed this and couldn't keep the boyish smile off his face as he stated, "I'm the new English AP teacher. Ezra Fitz." He reached out his hand to shake hers. She responded by telling him her name was Maria Sanchez. "I'm here to pick up a schedule and my class roster."

"Ah, yes. One moment." As she was walking away, she sent glances back over her shoulder. Ezra strained his neck to watch her with soft smile upon his lips.

A few minutes later, she returned with his papers in her hand. She handed them to him just as the bell rung. He looked up at the ceiling before looking back at her with an apologetic smile. "Got to go."

He was almost to the doors before she called his name. He turned to look at her. "Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" He smiled and nodded. They exchanged numbers before he left.

Aria POV

It was her first day back in Rosewood in over a year. The town looked the same as it did before she left. It seemed as though nothing at changed but it had. One of her best friends, Alison DiLaurentes, went missing the previous summer while she, Alison, and their three friends, Hanna Marin, Emily Fields, and Spencer Hastings were having a sleep over.

She parked her car in Rosewood High School's parking lot. She turned off the vehicle and sat there for a few minutes looking at the school. She sighed before getting out and grabbing her things from the trunk. She stepped through the doors to the school and was immediately caught off balance by three hugs.

Aria has spent the year in Iceland and had still managed to keep in contact with Hanna, Spencer, and Emily. Things weren't the same after Alison went missing but they still talked a little. Aria smiled at her friends as she hugged them back.

Hanna had told her about her transformation but seeing her in person was surreal. Before Aria left Hanna was the fat, quiet girl everyone made fun of. But now, Hanna was skinny and seemed to be the "it" girl. Spencer and Emily hadn't changed much.

Hanna asked her all about Iceland as they walked to their lockers. Aria told them all about how magnificent it was. Aria opened her locker and threw her second, third, and fourth period stuff in there.

"So, what's your first period?" Spencer asked when the bell sounded.

Hanna, Emily, and Aria all responded in unison, "AP English."

"Mr. Fitz?" Spencer questioned. They nodded. "Me, too! I heard he is really hot." Aria smiled as the walked to class. They took their seats. Spencer sat up front as usual, Hannah sat in the second row in the middle hoping not to gain too much of the teacher's attention, while Emily and Aria sat beside each other in the back with the windows to their right.

Aria reached into her backpack and pulled out her binder. She heard the door closed and looked up when some of the other kids began to whisper. She was caught off guard by the sight she saw. Sure Spencer had said he was hot but Aria didn't think he'd be that hot.

The man who walked in was probably twenty-five, give or take a few years, and he had dark brown curly hair. His blue eyes shown with excitement as he looked about the classroom. He wore a dark suit with a white under shirt and blue tie. His eyes scanned the room and paused slightly as they landed on Aria. She could feel herself blushing as she looked down. When she looked back up he had looked away with a little tint of red on his cheeks.

Ezra POV

Ezra found himself growing nervous as he got closer to the door of his classroom. He paused just outside the door and took a much needed breath before walking in. He closed the door behind while looking around at the students with a smile. He made a note of each one's face and paused when he came across a pale brunette with large green eyes. He caught her giving him a once over and couldn't help but do the same to her. Her style was very unique. It wasn't like most of what he'd seen in Rosewood. He looked back up at her face and saw her blushing. He looked away and cleared his throat. He flipped through the pages that Maria had given him as the class quieted down. Finding the class roster, he took out a pen and leaned against the front edge of his desk.

He cleared his throat loudly hoping to get the few students who were talking in the back attention. "I'm Mr. Fitz, your new English teacher. When I call out your name please say here and if you like to be called something else." He took a few minutes and read off the names from the list. He looked up after each name to match it with a face.

"Aria Montgomery." He looked up and glanced around the room. He heard a suave voice say here. It was the girl who had given him the once over. She smiled at him and he gave her a slight smile in return before continuing down the list.

Once he was done he opened his briefcase and pulled out some papers. He began talking about the basic first day stuff as he went around to each student and gave them a papers on class procedure, due dates for major assignments, grading rubric, and a letter to be signed by their parents. When he got to Aria, he stopped talking for a moment when her hand grazed his. He looked down at her and saw he green eyes peering up at him. He quickly brought himself out of her eyes and kept going down the aisle. He saw a girl in the front row, Spencer if he remembered correctly, look back at Aria with furrowed brows. He rounded the desk to head toward the back to pass out the papers to the last row and saw Aria merely raise her shoulders in a shrug.

After passing out the papers, he sauntered back to the front while looking at the class. He still had forty-five minutes of class left. He turned back toward the class and propped himself up against his desk with his arms folded over his chest. "So, we still have forty-five minutes of class left. How about we get to know each other a little better? Pair up with one other person in the room and ask them three unique questions about themselves. You will be presenting their answers to the class." Everyone got up to find a partner. Ezra had counted how many students there were while he was handing out the papers. He came up with an odd number which meant someone was going to be paired up with him.

He looked down at the floor and tapped the heel of one boot and the toe of the other while he waited for someone to speak up. He felt a hand on his arm and he looked up. Aria was smiling at him. His eyebrows drew together in confusion. She decided to inform him, "Uh, I don't have a partner."

Ezra looked stood a little straighter. "Oh yes, right, sorry." Aria smiled and licked her lips. He watched her mouth before looking into her eyes. She still had a smile playing at her lips as she tilted her head to the side. He looked straight ahead and tilted his head and pursed his lips in thought. "Ummm, what are some things you like to do in your free time?"

"Well, I read and write. Most of my writing is just for me, though." Ezra looked over at her and smiled slightly. She kept her body face him but leaned her hip against his desk. "How about you?"

"Same. And I like to travel. I spent a semester of my junior year over in Iceland." Ezra watched her eyes grow wide in delight.

"I just got back from Iceland. My family and I moved there for a year after…" The light in her eyes had died suddenly. Ezra squinted in confusion.

"After what?" he questioned softly.

Aria looked up at him and smiled before shaking her head. "Anyway, next question."

Ezra looked at her in confusion. He noticed her swallow a lump in her throat. He decided to move on to his next question. "What do you like to write about?"

Aria blushed slightly before whispering, "Romance." Ezra bit his lip to keep the smile from forming. She must have noticed because the redness on her cheeks deepened. He pushed his shoulder slight and said, "Stop. It's not funny."

"I'm not laughing!" He said back before breaking out into a smile.

Aria smiled. It dropped and now her face was full of panic, "But please don't say that in front of the class."

Ezra furrowed his brows in confusion. "Why?"

"Because…because it's embarrassing!"

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about. I write romance sometimes. It's not very good but…" he ventured off when he saw her blush again. She just couldn't stop blushing around him. Then a thought occurred to him. When she said romance maybe she meant…

Before he could finish the thought the bell rung and she sprang away from him to gather her things. He cleared his throat and spoke up to everyone, "We'll present what we learned tomorrow. Have a nice day!" He walked around to stand behind his desk.

Aria POV

Aria gathered her things as quickly as she could. She mentally smacked herself across the face. She couldn't keep herself from blushing the whole time she was talking to Mr. Fitz. She sighed in frustration when she noticed she was the last one in the room and she couldn't her binder to go into her backpack. She tried to shove it into the opening but it still wouldn't fit.

"Everything okay?" She heard a voice above her. She paused slightly before looking up. Mr. Fitz was smiling down at her. She looked down at her bag and groaned. She stood up with her things. Mr. Fitz grabbed the bag and binder from her hands and smoothly placed the binder inside. He closed the flap and held the strap open for her to prop it on her shoulder. She sighed and placed it on her shoulder.

"Thanks," she said lamely. He smiled and nodded. That smile was really getting on her nerves. It made her want to jump him right then and there. She shook her slightly. He's her teacher for crying out loud. "I should go before I'm late for second period." She quickly stepped around him and out of his classroom. She quickly walked to her locker where Hanna, Emily, and Spencer stood waiting for her.

"So, what took you so long? Drooling over Mr. Fitz?" Hanna questioned. Aria rolled her eyes as she opened her locker.

Throwing her English stuff inside and grabbing her history stuff she answered, "No. I couldn't get my binder in my backpack." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the girls sharing a knowing smile. She turned to them in annoyance. "What?" she questioned.

"Nothing," Emily said. Emily looked at Spencer.

Spencer, always the one to speak up, said, "We just noticed the way he was looking at you is all." Aria squinted in confusion. She shook her head. Spencer continued, "No, I'm serious. Every time he looked at you he would stop talking and he looked at you a lot."

"A lot." Hanna spoke up. She was grinning from ear to ear. "And…I couldn't help but notice the blush that pretty much stayed on your face the whole period."

The warning bell sounded and Aria closed her locker while saying, "You guys have it wrong. He's my teacher. Nothing else." She left them standing there as she headed off to class. She passed Mr. Fitz's class and smiled at him when she saw him in the doorway. He smiled back and watched her walk down the hallway.