A/N – Thank you guys so much for your reviews. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this kind of feedback for my first foray into prose writing. All of you are amazing to me! I can almost guarantee that there will be an update for this every Friday night due to the amount of research I have to put into this. As another side note, while writing this chapter, I listened to "Somebody Help Me" by Full Blown Rose.
Disclaimer – Once again, I think it goes without saying that Pretty Little Liars does not belong to me and this is merely for entertainment.
Class A
Chapter Two: Somebody Help Me
Bronx-Lebanon; The Bronx, New York City, January 2013-
"How is she today?" Ezra asked the nurse sitting behind the large, wooden desk.
"She's still asleep," The elderly woman, her hair already stark white, responded in a kind, worry filled voice.
"Can I see her?" He asked; hope emanating from his voice at the thought of seeing the one girl who had not left his mind for the past year.
"I think I can make an exception for you," The woman winked, her wide, brown eyes watching Ezra from behind her large rimmed glasses as she stood from her seat. She smoothed the wrinkles from her frost white uniform before coming around the desk. She gestured for Ezra to follow her down the long hall full of medical equipment.
"Did they move her?" Ezra questioned, shifting the blood red roses he held in his left hand to his right.
"Just down the hall. They gave her, her own room shortly after you went home," The nurse informed him, "She'll be more comfortable now."
Ezra nodded in response, nervously twisting the roses in his hand. His pulse quickened as he neared the room Aria had been moved to. The nurse patted Ezra reassuringly as he stood motionless in the doorway, staring in at the pale, small figure of the girl he had been praying to see every night for the past year.
A lone tear fell from Ezra's eye as he took in the pathetic sight in front of him. The once strong girl he had known lay in before him - weak and frail. Her skin was only a shade or two darker than the white sheets of the small hospital bed she laid in. Her dark brown hair had been washed the previous night and, after hours of brushing with no luck of getting the tangles out of the chocolate mass, the nurses had made the decision to cut Aria's long tresses – stating a hindrance to the doctors.
Ezra slowly moved into the room, taking cautious steps toward the hospital bed. He grasped the railing as he neared the head of the short bed, not that Aria required a very long bed. He tentatively lifted his hand and moved it toward Aria's cheek, gingerly laying the tips of his fingers against her soft, cool skin and stroking the all too familiar silky skin. A sad smile graced his face before he turned away.
He gently laid the roses he held in his hand on the wooden table by the bed before slinging his charcoal, knee-length coat from his body and tossing it over the back of a green upholstered chair. He moved the chair to the side of the bed, the wooden legs scrapping a little on the floor as he dragged it; positioning it near the head of the bed.
"Aria, why did you do this to yourself?" Ezra whispered, his voice breaking on the last syllable as he grasped Aria's tiny hand in his own, careful not to wake her.
He rubbed his eyes with his free hand as he continued staring at the girl before him. He couldn't believe she had come to this. He wanted so badly to believe that she had somehow accidentally overdosed – she wasn't the type to do drugs; not in his mind anyway. The doctors had quickly shot his beliefs, the beliefs he wanted to be true; he had prayed to be true, down when they had told him that Aria exhibited all the traits of a heroin addict.
He couldn't begin to fathom what had happened in her life that had brought her to this low. There for the first six months after she had left Rosewood for City University of New York, she had written or called him every day – excited about college life. She had sounded like she was thriving in her new setting. She was making good grades, especially in her English courses, and had made new friends. She'd even gotten a job as a campus tour guide. Never during those six months had she let on that something was bothering her or that her life had suddenly been placed on a downward spiral.
Aria's calls became less frequent after the first six months, but Ezra hadn't taken that as a sign that something was going horribly awry in her life. He had summed it all up to her suddenly having more schoolwork to do, work that he was certain she was having no problem with, but still took a good chunk of her time either way. He knew she had work to do as well. She couldn't be expected to spend every moment of her free time on the phone with her older boyfriend who also had the misfortune of being her former high school English teacher. He didn't fault her for not calling –how could he? He had gotten to experience college life and so should she.
Eventually though, her phone calls, texts, and emails stopped completely. Every attempt Ezra made to come in contact with her once more, failed. He decided to pack up his things and move to New York in hopes of coming in contact with Aria, finding out what was wrong with her, and being closer to her. He handed in his resignation to Hollis and applied for jobs at various high schools in New York.
When he arrived, he found a nice apartment in Manhattan with the help of his mother – a widow who made a name for herself practicing law. He had quickly gotten a job teaching at a Catholic all boys school and became an integral part of the school. Although he had gotten settled in his new life with ease, he hadn't forgotten about Aria.
His search for Aria hadn't gone as well as his settling in had. He had gone to City University and asked around campus about Aria only to discover from one of her former friends that she had dropped out nearly two months prior. Ezra had found that strange. He knew how hard-headed and set Aria was on getting an English degree – she wouldn't have given up or walked away from one of the things she wanted most in this world. He had continued looking for her, but after months of coming to nothing but dead ends, he had nearly given up.
That was the week before she had come waltzing back into his life once more or, more like, was carried back into his life. He hadn't expected to see her once more yesterday after such a long time of not knowing what had happened to her. He certainly hadn't expected to see her half comatose after a drug overdose and in the arms of a tall Jamaican. He could tell that there was a lot that had occurred in her life over the last year and there were definitely some blanks that she would have to fill in for him.
"E…Ezra?" He was shaken from his own little world at the raspy sound of Aria's voice. She sounded like she was in shock; disbelief that he was actually here beside her.
"Hey," Ezra greeted, his voice soft and unthreatening. He knew that he would have to take small steps with Aria; almost as if he were trying to coax a timid animal from its hiding place. He could tell that she had had a rough year and no doubt would not easily welcome him back into her life.
"What…" She began, stopping for a brief moment as coughs began to rack her tiny frame before continuing, "What are you doing here?"
"You don't remember any of last night?" Ezra asked gently, watching her for her reaction. She furrowed her once perfectly plucked but now slightly overgrown brows together. She pursued her lips and her eyes took on a distant glint as a look of concentration fell over her.
"I remember working," Aria began as Ezra started questioning in his head exactly what her 'job' consisted of, "Then I went to Aaron and Demetrius'."
"Aaron and Demetrius?" Ezra questioned, wondering if he had finally gotten names to put with the faces of the men who had dumped her in his arms last night. He prayed she was talking about two other people and not the ones who hadn't even bothered to make sure she was okay after leaving her.
"They're friends," Aria shrugged, obviously not in the mood to give any more information to Ezra. Any more information and he would know exactly who they were. She wasn't going to rat her friends out for dealing drugs – that wasn't something you did on the streets.
"Let me guess, Aaron is a few inches taller than you, has a nose ring, and more ear piercings than any man has the right to have? Oh and how could I forget the misguided attempt at dying his brown hair blonde?" A shocked look crossed Aria's face upon Ezra's fairly accurate description. Ezra took her silence as agreement before continuing his spiel, "In that case, Demetrius must be the unusually tall Jamaican with the dreadlocks."
"Why do you know who Aaron and Demetrius are?" Aria demanded to know in a nearly accusatory tone. She glared at Ezra; crossing her arms over her chest and instantly going into a defensive mode.
"Because they're the jackasses who decided to leave you with a complete stranger last night knowing that you needed medical attention. They don't sound like friends, Aria," He tried to keep his voice neutral, but he wound up sounding slightly condescending at the end.
"They did what they had to do," She responded, shrugging in a way that told Ezra he should give up any hopes he had of making her think otherwise.
"They left you with a complete stranger, Aria. A stranger!" With that said, Ezra stood from his chair, pushing it back and running a hand through his hair in frustration and slight anger. He couldn't believe how stubborn Aria was being at this moment. Her life had been on the line and rather than insuring that their supposed friend was okay, those two had dumped her on the nearest person they could find. That didn't sound like something a friend would do in Ezra's book.
"You don't understand, Ezra," Aria shouted back, her voice breaking from lack of use as she continued glaring at the man in front of her. There was so much of her life he didn't know – that she was ashamed to tell him.
"Then makeme understand," He gave the simple solution in a soft, yet frustrated voice as he came to stand by the bed, looking down at Aria with an almost patronizing expression.
"No matter how much I explain to you Ezra, you will never understand. So much has happened in my life since the last time you saw me. I'm not the same person I was and I don't think I can ever be that person again. Just trust me when I say that Aaron and Demetrius are amazing friends – they're the only friends I have. They did what they had to do to protect themselves from my stupidity. I would have done the same in their situation," She stated, her eyes pleading with Ezra to drop the topic.
"Aria, what happened to you?" Ezra begged – he had to know why the woman he was still convinced he would share the rest of his life with was in this much pain.
"It's not a short story, Ezra. Nor is it something I would care to share," She sighed, sounding slightly defeated as she shrank down on her pillows.
"Tell me. You used to tell me everything," Ezra reminded her, gripping her hand in his and stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.
"That was the old me," Aria stated with finality before pulling her hand from Ezra's and rolling over on her side, closing her eyes.
Ezra huffed before glancing at the watch on his wrist; he would be running late for his first class of the day. He quickly flung his coat on before heading toward the entrance to the room, turning at the doorway to stare back longingly at Aria before walking out of the room. He stopped at the desk where the friendly nurse who had escorted him earlier was typing away at a computer.
"Thank you," Ezra tossed at the woman.
"You're welcome, dear. I wouldn't want to keep a young couple apart," She grinned; it was evident that Ezra held a high place in her opinion.
"We're…" Ezra began before realizing that the old lady's mistake would make it easier for him to have access to Aria during her hospitalization, "Very grateful for what you've done."
"You two are so adorable. How long have you been together?" She questioned, her eyes taking on a look of earnestness.
"4 years," Ezra quickly stated, which would be true if they hadn't broken up or whatever it was Aria had done to them.
"Are you planning on sealing the deal anytime soon?" She asked with a twinkle in her eye, leaning forward as if the two were sharing a secret.
"Maybe," Ezra drawled, hoping that statement was true, "I have to get to work. You have my number in case anything happens, right?"
"Of course. I put it in her medical records last night when you gave it to me. Have fun at work," She winked, waving at him.
Ezra gave her a half wave before practically running down the hall to the elevator. He pressed the button several times as if it would make the elevator arrive on his floor any sooner. He practically shouted his frustration when the elevator finally decided to open its doors, allowing him to step inside. He pressed the button for the first floor and waited rather impatiently before he reached his desired level.
On the first floor, he practically ran out the door into the cold morning air. He was amazed when he managed to find an unoccupied taxi quickly at this time of the morning. Sliding into the yellow car, he gave an address before requesting that the cabby drive as quickly as possible. The usually long drive was accomplished by the cabby in a little under fifteen minutes – prompting a lot of near heart attacks for Ezra. Yet when he arrived at his destination, he felt compelled to give the driver a nice tip.
Out of breath, Ezra arrived in his classroom, having just ran to the room at the end of hall from the sidewalk. Ezra smiled at the sight of his students already sitting at their desks, their books out in front of them and opened to the current chapter they were reading. It had taken Ezra a while to adjust to the boys in this school always coming to class prepared and ready to learn, but this was a private school designed for the brightest students in the city.
"Good morning," Ezra greeted, smiling at the class as he placed his briefcase on his desk and slung his coat over his desk chair.
"Good morning," The boys all intoned, watching as Ezra pulled his own book from his briefcase and settled himself on the edge of his desk, looking out at his class.
"Are you guys ready to discuss clichés?" Ezra asked his class. Freshman English wasn't his favorite course to teach because he had to go over all of what he termed 'elementary terms'.
"We are, but you don't look like you are," A tall, lanky boy with sandy hair said.
"Thomas, my personal life remains just that, personal," Ezra stated, a little more harshly than he intended.
"Of course, Mr. Fitz," Thomas mumbled, unused to seeing his favorite teacher in a foul mood.
"Let's get started then," Ezra said, attempting to lighten the mood by adding more enthusiasm to his voice.
A few hours later, Ezra sat in the staff dining room with Hardy – the resident science teacher. The two were busy eating their lunch in silence, an unusual occurrence for the two best friends. Hardy sat staring at Ezra, trying to read his mood.
"What's your problem today, Z?" He asked, stretching some before reaching forward to grasp his can of soda.
"I ran into Aria last night," Ezra mumbled, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"You're kidding," Hardy shook his head, trying to wrap his head around Ezra's revelation.
"Nope," Ezra said, chewing his food before swallowing.
"Please tell me you told that bitch where to go," Hardy begged, his attitude toward Aria having soured since she had disappeared from his best friend's life and broken his heart in the process.
"It's a little more complicated than that," Ezra informed the man seated across from him.
"Complicated how?" Hardy wondered, not able to see how that had anything to do with Ezra not telling Aria where to shove it.
"I can't talk about it right now," Ezra shrugged before standing from the table, throwing his trash away, and walking out of the room.