Hey everyone! Some things you asked me yesterday: for the moment I don't think I'm going to change anything about the story, but if I do I'll tell you don't worry. And until I can resume the story where I letf off I am going to post daily :)

So here you have another one. Enjoy! Remember that your reviews are more than welcomed!

Chapter 4: First days are never easy

When the alarm beeped Emily turned it off immediately and sat on the bed looking at the wall as she rubbed her temples. It was exactly seven o'clock and she had been awake since probably five in the morning.

For some reason, and even if she took her usual sleeping pill before going to bed; Emily couldn't get her body to relax, so she couldn't sleep so much. The nerves and the weird sensation she had inside for this new start didn't let her alone.

She opened her eyes at five in the morning and cursed and said every single swear word she knew… if she couldn't sleep now she was going to be incredibly tired later and that day she didn't need to feel tired. Emily needed all the energy she could have, because coming back to school was never easy.

When she was a little kid; the first day of school was always a drama; she remember when she was only five or six years old and she saw her mom leaving after leaving her in school; it was a traumatizing experience because for her watching as her mom walked away meant that she was never going to see her again and she always ended up crying.

Obviously when she grew up a bit she understood that being without her mother for a couple of hours wasn't the end of the world so she accepted that she had to go to school and she stopped all the crying and all the drama. Maybe there were a couple of years when going to school was fun; she didn't have much homework to do and she had friends so she could play and do cool things. But when she started high school; things changed.

First of all, her first years of high school weren't as good as she imagined them to be. There were two high schools in her town back there in Texas so most of her friends were to one of them and the rest to the other one; so that meant that she had to separate from some of her friends, and then when she moved to Rosewood she had to start everything again.

So her first day at Rosewood high was a nightmare for her; she had the bless to already know Cassie McCullers, who turned to be one of the most, crazy popular girl in the town and obviously around school and that made things a bit easier since with the pass of the months Cassie started to became Emily's best friend.

But still her first day was a disaster; Emily didn't know where her classes were, she didn't know her teachers or the other students so she just walked around as if she was a zombie looking for her class and trying to fit somewhere.

And now maybe her situation was a bit different; she wasn't a teenager anymore, she knew perfectly Rosewood High, she knew every single class and teacher, but this time she wasn't going to be there as a student. So she was as terrified to start as she was back thirteen years ago.

After a moment of meditating and relaxing; she stood up finally and walked to her closet to pick up some clothes. Last night she let on the small armchair that was next to her window, some clothes prepared. She had picked a black skirt and a white blouse but now that she thought about it, it was maybe too much… but maybe she should dress up as much as she could today that was her first day, she had to cause a good impression; but maybe she didn't need to do so, maybe she just have to be herself… but what if she had to go and talk to the principal? She couldn't go dressed with random jeans; maybe she had to wear a dress, that was too much but the skirt wasn't a bad option…

Emily took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she eyed the clothes hanging on her closet; she was making a bit deal about this, she had to focus a bit and think better about things.

She wasn't going to a party, she definitely didn't need dressed up so much but she wasn't going for a walk either so she had to find a halfway point between those things.

Finally after a few more minutes she picked up the final outfit. She put on the same skirt she picked last night, in the end it wasn't a bad idea; she liked that skirt, it was simple not too long but not too short, she wore it to her first work interview and she liked it. And then she chose a light pink shirt; she just thought that adding some color wouldn't hurt; besides she loved that shirt.

So she buttoned it quickly and put some black heels, she was going to try them, if she felt too uncomfortable maybe she could change them tomorrow for other shoes.

It was half past seven when she exited her room already changed; maybe she woke up in time but now she was a bit out of time, she couldn't be late on her first day of work; the last thing she needed was to be fired.

Normally Emily liked to cook; she learned back when she shared that small apartment next to Stanford with Maya. They used to go to some cooking classes on Saturdays and other than that Emily loved to be in the kitchen alone and just cook.

So she used to take her time with every meal; for breakfast more particularly she loved to make some orange juice; her favorite, also she loved to prepare her coffee, black with just a spoon of sugar and then she liked to eat toast with tomato and oil, maybe cheese or just cook some pancakes. She never liked rushed breakfast where she had to eat just cereal with milk…

But today that was what she was doing. She was leaned against the counter with a big bowl filled with milk and cereal that she ate as quickly as she could. She didn't even took her time to bite it she just swallowed the cereal fast and tried not to spit out all the milk.

Her phone beeped a few times and she saw that it was Ezra calling; maybe she wanted to know where she was, she checked the time and saw that there were only ten minutes left for eight o'clock.

She immediately regretted eating that last spoonful of cereal since part of it ended up in her shirt and she had to go back and change; she exited the room still buttoning her new shirt; this time a blue one and ran to the living room to pick up her purse and her papers and after that she ran outside.

She had the luck to live so close to the school; Ezra wasn't lying when he said that he was going to look for some place as near from work as possible and today Emily was really grateful for that.

Rosewood High was just two streets from her apartment so she was there in less than five minutes. When she finally arrived there, there was still a few minutes until the bell rang.

There were a bunch of students already waiting outside, Emily walked slowly as she looked at them, they were smiling as they talked and laughed and checked classes and teacher's names.

Everyone seemed so excited; they were probably talking about what they did on summer or maybe they were talking about how boring or exciting classes were going to be, some of them were on their last year of high school and some of them were starting.

Emily entered the building and sighed deeply as she looked at the hallway, with all the lockers and the doors that lead to the classrooms; she immediately remembered when she walked around that same hallway and went to that same classes as a student.

She stood up in front of one particular locker; the one next to the math class, that one had been her locker for three years, she had it full of sharks stickers and some pictures of the swim team; and all her books, she also had there a picture of Paige…

The locker next to the one that had been hers was the one Cassie ended up using; she switched lockers with Brenda Miller when she became Emily's best friend; actually Emily never believed the version Cassie told about how she got the locker; she said that she talked nicely to Brenda and she asked her politely but probably she just threatened her or worst… maybe she hit her or something.

Cassie was the first best friend she had; besides of Paige; that little girl had a particular way to see everything and everyone and she always said that she was Emily's best friend, she never let Cassie say that she was Emily's best friend, she couldn't.

Emily felt really close to that little girl, ever since the first time they met outside of Emily's house they started to bond a lot. So she ended up being the McCullers baby sitter, Cassie could take care of her brother and her sister but she used to party on weekends and also Claire McCullers preferred to have someone more responsible like Emily with her kids.

Emily spent a lot of nights and days in the McCullers house and she ended up feeling as if they were part of her family, Cassie was like the sister she never had and Liam was the nice caring brother that was always making her laugh.

And then there was Paige, Emily never knew if she was the sister she never had as well or just the best friend she never had… the truth was that even if she was five years old at that time she seemed to be much older.

Nick McCullers used to say that Paige was an old soul trapped in a child's body, and maybe he was right, because the way Paige used to see the world and the way she understood everything wasn't proper for a five year old child.

Emily discovered later that it probably was because of the way her mom used to treat her; she didn't mistreated her or something but Claire always treated Paige as if she wasn't her daughter, just as if she was someone that needed to live in that house but nothing more.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door that closed abruptly behind her; Emily looked around startled to see an old man carrying a bunch of papers in his hands; probably he was just a teacher. Then her mind went back to when she was fifteen for one last second. She looked at the locker and smiled before she started to walk through the hallway.

She had a question in her mind since she talked for her mom after arriving to Rosewood; since she saw Paige's picture in her mom's house.

How was Paige now? A lot of years had passed so there was no way she was still a child. Actually it was a fact that Paige was going to be attending Rosewood High now and probably if Emily could count well she was in her last year.

A lot happened in Rosewood since Emily left so probably Paige didn't even remember her; but still Emily remembered her with some tender feeling in her heart.

"Here you are!" Emily turned around this time to see a familiar face. Ezra was right in front of her dressed in black suit pants, a white shirt and a dark brown vest with a tie… maybe Emily wasn't the one dressed up

"Hi Ezra" Emily said

"I thought you weren't going to come" He said handing Emily a cup of hot coffee

"Oh God thanks! I owe you one" Emily said accepting the coffee and sipping it "I completely lost track of time this morning" She said. Ezra looked at her and nodded

"I know what it feels like; first days are always kind of weird and even more if you're new here" He said

"Agreed, but it kind of feels good to be back here" Emily said looking around as they started to walk again

"My mom thought that I was being stupid when I told her I wanted to be a teacher" Ezra said smiling "Actually she was kind of right you know? We struggle to finish high school and then we come back here as if nothing happened"

"Struggle? Have you something to tell me Mr. Fitz?" Emily asked jokingly

"I wasn't the best student" Ezra said "But don't tell anyone, my students have to think that I was the best"

"Your secret will be safe with me" Emily said as she took a big sip of coffee and laughed

"But it's true, we are back here, ready to teach something, I'm kind of excited" He commented rubbing his hands

"I know, me too, but I am scared, this is the first time I am going to teach… you know formally" Emily said

"Just try to relax, the students here are good people, they are going to be comfortable and happy if they see you comfortable, don't show any hint of nervousness and everything will be okay" Ezra said

"Nice advice… let's wait until the first class starts"


They arrived to a big closed door; Ezra readjusted his ty and opened the door quickly allowing Emily to see a big room with a few couches in the middle and a coffee machine and a snack machine next to it that had a letter that said out of service.

Inside there were a few people; an old man reading a paper (the same man she saw minutes ago) there was a small old lady with big glasses that was sat in one of the ouches talking on her phone. And then, next to the coffee machine there was a tall girl with a cup of coffee in her hands.

The girl spotted Ezra and Emily and sipped her coffee before walking to them with a serious expression.

"Hi Mr. Fitz" She said completely ignoring Emily. Emily observed her for a moment and decided that she didn't really like this girl, at least not for the moment.

She was really dressed up, not in a dress but she was wearing expensive clothes, which meant that she was an important person here or at least was in a better economic position than Emily. She wore her hair tied in a high ponytail that fell perfectly over her left shoulder; and had a bright smile on her face as she stood on front of them.

"Hi Spencer" Ezra said "How was your summer"

"Pretty good, I got to go to Canada for a month" Spencer said proudly as she eyed Emily a bit

"Oh so you actually exited the lab for five minutes?" Ezra asked sarcastically. The question made Emily think a bit… if he mentioned the lab that meant that this girl Spencer was a science teacher or something like that… she never imagined that; she could picture Spencer being an English teacher, or maybe a music teacher… a lawyer… maybe a sociology teacher but not science.

"Very, very funny, at least I didn't spend the whole summer reading books in my tiny dirty apartment surrounded by beer" Spencer said angrily "Who's your friend?" She asked finally looking at Emily.

"Right" He said clearing his throat "Spencer Hastings, this is Emily Fields"

"Hi, Emily" Spencer said extending her hand to her. Emily shook her hand softly and faked a smile

"She's the new history teacher" Ezra said breaking the weird silence that settled down between them

"Oh, history… nice, Mrs. Hollie left Rosewood High two years ago; we haven't had a formal history teacher since then, are you going to stay here for a long time?" Spencer asked raising an eyebrow

"Well… that's the idea" Emily said

"Cool" Spencer said crossing her arms over her chest; Ezra glanced at Emily and looked back at Spencer who was eyeing Emily carefully. "I guess we're going to be coworkers for a long time" She said smiling softly

"I guess" Emily said

"Ezra!" The three teachers turned around to the sound of a deep, husky voice that came from behind. There was a short, fat ginger man with big black glasses dressed up in a deep blue suit; he smiled brightly when he arrived to the spot when Spencer, Emily and Ezra were talking.

The three looked at the man for a moment until he was next to them; he looked at Spencer and Ezra and then fixed his gaze on Emily.

"I have to go" Spencer said; she looked at Emily "See you around" She said sharply and then she walked away

"Ezra" The man said again

"Hi Mr. Green" Ezra said smiling

"So good to see you again; you totally have to come to my office later" He lowered his voice "I have some Scottish whisky my mom bought for me"

"We totally have to try it" Ezra said in the same low voice. Emily looked at them curiously.

"Oh you must be Emily" The man said

"Yeah, nice to meet you" She said politely. The man extended his hand and Emily shook it shyly, but instead of releasing Emily's hand he just kept shaking it.

"May I say that you are even more beautiful in person" He said "We talked on the phone a few weeks ago, I'm Malcom Green"

"Mr. Green" Ezra started in a whisper "Is the principal now" He said. Emily's penny dropped and she smiled at him.

"I am so happy to have you here with us, is so great to have a new official teacher here" He said happily; finally he released Emily's hand and readjusted his glasses "The whiskey offer stands for you too… you're totally welcomed" He said

"Thanks Mr. Green…"

"Call me Malcom" He said smiling. Ezra covered his mouth to suppress a laugh and Emily blushed a bit; it was so obvious that the principal was now flirting with Emily.

Fortunately after a few seconds of silence where Mr. Green just stared at Emily with a weird smile the bell rang signaling the beginning of the classes.

Emily sighed in relieve and ran out of the teachers room followed by Ezra; a bunch of students walked now through the hallway; they were checking their lockers and looking for their class rooms.

"First day is officially started" Ezra said raising a fist as he smiled "Aren't you excited?"

"Not as much as you" Emily said

"Follow my advice Em; just relax" He repeated

"Okay" Emily said "Where do you have class now?" She asked curiously

"Senior year" Ezra said "My favorite, we're going to do an introduction to contemporary literature and some poetry" He said enthusiastically "Do you know where is your class right?"

Emily took a small paper from her left pocked and read it a few times; she kind of remembered where that class room was

"Second floor… door 14A" Emily read out loud

"Oh so you have class with our friends from the first year" Ezra said

Emily actually never read the list of her students; she just eyed it last night when she went to bed but never pay much attention to the names or the ages.

Ezra finally walked away to his first class and Emily took a deep breath before walking upstairs to the second floor where the class room was. 14A was the third door on the left side of the hallway.


When she entered she stood up right at the door observing the scene; the students were already there talking and laughing, some of them were sitting on the table chatting quietly and a few others were sitting in the teacher's table while one of them was sitting in the teacher's chair.

Emily swallowed a lump in her throat, it wasn't a big deal, she could handle this but she was nervous. She never worked with first year students; she used to give classes to sophomore year, or senior year…

A paper plane flight in front of her and Emily finally decided to do something; she adjusted her shirt softly and walked inside of the class room with decision keeping her gaze on the table.

Some students finally noticed her and sat on their chairs making silence but the rest continued talking. Emily stood in front of the black board and cleared her throat a couple of times.

A sudden silence settled in the class and Emily smiled proudly when she saw that everyone was now on their seats and focused on her. She turned around and grabbed a chalk and wrote her name on the black board.

For being her first day, everything went surprisingly good; she didn't expect things to be so easy, or maybe it was because it was her first day, maybe she needed to get ready for the rest of the year but she did it pretty good.

Her class with first year ended up being pretty funny, the students might seem a bit out of control but they were nice people, Emily had fun giving the class and it passed really quickly.

The next class after that was with sophomore year, which was a bit harder since the students were in a very talkative mood but at least she got to introduce herself and all the things they were going to be learning during the year.

"Rough day?" Ezra asked as he waited for his coffee to get ready. Emily sighed deeply and smiled

"Actually it's going pretty good" She said as she sipped her own coffee. They were at the teachers room after a long morning, Ezra seemed to be tired, he had a smile on his face but seemed tired.

"Lucky girl" he said with a sigh "I am already tired"

"You're getting old" Emily suggested jokingly

"Well my friend I don't think I need to remember that I am only two years only than you" Ezra said smiling. Emily rolled her eyes. He retired the cup of coffee from the machine and they walked to the nearest couch to sit there.

"You don't need to do that" Emily said "I don't like to remember that I am getting old"

"You're not even thirty Em, you're not old" He said

"I feel old" Emily confessed, maybe it was meant to be a joke but she said it seriously

"Well, fortunately now you have the opportunity to start again and maybe who knows you can meet someone that makes you feel…"

"Younger?" Emily asked sarcastically

"I was going to say alive, but that can work too" Ezra commented

"I don't know Ezra… I don't know if I am ready to meet someone again" Emily said sadly

"You don't have to, but just think that maybe in a couple of years you can change your mind"

"That's what I thought the last time, and look what happened" Emily said a she looked down.

Ezra cleared his throat and tried to think about something to say to clear the air; he remembered that night, a few months ago when Emily called him literally in the middle of the night crying desperately and told him about her situation. Ezra wasn't an expert with these things and he didn't know what to do but he could feel all the pain and the suffering so he did his best to help his friend. But even if Emily seemed to be better now that she was back at home, she still seemed to be lost and sad.

"How about you?" Emily asked suddenly taking a deep breath

"Me?"

"Yeah when are you going to meet someone?"

"Ugh, it's not so easy" Ezra said frowning a bit, Emily laughed

"What happened to Elise?" Emily asked in a purr "Or Laura? Wait… and Tania?" She asked remembering Ezra's 'conquers' from the past years

"Elise moved to Canada last year" Ezra said simply "Laura was just a one week thing, it wasn't going to work, and Tania… we didn't even got to date" He said

"Really? And you want to give me advice about my love life?" Emily asked smiling

"For your information I had had a formal relationship that lasted a few years" He said

"And what happened?"

"It didn't work"

"Her name?" Emily asked

"Maggie" Ezra said

"What kind of name is that?" Emily asked

"Is the short of Margaret I think"

"Well, how many years did you last?"

"Four"

"Wow" Emily said

"See? I had a normal relationship once; now I am just enjoying my singleness"

"I don't think you believe that but okay, just let me know when you finally meet a girl that stands you for more than a day" Emily said

"Very funny, but enjoying my singleness is one of the most intelligent things I ever done in these past years, if you are not going to meet someone for the moment you should totally try it"

"Maybe I will" Emily said.

Ezra checked his watch and sighed as he sipped his coffee quickly; Emily looked at the big clock on the wall and saw that there were only five minutes left for the next and last class.

"I want this day to be over already and it's just the first day" Ezra said

"Something important to do after this?" Emily asked

"Sleep" Ezra said "I have to admit that I went to a bar last night and I kind of went to bed late, but still; senior year, combined with second year students is the death for me" He said

"You had class with senior year?" Emily asked

"Yeah, the third group, they're great kids but god they love to talk and make noise"

"Whish me look then" Emily said "I have class with that same group now"

Ezra stood up quickly and threw the empty cup to the trash; Emily stood up too and grabbed her notes and papers.

"We should go" Ezra said as they walked outside.

He walked through the hallway and Emily stood alone for a moment trying to figure out if the number that was written in the paper was a six or a five; she had a nice handwrite but when she had to write with rush it changed a bit…

Fortunately when she arrived to the class room it was still empty; she had been arriving late to all her classes during the day so now she breathed relieved as she placed her things on the table. She took her time to sit and finish her coffee while she red her notes, she had everything prepared for the class, she was going to be talking about their goals this year, all the things they were going to see; she was going to start with a bit of 'global' history, something really important for the general culture of the students and then they were going to focus on some more specific history.

A few minutes passed and Emily asked herself why she was still alone in the class room; the students should be there by now; she checked the clock and then grabbed that class schedule, they were on PE right now… that was the reason.

Emily eyed the schedule and then for mere curiosity she grabbed the list of the class; it was a long list, that group was the biggest one.

She started to read all the names; she didn't know anyone there but maybe if she knew the names already she could take advantage on that and learn them before when she saw the faces.

Her gaze stopped at one particular name, at first she thought that she read it wrong but when she read it three more times she saw that she read it correctly; the name: Paige McCullers was written there in the paper she was holding now. Emily spitted out the last sip of her coffee as she stared at it with surprise.

Paige was on her list… that meant that she was going to see her now; she shouldn't feel so affected but this wasn't the way she wanted to see Paige again.

The door opened a few seconds later and the first group of students entered slowly; there were three boys and two girls that were staring at their phones. Following them entered the rest of the students.

Emily could hear someone saying something like 'hot teacher' or just 'hot'; she ran her gaze through the people in the class trying to find Paige; she didn't know what she was going to say to her, maybe she didn't have to say anything.

Paige was eight years when she went to California, so maybe she didn't remember her; this inner conversation ended up with her deciding that it was better to not say a word. In the end she was going to give a class not meet an old friend.

But still she froze in her place when Paige finally entered the room; the class room was already full with students, Emily assumed that there were still a couple of people to arrive since there were some empty tables.

Paige walked into the class slowly as she chatted quietly with a tiny girl that walked next to her; they were smiling at each other as they commented something.

Emily sat on the table and took a second to observe Paige; she was tall, a lot taller than she remembered her. Back when she was five she was a really tiny little girl with dark blonde hair, and big brown eyes that were always full of light.

The eyes were still the same; Emily had never seen such beautiful eyes since Paige's but her hair was a bit darker than before; now that Emily thought about it Paige looked more alike to her sister Cassie now; and she was a really beautiful girl.

She sat in one of the chairs next to the tiny girl that was next to her and they kept talking for a while more. Emily tried to run her gaze through the class room to focus on the class but she was really surprised about Paige. She didn't expect to meet her like this after all these years.

The last students finally entered the class and Emily stood up getting ready to start; this was her last class of the day, so she had to do it right. She cleared her throat a couple of times and fidgeted with her hands nervously.

"Hi everyone" She said in a loud, determined voice. There was a silence in the class; everyone made silence and turned to see her. And finally she made eye contact with Paige.

At first she didn't saw it but then she realized that Paige was surprised; she was pale as a ghost and she didn't even blink.

Emily proceeded to the presentations; introducing herself and then asking the rest of the students their names.


The class went surprisingly good, everyone payed attention to her and she got to say everything she had planned; but still she was really distracted trying not to think too much about Paige.

It was obvious that Paige was trying to make eye contact with her; she never took her eyes from Emily but Emily did an effort to look to other people and focus her gaze on the rest pf the students.

So when the bell rang signaling the end of that first day; Emily sighed in relieve as she started to pick up her things.

Paige in the other hand stood up quickly as she grabbed her stuff in a rush; she was completely out of words now, Emily Fields was right there in her class, she was her teacher now?

"Are you okay?" Aria asked curiously as she picked up her stuff too. Paige glanced discretely at Emily and then she nodded

"Yeah"

"You seem nervous" Aria said

"Me? No I… I am not, I'm fine"

"You're weird sometimes" Aria said "Are you worried about something?"

"Why?" Paige asked

"You have that look… and your eyebrow is raised" Aria commented

"It's not"

"It is, and when that happens it's because you are concerned about something"

"I…" Paige took a second to think about what to say; she wasn't used to lie, and less to lie to her best friend, she wasn't even good at lying but, she wasn't in the mood now to tell Aria about Emily. "I forgot that I have to clean the kitchen"

"Oh"

"Yeah and my mom is going to be home tonight so I have to do it now" Paige said

"I guess it's pointless to ask you to come over then" Aria said

"Sorry… we can totally hang out tomorrow after school"

"Fine" Aria said.

They walked to the door and on the way Paige tripped with the teacher's table dropping her books to the floor.

Aria was now exiting the class, totally oblivious to what happened; so Paige quickly picked them up from the floor.

A sudden sweet smell, like strawberries or peach, filled Paige's nostrils as she stood up, and someone picked her book for her; she raised her gaze already knowing who it was and gulped audibly when she saw Emily standing in front of her.

"I think this is yours" Emily said politely. Paige looked at her and thought about saying something but her mind couldn't think of any word to say in that moment. She took the book from Emily's hand carefully not to touch it.

"Thanks Mrs. Fields" She said simply as she held her book close to her chest.

Emily looked at her with a hint of sadness and a bit resigned; she was already expecting Paige to not remember her but it kind of hurt; she had such a good memories with her from the past. Or maybe Paige just was angry with her… that was the other option, the one she didn't want to consider because it was too much for her; she was pretty aware that she left Paige in a really vulnerable moment of her life, they were really close and she didn't even say goodbye so maybe Paige was just angry at her… whatever it was the problem Paige didn't expressed it with her facial expression, she just smiled softly and politely at Emily before leaving the class.

Emily stood there alone after everyone left and looked at the table; coming home was hard but getting to make things right now that she was here was even harder.


Have a wonderful day/night :)