Ella POV

"Alison, she convinced us that she hated Toby and I totally believed her. I guess she was just playing a game," Aria looked defeated. I was meeting her for lunch. We did that a lot since the storm. She had finally come around and accepted the fact that I wasn't living with them anymore. That Byron and I were separated.

"People aren't dolls. You can't just play with them and then put them back in the box," I replied. Finding out your best friend had been lying to you had to be hard. It was hard to find out Byron had been lying to me. I knew Alison wasn't exactly truthful but to put on this whole act about hating someone when it turned out she was really actually dating him seemed a bit much. I warned Aria when I first met her that Alison wasn't someone she should probably hang around with but Aria always had a mind of her own. You couldn't tell her how to run her life. You could put in suggestions but she never let someone else take control of the wheel.

There was a long silence between us. "You've been painting," she stated happily looking between my face and hands. I looked down at the dried paint on my hands. I used to love to paint. After a while though it seemed I had lost my reason for painting.

"Yeah, three years I couldn't find the inspiration to get back to it. Little did I know that all I needed was some lies and infidelity to light that fire." I didn't mean to make her feel guilty about not telling me that Byron was cheating but I couldn't seem to hold the comment back. The smile fell from her face and I immediately felt bad.

"Do you blame me for keeping that secret?" she asked. She almost seemed like she was afraid of the answer. I thought for a moment. In all honesty, I did blame her. Luckily, I've overcome that.

"I wish you would have told me but I don't blame you."

Her eyes moistened a little bit. "I thought I was protecting you," she whispered as tears threatened to fall. I knew that. When I first found out I couldn't understand why she kept it from me all this time but now I understand.

"I know," I reassured her.

"I feel that I made a really big mistake and I just want to make sure you're hearing me when I say I'm really sorry." She had a hard time looking at me.

I reached for her hand on the table before nodding. "I hear you, baby," I said as tears threatened to fall from my own eyes. "But no more secrets, okay?" I smiled.

"No more secrets," she said back to me. I looked down and sucked my bottom lip into my mouth. Now, if only she would tell me about her and Mr. Fitz.

I picked up my coffee and took a sip. The door to the café opened and looked over. Mr. Fitz walked through the door in a pair of athletic shorts and a black sleeveless shirt. His hair was damp from sweat as was shirt. He was mouthing the words to the song playing from the Ipod his ear buds were hooked up to. Aria saw me looking and turned around in her seat. He still hadn't seen us.

Aria spun back around in her chair and held her head down causing her hair to cover her face. I looked at her and narrowed my eyes. I glanced back over at Mr. Fitz to see him staring at us. He lifted his head in acknowledgement and smiled. He lifted a hand and gave a slight wave before walking up to the cashier.

"What was that about?" I asked my daughter. Aria looked up at me.

"What do you mean?" She was playing stupid.

"You don't play stupid well, my darling." I raised my eyebrows and I glanced over her head at Mr. Fitz whose back was still turned. Aria sighed before quickly looking back. She spun her head back around when he turned and saw her looking. He took a swig of his water he had just bought and stared over at us. He was debating whether or not to come over here.

"Hey," his deep voice sounded above us. I looked at Aria to see her eyes tightly shut. I lightly kicked her under the table as I looked up with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Fitz." He gave me a smile and held out his hand. I took it my own. His hand was really warm. The wetness of his hair and the way the muscles in his arm tightened made me giddy inside. Oh, God. I was attracted to the same man my daughter liked. Crap. "Aria," I said to her harshly.

She glanced up at Mr. Fitz and gave him a small smile. She was obviously still mad at him for leaving Rosewood. He smiled softly down at her. When she looked away the smile slowly fell from his face. Dang it! Once again I couldn't help but like the guy. He seemed to have genuine feelings for Aria.

"Aria!" I heard another voice say. Mr. Fitz turned sideways and saw a brown haired boy walk up. His jaw clenched and he turned back to us.

"Well, I should go. It was nice seeing you again, Mrs….Ella," he said with a smile. I nodded as he turned and hastily walked by the kid who had called Aria's name.

"Noel!" Aria said with a smile. She stood and gave him a light peck on the lips. I looked over to the door to see Mr. Fitz had turned and saw them kiss. His face hardened as he opened the door angrily and shoved his ear buds back into his ear before jogging off.

I looked back up at Aria and Noel with a smile. Again, I was confused. "Mom, this is Noel, my boyfriend." I smiled and nodded to the boy who had his arm wrapped around Aria's waist. Noel returned the gesture before looking back at Aria.

"I thought you were going to Camp Mona," he said.

"I am. We were getting ready to head home so I could meet with Spencer and Emily," she replied with a nod.

"What was he doing here?" Noel whispered as he motioned to the door. Aria cleared her throat and shook her head. What did Noel know? Had Aria told him something about Mr. Fitz? "Are you okay?" he questioned. Aria nodded with a smile.

Aria turned to me with a fake smile already plastered on her face. "Well, we should get going. I'd hate to be late for Mona's party." I smiled and nodded before taking one last sip of coffee and standing.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Noel," I said to the boy. He smiled and nodded.

"You, too." He turned to Aria and said, "I'll talk to you later." He leaned in and kissed her on the lips quickly before leaving. I raised an eyebrow at Aria.

"When did that happen?" I questioned. Aria shrugged and smiled. "Isn't he the guy you liked before Iceland?" I asked suddenly remembering where I had heard the name before. Aria opened her mouth speechless before nodding shamelessly. I grinned at her. I could deal with Noel instead of Mr. Fitz. He was better for her. Well, maybe not better but a whole lot easier and a lot less risky. We linked arms and walked out of the café.

Getting the call about Hanna was hard. It could have been Aria. She called me from the hospital. I told her if she wanted to she could come spend the night with me but she said she'd probably go to Emily or Spencer's. Personally, I think she just wanted to be alone and made up that excuse. Or maybe she went and met up with Noel….or Mr. Fitz.

I was walking through the halls on Monday when I caught a glimpse of Noel walking into the music room. It was the same room that I had overheard Mr. Fitz's and Aria's conversation. I walked to the door and strained desperately to hear but it was hard because of the rustling from the students in the hallway. I shook my head and gave up the attempt. I walked to my classroom for the day.

Later that day, I was walking to the bathroom when I passed a door. "I've been careful. Remember? Careful made you unhappy." It sounded like Mr. Fitz. I immediately halted and leaned my back against the wall. I really needed to stop listening in on his conversations.

"You don't make me unhappy!" It was Aria. Go figure. I was thankful that there weren't many kids in the hallway. The few that were there were luckily minding there own business. They didn't pay any attention to the creepy teacher clinging to the wall outside Mr. Fitz's classroom. "You totally mess me up and I feel miserable sometimes but…you don't make me unhappy," she continued. I couldn't help but smile to myself. My baby was all grown up. I shook my head. Bear in mind, Ella, she's talking to her English teacher/whatever. There was a long pause before she spoke again. "I mean I wasn't unhappy the other night."

What the hell did they do the other night? I knitted my eyebrows in thought. No. Aria wasn't that stupid…was she?

"But…?" Mr. Fitz questioned.

"But…" Aria sighed. "Would you go back if you could? If you knew that it would be this complicated would you've even talked to me that first day in the bar?" Bar? Why was Aria in a bar? Wait, when were they both in a bar? So, did they meet before school started? No, that couldn't be. We got back the day before school started. So, what, he talked to her in a bar after he knew she was his sixteen year old student? Okay, maybe I should just confront Aria and ask her instead of torturing myself with something that may not even be as it seems.

She was met by silence. I poked my head around the corner and saw him sitting down in the seat in front of her. "I've thought about it. If I'd left before you walked in. There'd been problems. You'd just be a pretty girl who sits one row over from the windows and I'd be the new teacher." I leaned back to make sure they wouldn't see me if they looked to the door. Maybe these feelings were a lot deeper than I originally thought. I shook my head. He's her teacher. He's her teacher. I replayed that phrase over and over in my mind.

"All neat and tidy." They both shared a breathy chuckle.

"Is that what you want?" he asked. "To go back?" He was obviously hoping she would say no. He liked her. He really liked her.

"No," she soothed.

"Me neither. So, we don't go back. We go forward…together," he said. I could tell by his voice that he was smiling. He was probably giving her smile that no woman in there right mind could resist. Did he have any other smile? I shook my head. I heard a rustling and poked my head around the corner. I jumped back when I saw them standing and walked quickly by the door.

Should I tell Byron? I hadn't told him any of it. I didn't even want to talk to him. I decided it was better if I just kept it to myself incase it wasn't what I thought. I needed to know more.