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Chapter ten
On the first day of school after Christmas break, Ezra walked down the corridors which led to the teachers' room and couldn't help looking for Aria every time he passed next to a group of students. He had spent almost all the holidays at his mother's place where his brother, Wesley, had joined them as well as his aunt and uncle. He hadn't seen Aria in almost two weeks and he had to admit that he missed her and was looking forward to seeing her.
He entered the teachers' room and smiled when he saw Mrs. Welsh, grading some papers at the big table of the room.
He walked up to his colleague and greeted her. "Danielle! How are you?"
To his surprise, Danielle Welsh barely looked up at him and kept grading her papers. "I'm fine, thanks!" She coldly replied.
Ezra raised an eyebrow, astonished by his colleague's reaction as she usually was very lovely and friendly.
"Are you mad at me or something?" Ezra asked her.
Mrs. Welsh looked up at her young colleague and shot him a glance. "I don't know, do I have a reason to be mad?"
Ezra was confused for a few seconds, looking for what had pissed his colleague off and suddenly it hit him. His daughter, Simone! He had never called her back.
"Danielle, if it's about your daughter, I'm sorry," Ezra apologized.
Mrs. Welsh shook her head. "You know; if you didn't like her you didn't have to promise her to call her back!" She snapped at him.
"No, Danielle, it's not that, it's just…" Ezra couldn't help but blush as he remembered why he hadn't called her back; it was the night Aria had come to his place and they had made love for the first time. But that was something he couldn't tell his colleague.
"You have someone else, right?" Mrs. Welsh advanced.
"No…I…" Ezra shuttered, not knowing what to say.
All of a sudden, the door opened and Ian Thomas, followed by some other teachers entered the room. For the first time in his life, Ezra was glad to see the as he interrupted the awkward conversation that he was having with Mrs. Welsh.
"Hello there!" Ian greeted them, smiling widely.
Ezra politely smiled to him before sitting at the table to correct the tests he hadn't done during the break. The first test was Aria's and Ezra smiled as he read the test which, once again, was pretty good. He took his red pen and wrote a big A on the top of the test. He suddenly felt Ian looking behind his shoulder.
"Hum, she's pretty good for a degenerate!" Ian said.
Ezra immediately stopped writing, shocked by Ian's words. Hearing someone talk about Aria this way was unbearable.
He turned over on his chair and looked daggers at Ian. "You must watch what you say!" He snapped at him. "It's a person you're talking about, a seventeen years old girl!"
Ian rolled his eyes which caused Ezra to want to rip them out. "Oh, come on, stop being so moralistic!"
"And you, stop being such a jerk!" Ezra shouted back at Ian.
Ian looked at Ezra, surprised. "What did you just say?"
"I said, stop being such a jerk!" Ezra repeated, irritated.
Ian got closer to Ezra and stood in front of the chair he was sitting in. Ezra immediately stood as well and faced his colleague.
"Why are you so on the defensive all of a sudden?" Ian said, looking at Ezra straight in the eyes. "Why do you even care?" He defied him. "Why is this mad girl so important to you?"
This time it was too much.
Before he knew what he was doing, Ezra grabbed Ian by the collar of his shirt and pressed him against the wall near to them. "I told you to stop saying that!" He shouted at him.
"What the hell is going on here?" The principal, who had just entered the room and found two of his teachers fighting, said.
Ezra released Ian and looked around him. Mrs. Welsh was staring at him with big round eyes as well as the two other teachers who were in the teachers' room.
"Ezra, my office, now!" Mr. Tamborelli coldly said. Ezra and Ian shared a cold glance before Ezra complied and followed the principal up to his office.
The young teacher entered his superior's office and waited for him to close the door behind him. Mr. Tamborelli stood behind his desk, his arms crossed on his chest. "Ezra, can you tell me what's going on?"
"I'm truly sorry but I couldn't let him say what he said, he insulted one of the students!" Ezra informed the principal, as Ian's words resounded in his head.
"Which student?" The older man asked.
"Aria Montgomery!" Ezra told him. "He called her a degenerate!"
The principal sighed and sat at his desk, gesturing toward the chair in front of him for Ezra to sit down. Ezra complied and sat down in front of his superior.
"Look, Ezra," Mr. Tamborelli began. "I will talk to Mr. Thomas about that, but I can tolerate violence in my school, I hope you're aware of that."
Ezra looked down for a moment. He knew that he shouldn't have tried to punch Ian, but the way he had talked of Aria had been unbearable for him and he hadn't been able to control himself.
"I'm sorry," Ezra apologized. "But the way he was talking about her…" Ezra shook his head, unable to find a word which could describe Ian's words.
"Ezra, what he said was mean, I agree with you, but he didn't say it in front of her, I can't control what the teachers say when they aren't teaching," the principal explained.
"But what should have I done?" Ezra insisted. "Nothing and let him talk about Aria this way?"
The principal looked at Ezra and furrowed his brows; the young teacher seemed very affected. He knew that Ezra cared a lot about his students but he had never seen him so affected like he was at this moment, especially when it wasn't the first time that Ian was being rude.
Mr. Tamborelli leant toward Ezra to get closer to him, and this situation reminded Ezra of the day he had asked him to take care of Aria.
"Ezra, I know you like this young girl a lot," he started.
Ezra immediately blushed at these words and looked down. Did the principal know about him and Aria? Was it so obvious?
"But, I do hope you realize that she is a student and nothing more, I know it can be difficult sometimes, trust me, but one of the most important rules when you're a teacher is: no matter how much you like a student, never cross the line, never." Mr. Tamborelli told him with a serious face. "I'm sure you see what I'm talking about."
Ezra nervously rubbed his hands together and cleared his throat. "Yes, of course, Sir."
The principal gave a suspicious look at the young teacher. "You know Ezra, if I'm telling you that it's because I care about you. You're a great teacher, you have your life above your head, don't screw everything up."
Ezra gave a nervous smile to his superior. "Of course, don't worry."
The principal stared at him for a few minutes and finally nodded. "Okay, so, if everything is clear, you can go. You must go home now."
"But I still have a class to teach!" Ezra informed his superior.
Mr. Tamborelli shook his head. "I know, but after what happened, I think you should go home and have some rest. Mrs. Welsh doesn't have any class to teach, I'm sure she will not mind taking yours."
Ezra wanted to contest but after what had happened he couldn't refuse what his superior was asking him to do, so he complied and exited the room.
As he was walking down the corridor, Ezra couldn't help but think about what had happened with Ian. Ian had definitely crossed the line, but he shouldn't have lost control like that. He had never been violent; he had never gotten into a fight, not even if Hight School, moreover, Ian was used to saying nasty comments about the students, so why had he reacted like that when it had come to Aria?
Ezra wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer, and especially, that he was ready to accept it.
Aria opened Ezra's building door and started to go upstairs. She hadn't seen him in almost two weeks as he had been spending time with his family which was what she had done too. She had spent a quiet and simple Christmas with her family and everything had gone pretty well. Her mother and her father had seemed to avoid fights, probably not wanting to spoil Christmas for all the family. But it didn't mean that their problems were resolved, it was just a truce but nothing had changed; her mother was still drinking, her brother was still angry, her father still barely speak to her, and she was still dying inside.
She reached her lover's door and knocked on it. A few seconds later Ezra opened the door and a smile spread across his face when he saw her.
"Hey!" He greeted her. "Come in."
Aria came inside, waited for him to close the door and rose on tiptoes to give him a peck on his lips. "Are you alright?" She asked him. "Spencer told me you weren't at school this afternoon, what happened?"
"Nothing, I wasn't feeling well, but I'm better now," he lied. He couldn't tell her what had happened with Ian, he didn't want to have to explain why he had wanted to punch Ian and repeat his horrible words.
Aria seemed to be satisfied by his answer and didn't insist which relieved Ezra.
"Well, I sure know a way to make you feel even better!" Aria seductively said, licking her lips.
"Really?" Ezra said, raising an eyebrow. "What would it be?"
Aria kept smirking as she pressed her mouth on Ezra's neck gently kissing the soft skin in here. Ezra moaned quietly and wrapped his arms around Aria's waist, pressing her flush against him before walking her over to the bed.
An hour later, Ezra put the blanket over their naked and sweaty bodies as Aria raised on her elbow to face Ezra. "So, do you feel better, now?"
Ezra smiled to her. "Yes, I guess you know how to make people feel better!"
Aria smiled and got closer to him before pressing her lips against his. Ezra immediately brushed her bottom lip with his tongue and Aria gladly complied, opening her mouth a little wider to allow him entry. As their kisses were getting hot again, Ezra's house phone rang.
"Let it rings!" Aria said against his mouth.
As they kept kissing each other as if the phone hadn't even rung, the voicemail started and the principal's voice filled the apartment.
'Ezra, it's principal Tamborelli, about what happened this afternoon, I want to let you know that I talked to Ian, but I meant what I said and I hope you're thinking about that. See you tomorrow.'
As the voicemail stopped, Aria turned to Ezra and furrowed her brows in confusion. "What was he talking about?" She asked him. "What happened this afternoon? I thought you were sick."
Ezra looked down, uncomfortable. He knew that keep lying to her would be a waste of time. "I lied." He confessed.
"Why? What happened?"
"I had a little fight with Ian," Ezra told her.
Aria scowled at him. "Ian?"
"Mr. Thomas if you prefer," Ezra specified.
"Why?"
Ezra sighed. He didn't want to tell her the reason why he had wanted to punch his colleague. "Because he said something which I think was unacceptable," Ezra explained ,hoping that Aria was going to drop the subject even if, deep down, he perfectly knew that she wasn't going to.
"What did he say?" She asked him.
Ezra ran his fingers through his black hair and looked down, avoiding Aria's look.
"It was about me, wasn't it?" She guessed right.
Ezra couldn't lie anymore so he nodded in affirmation.
Aria looked at him, surprise all over her face. She couldn't believe that he had taken her defense; that he had gotten into a fight for her. She wanted to kiss him, to tell him how happy she was to have him in her life, but then, the realization of what this meant hit her.
"Ezra, you didn't have to do that!" She said, getting up from the bed before collecting her clothes on the floor.
Ezra watched her as she put her clothes back on before walking to the window and crossing her arms on her chest.
"Aria, I couldn't let him say what he said," Ezra insisted.
"Why not? I'm not your girlfriend; you don't have to take my defense." She said, still facing the window.
"It has nothing to do with that, but I care about you and I can't let this jerk talk about you like he did!" Ezra argued.
Aria turned over and looked at him, straight in the eyes. "Nobody is asking you to care about me."
Ezra got up from the bed and stood in front of her. "I hope you're kidding?" He snapped. "It's not something I can control; I do care about you, that's all!"
Aria shook her head as she felt the situation starting to escape her. It wasn't the way things were supposed to be, everything was starting to get out of control. "I better get going!" She coldly said.
Ezra looked at her amazed. He couldn't believe that she was reacting like that. "Aria, please stay!" He told her. "You're not gonna leave for that. This is nothing."
But Aria didn't listen to him and finished putting on her coat. "I'm sorry, I have to go!" She said by making her way to the door, and in one second, she was gone.
Ezra wasn't preparing for the wave of sadness which hit him when he watched her leave his apartment, angry.
Was it over between them? Would she ever come back?
Until now, as he came to the realization that everything between him and Aria could end up that easily, he had never realized how much he cared about her.
It was when Mr. Tamborelli's words came back to him. 'Never cross the line, never!'
But it was too late for Ezra, he had already crossed the line, he had crossed it the moment he had let Aria come into his apartment the night they had made love for the first time. But what Ezra had forgotten was that there was still one more line to cross, a line that Aria had made promise him to never cross, a line that he had promised her that he would never cross. But this time, for the first time in his life and against his will, Ezra was about to break a promise.
Okay, so, this chapter is a little bit shorter than the others but the next one is pretty long and it's the one where a big part of what happened in Aria's life is revealed.
So, let's say that if I get 25 reviews or more I will update in the next few days, on Thursday I think.
Thanks fort reading and, please, review. Also, I'm sorry for any mistake.
xoxo