Love ShAck, Baby

Part One

Ezra sat at his desk in the basement of his secret cabin. He was angry and upset. He knew Hanna had taken that diary and it would only be a matter of time until those bitches figured it out. Spencer could figure out he was Boardshorts and A in a heartbeat. That couldn't happen. Absolutely not.

He plotted before leaving his new lair. He drove back to Rosewood, parked his car at his apartment, and walked to the Marins' home. He watched the mother and daughter duo as they made pancakes and watched the morning news. It was another report on CeCe and if anyone had any details, call the tip line. Ezra was surprised Ashley and Hanna were even watching it.

He was waiting for Ashley to go to work and Hanna to go to school. He didn't have a class until third period, so he could be late. He carefully crept around the bushes outside the window, waiting for both departures. At a quarter to eight, Ashley left for the office. Now he only had to wait on Hanna.

About six minutes later, he heard the doorbell go off. He heard a faint clack of heels and then two very recognizable voice.

"You ready to go, Han?" Spencer asked.

"Yep," Hanna glanced at Emily, then at Spencer. "Where's Aria?"

"Oh, she said she had to get to school early."

"So she's still mad at me about last night?"

"I doubt it. Even if she is, she'll get over it," Emily assured.

"Yeah, no one can stay mad at you for too long," Spencer laughed, but then fell flat and cocked her head. "What made you even accuse him last night?"

Ezra ears perked up. Him?

"Well, she brought up Paige. And Toby."

Spencer almost chuckled, "Yeah, well, I doubt it's Ezra. Come on, we're gonna be late."

Well, that answered Ezra's question. Hanna had definitely read the diary. He heard the door lock behind the three girls. He waited a few minutes after he heard the girls' car zoom off. He jumped up from under the windowsill, dust the dirt off his pants, and picked Hanna's back-door lock. He grabbed an apple from a basket on the table and headed up the stairs.

Ezra had to give Hanna credit. She hid it pretty damn well. But, he knew where she hid it. She was standing in front of a window when she hid it, so his cameras picked it up. Stupid girl, he thought.

He opened up the makeup case and, alas, the diary was there. He decided to rip out pages, though, instead of taking the whole diary. He ripped out pages about Cape May and about him and Alison. He gave the book one more flip through after he ripped out the pages and was thankful he did. There was a page with A+E written in the corner and he'd almost left it. Phew!

He put the diary back in its "hiding spot" and went back home, glad he got away with something once more.

XXXX

"Then, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, began the…" Mrs. Welch dragged out.

Spencer eyelids and head grew heavier with every word. She stayed up far too late doing homework once again. She also probably did the homework all wrong anyway- the whole time she was thinking about Emily's Wren theory.

As Spencer finally got comfortable to doze off, Mrs. Welch's voice buzzed. "Miss Hastings, do you care to join us?"

"S-sorry," Spencer stuttered.

Shortly after her wake up, the bell rang. She gathered her books slowly as the perky, over-achieving Brenda pranced over to her. "Hi, Spencer!"

Spencer didn't say anything and just looked at her newfound competition for best in class.

"You're tired, huh?"

"Why do you say that?" Spencer sassed.

"Well, are you still gunning for valedictorian?"

"Only since kindergarten."

"Andrew's beating both of us."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Don't you wonder how?" Brenda questioned. "I mean, you've always been working your hardest. Even when you were suspected for murder, you got straight A's. And I've really pulled my weight since school started."

"The point?"

"I just think it's weird that he's… ahead of us. We should look into it."

Spencer scrunched her eyebrows and leapt off her chair. "Maybe later, Brenda."

XXXX

As Ezra drabbled on about East of Eden, Aria doodled on her paper. She usually paid attention in his class, but today she was more focused on Hanna. She looked up from her sketch pad and at the back of Hanna's head. Aria felt her frown growing bigger and bigger as she thought more about her best friend.

She stopped and pulled her attention to the person next to Hanna. As she looked at Mona's perfectly curled hair, she clenched her jaw. What the hell was Mona doing with her brother? And why was Mike so okay with it?

She felt someone nudge her side. Aria turned and met Emily's face.

"What are you staring at?" Emily asked in a whisper.

"Nothing."

"Aria, don't be mad at Hanna."

"I'm not mad, I'm just confused."

"We all are."

Ezra cleared his throat and both girls looked up. He didn't usually discipline Aria, but she and Emily were pretty loud and he was probably trying to make it look like they weren't together.

Aria and Emily mumbled in unison, "Sorry."

Ezra began again and started writing on the board, "As I was saying, one of the themes of the book is…"

Spencer watched as Ezra wrote themes and evidence on the board. She noticed something and gasped. Ezra stopped and so did the rest of the class. Everyone turned to her and Spencer felt as if she was in her underwear.

"Um, Mr. Fitz, may I go to the bathroom?"

"Is it an emergency?"

"Sure," Spencer answered. She didn't give him a chance to reply and ran out the door.

She power walked to the bathroom while her mind raced with thoughts. No. No. This was not happening. No way. No fricking way!

She stepped into a stall and slammed the door. She leaned against the wall and did a few yoga fire breaths, trying to pull back into reality. But, this was the reality.

All of last night she thought of Emily's theory, not Hanna's. When Hanna brought up Ezra, all three of them were confused. There was no way that the guy who Aria was in love with, and vice versa, could be the bad guy. There was no way the happy go lucky English teacher could be the bad guy. There was no way one of the most, and one of the few left, trusted people in their lives who they went to for all different kinds of help could be the bad guy. No possible way.

But in this new harsh reality, the possibilities were endless.

Spencer thought back to the evidence she just found in class. As Ezra had lifted his hand to write on the board, she saw a fading cut on his right palm. The same palm Spencer had cut when she fought A in the green house.

Spencer shook her head and thought about a thousand other things.

Ezra showed up immediately in Ravenswood. He showed up immediately on the Halloween train, too. He was in Rosewood that summer. He was good with words like Ali had said in her letter to Boardshorts. He was an older boy who had a girlfriend. He did go to Wilden's, Ian's, and Alison's funerals even though he "didn't know them." And he was wearing an eerily familiar suit today in class.

Okay, she thought, these are just coincidences.

But, Spencer stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago. She needed to talk to Hanna, stat.

XXXX

Hanna rested her head in her palm as she watched the clock in Ezra's classroom. It had been about five minutes since Spencer rushed out and three minutes until the bell rang. She felt her purse vibrate and checked her phone. One new text from Spencer.

Will you grab my stuff from my desk?

Hanna typed underneath the table. Why?

I'll tell you later. Just grab my books?

Hanna let out a puzzled sigh. Sure.

When she thought the conversation was over, Hanna started putting her phone back into her clutch. One new text from Spencer popped up again.

Come over to my place for dinner. Don't tell the others, but you're right.

Hanna didn't reply and shoved her phone into her bag. There was only one thing she could be right about at the moment. She glanced up at Ezra, whose back was still on his students as her wrote on the board, and shook her head. The bell rung and she dashed over to Spencer's desk, grabbed the books, and raced to the door, avoiding Aria, Emily, and Mr. Fitz.

She stepped out of the classroom and practically ran to the bathroom. Hanna thought two important thoughts, though.

What changed Spencer's mind? Could it change Emily and Aria's?