A/N: Longest chapter so far, enjoy and review (: Oh, and I don't own Pretty Little Liars. And sorry I didn't post this earlier as promised, my internet crashed. And I just deleted it and reposted because I noticed that if I post more than once within like 24 hours, my update won't show up on the feed, so I just did this to tell the fanfic world that it's here lol

CHAPTER 11

Aria left Hollis at around eight o'clock and pulled at the driveway of her house ten minutes later. She was feeling as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders now that she had talked to Ezra and he'd told her he was going to be there for her. She still had a knot in her stomach, though. Worry was tearing her up inside. She got out of the vehicle and brushed a leaf off it. Fall was definitely coming. Aria walked up the porch holding her purse and unlocked the door, entering the house normally and closing the door behind her to find Ella sitting on a leather chair with her arms crossed, staring at her.

"Where were you, Aria?" Her mother interrogated.

"Hanna's place, mom. I told you that." Aria said.

"Oh, really? Because- I was cleaning your room this afternoon and spotted something very unusual on your desk." Ella took out one of the pregnancy tests and showed it to her daughter. "Care to explain to me why you had this with you and, most importantly, why the heck it says positive?"

Aria could barely think right; she wasn't planning on that to happen. Ella wasn't supposed to find out this way, and definitely not right now, Aria thought. Her mother was nervously raising her voice to her, almost yelling. What could she say? Aria took a deep breath.

"I-" She hesitated for a second, very scared, but decided to continue. "Mom, I'm sorry… I'm pregnant."

Even though it was already pretty obvious to Ella, hearing her say it was very different. It made it real. It was a thud. The startled woman stood up and approached her daughter.

"Pregnant? How could this happen, Aria? You're sixteen years old, it makes no sense!" She yelled fiercely.

"I was going to tell you, I didn't mean for you to find the test. I just took it yesterday and-" Aria's voice was shaky when her mom interrupted her.

"You're pregnant, Aria, dear God! Do you have any idea how huge this is? You're a teenager!"

"Yes, mom, I do. I'm not exactly happy about it either and I don't want to talk to you about it right now, in case you don't mind." She said as she walked towards the stairs, but Ella stopped her.

"No no no, you're staying right here and we are talking about this now!" Her mom pointed at the ground roughly. Aria had one foot on the first step and was holding the handrail tightly, her knuckles white.

"Mom, why do you have to be like this? Can't you be more understanding? All I need right now is your support, and you're not helping at all!" Aria cried, tears building up in her eyes.

Ella turned around, trying to calm herself down, then exhaled and took a seat.

"Is Ezra the father?" She asked more calmly, clearly trying to keep it cool.

"Yes, mom, Ezra is the father." She answered, a 'duh' tone in her voice. What kind of girl did her mother think she was?

"He was your teacher, for God's sake..." The older woman whispered almost to herself.

"I'm aware." Aria quietly rolled her eyes, lucky her mother didn't notice.

"Why didn't you use protection, honey? I figured you'd know better." Ella questioned.

"We did, mom, but it didn't work at some point. We've only been together twice, and, just so you know, both times were after you and dad already knew about our relationship."

"And you still managed to sneak out with him…" Ella chuckled humorlessly.

"Yeah, I did! Because I love him, and I wasn't gonna let you guys tear us apart." Aria said, sounding very serious and determined.

Her mom took a deep breath. "Have you told him already?"

"Yeah, I have. I was actually at Hollis with him right now. " She looked down at her cuticles.

Ella stared at her expectantly. "And?"

"He's by my side, mom. I really love him, okay? And he clearly feels the same way. We're in this together." Aria told her, but no response came. "Can I go to my room now?"

"Go." Ella waved her hand dismissively and dug her elbow on the armrest, taking her hand to her forehead and massaging it, trying to think and calm down. Aria nodded to herself and finished walking up the stairs, turning to her bedroom and slamming the door open. She closed it and threw her purse on the floor, crashing onto the edge of her bed. She just sat there for a few minutes, staring blankly at the ground. In fact, only her stare was blank, because her mind was being stormed with multiple thoughts at the very same time, and it was overwhelming. She struggled to organize those thoughts, eventually closing her big, wet eyes and dozing off.

Aria opened her eyes later that evening. They burned and her long eyelashes felt stiff because of the tears. She slowly stood up and stumbled over to her bag, rummaging through it in the search of her cellphone. Once it was in her hands, she pressed it only to see it was out of battery. Aria plugged the charger onto it and turned it on, checking the time: twenty past three in the morning. Great, she thought sarcastically. There were two new text messages. One from Spencer asking her the answer to question B in their History homework, and the other one from Ezra. She replied to her friend, telling her she didn't know because she hadn't done it yet. Which was one hundred percent true, actually. She then opened Ezra's.

Sleep tight, beautiful. Never forget I love you. ~Ezra

She smiled at how a simple text message from him could cheer her up, even if for mere seconds. Aria replied and rested her phone on the desk, opening the door and heading to the bathroom. She turned the tap and let the warm water stream run out of the shower while she undressed. She moved her hands to the back of her head and wrapped her clean hair in a tousled bun, getting under the water and allowing it to flow through her petite body. Showers had the amazing power to relax her. After a few beats of pure hygiene, Aria turned off the water and grabbed her lilac towel, wrapping it around her body. She walked to the sink and rubbed her face free of makeup, brushing her teeth and hair also. She walked back to her bedroom and slipped on a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt from the school she'd gone to back in Iceland, then walked out of it again heading down the stairs and towards the dark kitchen.

Aria flipped the light switch, turning it on and opening the fridge. She rummaged through it, searching for something to eat and found nothing interesting. Aria sighed and stood on her tiptoes to open the freezer, taking out a pile of instant food packages and closing the small door. She laid them on the counter in the middle of the kitchen and started sorting them, choosing the one she'd like to eat. She finally decided on a Hungry Man containing nuggets, mashed potatoes and a little chocolate pudding. She put the others one back in their place and prepared the chosen one in the microwave. After pressing the required time on the machine, Aria threw the empty package away and drank a glass of juice.

Ten minutes later Aria was already fed, so she cleaned the small mess she had done in the kitchen and turned off the lights, going back to her room and closing the door behind her. She didn't bother turning on the lights, only the lamp beside her bed. She grabbed her laptop and sat down with it on the bed, opening Facebook and her e-mail. Aria looked at her notifications after checking her inbox and clicked on the link announcing Emily had tagged her on a photo. It was a picture of herself, Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Alison from their eighth grade dance. They were all wearing cute, colorful dresses and she had braces. Aria chuckled at that memory, she hated having them, but now she saw what a difference they'd made, her teeth were white and straight. She thanked her parents for that. She looked at Alison in her perfect figure, perfect fitted clothes and perfect hair. She had the power to stand out in pictures and always look gorgeous. Aria sighed and wondered for a minute what her friend would say if she was alive. What would she think of her whole situation? She would probably make her feel even more miserable about it. Well, that was Ali, always a step ahead.

Aria scrolled down her newsfeed and once she'd seen everything she needed to see, she just closed the page and her computer, putting it back on her desk. She laid on her bed again and pulled the covers over her body, grabbing her journal from the nightstand. It was a small burgundy notebook she always wrote on with the pen she usually kept inside it. She opened it and wrote down what was happening at her life, caring to detail everything she was feeling and thinking. She did this until falling asleep, the book open face down on her chest, raising up and down along with her breathing.