A/N: Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Time seemed to stop the moment her eyes met with his. The one person she was determined to forget, was standing five feet away from her and she'd be working with him for the next school year. This wasn't happening. Of all professors, why him?

It'd just been a month she hadn't seen him, but it seemed that month had only made him more attractive. His hair cut,and he was freshly shaved and even from a distance, she could smell his cologne.

What she would give to bury her face in his neck and smell him all day.

Stop it, Aria.

Finally snapping back to reality, she wiped her sweaty palms on the side of her skirt.

"I-im sorry." She stuttered. "It won't happen again. I got held up with the Dean."

He gave her a simple nod.

"Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself."

She nodded. "Right."

"Um, I'm Aria Montgomery. I'll be your TA for the quarter. I'm originally from here, though I just got back from California. My Dad is actually Professor Montgomery. I'm excited to be with you all." She gave them a smile.

"Any questions?" She added.

"Yeah." She heard a voice in the fourth row speak.

It belonged to a light haired guy.

"Go ahead." She smiled.

"Are you single?" He winked as he gave her a smile.

"Um-" She struggled for half a second before she heard Ezra speak behind her.

"Okay, if we don't have any school related questions, let's move on. It's going to be a busy week."

She could have sworn she heard a trace of jealousy in Ezra's voice, but maybe she was just imagining. Afterall, he probably hated her.

"I'll start out by handing out the syllabus."

"I can help." Aria offered.

"It's fine." He spoke not even bothering to look at her.

She simply nodded before standing awkwardly in front of the students as he handed them out.

"Let's start off with my number one rule. Don't be late. And this goes to you too, Aria."

She felt a blush make its way to her cheeks as she heard some chuckles. How dare he call her out. It wasn't even her fault she was late.

"Anyway," He continued. "If you're late, please don't even bother showing up. There's a lot to cover and I don't like wasting time. Understood?"

"Yes." The class responded.

"Second, feel free to email me anytime, but if you need a faster response, Aria will be here Mondays and Fridays in the afternoon for any questions you may have."

She was? They hadn't even set a schedule or anything.

"And lastly, have fun. I don't mean to be a jerk, I want what's best for you, so I will push you to success."

He spent almost an hour going over the syllabus and what they would cover this quarter.

"And to start off, we'll start with a quick quiz, don't worry, it wont count against you. I just want to see what you know."

Ezra looked through his desk for the quiz, but couldn't find it.

"Hey, Aria. I forgot the quizzes in my office. Can you go grab them?"

Finally, she was going to something.

"Yeah, of course. What's your office number?"

"301. They're in the red folder."

"I'll be back."

Fifteen minutes later, an out of breath Aria was going back to the room. The walk to his office was pretty long considering she got lost, she could have sworn Ezra said office 301, but it turned up being 201.

"Sorry, I got lost." She gave a small smile. "Here's the red folder."

"Aria, I told you they were in the blue folder."

"No, you said red." Aria argued.

He'd definitely said red.

"I didn't."

She didn't want to argue in front of the class, but he'd definietely said red folder.

"I'm pretty sure you said red."

"I think I know what I said." He responded, irritation lacing his voice. "Didn't I say the blue folder?"

The class, not wanting to challenge their professor, agreed right away.

By this point, she was just annoyed. Was he doing this on purpose? Did he want to embarrass her?

She sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. I must of heard wrong. I'll be back."

"Please try not to take long." He simply said.

Another ten minutes later, she returned, blue folder in hand.

"Here." She handed it to him. "Sorry, I couldn't find it. It was buried underneath your books."

He took the folder from her, not even acknowledging her apology.

"You know what, there's no point in taking this anymore. Twenty-five minutes were just wasted on simply trying to find the quizzes. The quizzes themselves take twenty-five minutes." He sighed in annoyance, throwing the folder onto his desk.

The class looked at a clearly flustered Aria.

"I'm sorry."

Again, he ignored her apologies.

"Anyway, since we only have ten minutes of class left, I want you to take out a sheet of paper, write your names, and let me know what you hope to achieve in this class."

Ten minutes later, Aria was collecting the pieces of paper as they walked out.

" I'll see you back Thursday." Ezra spoke from his desk.

Aria smiled at the last few students before shutting the door. She waited for Ezra to say something, but instead he remained silent, his eyes glued to his computer screen.

He'd been so cold and rude during the past hour and a half. He'd made her look like an idiot in front of all their students.

What did she expect, though. She'd been terrible to him. Of course he would behave like this. But for the sake of the students, they had to come to some sort of agreement.

"Can we talk?" She asked, standing beside his desk.

"I have to go see the Dean right now" He responded as he made his way across the room

"We have to talk, Ezra." She insisted.

But he ignored her and walked right out.

The next day, they had to meet up to go over Thursday's, as well as the whole quarters lesson plans. He wouldn't be able to avoid her then. If they were going to be working together, they had to at least pretend to get along.

Aria reached his door, taking a deep breath before giving it a small knock.

"Come in."

Aria walked in, closing the door behind her.

"Take a seat."

They both sat silent, none of the uttering a single word. Ezra continued typing away on his computer, while Aria picked at her nails.

After what seemed like forever, Aria finally spoke up.

"I didn't chose to be assigned to you, you know?. I didn't even know you were going to be teaching here. I was going to be with Professor Swan. The Dean said you agreed to take on a TA."

"I know."

"Did you know it was going to be me?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest

He nodded. "Yes."

"Then why did you agree?"

"It's not like I had a choice, Aria." He spat. "I'm the head of the department. I couldn't exactly say no. If I could, trust me, you wouldn't be here. It's not like I want you here."

Aria could feel tears brimming her eyes.

"You know, when I was told about Professor Swan and how I would have to take you in, I was close to saying no and telling them all about you. Every single little thing about you. How would the school feel knowing they were hiring a teacher who sleeps around?"

She blinked away the tears as those words reached her ears. Is that what she was? A slut?

She was not going to cry in front of him.

"But I didn't. Because unlike you, I'm actually a good person, besides I'd be compromising my position here at the school and it's not like they would believe me anyway. You're Professor Montgomery's daughter. He's best friend with the Dean."

"This year is going to be one hell of a long year." He continued. "But let's get one thing straight. Our conversations will be minimal. I'll email you if I need you to do anything. I want you as far away from me as possible."

Why were his words hurting her so much? She didn't care about him, she couldn't.

"Do you understand?"

Aria nodded. "Yes."

"Let's forget about this summer. Everything about it. Let's just keep this as professional as possible."

Aria looked up at him, straight into his mesmerizing blue eyes, and for a second she just wanted to reach over and kiss him. Kiss him and tell him she didn't mean to hurt him.

She couldn't.

So instead she simply responded with an "I agree"

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, I'll give you a brief runthrough of everything."

She nodded.

"Like i mentioned, Monday's and Wednesdays you will be here for about two hours to offer any help they may need. Friday afternoons, we will come up with our lessons plans. There could be sudden changes so I will advise you on them."

She nodded once again.

"Is your number still the same?" He asked, as he scribbled some notes on his notebook. "I'll need an email too." He handed her a sheet of paper.

"Yeah. It's the same." She jot down her email and handed the paper back to Ezra. Their fingers brushed briefly, and a sudden shock of electricity shot through them, causing both their breaths to hitch. This was the first contact they've had.

"Okay, I guess that is all."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded. "Don't be late." He simply responded.

Holy shit. This was about to be a long year

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