Aria ran down the hallway, out of breath, and momentum. She had to get away though. Far, far away. This isn't what she wanted; this isn't what she dreamed of. Here she was seventeen years old, running away from the police and her step-father.

"Aria Montgomery, come out of the house with your hands above your head." The faint sound of the speaker traveled through the abandoned hallways.

"Aria? Where are you?" The voice was getting closer.

"Ezra? Is that you? Where are you?" The breathless girl managed out of her mouth.

"Aria? Where are you?"

"Ezra! Ezra, I'm right here!"

The girl opened the door nearest to her on the right. In the room, there was a single chair with somebody sitting in it.

"Aria? Where are you?" His voice was in this room. Aria walked around the person, expecting it to be Ezra. It wasn't, it was Thomas.

"Thomas." Aria backed up against the wall.

"Hello beautiful." The man stood up and walked toward Aria. She tried to scurry away, but it was to no avail. The scraggly man put his hand up against her face, "I've been waiting for you." He leaned in for a kiss right as Aria shot out of the bed with sweat dripping down her body.

"Aria? Are you okay?" Ezra was standing in his kitchen staring out the window across the room.

She looked around to gather her surroundings, and it took her a moment to realize where she was. "Yeah, yeah."

"Do you uh, want to talk about it?"

"No, I don't."

"Okay, well you should probably get ready."

"Ready for what?"

"For school. You know that thing you go to and learn? Are you going to go?"

"Hah, no I'm not going." Aria slid off the bed and walked to Amelia. "I haven't gone in a week and I don't plan on going back."

"And why not Aria? Your education is very important, and I would think you would understand that."

"Ezra, don't."

"You're not going to get to live here if you don't go to school." Aria walked into the kitchen with Amelia in her arms and managed to look through the refrigerator. " The milk is on the bottom shelf."

"Would you really make me go back to live with Thomas if I don't go to school?"

"No, no. Of course not. I was just hoping that would persuade you into going to school."

"Ezra," Aria sighed loudly, "About that kiss…"

"It was nothing. Nothing at all."

"Oh. Alright." But that wasn't what Aria wanted to hear. Aria wanted him to say that he loved her and that she was beautiful and perfect and everything would be okay. Aria had always had a small crush on her English teacher, but that kiss… It meant more to her than any other kiss had meant to her. She kept replaying the kiss in her head. Something about that kiss was just different. It was filled with passion, and not just one-sided passion. The kind of passion that novels are written about and that little girls dream about their whole life. The type of passion that fireworks are expected to explode in a beautiful arrangement over their heads.

"Aria? Did you hear anything that I just said?" Aria shook her head. "I didn't think so. Well I was thinking maybe you should go to school today and if that goes well, you can keep going. If it doesn't go so hot, I won't bother you anymore about it. Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah, sure I guess. I'll go get dressed now I guess." Aria grabbed random clothes from her bag and walked to the bathroom while Ezra stayed in the kitchen feeding Amelia. Minutes later, Aria came out of the bathroom dressed in baggy jean and a tight fighting t-shirt that had a big band label on it. "So, I guess I'll take my car and bring Amelia to the day care place."

"I can drive you. It isn't far out of my way, plus I don't mind."

"Really? What would the town think about a teacher driving around one of his students and her daughter?"

"Aria… Can't you just accept someone's offer without questioning it or thinking about what other people think?" Aria gave Ezra a dirty look, "Hey! I am just saying. You need to start living for yourself and not somebody else."

"Well it is kind of hard to live for yourself when you're basically foreplaying with your stepfather all the time, now isn't it?" Aria said sarcastically with a huge cheeky smile.

"I'm just saying. One day, I am going to get you to do something out of your comfort zone and you're going to like it. Now get your stuff and meet me in my car." Ezra walked out of the apartment while juggling a baby and his brief case. Aria let out a huge sigh and went back into the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror.

"You can do this. I believe in you Aria. You can do this. You're strong enough to face a few hundred people that are the same age as you. Maybe Ezra will stand up for you during class. Not like other teachers would. Aria, you are strong, you can do this." Aria recited the pep talk she gives herself every time she is forced to go to school.

She grabbed her stuff and headed downstairs to find a very confused Ezra Fitz trying to figure out Amelia's car seat. After a couple bumps on the roof of the car, Ezra figured it out and buckled the little girl in. The trio soon become a couple after they dropped off Amelia at the local day care.

When the twosome arrived at the enormous school, they quickly parted their ways. Almost as fast as the two left each other, the crude comments started. 'Hey Whore!' 'Hey Slut, how is that bastard child of yours?' 'Are you knocked up again? You're looking a bit pudgy.' Aria had to resist the urge to turn around and punch everyone in the face and walk out of the school.

"Aria! I didn't think you were coming back to school! My mother really wants me to give this to you," a girl named Sarah Radzonawski said as she handed Aria a pamphlet that read 'God Will Always Love You.'

"Uh thanks Sarah. But I don't need that. It really doesn't fit my beliefs." Aria shoved the paper back into Sarah's hand and sped walked toward her first class, which so happened to be English Composition 3 with Ezra Fitz.

As Aria walked in, everybody turned and looked at her. Multiple whores, sluts, and easy hoes were heard circling the room.

"That is enough every one! No need to be extremely rude to Miss Montgomery."Ezra said as he slammed his book on his desk. "Okay, now let's just shut up and continue with our lesson about how in 'Animal Farm' that animals actually are parallels to real life dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini."

Aria sat in her usual desk in the very back, a seat over from the window. "Hey Aria," she looked up and saw her old friend, Emily, staring at her, "Are you okay?"

"Do you care?"

"Aria, stop. I do care about you. You're the one that pushed everybody away."

"I only pushed you all away because…"

"Aria and Emily would you kindly stop talking so I can continue teaching the class?" Aria looked at Ezra as he winked at her. The two girls mumbled okay and turned back to their assignment. Then the bell rang and Aria's peers started filing out of the class, not without shooting glances at the girl. "Aria can you stay?"

Aria walked up to Ezra's desk as the final students left the class. "Aria, are you okay with being here right now?"

"No. Do I look like I'm okay with being here?"

"Aria…" Ezra said with a bit of disappointment in his voice.

"No Mr. Fitz, I don't want to be here. You don't see how I am treated here! You don't hear what I hear while walking down the hall. You don't get whore and slut yelled at you while you walk down the hall. You don't have people staring at you while you get stuff out of your locker. People leave the bathroom when I walk in. EVERYBODY TREATS ME LIKE I AM A CONTAGIOUS DISEASE AND IF THEY TALK TO ME OR TOUCH ME THEY WILL DIE! ALL BECAUSE THAT DOUCHE BAG GOT ME PREGNANT!" Right as Aria yelled that, Noel Kahn, the one that everybody believes is Amelia's father, walked into the classroom.

"Oh, uh. I'll leave." Noel said.

"No, you stay. I'm leaving." Aria walked out of the classroom and straight out the front door.

"Aria! Stop!" Ezra yelled while he ran after her.

"What do you want Mr. Fitz!? I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE! SO LET ME LEAVE IN PEACE!"

"Aria, just listen to me. You can sit in my class for the rest of the day. Nobody will bother you in there, okay? I just want you to stay. Please, for me." And that is where Ezra could use his boyish charm to his advantage. "Please Aria. Don't make me get on my knees and make me beg."

"What would the school board think of you on your knees begging for a student to go back inside?"

"That I care deeply about your education, of course." Ezra said with the boyish charm oozing out of him.

"Oh, yeah that's what you care about. Isn't it?" Aria said with a wink.

"Of course, what else would I be talking about?" Ezra took Aria's hand in his, and walked back to into the school. "I knew you would come back inside with me, I knew it."

"You're dumb." Ezra shot her another one of his irresistible smiles. "But yes, I was going to go with you any ways."

"Yeah, I know." Aria gave Ezra a playful push, but then she looked up and saw Principal Mulligan standing in front of them.

"What do we have here Mr Fitz?"

"Oh, I was just walking Miss Montgomery back to my classroom where she is going to spend the day cleaning and doing school work."

"Why isn't she going to go to her other classes? Besides isn't it second period? Why aren't you in your room teaching?"

"She isn't going to the other classes because of the outstanding amount of bullying she is receiving. So I am letting her sit in my room as long as she would like to just cool off and gather her emotions and everything. I do not currently have a class right now."

"Oh do you want me to talk to the school about bullying or something like that Miss Montgomery?"

"That would be great,"Aria said with a deep sigh, "but I don't think that would help at all. The bullying is too intense."

"Oh well I am sorry to hear that. Well you can go ahead and go to the classroom. Hope you have a better day."

"Thank you Principal Mulligans," Ezra said as the Principal walked away, "Yeah. We gonna go do work."

"Shut up Ezra." Aria said as she once again playfully shoved Ezra.

Then from behind them, there was a loud gasp. The two people turned around to see Mona Vanderwaal and Hanna Marin standing there with their phones pointed at them. "Ohmigod."