I'm not quite sure what I was thinking, but by the time I got to his front door it was too late to turn back. I had to speak to him. Properly. After all, this was his baby too. I knocked the door gently, taking a deep breath as I did and waited. The person that answered the door wasn't the person I was looking for. He looked the same, but he didn't seem the same. His eyes were sad. Then he spoke.
"A-A-Aria... I..." With that he stumbled and I caught him by the arm quickly. Great. He was drunk.
"For god sake, Ezra. What the hell have you been drinking?" I helped him to the couch where he slumped down. The coffee table was littered with empty bottles of various beers and spirits. "How could you be so stupid?!"
"I-I..." I could see the sorrow in his eyes and expected this was the start of his apology. "I'm going to be sick!" He picked up the bin from the side of the couch and emptied his stomach contents. I couldn't even look at him, but I couldn't leave him here alone, so I left him on the couch and went into his bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

My eyes welled as I sat on his bed, listening to him throw up again. I didn't think he'd take the news well but I didn't expect this reaction. I picked up my phone and dialled the first number I could think of and waited for the answer. "Hello?"
"Spence, hey, it's me. Could I ask I really huge favour please?"
"Of course, anything."
"If my mum asks can you cover for me? Say I'm spending the night with you?"
"Why? Where are you?"
"I... I'm with the babies dad. Told him and, well, he's not taken it to we'll so I'm going to stay here for the night. Make sure he's ok," it was the most I could say. "Pretty please. I promise I'm ok and I'm safe."
"Fine! But you need to tell us all who this guy is, and soon! Talk later, take care of yourself!"
"Bye, Spence!" After hanging up the phone I text my mum straight away telling her about mine and the girls 'sleepover' and the curled up and went to sleep.

"Aria?" The soft whisper gently woke me, and I blinked my eyes open to see Ezra sat on the bed next to me. "Hey."

"Hi... What time is it?"

"About two AM, shouldn't you be at yours?"

"They think I'm at Spencer's." As I finished my sentence Ezra leant forward and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm so, so sorry Aria. For the state I got in last night."

"It's fine. I get it. It's a lot to take in."

"I'm... Petrified." He said it quietly, as if he was afraid of even talking about it. I sat up in bed and leaned my back against the headboard.

"Me too, Ezra."

"What are you.. I mean we going to do?"

"I'm not sure. I've thought about abortion... But it's my baby. My flesh and blood. I don't think I could kill it. Then there is adoption, but I don't think I could just hand my baby over to someone else. So I guess I only have one option."

"Then I will be there for you and our baby... I'm going to be a daddy." I shook my head.

"Ezra, no. You can't. It's not even possible. It's not even worth talking about. You are my teacher. No one will let you near me when this comes out. You will get arrested, and that is possibly the safest option, if my dad got his hands on you, you'd be a goner." Ezra's face was sad.

"What, so, I can't have a relationship with my child?"

"Ezra," I reached out and held his hands, "I want more than anything for us to be a proper family, but I don't see how we could possibly even think about it."

"Aria, this is my child too. If it means getting locked up, which it may not, then it will be worth it. I love you." He placed his hand on my stomach. "And I love you too, baby. Daddy loves you."

I didn't sleep for the rest of the night. I just laid in Ezra's arms. By the time morning came I knew I was ready to tell the girls who the dad was, so by half 9, I got up, dressed and ready to herd the girls up, but, as I picked up my phone to text them, four texts came through, pretty much at identical times. One off Spencer. One off Emily. One of Hanna. And one off A.

"Oops, beat you to it bitch! Someone has some explaining to do!-A"

Grabbing my things, I quickly ran out of the door before even waking Ezra to tell him I'd left and headed down the road to wear I knew the girls would be waiting.

"Ezra Fitz!" Hanna yelled as I approached them "Ezra bloody Fitz! What the hell where you thinking?"

"Hanna, you don't understand."

"Then none of us do," Spence cutted in. "And what makes this a thousand times worse is that we had to find out through A. Of all people. You're supposed to be our best friend. How could you keep this from us?"

"I, I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean for it to..."

"Don't you think sorry is a little to late? And now A knows, you know your life and ours will be made hell once again." Emily cut in.

"Please tell me he didn't force himself on you!"

"No, just let me explain, please?" The girls nodded and we sat down in the open field, the one place we knew A wasn't there listening to our secrets. There was no where for him or her to hide.

"We met in a bar," I began, telling me secret for the first time ever. "I was upset and it's fair to say I was pretty drunk."

"But your underage," I nodded.

"No one asked for ID. Anyway, he saw I was upset and came over and introduced himself. We talked for hours. He made me feel happy for the first time in so long... I mean proper happy. He made me laugh. I fell in love with him pretty much there and then. Anyway, we had sex for the first time that day... In the bars toilets of all the places, and before you guys judge me, like I say, I was upset and I was drunk, I just needed to feel wanted and, well, I sure did." The girls watched me tell my story, afraid of so much as blinking in case they missed something. "We carried on seeing each other every day for the rest of the summer. He never asked my age. He didn't feel the need to. He had no idea I was so young though. Not until the first day back at school. He almost died. We tried to end things between us, honestly we did, but by that point, we were in love, so we decided to just keep our relationship secret, and now... Now... I'm, well, you know that bit." My eyes welled with tears. I could see that the girls were finally starting to understand. Emily put her arm around my shoulders and held me close. Hanna took a breath of air before opening her mouth.

"Did you use.."

"Of course! Obviously though, that didn't work."

"And you said last night on the phone that he knows? And he took it pretty bad?" Spence asked. I nodded.

"I actually told him yesterday in school, when he kept me behind. I basically told him I'd be fine on my own and didn't need him before walking out before so much as giving him a chance to respond. So last night, I went to his place, to find him drunk. He literally drunk himself to oblivion. There wasn't a drop of alcohol left in the whole apartment. Once he sobered up though, we talked. He asked what we were going to do. I told him I couldn't get rid of it, so he said he wants to be there, for the both of us. I told him that wasn't an option but he's adamant. He doesn't care if he gets sent to prison. He says it'll be worth the risk. So, yeah, and that brings us to where we are now."

"We're sorry for being so hard on you, Aria," Spencer placed her hand over mine and squeezed it gently.

"Yeah," Hanna agreed. "We're here for you know though. All of us. That's what best friends are for right?"