The next morning Aria awoke to the sound of her phone buzzing on the small table next to her wooden double bed. Looking next to her, she saw that her alarm had already gone off and that she'd missed it completely. As she picked up her phone, she checked the time. 7:30. She was supposed to have got up at 7:00 and she need to be out of the house with Summer dressed by 8:15. Before frantically getting changed and ready, she checked her phone reading the message she had been sent. It was from Ezra, and it read –

'Hey Aria. I really owe you an explanation, and I was hoping you'd keep your promise of meeting up with me at that café you were talking about? I'll tell you everything you want to know. Please know that I'm sorry. Love Ezra xx'

She sighed as she read this, and felt the same pain in her chest that she had done since he had left. Sure she wanted the explanation from him, but he'd hurt her. Was 'sorry' really enough? Or was his reason good enough for Aria to forgive him straight away? Making up her mind almost instantly, she typed back –

' Hey Ezra. Sure how about Friday at 6:00? – Aria xx'

She ignored the part where he'd told her that he was sorry and the fact that he'd put 'love Ezra' at the end. The last thing she wanted to do was give him the wrong impression by sending back ' love Aria'. Sure it was a friendly thing to say and everyone always said ' love' on the end of a message, but she was a little paranoid.

" Summer. Wakey wakey. It's time to get dressed honey." She called to Summer, just as she began to get ready. Thoughts of Ezra filled her mind, and all she could feel was worry towards whether she was going to have to speak to him again today.

Once Ezra was dressed and ready for work, he checked his phone again finding a message from Aria. Without a thought of doubt, he texted back saying that he could go. He felt a hint of disappointment from the fact that she'd not actually put ' love Aria' back. But he banished the thought from his mind, as he exited his appartment, climbing into his car.

After dropping Summer off at school in the cab they had both taken, she told the driver to head towards the high school she now worked at. It was Tuesday morning, the start of term. Last night Aria had gone over all of her lesson plans for that day, but despite her preparation she was still full of nerves. This was her very first job as a full time teacher, with her own classroom and classes. Her biggest hope was that all of her students were decent.

It didn't take long for her to arrive, and she carried her handbag and books up the staircase towards the school. Already her hands were full, and she struggled to pull out her keys to unlock her office door. Just as she managed to reach her keys, she dropped all of her notes and books to the floor, and they made a loud crashing noise as they fell. With a small groan, she opened her office door, dropping her back inside, before heading back to pick up her things.

" Need some help with that?" A familiar voice asked politely. Aria looked up to see Ezra stepping out of his office. He looked as handsome as ever in a tight fitted suit, and windswept hair. Aria was about to answer, but instead of waiting, Ezra bent down with her to pick her things up.

" Thank you." She said, as he handed some of her papers back to her.

" Good luck today, and thank you for agreeing to meet me. If you need anything, just ask." Ezra told her, after a few moments of silence. Aria nodded with a forced smile, before escaping into her office hastily. Hopefully that would be there only encounter today, as Aria didn't think she could deal with anymore.

Her first few lessons went surprisingly well, and she didn't stutter or forget anything that she needed to say. Each of her classes that morning had been younger students who had just started this year, so the lessons she held were basically just introductions and giving reading lists out. At lunch she ate in the staffroom, introducing herself to some of the other teachers. She'd quickly made friends with another English teacher named Mandi Daytown. One thing that had slightly annoyed Aria, though, was one of the conversations they had shared while eating.

~ Earlier ~

" So what do you think to Ezra, the head of our department?" Mandi asked, causing Aria to stiffen a little.

" He seems nice." Was all she had replied, while quickly looking down at her food.

" You're allowed to say he's cute, you know. All the female teachers here think it. Even me." Mandi said, eyeing Ezra who was sat with a male teacher with blonde hair across the room. Aria blushed slightly, but quickly hid it before Mandi could see. For some reason it annoyed Aria to here Mandi say that Ezra was cute.

" Fine, he's cute." Aria admitted, trying to hid her anxiety.

" He's single too, surprisingly. A few teachers have asked him on a date, but he always said that he was waiting for someone else, which I thought was really cute." Arias eyes widened slightly in shock as Mandi said this, but she quickly dismissed the thought that it could be her he was waiting for. Ezra wouldn't have left in the first place if he was waiting for her… right?

Thoughts of that very conversation lingered in Arias thoughts as she entered her classroom, writing on the board her name ready for her next lesson. Next she would be teaching the oldest students in the school, who were all 18. This set her on edge a little more, as they were older, needed to learn more complex things and probably had high expectations.

" Hi, please take a seat. I'm miss Montgomery, and I'm going to be your English teacher for this year." Aria announced, slightly shaky. There were a mixture of boys and girls in this class, and as usual she could pick out the typical stereotypes. Also, most of her students were taller than her, which was another common thing that always happened.

Half an hour dragged by, and Aria talked about what they would be doing this term. The majority of them seemed genuinely interested, but some seemed totally bored. After announcing that they would be reading 'To Kill A Mockingbird' this term, she handed the books out. Just as she returned to her desk, she saw a note being passed from one of the guys at the back to the other. Forming her expression into a frown, she held out her hand to the boy who had received the note.

" Pass me the note please, there's no note passing in class." She said quietly but still stern. Aria had never been one for shouting unless she was truly angry. The boy who had passed it shook his head at his friend, indicating not to give it to Aria.

" It's just a piece of paper." The boy said with a straight face, keeping the note in his hand.

" Then I'm sure you won't mind if I throw it in the bin." Aria said, keeping her hand open in front of him.

" I need it as a bookmark miss." The boy, who Aria seemed to think was named Nick, came up with another excuse.

" Pass me the note, Nick." She said more sternly this time raising her voice. Nick stared at her for a moment, before they were interrupted by the door opening. Ezra stepped into the classroom with a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird in his hand.

" Um…" He began staring at Aria for a moment. Never before had he actually seen her as a teacher. " You left this in the staffroom." With her cheeks flushing slightly, she walked over to Ezra, taking the book from his hand. Their hands brushed each other slightly as Aria took the book, and she felt a slight tingle in her hand.

" Um, thanks Mr Fitz." She replied, slightly awkwardly, only just realising that the book he'd returned had once been his. Trying to hide her blush of embarrassment, she placed the book back down on the table, before turning to smile at Ezra.

" Sorry, did I interrupt something?" He apologised with a small frown.

" Oh no, I was just asking Nick to pass me the note Ben had sent to him." Aria said quickly. " What punishment do I give for note passing by the way?" She asked more quietly, though the rest of the class heard her anyway.

" Nick please could I have the note." Ezra ordered softly, and with a quick glance at Ben, Nick handed him the note. Obviously Ezra already knew the pupils she was teaching, they'd probably been in his class last year. Opening up the note, Ezra read inside and Aria spotted his jaw tightening, and fist clenching. " That's detention Ben, I'll see you in my office tonight."

Ben glared slightly at Ezra as he said this, and Ezra handed the note to Aria before exiting the room. Some of the students started whispering as Aria read the note. It said ' Wow our new teachers hot! Think I'm deffo going to get an A this year if you know what I mean ;)'. Immediately Aria ripped up the note and threw it in the bin, slightly curious to why Ezra had reacted as he had. However, she brushed the note incident off and returned to teaching.

Ezra returned to his office, a frown still upon his face. Usually, he rarely gave it detentions. A student really had to annoy him for him to give out a detention. Why he'd stepped in, rather than just telling Aria to go by her instincts, he didn't know. But now he wished he hadn't seen that note, as the class and probably Aria had seen his reaction to it. It angered and annoyed him that Ben had called Aria hot, and had basically suggested that he was going to 'sweet talk' her into giving him an A.

He knew that Aria would never have given him an A that easily, but still it annoyed him. Aria was beautiful and young, and obviously she was going to catch the attention of some of the older boys, but Ezra couldn't stand the thought of thinking about that. All he wanted was for Aria to be his, so that nobody else could have her. But she had a family now, and she was probably married. So somebody else had probably already won her heart.

One thing that did please him, however, was the fact that she still had his copy of To Kill A Mockingbird, and that she hadn't gotten rid of the message that he'd wrote on the 2nd page in. What did occur to him aswell, was whether Aria had noticed that Ezra usual wore the tie she had bought him. He hoped she had, as maybe this would hint that she had always been in his thoughts for the past 6 years. But why would she notice? It was so long ago that she'd given him it…