The final bell rang, but Emily didn't hear it. She was too busy staring out the window and thinking about Mona. She was once again blaming herself for the accident even though she knew it wasn't her fault.

"Emily?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and turned away from the window, staring at Ezra as if she had just been unexpectedly transported to a different world and was looking at an alien. Her big brown eyes were wide, and she looked a little like a deer caught in headlights.

Ezra walked down the aisle and sat on the desk in front of hers. "You weren't paying much attention in class today. Are you okay?"

Emily blinked, thinking that was a stupid question. Obviously she wasn't okay. Nothing was okay. But she knew Ezra wasn't oblivious to the situation. He knew everything now, up until the most recent events, and he probably suspected that A had something to do with the accident. He was simply concerned about her, and he had every right to be. He was her friend after all.

"Emily?" he repeated.

Tears suddenly sprang into her eyes and she fought to keep them from running down her face. "I hate A."

Ezra's eyebrows lifted slightly. "A did this? I thought Eddie."

"I know you're not stupid, Ezra." Emily said, casting her usual polite demeanor to the side. "You can't possibly think that Eddie Lamb was really A. He may have been one of Cece's minions, but A is still out there. And I'm pretty sure she wants us dead."

Aria would probably kill her herself when she found out about this conversation, but Emily didn't care right now. She needed to vent to someone, and that someone happened to be Ezra because he was the only one here.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I don't think there's anything we can do." She admitted. "We all want to put a top to all of this, but I don't think there's a way to do that without someone getting hurt. I'm not willing to risk someone else getting killed because we made A mad."

"So you're just giving up?"

Emily shrugged her good shoulder. "What else can we do? Fighting back obviously isn't working. A warned Spencer not to tell, and now Melissa is dead and Mona may never regain consciousness."

"You can't just sit there and do nothing though." Ezra argued, sounding a lot like Spencer and Aria. "I think it's pretty obvious that A isn't going to let it go."

She looked up at him. "You can do something if you want, but I'm done with A. She took away my last hope for a scholarship and I have more important things to focus on than trying to figure out what we did to make Cece hate us."

"Like?"

"Figuring out how I'm going to pay for college." She shot back. "Paige wants me to go to Stanford with her, and I would love to, but there's no way my parents can afford it. I needed that spot on the swim team, and now there's no way I could possibly get it."

"If you need help figuring it out, I'm here."

"Thanks, but right now I have to go see Mona."

"Do you need a ride?"

She had been planning on taking the train, but had to admit that riding with Ezra would make her feel a little safer. Then again, the last time she had been in a car with one of her friends, thinking she was safe, A had shown up out of nowhere and proved just how wrong she had been. "Are you sure you want to risk your life?"

"I'll feel better if I know you're not going by yourself."

She wanted to argue with him, but the look on his face told her it would be useless. She had always thought of Ezra as a fairly docile man, but he clearly had a very protective side and she could suddenly see him going after A, or anyone else, to keep her safe. She agreed to let him come with her because she didn't think she had much choice.

As she followed him out of the classroom she realized that Aria wasn't the only one with a very unusual relationship with their English teacher. Ezra obviously cared about all of his students, but thanks to A, Emily and her friends were definitely at the top of his list. She wondered if any of her other teachers would be willing to risk their lives just to drive her to visit a friend in the hospital, or if Ezra would be willing to do so if he hadn't been involved with Aria.

"You wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for Aria, would you?" she asked.

"Probably not." He admitted.

If nothing had ever happened between them, Emily would just be another student. But because Ezra had been involved with Aria, he had gotten dragged into the whole A game despite Aria's attempts to keep him away from it. That meant he was connected to the girls even if he wasn't with Aria any longer. He knew what was going on and he cared about Emily and her friends. Emily knew he wasn't the type of guy to just sit by and watch. No matter how docile he seemed to be upon first glance.

Mr. Hackett was in the parking lot as they walked out to Ezra's car, but Emily no longer cared if he saw her climbing in or not. Ezra didn't seem to either, but of course, Mr. Hackett had to say something.

"Mr. Fitz, what's going on here?" he asked in an accusatory voice as he walked over to them.

"Emily needed a ride." Ezra stated simply.

"You're her teacher." Mr. Hackett said disapprovingly. "I'm sure she can find one of her friends to give her a ride. Or she can call her mother."

"My mother's at work." Emily replied. "And my friends have already left."

"You don't live far from here." Hackett said.

"I'm not going home." Emily was determined not to let Hackett win this argument. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the situation. There were no rules saying that a teacher couldn't be a decent guy and offer his student a ride. "I'm sure you're aware of the fact that Mona is in the hospital and I can't drive myself."

"You can take the train. A bus."

"Mr. Hackett, nothing wrong is going on here." Ezra said. "I'm simply making sure Emily gets there and back safely. After everything that's happened, do you really want her traveling into the city on her own?"

"That doesn't excuse the fact that you are her teacher." Mr. Hackett insisted.

"And that doesn't excuse the fact that I'm also her friend." Ezra shot back. "You can fire me if you feel you need to, but I can't let Emily go into the city by herself."

Hackett stammered for a while, trying to find something to further his argument and finally gave up. Emily and Ezra climbed into the car and headed for the hospital. Although Ezra had told Hackett to fire him if he felt it necessary, Emily was pretty certain his job was secure. No one could blame him for simply making sure she was safe.

"Remind me to thank Aria for going to that bar." She said, only half joking.