A/N Quick update, but it will probably be my last one until Friday. For everyone who is uspet that Aria and Ezra broke up, remember I said that this part of the story follows season 1 pretty closely? That is a huge hint as to what is coming up next. Some things have to happen before they can solidify their relationship and understand what it is. I do not own PLL. Please tell me what you think! Reviews keep me motivated!

It was October 1, 2011, and it had been four days since Ezra had broken up with her. Aria looked out her bedroom window and sighed at the sight of the closed curtains in Ezra's house. He had closed himself off to her. Aria wasn't sure that she had let him but she wasn't sure that she hadn't either. She turned back to her writing "is this what rejection feels like?" Her journal entry was full of questions she couldn't answer, things she supposed only he could answer, but she didn't feel like talking to him right now. She still remembered their conversation, as if it had happened yesterday.

"We can't do this, Aria," he said. There was a pained expression on his face.

She stood in the middle of his living room and looked to where he stood across from her. "Sure we can. We're doing it right now."

"No," he shook his head. "We tried to make this work, but I'm your teacher. What if someone found out?"

"Who would find out?" she threw her hands in the air before wrapping them around her in a defensive position. She looked at him thoughtfully. "Hardy noticed, didn't he?"

"Of course, he noticed, Aria," exclaimed Ezra in frustration. "He's not an idiot, and neither are the people in Rosewood. Eventually someone is going to find it odd that we're spending so much time together, and when they find out…" he didn't finish the sentence.

"What? What?" yelled Aria. "You're my family, Ezra. My mom considers you her son. We've spent time together since I was twelve."

"But I'm not your family, and I wasn't your teacher then," said Ezra helplessly, "And we weren't this," he gestured to the space between them.

"So what? If we think it's right then who cares?" she exclaimed, balling up her fists by her side.

"I care," Ezra told her defiantly. "I'm twenty-six years old, and I'm spending time with a high school student."

"I thought I was more than that, Ezra." He could tell that she was hurt. That she needed comfort.

"If someone finds out…" Ezra started again softly.

"I get it," said Aria angrily. She grabbed her bag from the floor and walked to the front door, her heels clicking on the hardwood floor. "Good-bye, Ezra," she ground out before slamming his door.

He was left alone in his house listening to the silence that enveloped helpless situations.

Aria sighed and picked up her book, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. She had finished the first chapter when her mother walked by her room.

"Dinner's almost ready," announced Ella. "Could you please come down and help set the table?"

"Sure," said Aria, but she didn't move.

"All right then," said Ella heading back downstairs.

"Mom?" called Aria.

"Yes, honey?" answered Ella, reappearing in the doorway.

"Did Ezra leave? I had a substitute in class today, Ms. Shepard, and his car isn't in the driveway."

"Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you," said Ella looking at her daughter. "He went to New York, something about an opportunity. He left in such a hurry I didn't catch everything he said."

"Oh," answered Aria. She looked at her window before looking back at her mother. "I'll be down in a minute."

"All right, then," said Ella, heading back to the kitchen. Aria did come down later, but she was quiet and despondent, and although Ella didn't say anything to her daughter, she mentioned it to her husband as they prepared for bed.

"Something's wrong with Aria," said Ella as she brushed her hair in front of the vanity.

"You noticed, too," questioned Byron from his place on the bed as he fluffed the pillow behind his back. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know," answered Ella thoughtfully. She came to sit on the edge of the bed and looked at him. "I think it might have something to do with Ezra."

"Ezra?" Byron looked at his wife carefully. "What makes you say that?" he was genuinely puzzled.

"She asked about him today," answered Ella. She looked at where her husband was sitting and grabbed his hand. "They've always been close, and after we went away and came back," she sighed in mid-sentence. "Things changed. She grew up. He's her teacher." Ella let the thought hang.

Byron looked at her, understanding flashing in his eyes, "You don't really thing that they're…" he couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

"Of course not," said Ella as she patted his hand to soothe him. "Ezra's like her brother, but they aren't as close as they used to be, and maybe it's affecting her more than she anticipated."

Byron relaxed a little, leaning back into the pillows. "Maybe it's a good thing. I'm not sure if I want them so close, not if he's her teacher. That can lead to some tricky situations."

"You would know," answered Ella, her voice absent of anger.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" asked Byron helplessly. "It was a foolish mistake. A mid-life crisis."

"I know," answered Ella. "But one more time would be nice." She leaned in and he reciprocated.

When Aria wasn't back to her regular self a week later on October 7, her friends staged an intervention. They bounded upstairs to her room take out in hand and jumped on the bed next to where she was lying listening listlessly to her iPod.

"Aria," squealed Hanna as she pulled an earplug from her ear.

"Hey," said Aria, pulling herself up so that her body rested on her headboard. "What's this?" she asked.

"An intervention," stated Spencer as she pulled up the window shades. Aria winced as the light streamed through her window.

"We know that you're upset about some boy back in Iceland," said Emily from her spot on the edge of her bed.

"How did you guys know about that?" she was confused.

"Your mom called and told us," answered spencer taking the take-out of the bags.

"Look, here's the deal, Aria," said Hanna plopping down magazines on her friends head. "Homecoming is in four days and you're going."

"But," started Aria.

"No buts," said Hana firmly. "I'm running for Homecoming queen and I need all the support I can get. And I need you to help me look my best."

"Way to cheer her up, Han," said Spencer.

Hanna looked at Spencer. "What? My problems are more important than whatever guy she left in Greenland."

"Iceland," corrected Emily automatically.

Hanna looked at Aria, "Well, dresses, music, dancing. What else could a girl want?"

"A date," answered Aria automatically.

"Look," said Hanna. "I know Sean and I broke up but we're still going together. You can borrow him."

"You can borrow Alex, too."

"Who's Alex?" asked Emily.

"He's this guy that works at the Club," she answered.

"You're blushing," exclaimed Hanna.

"No I'm not," mumbled Spencer, looking away.

"You totally are. Isn't she, Aria?" asked Hanna.

"Leave Spencer alone," said Emily softy. "She should go with whoever she wants to go with."

"Em?" asked Spencer. "What's going on?"

Emily played with a piece of her hair before looking up at her friends and saying, "Toby Cavanaugh asked me to Homecoming."

"You mean creepy Toby Cavanaugh who blinded his stepsister?" asked Hanna, wrinkling her nose.

"What about Maya," questioned Aria.

"Yeah," echoed Spencer. "I thought you really liked Maya."

Emily sighed. "I do, but I don't know how to tell my parents about it. Besides, she's going away this weekend with her family. Toby knows were going as friends. He said he wants to talk about something, something about Jenna."

"Be careful, Em," warned Spencer.

"Can we get over the whole doomsday of dates thing and go back to picking dresses?" exclaimed Hanna. "How do you think I should wear my hair?"

On October 11, 2011, Aria was standing in the Rosewood High gym listening to Spencer bark orders to the student council members about how things should be going.

"Aria?" asked Spencer.

"Yes?" she answered, her head snapping back to her friend.

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing," replied Aria looking over her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" asked Spencer, folding her arms across her chest.

"Nothing," said Aria passively.

"Well, Hanna was looking for you."

"Oh," answered Aria, "I'll go find her then." She walked to where Hanna was standing at the far end of the gym. "Hey, Hanna," greeted Aria.

"What do you think has gotten into the two?" responded Hanna pointing to where Melissa and Spencer were arguing.

"What's Melissa doing here?" asked Aria.

"I don't know, but it looks like she has a bone to pick with Spencer," answered Hanna.

"Where's Emily?" asked Aria.

"Probably off somewhere with Toby," said Hanna gesturing to Sean and his friend from the other corner of the gym. "Aria," began Hanna, "this is Noel, Noel Khan."

"Nice to meet you," said Noel. "Wow," he exclaimed looking Aria over. "I'm sorry," he apologized to Aria, "But wow."

Hanna pointed to the dance floor. "Why don't you guys go dance?"

"Come on," said Noel, grabbing Aria's hand and pulling her in towards the crowd. They started dancing, Aria more half-heartedly than her partner. She continued to look around the gym stopping when she spotted the person she was looking for.

"I'm sorry," she said to Noel. "I can't do this." She pulled away from him and walked out into the hallway of Rosewood High.

Ezra was walking past lockers and classrooms, sighing in frustration.

"Ezra," she called out, and he stopped when he heard her voice.

"Aria," he greeted.

"You got a haircut," she stated.

"Yes," he said his hand automatically coming up to touch his head.

"Well," she ventured. "Are you going to tell me where you've been or are you just going to let me fill in the blanks?"

"I was in New York. I had an interview," Ezra stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"You're leaving?" she exclaimed.

"Well, I," he started.

"Don't bother," snapped Aria.

Ezra sighed and began again. "I thought we could make this work, but seeing you out there on the dance floor with guys your own age. I can't compete with that."

"Nobody's asking you to," offered Aria.

He shook his head, "You deserve more than eating take-out and being holed up in my house." He paused, "Because I can't take you to a nice restaurant or a movie."

"It doesn't matter," answered Aria.

"It does to me," he answered softly. He gestured toward the back of the hallway. "Your friends are looking for you," he told her before turning around and walking away.

Aria spent the rest of Homecoming looking for Emily with her friends. They found her in a chem lab talking to Toby. Afterwards she told them that Toby didn't hurt Jenna. Somebody else had framed him.

"Who would do that?" asked Aria.

"Alison," answered Spencer without hesitation.

"He said it was Alison," echoed Emily softly.

On top of these revelations, Aria spent the next week avoiding Noel and not talking to Ezra. The only time she did so was when it was absolutely necessary in class. He didn't come over for dinner that Wednesday night.

A week later, on October 18, Aria has signed up to take her SAT at the high school, but the weather had cancelled the test although she was kept at the school with the rest of the students. She couldn't avoid Noel any longer, and she found that she didn't want to anymore. He was nice, and he liked her. They even snuck away to an empty classroom to talk and play the guitar. It was only later, when it was too late, that she realized that they had snuck in to Ezra's classroom, and Ezra, who had arrived at the testing site late, walked in on Noel kissing her.

He cleared his throat, interrupting the couple, and Aria looked away from him and at the floor.

"Mr. Kahn," began Ezra, "They want all students in the library." He looked pointedly where Noel was sitting. Ezra turned to her. "Ms. Montgomery, I need to talk to you about the homework assignment."

Noel left, looking at Aria and Ezra curiously as he did so.

Aria was furious, "You had no right," she began.

"I have every right," Ezra answered. "I'm the teacher, remember?" He paused and looked at her.

"He's actually really smart," Aria defended herself, "and funny, and he likes old movies."

"I didn't say anything," he answered back.

"Yes, you did," said Aria as she angrily stalked out the classroom. Ezra watched her go. They didn't talk to each other until November. He didn't call on her in class, and she didn't go over to his house. If Ella and Byron thought any of it odd, they didn't say anything. But Mike, who had watched his sister carefully since their return from Europe, noticed something was wrong, and he intended to find out what it was.