This is a new story I've been wanting to type up for a long time now, but I didn't know how to start it out so I'd put it off forever, but I took the past day or two just to jot down some ideas and it's given me motivation to start this, so yay! If you've clicked on here, thank you so much for taking the time to read it. It's a story I hold very close to my heart and I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

First off, when Ezra pops into the story, you'll find out that this will be Ezria centric with some Naria (Noel/Aria) in it for story purposes, which is explained in the third paragraph. Also, this is an AU version, so Ezria doesn't meet at the bar.

The story starts in the summer of ninth grade, when they're about fourteen/fifteen but there will be a time jump, so for you major Ezria shippers, you won't have to worry about waiting for them to interact. It'll happen in this chapter.

If you don't understand the concept of the story, please feel free to leave a review or a PM and let me know! I'd be more than happy to explain in detail. Please enjoy the first chapter!

1.

Aria Montgomery despises the rules of love. She was rarely ever a rule-bender or breaker so she doesn't proclaim her beliefs to the world, but her friends and mother know just how far her passion extends. Who could blame her? Growing up with Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and other romantic fairy tales had set her standards high up. She loved the idea of being swept off of her feet by her dream man, her soulmate. She loved the cheesy scenarios she saw in old romantic movies, the ones that were created before the government banned anymore makings of romantic movies except for those that proved the point of the law. She wanted her heart to flutter and wanted butterflies to cascade from her lungs and down to her stomach much like a waterfall. She's a hopeless romantic, and she isn't ashamed in the least to say it, regardless of the heartless world she lives in.

You get assigned with your partner when both beings turn twelve, just when most of the girls exit that stage where they believe boys have cooties and suddenly, out of nowhere, they're boy crazy. They say early adolescence is the stage where you have your first real crush, first kiss, first everything. But just because you're assigned to someone doesn't mean you're forced to be with them. If the two of you come to some understanding that parting ways is for the best, then so be it.

Despite the rules, Aria didn't mind too much when it was revealed that Noel Kahn was her assigned partner. Dazzling blue eyes, a grin with all of his baby teeth wiggled out and his adult teeth grown in, and he was one of the only boys that wasn't caught digging his nose in elementary school. Given the circumstances, Aria considered herself lucky to be matched with him. She felt like a prize when she stood next to him, not only because she was always looked at by girls and guys alike, but because he treated her like a seventh grade princess.

As Aria sits on the bleachers next to one of her good friends Emily Fields, she watches Noel from the stands as he's waiting in line with a ton of other pre-freshman males. The majority of them look peculiar in their sportswear, mostly because the vast majority have only just begun to hit puberty. The demure brunette smiles crookedly when she sees that Noel is the second tallest out of all of them.

She doesn't know why she agreed to spend her last week of summer vacation watching Noel at his football practices when she could be using her time wisely. She still has to go back to school shopping, be with her friends before piles of classwork stack up, and take out the pink streaks that Noel desperately loathes. But today is an exception.

She peers at a small cluster of older men, who she assumes to be the coaches, before eyeing Noel. He's already getting acquainted with a group of upcoming freshman — or does he already know them? Aria wouldn't be surprised if he does know them. He knows everyone because everyone knows him. He is Noel Kahn.

As a slight breeze picks up, Aria ravishes in the early signs of fall, allowing her thick tresses to sweep against her face. It's already the end of August, which disappoints her.

She glances at Emily, who seems to be gazing towards another direction. Aria follows her stare to a group of girls in sleeveless crop tops and skimpy skirts standing on the grass, nearby the football tryouts. One girl in particular stands out — long, impeccable blonde hair which flows past her chest, a gorgeous body frame for a fourteen year old, and an attitude that can be spotted from a mile away. Just like Noel, everyone knows who Alison DiLaurentis is.

To this day, Aria doesn't have the slightest idea as to why she was chosen to be her friend, but she likes it. It makes her feel the same way as it does being with Noel. She feels superior, more confident than she normally is. The bombshell blonde might harbor an extravagant personality, but she knows it's better being Alison's friend than being her enemy. She's thankful to have met Emily in the process, as well as Spencer and Hanna.

No one knows who Alison's partner is— at least, no one that isn't Alison and her parents. After Hanna brought up the question during seventh grade, in the early stages of the group and their friendship, Alison dismissed the topic immediately.

"He isn't cut out for me," Alison insisted. "Just some loser on the West Coast who plays with Power Ranger toys."

"I thought you were supposed to be matched up with someone in the same town?" Hanna inquired.

"He moved recently," Alison responded, hesitation residing in her voice. "Let's not talk about him, okay?"

Aria has her suspicions that it was only a story, but because everyone else never brings up the topic again, she doesn't either.

She looks at Emily once more; this time, the look is filled with pity. Aria has a feeling that the relationship between her and Emily is much different than the rest. The way she looks at her is the way Hanna looks at Sean— with longing. Deep longing. The shorter brunette doesn't question anything about her observations which would later prove to be accurate, not even vaguely says words of reassurance, in fear that she'd tip the girl off and frighten her; or worse, anger her. If Emily was the person Aria suspected, Emily assigned partner, Ben, would not be too happy about that.

Aria hears it. She hears her name in the distance, beneath the heavy wind that threatens to knock her small frame to her side. She turns her head away from the copper skinned teenager and tries to find the source of the voice. It's Noel, who is motioning that he's close to his turn. At this point, the bleachers that were once empty now had a crowd of supporters and the tryout line grows longer. Suddenly, Aria's grateful Noel dragged her out here earlier rather than now.

"Go, Noel!" she cheers.

The brown-eyed male is now up for his turn. Aria tries to ignore the ludicrous amount of cheering coming towards Alison and the cheerleaders. She knows that the other girl has taken a liking to Noel, which is why she's the most distant towards Aria.

Aria has absolutely no idea what happens within the next fifteen minutes. All she knows is that Noel has been cheered for the most in comparison to the rest of those that tried out. She watches him sprint and dodge, aggression fueling every move he makes. She finally understands why he's so interested in this common American sport. He has an undeniable talent that someone with the least bit of knowledge for the game, such as Aria, can spot from miles off.

Before she knows it, it's already midnight and she remains leaning against Noel's side as his arm is tightly encased around her shoulders. She looks around at the setting of the Kahn's cabin and the fact that he can rile up a crowd of a hundred, give or take a few, in such a short amount of time completely astounds Aria regardless of his high social status.

She takes a look at the window from across the room, and for a second, she swears she saw someone lurking around in the shadows. She instinctively leans against Noel even more in fear, forgetting that his drunken state was already having to deal with enough coordination as it is.

"Sorry," she mutters. Noel disregards her apology, continuing his slurred boasting with the soon-to-be freshman in front of them about his tryouts. Normally, she would have felt a little upset, angry even, for him to wave her off like this. But now, she's thankful his booze-scented breath isn't too close for her molecules to catch on.

It isn't too challenging to spot her friends walking through the front door. All eyes study the four, more concerned about the blonde leading them on with all the confidence in the world. She looks like she's been longing to be a part of a commotion filled scene such as a party at the Kahn's cabin, but Aria is feeling the complete opposite. She just wants to be home with her stuffed pig Petunia, writing about her day and what she's expecting for the upcoming school year, which will take place after Labor Day weekend. She wants to finish the last twenty pages of Pride and Prejudice and curl up in her bed, and in the process, have her dream guy cuddle her and give her kisses of love.

But Noel is her dream guy, right?

Aria bites her tongue gently. The rules never stated anywhere that her assigned partner is her soulmate.

"Aaaaria," Noel whispers seductively, brushing his lips against her ear. She feels his hand tuck a cluster of her hair behind her ear, giving him better access on the side of his face.

"What?" she responds, even if she knows where this is going. She giggles, not because of him, but because of the way his breath tickles her skin. Quite frankly, she isn't amused with him. She knows that he's listened to her talk about how parties aren't her scene, and judging by the amount of times she's proved it by acting grudgingly stubborn whenever they accompany one another, he doesn't care.

What he says takes her aback, for a moment. She turns her head to see if he's being serious. A trace of amusement and a shadow of lust clouds his gorgeous eyes, but nothing in them shows he's kidding around, which makes Aria scoff.

"Stop talking, Noel," she says, turning her head to watch the scene. "You're more hammered than a nail."

"Alison does it," he counters, which is exactly what brings Aria back to the conversation.

"To you?" she questions, feeling somewhat offended. He merely stares at her with the same look in his eyes, which makes the young teenager feel dirty.

When she gets no response, she pushes her way out of his grasp and starts walking away, but doesn't get far. Noel's hand is around her arm, urging for her to stay.

"I'm only kidding, Aria," he tells her. "We've never done anything, I swear."

How is she supposed to believe him? She doesn't, especially because she can see right through his lie. She knows when he's being untruthful, and the liquor helps her reveal the truth. She takes a quick glance at the girls, Alison in particular. The blonde has her arms crossed in front of her chest, not caring enough about the malicious smile on her face. It makes Aria want to hurl.

"Let me go," she demands, yanking her hand away and racing for the door. Does Noel even understand that he broke the law by being intimate with someone other than his assigned partner? And worse, he broke her trust.

She doesn't want to be here, anyways. She realizes she's barely fifteen and snuggled up to her drunk boyfriend, and that doesn't sit well with her. Maybe it's because it always happens or because her parents treated her better than that.

Outside the cabin, there's nothing but a band of trees on either side of the cabin and a group of guys in the same blue jerseys goofing around obnoxiously, a couple of rolled up blunts in their hand. They're older looking. Aria guesses they're juniors.

She pulls out her phone from her back pocket and looks through her contacts. She can't call her mother or her father to come get her; they'd know that alcohol takes a major toll in this party. All of her friends are here and she knows without a doubt that they wouldn't want to abandon their leader. She scrolls through family members and acquaintances that gave her their numbers because she's Noel's girl, all in which would kick her to the curb if they knew why she was standing out here. She's finally aware that she really has no one to lean on in a desperate time of need like this. Not even the guy she's supposed to spend the rest of her life with.

She looks behind her and sees Noel through the window, standing next to Alison. Smiles are plastered on their faces. They look like their having a good time... without her. She bites down on her tongue and sets off on the gravel road. The drive from Rosewood to here was about twenty minutes, so she assumes that it's going to take her at least an hour or two to get home.

The rest of the week passes by quickly. She finds herself being very productive of her last days. All of her brand new notebooks are stacked inside her backpack, which sits on the floor of her bedroom. She got around to cleaning her room and even redecorating it a bit. A large plastic bag with unwanted clothes is leaning against her bed, waiting to be taken to the church as a donation for the annual clothing drive. Most of the clothes are black, but now that she's out of her goth phase, she finds a variety of colors in her closet.

For the first time since that night, she finds her mind trailing back to Noel's words.

'Alison does it.'

She rolls her eyes, trying to push out the memory before she cries heavily like she did the night she got home. She wants to call their relationship off, but like Alison, she needs Noel if she wants to survive the first part of high school. She decides that she'll ask to take a break when she settles down and creates friends. Compared to before, Aria has used work to blow off some steam, so she isn't as angry as she was.

Finally, the weekend rolls along and she's ready to do some last minute shopping with her mother before the first day of high school. She gets a call from Alison. Just the name on the caller ID makes Aria want to crawl out of her skin.

"Aria, hey," she hears a voice after Aria answers. It isn't Alison, though. It's Spencer.

"Hey, Spence," she greets, her tense jaws loosening up. She walks over to her shoe rack, picking up a pair of studded boots. "What's up?"

"Nothing much, just wanted to know if you want to come over tonight for a sleepover," she answers.

Aria stifles a sigh. She knows Alison'll be there, more so because Spencer is using her phone right now. She doesn't know if joining them is the best idea. Scratch that, she knows joining them is a bad idea. She can already hear Alison's voice putting her down, telling her that she doesn't appreciate him well.

"No thanks," Aria declines politely. "I'm kind of busy today."

"Doing wh—"

The other girl stops talking for short while. Aria opens her mouth to ask if she's still there, but doesn't need to anymore.

"Ali, I'm not going to tell her that."

Aria's heart plummets. What did Alison say that would cause Spencer not to pass on the message? Something disrespectful, she assumes.

Without a goodbye, Aria presses the end button with all her might, even if she knows it's unnecessary to use so much force. She feels the blood rushing through her head, causing her head to throb. A wave of nausea hits her as a salty taste accumulates in her mouth. Pushing it all down, she takes a deep breath, snatches her satchel from the bed, and makes her way downstairs to have lunch.

Afterwards, Aria and Ella, her mother, are in the car. She turns the knob to find her favorite radio station and nods her head to the song. Her mom seems to know the song as well, and she belches out a few notes, causing Aria to laugh and cover her face.

"Goodness, mom. Don't sing," she pleads, followed by a giggle.

"What, is my voice too angelic?" she asks, smiling and joining her daughter in her fits of amusement.

Aria cuts her laughter short when she sees two familiar girls crossing the street. Alison and Spencer have their arms tied together, laughing like there was no tomorrow. She crouches down, but not too noticeable for her mother to say anything about it. Before Ella drives past the green light, Aria takes one last glimpse of the blonde-haired girl.

It's the last time she sees Alison DiLaurentis.

During her first week of school, the queen bee is all anyone can talk about, such as theories of her whereabouts and debates on if she's gone missing or if the unthinkable happened. Repulsive bets on if she's coming back or not have been casted as well. The entire deal makes Aria sick to her stomach.

She, out of all the girls, is the first to get past her death. It takes her a few months, up until winter break, for her grieving to come to an end. Alison was a friend, but now, all Aria can think about is the sickening amount of bad memories she had. And that is what keeps her from going back to mourning Alison.

Aria's family takes a trip to Iceland. It took Aria a long time to prove that she would be okay without them for a year, and with Spencer's help, it's decided that she's to stay in the extra guest bedroom across from Spencer's room.

None of the girls realize that they've drifted off from one another. Hanna becomes friends with Mona Vanderwaal, Emily uses all of her time on the swim team with Ben, Spencer occupies her time with extra AP classes to stay away from the house that her sister and fiancee have come into, and Aria finds herself in her bedroom after school more than eighty percent of the time. The only time she goes out is when Noel invites her places, and even then, she declines once in a while.

She occupies her time with the stacks of classic romance books she orders every now and then. She's read each book at least twenty times and still finds herself craving to read them. After coming to terms that Noel isn't the guy of her dreams, she uses her imagination to come up with someone she can think about before falling asleep, one that would be in her dreams literally. It's just enough to keep her suppressed.

Sophomore year rolls around. Aria and Spencer have grown a bit closer, though not too much considering they rarely see each other except for at school and the rare times they pass each other in the kitchen or the upstairs hallway. It doesn't bother Aria too much. She has herself to keep her company. When her parents and her younger brother come back to Rosewood and she leaves Spencer's house, their friendship officially ceases to exist.

Within it all, Aria doesn't break up with Noel like she once said she would. After Alison's disappearance and the realization she came to, she knows that her idea was filled with frustration and jealousy. She wanted Noel all to herself, mostly because when you're in love someone, you wouldn't share them with anyone else. Now that she knows she isn't in love with him, she doesn't mind the amount of girls he hangs around with. They've been asked by authorities every once in a while if Noel's seeing other people beside Aria, and though the two of them deny everything, they know the real truth.

It's finally the first day of senior year. She isn't as nervous or anxious as all of her other first days. As a seventeen year old, Aria's life has changed compared to that fourteen year old girl she barely knows, and whether it's for the best or for the worst, she doesn't know. She walks into the high school she knows too well with her head held high, just like her mother stated in the pep talk she gave her at the breakfast table. Familiar faces blur by her, ones that she's seen several amount of times. In a small town like Rosewood, you're bound to know the majority of people.

She passes Emily, who's leaning against the locker and talking to an unfamiliar person with clear, bronze skin and extremely curly hair that fits her heart shaped face. The two former friends exchange eye contact and give each other small smiles. She notices that Emily looks much happier than the year of Alison's disappearance. Then, she was depressed and ate nothing for at least five days, with the exception of the chocolate chip cookie Hanna had to jam into her mouth. Now, she literally glows, but that same innocent spark she used to have is long gone.

Aria turns the curb and is greeted by a sea of students, all making their way through to get to their destinations. She reaches her locker and takes out her pre-calculus text book and a notebook for AP English and neatly places the remains of her bag into her locker, prepared to come back after her second period. She tells herself to stick around after school to organize her lock.

"Aria," she hears a voice from behind her. She slams her locker shut and turns around, seeing the bright-eyed male in front of her.

"Hey, Noel," she greets with a smile. She takes in his appearance before he's able to sling his arm around her shoulders.

Puberty sure came knocking at his front door. The boy who was once barely an inch taller than Aria is now a bit past six feet and he now towers over her, but she is nowhere near intimidated by his stature. He may be able to beat up any guy that dared step in his way, but he couldn't say a bad thing to Aria.

"How's my pookie bear doing?" he asks as they make their way through the crowd.

"You're done with that nickname," she playfully warns. After a dinner with Noel and Aria's parents, he found out her childhood nickname and wouldn't stop teasing her about it. "What classes do you have?"

"I've got Woodshop with Michelson now," he answers. "Then, I have AP English with the new teacher, Fitz."

"Ooh, I have the same second period as you," she compares with a smile. She's happy she won't have to be alone in at least one class.

"I'm going to go talk to Bridgit before first period, though," Noel informs. "You cool with that?"

With a nod, Aria sends him off. He gives her a look, one she usually gets from him whenever she granted him permission to do something, and walks in the other direction.

First period goes by so slow, Aria's almost positive she's spent all eight hours in that one class. She's wedged in between Toby Cavanaugh, the guy that was assigned to Spencer Hastings as her partner (though Spencer refuses to even look his way) and Lucas Gottesman, a senior with a palpable crush on Hanna, Rosewood High's new 'it girl.' The teacher isn't the smartest either. A row filled with males throws paper balls at her, and whenever she turns away from the chalkboard to see what student is disrespecting the teacher, everyone's heads are down and focused on the warmup paper she passed out.

Finally, she's out of that classroom and questions how she's going to be able to survive pre calculus for the rest of the year. She hopes that the next teacher, which Noel told her is new to the school, isn't as uptight and amateurish as the previous teacher.

She heads into a class a minute before the bell is supposed to ring and tries to spot Noel. She sees Hanna and Mona leaning against their desks and huddled up together in a secretive manner. Spencer is in the far corner jotting something down in her notebook in silence. But no Noel. Another chair next to Emily is completely vacant. She decides to go for it.

"Aria!" Emily grins as Aria takes the seat. They exchange their greetings and talk about their last periods, as if the no talking gap never happened. It's like they're just picking up from where they left off. It makes Aria ecstatic, finally being able to freely talk to someone that isn't Noel.

"Did you hear about the new teacher, Mr. Fitz?" Emily asks her.

With a shake of the head, she answers, "no, is there a memo I was supposed to get?"

Emily chuckles at her words. "No, but I hear he's really young and super cute."

The bell rings, and students pile in at the last second. Noel is nowhere to be found. She places the tip of her tongue in between her front teeth, gently biting down. She isn't worried about him, but something just doesn't sit right with her.

She doesn't notice the teacher walk in until he's standing in front of the chalkboard with his back facing the class, writing something that no one else is able to see until he turns back to the class. At this point, many of the ladies have their eyes plastered on him— some at the back of his curly hair to wait for his face to become revealed, others in lower place, covered by his slacks, which are the darkest shade of black. Aria stifles a laugh at the sight of the silent class, making a snickering sound in the process. Few heads turn to her. She's surprised they could even hear the small sound she accidentally created with her mouth.

Rolling her eyes, Aria opens her notebook as the teacher begins to talk.

"So. I'm Ezra Fitz, but Mr. Fitz is my official title. As most of you that have attended this school know, I'm new to this place."

Aria picks up her head to get a glimpse of the deep voice. What she sees is unexpected. This teacher is undeniably attractive, with soft blue eyes that can melt iron and a boyish smile that makes Aria believe her thoughts aren't illegal. An image of them holding hands flashes through her mind, and it takes the sound of Noel's voice to bring her back to reality.

"Sorry, I'm late," the senior says as he closes the door behind him, joining a group of his friends in an open spot.

"Not a problem for today," Mr. Fitz agrees, rather than demanding for a late pass slip like any other teacher would do. Aria looks back to him, still mesmerized with his appearance and his voice. Clearing her throat, she looks down at her paper when his eyes sweep the classroom. She doesn't want him to see her practically fawning over him like the rest of the girls in the classroom. She didn't want to be like the rest. Schoolgirl crushes were the types of crushes Aria hated the most, especially in stories. They were immensely overdone.

As he hands out a file of papers, she keeps her eyes on her notebook, which is turned to a blank page. When he comes up to her desk, he puts the paper in front of her for her to accept. Aria looks up, waiting to meet his eyes, but sees that he's not even there. The paper he handed out is already on her desk. With a sigh, she closes her eyes and looks down on her desk, internally laughing at the idiot she transformed into within the past five minutes.

She tries to fill in the answers on the paper, which is just a questionnaire for Mr. Fitz to get to know his students a lot better. She finds herself looking up at the teacher, watching the way his eyebrows scrunch in concentration at whatever he was looking at on his desk, and she even side glances Noel to see if he is watching her. As if she's guilty or something.

Why is she so intrigued by him? It's a question, amongst many others, that Aria is asking herself during the time that she's in his class. Sure, she's attracted to his looks, but there's something else about him when she looks into his eyes. It's the same way she looks at herself in the mirror. Satisfaction is the surface, but it covers an emotion so greatly deep that no one except those with the same eyes can be able to distinguish it.

Aria is caught off guard when the bell rings. She swears she just entered the classroom barely twenty minutes ago, but now, she has to transition onto her third period class.

"Wait, before you all leave," Mr. Fitz starts, "I want these students to come up here, please: Andrew Campbell, Spencer Hastings, Noel Kahn, Aria Montgomery, and Mona Vanderwaal. The rest of you are dismissed. Have a good rest of your first day!"

Aria tries to contain her big smile as she waves at Emily and picks her items from her desk. She pushes her chair in and makes her way to the front, where the remaining four who were also called are also surrounding the wooden table. He looked even more gorgeous from up close. She felt her heart fluttering in excitement, unquestioning of her odd feelings.

"So, I was looking through everyone's test scores from last year and it's shown me that you five have the highest grades," Mr. Fitz informs, causing Aria to give the rest a questioning look. She understands Spencer and Andrew being chosen, but Mona and Noel? Mona was about as sharp as an overused pencil and Noel's potential was wasted on goofing off with his friends.

"So, what are we here for?" Mona questions, her tone being sharp and demanding. It's obvious that whatever ideas about him being attractive she once had is now long gone.

"I wanted to know if you guys wanted to take an extra after school class with me," he suggests. "This is completely optional, but it'll help you guys for next year, when you're entering college. The first year will be really easy for you because I have all the course papers that you'll probably be taking."

"Do we get credits for it?" asks Spencer. Aria has almost forgotten the sound of her former best friend's voice. She finds herself missing it dearly.

"No, but—"

"Then, I can't," she interrupts, making her way towards the the door hastily. "I have tons of extra classes already. Sorry, Mr. Fitz."

"Yeah, I think I'll pass too," Mona follows behind, her heels clacking loudly against the floor. "I don't do extra classes."

Aria gives her a look as Mona walks out of the classroom. She can't stand people that believe they're more superior than others, maybe because Alison was always there to occupy that position.

The other two males find an excuse to ditch this small club: Noel saying that it's important he doesn't miss football practice as the team's new MVP and Andrew saying he had tons to tackle as the Decathlon president. Noel gives Aria a kiss on the cheek and follows Andrew out the door.

"Are you busy too?" Mr. Fitz asks as they meet eyes. It takes everything in Aria not to become lost in them.

"No, no! I'm up for it." she declares, a bit too enthusiastically. She feels lucky that Noel didn't stick around to see her abnormal behavior.

"Well, we can arrange meetings, just you and I, if you'd like," he offers, in which she takes no delay in nodding her head. She keeps a nonchalant front, but internally, she's anything but calm. They talk about certain days of the week and decide to meet up on Wednesday or Thursday.

"Bye, Aria," he smiles, making her weak in the knees. She nods her head and walks the other way, almost bumping into a duo of girls in the process. She sees a pile of students entering and finding seats in the back.

Way to go, Aria, she scolds herself inwardly at her clumsy action as she dives out the classroom.

The rest of the day goes by slower than her second period but much faster than her first period. She finds herself thinking about Mr. Fitz. She could truly get used to him. And she will get used to him, when they're together. Alone. She knows it isn't right of her to think that way, and it isn't legal for two reasons; one being that he is her teacher, and the other being that she can't be intimate with anyone except for Noel, not to mention the hundred other immoral reasons why it's unacceptable. Either way, he isn't going to find his student attractive, Aria's sure of it.

At the end of the day, she finds herself standing outside and waiting for Noel, her ride, to come and get her. It dawns on her after at least ten minutes of waiting at the front of the school that he has football practice and that he told her to come and watch her. She knows that it should take thirty minutes to walk there, but her promise to support him today won't go unbroken. She doesn't like breaking promises.

She walks to the back of the building, taking the path all the way down to the grassy field, which extends pretty far down. When she gets to the bleachers, she sits by herself, crossing her arms to shield herself from the arising breezes. The sky is cloudy, which is slightly depressing. She wishes it was blue.

Blue like Mr. Fitz eyes.

A smile comes to her face at the thought. She was crazy, but she couldn't help it. She was sitting there to support her boyfriend, not daydream about her AP English teacher. She forces herself not to think about him and merely watches Noel running around in his bulky headgear and sportswear that she still finds ridiculously strange.

"Did I do good, pookie bear?" Noel questions after practice as the couple weave through the parking lot, heading towards his car.

"I don't know, you tell me," she chuckles, climbing into the passengers seat.

"Three years of watching me play and you still don't understand the game?" he teases jokingly. "That's a shame."

On the ride home, he tries to go through full detail about the game but he barely gets past the title.

"I still don't understand why it's called football," Aria exclaims. "You're not even allowed to use your feet, unless you're that one guy that kicks it at the beginning of the game. Soccer should be football and football should be soccer."

"Come on, Ar. Would you really call football soccer?"

"I would."

The explanation turns into meaningless, playful bickering. He finally reaches her house and they decide to never bring up the topic of football into their conversations ever again, but Aria knows that football is the man's life. He'd rather die than not talk about football.

"Bye, pookie bear," he smirks, leaning in for a kiss. Their faces don't separate until Aria cues it. She's sure that he wouldn't stop it. "Are you sure you don't want to come to my house?"

"And hang out with you and your football douche buddies while you guys talk about other girls besides your partners?" she says, putting on a dramatic thinking face. "Such a tempting offer but I'll have to pass."

"Whatever you say, babe," he laughs, giving her a small kiss on the cheek before she unbuckles and makes her way out of the car. "Love you!"

"Love you too," she shouts as she enters her air conditioned home. It's true, she loves him the way she loves her brother or pizza with green peppers, but she isn't in love with him.

"I'm home!" she calls out to whoever inhabits the house at the moment as she stomps up the stairs to her room. She hears footsteps going up the stairs as well. The only person in the house that has light and slow footsteps is her mother, and her thoughts are confirmed as Ella knocks on the door before stepping in with a call of admittance.

"How was your first day?" Ella questions excitedly.

"Same as the others," Aria nods as she goes to war with the second boot, trying to take it off. Eventually, it kicks off and a sigh of relief escapes her lips. The feeling doesn't stay for long when she gasps. "I forgot to organize my locker!"

"You can do it tomorrow, right?" Ella suggests. Aria nods.

"I guess."

"Well, go hop in the shower and then come set the table, alright?" her mom says. "I have something important to tell you."

Aria gives her a questioning look but doesn't say anything else as she heads to her closet to grab a towel and lays out a pair of clothes to wear on her bed. She hops in the shower, relishing in the heat of the hot water. The temperatures have already dropped into the late sixties and Aria knows it's only a matter of time before summer is nonexistent for another eight months. She loves summer a lot. Most of the love stories she's read about take place during the summer time.

After getting into her clothes, she does exactly what her mother says and sets the table in the dining room.

"Can you drive me to the field?" Mike asks, popping into the setting out of nowhere.

"I'm tired, Mike," Aria rejects.

"How about tomorrow?" he asks, following her into the kitchen as she fetches a cluster of silverware and heads back into the dining room.

"I'm busy all week," she informs. "Why can't you just walk there? Or study for your driver's license test so you can actually get places yourself instead of asking me to take you places all the time?"

"Why can't you just take me places without asking so many questions?" he comes back at her. "I bet you're not even busy this week."

"I actually am," she rolls her eyes and leans against the chair to face her brother, who has a lacrosse stick clutched in his hand. "I have to meet up with my teacher tomorrow and Thursday. Friday, I'm going to a party."

"What party?" her mother walks in, similar to the way Mike popped in— out of nowhere.

"It's Noel's party," Aria answers as she takes a seat in front of one of the three plates.

"Mom, Aria's not taking me to the field," Mike complains. Aria holds back the urge to chuck one of the cinnamon buns at Mike's face. After persistent complaining, he sits down when Ella explains that he has to stay for dinner.

As they sit down to eat, Aria glances at the one seat that should be populated with one person, her father. After Iceland, when her father was caught with someone that wasn't her mother, he was arrested and sent to jail to be locked up for ten years maximum. He was a prime example to the town of Rosewood of what could happen if you broke that specific law.

"I have something special I want to tell you two," Ella says with excitement in her voice. "I'm going to be teaching at your high school!"

Aria raises her eyebrows, a bit confused at her announcement but mostly just taken aback. What would her mother think when she sees that the only person she has as a friend is her partner? Would she set out to do something terribly embarrassing? Would she question Aria about it?

"You two don't seem happy about it," her mom observes, the grin on her face slightly faltering.

"No, I'm happy about it!" Aria nods hastily, putting on a smile. Aria doesn't know if she's lying or telling the truth, mostly because she doesn't know how she feels about it all.

At nighttime, when she's supposed to be dreaming about the faceless man of her dreams, she sees Ezra's face becoming a replacement. The bizarre part of it all is that while she tries to fit in Noel's face, it doesn't feel right. But Ezra's? It feels as though it's the missing piece she's been looking for her whole life.

Let me know what you thought of this chapter! If it gets enough interest, I'll continue writing it.