Ella POV

I was walking past the front door on my way to the living room when Aria came bounding through the door. She slowed as she saw me. She smiled before closing the door softly. I smiled back and walked over to the couch. She was heading to the stairs when I called her name. She turned to me and tilted her head. "Come here," I said patting the seat beside me.

Sighing, she sat her purse down by the stairs and sat beside me. She tucked her feet under her as I did the same. We face each other and leaned into the back of the couch. "So, how was you're first day back at Rosewood?" I asked curiously. We had left Rosewood a year ago, shortly after Alison DiLaurentis, one of her best friends, went missing. We spent the year overseas in Iceland.

Nodding her head, she replied, "Fine."

"You like your teachers?" I questioned further.

The corners of Aria's mouth lifted slightly as she hesitated. "Yeah," she responded. Her voice squeaked a little, a thing she did when she wasn't telling the whole store. I narrowed my eyes at her and smirked. She grinned. "My English teacher is amazing. He is a very good teacher." Was she blushing?

"What's his name?"

She grinned happily. "Mr. Fitz."

I bit my bottom lip and nodded smiling. She swallowed and looked at the stairs. Pointing to them, she turned back to me and asked, "May I go? I have homework."

I knitted my eyebrows together. "On your first day?" I asked incredulous. She nodded.

"Mr. Fitz assigned us the first two chapter of To Kill A Mockingbird." This was the teacher she thought was so good? The one that gave her homework on their first day? I shrugged and nodded giving her permission to go. She leaned in and gave me a quick hug before bouncing up the steps. I chuckled to myself and shook my head.

Byron walked in the door just as she got to the top of the stairs. He was about to shout for her when she walked into her room and closed the door. He walked into the living room and sat down beside me.

"Did she have a good day?" he asked. I simply nodded with a smile. "What?" Byron asked with a smile.

"I think your daughter may have her first crush on a teacher." Byron threw his head back on the back of the couch and sighed.

"Wonderful." He said with a groan. I laughed and patted him on the thigh before getting and heading to the kitchen.

A few days passed and I made sure not to question Aria on her crush. I was never one of those moms who pried into my daughter's life. I did have to admit though, I was intrigued. Aria was never really into guys. None that made her blush, anyways. She had a few boyfriends while we were in Iceland but she never really talked about them or brought them around. I figured she was just trying to find her place in the new environment.

The first Saturday after school began, Aria and I decided to go the movies as part of our mother/daughter day. I had dropped her off at the entrance and went to park the car. I was walking up behind her when I saw a young man walk up to her. The smile he gave her lit up his face. Almost like he was flirting. I stepped up behind Aria and she must have felt my presence.

"Mr. Fitz, hi! Uh, this is my mom, Ella." The smile dropped from the guys face as he nervously shoved his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt. So, this was Aria's teacher. Interesting. Not exactly what I had pictured.

"Ah, Mr. Fitz, the new English teacher," I spoke up as I held out my hand.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you…Mrs…Montgomery," he soothed out. His voice was dreamy. He sounded and looked very young. No wonder she had a crush on the guy. What teenage girl in their right mind wouldn't?

"Oh, please call me Ella. We're a very informal family," I responded stupidly. Why was I acting like this around him? Maybe he just had this influence over every woman. He was able to woo anyone with just a look. "Are you going to see the movie?" I asked motioning to the theater.

Looking up at the sign, he pointed and said, "Yes, I am. It's-it's, uh, one of my favorites," he replied with a smile. His smile was adorable. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see how uncomfortable Aria was. I smiled inwardly. I could make this so much more interesting.

"Oh, Aria's too…She's told us a lot about you," I said knowingly with a smirk. The smile completely fell from his face as he tried to come up with a response. I was making him nervous. Why? I looked to Aria. "Although, you forgot to mention," I turned back to Mr. Fitz, "the you're very young part." I smiled at him.

He stuttered as Aria tried desperately to come up with a reply. Finally, Aria took over the conversation for him, "We should get going! The movies starting." She grabbed me by the arm and pushed me toward the entrance.

"It was nice meeting you," I said before allowing my daughter to push me to the theater. As we walked through the entrance, I muttered over to her, "And you forgot to mention the really cute part!"

Aria and I found our seats in the theater after buying a bag of popcorn and a soda. We hadn't spoken two words to each other since the incident outside with Mr. Fitz. He seemed very nervous around me. I turned to Aria.

"So, Mr. Fitz seems nice," I stated. Aria looked over at me and smiled before facing the screen again. A few long silent minutes drug buy as I came up with my next attempt at finding out more. "How old is he?"

Aria tensed. What was going on? She turned to me slowly before shrugging. "How should I know?" she defended herself. I shrugged.

"He didn't say anything about himself to you on the first day?" I asked. Most teachers told their students a little about themselves. Especially teachers who were teaching at a new school.

Aria closed her eyes and smiled. "Well, he did mention that he just graduated from Hollis so…" she let my mind do the math. That'd put him in his early twenties. Young, very young.

"Hollis?" I questioned. Without waiting for a response, I continued, "Maybe your father knows him. Or maybe he had him as a student his junior year." Aria smiled to me with wide eyes. She faced the screen. I shoved popcorn in my mouth as I waited for the film to begin.

I looked down as I brushed the popcorn crumbs off my hands and saw a pair of feet. I looked up and was met with the back of a grey sweatshirt and jeans. Mr. Fitz.

"Mr. Fitz," I stated. He turned and looked down at me with a wide smile. "Why don't you come sit with us?" I asked motioning toward the seat next to Aria. His eyes averted from to behind me as he tried to come up with an excuse to get out of it.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, okay," he said refusing to look at me. He slid past me and Aria and took his seat next her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them brush hands. As soon as their hands made contact, they moved them away. Aria tensed up immediately beside me.

As lights dimmed and the movie began, I sat my popcorn on Aria's lap offering them some. "Fine, thank you," I faintly heard Mr. Fitz mutter. Aria simply brushed my hand away. I sat the popcorn down on my lap and popped some in my mouth.

During the movie, I leaned over to Aria. "I have to go to the restroom. You going to be okay?" I whispered. She looked to me and nodded before returning her eyes to the screen. I looked over at Mr. Fitz as a stood. He looked over and smiled before his eyes went back to the screen. I made my way to the bathroom. Before I left the theater, I turned back and looked at the two of them. Aria had remained tense since he sat down beside her. I felt like I was missing something. Brushing it off, I opened the door and quietly made my way to the bathroom.

Returning to the theater, I quietly made my way down the aisle to my seat. I glanced over at Aria and Mr. Fitz and caught a glimpse of something moving. Due to darkness of the room, I wasn't exactly sure what it was. Aria looked up at me and smiled as did Mr. Fitz. Something weird was going on. Aria was not just doing what I thought she was doing! I quickly looked over at Mr. Fitz's pants as my eyes adjusted to the room. They were buttoned. There was no way he was able to get his pants zipped and buttoned that fast. I sighed in relief. If she wasn't doing that, then what were they doing?

I shook my head. You're being paranoid because he's a young teacher who's sitting beside your teenage daughter. The rest of the movie went by pretty fast. As the credits rolled, Aria stood and lifted her arms above her head in a stretch. The hem of her shirt lifted slightly revealing some skin. Mr. Fitz, who was still sitting, looked at her out of the corner of his eye before quickly looking down and clenching his jaw. I bit down on my lip to keep from smirking. He was attracted to Aria! Aria was attracted to him and he was attracted to her!

Should I do something? Address the topic? I shook my head. That would only make things worse. They were obviously oblivious to the others feelings. As long as I don't see anything…growing…between them, I'll leave it alone.

We walked outside. Aria and I turned to face Mr. Fitz. I held out my hand. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Fitz." I smiled as he shook my hand.

"Ezra," he stated, nodding.

"Ezra," I corrected with a smile. His eyes turned to Aria.

"I will see you on Monday, Aria," he soothed. I raised my eyebrows as I watched Aria grin at him with a nod. He grinned back before nodding to us and heading off in the other direction. I watched Aria's eyes lower to his butt as she bit her lip and raised an eyebrow. She tilted her head as she watched him round the corner. She turned and saw me watching her.

Aria and I turned to make our way to the car. "Well, that was interesting," I said.

"We've seen the movie before, Mom," Aria replied. I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. Her eyes stayed forward. She knew exactly what I had meant.

"He's cute," I stated matter-of-factly. Aria tried to keep from smiling but was failing. I could see it. I leaned in closely as we approached the car. "You really like him," I whispered. She turned to me with a deep blush and shook her head furiously. Oh, she had it bad! I grinned and got in the car.