Broken Young teacher walking in a classroom for the first time. Starry eyes and whispered gossip filled the air within a second, but soon all the whispering was gone and students were politely seated in their respective seats. Ezra Fitz nervously wrote his last name on the black board "Mr. Fitz" and then turned around to the hungry eyes following his every move. A satisfied grin appeared on the faces of every girl. The guy was officially handsome. Mr. Fitz had deep blue eyes and dark curls. His body was very athletic and although he seemed mature, his boyish smile was his biggest charm, getting along with the beautiful and long words he liked to use to woo women. But the classroom was not the right place to use his charm, and he knew that. At least he thought he knew.

He decided to get to know the students during the first class to see if teenagers were still the same as they were back in his days, even if it wasn't so long ago. He noticed that the answer was a hundred percent Yes. Popular kids still sat on the back and the not so cool ones in the front. He knew he would probably be sitting on the first row if he weren't the teacher. Ezra had never been the popular kind of guy. Although he'd always been handsome, girls didn't seem to notice it. Maybe it was because he never liked being the center of attentions or maybe because he too good of a student to be considered "cool". Mr. Fitz used to say he hated the cool kids in his classroom, but after years studying literature and learning better words to describe his feelings, he chose the word "envious". He was envy of every smile the popular group shared; he wished he could be laughing with them. They always seemed so happy, and for some reason it bothered him more than it should, probably because his life wasn't even close from perfect and there they were every day rubbing perfection in his face.

Even if his envy was real at that time, Ezra knew he couldn't keep it. He was now the teacher and had to be mature. But there was one thing that caught his eye. Well, not a thing, a girl. She introduced herself as Aria Montgomery. She was beautiful and, as he noticed, popular, but for some reason, she was sitting on the very first row. She was so happy and smiley, a fact he tried to ignore, but he couldn't help but feel more envious. After some time, the class ended and all students headed out. Ezra mentally high fived himself for having taught a whole class without babbling and getting too nervous. He sat back on his chair and took a sip of his coffee. Maybe it wasn't as hard as he thought.

- After the last bell rang he packed all his things and headed to the teachers' room to have some more coffee before going home. There, where he expected to be a calm and empty room, was actually almost a party. There were teachers talking loudly everywhere. Being as shy as he was, Ezra decided not to talk to anyone, at least not that day, since he was extremely tired. But his effort not to be seen was useless. A pretty young teacher came up to him to chat.

"Hey! I'm Martha, nice to meet you."

"Oh, hi. I'm Ezra." they shook hands.

"Are you new here?" she asked trying to stark a conversation

"Yes and no. I studied here, but yes, this is my first day teaching."

"I was in the same position last year, although I never studied here. Being a new teacher can be hard, but always remember to keep calm." she spoke like she had so much experience it kind of annoyed Ezra, but he kept smiling and being nice, he had to make friends after all.

"Yeah... good advice. Thank you."

"Your welcome, dear. Oh! I almost forgot! I'm throwing a small party for all teachers today at my place. Try to stop by." Really? A party?

"Yeah, that'd be nice. I will."

"You can bring a date if you want" was that an indirect question to see if he was dating? No, it couldn't be. There was a ring on her finger.

He shook his head

"I guess I'll be going alone"

"It will be great, you'll get the chance to meet all the teachers."

"I'm looking forward to that" he smiled politely Martha checked her watch

"Oh crap. I have to go now. See you around."

"You too."

She was ok, he thought. He didn't feel like going to a party that night at all but he couldn't decline the invitation. At least he would have the chance to bond with his new co-workers. The halls were already empty when he left the teachers' room. Ezra decided to make a small pit stop in the toilet before spending 15 minutes driving home. While he was calmly washing his hands, a petite brunette, who he recognized as Aria Montgomery, came rushing through the doors and stopped dead frozen when she saw him.

"Oh my God. Sorry, wrong toilet." she blushed and stormed out.

He couldn't help but notice that her beautiful hazel eyes weren't as half as shiny as they were in the classroom. They were actually red-ish and he could swear he'd seen a teardrop run down her left cheek. She had certainly been crying. Ezra quickly stormed out to try to reach her, just like she'd done seconds before. Aria had gotten in the girls' toilet but the door was still open. He stopped at the doorframe, but could see her clearly staring at the mirror and crying her heart out. He was nervous once again. He knew he should probably say something but just didn't know what.

"Aria..." he barely whispered, "Are you ok?"

She stopped crying for one second to look at him "Do I look ok?" he was hurt and she noticed. "Sorry", she said "I... I didn't mean to be rude."

"No, it's ok." he reassured A deadly silence filled the air before he tried to break it.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"You wouldn't understand"

"Try me", he said. She turned to look at him.

"It's complicated"

"Try me", he repeated

"Do you really want to hear a story standing outside of the girls' toilet?"

"Do you wanna go somewhere else?"

"Yes, please..." she said coyly

"Come with me."

He took her to his classroom. In the way, he tried to imagine every possibility; from fighting with her boyfriend to a relative passing away. But maybe it was something different this time. She sat in the same seat as she had sat before.

"My dad hates me", she whispered "and so does my mom." He was taken aback with her words

"And why would you think that?"

"My dad cheated on my mom one year ago. I saw it."

"Aria, that doesn't make him hate you."

"Yes, it does. I promised not to tell. But I did. Last night."

Ezra was silent.

"I never drink. Never ever. But yesterday there was a big party at Noel Kahn's house to say goodbye to summer and..." she continued "someone put something in my coke. I don't know what it was. They tried to drug me but it didn't work. Well, at least not completely. I arrived home really dizzy with my head pounding; both my parents believe I was extremely drunk. But the worst is that I... I told her. I told my mom what happened. I don't know why, maybe the drug gave me courage to do something I wanted to do for God knows how long. But I shouldn't have." she started sobbing again. Ezra sat down next to her.

"Look, Aria. You did nothing but the right thing. Your dad is probably sad right now. But not at you, at himself. He knows it was his mistake, not yours."

"This is what I've been trying to convince myself all day, but it isn't working... My mom hates me too for not having told before. What am I supposed to do?"

"What do you want to do?" he asked

"I don't know. Maybe fly away to Europe and never come back." he chuckled

"Well, I guess we all wish that. But what do you want to do that is possible?"

"For now, I just don't want to go home."

"Look, your mom doesn't hate you. Mothers never hate. They have the biggest hearts. She is sad, of course, but not at you. Your father made a terrible mistake and right now he will face the consequences. You did absolutely nothing wrong."

"But I promised him"

"Still wasn't your fault." Silence. "If you don't wanna go home, where are you going?"

"I have no idea. Maybe I'll stay here so I can clear my mind."

"Is it really a good option?"

"It's the only one I have."

"You sure?"

"Why? Do you have something in mind?"

"Well, there's this place I always go when I have to think. If you want, I could take you there."

Should she really go somewhere with an older man she'd basically just met? Should she trust him? But what other choice did she have?

"Yeah... I'd love to go."

- After about twenty minutes driving in their respective cars, they arrived at a hill not too far from Rosewood. They sat on a bench where it was possible to see the whole town. Aria was amazed; she'd never known this place existed.

"Wow. It's beautiful", she said

"Isn't it?"

"How did you find this place?" they locked eyes

"My grandfather used to bring me here when I was little. After he passed away, I kept coming every week to remember him."

"Doesn't it make you sad?"

"Sometimes."

he said "but most of the times it just feels peaceful."

They stared at the city in silence for a moment. None of them noticed but they were getting closer and closer to each other, and just like he said, Aria was feeling nothing but peace.

"Why do seat on the first row?" he blurted out.

It wasn't important but curiosity was stronger than anything.

"What? Oh, in the classroom... I don't know. I just really like English."

"You do?" Ezra was surprised

"Yes, why do you look so shocked?" she was curious now

"You just seem so... popular." she giggled

"Popular? Why would you think that?" said Aria still grinning

"I don't know, you were laughing with all the quarterbacks and cheerleaders, you seemed to know them very well." he chose the words carefully and decided against calling her pretty, but did it anyway "You're very pretty too."

Aria blushed immediately and he regretted saying it. "Thanks..." she said shyly. "I might know these people, but I'm not the center of attention, I don't want to be.."

"What do you like, then?" he moved closer to her

"Hmm... Let me see... I love reading, something people judge a lot. That's why I seat on the first row."

"What else?"

"Well, I love Japanese and Thai food, black and white movies... yeah... that's pretty much it. What do you like?"

he thought for a moment before answering "I obviously love reading, that's why I'm an English teacher. I love Thai too."

The hours passed and soon the Sun started to turn off its light. Aria and Ezra were so close that they could feel each other's breath, but they both knew it was time to say goodbye.

"We should get going." he said sadly Aria checked her phone and saw three missed calls from her mother

"Yeah, I think we should. See you tomorrow in class?"

"Yes, ma'am" She giggled and kissed him on the right cheek, then turned around and left. The skin under that sweet and innocent kiss spent the next few moments tingling and he blushed deeply. The only thing he could think of was "fuck. She's my student. We are illegal." Well, technically nothing they had done was illegal, but if she wasn't in his class, he'd have tried to kiss her and certainly not on the cheeks. The petite brunette, that messed his mind that afternoon, taught Mr. Fitz a very important lesson. "Don't judge a book by its cover" was something he loved saying about books, but never tried to understand its meaning towards people. The beautiful popular girl with a natural glow was actually broken inside. Maybe not broken, maybe just bent, as they like to say. Aria Montgomery made him realize he'd been wrong this whole time. Cool kids have feelings, something that sounds obvious but was really hard for Ezra to understand. Cool kids have content too; they're not always a cliché. Once, a very famous writer said, "If you find a well-written book, read it to learn. If you find a very good story, read it to have fun. If you find a well-written book with an amazing story, treasure it." Aria was a very good book with an amazing story and he was determined to treasure her. Maybe it could take long, after her graduation. But one day she would be his, and of that he was certain.