A/N: I haven't uploaded in a while (even though I promised), so I made this chapter extra long to make up for it. And when I say extra long, I mean extra long. This is the longest chapter I have ever written for a fanfiction. Ever. Please enjoy it.

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I owned Pretty Little Liars (mwahah I would be rich), I don't. I do not own any of this.

"Let me take your bag, Ezra," Clara Lotze said as he unpacked his Toyota Camry.

"No, really," Ezra Fitz told her while he quickly tightened his grip on his own bag, "it really is quite alright."

Clara felt the rejection, but shook it off. "I just want you to feel welcomed," she responded in her best attempt to remove the stiffness from the air. It worked.

"Well, thank you, Clara," Ezra said. "It was very thoughtful of you, but I would rather carry my things. It makes moving here seem a lot more permanent. Besides, it's not that heavy." Now it was Ezra's turn to lie through his teeth.

The truth was that Ezra was far from okay. The past three weeks had included more phone calls, emails, and sleepless nights than he could count. It was very difficult to find a job at such short notice and as soon as Saint Mary's had contacted him with the open spot, Ezra had not waited a second to accept it.

Since most of his house's contents either belonged or reminded him of Aria, Ezra gave them to Spencer to place in storage. He thought that she could keep them safe until Aria returned. Ezra also left a long handwritten letter and their favorite copy of To Kill a Mockingbird with Spencer for Aria to find. Because Saint Mary's was a boarding school, Ezra decided to pack minimalistically. He filled his room at his mother's house with the remainder of his possessions, against her wish, of course, and had packed his car with nothing more than a large suitcase and leather briefcase to begin his new adventure. Whatever it may be.

"So, what are your thoughts of this school so far?" Clara's voice snapped Ezra back into reality.

Ezra looked around puzzled. He scratched his nose, took another look around, and returned his gaze to Clara. "It's very isolated," he told her. "It's beautiful, no doubt," he pointed at the large cement duck pond and fountain in the middle of the schools' driveway, "but very, I don't know, lonely?"

"I know what you mean," Clara said. "When I first came here, I thought it was a haunted house. It's been two years, Ezra, and I promise you, it'll get better. Besides, you've only seen the outside of the school. The inside looks nothing like an old palace."

"That wouldn't be so bad, though," Ezra thought aloud. "It would be like living in a fairytale."

"A fairytale filled with teenagers," Clara mumbled her breath. "I think could think of a few better ways to spend my life."

Ezra laughed a very small and painless laugh, but it was his first laugh in weeks and he was thankful for the math teacher's wit. So, he played along. "You're young. I bet if we lived here, you could make a cult with the girls and this could be a girls' only zone."

"But what would we do about you and Eliott?"

"Eliott?" Ezra asked. He hadn't heard that name pop up yet.

"Yeah, Eliott Banks. He teaches Biology," Clara explained. "The two of you are the only men around here."

"Well, in that case, you'd probably have a few choices. You could kill us, but that wouldn't be any fun. You could banish us from your little world and then would watch us walk around this patch of land in the middle of nowhere until we found a road. Or, you could torture us."

Clara giggled, then quietly whispered with a seductive tone so that Ezra couldn't hear her, "Oh, I would like to torture you."

Ezra stopped dead in his tracks. Had he heard her right? Of course he had. She had flirted with him.

The silence that her comment had created could only be cut with a knife. Clara slightly blushed knowing that he had heard her comment, but didn't apologize. Why would she? She was clearly interested. Still, she wasn't an idiot and knew something had happened to Ezra for him to have acted like that.

The awkward silence continued until they reached a room. Clara was right, the inside of the castle really was modern. The halls were carpeted with an off-white shade of cream, the windows large, and the lights bright. The large room that they were looking at was separated with a glass wall from the hall. It was packed with sleek white couches, clear rolling chairs, and matching tables. The white, however, was contrasted with the natural color of wood. The pillows of the couches were dark brown, dark purple, and dark blue, the tables had brown accents, and the wall was made of brick. The most beautiful object in the room was a large bookshelf that occupied a whole wall. Ezra could not help but dream about reading each and every one of those books. The whole place screamed rustic and modern.

"This," Clara explained to Ezra, "is one of our study rooms. There are 13 of them around the school."

"It's beautiful," he gushed.

"Yes, it really is."

They continued walking until they reached another door. This time, there was no glass wall and the door was made of a solid carved piece of wood.

"This is your classroom," Clara said as she pointed at the golden plaque on the side of the door that read Ezra Fitz. "It's room B-26."

"What?" Ezra couldn't believe his ears. Fate was tricking him and he did not appreciate it."

"Well, it's usually just called room 26. The B represents English. So, A is math, B is English, C is science, and so on. Nobody really uses the letters, but they're there. Rumor has it that the founder of the school couldn't remember which room was for which subject, so this way he knew what was being taught where without having to learn anything by a couple of letters."

Ezra didn't say anything. He was still in shock. "You know, I once wrote a poem called B-26." He closed his eyes. Nothing could get him to stop thinking about Aria.

She smirked. "You should tell your class. They'll find it amusing."

He nodded, but in reality, he knew that he wouldn't do such a thing. They stood there, staring at the door.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Clara asked.

Ezra didn't say anything and opened the door. The room was simple, like any classroom. He stepped inside. It was nice. It would do. The room followed the modern/rustic look of the school, but not completely. People in there would still know that they were in a classical classroom.

The only thing that really stood out at Ezra was the fact that the desks were arranged in a U formation. He wasn't used to that. Clara noticed Ezra's puzzled face.

"You're teaching English, Ezra, so the school thinks that the U formation gets more people involved in class discussions."

"Oh," he said. "Okay."

The next morning, Ezra woke up to the sound of his alarm. After being shown his classroom, Clara had walked him to the teacher block of the school and had showed him his room. It was a simple door like room, only it had only one person in it and the two single beds were replaced with a queen sized one. He had unpacked, taken a shower, and had gone to bed.

Today, he had his first class. It was weird, as he hadn't even met anyone, but Clara said that there was going to be a welcome dinner for him that night. He decided that then he would make a friend. Maybe that Eliott guy.

He had dressed in a simple button down, a vest, the red tie that Aria had gotten him, a simple pair of pants, and a pair of Converse to dress the outfit down. He had heard that the school was not very formal and he didn't want to feel overdressed. Also, as he looked in the mirror, Ezra couldn't help but think about how much Aria would love that very outfit. If only, he thought.

He wasn't in the mood for breakfast, so he made his way to the teacher's lounge for a cup of coffee. On his way there, a few girls tried to draw his attention towards them, but he successfully ignored them all. He was not going to think about any other girl. Never again. He had already committed himself to Aria Montgomery.

Clara had met him in the hallway and they walked to his class together. "It's your first day," she pointed out. "Are you nervous?"

"No," Ezra said truthfully.

"Well, you'd better watch out for the girls. They will be swarming all over you," she winked.

He smiled.

"Anyways, I'd better go. The bell is about to ring." She turned to leave to her classroom. "Goodluck Ezra."

"Thank you," he told her honestly. The bell rung overhead, so he turned around, walked in the classroom, placed his coffee on his desk, put his satchel next to it, and turned to the whiteboard to write his name down. He was very thankful that this school did not have dreaded chalkboards, as those let off sounds that even Hercules was affected by.

Ezra took one last breath and turned around. He was ready to start the day.

"Holy crap," he mumbled as soon as he did so. His eyes had laid on Aria's, who didn't seem anywhere as shocked as he did. She gave him a soft smile and then slowly looked down to remove the attention that was placed on her.

It's funny how history has a way of repeating itself.

R/R: I wanted to write more, but I guess enough is enough. If you made it to the end, please give yourself a pat on the back. Thank you all for your kind reviews. Also, don't forget to tell me what you thought. Did you like it? What do you think will happen next? A good guess on your part could become reality because I have no ideas at this moment. Please review. Each and every one of them do make my day better and better.