Like A Dream

Chapter 8

Harry was going to fall asleep. He swore he was going to fall asleep, and that would not be a good thing considering he was in Mr. Sheeran's class. They were discussing the proper way for subs to act around their Doms' colleagues and friends, and the sub promised he was interested in the topic — he really was; he didn't want to embarrass his Doms by acting out by accident at some point — but the thing was, he'd hardly gotten any sleep the night before. His Doms didn't want him staying up past 10:30 on school nights, but he'd had too much caffeine and he was paying for it.

"Harry!"

The sub looked up, startled. He hadn't realized he'd begun to fall asleep, his head resting on his arms on his desk. There was so much on his mind, especially since Luke wasn't there — he was at home, sick. He also had lunch after this class, and he didn't know who he was going to sit with. He supposed he could sit with Nick, but Luke still wouldn't be there to stop any bullying from happening.

He directed his attention to Mr. Sheeran, who looked stern. "No falling asleep in class. Pay attention, please, or else I'll call Mr. Payne in here," he threatened.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Harry apologized politely. "I'm listening."

The red-haired man gave him another firm glance before he returned to teaching. "How are submissives supposed to interact with their Doms' colleagues and/or friends at a social gathering?" the teacher asked the class, causing multiple hands to raise.

A blonde girl in front of Harry frantically waved her hand around, prompting Mr. Sheeran to call on her, "Susan."

"We should greet them politely and address them as either 'Sir' or 'Ma'am,'" she answered confidently.

Mr. Sheeran nodded. "Yes, but what else?" He was clearly looking for more information in her answer. After the girl pondered for a few seconds and said she didn't know, the teacher turned to Harry. "What do you think, Harry?"

"Um," Harry stammered. "Only greet them with permission?"

"That's a good guess, but no," Mr. Sheeran said. "You don't need permission to greet them — unless your Dom requires that — but you should wait to speak to them until they've spoken to your Dom or Doms."

Harry nodded in understanding, trying to take notes on the lesson. They had their first test coming up in two days, and he needed to do well or else his Doms would pull him out of the school. The bell interrupted Mr. Sheeran's lesson, though, and Harry reluctantly packed up his stuff. He wasn't excited for lunch at all.

He was fumbling with the combination lock on his locker, when he heard Nick's voice behind him. "Hey! Little Curly!"

Harry opened his locker and turned around with a big smile. "Hi, Nick," he greeted his friend. "How did yesterday go?"

The other sub had gotten into trouble after giving quite a few inappropriate answers, resulting in a zero, on Ms. Edwards' test on proper punishments a sub should receive if they misbehaved.

Nick grimaced. "Not too well," he admitted, watching as Harry shoved a few papers into his locker. "My Dom — he's quite insistent on the fact that he wants me to behave well and be appropriate. He took the test paper and told me to choose one punishment from there, telling me that if I chose an easy one on purpose, he'd just choose for me."

Harry winced. "So what punishment did you take?" he asked, sympathetic for his friend, although he had deserved it.

"Orgasm Denial and a cold shower." Nick sighed mournfully. "I originally chose cold shower for the punishment, but Dylan thought it wasn't enough, so he added Orgasm Denial to it." Nick shook his head. "Fucking horrible — having a boner and then the cold water putting it back down against your will."