Forever In My Dreams (On Hold)

Chapter 16

(Dessen’s POV)

She sounded like an alpha female. I could feel my heart swelling with pride. Damn, since when have I been so cheesy? Since Miranda, I thought to myself. I smiled at my train of thought; it somehow always ended up on Miranda.

“Mr. Embers? Would you like to share with the class what you find so amusing?” My English teacher asked snottily.

“Actually, I would.” Her eyes widened and then narrowed. Before she could say anything, I continued. “The reason I was smiling is simple. I was thinking about Miranda,” I looked over at her and saw her blushing. “The girl I love.”

The whole class was oooohing and awwwwing when the teacher said, “Thank you for sharing, Mr. Embers, and for your little outburst you can stay after school with me for detention.”

I shrugged and nodded. Whatever, detention wasn’t a big deal.

“Miss Gavins?” I heard Miranda say.

“Yes, Miranda?” She said, as Miranda stood up.

“With all do respect,” she started, “Your punishment isn’t fair. You asked Dessen what he was smiling about and he told you. I don’t understand how that’s grounds for punishment. Can you please explain?” She tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy. It took everything I had in me not to burst out laughing. Even though her voice was respectful and it only sounded like a simple question, I could hear the challenge in her tone.

Pure alpha female.

“Ms. MacNamara, I don’t see how that is any of your concern. Take a seat.”

“I disagree. Upon seeing a teacher acting unfairly towards a student it is our, his peers, responsibility to question your grounds for punishment. Though, if you have a problem with that I could always ask Principle Wilson to explain to me why Dessen is being punished for simply doing as he was told.” I saw the slight lifting of her chin. She knew she won.

I looked back at the teacher and her face was red with anger. “Mr. Embers,” she said through clenched teeth “You are excused from detention after school today.” With that said, she turned around and continued to write on the board while explaining the concept of personification. I chuckled and winked Miranda.

Damn, my girl was something else.

(Miranda’s POV)

As the bell indicating the end of the period sounded, Dessen grabbed my hand and dragged me out into the hallway. I had just swung my backpack over my shoulder when Dessen bent his knees, placed his hands on the back of my upper thighs, and proceeded to pick me up and spin me around in the middle of the hallway like some low-budget-silent-film version of High School Musical.

“Dessen! What are you doing?! PUT ME DOWN, NOW!” He spun me around one more time before placing me safely on my feet.

I resisted the urge to punch him in the face, and instead aimed for his arm. I punched him as hard as I could.

He groaned and rubbed his arm, “Thanks, babe. I appreciate you abusing me.”

“As if that even actually hurt you.” I grumbled as I started walking in the general direction of my locker.

He laughed. “You sound disappointed by that little detail.” he laid his arm over my shoulders. “You know, there was plenty of witnesses back there. I could report you and have you arrested for physical abuse.”

I snorted and started twisting the dial on my combination lock. He pressed against me from behind and whispered in my ear. “Or... I could punish you myself.” I felt his lips brush against my skin.

I felt my heartbeat quicken.

I was about to respond when a shrill, annoyingly familiar voice interrupted me. “Dessen!” Guess who? That’s right. Kenzie. I had to suppress the urge to smirk when Dessen didn’t move back any; he was still pressed right up against me from behind.

“Yeah.” he said, sounding completely uninterested.

“I’m having some trouble with algebra, can you help during lunch?” She asked in a sickly sweet voice, batting her eyelashes.

Before he could even answer, and before I even realized what I was doing, I cut in. “Actually, no. He can’t. Lunch time is my Dessen time so you’ll just have to find someone else to help you with your algebra, Kenzie. Though, I found it interesting that when I passed out the last pop-quiz you got a perfect score. What is it that you don’t understand exactly?”

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “I believe I was talking to Dessen. This conversation doesn’t concern you.”

“Well Kenzie, Miranda and I were about to take part in a little PDA when you so rudely interrupted us. I don’t believe that concerned YOU either. So now you guys are even.” Dessen cut in.

With that he took my hand, slammed my locker shut, and walked away leaving Kenzie standing there gaping at us like an ugly little dead fish at a seafood market.

I felt the laughter bubbling up in me and I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I burst out laughing and of course that got Dessen laughing. So, we were laughing like lunatics as we walked right out of the school building, unanimously deciding that we were going to skip the rest of the day.