"Yeah, I would," Daryl replied.

"Excuse me?"

"I said that I would mind," he offered, never taking his eyes off me. "And if we're being completely truthful here, ma'am, I don’t give a damn about this week's calculus test."

A chorus of laughter and wolf-whistling erupted around us.

"Well, maybe you'll find the motivation to learn again on your walk to the principal's office," Mrs. Kilmore replied sharply. "Off you go, Mr. King."

"Fine. I'll go if she goes with me," he told the teacher, causing another outbreak of laughter.

"You'll go because I want you to leave my classroom, young man."

"You must be smoking some strong shit if you're delusional enough to think he's gonna walk out of this classroom without her," Reebo chuckled from across the room, which earned him a stern glare from our teacher and the revoking of his presence in class.

"Out you go, Mr. Rose," Mrs. Kilmore snapped, pointing to the door.

"Fuck yes," he chuckled, clearly delighted with himself as he hurried to the door. "It's nap-time for the teddy bear."

"Miss Peterson," the teacher said, turning her attention back to me. "While I appreciate the fact that you haven't spoken out of turn, your presence is making it impossible for me to teach my class." She inclined her head to the door, making it clear that she wanted me to leave.

"Let's go." That was Daryl, who was already grabbing my bag off the floor and slinging it over his shoulder, not giving me an option either way.

Riddled with anxiety, and trembling with fearful anticipation, I slowly rose from my seat and followed him out of the classroom.

57 Daryl

She was back.

Molly was back at school and I couldn’t fucking breathe.

I could feel her eyes on my back as she followed me out of the classroom and all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and kiss the hell out her, but I knew that might not go down so well, so I refrained. Just about.

"Wait – don’t you have to go to the principal's office?" she asked, trailing after me, as I walked straight past the office and headed for the exit.

Shaking my head, I held the door open for her and quickly followed her outside.

If Molly thought I was going to waste my time I planned to spend with her on getting chewed out by the principal, then she was more innocent than I thought.

"Wh-where are we going?"

"My truck," I replied, forcing myself not to take her hand in mine. "I don’t wanna have this conversation with an audience nearby."

"Oh," she replied, exhaling shakily, as she hurried to keep up with my long strides. "Yeah, me either."

I knew I needed to slow down and walk at her pace, but I was too fucking impatient – too desperate to get her alone.

By the time my red Chevy came into sight in the student parking lot, Molly was breathless, and I was all out of patience.