Always You by Missy Johnson Page B

so
badly. These past few weeks had been nothing short of perfection. I found
myself wanting to be with him more and more, and finding it harder to control
my emotions went we weren’t alone.
    I glanced down at my
phone, my heart dropping. Almost curfew. I hated leaving him.
    “I have to go,” I
said glumly, kissing his lips one more time before I struggled to my feet.
    He stood up too, his
arms curling around my waist as he kissed my neck. “I wish you didn’t have to
go,” he mumbled.
    “Me too. I’ll see
you tomorrow.” I blew him a kiss as I walked to my car, my heart heavy with
sadness at leaving him. I was falling for him, there was no doubt in my mind.
    I was falling hard.
    ***
    Kass was talking in
my ear about something, but I couldn’t focus. All I could see was Dalton, over
on the other side of the classroom, helping out another student. He laughed at
something Emma had said, and my stomach churned.
    Why was this getting
to me so much? He was a teacher in an all-girl school, of course he had to
interact with members of the opposite sex. I just didn’t like having to see it.
    “Wrenn? What the
hell is wrong with you today?”
    I jumped and turned
back to Kass, who was staring at me. “Nothing,” I mumbled. “What were you
saying?”
    “I was saying I
don’t know what I’m going to do for the rest of the year without you here. I’m
going to miss you when you graduate.”
    “I’m going to miss
you too. You’ll be finished before know it, and we’ll still see each other like
all the time,” I said, smiling.
    She nodded and
sniffed. I reached over and squeezed her hand. Kass was such a good friend, and
I was so lucky to have her in my life.
    ***
    After the final bell
rang, Kass and I walked out of class, past Dalton’s desk. I could feel him
staring at me. Sure enough, when I turned, his eyes were on me — all over me. I
smiled, and winked at him, which made him chuckle. He turned back to his desk,
a smile still on his lips, and I knew he was thinking about me.
    The longer this went
on, the harder it was getting for both of us. When you feel so strongly for
someone, you don’t want to keep it a secret. You want to shout it from the
rooftops. You want everyone to know what you’re feeling. Hiding it feels so
wrong. How can falling in love ever be a bad thing?
    But it was. At
least, that’s what society wanted us to think. We could have the most
exceptional circumstances in the world and it wouldn’t make a damn difference.
    He would always be
my teacher, and me, his student. I just prayed he could get past that.
     

Chapter
Fifteen
    Dalton
    The more time I spent with
Wrenn, the more I liked her the more I liked her. Every moment I spent with
her, she cemented herself a little bit more in my life. Slowly, she was
beginning to unravel the walls I’d built around myself.
    And that made me nervous.
    I laughed to myself. The funny
thing was that she could sense my anxiety about our relationship, and she
thought it was all to do with the fact that I was her teacher. That couldn’t be
further from the truth. Honestly? The risk of losing my job—I’d risk it
all in a second for her. How bad was that?
    No, this ran much deeper. It
killed me that it was always in the back of my mind. One test, and I’d know.
One way or the other I’d know for sure. But I didn’t want to know. Hell, I was
angry at my own mother. Why couldn’t she have lied to me? I wouldn’t have known
the difference. I could have lived my life not caring.
    Sometimes it was best not
knowing.
    ***
    The realization hit me late one
afternoon after Mom texted me, reminding me it was coming up to the anniversary
of Dad’s death. I couldn’t do this. It had to stop. I had to think of Wrenn before this went any further. I could end it
now. I wasn’t sure I’d have the strength if I left it much longer.
    Picking up my phone, I texted
her, asking her to meet me down by the river. A deserted space, the river was a
favorite place for