Dedicated to: blue_rosario

Dude, you rock. You’ve been supporting this story pretty much all the way through. I appreciate everything. And I like hearing your thoughts after a chapter. Thanks soooo much! :)

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      September 12th
      Agents K. Masters and R. Harris endanger the exposure of Special Operations. Agent A. Peterson handles the situation before it is taken too far.

                20: Class Dismissed
                Date: September 12th

The moment I hear Kyle's voice is the moment I feel an undertone of annoyance pulsating inside me. My body is still; no sudden movements and no movements at all throughout the entire class. All I do is watch Kyle speak to every other student as they badger him with questions for forty-five minutes.

      It hasn’t been that long since I’ve seen his face, but I feel like it’s too soon to be looking at his russet skin and deceiving brown eyes. Too soon to see him in the flesh, standing in front of a classroom as an undercover teacher while the girls in the room gawk at him.

      But it doesn’t matter. He’s here anyway.

      He sits in the gray chair at his desk, leaning back casually and pretending to ignore my presence. But I know he's not ignoring me. Because Alex is still holding my hand.

      "Any other questions?" he asks. He scans the class slowly. I do notice when his eyes linger on Alex and I, at our entwined hands and desks pushed slightly closer together than the others. Almost the entire class has been glancing back at us.

      Kyle moves his gaze to someone on my right and smiles, giving a nod as a gesture for her to start speaking.

      "Yeah," says Maria on my other side, twirling a strand of hair. I turn to her, my eyes blankly wandering over her blonde curls before settling onto her face. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

      Kyle's smile becomes arrogant. "Why no, no I don't," he says. Then he leans forward in our direction, and my gaze on him hardens as Maria leans towards him in response. "And you know what else?" he asks, speaking lowly as if telling a secret. "I've actually been looking for that special someone."

      Suddenly I can't stop myself from scowling. Alex notices, and he squeezes my hand to stop me from speaking. The gesture is innocent, though my heart begins to beat faster, and it’s not enough to get me to stop. It seems my mouth has a mind of its own again. Naturally.

      "Why are you here?" I demand, letting go of Alex's hand. Alex grabs it again as a warning, but I continue on anyway while everyone in the room turns to me. "Where's Mr. Howard?"

      Now the class turns to face Kyle, awaiting a response. Kyle narrows his eyes for a split second. But before it's noticeable he leans back again and puts his feet up on the desk in nonchalance. My anger rises at the sight of his actions.

      "I'm here because Mr. Howard has been arrested," he retorts.

      I sit up straighter in my desk. "Why?" I ask. Alex squeezes again, this time harder than before. But for some reason I am not concerned about blowing the cover of Special Operations. I am only concerned with making Kyle squirm under my gaze. And I'm frustrated because it's not working.

      "I don't know," he lies, looking me in the eye. "But I do recall being told something about a missing student."

      "Where did you even come from?" I say. Anger is prominent in my voice as the students watch the both of us back and forth like a tennis match.

      That's when I notice Kyle's jaw is clenched. "The school needed a substitute. I was there for the call." He sits forward in his seat now and removes his feet from the top of his desk. "Now, are there any other—”

      "So you're one of the people that they called," I interrupt, "and you just happened to be the one that came in."

      Now the conversation has become heavy with a double-meaning. The only two people who could notice this don't realize at first, that I am referring to Special Operations. It takes two seconds before both Alex and Kyle catch on. Then Alex is staring at me with what I assume is a cautionary look.

      But at this point I can't even feel his hand.

      Kyle glares at me from his desk, and his dark eyes seem menacing as he does. "I do believe I am called backup for a reason," he asserts.

      "Oh. Sorry," comes my sarcastic response. "I thought it was because you weren't good enough to be there in the first place."

      Kyle stands from his chair abruptly. "What was your name again? Rachel, was it?"

      I smile. "Ooh, look at you! You got it right. Must be progress for you, then."

      His eyebrows pull together in irritation and he opens his mouth to speak again, but Alex beats him to the punch.

      "I have a question," he says loudly. My head snaps toward his, and I see that Kyle and I have received the piqued interest of everyone in the room. Alex glares at Kyle after he sends an annoyed glance back at me.

      Guilt builds its way up my body. I almost revealed us to an entire classroom of students because of a rivalry with an agent. But the part of me that really makes me guilty is the part that isn’t sorry for doing it.

      Next to me, Alex raises his eyebrows at Kyle. "Aren't you supposed to be teaching us math and not flirting with students?"

      The class snickers underneath their breaths and I feel relief replace my guilt. If they believe that Kyle and I were flirting, they won’t suspect that I know him. Although the excuse is extremely far-fetched.

      The bell rings then, and everyone gathers their books to leave.

      I begin to follow suit when Alex catches my arm to keep me back a little longer.

      When everyone is gone, all that's left is Kyle, Alex and me. I set my gaze on Alex, who’s staring at me intently, and see that there's almost nothing in his expression at all as he pulls me up to Kyle's desk.

      "What the hell is wrong with you two?" Alex demands quietly, looking at the both of us. Then he turns to me. "Rachel, how many times am I going to have to save our cover? Can you at least pretend to want us to stay hidden?"

      I feel as if I'm being scolded by my mother. There’s a glower already starting to form on my face. He's right though, and I can't be angry with him for pointing out the truth. But I can still be angry with Kyle.

      "This is why I don't work with you," I tell Kyle, glaring accusingly at him. "You annoy the hell out of me."

      Kyle glares back. "And that's my fault?"

      "Yes. It is."

      "I didn't do anything," Kyle hisses.

      And there it is. The feigned innocence that Kyle has always had up his sleeve. I try not to say anything to him. It’s not hard, really.

      The truth is, I don’t even know what to say. I know what I want to do. I want to have his head slammed into the ground repeatedly until he can’t remember who he is anymore.

      Even so, regardless of my thoughts, I try hard to push away the desire to cause him pain, but the urge to lose all self-control is hard to overcome.

      And it seems I'm not the only one with this problem. But I’m the only one who doesn’t act on it.

      Before I can reply, Alex's fist is thrust at Kyle's jaw. There's a clicking sound that I hear when it happens, and I can tell that the punch is a good one. Kyle staggers backwards and his back hits his desk as his hand darts up to his jaw.

      I blink at Kyle and then turn to Alex. It’s now that I see the anger hidden behind his green eyes.

      "Yeah," Alex says flatly. "You did do something. And you’re lucky I can’t do anything about it. For now.”

      He steps toward Kyle threateningly, and I memorize his every movement hungrily in complete awe. This is a side of him that I haven’t fully seen yet; the one that is responsible for the angry tint that is always hidden behind the innocence in his eyes.

      A dangerous-looking Alex advances forward until he is standing right in front of Kyle’s face. “But when we’re not partners,” he continues, “and I don’t have a reputation to uphold, I will. And that’s not a threat. It’s a fact.”

      Then he swivels toward the door and walks out.

      When he’s gone my eyes are still glued to the door, and a few moments pass where I stand still, trying to comprehend what just happened. The seconds drag on as I stand with my back to Kyle, silence slowly stretching out across the room.

      And then I turn back to Kyle and send him a grin.

      "I just remembered that we never had a proper introduction," I say. There's a cold sharpness to my voice when I speak. "That," I tell him, leaning closer to him the way he did to Maria earlier, "was Alex."

      I lean back and start to make my way to the door. "A-L-E-X. You might want to remember that one. You’ll be hearing it often."

      Before I'm out the door, I send a small wave over my shoulder. "Goodbye, Mr. Masters," I say.

      Finally, a smile appears on my face. And it's the same smile a girl like Susan would wear.

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Drama, drama, drama! Well I had a snow day today, so I figured I would update. A bit longer this time, yes?

[I also have to update a new chapter for my other book, 36 Students in a Classroom. That thing has been so neglected. 

Poor guy . . .]

But anyway, how’d you like this chapter? And what’d you think of the other side of Alex?

And for this chapter, I will be looking for those who commented on both this chapter and the last. Best commenter shall receive a dedication, as always! :)

'AwesomelyBlaze