Consulting with a student who was caught cheating on a test was guaranteed for every teacher to face during the school year. It was the same process for tests and homework assignments, from Math to Language Arts to classes like Agriculture. Out of the entire six years of teaching, it was what Ben hated dealing with the most.

It wasn't the students whom he despised. They were the easiest to discuss the matter with, for the most part, due to their lack of concern over failing a class as seemingly insignificant as Agricultural Science, or so they would mention at times. They would usually accept the F that was marked on their test, and then promised to keep their eyeballs secured to their own work. But it never lasted for long as the issue would eventually rise again, and it became a simple matter of rinse, lather, repeat.

But the parents? Oh, the parents of said cheaters were those who seemed to enjoy making his life a living Hell, and very few had effectively changed his mind. The usual excuse heard was him having failed their child on purpose. The issue always escalated and Hux would then play as the mediator in the war between parents and teacher inside his office, and take over the fight on Ben's behalf in hopes of preserving Mishawaka High's dignity.

Unfortunately, today was one of those days that Ben had continuously questioned how much more he was willing to endure at Mishawaka High. For a brief moment, he considered going back to what he loved doing most, but then the thought of returning to that former dream at his parents' ranch suddenly disappeared and was left with a headache in its place.

The throbbing in his head had only made him more irritable after overhearing some choice phrases projecting through the pinholes of Hux's administrative phone, belonging to the feminine voice that was still badgering him at the opposite end.

After pondering over ways that he could physically strangle someone through the electronic device, the tremor that extended from the iPhone inside his pocket eased his frustration to become more at ease. He longed to see Rey rather than sitting out third hour's passing period inside Hux's office.

– Rey Kanata –
Where are you?

Ben's eyes warily ascended from the phone being held at his side to Hux, concerning the obvious that he seemed too deeply engrossed in the conversation to notice that Ben was holding his attention elsewhere. While the pasty ginger remained occupied with the shrieking banshee on the phone, and rigidly absorbed in the mutual stare down with the image of a domesticated feline on the monitor of his Dell desktop, Ben went about replying to Rey's message.

– Ben Solo –
Got sent to the principal's office

– Rey Kanata –
Everything okay?

Ben heaved a drawn-out sigh, allotting his eyes to slowly skim over the words in Rey's message.

– Ben Solo –
Nothing out of the ordinary for the job of a teacher

– Rey Kanata –
That's a relief
I thought something might've happened...

– Ben Solo –
Like what?

– Rey Kanata –
That you were in trouble for something else...

Ben frowned at the text, knowing precisely what Rey was imploring without having to ask. A few weeks had passed since their initial kiss at the fire. Now it was considerably uncommon for them to not steal a kiss that lingered for more than a few moments before (and after) class.

The stakes had now grown significantly higher for them both, concerning the risk of having an eavesdropper lingering outside Ben's classroom. However, with being the least occupied sector out of the entire school, the odds of not being caught continued to remain in their favor.

– Ben Solo –
Everything's okay
I promise

– Rey Kanata –
Okay...

– Ben Solo –
Try to hold down the fort until I get back

– Rey Kanata –
Are you saying I'm in charge?
Oh, the things that I could do...

Ben smirked, thumb aimed to reply though it was the haughty laugh that Hux conferred into the receiver that alerted his ears, acknowledging the principal's parting words from the discussion.

"I'm glad that we were able to get this settled, Mrs. Millicent," Hux professed to the feline image on the monitor, granting the concealed woman at the other end of the line a satisfied grin. "Sure, and to you as well."

– Ben Solo –
I've gotta go

"We finally have an agreement," Hux boasted aloud, discarding the phone to its docking place with an uncaring drop.

"And?" Ben questioned arduously, ignoring the somber grimace from Hux while returning the iPhone to its former place in his pocket.

Hux regarded him furtively, lips tightly sealed, elbows running parallel along the edge of his desk. "I take it that you didn't listen to a single word that had been discussed, did you?"

Ben shrugged, propping an ankle upon his knee. "You appeared to be handling it well enough as it was," he uttered dryly whilst folding his arms over his chest. "I figured that my attention wasn't necessarily needed."

Hux stared impassively for a moment. "This was your problem to begin with, Solo – not mine," he hissed in return. "I merely just saved your ass."

Ben felt a nerve twitch beneath his eyes, coaxing them into a hardened glare. "A problem that stemmed from a student that couldn't keep his eyes on his own fucking test," he sneered, adhering to the situation in an afternoon class the day before.

"Just – calm the fuck down," Hux brusquely insisted, maintaining the composed expression on his face while his hands gestured in motion from the desk top. "She was actually quite a pleasant person to converse with if you would've been able to compose yourself a little more."

"She called me an insufferable prick," Ben snorted, considering the irony of the words he'd once referred to when describing Kylo. Perhaps the ill-tempered Morgan was his spirit animal after all.

"You were being an insufferable prick," Hux concluded briskly, the precision in his voice left no room for further debate.

"Just tell me what this grand settlement of yours is, Hux," Ben huffed, rolling his jaw. "I have a class to return to in case you weren't aware already."

"If you would've been paying attention in the first place I wouldn't have to repeat myself now, would I?" Hux scolded, levitating a stiff brow at a rising thought. "What the hell was so damn important anyway?"

"The agreement, Hugs," Ben sighed, reminding him of the previous topic. At least it was easy to deflect having to enlighten more on why he reverted to messaging rather than listening to Maleficent on the phone. Or was it Madicent?

Hux drew in a long breath through his nostrils, reeling in what few of the relics that remained of his patience. "She requested that the kid be allowed to retake the test," he articulated in a more sober tone, readying for the storm that was surely about to come. "And I agreed that we could certainly permit the student to this one-time deal."

Ben remained jarringly silent, incense simmering the blood beneath his flushed cheeks. "You did what?" He growled darkly even though he was wholly aware of what the man had said a few moments ago. Ben lolled his head back in disbelief, burrowing the pads of his fingers beneath his glasses into his eyes, hoping to ease the tension prodding the forefront of his skull. "Jesus fucking Chri–."

"She threatened to take matters up with the school board," Hux interrupted mid-slur. "I know you heard her from the beginning. Is that what you wanted to happen? Dameron would've adhered to her proposal if I wouldn't ha–."

"I couldn't give two flying fucks what Dameron would've had to say about this," Ben seethed whilst heaving his hands to his lap, paying no mind to the sharp sting that the gesture exerted onto his skin. "God damnit, you know this is wrong!"

"It's just a retake, Solo," Hux uttered carefully. "If the kid is that damn desperate to cheat he'll more than likely fail again anyway."

Ben took a calming breath, eyes closing with the notion. "That's not the point," he pressed unwaveringly, gesturing a hand outright. "Allowing him to retake it isn't helping him learn any lessons from this. Those answers were word-for-word what the other student had written. He even included the fucking smudge in the middle of the sentence from the other's pencil lead breaking. "

How ironic to be second-guessing the school's methods of handling cheaters when you're ridiculously head-over-heels with one of its students, Ben thought; however that was one double standard he intended to keep to himself.

Hux snorted and shook his head, clearly amused. "Then you should have no problems failing him again," he added reassuringly. Before Ben had the chance to counter with another remark Hux intercepted the words from his lips, leaving Ben's hands officially tied. "Look," Hux started, leaning his torso further over his desk, "I don't wanna have to take you to Dameron myself, but if she wants to continue being a pain in the ass about this she can take this up with the school board."

"I wouldn't give a shit if he was the fucking Queen of England," Ben quipped. "Him being head of the school board shouldn't affect the outcome of a student blatantly cheating."

"I get it," Hux assured, reclining further into the padded backing of his chair, "and it fucking sucks. But if you don't do this, then I'm afraid you'll be leaving me with no choice."

**

"Hey," Rose scoffed, noting the dazed and faraway look that her friend had upon her face, "Earth to Rey. Are you home?"

Rey flinched, blinking awake from her trance she'd drifted into subconsciously while waiting for the lunch line to move. It occurred to her then, apparently, they hadn't moved since diving into her mind's own form of la-la land. "What?" She asked, clearing her throat and hugging her torso.

"I've been talking to you and you haven't so much as acknowledged me with a blink," Rose mused. She cocked her head, mirroring Rey's current stance as a smile slowly spread over her face. "What's up?"

What's up? What's wrong? Depending whatever phrase that one preferred to use Rey had been constantly looping the never-ending series of questions to herself since Ben returned to class, claiming he'd been meeting with Hux in his office. After attempting to pry him for answers all Rey could think of was that the 'nothing' he'd replied with was indeed something that had to have stemmed from a very unpleasant principle.

It wasn't necessarily unusual for Ben to be a little extra on-edge during class; especially, when a couple students on the football team found it reasonably entertaining to fling chunks of clay and dirt from one end of the greenhouse to the next after Ben had to step away to retrieve something from the classroom.

Needless to say, Rey had never seen a teacher so pissed off at two students out of the duration of her entire educational career when he returned, finding patches of mud splattered all around the conservatory's interior. She was certain she'd seen a vein or two penetrate through the first layer of skin over his forehead, and how much harder it was for him to keep his temper reeled in before sentencing the two reckless offenders to after school detention: cleaning the windows of the greenhouse no doubt.

But was a little bit of dirt really enough to have set off the short end of his fuse? Like, could it have possibly been because Hux somehow discovered their secret relationship? And if so – how? However the more Rey pondered the likelihood of that having been the case, the chances of Ben still withholding a teaching position at Mishawaka High were probably at a zero on a scale of one to ten.

So what the fuck was the problem? Besides the fact that her stomach monster was growling more violently than ever yet nothing sounded appealing enough to eat.

"I don't know," Rey muttered, looking down at the point of her shoe that was toeing the linoleum floor in the commons. She winced, giving a discouraged jab into the ground a little harder than she'd intended to.

Rose considered her, reining confusion in her expression. "You don't know?" She parroted. "Why?"

Again, why?

Why couldn't she just admit to Rose what was going on between her and Ben, like she'd done with Sabine? Having someone to talk to outside the ranch whenever problems arose in paradise would be nice. But that would only wind her back to square one, and having to worry if her best friend would blab by accident to the wrong person. Rey couldn't fathom the thought of Ben getting fired (or something far worse) for a momentary act of recklessness on her behalf, and she was confident she'd never be able to forgive herself if that were to ever happen.

So, forever her lips would remain sealed until the day came where things would be a lot less complicated to confess, making the concept of having to continuously grasp a hold of straws for depleted excuses that much harder.

Rey stabbed her tongue into the side of her cheek, piquing deftly through every odd numbered nerve ending as the lunch line slowly motioned forward, drawing them closer to the buffet that was rumored to be serving beef and noodles with mashed potatoes and corn.

What about telling Rose the partial truth? Like the little things about Ben that her aunt knew without giving away his complete identity? That could work. And it might be enough to figure out what to do.

"I kind of met someone," Rey confessed. Her lips curled between her teeth as a subtle blush crept over her cheeks. She gave a shrug when Rose conferred staggered eyes that resembled moons.

"What!" Rose squealed, adding more onto the pre-existing shade of red tinting Rey's face. "When did this happen? Where did you guys meet?"

Here, Rey thought, obviously unable to mention the real time and setting that she and Ben had met. She begrudgingly settled for the next best in location. "At this ranch that I've been working at during the weekends," she explained.

Rose fluttered her eyelashes rapidly, seeming puzzled over the admission. "A ranch," she repeated, not necessarily meaning it as a question. "But I thought Finn said that you were working at Weaver's now?"

Fuck!

"I was," Rey promptly conceded; shuffling her feet as the lunch line began to move at a steadier pace. "But the opportunity came up when a friend mentioned it in Ag that their parents were looking for help. So," she shrugged again, "I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try."

Rose's head wavered from side-to-side, appearing to weight the concept in her thoughts before deeming the job one that seemed idealistic. It was enough to make the heaviness lodged inside Rey's chest to subside; now that Rose had accepted another half-assed alibi.

"Look at you being all cowgirl–ish," Rose teased, giving Rey's arm a suggestive bump with her elbow. "So you're dating a cowboy now, huh? Is he hot? Does he have a nice ass?"

Rey shook her head and laughed, planting a palm haphazardly over her face. "Yes, Rose," she affirmed, "he has a very nice ass. And I would hardly call myself a cowgirl. I've only gotten to ride a horse once."

"So is that what you're calling him now?" Rose goaded with a wink, enabling Rey to feel the heat scourging her ears and neck. "Wait – have you guys even kissed yet?"

Rey worried her bottom lip and nodded, earning another inconsolable squeak from Rose. "I'm so happy for you!" She cried, bouncing on the soles of her moccasins like a fully wound-up children's toy. "Holy shit, I'm so excited. This is awesome!" Her eyes quickly adopted a look of realization. "So, what was the earlier problem about then?"

"That's just it," Rey sighed, hating to be the downer to her friend's high in excitement, "I don't know. But I know that something was really bothering him when I last talked to him, but –."

"But he uses every excuse under the sun to tell you that nothing's wrong?" Rose interrupted with a brow prominently cocked. She rolled her eyes when Rey allotted a slow nod, adhering to the pilfered words. "Guys are kinda funny in that sense. They like to clam up about their feelings instead of talking. It's annoying as fuck sometimes, but they'll come around eventually."

Rey pressed her lips into a slight grimace, wavering to smile at Rose's reassurance as the line drew rapidly closer to ease her stomach's earlier strike against hunger. She took the next few moments to set all conflicting thoughts of Ben's unknown predicament aside, and put forth the effort into deciding if lunch would be beef and noodles or a hardy-loaded potato soup from the salad bar.

By the time she'd paid for the little bowl of potato chunks, laden with shredded cheese and bacon bits on top, Rey decided to break apart from her usual late-morning routine of eating with friends and join Ben in his own private sector of the school.

"Hey, where you going?" Rose called, noticing Rey traveling the opposite direction of where their group was sitting.

"Book club," Rey fibbed, pausing to enlighten Rose more on the nonexistent gathering of bookworms. "It's usually in the afternoons, but I was told last week that we'd be having it today during lunch since many of us can't make it after school."

"Oh," Rose uttered, scrunching her nose at the so-called event. "Okay, well, I'll see you in Trig I guess? And I expect to have some more juicy details about this new guy," she added pointedly, meriting a smile from Rey that beamed with promise.

**

After a morning that'd seemingly gone straight to Hell right off the bat, getting to see Rey during that painfully short fourth hour class had assisted in helping relieve Ben of his earlier foul mood. At least, it had for a moment before she left to carry-on with the rest of her day, while he tended to a career he'd started to resent having even more by the minute.

Truthfully, Mishawaka High had never felt more like a prison to him than it did that day: more than the penitentiary he'd sentenced himself to in his thoughts after the accident at his parents' ranch. Now, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd made a horrible mistake to turn away from taking over their homestead should that time ever come. And it only took meeting Rey for him to start second guessing that life he so desperately wanted to leave before pursuing the one he'd been living in the current.

New questions he'd never considered asking had begun to rise, making it that much harder to concentrate on preparing his next lecture to a class that probably wouldn't give two shits to hear what he had to say to begin with but the queries seemed to be worth addressing.

What would happen to the few workers that had already dedicated so much of their lives into helping his parents? And the land? The horses? And, most importantly, what would become of Kylo? He was certain that no boarding place in the entire county would ever accommodate a horse with such a lucid temper and special needs. The ongoing conflict only managed to enhance the problems that were holding his wrists bound together at the school.

"Hey."

Ben lifted his head that'd been cradled in his hands at his desk, surprised to see Rey holding a bowl he recognized to be from the cafeteria buffet line-up.

"Rey," he breathed, blinking away the momentary state of surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"I figured you could use a little bit of company," Rey smiled, setting her bowl of potato soup in front of him on the desk. She pivoted just enough to hoist herself up on the tabletop, planting herself happily to the area that was lacking stacks of homework and tests to be graded. "You know, since you were in such a good mood earlier?"

Ben snorted; leaning forward so that his elbow nudged the outer part of her knee on his desk after Rey took the bowl of clumpy mush into her palms. "My problems are far from being yours right now," he assured gently. "And the last thing that I want to do is bore you with them."

"Try me," she insisted, taking a scoop of the clumpy white sustenance into her mouth.

Ben considered her grimly. "I'd rather hear something about your day," he confessed. "Mine's just been the typical bullshit that comes with the label of being a teacher."

"So," Rey started, fingering the handle of her spoon, "what happened this morning really wasn't about Hux finding out about – us?"

Ben gave her a knowing look. "Rey, I've told you before: if he knew anything I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you right now," he paused, knitting his brows. "Is that why you're here?"

Rey swallowed heavily and nodded, lips twitching at the corners. "I was worried that something might've happened," she admitted, fingering the handle of her spoon. "I think about that a lot."

Ben's chest shuddered through a sigh, making a trivial effort to suppress the sinking feeling in his gut that her words had triggered. "Rey, I don't want this to affect your life here. It would be selfish of me to deny that I think about how this affects you more than it does myself."

"But it does hurt you more," Rey affirmed, discarding the bowl of food to the side. "I care about you, Ben. And I don't know how I would feel if something would happen becau–."

"Rey," Ben interrupted firmly, a notion that he rarely ever did when she spoke. "I am not going anywhere. And I want you to believe me when I say that what happened this morning has nothing to do with you. But if it makes you feel any better, then I'll tell you that it was just the school implementing a policy that I found to be bullshit when it comes to students cheating on tests." It was the partial truth, but the more important aspect that he hoped would satisfy her worry while he figured the remnants out at a later date.

Rey heaved a sigh in relief, eyes wilting with the brief gesture. "I do believe you," she uttered, offering him a coy smile. "I'm sorry for being ridiculous."

Ben shook his head, "I understand, but it's not worth worrying about when I'm still here."

Rey nodded. "I know," she concurred.

Ben nodded crisply and licked his lips, eyes dropping to her mouth as Rey did with his. She leaned over at the same time that he rose from his chair, just enough to meet with a firm kiss in the middle. Rey breathed a sigh over his lips, the kiss lingering longer than usual. Every worry they had up until that moment levitated from their shoulders, leaving only them, and the hungry need to taste more than what time typically allotted for during the day.

Rey cupped her hand to his jaw as Ben draped an arm over her lap. His fingers began to knead her waist at the moment he felt her tongue skim along the crevice of his lips, imploring to explore more of how he tasted, wanting to feel more of how he felt. His lips faintly parted, allowing their tongues to finally intermingle and they groaned, low and slow in satisfaction at the sweltering taste of the other; both wanting more than what the awkward position was allowing them to achieve.

She threaded her fingers through the sides of his hair, her head inclined back as Ben slowly rose from his seat. Her legs parted, welcoming him to stand in between, breaking the kiss just for a second. His eyes were as equally laden with yearning as Rey's, and he eagerly claimed her mouth as she cradled her hands around the back of his neck, his fingers firmly gripping her hips.

Rey's hands undecidedly roamed along his shoulders, over his back and returned to easily rest on his chest. Her breathing grew unsteady, thoughts variably erratic as Ben broke the kiss, awarding her with wet, heated kisses from the incline of her jaw and down her neck. A whimper softly eluded her lips when he came upon a sensitive patch of skin along the shallow valley of her shoulder and neck, alerting her of the warmth budding at the core between her legs.

A smug grin played over his lips. His cock twitched as his tongue alternated its task, licking and sucking in the spot he now discovered to be her weakest, her skin tasting just as sweet and honey-like as her lips. His hands ascended from her waist and up her sides, coming to a stop on her ribs. He grazed his thumbs along the bottom swell of her breasts, and Rey's fingers anxiously began to fidget with the lower buttons of his shirt.

Rey was certain that she would've completed her seemingly complicated mission had the bell not rang, abhorrently loud to their ears. Their attention had been so fixed on the moment before fourth period had been officially marked over that Rey couldn't suppress the yelp from escaping her lips, earning an amused chuckle from Ben.

"I – uh," Rey breathed, unable to focus properly on what she wanted to say at first. She bit her lip, eyes lowering from his to her fingers that remained on his shirt. "I guess my excuse for this book club was well spent."

Ben scoffed, chest still heaving slightly from the few moments of exertion. "What?"

Rey raised her chin again, seeing the confusion glazing his eyes and – hurt? Her stomach faltered and sunk, immediately realizing her mistake. "Ben, I –."

"What have you been saying, Rey?" He asked, leaving no room for unnecessary excuses.

Rey shook her head, blinking, enough for Ben to realize without her having to say that she'd been lying.

"I've been telling my friends that I've been coming to a book club as an excuse to see you," Rey confessed, bearing a look of shame written all over her features as the words came tumbling from her lips. "And my aunt thinks that you're just an average worker at the ranch."

Ben lowered his hands to the desk, the difficulty to breathe no longer being from exertion, but with guilt that he'd inadvertently given her the impression to go through such drastic measures for them to be together.

"I only did it because I didn't want the pieces to come pointing back to you," she began to ramble. "I'm so sorry. I swear, I'm trying to figure this out without making it sound like I'm intentionally hurting you."

Ben regarded her, expression softening. "No more lies," he urged gently, shaking his head. "Don't make it harder than what it already is. Please."

Rey nodded, knowing what she had to do.