A/N: A Carlos POV chapter. Randomly happened, though we go back to DA in the next chapter.

Carlos loved Wednesdays because it meant that eighth period was study hall, which in his mind equaled a class worth skipping. Therefore, every week he'd try and find a way to make his girlfriend late in order to convince *her* it was worth skipping as well.

It was an uphill battle he knew he'd never win, but he liked the challenge.

So today being Wednesday, one minute before the bell was about ring for eighth period, Carlos shoved Dorothy Ann's physics textbook on the top shelf of her locker, knowing full well that she wasn't tall enough to get to it. He loved the fact that he was more than a complete head taller than she was and used it to his advantage whenever he could. It drove her nuts.

He loved driving her nuts. He'd learned early on what did so from the first time he knocked over her blocks and pulled her pigtails in kindergarten. He still missed those pigtails, but she'd stopped wearing her hair that way after third grade. Instead, now she'd either pull it back in a single ponytail, or on the rare occasion – like today – let it fall free down her back, the ends slightly curly.

He knew she didn't pay much attention to her appearance, but she didn't need to. He thought she was beautiful.

And clueless. If she only knew how pretty she was and how much she drove him insane, in more ways than one. It took every inch of willpower he had to not try and take advantage of her when the moment arose.

Not doing so was the one piece of advice he'd actually listened to when his father sat him down to have the very awkward "talk" at age ten. He'd brought a note home from school about how he'd put the class snake in DA's desk and his father had sighed. Told him that you didn't get girls by tormenting them, but by respecting them.

Then he proceeded to try and explain where babies come from. That sudden transition lead to the most uncomfortable ten minutes Carlos ever experienced with his father. His mother had patted his head in sympathy that evening at dinner, as if apologizing for it.

It took almost five years for his father's initial advice to sink in, when he'd given up snakes and had started trying to unhook Florrie's bra. She'd certainly have let him as Florrie had built quite the reputation, but deep down he knew full well he wasn't really into her, just her boobs.

Dorothy Ann had fantastic boobs.

Which was probably why he'd muttered her name instead of Florrie's and it abruptly ended anything. He then figured if he wanted to get a girl like Dorothy Ann to actually consider dating him, he'd probably have to stop himself from ever doing anything like that with her. DA was a "nice girl" his mother had said.

A "nice girl" with a great ass. It was so much harder than he'd ever planned, but he got the girl and he intended to keep her, clueless as she seemed to be to it all.

The resistant was slowly killing him inside.

"Carlos, I can't reach up there and the bell is about to ring!"

He grinned. "I know. It's study hall, DA. We can be five minutes late."

She stood on her tiptoes, reaching blindly above her for the textbook. "No, *we* can't. Because *you* already have three tardy slips this month. One more and they call your dad."

"My dad doesn't care about me being late to study hall. *You* just don't want a blemish on your perfect record."

"I do not."

"Do too."

"Do not." Her hand wasn't finding the book she wanted and she sighed in frustration.

He reached up and slid the textbook off the shelf, but still held it up, just out of Dorothy Ann's reach. "Do too," he shot back again just the late bell sounded.

"Great. Carlos, give me my book!"

He let her stare a moment before handing her book over. He really enjoyed the look of both frustration and determination on her face. "We're already late, so there's not use running, you know."

She glared at him, the glare she often gave him when she didn't like admitting he was right. She sighed and closed her locker. "I'm completely blaming you for the tardy slip I'm about to get."

He simply grinned again. "You'll get over it. I'll make it up to you."

"You'll make it up to me?" she echoed, the words soft. Then she was silent for a moment before starting to chew on her bottom lip. He frowned; it was a habit she had developed in middle school, but she only did such a thing when something was stressing her out. And while being late to something school related was something DA *did* stress out about, he didn't really consider missing five minutes of study hall something to get freaked out about.

"My parents are visiting my aunt this weekend," she finally said as she shoved her textbook into her backpack and threw it over her shoulder before taking a step forward.

He followed her, confused by what seemed to be a change in topic. "So?"

She stopped short and he practically rammed straight into her. She spun around. "They're talking Emily and letting me stay home." She paused to push a stray strand of hair behind her ear, avoiding his gaze. "Alone."

Alone.

His mouth was suddenly dry and he swallowed. Did she really have a clue after all? Was this an invitation? Was he reading way too much into this? She'd never given him such an opportunity before and he'd never wanted to chance it, of course.

Somehow, he managed to grin, not wanting to reveal his shock. After all, he had a reputation to protect. Carlos Ramon wasn't going to let Dorothy Ann Fields know exactly what the idea of maybe, just maybe, finally getting to see her naked was doing to his brain.

And other parts, he realized, as he casually shifted the notebook in his hands a little lower. "You inviting me over on Saturday night then?" he asked.

She bit her lip again for a moment. "I think I am."

"You think?"

Her face tipped back up to him, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones. "I am," she said, the confidence creeping back into her voice.

Shit. He probably needed to get some condoms from Ralphie then.

"Mr. Ramon & Miss Fields, the late bell rang three minutes ago! Where are you supposed to be?"

He turned to find the assistant principle behind them. He didn't get another opportunity to talk to DA, as they were each written tardy slips and led to study hall, where they were forced to sit as far away from each other as possible. He started across the room at her, trying to get her attention, but she didn't gaze up from her physics textbook once, leaving him alone with his thoughts and fantasies.

Fantasies that now involved Saturday night. He and DA would be completely alone at her house.

And he suddenly realized that he really had absolutely no clue what the hell he was supposed to once he got there.

Shit.