A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I've been celebrating my birthday for about a week so it was hard to find time to write this long chapter. Hope you enjoy reading it!

Today is going to be a good day. Although what day wouldn't be absolutely fantastic when I get to start it kissing Dana?

The best part is she kissed me back again! She did slap me first, but I expected that. Actually, I expected worse. She's got a mean right hook; broke Jeremy Farmer's jaw last year. So, the fact that she went easy on me, I'm hoping it's a good sign. Especially since right afterwards she still kissed me back.

She's leaving Mrs. Burtonni's office. She doesn't look happy. I hate that I'm causing her to be unhappy. And if stopping all of this would make her happy I would stop. But when she kisses me…I just don't think that she regrets it. I don't feel her wanting to stop it. And I really hope I'm right about that.

After she was out of sight (Yeah, I was hiding watching her again. I need to join stalkers anonymous or something.) I went into my appointment with Ms. Burtonni. We were continuing to discuss my future and by that I mean Dana, because she's what I want my future to be.

"Hey Ms. B," I said coming in and taking a seat.

"How are you doing Logan?" she said kind of distantly. I hope that doesn't mean she has bad news for me.

"Um, well, pretty good I think. I guess it really depends on what she said after I left," please be good.

"Well," she began, but she seems hesitant, "Dana never asked for anything to be confidential, but I can't in good conscience tell you anything she said." Damn it. "But, I told you I would help you so let's just say she's right where we thought she would be."

"Denial?" which of course isn't good, but it does mean that there is something worth denying, which actually is pretty good.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "And I should warn you that while I was trying to show her why she kissed you back, since she was trying to convince herself it was a reflex, I may have steered her in the direction of physically trying to get you to stop."

I'm not completely sure what she's talking about, but "You told her to hit me?"

"A little bit," she said seeming sorry.

Well, I know Dana better, "Its okay. The idea to try and stop me would've occurred to her eventually and I already planned on not giving her the opportunity to hurt me."

"Good and I think it's all going very much in your favor," she voiced.

"Really?" I've never been entirely sure.

She's smiling now, "Yes. It was a good idea for you to interrupt her meeting, and really good move kissing her like that. Seeing you two together…she's definitely in denial when she tells herself that kissing you back is a reflex. The decision whether or not to kiss someone is always a decision, not a reflex. She kisses you back because she wants to."

YES! I can't resist a huge smile when I say, "So, you think I have a chance with her and that I should continue with this whole plan?"

She smiled and said the best thing, "Absolutely." And with that single word it was like there was a significant load lifted from my shoulders. I'm not crazy for thinking that I'm the guy that should be with her, but for probably the first time in my life I know that this, her, is something I can't be cocky about.

I can get anything I want…except her. I've wanted her from the start, but she has always remained out of my grasp. Then somehow it became that I didn't want her, I need her, her and only her. And that, her, the only thing I need has remained the one thing I can't have. So, I can be cocky about the fact that I'm incredibly good looking, that I'm an extremely talented athlete, and that I'm a pretty suave guy when it comes to all but the one girl, but I can't be cocky about getting her. I cannot assume that she will come to need me the way I need her. I cannot assume that I'm good enough for her or that if I am lax in my pursuit of her things will still turn out as I hope.

I got Ms. Burtonni's opinion on another Dana related manner and left in time to get to my second period class as it was beginning.

I sat anxiously through the next few classes.

I've kissed her twice. I've gotten away with kissing her twice, but what if kiss number three never comes? That's the problem I realized I am faced with. Every kiss may be the last. At any moment everything could hit the fan and I could lose her, and she is everything, so I could lose everything. If she…there are just so many scenarios that lead to all of this going wrong…so many reasons for her to not want me. Every kiss could be our last…I'm going to have to make all of them really really count.

It's lunch now so I have two options. One, I can not go and sit at our usual table, leave her alone, and play it safe. Or I can go with option number two, in which I do go sit with her and our other friends. This second path is the risky path; a lot of things can happen. It hasn't seemed like our friends know about my kissing her, but going over there could confirm that she has told them and they hate me for what they will assume is just me being an ass. Or when I go over there it will provoke her to tell them about my recent jerk seeming actions and they will all hate me. And yes, when they hear that I've been kissing the currently in a committed relationship Dana, they'll hate me. I mean who wouldn't hate the guy that seems to be forcing one of his friends into cheating on her boyfriend? They're going to hate me unless I can get her to not hate me for all of this.

So taking all of this into consideration, should I stay away and play it safe or go over and risk the entire future of my plan?

I'm going to go over there. I know that that makes me sound like an idiot, but something occurred to me. I have seen every single one of our friends today and not a single one has seemed to know about the fact that I kissed her three days ago. Furthermore, most of them have also seen her this morning after the second kiss and then seen me either again or for the first time and no one seems to know about the second kiss either. This has me thinking, why wouldn't she be complaining to everyone? Why hasn't she told everyone so they can hate me like she wants to (but hopefully doesn't actually)?

So I decided to go over and press the issue. Sit with her and our friends and see if she caves and tells them. And if she still doesn't tell them then I'm going to try and figure out why she hasn't told them. Because, why hasn't she told them?

Yeah, I'm going to go over and sit down…as soon as my legs decide to work. I'm just a little nervous, this is kind of risky. Ten minutes from now I might not have any friends.

I've been standing just outside the cafeteria, I can see the table as I've been having this mental debate, then she saw me. Our eyes met and she didn't quickly look away…she lingered. My legs seemed to find their motivation, unfortunately a hand held me back.

"I need to talk to you," Zoey said preventing from me getting to Dana. I would worry that this is about Dana, but Zoey looks confused and maybe desperate too.

As much as I'd like to just tell her later and go to Dana, I have to say, "Sure."

She motions me to follow her and doesn't say anything, not until we got all the way down to the lake.

"You know how I was telling you about those rumors the other day?" I nodded, "Then you said that stuff about wanting or not wanting them to be true?" I nodded again, "Forget about it okay, just forget I brought any of it up."

Well who would have guessed… "You want them to be true!"

"I do not!" She said completely lying, she's really too moral for her own good sometimes. It's completely obvious that she's lying. She likes the fact that Chase likes her.

Maybe I should try to figure out if it's because she likes Chase back or she just likes the attention of someone being interested in her. Well, I probably can't make it back to the table in time to make any kind of progress with Dana and it's been five years so I'm pretty curious, "Yes you do. Now do you like him back or do you just like that someone likes you?"

She's looking pretty mad and venerable because she's been caught, "Neither. I knew talking to you was a bad idea. I should have just waited for someone better, which would be anyone else."

Wow, I think that's the most hurtful thing she's ever said to anyone (and it wasn't that bad); I must have really struck a nerve. I didn't retort, I just let her leave. She knows I had an effect on her and now she's left to think about it.

I checked the time; ten minutes until class begins, three before the first bell, and time to get my plan in motion. I had gotten three pudding cups at lunch and went to one of the hallways I know she takes on her way to our class. I dumped the pudding on what would be the right side of the hallway for the direction she's coming from ensuring that she would have to walk on the left side. Off of the left side of the hallway across from where the pudding is taking up the right is the men's bathroom (one of many actually). I cleared the bathroom out of all guys and taped an out of order sign on the door.

I cracked the door open to watch for her and at seven minutes until classes started she came strolling by said door. In the span of ten seconds I grabbed her wrist, pulled her into the bathroom, locked the door, and pulled her back to me. I didn't give her half a second to realize what was going on before I pushed her hair to one side and started kissing her neck. I don't know if she would have tried to get away, but I didn't give her the opportunity securely wrapping my arms around her stomach.

She was rigid in my arms and asked with hints of fear and excitement, "What are you doing?" Was her voice a little higher pitched than normal?

"Following an impulse," I said kind of breathlessly and kind of lying. This was a very intricately planned out impulse. The impulse to grab her and kiss her is always there I just had to plan it out, so it wasn't completely a lie.

She's still ridged…I'm gonna have to fix that.

Since gentle isn't working I started…ravishing her. My right hand stayed on her stomach, my fingers sprawled out across her with the tips of my thumb and index finger just grazing the bottom edge of her bra. My left hand went to caress the curls of her hair. And I started sucking on her in a little more desperate, urgent, and rougher manner. As much as I would like to stick to one spot, leave a mark declaring her as mine, I know I can't, not yet.

About forty-five seconds of my new tactics and she's sinking into me. She's relaxing into it and her breathing is shallower and either I forced her into tilting her head making kissing her easier or she did that on her own (I hope she did it).

Oh God does she taste good. Kissing her is better than I ever imagined. She tastes and smells like the Amazing Grace stuff she wears. I'm completely intoxicated by her and I just want her. Want her.

Crap. I have to stop, I have to stop. I have to stop myself from continuing, because I really want to continue.

But she's giving in. Her eyes are closed and…oh…she just made the sexiest little gasp/whimper/ moan of a noise.

Damn it I have to stop. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

I pulled away from her neck. Whops, how did my hand get there? That hand that was just beneath the edge of her bra, drifted down. Not that far down, believe me I would have noticed if it went that far down. But the tips of my pinky and ring finger of my still sprawled out hand were resting just under the waistband of her fairly low rise shorts.

Her eyes were still closed, her breathing still slightly erratic. I took the note from my pocket and pressed it into her hand. I gave her a quick peck just at the end of her jaw line and whispered in her ear still sounding kind of out of breath, "See you in class."

I left the bathroom, I left her standing in the bathroom. I checked my watch; about a minute to get to class, perfect.

As I headed for class I didn't hear her behind me, but I was determined not to turn around and check. Seeing her right now would not be the best thing. I need too cool down before I get to class. That…with her…it was really intense.

I tried my best to calm down. The forty second walk to class was extremely long with me trying to think…baseball, but that didn't work, I don't really like baseball, plus I kind of associate it with her since the only time I've gone to a game was to see her boyfriend play. Fishing…but fishing lead to an image of Dana in fish net stalking from last Halloween. My mom…my mom. My mom is working. So, I arrived in class fifteen seconds before the bell rang thinking about my mom to keep my cool.

The bell rang and Dana isn't here. Damn it, I hope that last little tryst didn't push her into ditching, I need her to be here.

"Okay everyone put the sonnet with your name on it on my desk and the one without your name on it in this folder," our English teacher Mr. Jensen said holding up a manila folder.

Everyone got up to turn in their sonnets and Dana snuck in with the crowd of students. Yes!

Everyone returned to their seats. Unfortunately mine is on the other side of the room from hers. We sit alphabetically and she's at the left front of the classroom with Brooks sitting in front of her (yeah she's in this class with us) and I'm in the back right.

Mr. Jensen distributed the nameless sonnets, one to every person, and we were supposed to read them out loud. We're studying Shakespeare's sonnets and he decided we should each have to write one and then he decided that a lot of us need practice in how they should be read, hence the two versions. And Mr. Jensen is a pretty cool teacher so he realized that he might get better results on the poetry if the rest of the class doesn't have to know who it's coming from. I definitely wouldn't want anyone to know what I wrote. I did however want Dana to know that it was about her, that's what the note was, the note I left her with. All it said was, "It's about you."

I actually wrote a couple of sonnets for this assignment. I let Ms. Burtonni pick out the one that she thought was best. She said my other option wasn't hiding the fact that I'm in love with Dana enough. She doesn't think that Dana should know that quiet yet, it might scare her to know this early.

Mr. Jensen is randomly selecting people to read the sonnet they were randomly given. I've read mine, Dana has read hers, but the one I wrote hasn't been read. What I'm pretty sure was Dana's has been read. It was kind of about a haunting, but not of something weird like a ghost or other supernatural things, but more of a thought. It was very interesting, well to me at least because everyone else in here is at least half asleep.

Mr. Jensen caught on to everyone's lethargic state and clapped his hands together loudly as he asked Alex Mormon to read the sonnet he had. Alex sits in the exact center of the room and when all of us turned to face him that meant Dana and I are facing each other…

"Um…It's titled 'Wanting Her'" while Alex reads my sonnet. And yes I know it's not a very good title. I don't really do well in this class.

I made eye contact with Dana hoping that she'd realize that this is mine, which means it's about her.

"I want to kiss her,

Always the thought in my head always;"

She's returning the eye contact and she just got a little paler.

"Her lips cloud my thoughts,

Soft as silk,

The sexiest shade of pink usually,

Nervous bottom lip biting brings change,

Momentary loss of color,

And then flush full red rose red;"

She hasn't looked away, but she has continued to loose color, except her checks, she's blushing a little. I made her blush!

"And when I kiss her the always thought stays,

And when it ends my only wish is to kiss her again,"

She doesn't appear to be breathing anymore…I hope that that's a good thing.

"Let her kiss me again, leave me breathless again,

And if it be breathless forever,

The touch of her lips, the passion of her kiss,

Always it would be worth it always."

The room was silent. It wasn't that bad was it?

Zoey whispered something to Dana and her eyes unfortunately left mine. Dana just nodded her head in response to Zoey's question. I think I'm not the only one who noticed that Dana was pale, blushing, and not really breathing. And I did all of that and I really hope that that is a good thing. Maybe it was still coming on too strong. God please let this work out for the best.

"Well, that wasn't exactly the right format, but it did have one of poetry's key ingredients," Mr. Jensen prompted and waited for someone to say something, no one did so he continued, "…passion. It had passion so let's take a closer look at this one." Oh crap.

"Who wants to tell me what this is about?" no one responded again so he continued, "Well, let's decipher some of these lines. We'll start off easy, what is kissing clearly a metaphor for?"

Straight A Brooks had her hand in the air, "Her."

"Exactly," Mr. Jensen confirmed smiling at his favorite student. Although I guess she should be his favorite, she really is the only one who responds to his questions and her answering does mean that he doesn't randomly ask any of the rest of us, her being favorite isn't a bad thing. "So, since the kiss is a metaphor for her what is really being said?"

Brooks takes this one for the class too, "Well, at the beginning he's saying that she's always on his mind."

"Yes, and the fact way that he describes her lips and the fact that the metaphor for the mystery woman is a kiss tells us that this girl is…" He prompted waiting for someone to finish.

"Someone he's attracted to," Zoey finished.

"Yes, this girl isn't his sister or mother or friend, she is most definitely a love interest," please don't say the L-word again, she's not supposed to know about that yet. "So what does the line, 'Nervous bottom lip biting brings change tell us' tell us?" Zoey didn't respond, she's seems to be thinking about it, a lot of people actually seem to be, but no one is responding again. He continued because of the silence, "Any guy could notice that a girl he is attracted to bites her lip, but he knows why she bites her lip." He paused again and waited for someone to catch on. I hope no one catches on and he stops talking!

"It's more than an attraction," damn Zoey.

"And where can we see that confirmed?" He had to go and ask.

The guy with the poem jumped in, "The last three lines, 'And if it be breathless forever, The touch of her lips, the passion of her kiss, Always it would be worth it always.' It's like he's saying she's worth more than everything, anything else to him."

"Exactly, and where does it tell us that he isn't being deceitful to himself, that he hasn't built her up in his head, isn't look at her with rose colored glasses?" Please stop talking! Dana has just been getting paler. Ms. Burtonni was right, it was too soon for this much. But Dana was supposed to be left to decipher the poem for herself. Everything I was trying to say wasn't supposed to be revealed. She was supposed to be unsure of what I was saying, not positive.

Zoey again, " 'And when I kiss her the always thought stays,' that's saying that when he's with her he still wants to be with her. Like, whatever he thinks of her, whatever image he has of her in his head, being with her doesn't change that."

"Yes, and can we tell if this is good or bad. Does he delude himself as to who she really is and really being with her he still isn't really seeing her? Or does he know her, the real her, and to him that is his ideal image of her, the real her?"

"He knows the real her and his real image of her doesn't falter when he's with her," Zoey quickly answered.

"Your proof," Mr. Jensen requested.

"Because he knows why she's biting her bottom lip," Zoey supported.

"Exactly," he said smiling, "so, it's not iambic pentameter as it should have been, but it was a great effort and very thought provoking so good job to whomever." Well that's a first. He usually deems my work something along the lines of adequate. See, Dana makes my life better in many many ways.

Mr. Jensen was scanning the room looking to tell someone new to read their poem when he saw Dana and asked, "Ms. Cruz are you feeling alright? You look ill."

Damn it, I made her look sick. That can't possibly be a good thing.

"I'm fine," she said in a small voice. With Zoey giving her concerned motherly look she quietly assured her again that she's fine.

I know Dana. As much as my sonnet obviously had an effect on her, she's not going to give up and let it effect her. She's not going to give in to what she really feels, or maybe it's just what I hope she feels.

Class continued to pass slowly. She didn't look at me, not once, after the sonnet.

Once the bell rang that signaled the end of class and seven minutes to get to the last class of the day, (which was chemistry for me and Dana), I considered stealing a kiss in between classes. But, I decided not to. I definitely plan on kissing her again today, but I think I should give her a little break.

We share the same lab table in chemistry, just the two of us, lab partners. I was looking forward to it. I was planning on not resisting the impulse to hold her hand during class, but she didn't come to class.

I was disappointed, but I wasn't really that surprised. The bathroom and the last class and them discovering all my meanings like that, it was a lot to take in at once. I probably wouldn't have wanted to come to class and be forced to sit by me either.

After class I decided to go see her…and then not to go see her. I made it all the way to her hallway and realized it was still probably too soon to kiss her again. I don't want to overwhelm her…and rushing to see her right after class how predictable is that? I want to keep her guessing.

Then I heard her voice. It was coming from 101 not 102 which is her room across the hall. She was talking to Zoey and like I said I should be in stalkers anonymous or something because I listened outside the door.

Zoey, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Dana assured again, but Zoey must really not have been buying it because she had to add, "I swear."

A short pause of silence…

"Just…everything…I need to get away." No! She can't leave. Please tell me I haven't driven her away. "The All-American Rejects are playing at The Catalyst tonight. Come with me?" Oh, thank God.

"It's a school night," Zoey argued.

"The concert starts at seven we'll be back by the ten o'clock curfew and I know you've already done your homework," Zoey didn't say anything, "Come on, I know you think Tyson Ritter is hot." Zoey laughed a little but still didn't say yes so Dana continued, "Please come, I really need to get away from…everything and I don't want to go alone."

That did it. "Okay," Zoey finally agreed.

I heard enough. It looks like I have somewhere to go tonight too.

I didn't want to have her get to the concert, see me, and run, so I just decided to come late.

When I finally went into The Catalyst, which is this pretty cool club downtown, it was dark, as expected, and they were playing one of their early songs, "One More Sad Song." I immediately started to try and discretely search the crowd.

I saw her. She's towards the front middle of the club. Her and Zoey are dancing freely. She looks so happy. I wish I could cause her to feel that happy.

As the song was ending she looked my direction and I…I was mesmerized and didn't think to hide as I should have. She told Zoey something, looked at me again, and turned around and left.

They began playing "Move Along" as I began to move in the same direction as her.

The chase of her continues…

A/N: First, sorry for the typing errors in the previous chapters, I suck at proof reading, but I am trying to go back and fix them. Second, about 80 people read the last chapter within the first twenty four hours that it was up and in that same time frame only four reviewed. If you are following this story, if you like this story, or if you hate this story, please let me know. The ratio of reads to reviews is very discouraging. And thank you to those of you who do review, I truly greatly appreciate it. Reviews are a really great way of getting me to try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible (which will be late Friday at the earliest or Thursday the 11th at the latest). Oh, and a little while ago I put this long rant on my profile about Zoey 101 if you read it I'd love to know what you think, so PM me. And the only reason the poem above was italicized was to distinguish it better. And The Catalyst is an actual place where The All-American Rejects played about a year and a half ago, but it is no where near where they are. Okay, I'm rambling...So, I hope you enjoyed and PLEASE REVIEW.