Chapter One

As she sat in the passenger seat of her mother's car, Will Vandom wasn't looking forward to arriving at her current destination. While her summer vacation had been interesting to say the least, it wasn't without a major setback. Her boyfriend of the past year, Matt Olsen, had suddenly up and disappeared without a word. With a deep sigh, she recalled the conversation she had had with Matt's grandfather, Mr. Olsen shortly after Matt's disappearance.

Flashback

Having reached her destination, Will pushed open the door to the local pet store and made her way inside. As she let the door swing closed behind her, she let out a deep sigh at the scene before her. For some explained reason, several of the animals were out of their cages and making a huge mess. Glancing around the room for a sign of the person she had come looking for, Will let out another sigh when the only person she saw was Mr. Olsen as he tried to return the animals to their cages. Figuring that she could get some answers from the old man, Will proceeded to help him with returning the animals to their cages.

Several minutes later all of the animals had been safely returned to their designated cages, and Mr. Olsen told Will thanks for the help.

"It was no problem, Mr. Olsen." said Will with a small smile. She then asked. "Mr. Olsen, have you seen Matt?" Mr. Olsen gave her a sorta sad look, and asked her if she had gotten a letter from Matt? "I haven't heard anything from him."

Making his way over to the shop's counter, Mr. Olsen began to move several things around. A few minutes later, he picked up a folded piece of paper and made his way back around from behind the counter. "I found this in Matt's room." said Mr. Olsen holding the paper out to Will.

Taking the paper into her hand, Will unfolded it and found that it was a letter that Matt had wrote to Mr. Olsen. As she read the letter to herself, Will suddenly gasped and looked up at Mr. Olsen. "Matt left?" When Mr. Olsen nodded, she asked him why?

"I'm not really sure, Will." said Mr. Olsen. "Matt said in the letter that he had gotten into some kind of trouble, and going away for awhile."With this said, Will looked back down at the letter and found the part that Mr. Olsen just told her about. Nearing the end of the letter, she read. 'I will try to send word to, Will, soon as I can.'

Finishing the letter, Will looked back up at Mr. Olsen. "Matt said that he was going to send word to me." she said. "I haven't received anything from him."

Mr. Olsen let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Will, but maybe Matt is just busy with whatever it is that is troubling him. Maybe in a few days you will receive something, from him." Will nodded to this, and refolding the letter gave it back to Mr. Olsen. She then told him that she should be heading home. As she reached the door a few moments later, Will stopped when Mr. Olsen called out to her. "Will?" Turning to face the old man, she waited as he said. "If Matt contacts me, Will, I will let him know that you are worried about him."

"Thanks, Mr. Olsen." said Will. With this said, she made her way out of the shop, and headed off in a random direction lost in her thoughts.

End Flashback

As the weeks passed, Will visited Mr. Olsen on several occasions but each time she ended up leaving in disappointment when Mr. Olsen told her that he hadn't had any contact with Matt, since he had found the letter.

Having been so lost in her thoughts of the past week, Will didn't realize that her mother had stopped in front of the school. Feeling someone touch her arm, seemed to snap Will out of these thoughts and she turned to face her mother, who asked her if she was alright?

"I'm okay, Mom." said Will. "I was just thinking about Matt."

"Will, I know you are worried about your friend." said Susan. "But, please don't let this interfere with your school work."

Will turned to face her mother with a look of shock. As that look turned to anger, Susan knew she had said the wrong thing. However, before she could say anything Will shouted. "Is my grades all you care about?! My boyfriend has been missing for the last few weeks, but you don't seem to care about that at all!"

Susan started to say that she did care, but before she could do so Will had grabbed her backpack, forced open her door and climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind her. As Will headed towards the school, Susan swore under her breath. 'Why do I always say the wrong things, with her?' Deciding to give her daughter some time to calm down, Susan pulled away from the curb and headed off towards her job.

As Will made her way inside the schools gate, four other girls who were standing a short distance away sighed as they saw their friend making her way towards them. As Will neared them, Irma asked. "What was it about this time, Will?" Will however, ignored the question and continued on past her friends and into the school. "She must really be mad, if she shunned us like that."

"Think we should go find her, or just let her calm down first?" asked Hay Lin.

"Taranee, since you have the first class with Will maybe you can find out what is wrong." said Irma.

"I can try." said Taranee heading off towards the school in search of her friend.

After making her way into to the school, Taranee headed off in the direction of her first class while keeping an eye out for Will, in the hallway. Reaching the class room with no sign of her friend, Taranee made her way into the room with a small sigh. However, upon entering the room she found Will sitting at the desk that belonged to Matt. Will had her arms crossed in front of her, with her head resting on top of them.

Making her way over to her friends side, Taranee reached out her arm and gently placed her hand on Will's arm. Will jumped slightly at Taranee's touch, and raised her head. Seeing her friend standing there, Will gave her a small smile. "Hey Taranee." said Will. "Sorry I walked past you guys without a word."

"Don't worry about that, Will." said Taranee. She then asked Will, if she wanted to talk about what was wrong?

"Who said something is wrong?" asked Will trying to avoid the subject.

Taranee simply sighed at her friend."Will, you walked right past us without a word, and that only happens when you are really upset about something."

Will sighed at this. "You're right Taranee, something did happen. Mom told me that she hoped my worrying about Matt didn't interfere with school, and I ended up getting angry with her because it came off sounding to me like she didn't care about Matt at all."

"I kinda doubt that is true, Will." said Taranee. "And I'm sure your mom is regretting saying what she did."

Will nodded to this, and told her that she was probably right. "I'll apologize to mom later, for saying what I did." It was then that the bell rang, and students began to make their way into the classroom. "Guess I should move to my desk." Will got to her feet, and made her way over to the desk next to her as Taranee made her way two desks behind Matt's.
-

Some minutes after the late bell had rung, the class's attention was drawn to the opening of the classroom door. Mrs Knickerbocker made her way into the room,she was followed by a young woman with long black hair and a young boy of about the age of thirteen.

Will recognized the boy, but before she could say anything, Mrs Knickerbocker had reached the front of the class and called for everyone attention. "If I can have everyone's attention!" The classroom quieted down, and everyone turned their attention upon the principal. "Now as you are all aware, Ms. Rudolph retired at the end of last year, and this left us without a math teacher." This caused a few students to laugh, but they were soon silenced by a hard glare from Mrs. Knickerbocker. "If I may continue, I am happy to say that the school board was able to find us a replacement math teacher." Mrs. Knickerbocker then motioned towards the woman standing just slightly behind her. "Please tell the class your name, dear."

Stepping up to stand next to Mrs. Knickerbocker, the young woman looked over the class for a few moments before speaking. "My name is Misao Mikachi, and as your principal has already told you I am your new math teacher." Misao paused for a few moments to let her name sink in to everyone. "Now, while I might not be as good as your former teacher, Ms. Rudolph, I do hope that all of you will show me the same respect that you showed to her. I also hope to make your learning experiences here, as fun as possible."

Misao then stepped back so she was once again behind, Mrs. Knickerbocker. Misao heard several of her new students welcome her, but there was also some rude cat calls. Mrs Knickerbocker, glared at the one's responsible for the cat calls. "Mr. Dunn, do I need to put you and your friends in detention on the first day of school?"

Before the boy in question could say anything, Misao got Mrs. Knickerbocker's attention. "It is quite alright, Mrs. Knickerbocker." said Misao. "After all, you can't blame teenage boys for being perverted, when their teacher is young and hot like me." As Misao laughed to herself, Will who had been watching the young boy and trying to catch his attention, saw him sigh in a embarrassed sort of way.

"I suppose you are right, Mrs. Mickachi." said Mrs. Knickerbocker a bit flabbergasted at what Misao had said. Mrs. Knickerbocker then once again asked the class for their attention. "I know I have already taken up a lot of your class time, but there is one more introduction that needs to be made." She then motioned towards the young boy behind her, and asked him to do the same as Misao.

The boy seemed like he didn't want to do as she asked. Mrs. Mikachi however looked over at him, and seemed to whisper something towards him. The boy sighed again, and made his way over to stand next to Mrs. Knickerbocker. "My name is Jason Mikachi. And yes before any of you ask, your new math teacher is also my mother."
-

A short time after Jason's introduction, Mrs. Knickerbocker handed the class over to Misao and made her way towards the classroom door, were she made her way out of the room. As Misao made her way over to her desk, she told Jason to find a empty desk and sit down. As Jason turned back towards the class, Will waved her hand towards him and got his attention. Jason recognizing Will as his old friend, made his way towards her.

As Jason reached the desk next to her and started to sit down, Will said. "Sorry but that desk is taken."

Jason turned to face her, and asked. "If it is taken, then where is the person who is supposed to be sitting here?"

Will sadly looked down at her desk, and told him that she didn't know. Hearing a noise off to her right side, Will raised her head and found Jason sitting down in Matt's desk. "Can you please move?"

"I don't think so." said Jason sending Will a smirk. "I am pretty comfortable, and unless the person who normally sits here shows up, I am not moving." As he turned to face the front of the class, Jason heard Will growl at him.

Will started to yell at Jason to move, but before she could do so Misao started the class by saying. "I want all of you to open your text books to page twenty-five, and do the problems on that page. You must show how the problem is worked out, as well as explain how you got your answer. It is to be handed in at the end of class, wither you are done or not."
-

It was now forty-five minutes into the class, and Will was still only on the first problem of the classes assigned assignment. Reason for this, was that she would keep glancing over at Jason and her anger towards him would once again surface, and interfere with her concentration.

Taranee who was sitting a couple of desks behind Jason, frowned as she glanced over at Will and found her once again glaring at Jason instead of focusing on her work. Closing her eyes, Taranee focused only on Will and said. "Will, what's wrong?"

Will looked back at Taranee, and sighed. "Jason is sitting at Matt's desk!"

"Did you tell him that the desk belonged to Matt?" asked Taranee. Will told her that she did, and then told her what Jason's response had been. "I hate to say it Will, but for now you are probably going to have to just deal with him sitting there. You need to focus on the assignment, or you are going to be in trouble like you was last year."

Will hated to admit it, but Taranee did have a point. "Okay Taranee, I'll try and get along with Jason." Taranee gave her friend a mental smile, and wished her luck. "Thanks Taranee."

Fifteen minutes later, the bell to end the class rang and Mrs. Mikachi told everyone to stop working. She then got to her feet, and began to make her way around the room collecting everyone's work. "Before all of you leave, I need to give you tonight's homework assignment." This caused the class to groan. "I want all of you to do the next two pages in your text book for homework, to be turned in tomorrow."

As Will was busy gathering her stuff, Jason got to his feet. "It was fun sitting next to you, Will." said Jason. "Hope I get to do so again tomorrow." As Jason walked away, Will silently growled.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Will looked behind her and found Taranee standing there. "Will, you need to let this issue with Jason go."

Will didn't say anything and got to her feet, causing Taranee's hand to fall from her shoulder. Without a word, Will then headed towards the door and as soon as she had reached it, made her way out of the room without a backwards glance at Taranee.

Taranee let out a deep sigh, at Will's actions. She then headed towards the door, so she could head to her next class.

End of Chapter One