The next morning, Toni awoke suddenly, and with a jolt. She wasn't sure what, but something had made her wake up extremely quickly. It was still quite early, but there was sunlight pouring through the curtains.

Toni sat up and looked around Amber's living room. Amber's parents had said it would've been better for them to have the sleepover downstairs, as it would have been pretty squashed in Amber's bedroom. There were sleeping bags and quilts lain out across the laminated floor, and then everyone had just laid on top for the night. Amber was lying curled up in a tight ball, Cassidy was on her side, and Melanie was sprawled out.

It had been a pretty calm night. They'd decided to play Quick Quiz, where one person would be the victim and have to clear their minds, and then, taking it in turns from the other people, they had to fire two-choice questions at the victim, who had to answer as soon as possible.

Cassidy had been the first victim, followed by Melanie, then Amber, and Toni last. There were no embarrassing answers, or no difficult questions; it was mostly on favourite things or people.

Toni sat, staring out of the window, for another few hours, until the others were awake. She was trying to replay the moment in her head about Thursday morning, trying to clear her conscience, as she still felt guilty. She'd felt even worse when she got home that day, as there were police officers in her house, and her parents were crying. Then, Toni had to explain to the police officers what she saw, and when they left, there was a terribly awkward silence.

"Hey, what're you doing up so early?" Melanie asked, yawning and stretching out.

"Couldn't sleep." Toni said, still staring out of the window.

"I can't say I slept well. It wasn't the surroundings; it was more like my head . . . my thoughts wouldn't stop going around, and it was constant." Melanie said.

"Tell me about it." Toni said, sighing.

Melanie got up and went and sat next to Toni. She put her arm around Toni's shoulder, comforting her.

"I don't wanna go and see the others today. I think I'm just gonna go home." Said Toni, standing up.

"What? Now? I mean, it's still . . ." she said, looking at her watch. "07.45am." she said.

"I don't care." Toni said, gathering up her stuff. She scribbled a quick 'thank you' note to Amber and her parents for having her, and then got changed.

"Keep in touch," Toni said, putting her bag on her back.

"I will." Melanie said, and could only watch as Toni walked out of Amber's house and down the street.

Melanie soon fell back asleep, and when she awoke again, Amber and Cassidy were sitting up chatting.

"Mornin'." Melanie said. "Did you get Toni's note?"

"Yeah. I suppose it's still tough for her." Amber said.

"Yeah." Agreed Melanie, nodding. "So, are we gonna meet up with the others today? I really wanna meet everyone."

"Yeah, sure. Come on, if we get ready now, we'll be the first ones there." Amber said, springing up.

The three started to get ready, while Amber's mom made them some breakfast. They ate while watching the telly, and then thanked Amber's mom for letting them stay and for the breakfast.

"Mom," said Amber, just as her mom was washing up to plates and bowls. "Is it OK if Mel stays with us for a while? She hasn't got nowhere to stay, cos her parents are abroad and she's got nowhere to go."

"Only if you both promise to keep the house tidy, and actually do some homework. I can't have you falling behind again. You've been doing so well since you've been with the Bladebreakers. Not like that Blake. He was just a waste of time and space." Her mom said.

"Thanks Mom!" Amber said, giving her mom a quick kiss on her cheek.

Then they left the house and went to the park for the day to meet the others. However, Melanie only got to meet Ray, Kai, Kenny and Cassidy, as Tyson still hadn't shown up, Toni had obviously gone home to think about Kelly, Max still hadn't spoken to anyone, Danny hadn't said anything and didn't turn up, and Zeo had called Kenny to say he wasn't going as he had to train at the Gym.

On Monday night, Ray started to get worried. They hadn't seen Tyson over the weekend, and he hadn't phoned or anything. He hadn't been in to school that day either, and Toni was off as well. Ray guessed that her parents let her have the day off for a memorial service, and they didn't particularly want loads of kids hanging around, even if they were Kelly's and Toni's friends.

He'd tried phoning Tyson over the weekend, but as soon as he asked for Tyson, the line went dead. He was seriously concerned, and only if he saw Tyson would that concern disappear.

"Ray? Ray!" said Kenny, typing on his laptop, but looking up at Ray.

"Yeah? Sorry, Chief, just got a bit on my mind at the moment." Ray apologized.

Kenny had popped around to Ray's after school to see if they could figure out a way to weaken the bond between Nightfall and Sunrise. Kenny had been working on it for ages, but couldn't solve it alone. He hadn't been able to solve it with help from Kelly, or Ozuma, so now he'd gone to Ray.

Because Ray's hometown was isolated in China, Ray and the White Tigers learnt many things that a lot of other people didn't think were possible, so Kenny had thought that Ray might think of a way.

"So, after you've released Sunrise and Nightfall in a battle, what next?" Kenny asked.

"Well, maybe if they both use their most powerful attack, i.e. Sunlit Glow or Twilight Glow, maybe the force of both attacks can break it. Well, it should at least weaken it." Ray suggested.

"Yeah, OK. We'll round up Cass and Dan and the others if they wanna watch, and meet up one day after school, yeah?" Kenny said, typing in Ray's idea to breaking the bond between Sunrise and Nightfall.

Ray started thinking about Tyson again, wondering whether he had been taken hostage and the people were in his house, and Tyson was gagged up so he couldn't answer the phone or walk. Then Kenny tried to get his attention again.

"Ray! Please pay attention!" Kenny said, getting annoyed.

"Sorry. I guess my mind is still elsewhere. What were you saying?" Ray asked.

"I was going to say do you want me to upgrade Driger for you, but as you're not paying attention to me, I think I'll just go." Kenny said, closing Dizzi's lid and standing up.

"Wait!" Ray said, standing up as well. "You don't have to upgrade Driger for me, I'm just saying I'm sorry. I keep wondering what's up with Tyson, and I suppose not seeing him for nearly five days has definitely freaked me out a bit."

Kenny smiled. "As long as you're thinking of your friends." He outstretched his hand towards Ray. "Let me take Driger overnight. I'll take his stats and see if there is any way I can help you improve them."

"Thanks," said Ray, placing Driger in Kenny's hand.

"No problem. I'll see you tomorrow then, bye!" Kenny said, waving as he walked out of the door, and back to his house.

'Yeah.' Thought Ray. 'I'll see you tomorrow, but what about Tyson?'

The next day, Toni was walking slowly to school, by herself. She had actually phoned everybody up the night before, asking them not to meet her before school as she wanted some time by herself.

Her head was down, her eyes not really focusing. She wasn't paying attention to anything apart from where she was walking to.

Toni got to school ages before registration came, but as she walked through the front gates, everybody else was already there. Except Tyson. Again.

Toni walked straight past them, and thankfully, none of them said anything to her, which was exactly what she wanted. She walked into her form room, and sat down at a desk that was by itself in the centre of the room. No one else was in there, and it was completely silent.

"Hey, why so down?" came a gruff voice.

Toni looked up into the doorway, and saw the teacher that taught Art next door in Room 7, Mr. Twist. Mr. Twist taught half of the school Art, and the other half was taught by Ms. Bartholomew. He didn't have his own form class, as he was always tied up with work, but could find time to help any troubled student that felt they needed to confide in somebody. He was Toni's favourite teacher, even if he was a bit mad. He had frizzy dark hair and squarish glasses, which made him look a bit like a mad scientist out of a horror movie. He taught Toni for Art, which she loved with a passion, as her skills exceeded that of some of the less qualified Art teachers.

Toni smiled a bit, and just shrugged.

Mr. Twist came in and sat down on the desk next to her.

"You're still down about your sister, aren't you?" He said.

Toni nodded. "It was her memorial yesterday." She whimpered.

"I thought it was strange that I didn't see you." He said. "Listen, I bet Kelly wouldn't want to see you so upset and down, so try and cheer up a bit, OK?" He said, before going back out of the classroom.

Mr. Twist was right. Kelly wouldn't want her to be so upset, so she did try to cheer up, she really did, but it didn't do her much good. She felt a tiny bit better, but then a certain someone made a wrong move, and that tiny feeling disappeared as quickly as a cheetah running across the plains.

"Toni! I'm so sorry I didn't see you or phone you or anything! I got caught by Mr. Smith on Thursday, and he suspended me straight away, and then Grampa banned me from doing anything . . . What's wrong? Don't be mad at me, I told you I'm really sorry . . ."

"It's not that." Toni said, taking a deep breath, trying extremely hard not to cry again. She had done her fair share of crying, and thought that someone else would've told Tyson on the way in. Obviously not.

"Well, what have I done?" Tyson asked, pulling up a chair next to her.

"You haven't done anything, believe me." Toni said, but she couldn't seem to find the guts to tell him. He'd been away for nearly five days, and Toni hadn't gotten to say a single word to him. How could she tell him? Would she have to tell him gently like she did for Cassidy? Or would it be easier just to blurt it all out?

"Yes I have. Tell me, Toni. I wanna know what I've done wrong so I can put it right." Tyson said, picking up Toni's hand and squeezing it tight.

"I've already told you, you haven't done . . ." Toni started, but got cut off by Tyson.

"Toni! Please just tell me!" Tyson said, trying to get her to tell him what he'd done.

"Kelly's dead!" Toni blurted out, pulling her hand away from Tyson's, and hiding her face in her hands.

Tyson didn't look like her truly believed her. He thought she was just stalling for time so she could think of an excuse, instead of blaming him.

"Yeah, right. Stop joking, and just tell me what I've done and I'll apologize. I'd say sorry now, but it won't mean anything cos I don't know what I've done." Tyson said, trying to pull Toni's face up so she'd look at him.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Toni exclaimed, looking up, tears streaming down her face.

"You're . . . not kidding." Tyson said, before looking down at he floor, his eyes darting about as though it would help him figure it out.

"Just, leave me alone please Ty." Toni said, and then she got up out of her chair, and ran out of the classroom.

Tyson didn't move. Toni's sister, who he had known for not even a week, was dead, and he hadn't been there to help comfort Toni. Of all the time he had known Toni, that would've been the time she needed him most, and he wasn't there.

During their first period, English, Cassidy was sitting next to Toni, but Toni was just working silently. She wouldn't talk to anyone, not even Tyson, who she had been wishing she could've spoke to him a few days previously. Not now though. She never wanted to speak to anyone ever again.

Toni's English teacher was actually quite surprised at how quiet Toni was, as she was normally shouting at people across the room. She had heard about Toni's loss, but had been required by other staff members not to talk about it.

History was just the same. But instead of sitting where she normally sat next to Cassidy, she asked Ms. Holmes if she could sit by the window by herself. Ms. Holmes didn't really approve of the idea, but understood why Toni wanted to, and agreed.

At break, no one could find Toni, which was not surprising, as she had ran into the Majestics training room before anyone got in, and locked herself in. She didn't put Crysticle into her launcher; she just gripped him tightly in her hands.

Meanwhile, Emily, Mariah, Salima and Hilary were confronting Mariam about the other day.

"Come on Mariam, tell us who the mystery boy is!" Mariah tried to encourage her, but Mariam wasn't shifting.

"I'll tell you another time." Mariam said, crossing her arms.

"Aw, go on! Why not now? Now's as good a time as any!" Hilary said.

"Nah."

"We'll give you some juicy gossip, and you tell us who you're going out with. And I promise you, this is about as juicy as it gets!" Salima said, trying to bribe Mariam into telling them, even though they already knew.

"Juicy gossip spreads fast. I'll hear it from someone else." Mariam said, not too bothered.

Emily couldn't take it anymore. She knew that Mariam knew they'd go mad if they knew who she was going out with, and she really didn't want Mariam to find out about Kelly from someone else.

"Mariam, we know who you're going out with, and you need to put stop it right now, before you get hurt. You need to at least put it on hold, because Kelly's dead!" Emily shouted, and nearly everyone around them turned and looked at them.

A certain blonde haired boy, also heard, and rushed off. There was no mistaking that wild blonde hairstyle. Max.

"Emily, keep your voice down! Max just heard . . ." said Hilary.

"I don't care who hears, I'm trying to get this through your thick skull. Hold off your relationship, as Max and Toni both need your support as well as ours, which we aren't doing a very good job of at the moment, as we're too busy chasing after you!" Emily cried.

Mariam looked in a mix of shock and anger. She hated being shouted at; she thought people had no right to do such a thing, as she lived her life the way she liked, and no one should tell her any differently. One of her friends that had understood her most even though she had only knew her a week, was dead,

"I'll see you later. Wait for me after school." Mariam said, before walking off towards the Sixth Form centre.

Emily groaned, but then shook her head. "At least it looks like she's going to cool it down a bit with Josh."

"Yeah. Looks like." Mariah said.

They walked off towards their Maths class, and sat in the hallway outside of it, and waited for the bell to ring.

Max had been acting just the same as Toni, but even worse. Toni had met up with the others over the weekend, but Max had been blanking everybody out ever since the incident happened. If anyone mentioned anything that reminded him of Kelly, he became stroppy, but mostly because he was upset of what happened, and he blamed himself for not stopping her.

In all his classes, he had people sitting next to him, trying to cheer him up, but sometimes it just got him angrier. He couldn't concentrate on his work, and his grades were dropping rapidly.

He wouldn't wait for anyone after school, and always set out a lot later or a lot earlier than usual so no one walked with him, and then he'd put himself in solitary confinement, not talking to anyone. He wouldn't speak to anyone at home either. He wouldn't answer the phone, and he was definitely not going onto MSN.

Not even Beyblading could cheer him up, and Draciel was obviously affected by Kelly's death as well, as he couldn't sense Draleen, and his defence wasn't up to its usual standards.

Max didn't exactly feel good about being depressed. He'd tried to make himself feel happier, but nothing worked. Beyblading, failed. Surfing the Web, failed. Rollerblading, failed. All were some of his favourite hobbies, but none of them succeeded in making him feel better.

After lunch, there was a free period. Class 11U, the class in which Toni, Tyson, Max, Ray and Kenny were in, had tutoring with their form tutor, Ms. Yates, but as she had so much work to do, she told them all to sit and chat quietly.

Toni and Max hadn't turned up for the lesson, but Ms. Yates didn't bother with a register, thinking everyone was there.

Toni, once again, had rushed into the Majestics training room and locked the door, and sat down clenching Crysticle, but a couple of people climbed in through the window. It was a group of 4 that clambered in, the first one being Robert, but closely followed by Johnny, Enrique and Oliver.

"So, it was you who came in and locked us out at break? You stupid cow! Don't you know that this room is ours?" fumed Johnny, storming up to Toni.

"Of course I know." Toni said quietly.

"Well why did you come in here?" asked Oliver.

"I needed some space." Toni said, still very quietly.

"What? There's not enough space for you on the fields?" Enrique laughed.

Toni just shrugged. She couldn't be bothered to argue with a dumb blonde at the moment, and didn't want to dig a hole for herself to climb out of. If she did, Robert, Enrique, Johnny and Oliver wouldn't let her get out, and somehow would get revenge.

"How come you're not in class? I thought Vowels had tutoring now." Said Robert. Each year group was split up into two halves, and each form had a different letter after their year group. The two halves were Vowels, A, E, I, O and U, and Consonants, S, R, T, L and M.

"Why aren't you in class?" Toni snapped back.

"Consonants have free period." Said Johnny plainly.

"There's gotta be some reason of why you're in here. It can't just be because you want to miss tutoring, can it?" Oliver said.

"Maybe." Toni said. She didn't want the whole world to know why she was really in there.

"Hey . . . I remember you from somewhere . . . You're Tyson's girl, aren't you?" Robert said, squinting at her. "I've seen you with him at school, and on some of his TV interviews."

"Yeah. That's me." Toni said, sighing.

"You sound really happy being with him." Johnny said sarcastically.

"I guess we're going through a bad patch. Let's just say he wasn't there for me when I needed him most." Toni said.

"Let me guess. He was off Beyblading, right?" Robert said. "So immature. Puts his Beyblading in front of his girlfriend . . ."

"I don't see why I'm telling you this." Toni said, getting up and unlocking the door. She walked out, not even getting tried to stop by the Majestics. They obviously couldn't be bothered to get involved with someone's personal life.

Now she had been kicked out of the training room, Toni didn't know where to go. There was no way she was going into her tutoring lesson, and if she went into an empty classroom, there was the risk of getting caught by a passing teacher. Then an idea struck her. She hurried down the corridor, and saw someone's shadow not far ahead. If she was caught by anyone, she'd have to go into her tutoring lesson, so Toni quickly stood against the wall, where a small chunk of the wall came out into the corridor. It was actually to show off people's work.

The shadow soon disappeared, and Toni carried on to her destination.

Toni knocked at the door, and waited. She didn't know what to expect. Even though this teacher was always nice and kind to her, she didn't know what he'd say. Whether he'd tell her to come in and explain what was wrong, or whether he'd tell her off for not being in class and punishing her.

The door slowly opened, and Toni didn't dare look him in the face.

"Now then. You should be in tutoring, Toni." Said Mr. Twist.

"I can't, sir. I haven't had a free lesson with my form yet, and I'm dreading it." Toni said.

Mr. Twist sighed, but let her in all the same.

"So, what is it that you're worrying about most, hmm?" Mr. Twist asked, as he was marking some Yr. 8 work.

"I'm not sure. Probably the fact that everybody will be asking about Kelly or teasing me or asking why I wasn't in school yesterday or something. I really can't face that yet." Toni said, sitting down.

"Well, you're going to have to face them at some point, aren't you? If you're scared, act the opposite. Take this situation for example, and I'm using random names that come into my head. Say Nicholas doesn't like Sarah, and he's always putting her down and swearing at her, etc. So Sarah doesn't get upset or worried about it, she'd talk to him normally, like say to him in the mornings, "Hi, how are you?" as that type of thing helps get rid of negative feelings. In the end, people ignore what they hate you for. See what I mean?" Mr. Twist advised.

"So you're saying that . . ." Toni said, and Mr. Twist stopped marking and looked up at her. "I should act as though there's no problem about Kelly being dead? But I'd feel so disrespectful towards Kelly, and I'm sure she'd hate me for it."

"Well, I think about it completely differently. I think Kelly would understand that her time is over, and it's time to make you feel good about yourself, and put yourself first instead of her. She can't be offended any longer, and you have to recognise that. She would want you to feel happy and carefree, rather than depressed and concerned." Mr. Twist said.

Toni looked at the table in front of her. There were paint marks and graffiti, which was normal for any Art room, but the thing that caught her eye was something written in small print. She tried to wipe it to make it clearer, but smudged it slightly, which showed it was recently written. It said: 'Death can affect you and people around you, but not the person who dies.' Next to it was a tiny halo, which had been drawn in the same pen, and obviously by the same person as it smudged as well.

Then Toni was intrigued to know who had written it, and who had drawn the halo.

"Sir, what class did you have before lunch?" Toni asked.

"Erm, I think it was a Yr. 9 class. Why?" He asked.

"Well, it's just something that someone's written and drawn. Was anyone else in here before I just came?" Toni asked, desperate to know who had written it.

"At lunchtime a couple of people came in to carry on with some work. There's an idea. You carry on with your monochromatic work whilst you're in here. Oh, and a Sixth Former came in straight after lunch and sat where you are. Left a few moments before you came." Mr. Twist said.

Toni got up to go and collect her work from the back table where lots of work was stacked up high. She was racking her memory, thinking whether she had seen anyone when she was walking down the corridor towards this classroom. She hadn't seen anyone, just a shadow. Could that have been the mystery grafittier/adviser?

"Can I have her name please?" Toni said, as she came back towards her seat with her work.

"Who said it was a girl?" Mr. Twist said, teasing her. "It's not a girl, so he must be a boy. His name is Angel."

"A boy . . . called Angel?" Toni said, disbelieving what Mr. Twist had said.

"Well, no. His nickname is Angel, but everybody calls him that, as he doesn't like his real name. He puts Angel as his name on all his work, but all the teachers call him Logan. He's kinda . . . infamous, I suppose you could say."

"Can I have his full real name?" Toni asked, getting some paints out from by the huge sink that sat in the corner of the room.

"His name is Logan Labsun. But I'm telling you this now as a friend and a pupil, he prefers people calling him by his nickname. So if I were you, if you want to find him, ask for Angel." Mr. Twist advised.

"Thanks, sir." Toni said, sitting down with a paint pallet that had just black and white in it.

Mr. Twist let her stay the rest of the lesson, but he said she'd got to go to her P.E lesson. Toni thanked him for letting her stay, and then went to her locker to collect her P.E kit.

She walked down the corridor where all the lockers were, and saw some of her friends getting their P.E kits out of their own lockers. She took a deep breath and was ready to act as though she was totally over Kelly's death.

"Hey Toni!" Called Tyson. He hurried over to her, as she stopped by Locker 180, the locker she'd had since she started Smithton. "Hey, I'm really sorry about Friday. I wish I could've been there, but I was suspended, so that wasn't entirely my fault. Please, forgive me." Tyson said.

"OK." said Toni, opening her locker.

"I really wish I was there for you, but I was stuck at home with no phone, TV, Internet, Beyblading, I couldn't leave the house . . ." Tyson carried on, not realising that Toni had said yes. He'd thought that it would've taken Toni more time to forgive him, so he had thought of millions of reasons of why it wasn't his fault that he wasn't there.

"Tyson." Toni said, cutting him off. "You're babbling. And anyway, I said I forgive you." And Tyson pulled her into a hug.

"Thanks." He whispered.

"No problem." She whispered back.

"Why are we whispering?" Tyson whispered to her, still hugging her tight though.

"I'm not sure. You started whispering first." Toni whispered back.

"So, where were you during tutoring?" Tyson said, as Toni pulled away and opened her locker.

"Just getting some advice from a friend. By the way, could you come with me to Reception after school? I need to find somebody." Toni said, pulling out a t-shirt and some trousers and shoved them in her bag.

"Yeah sure. Any particular reason?" Tyson asked, as they walked towards the Gym.

"Kinda. Something that was written on a table." She said.

Tyson never said anything else. He was just happy that things were still OK between him and Toni.

Toni took a lot longer than usual getting changed, as she still had that saying in her head. Tyson got changed quickly, because, as usual, he had his kit on underneath his clothes. He was already in the Gym talking to Ray and Kenny, and then Jamie walked over to them.

"I heard about Kelly." He said.

"What about her?" Said Max, coming up behind him. Tyson, Ray and Kenny were quite shocked. It was the first they'd heard Max say for days, and he'd said it in quite a fierce tone.

"I was just coming to say sorry and stuff . . ." started Jamie.

"Like that's gonna help. She's gone and there's nothing we can do." Max said, staring Jamie out.

"Really?" Jamie said, putting his hands on his hips. "You see, that's where I think differently. She might be gone, and there's nothing we can do to bring her back, but we can always do stuff in remembrance of her."

"Exactly what I said. There's nothing we can do." Max said, and started to turn away, but Toni came rushing out, and put her hand on his shoulder, stopping him from turning.

"Max . . ."She said quietly. "I know you think there's nothing we can do for her, but there's something she'd like you to do for yourself. Not let yourself drown in depression. A friend told me earlier that she wouldn't want to see us down because her life is over, but to see us happy because our lives are just beginning. Something like that, anyway."

"That's not good advice. That's just disrespectful." Max said.

"Max. There's a fine line between disrespect and carrying on with your own life. Until you see that we're not crossing that line into disrespect, you'll be down forever."

Max stopped. He didn't talk, he didn't move, he didn't blink. It was true; there was a fine line between the two, and a very fine line it was. Instead of making himself, the others, and Kelly feeling better, he was making them all feel worse.

Toni realised she was starting to get through to him, but had run out of things to say. She was stuck, but Tyson helped her out. And whilst all these things were being said, Jamie was still standing, feeling awkward.

"Listen Max, don't get upset when I say this, wait and think it through. Disrespect would be thinking, 'Oh, she's dead, now let's forget all about it and play tennis or whatever.' But carrying on with your lives is completely different. Yeah, OK, its normal to be upset, but it's not normal to keep away from everyone and not talk to anyone in nearly five days." Tyson said. "That's starting to be disrespectful to your alive friends, and to Kelly who would want you to stay friends with us, as do we."

Toni smiled. That was the best advice Tyson had ever given, and he knew it. As did Max.

He smiled slightly. "Thanks guys."

"Now, let's go and have some fun!" Tyson said, grabbing Max's arm and dragging him off to get some tennis rackets and some tennis balls.

"I thought we were doing Netball." Toni thought aloud.

"Nah, that was just while Ms. Kirby was away. Away from that subject, are you OK?" Ray asked.

"Yeah. I'll be fine."