A/N: Don't own LOST. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I did and got this awesome LOST behind the scenes book. I also have written the very end of this story and it's all coming together. Hopefully, I'll be able to end it soon. Can't wait!

Kate walked into the school and pushed her jacket sleeves up her arms. Moving to her left, she hopped down the set of stairs towards her first class. Jack was walking inside as she made her way in.

"Hey," she said with a smile as they headed towards their desks.

"Kate," he replied, letting his backpack fall to the floor.

She slid into her desk and wasn't sure if she should say anything else. Things had felt a little strange between them lately and she didn't know why. More than likely it was all the prom nonsense. It was really all Sawyer's fault. The minute she thought about him, he walked in the door.

"Howdy," he said to her as he moved to his seat.

"Sawyer."

The bell rang but he didn't move right away. Instead, he grinned at her for no reason.

"What are you doing Sawyer?"

"Mr. Ford," Ms. Hawking said from the front of the class, "If you would be so kind as to join the rest of the class, we would all be grateful."

"Fine," he drawled as he turned to sit in his seat.

Ms. Hawking began her lecture but it wasn't long before Sawyer turned again to face her. He leaned across the aisle and told her there was something he wanted to talk with her about. He said it in a staged whisper so loud Kate was certain he only wanted Jack to listen in.

"Sawyer, shut up," Kate said as she turned toward the front of the class.

Ms. Hawking was looking right at them. "Ford and Austen. Since you have such important things to discuss today I'm guessing you wouldn't mind staying after school to discuss them. You're both going to after school detention."

"Detention," Sawyer groaned, though Kate imagined it too was staged.

After glaring at Sawyer, Kate turned back to her notebook and tried to focus on the notes. It wasn't easy. She could feel Sawyer staring at her and could practically hear Jack wondering what was going on.

When the final bell rang, Hawking called them both up to the desk. Kate gathered her things and started towards her, hoping she'd relent and let them off with a warning. Jack gave her a look of good luck before leaving the classroom. When it had cleared, Ms. Hawking watched them both.

"Miss Austen, I've had no serious trouble from you since you've started here, but you must know by now I take my classroom very seriously. There are standards that have been set and if you persist in breaking them, I must persist in enforcing them. You will both serve after school detention today and hopefully afterwards this will not happen again. As for you, Ford, you had better be glad I'm only giving you detention. That will be all. Report to room 316 after school for your detention."

She gave them little slips to give to the detention teacher and sent them away.

"What was that about, anyways? What was it that was so important?" Kate asked as they walked out into the hallway.

Sawyer looked at her in all seriousness and shook his head. Kate growled before pushing past him.

"Sometimes, Sawyer, you can be a real jerk."

She continued for her next class and nearly ran into Charlie as he headed towards math. He was looking forward to seeing Claire. She wouldn't answer any of his calls last night and he wanted to make sure she was okay. He didn't care if she was pregnant or whatever. He just wanted to help her if he could.

When he entered the math room, Claire's seat was empty. She always made it to class before him. He saw Jack was sitting at his desk and wondered if he would know. Trying to be quick before the bell rang, he rushed over to Jack.

"Where's Claire?" he demanded.

"What?" Jack asked, confused.

"Do you know why Claire isn't here today?"

Jack shook his head with a small frown as he look over to Claire's seat. "Maybe she's just out sick."

"I saw you helping her to the nurse. What happened?"

"I don't know, Charlie," he said finally, "Maybe she's sick."

Charlie was getting tired of Jack thinking he knew what was best for everyone. Still mad, he made his way back to his seat as the bell rang. With Claire gone, it provided more space than he wanted for Mr. Alpert to see. It meant he would have to actually take notes instead of working on lyrics to his new song.

The hour passed slowly as Charlie wondered how he was going to find out what happened to Claire. He finally realized that of all people, Kate would probably know. He would see her at lunch. Until then, time seemed to pass slowly. During his third hour, he didn't hear a word Mr. Widmore said during his lecture on anthropology.

As he entered the cafeteria, Charlie headed straight for Kate in line. Michael gave him a funny look as he cut in front of him.

"Kate," Charlie started.

Kate turned around to see Charlie. She smiled politely asked what he wanted.

"Where's Claire?"

Kate's smile faded and he realized she was trying to decide which part to tell him. "She's going to a different school now."

"What?" Charlie asked, shocked. "She's gone? For good?"

"Yeah," Kate nodded. "I'm sorry, Charlie."

Kate watched his face fall as he walked away. She wasn't sure if Claire wanted her to tell everyone that she was pregnant so leaving it at that still made it ambiguous enough. Charlie was bound to learn the whole story soon enough anyways. Wondering if the day could get any worse, she paid for her food and walked over to the table.

The rest of the day seemed normal enough, but she was still dreading the detention after school. When the last bell of the day rang, she slowly made her way to room 316 for detention. Sawyer met her at the door with a raised eyebrow and they walked in. The teacher, Mr. Pickett, looked up.

"Gimme your slips and I'll sign em."

They moved over to his desk and handed over the little pieces of paper. He glanced over them before scratching his name at the bottom and handing them back.

"Pick a desk. No talking, no cell phones, no doing anything but homework. Understand?"

"Yes," Kate said quickly before moving to a desk. Sawyer followed behind and sat next to her.

Kate pulled out her copy of Stranger in a Strange Land to read. She was three chapters behind. Sawyer pulled out his math book and opened it to a certain page. As the minutes passed, Kate realized they were going to be the only ones in the room.

"Why are you going to prom with me, Freckles?" Sawyer whispered.

She shot him a sideways glance before looking up at Pickett. He was buried in his magazine and didn't look up at them.

"Because you asked." She whispered back.

"And that's the only reason?"

"Why else?"

"Hey!" Pickett yelled. "Knock it off."

Sawyer quit for a minute and started copying the problems from his math book. Kate looked back at her novel and tried to keep from looking at Sawyer. Eventually, she couldn't help herself and looked over at him. He was watching her closely. The intensity of the sudden questions between them made Kate feel like she had a fever. She could tell her face was flushed pink.

"Stop that," Pickett called as he stood up and walked over to the desks. He stood before them with his arms crossed, "If you two don't knock it off, you're both headed for the principle and you'll get a whole week of this. Do you understand?"

Kate nodded and Sawyer just glared.

"Do you have a problem with me?" he asked Sawyer.

"Sawyer, stop." Kate mumbled.

"Hey," Pickett growled moving closer to stand over Kate. He leaned down to get right in her face, "I want you to stop talking. Understand, missy?"

"Leave her alone," Sawyer said in a low voice.

"Was I talking to you?" Pickett said turning back to Sawyer and getting in his face.

"Sawyer, stop it." Kate pleaded again.

"You, go sit over there." Pickett pointed across the room. Surprisingly, Sawyer got up and made his way across the class room.

Pickett pointed to the other side of the class and turned to Kate. "Move it."

Following orders, Kate was now as far away from Sawyer as she could be. Pickett stomped back to the desk in the front and picked up his magazine. After a few minutes, the phone rang. He picked it up and Kate strained to listen.

"But I have kids in here….just two….yeah, but…okay. Fine."

He put the phone down at stood up. "I've got to go help someone. It will be a few minutes. When I get back in here, you better be sitting in those desks or so help me god, you will be in here with me for the rest of the month."

As soon as the door shut, Kate turned to Sawyer. "I said yes, because…." She looked at the door. "Because I really like you, Sawyer."

Before she knew what she was doing she climbed over the desk and was hopping over the next row.

"Freckles, you get back in that desk. If he comes in here you'll have detention for a month. Get back."

"No," she said firmly as she climbed over another row.

Sawyer glanced quickly at the door as Kate cleared the last desk. She threw her arms around Sawyer's neck and kissed him firmly on the lips. He yielded to her immediately and kissed her back.

"Knock this off," he said, pulling away, "You've got to get back."

He brushed her hair behind her ear before she leapt over the desk. She climbed quickly over the other two rows before jumping into her own seat. As she maneuvered her legs into the chair and onto the basket in front of her, the door knob rattled open. Pickett entered just as she picked up her book. He watched them carefully, but said nothing. At his desk, he resumed his position with the magazine.

Kate looked at her book and raised it slowly so it was eye level. Once she was convinced Pickett couldn't see her eyes, she let them look over at Sawyer. He had his hand on his forehead and was looking down at the book. When she turned slightly to look at him, he noticed the movement and his eyes met hers. She wasn't sure if they held a mixture of happiness or sorrow. She also wasn't sure why in the back of her mind, the only thing she could think was to wonder where Jack was at that moment.