OMG YOU GUYS I'M SO SORRY I'VE MADE YOU WAIT SO LONG FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER! I've been really REALLY busy over the summer... please review! :)

~Kittykatmeow224~

It was 7 A.M. on a bright sunny Tuesday. An alarm clock was going insane on Sam's bedside table. Sam groaned and sat up, then looked at his calendar. The date was September 4th, but as it said on the calendar, it was also his first day back to school since June. The note was scrawled in his father's messy handwriting. Sam cringed when he looked at it. He couldn't stand talking about his dad to his family or his friends. The only person who understood him was Mallory, who gave him her number on the last day of school and said to keep in touch. Well, he hadn't called her all summer, and he expected her to be at school. He got dressed, ate, gathered his things, and went to wait outside by the bus stop. The bus came and took him and his classmates to school. The bus stooped about a block away from school and Sam walked near the front of the group of kids. He walked up to the front of the school. There she was, looking her best as always. She spotted him staring at her and walked over to him.

"Hello Sam. Have a nice summer?"

"Yeah. Hey sorry I wasn't able to call you at all. Been busy and stuff, with my dad being gone and all."

"Oh, don't worry. I've been busy too! Any luck in finding him?"

Sam sighed. "No, not yet. How about you?"

"I was so close one time, but it was just a fraud."

"Geez. That sucks."

"Yeah."

"So are your parents letting you do this?"

"They actually have no idea."

"Huh. I have my godfather tryin' to help me out."

"Oh that's right! Alan Bradley's your surrogate father isn't he?"

"True…. But he can be a bit annoying at times…"

They laugh. The doors to the school open, and all the students pour in.

"Hey! I almost forgot to ask! Who's your teacher?"

"I have….. Labouve. You?"

"Oh. I have Komaromy."

"But we can still sit together during lunch, right?"

"Yeah! So, it's a date?"

Sam blushed. "Um, I guess so."

"Well, see you then!"

Mallory smiled as she walked to Ms. Komaromy's classroom.