A/N: This one is sort of long-ish. I apologize for that. Some stories are hard to tell in the fewest possible words.

This chapter was exciting for me to write because it's the first one in the story that involves one of my favorite Wayside School pairings (which I have christened "Jallison"). Share my excitement by R&Ring, please!

Do you know what the top of the world feels like? Well, of course you don't. Nobody does. It's impossible. But let me tell you that Jason was pretty darn close to it.

After ages and ages and ages of trying, he finally had a date with Allison. And it was all to do with patience. After doing quite a lot of what Jason called "observing" (a better term for it would actually be "stalking"), he had figured out exactly how to win Allison's heart.

He had learned not to seem too desperate. See, he had started by asking her out once every week. However, he decided that that seemed too desperate, so he switched to asking her out once every month.

In reality, it hadn't worked too well. It still took Jason years to get a date, and Allison had really only said yes this time because she was starting to get annoyed. A date was still a date either way, though, and Jason was going out of his way to make sure Allison had the best night of her life.

"Sugar! Honey, honey," Jason sang as he examined himself in the mirror. "You are my candy girl, and you got me wantin' you." He adjusted the collar of his shirt and slicked his hair back. "Allison is going to see exactly what she's been missing all this time," he whispered confidently as he pulled on his jacket and bolted out the door.

"Well, Jason, you actually clean up pretty nice."

Allison was wearing a long black skirt and a yellow and orange striped turtleneck. Jason was aware that out of all of her outfits, this one was one of her least attractive ones. Not that she didn't look amazing in it. Oh no, she always did. But in this outfit, she did look slightly less amazing.

Trying not to overanalyze this small detail, Jason responded to her compliment. "Thanks! Did anyone ever tell you how, uh, how great that outfit looks on you?" He smiled hopefully.

Allison looked slightly taken aback. "Well no, actually, but, uh, thanks for noticing."

"Hello, I'm Shannon and I'll be your server tonight." Suddenly, a voice came from out of nowhere. Jason flinched and put his hands up in defense, only to realize it was a waitress.

Embarrassed, Jason pretended he had just been smoothing out his hair. The waitress was giving him a funny look. He cleared his throat and, in an attempt to appear nonchalant, replied, "You were saying?" He covered his face in shame when he saw that Allison was snickering at him.

The waitress sighed. "Would you two like to start off with something to drink?"

Allison, still giggling, replied, "I think I'll just have water tonight, thank you. And you, Jason?"

"Um, I'll have water, too, I guess . . . " Jason mumbled.

Not too much later, Jason wondered why he had gotten anything to drink at all when he accidentally knocked his glass over, splashing it all over Allison and her food.

He cringed and immediately stood to help her. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, cursing himself for being so stupid.

"Oh, um, it's okay. I'm, uh, I'm okay," Allison said as Jason attempted to pat her dry with his napkin. "You really don't have to- Oh! Oh, thank you . . . "

When he sat back down in his own seat, Jason was pleased to see that Allison was showing the smallest trace of a smile. "That was actually very sweet of you," she said quietly.

Jason smiled back at her. "You're welcome."

Allison's smile grew just a little bit wider and she tilted her head to the side a bit. "By any chance," she asked, "could you tell me what you have planned for after dinner, exactly?"

"Well, I was going to take you on a walk by that big lake near Wayside. Why are you suddenly so interested?" Jason said as he thought to himself, Is it possible she's starting to feel the same?

"No reason in particular . . . " Allison rubbed the back of her neck. "A walk by the lake. That sounds really nice." She smiled sheepishly at Jason, who smiled sheepishly back. Although in reality, he was not feeling sheepish at all. He was ecstatic.

The whole rest of the night, Allison giggled and grinned and blushed at everything Jason said. She was charmed. Jason thought coyly to himself, Hell, what does it matter if I seem too desperate? I could make my move tonight and she would totally go for it!

He looked over to the beautiful lake they were walking by. And this would be the perfect spot.

Allison seemed to have the same idea. She turned around and reached out for Jason's hands. "I had a really great time tonight, Jason. Do you think, by any chance, that we could go out again next Saturday?"

Jason could feel himself blushing. She was asking him out this time! Was he the king of romance or what? "Absolutely," he managed to reply.

"Fantastic." At this point, Allison closed her eyes and started leaning towards Jason. It took Jason a few seconds to register that she was about to kiss him. When he did, he awkwardly leaned forward as well. Their lips were about to meet when a loud crash rang out from the forest on the other side of the path.

They jumped back. "What was that?" Allison whispered.

"I don't know," Jason said. He looked at his new almost-girlfriend. (Jason decided that since she had tried to kiss him, she deserved a promotion from "crush.") He was going to have to seem like he wasn't afraid. She liked tough guys, right? He swallowed his fear. "I'll go see what that was." He started running off into the forest.

"What if you get hurt?" Allison shouted after him, genuinely concerned.

"I won't!" he assured her. Although he wasn't quite sure himself.

It wasn't too long before he came upon a clearing. He saw a dark shape lying in the center of it. As he approached it, he saw that it was a person. A dead body. In fact, it looked somewhat familiar . . .

Jason gasped. It was the body of his old pediatric dentist, Dr. Payne! This was freaky.

He started shaking with apprehension when he saw another shape farther down the clearing. He swallowed hard when he noticed that this one was also a person and that it also looked vaguely familiar. But this person was alive . . .

Suddenly, Jason realized who he was looking at. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed.

"Ah, ah, ah, Jason, language, language!" the person trilled as she stepped out of the shadows.

"M-m-mrs. Drazil!" Jason stammered. It was pretty hard to mistake her. Sure, her bushy white hair was dirty and discolored. Sure, she was pretty much just wearing a few disheveled rags. Sure, she wasn't wearing her bifocal glasses. But her piercing stare was unmistakable. However, that didn't excuse the fact that . . .

"But you're supposed to be dead!" Jason choked when the old woman nodded.

Mrs. Drazil rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. The authorities never really search for people anymore. If you're off radar for one measly day, they say that you're dead."

Jason continued to stand there, too shocked to even blink. Mrs. Drazil frowned. "I suppose you're waiting for an explanation." Jason nodded. Mrs. Drazil smiled coldly. "Well, it all started with you, I'm sure you realize. You and your old classmates stole my notebook, found that awful girl Jane Smith and led me right to her. That very night, I tracked her down and chased her to this very forest. And then I killed her."

Jason's eyes widened. "You murdered Dr. Payne?" he shouted, probably a bit louder than necessary.

Mrs. Drazil bolted towards him with amazing speed for someone as old as she was- in her mid-80's, Jason realized. She slapped her gnarled hand over his mouth. "I have been hiding here in this forest for twenty years, hiding from the police," she whispered harshly. "I am not going to let a big-mouthed brat I had thought was gone from my life forever years ago give me away." She removed her hand, which was a relief to Jason until she grabbed him by the shirt collar, nearly choking him. "You are never to speak of this to anybody, do you hear me? Anybody. Not your family. Not your friends. Not even your little girlfriend waiting for you back by that lake. If you do, you will be very, very sorry."

"Yes, ma'am," Jason squeaked. Mrs. Drazil finally let go of his shirt collar. He fell to the ground. He stood up, waved weakly, and said, "Nice to see you again." Then he ran.

When he reached Allison, he was sweating and his face was red. Allison's eyes widened and she said, "Oh, God, what happened? Are you OK? What made that noise?"

"I- I'm fine. And it was nothing. Nothing at all. Probably just a raccoon or a fox or some other wild animal."

Allison took a deep breath and placed her hands on her chest. "Well, isn't that a relief." She reached for Jason's hand. "So, we're still on for next Saturday?"

"Oh. Yeah." Jason nodded quickly.

"Great." With that, Allison gave him a kiss on the cheek. Jason didn't know what to say. Under any other circumstances, he would have been the happiest guy in the world. But he was in danger now. And in case you weren't aware, it's not possible to be happy when you're in danger.

A/N: Hope you liked that chapter! Lots more coming- please R&R!