Chapter 1

Jon had never wanted to work in a fourth grade classroom in the first place. If someone had told him at the start of the school year that saying good bye to the fourth graders was going to be more painful than saying good bye to his family when he abandoned his old life, he would have laughed.

Jon still had nightmares about the longing look Shawn Hunter had given him when he left the classroom for what he thought would be the last time.

Of course, it hadn't ended up being the last time. Despite now student teaching at a high school, like he'd wanted to do all along, he'd managed to come back and visit the younger kids a few times, with Feeny's permission. He was always flooded with a sea of kids running to hug him all at once when he walked in the door—it startled him the first time, but after that he learned to embrace it as their way of welcoming him. Shawn wasn't among the crowd. He stayed at his desk, trying and failing to hold back a huge grin.

He hadn't been there on their last day of school to congratulate them on moving up to fifth grade, but it didn't matter; all of them had moved up to the next class together, and Feeny with them. Jon was working at the high school now, teaching a few classes spanning from seventh to tenth grade. It was what he'd wanted, and he never wavered on that—on a daily basis, he'd much rather put up with teenage snark over childish fragility—but seeing those innocent little kids on occasion was a breath of fresh air. And if he was honest with himself, he'd never really been able to disentangle himself from his worry about Shawn's safety.

So when Feeny called him up in March, desperate for volunteers to chaperone for their outdoor school trip—spring break was a hard sell—Jon had agreed without hesitation.

The trip itself had been a lot more uneventful than Jon might have expected. The outdoor school ran its own program, and they were used to the chaos of ten-year-olds—Feeny might have had his crazies, but every school did, and theirs weren't exceptional.

The real troubles began when they got back to the school.

It was late at night on Friday when the bus pulled up out in front of the campus and the kids collected their duffel bags and suitcases and sleeping bags. Most of the parents were already there, ready to greet their kids with emotional embraces—Jon hadn't really thought about the fact that, for many parents, this would be their first time sending their kids away overnight. Most of the kids returned the affection, though a few seemed embarrassed that their parents could see. hen they were down to four kids, Feeny told the other chaperones they could head home.

Jon didn't leave. Shawn was one of the ones left behind. A couple of parents trickled in over the next few minutes, apologizing profusely to Feeny for being late. They were down to three students. And then there were two.

And then there was Shawn.