Zach walked Kate away from the roaring mass of students into a quiet hallway. "Are you okay, now?"

Kate wiped her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what came over me. I just...all of this turmoil must have just rushed over me all of a sudden. With Randall's death and the disappearance of Kim, I must have just overloaded. But I'm okay now."

"Good."

A tall man walked down the hallway towards Zach and Kate. Zach, noticing him, stiffened a little. He pretended to keep his conversation going with Kate. Soon, the man reached Zach. "Zach Carter?"

Zach faced him. "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"You need to come with me," the man's voice was deep and booming.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, buddy! Can't you see I'm in the middle of a conversation?"

"I figured we'd have a problem with you. If you'll remember correctly, you're scheduled to leave Midway Prep today."

Zach's square gaze weakened for a second. "Oh no! I forgot about that!"

"Don't even give me that 'I forgot' bull crap. You know very well that you're supposed to go, so quit trying to put it off."

"Watch the way you speak to him!" Kate's eyes flashed. "He'll leave when he's ready to!"

"I beg to differ. You see, we waited for your Zach here for about an hour or so before sending the first bus along. Now I'm having to take time out of my day to pick him up. When I could be doing more productive things, it irks me."

"I don't care what irks you. I said that Zach will leave when he's ready, and I meant it!" Kate refused to back down. She put an arm around Zach's shoulders.

Zach shook Kate's arm off. "I can take care of myself, Kate. I don't need your help."

The sharpness in Zach's voice made Kate back away. "Sorry. I was just trying to help."

Zach quickly realized his mistake. "No, I just meant that if I have to go, then I guess I have to go."

Kate looked at Zach incredulously. "You must be kidding. You can't leave now! Zach, we've just started over again."

Zach lowered his head. "I know, I know. Please, don't make this harder than it already is. Besides, it's not as if I'm moving thirty miles away. I'm just right around the corner."

Kate laughed dryly. "Yeah, like I'd be seen stepping one foot on Midway Academy grounds."

"We have no other choice, Kate."

"Don't give up now, Zach! No! I won't let you!" Kate turned to the man, who'd been watching the proceedings with silent amusement. "You back off! I'm not going to let you take him away from me now that I've just found him!"

"You don't have much choice, little girl," the man sneered.

"You watch how you address my girlfriend," Zach stepped up to the man. "You will treat her with respect when she's around, understood?"

"You don't give orders to me! You're just a kid, and don't forget it! Now, you're coming with me and you're coming now."

Matt Vincent, who'd been watching the events from a corner of the hallway, leaned against the wall and looked heavenward. "I have to do something. I can't let them be torn apart after all they've been through. But what can I do?"

Mel's footsteps were silent as he made his way up the stone walkway that led to the front of Chantal's two-story, red-brick home. Chantal hadn't shown up for school, not that he could blame her. The events that had transpired that morning were anything but something you'd want or expect to happen at your school. Mel's decision to visit Chantal was fueled by another feeling to: he wanted to see just how bad things at home were. Mel walked up to the large Windsor doors and knocked. When no one answered, he put his ear to the door. Inside, he heard loud voices and even a crash of glass against something hard. Mel's eyes widened. He'd expected to come across something along these lines.

Should I just leave? I mean, Chantal doesn't want me to bother her about her family. Yeah, that's what I'll do. I'll respect Chantal's wishes, Mel thought to himself. He walked back down the walkway. At the end, though, he stopped. What if it was Chantal that was in trouble? Man, I'd never forgive myself if it was. If someone's in danger, I've gotta help them, Mel ran back down the walkway. Instead of going to the front door, though. He made his way along the side of the house. Mel stopped when he made his way to a window that had the blinds open. Lucky for him, it was the kitchen window. The minute he looked inside, though, he regretted his decision to stay and watch. Something, he quickly concluded, was terribly wrong. He saw a small splatter of blood contrasted sharply against the ivory kitchen tiles. Mel looked away quickly, and rested his back against the outside wall. He had to do something fast.

Gia pulled out the last of her packings, a small crimson music box. She looked at it tenderly before setting on the nightstand next to her bed. Her room was at perfection: light blue curtains were drawn back to let the day's sun in and her bed had a nice, soft blue-plaid blanket over it. The black nightstand by her bedside had a small lamp on it with a tasseled shade over it. Gia had always been one for elegance. She sighed in sheer bliss as she looked over the room in approval.

Adrienne appeared at her doorway. "Everything set?" she called softly.

Gia smiled and turned to her. "Yes, it is. I'll never be able to thank you enough for offering to room with me. Truth be told, I was rather worried that no one would want me here. That's understandable and all, but I still held out a little hope that there would be someone who wasn't bound by school pride or anything."

Adrienne smiled. "I know that this may sound a little mean, but I'm glad you were picked to come. You seem really nice, and," Adrienne glanced at the room, "you seem to have an excellent sense of style."

"You know it!" Gia high-fived Adrienne, laughing. "But what are you doing here?"

"They sent everyone home from school today. You won't believe what happened, Gia."

"What?"

Adrienne's voice dropped. "This kid that went to our school, Randall Bentley, was murdered."

"MURDERED?!" Gia's eyelids flew open, and her hand flew to her mouth. "You've gotta be kidding!"

Adrienne raised her hand as if taking an oath. "I promise on everything that I am, he was murdered. The question is: who did it?"

"Do you think they go to Midway Prep?"

"Without a doubt! You see, Randall was pushed down the stairs. While there may be a possibility that it's someone from another school, I highly doubt it. It was just so shocking! Who would have ever thought that such a scandal would come to Midway Prep?"

"I just can't believe this. That's really terrible. I was thinking about going out today, but after this..."

"No, no! We can still go out! Where did you have in mind?"

"Well," Gia began hesitantly, "I was thinking of heading down to First Hope?"

Adrienne stared at Gia, trying to recall where she had heard of First Hope before. Finally, her eyes lit up. "Oh, I know what you're talking about! First Hope as in the teen crisis center downtown?"

Gia nodded. "That's right. I wanted to start volunteering down there before I left the Academy, but when I learned I'd be moving, I decided to wait. Now that I'm settled in, though, I'm thinking of heading on down there to apply."

Adrienne tapped her finger on the side of her head in thought. "I don't mean to sound offensive, but why?"

The smile on Gia's face dimmed a bit and her eyes became sorrowful. "A friend of mine in high school was impregnated at the age of fifteen. She wasn't capable of caring for the baby, but her parents made her carry it to term. It put so much stress on her that she was ready to end her own life because of the pain. She ended up giving birth to the baby, but her parents made her give it up. I'll never forget the look in her eyes when she told me that her parents were forcing her to give her baby boy up. It was then that I vowed to help people my age with problems like that and others. I'm not going to sit around and let them get hurt as much as my friend did. I'm going to show them that there are people out there who really care what happens to them. You'd be surprised how many out there wonder if there's anyone in the world who loves them."

Chloe strolled through the courtyard behind the school with Christian. The fragrances of the spring violets and the roses filled the air. No one would have been able to tell that a murder had taken place at the school except for the yellow tape and squad cars surrounding the school.

"Can you believe something like this happened at our school? I mean, the only things that have died at Midway Prep are the rats in Mrs. Lam's lab class."

Chloe couldn't help but laugh at Christian's remark. Her laugh ended in a sigh as she looked up at the big, clear blue sky above her. "It's such a pretty day it hurts," Chloe said. From the corner of her eye, two people caught her attention. Brent and Eve were heading down the sidewalk, obviously headed towards the Kennedy Gardens. Another sigh escaped her lips.

Christian followed her gaze to Brent and Eve. "Still have feelings for Brent?"

Christian's question puzzled Chloe. "Well...yeah...I guess. I don't even know anymore. Life has become so confusing as of late. I swear, if those girls look at me the way they do..."

"What girls?"

"Come on, Chris. You know." When Christian didn't respond, Chloe explained exasperatedly, "The 'popular' girls, Christian. The girls who have their noses so high up in the air they drown when it rains. They think that they're so much better than me, and seem to have picked me out as their target for their stupid pranks this year."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, like," Chloe sat down on a small bench, "some of them stole my gym clothes, so I got in trouble with the tennis coach. Then there was another time when they stole my lunch money and then acted like they didn't know what happened. What they don't realize is that I have eyes and ears. They make me sick!"

Christian nodded sympathetically. "I know what you mean. Our kind aren't exactly wanted here."

Chloe's eyebrows raised. "'Our kind'?"

"Yeah, the smart, independent, and capable kind. They feel threatened, that's all. They know that we're going to be the successful ones, and they'll be lucky if they can say 'Welcome to McDonald's, can I take your order?'"

"That's mean, Chris!" Chloe scolded, but couldn't help laughing. "You're being unfair."

"Hey, you were the one with the problem. I'm just playing psychiatrist here."

"Speaking of which," Chloe's voice took on a more serious tone, "have you gone back to Dr. Woodman's?"

Christian shifted uneasily on the bench. "I'm supposed to go see him tomorrow."

Chloe rubbed Christian's back with her hand. "You'll be okay, trust me. Besides, you've got your friends standing by you...and Becca."

Christian's head snapped around. "Wait a minute! Where did that come from?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Christian. I know. You like her and she likes you, plain as day."

Christian noticed Chloe's eyes seemed to be looking past him. He turned around, and was startled to find Becca, clad in a light green dress that fell to her ankles, standing shyly next to an evergreen. "Becca," the name flowed like water from his mouth.

"Hi, Christian," Becca's voice answered with its soft southern-belle accent. "How are you?"

"I-I'm...I'm..." Christian stuttered.

"Fine," Chloe answered for him, smiling. "Why don't you come join us, Becca?"

"Oh, no. I don't want to impose on you two. I was just taking a walk to soothe my nerves. Today's been such a shock I needed something to calm me."

"Well, Christian said he was just about to do the same," Chloe responded. "I have a capital idea! Why don't you and Christian walk together. You could keep each other company."

"Chloe," Christian's voice warned.

"Don't me a dud, Christian. It wouldn't be polite to let her wander off in this courtyard and get lost. Go ahead, you two will have fun!" Chloe gave Christian a shove to get him off of the bench and towards Becca. As she watched the two walk off along a grassy path, Chloe's smile dimmed. "If only I could find someone that could walk with me through a garden, through hard times, through life."

"Look, you two, just calm down! We need to get this girl help!" Cliff's sister shouted. "Is there an ambulance coming?"

"Yeah," Allan said, coming back from the school. "I just talked to a police officer, and he called one for me. They should be here any minute.

"Good," Trace left Cliff and rushed to Kim. He picked her up and hugged her limp body. "Come on, Kim. You can get through this. We can get through this! We've been through too much for you to give up on me now!"

"I see the ambulance now!" Cliff yelled, pointing to a parade of flashing red and blue lights. "Come on, let's get her ready to get in there." Cliff made his way over to help Trace.

Trace jerked Kim away from Cliff's grasp. "Keep your hands away from my girlfriend! Your sister's the reason she's in the situation she's in!"

"Look, I'm sick of you blaming my sister! The main objective right now is to get...Kim some help! So shut up and let me help you!" Cliff's voice was firm and commanding.

Trace never took his eyes off of Cliff as the two lifted Kim up. Though he wanted to keep being angry and upset, he knew he should begin focusing on helping Kim. "Everything will be okay, Kim. I won't let you leave me, not like this," Trace whispered in her ear. "You mean too much to me."

What should I do?, the thought echoed in Mel's head. He glanced at his surroundings wildly before turning back to the window. "Where'd they go?"

Hearing loud voices, Mel slowly and stealthily made his way around to the back of the house. It was there that he saw where the event had moved. Chantal's mother was on her knees in the back driveway, her left eye blackened and a large gash on her left cheek. The sight horrified Mel beyond belief. The smell of alocohol drifted all the way over to where Mel was, forcing him to pull his shirt over his nose.

"Jim, don't do this! I won't let you do this!" Olivia, Chantal's mother, shouted angrily.

"And just what are you going to do to stop me?" Jim, Chantal's father, sneered. When Olivia didn't answer, he said, "That's what I thought. You even so much as think of charging to my credit card again and you'll regret it 'til the day you die."

Noticing that Jim was moving towards their car, Olivia flew after him. "You can't get in the car, Jim! You're drunk!"

"Daddy, quit it!" Chantal shouted from inside of the garage. Mel couldn't see her, but he could tell from her voice that she was in tears. "Leave Mom alone!"

"You stay out of this, Chantal!" Jim snapped at her. "This is between your mother and I."

"It becomes my business when you hurt my mother!" Chantal held her ground. "You have no right to treat Mom that way!"

"Did you hear what I said?" Jim advanced towards Chantal.

"Jim, you stay away from her!" Olivia managed to get up and run to get inbetween Jim and Chantal. "Don't you even so much as breathe in her face!"

Jim, becoming filled with rage, took Olivia by the shoulders and swung her to the ground. "Who in the he** do you think you are?"

Chantal ran up and slapped her father. "I'll tell you who in the he** she is! She's my mom, and you have no right to disrespect her like that!"

Jim grabbed Chantal by the wrists. "I'll tell you what: you can end up just like your mother, because I'm sick of your interfering, you hear me?"

Chantal remained silent, choosing to glare up at her father.

"I said do you hear me?!" Jim's voice rose, and he shook Chantal.

As if upon instinct, Mel found himself running out from behind the bushes towards Jim and Chantal. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew he was going to do something.

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