Yuna did not turn up for school on Monday. She didn't either on Tuesday. At first , no one was actually concerned, assuming that she was at another competition or another, and collectively braced themselves for another round of 'Praise Yuna' at assembly that week.

   Then three days turned into a whole week, and to two. Yuna's seat was empty through it all, and not once did she turn up to try to open her dented locker door. The teacher's and sport coaches concerns finally escalated from having no one to volunteer for questions and the absence of their main athlete to actually contacting Yuna's parents. No one knew how the news got leaked, or why the teachers bothered to even hide it from the students , being terrible gossips, but everyone finally knew the reason why Yuna Sato did not come to school.

"Missing?" Claire Howards frowned, surrounded by her usual clique of debate club members along with some of the theater kids. "What do you mean, missing?" She demanded, while taking another bite of one of her organic™ carrot sticks. Like the rest of her table, she was staring at Kathy Seiner, who's mind contained all of Cresswell High's secrets despite never being able to memorize the Pythagoras Theorem. She was currently wringing  her wrists, clearly debating whether or not to stay silent or risk showing her braces, for they were the ugliest shade of green possible, and they made her look like there was food in between her teeth. Claire knew that Kathy was desperate for attention, the girl was known for latching onto new people every month or so. Everyone knew when Kathy auditioned for the dance team despite having the coordination of a newborn giraffe, while her idol-of-the-month, Jamie Callagham laughed till he cried. And of course Claire remembered freshman year, where Kathy tried to impress the good-looking Mr Flemming, who had just migrated from Ireland that summer. Mr Flemming had to haul her from the pool- her underwater split caused her to have an immediate cramp in her legs, and had to be sent home on a stretcher whilst she gaped like a dying fish. The most memorable was probably the time where she nearly burned her eyebrows off while dying her hair a sick shade of red to match Claire's auburn.

But Claire did not care whether or not giving Kathy the attention she so wanted may cause her to be her idol-of-the-month for the fifth time in a row. Flipping her hair over one shoulder, Claire nodded quickly at the bespectacled girl with renewed exasperation. "Are you talking or what?"

Kathy fidgeted for another three seconds, and finally made her choice. "I overheard Miss Gullie and Miss Heere while I was at the counselor's office, for my -"

"Yeah your 'condition' or whatever."  Jaz Jones shot idly at her. "Hurry up will you?" Claire knew that she had got flak from the uptight ( and downright racist ) school counselor for coming to school with her (extremely gorgeous)  natural hair just before lunch, so her patience was running very thin, even if she didn't show it.

Claire instinctively laid her palm on her best friend's knee. Jaz could not stand Kathy at all. That was common knowledge. To Jaz, Kathy was as likable as her hate for vegemite .

"Yeah, you know, my 'condition'." Kathy said, wagging her pale eyebrows, ignoring Jaz's comment. Even without turning her head, Claire could see everyone 's rolled eyes. Claire was half tempted to just give up on Kooky Kathy and just go back to discussing debate strategy with her teammates. But Jaz beat her to it.

"Look, Seiner. If you don't get to the point-"

"Alright, alright, jeez." Kathy said, fanning her face. "So anyways, I heard the teachers talking, they finally called Sato's parents and guess what?" She paused suddenly, with an air of great importance.

Claire decided that it was better to risk getting annoyed by Kathy for the rest of the term than waste any more of her lunch time. "She's missing?" 

"Duh, and they don't know why!" Kathy burst excitedly, and with a flourish, she made an attempt to come closer to the table, but Jaz neatly shifted her position on the bench so that the tiny bit of space between their bags was closed. 

Oblivious, Kathy inched further, and pointed at nowhere in particular, starting her rant :" Since last Sunday, Sato didn't return home from her jogging session, and at first her mom taught she was at her friends'," At the word 'friends' , Kathy gave a little cough. "But I think that was stupid of her because since when does Sato has friends-"

"At least she's likable." Jaz muttered coldly under her breath.

"Ahem, " Kathy clapped her hands. "but then Sato didn't show up on Tuesday either, so they called the police. They searched everywhere, relatives, safehouses, even..." she lowered her breath with a great sense of dramatism. "the bar on Remmington's Street, you know, in case she got the r-word or something. " The possibility of Yuna's life at danger seemed to please Kathy immensely , and Claire had to restrict herself to not punch the girl in the face. Sure, Sato was isolated from the rest of the school, but to most people, Yuna Sato was regarded as the school's best in academics and sports, and the fact that Kathy Seiner was dismissing her importance to the school in overall only highlighted her own jealousy.

"I thought that park she jogs at has surveillance cameras or something?" Lia Diaz asked, her dainty nose wrinkling ,showing obvious dislike at the fact that she was having a conversation with Kooky Kathy. "Didn't they find anything?"

Kathy folded her arms behind her back and shrugged. "That's the thing. It's like she disappeared into mid-air. The cameras at the entrance got her going in, but then..." She made a poof gesture with her hands.

The whole table lapsed into silence. Kathy stood, leaning against a pillar, evidently pleased that she had managed to talk to the popular crowd for more than 5 minutes.

"If you ask me," Kathy continued, pushing herself through the ring of people. "I'd say she's kidnapped. Or worse. Dead." The smug smirk on her face made Claire wonder: How on earth could someone be so obnoxious?

Thankfully, the others did not think that way. Immediately Kathy was met with death glares and barely controlled swear words. Kathy Seiner raised her palms . "Just saying."

"Well, no one cares about what you say." Jaz concluded. "You are a messed up piece of-"

"Oh look at the time!" Claire interrupted , standing up abruptly.  "Wow gotta go, we are late-"

"Are we having lunch together tomorrow?" Kathy inquired, panting to keep up as Claire and Jaz speed-walked away as fast as they could to avoid her. "Come on , we are friends-"

"Seiner. Fuck. Off." Jaz's glare was radioactive , which was the most effective in keeping people like Kathy away. It worked for Jaz all the time, and sometimes it scared even Claire. When Jaz's soft brown eyes narrowed to slits, even the most self-centered adults falter.  Kathy actually froze, allowing Claire and Jaz to escape. When she was finally out of earshot, Jaz grumbled :"What a horrid person. Just like her mom."

Claire nodded in grim agreement, remembering the obnoxious woman that had accused the head teacher of being 'too-strict' on her daughter, and firmly refused to believe that it was Kathy's fault that she was failing at her classes. At one point Yuna was involved, and ever since it had started Kathy's long term hatred for her. Claire sighed. "Let's hang out at the court tomorrow. If I have to spend one more second talking to her I swear-"

Jaz snorted. "Sometimes you have to talk to the people that you don't want to talk to. Life is messed up that way."