A few days after the kiss, however, Kyra was not at school. Or the day after that. And girls I had never seen before came up to me and asked me where she was and gave me dirty looks when I said I honestly didn’t know.

Teachers skipped over her name in roll. A small little formality, but definitely enough to notice. I think some students were asking where she was, and why she wasn’t at school. I didn’t understand it. The both of us had just talked for two hours on the phone the last Sunday night, and then on Monday, it was as if she vanished.

I was starting to get worried, and I asked my teachers where she was. Mr. Warburton, who I suspected knew a little of our relationship, just nodded sadly at me and sighed.

Home. I checked IM, phone messages, mail, e-mail, anything, but nothing came up.

It wasn’t until 11:43:12 that night that I learned her father had died.