"Adam! Do you have something to add about the abolishment of slavery? Do you believe in the unjustly treatment of human beings? " A harsh voice echoed in the room. It was Miss Meade, one of the oldest and meanest teachers in the school. She was way beyond retirement, but seemed to live for the sole reason of torturing young teenagers.

"No mam, I just had a thought," Adam replied, not wanting to call attention to Chuck. Eating in Miss Meade's class was like breaking a commandment.

"In other words, you were not paying attention. Adam Kramer, what would your mother say if she knew about this incident!" Miss Meade said as she started to raise her voice. " You would think that the son of a college professor that teaches history would be more observant in history class!"

" She doesn't teach history, mam. She teaches about archeology," Adam answered knowing that he would regret the statement the minute it left his mouth.

" For your information, Mr. Kramer arche---", Miss Meade started to say when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. "I swear, I have more interruptions."

As she stepped out of the door, the students all started to whisper and Chuck shoved the rest of his Butterfinger into his mouth. Adam just let out a sigh, hoping that Miss Meade would forget about his comment. All he needed was another slip to be sent home. He glanced back at Chuck with a stern look. "One of these days you are going to choke," Adam quipped at Chuck, who just smiled back at him.

Adam was the son of Laura and Carl Kramer. It was true that his mother was a famous archeologist. She also taught several history classes at the University of California at San Diego and was popular history professor. Carl Kramer was a well-known former Chicago detective. He worked for the state of California as an investigator. Adam and his eighteen-year-old brother, Jason, often helped their father and even had tackled a few cases of their own even though they were both still in high school. Laura Kramer had hoped that her sons would follow in her footsteps or perhaps become lawyers or doctors, however, the boys seemed to be content working as detectives. Adam winced at that thought because even though he was a good student, school was not his favorite thing. Unlike his older brother, Adam would rather be out surfing, hiking or working on the Trans Am that he had recently began to restore. Adam also liked to work on the 1970 GMC van that he shared with his brother. It was given to them as a reward for finding a fugitive. It needed a lot of work, but Adam was a whiz at auto mechanics and he had it on the road in no time. Everyone affectionately referred to the van as "Ol Blue" because it was easily found in the parking lot among the newer and smaller cars. It also came in handy when they had to camp out for a case, so the boys saw it as an asset for their detective careers. Jason was the honor roll student who preferred to read, work on his computer or take long walks with his girlfriend, Kara Dobbins. He found Miss Meade very interesting and was one of her favorite students, unlike Adam who occasionally ended up with detention or even worse, closed lunch.

Adam was about to start a list of the things that he needed to do for the week when Miss Meade walked back into the room.

"I want you to welcome a new student to Emerald High," she announced to the class. " I would like you to meet Alyssa Clarke. She is from North Carolina."

Adam was not prepared for the sight that he saw next. In walked a beautiful girl with long brown hair that lay in ringlets on her shoulders. She was wearing faded blue jeans and an untucked flannel shirt. Adam could see her deep blue eyes from his seat in the middle of the room. He had always teased his brother about his relationship with Kara, but now he understood. As she sat down in the front row, Adam vowed that he was going to introduce himself to her before the end of the day. Miss Meade continued on with her lecture about abolitionists until the lunch bell rang. Adam raced up the row, leaving Chuck to gather his stash. Alyssa had already left the room and started to go down the hall. Adam fought through the other students in the hall until he was right behind her.

"Alyssa?' he said, hoping to get her attention.

"Yeah?" she said softly, as she stopped to talk to him by a locker.

"Hi! What are you doing for lunch?' Adam asked, trying not to show his nervousness.

" I was going to the cafeteria since I don't have a car," she replied with a quizzical look.

" You can come to lunch with us if you would like," Adam said, flashing her a smile.

"On one condition," Alyssa answered. "If you tell me your name?'

" I am sorry," Adam responded realizing that he had forgotten to introduce himself. "I am Adam Kramer."

" My name is Alyssa Clarke. It is nice to finally meet someone," she said with a twinkle in her blue eyes.

Adam held out his arm and Alyssa took it as he led her to the van.

When Adam and Alyssa made it to the van, Chuck, Jason, Kara and Craig was already waiting on them. Craig was a good friend of both the brothers and played on the football team with Adam. He stood out among the other teenagers because he was six foot seven, stocky and had long sandy blonde hair down to his shoulders. Kara, who had long blonde hair herself, often joked that he was her twin brother. Adam could tell that Chuck had already explained the situation to the group because his brother had a big grin on his face as Adam opened the front door for Alyssa. They all piled into the van after a short introduction and went to the usual burger stand called the Steer Inn. After everyone had ordered their food, they quickly sat down to eat because they only had a forty-five minute lunch period. Everyone was also curious about the new girl in school.

"Miss Meade said you were from North Carolina. What brought you clear out here?" Chuck asked as he took his hat off, exposing his red hair. He liked to hide his red hair.

"Well it is a long story," Alyssa remarked, but continued on. " The short version is that my parents died in a house fire when I was three. I had to live with my grandmother after that."

"How awful," Kara commented.

"Not really, I mean, my grandmother took great care of me. But she died about two years ago when I was fifteen. I then went to live with my uncle in North Carolina. Well, when he moved out here, I of course had to come with him," Alyssa explained as they finished their lunch.

"So what do you think of it so far?" Chuck asked as he finished off his deluxe cheeseburger.

" It is beautiful out here, but it is hard to have to start over again," Alyssa replied. It was noticeable that she was still very nervous about her new surroundings.

"It is probably hard because all of your friends are back in North Carolina," Jason answered.

"I have a lot of friends out here, but they just don't attend a regular school. I had to beg to be able to come to school here; the rest are home schooled. So I am alone here at this place, " she said as they cleaned up their table and began to go back to the van.

"You mean that you were alone," Adam replied, opening the door for her again.

"Yes, it was very nice of all of you to have me join you," Alyssa said flashing a smile to Adam, who was climbing into the driver's seat. "Otherwise I would have been stuck eating in the cafeteria!"

" You mentioned that your uncle moved your family out here. What does he do?" Jason asked. Adam shot him a glance in the rearview mirror. He was not going to let Jason cross examine Alyssa.

" He is a preacher," Alyssa replied. "He moved us out here to start a new congregation. Two other families moved out here with us. He moved out here back in June and moved the rest of us just this past weekend. He figured it would be easy to move over the Labor Day weekend. It took me a week to get permission to attend public school. I have always attended public school plus I wanted to meet other people. I told him I could tell them about the congregation so he let me sign up."

" I am glad he let you come," Adam replied. He really liked Alyssa and wanted to get to know her better, but he could tell that Jason was a little uneasy about her. He is not going to spoil this for me, Adam thought.

"So who is your uncle?" Jason pried. He knew Adam was probably getting mad by this point, but he had a weird feeling in his stomach. He was happy for his brother, something was just not right about Alyssa and he was going to figure it out whether Adam liked it or not.

"Maybe you have heard of him, his name is Ashita Rawlins . We bought the old church camp on Maple Hollow Road," Alyssa answered as they arrived back in the school's parking lot. "But everyone calls him the Ashita, the Messiah."