Disclaimer: I any of the characters you recognize, I do not own. On the other hand, Ashley's mother, Mrs. Coleman, and Ashley Marie Martin are mine.

Summary: After one of their own goes missing and is determined dead, close friends pull together. When they accept their destiny, will they finally find out the truth about what really happened to their friend?

Never Lose Faith

Chapter 1: Meetings part 1

"You'll be just fine sweetie, it's only for a few hours and then you can come back home and tell us all about it."

"But I don't wanna go, can't you stay with me mommy?"

"No honey, I've got to go to work. Your daddy's going to be here when you get out, ok?" The mother said anxiously trying to convince her daughter to go in the classroom so she wouldn't be late for work. It was the first day of Kindergarten, which was only a half day, and Ashley was very nervous.

Luckily, just then the teacher came walking out of the classroom. She walked over to Ashley and knelt down to her level. "Hi there, you must be Ashley." Ashley nodded her head shyly and clung to her mother's leg. "Well, I'm Mrs. Coleman and I'm very excited to have you in my class. Now, why don't you go on in and find the seat with your name on it."

Ashley looked up at her mother, who leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you sweetie."

"I love you too mommy," she replied hugging her mother, then pulled away and slowly walked into the classroom.

There were lots of kids in her class and they were all over the room. Some were sitting on a big rectangular rug in the back of the room that had the alphabet on it and some were admiring the toys and games that were stacked up against the wall. Very few of them were actually in their seats.

There were five round tables in the room and name tags on the chairs around them. Ashley found one that said Ashley H. and sat down. She put her backpack on the table and was fixing to open it when a blond-haired girl walked over to her and said, "You're sitting in my seat."

"No I'm not. This is my chair, it has my name on it," Ashley told the girl.

"It's MY chair, it says Ashley and that's my first name," the girl said, her blond ponytail swinging as she talked.

"Well Ashley is MY name so it's my chair." she replied being just as stubborn.

"Fine, I'm telling Mrs. Coleman that you won't get out of my seat," the girl said and then stomped off.

Ashley started to get worried. 'I'm going to get in trouble and it's only the first day. Mommy and daddy will be so mad at me.'

The other Ashley walked back over to her table with Mrs. Coleman in tow. "See, she took my chair, it says Ashley and that's my name."

Mrs. Coleman looked from the blond-haired girl to Ashley and asked, "Ashley what's your last name?"

"Hammond," she answered softly.

"And what is your last name?" Mrs. Coleman asked turning to the other girl.

"Martin, Ashley Martin,"the girl said with her nose in the air.

"Well Ashley, this seat is for an Ashley H., yours should say Ashley M. on it. I think it's right over at that table," Mrs. Coleman replied pointing across the room. The girl turned and haughtily walked over to where Mrs. Coleman pointed.

The rest of the morning went well for Ashley...until recess. The teacher had started off class by telling them what they would do and learn in Kindergarten, then she let them play games until time for recess.

Recess was what Ashley had been looking forward to. She loved playing on the playground, especially the swings. She singled out the swing set and raced toward it. Just as she reached one of the empty swings, she was knocked to the ground by someone else running toward the same swing. Well, not so much as knocked to the ground as pushed to the ground. Ashley heard several of the other kids laughing at her as she stood back up. It was a group of girls, three of them, and they were looking past Ashley to the person that had pushed her down. One of the girls said, "Marie, can I swing when you get done?"

Ashley turned around and saw the other Ashley that had tried to get her in trouble that morning sitting in the swing that she was going for.

"If I get done, then you can have it," the girl replied haughtily.

Ashley squinted her eyes at the girl. "I thought your name was Ashley," she said putting her hands on her hips.

"It is!" the girl shot back. "My first name is Ashley, but everyone calls me by my middle name, Marie. You're just mad cause I got the swing first. Why don't you go play on the merry-go-round or something." she said with a sneer, making the three girls laugh again.

Ashley turned her back to them and walked to the other end of the swing set where two boys were swinging. All the swings were taken now so she decided to just wait until another one was free. She leaned against a support pole with her arms crossed, staring at the ground. The sound of someone scuffing the ground to stop their swing made Ashley look up. One of the boys was staring right at her, his swing almost completely stopped. "Here, you can have my swing if you want it," the boy told her.

"Thank you," Ashley said with a huge grin when the boy passed her the swing. She sat down and pushed off from the ground to get a good start. The boy stayed where he was as he watched Ashley climb higher, then he looked over at the boy that he had been swinging beside. You could tell that they knew each other and hadn't just met a few hours ago. Ashley noticed this and was really feeling left out, the other kids were already making friends and having fun, but she hadn't really talked to anyone...anyone other than Marie anyway. And it seemed everyone wanted to be Marie's friend, but if they were her friend, then they couldn't be friends with Ashley. Ashley sighed. 'It's the first day and already no one likes me.' she thought to herself.

The boy in the swing looked over and asked, "You're Ashley right?"

Ashley looked over at the boy, a little shocked that he was talking to her. "Yep," she replied as she kicked her feet out in front of her, swinging higher. No matter how lonely she felt right now, swinging was making her feel a little better.

"I'm Carlos," the boy in the swing said. Ashley smiled at him then looked at the boy who had given up his swing for her. "And what's your name?" she inquired.

"TJ," he answered. "I saw what that other Ashley did to you, you should go tell the teacher what she did." Ashley shook her head, "No, my mom told me it's not nice to be a tattle-tale, she said it makes you just as bad as the other person."

The three of them were quiet for a few minutes, then finally Carlos slowed his swing to a stop and looked at Ashley. "Hey, do you want to be our friend, we don't really like Marie either. She sits at our table and tries to tell everyone what to do."

She stopped pumping her feet and looked over at Carlos in shock. "You want to be friends...with me?" she said slowly.

"Yeah we do, if you want to be friends with us," TJ replied with a grin.

Ashley's face lit up, she slowed her swing to a stop and said, "I want to be friends, can we be best friends?"

"Yeah, me and TJ are best friends, so we can all be best friends." Carlos replied.

"Yay!" Ashley squealed. She was so filled with glee that Marie was pushed out of her mind for the rest of the day. The three of them spent the rest of recess playing together and vowed to be best friends forever.

A/N: Yep, I'm starting a new one. Probably a not the greatest idea since I'm back in school and don't know how often I'll be able to update, but this idea has been bugging me for a while and finally overcame my rational mind, forcing me to write it. Anyways, I'd love to know what you think and I'd be very gracious if you review. (wink wink...)