(Apologies for threadjumping, but having been brought back to this post by a prompt fill, I noticed this discussion. And couldn't help thinking about the scenario, and that, of course, is fatal).

Let's see... Nyssa is a sweet quiet nerd, no problems there. Her parents are dead and she's being brought up by her stepmother (or rather, ignored, while her stepmother is dating the handsome and not entirely trustworthy Carl Thascales).

The class Nyssa really dreads is art with Miss Masters, or 'Missy' as she likes to be known. Missy is feared throughout the school for her sharp tongue, her arbitrary punishments, and her frankly disturbing taste in art.

Little does Nyssa know, Miss Masters' brother is none other than Carl Thascales. And Carl Thascales, known at the time as Professor Keller, engineered the stock market fraud that destroyed her family's fortune and led to her father's death in a car accident.

Which all makes it rather awkward when Nyssa develops a colossal crush on her art teacher... and it looks like the feeling might be mutual.