Disclaimer: I don't own any Higher Ground people, which, unfortunately,
means I don't own Scott/Hayden. The only people I own are the ones that
have never appeared on the show. Anyway, this is my first Higher Ground
story, so I hope you enjoy it.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey, baby," Scott Barringer greeted his girlfriend, Shelby Merrick.
"Hey, Scott," Shelby replied.
"What have you been up to?" Scott asked, clutching her hand.
'Oh, not much," she answered. "Hey, I heard that we're getting a new Cliffhanger today."
Scott rolled his eyes. "Great, that's just what we need."
Shelby laughed softly. "Yeah, well, we're just going to have to over it, won't we?"
Scott raised an eyebrow. "Oh, will we?"
"Yes," Shelby giggled as Scott leaned in to kiss her.
"Will you guys cut with the make-out fest?" a voice asked.
Scott and Shelby looked up in surprise, but when they saw who it was, they both laughed.
"Not a chance, Ezra," Scott retorted, kissing Shelby on the cheek.
"Great," Ezra mumbled to himself.
"Are you here for a reason?" Shelby asked, motioning to the docks.
"Oh, yeah, Peter wants us inside," Ezra replied.
"For what?" Scott questioned.
"The new Cliffhanger's coming in like, a minute," Ezra explained.
Scott groaned. "Alright, alright, we're coming," he said, standing up.
He offered Shelby his hand and she took it. He helped her up and the three walked back inside.
"Okay, everyone, I want all of you to be respectful to our new students," Peter started.
He looked up when Ezra, Scott, and Shelby entered the room. "Thanks for joining us, guys."
They gave him tight smiles.
"Wait, wait, wait..." Daisy said, "there's more than one?"
"Good ear, Daisy," Peter replied, sarcastically. He smiled to show her he was joking.
Daisy rolled her eyes.
"Actually, our new Cliffhangers are twins," Peter continued. He frowned when nobody gave a reaction.
"Why are they coming here?" Scott asked.
"Well, Scott, I don't think that's really any of our business," Sophie answered, jumping in.
Peter gave her a grateful smile.
"You guys are allowed to know, why aren't we?"
Sophie faltered. "Um, because you're students and it's not your concern why others are here."
"Yeah, Scott, if we were allowed to know, we'd know why you were here," Juliette said to him.
He glared at her, but looked away when Shelby patted his back.
"So, as I was saying, don't give these kids a hard time on their first day, okay?" Peter ordered.
The students agreed in unison and Peter smiled happily.
"Okay, well, I'm going out to meet them, but I want all of you to wait here," Peter said when he realized a car was pulling up at the road. He ran outside to greet the newcomers.
"What do you think they'll be like?" Shelby asked her boyfriend.
Scott shrugged. "I dunno…probably really annoying."
"Maybe they'll be okay," Ezra suggested.
Scott glanced at Ezra. "E-Z, look at us. We're not okay. If they're here, they're probably not okay either."
"Good point," Ezra agreed.
They looked up as the door opened and Peter and Sophie entered with two teenagers and two parents, who were all carrying suitcases.
"I thought Peter said they were twins," Scott whispered to Shelby.
Shelby gave the newbies a once over. "They're fraternal twins. One guy, one girl… you know."
"Oh," Scott replied, realizing that was the case.
"Everyone, these are our new students, Benjamin and Kirsten Fallon," Peter told the group.
The students looked at the new Cliffhangers. Benjamin had spiky, black hair, a chin pierce, and an earring on both ears. He wore black eyeliner along with black, baggy jeans and a black Nirvana shirt. Kirsten had dyed, red tresses, two earrings on each ear, and a belly button ring. She wore combat boots, low, baggy, black pants and a red sweatshirt (ala Avril Lavigne).
The group greeted the twins with an unenthusiastic hello.
Peter cleared his throat and threw a smile at the parents. "Mister and Mrs. Fallon, why don't we step into the office," Peter said, leading them into the other room. "Kirsten and Benjamin can stay here."
When the adults had left the room, complete silence took over the room. Scott bit the inside of his lip. He looked around the room and saw that everyone was looking off into space. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"So, Kirsten and Benjamin," he said suddenly.
"Call me Ben," Ben told him.
Scott nodded. "Alright…Kirsten and Ben, what did you guys do to get here?"
Shelby punched his arm. "Scott!" she exclaimed quietly.
He shrugged. "What, it's just a question."
"We didn't do anything out of the ordinary," Ben answered.
Kirsten rolled her eyes. "Benj, ordinary for you is not ordinary for anyone else."
"Whatever," he muttered, looking around.
A door opened and Peter, Sophie, Mr. Fallon, and Mrs. Fallon walked out.
"Well, kids, we'll see you soon," Mr. Fallon said to his children.
Neither of them said anything.
"Good-bye, children," Mrs. Fallon said, reaching out to touch their faces. They both stepped back, out of her reach. She frowned and walked away, following her husband.
"Nice parents," Auggie whispered to Juliette.
"Why don't we introduce ourselves, huh?" Sophie suggested.
The students rolled their eyes.
"Let's start with you," Sophie said, pointing at Scott.
"Fine," Scott groaned. "Hi, I'm Scott Barringer."
"I'm Shelby Merrick."
"I'm Daisy."
"Auggie Ciceros."
"I'm Ezra Friedkin."
"Juliette Waybourne…or Jules."
As the kids all finished introducing themselves, Peter and Sophie let out a sigh of relief.
Peter smiled. "Well, that went well, didn't it. Okay, so, Benjamin, I heard you like Ben better, right?"
Ben nodded.
"Okay, then. Well, you guys can all have dinner now. We'll see in 20 minutes for group."
The Cliffhangers stood up and filed out to the cafeteria. Scott and Shelby waited to join the twins.
"Come on, we'll take you to the 'feeding room,'" Scott said, hand-in-hand with Shelby.
"Thanks," Ben replied.
They started walking with Scott and Shelby leading the way. Shelby stole quick glances at the twins and decided that she needed to know.
"So, what's the real reason you guys were sent here?"
Ben and Kirsten looked at each other.
"Drugs, drinking, stealing…you know," Ben explained. "Kirsten's just along for the ride."
"What do you mean?" Scott asked, looking back at them.
"I haven't done a thing," she replied, smirking. "Our step-mom just figured why get rid of one if you can get rid of both."
"So that was your step-mom, huh?" Scott inquired.
"Mm-hmm," Kirsten mumbled. "I hate her."
"We hate her," Ben added.
"Why, what's her deal?" Shelby asked.
"Not exactly something we want to get into," Kirsten replied.
Ben nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I can relate to that," Scott told them as they approached the cafeteria.
"I doubt that," Ben said.
"Oh, you'd be surprised," Scott replied as he opened the door.
Chatter filled the ears of the four Cliffhangers as they entered the cafeteria. Scott and Shelby beckoned the twins to follow them to the dinner line.
"This is one of the few times I haven't been on shuns!" Scott exclaimed to the twins. Shelby laughed at his comment.
"Shuns?" Ben and Kirsten asked in unison.
"Punishment," Scott explained. "I'm usually serving the food or washing the dishes. Although I'm not really sure that's always a good idea."
The twins smiled and continued forward in the line. Shelby handed them trays and the students got their food. Scott and Shelby led the other two to a table where Auggie, Juliette, Ezra, and Daisy were sitting.
"Have room for a few more?" Scott asked with a smile.
"Of course, meat," Auggie laughed.
They all sat down and began eating. Juliette poked at her food a couple of times.
"What's wrong?" Kirsten asked.
Juliette looked up with a nervous expression on her face.
"Oh, um, I…" she stammered.
Shelby rolled her eyes. "The princess doesn't like most of the food here. It's not up to her standards."
Kirsten nodded in understanding while Juliette gave Shelby a semi-grateful look.
"Hey, what's group?" Kirsten asked, suddenly.
"Oh, it's when we do our 'sharing,'" Shelby told her, rolling her eyes again.
"Sounds fun," Ben said sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, what a blast," Scott said in the same tone.
"It can't be that bad, Benj," Kirsten said to her brother, who gave her a look.
"Trust me, it's pretty bad," Scott put in.
They continued eating until Peter came in and announced it was time for group. The students stood up and followed him. They all sat down when they reached their destination.
"Okay, let's start with 'When I…'" Peter said. "Scott, start us off."
Scott groaned. "Alright…when I look at you, my heart skips a beat," he said to Shelby. She looked at him adoringly. "You're turn."
"When I have a problem, I can always turn to you. Daisy."
"When I'm bored, I know I can count on you guys to amuse me with your stupidity. Ezra."
"Daisy," Peter warned.
"What?" she asked shrugging.
Peter sighed. "Go ahead, Ezra."
They went student through student until the reached the twins.
"Care to give a go?" Peter asked.
Kirsten nodded. "When I think about the reason I'm here, it makes me want to puke." She turned to her twin. "Benj?"
"When I think about my stepmother, I want to stop thinking."
There was silence for a moment. Scott looked at Ben. Shelby looked at Scott. Kirsten looked at Ben. And Ben looked at…Scott.
"Okay, I guess group is over. You know when lights out is. See you all tomorrow." Peter said, standing up. "Kirsten, Ben, can I speak to you two for a moment."
The twins followed Peter while the other Cliffhangers sat around for a moment.
"What is it with this school and evil stepparents?" Ezra asked out loud.
Scott's eyes blazed and he shot Ezra an angry look. He felt himself calm down when Shelby's warm hand gave him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. He then remembered that Ezra had no idea about his trauma with Elaine.
"Shut up, Ezra," Shelby said to him.
"I was just wondering…sorry if I offended you, Scott," Ezra replied.
"Whatever," Scott muttered.
Peter, Kirsten, and Ben re-entered the room.
"Okay, guys, why don't you take Ben on to your cabin, and girls, you can take Kirsten," Peter said to the Cliffhangers.
They all wearily got up from their seats and took the new students to the cabins.
"It's better than I expected," Ben commented when he stepped through the cabin door.
"Why, what'd you expect?" Auggie asked.
Ben shrugged. "I don't know."
"Well, you can sleep on that bed right there," Scott said, pointing to an empty bed.
"Alright then," Ben replied, walking over to it and plopping down to try it out.
"Wow…it's very…unspacious," Kirsten said when she entered the girls' cabin.
"Unspacious?" Jules laughed. "Is that even a word?"
"Does it matter?" Kirsten shot back.
Shelby laughed out loud from her bed, and didn't try to hide it when Juliette gave her a glare.
"Well, it's reasonably spacious, right?" Shelby asked when she finished her giggle fest.
Kirsten shrugged. "I mean, I'm not complaining or anything. It's just…my house is like, really big and I'm used to that."
"Huh," Shelby grunted. She sighed and looked around the cabin. Her thoughts wandered to Scott…
She didn't get very far, though, because at that moment, Sophie opened the cabin door and stuck her head in.
"Okay, girls, lights out," she told them.
Sophie looked out the window to the boys' cabin. The lights had just been turned off.
"Good night everyone," Sophie called before shutting the door. Jules switched off the lgiths.
Kirsten walked to an empty bed and set her stuff down on the floor.
She looked at the person in the next bed and realized it was Shelby.
"Hey, neighbor," Shelby whispered to her new friend.
"Hi," Kirsten whispered back.
"You tired?"
"Not in the least."
"Ditto."
"So, you and Scott are really tight, huh?"
Shelby smiled at the thought of her adorable boyfriend. "Yeah, we really are."
"Very cool."
"Yeah, I can tell you and Ben are really close, too, right?"
"Definitely…I mean, come on, we're twins."
They laughed softly. "It must be nice knowing that there's always someone around that you can count on."
"I don't know…he's not exactly 'there' all the time, if you know what I mean. You know, with drugs and all."
"Right…"
"But hey, I'm not really that supportive of him all the time either."
"Hmm…"
"So, hey, what'd you do to get yourself in this school?"
Shelby straightened up. "Oh, um…you know, I was a bitch to my parents…uh, drugs and stuff…"
"Yeah, I get that. What about Scott?"
Shelby raised her eyebrows. "Uh…well, I…I…"
"Sorry, I shouldn't be asking. It's not of my business."
Shelby was surprised at the quickness of how she backed off the subject.
"So, man, why are you here?" Ben asked the person in the bed next to him. Ironically, it was Scott.
He kept his cool. He'd rehearsed this act. "Pretty much your story: drugs, alcohol…stuff like that."
"You have a step-mom, too, right?"
Scott's eyes widened. "How'd you know?" he asked, almost accusingly.
"You kind of told us earlier, remember? How you know how it feels to hate your stepmother?"
Scott took a deep breath. "Right…yeah, I have a stepmother. But, she and my dad are getting a divorce."
"Why, what happened?"
"I…I don't know," Scott lied.
Silence filled the gap between the two boys.
"So, why do you hate your stepmom?" Scott asked.
Ben shrugged. "I just do."
"Fair enough."
"How about you?"
"Same answer."
Ben let out a small laugh. "I think we've got some major issues, man."
"If only you knew," Scott said under his breath.
"What?"
"Oh, I said, 'Yeah, we really do,'" Scott said quickly.
"Okay…well, I think I'm going to drift off in a second, so see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, man, see you…" Scott replied, starting to feel drowsy himself.
Meanwhile, Kirsten and Shelby were having a blast talking to each other.
"Oh my God, no way!" Kirsten squealed.
"Shut up!" Daisy exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her roommates.
Shelby caught the pillow and threw it back to her friend.
"Yeah, we're trying to sleep!" Jules added.
"Ooh, sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, your highness," Shelby replied sarcastically.
Kirsten giggled loudly, causing Shelby to laugh. A knock on the window startled them.
Outside was, once again, Sophie. She motioned for them to be quiet and mouthed 'Go to sleep.'
Kirsten and Shelby nodded and Sophie, satisfied, walked away.
"Well, I don't want to get us in trouble, so I'm going to go to sleep," Kirsten said to Shelby.
"Yeah, sleep actually sound pretty good right now," Shelby agreed.
They both crawled under their blankets and let the sleep come over them…
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey, baby," Scott Barringer greeted his girlfriend, Shelby Merrick.
"Hey, Scott," Shelby replied.
"What have you been up to?" Scott asked, clutching her hand.
'Oh, not much," she answered. "Hey, I heard that we're getting a new Cliffhanger today."
Scott rolled his eyes. "Great, that's just what we need."
Shelby laughed softly. "Yeah, well, we're just going to have to over it, won't we?"
Scott raised an eyebrow. "Oh, will we?"
"Yes," Shelby giggled as Scott leaned in to kiss her.
"Will you guys cut with the make-out fest?" a voice asked.
Scott and Shelby looked up in surprise, but when they saw who it was, they both laughed.
"Not a chance, Ezra," Scott retorted, kissing Shelby on the cheek.
"Great," Ezra mumbled to himself.
"Are you here for a reason?" Shelby asked, motioning to the docks.
"Oh, yeah, Peter wants us inside," Ezra replied.
"For what?" Scott questioned.
"The new Cliffhanger's coming in like, a minute," Ezra explained.
Scott groaned. "Alright, alright, we're coming," he said, standing up.
He offered Shelby his hand and she took it. He helped her up and the three walked back inside.
"Okay, everyone, I want all of you to be respectful to our new students," Peter started.
He looked up when Ezra, Scott, and Shelby entered the room. "Thanks for joining us, guys."
They gave him tight smiles.
"Wait, wait, wait..." Daisy said, "there's more than one?"
"Good ear, Daisy," Peter replied, sarcastically. He smiled to show her he was joking.
Daisy rolled her eyes.
"Actually, our new Cliffhangers are twins," Peter continued. He frowned when nobody gave a reaction.
"Why are they coming here?" Scott asked.
"Well, Scott, I don't think that's really any of our business," Sophie answered, jumping in.
Peter gave her a grateful smile.
"You guys are allowed to know, why aren't we?"
Sophie faltered. "Um, because you're students and it's not your concern why others are here."
"Yeah, Scott, if we were allowed to know, we'd know why you were here," Juliette said to him.
He glared at her, but looked away when Shelby patted his back.
"So, as I was saying, don't give these kids a hard time on their first day, okay?" Peter ordered.
The students agreed in unison and Peter smiled happily.
"Okay, well, I'm going out to meet them, but I want all of you to wait here," Peter said when he realized a car was pulling up at the road. He ran outside to greet the newcomers.
"What do you think they'll be like?" Shelby asked her boyfriend.
Scott shrugged. "I dunno…probably really annoying."
"Maybe they'll be okay," Ezra suggested.
Scott glanced at Ezra. "E-Z, look at us. We're not okay. If they're here, they're probably not okay either."
"Good point," Ezra agreed.
They looked up as the door opened and Peter and Sophie entered with two teenagers and two parents, who were all carrying suitcases.
"I thought Peter said they were twins," Scott whispered to Shelby.
Shelby gave the newbies a once over. "They're fraternal twins. One guy, one girl… you know."
"Oh," Scott replied, realizing that was the case.
"Everyone, these are our new students, Benjamin and Kirsten Fallon," Peter told the group.
The students looked at the new Cliffhangers. Benjamin had spiky, black hair, a chin pierce, and an earring on both ears. He wore black eyeliner along with black, baggy jeans and a black Nirvana shirt. Kirsten had dyed, red tresses, two earrings on each ear, and a belly button ring. She wore combat boots, low, baggy, black pants and a red sweatshirt (ala Avril Lavigne).
The group greeted the twins with an unenthusiastic hello.
Peter cleared his throat and threw a smile at the parents. "Mister and Mrs. Fallon, why don't we step into the office," Peter said, leading them into the other room. "Kirsten and Benjamin can stay here."
When the adults had left the room, complete silence took over the room. Scott bit the inside of his lip. He looked around the room and saw that everyone was looking off into space. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
"So, Kirsten and Benjamin," he said suddenly.
"Call me Ben," Ben told him.
Scott nodded. "Alright…Kirsten and Ben, what did you guys do to get here?"
Shelby punched his arm. "Scott!" she exclaimed quietly.
He shrugged. "What, it's just a question."
"We didn't do anything out of the ordinary," Ben answered.
Kirsten rolled her eyes. "Benj, ordinary for you is not ordinary for anyone else."
"Whatever," he muttered, looking around.
A door opened and Peter, Sophie, Mr. Fallon, and Mrs. Fallon walked out.
"Well, kids, we'll see you soon," Mr. Fallon said to his children.
Neither of them said anything.
"Good-bye, children," Mrs. Fallon said, reaching out to touch their faces. They both stepped back, out of her reach. She frowned and walked away, following her husband.
"Nice parents," Auggie whispered to Juliette.
"Why don't we introduce ourselves, huh?" Sophie suggested.
The students rolled their eyes.
"Let's start with you," Sophie said, pointing at Scott.
"Fine," Scott groaned. "Hi, I'm Scott Barringer."
"I'm Shelby Merrick."
"I'm Daisy."
"Auggie Ciceros."
"I'm Ezra Friedkin."
"Juliette Waybourne…or Jules."
As the kids all finished introducing themselves, Peter and Sophie let out a sigh of relief.
Peter smiled. "Well, that went well, didn't it. Okay, so, Benjamin, I heard you like Ben better, right?"
Ben nodded.
"Okay, then. Well, you guys can all have dinner now. We'll see in 20 minutes for group."
The Cliffhangers stood up and filed out to the cafeteria. Scott and Shelby waited to join the twins.
"Come on, we'll take you to the 'feeding room,'" Scott said, hand-in-hand with Shelby.
"Thanks," Ben replied.
They started walking with Scott and Shelby leading the way. Shelby stole quick glances at the twins and decided that she needed to know.
"So, what's the real reason you guys were sent here?"
Ben and Kirsten looked at each other.
"Drugs, drinking, stealing…you know," Ben explained. "Kirsten's just along for the ride."
"What do you mean?" Scott asked, looking back at them.
"I haven't done a thing," she replied, smirking. "Our step-mom just figured why get rid of one if you can get rid of both."
"So that was your step-mom, huh?" Scott inquired.
"Mm-hmm," Kirsten mumbled. "I hate her."
"We hate her," Ben added.
"Why, what's her deal?" Shelby asked.
"Not exactly something we want to get into," Kirsten replied.
Ben nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I can relate to that," Scott told them as they approached the cafeteria.
"I doubt that," Ben said.
"Oh, you'd be surprised," Scott replied as he opened the door.
Chatter filled the ears of the four Cliffhangers as they entered the cafeteria. Scott and Shelby beckoned the twins to follow them to the dinner line.
"This is one of the few times I haven't been on shuns!" Scott exclaimed to the twins. Shelby laughed at his comment.
"Shuns?" Ben and Kirsten asked in unison.
"Punishment," Scott explained. "I'm usually serving the food or washing the dishes. Although I'm not really sure that's always a good idea."
The twins smiled and continued forward in the line. Shelby handed them trays and the students got their food. Scott and Shelby led the other two to a table where Auggie, Juliette, Ezra, and Daisy were sitting.
"Have room for a few more?" Scott asked with a smile.
"Of course, meat," Auggie laughed.
They all sat down and began eating. Juliette poked at her food a couple of times.
"What's wrong?" Kirsten asked.
Juliette looked up with a nervous expression on her face.
"Oh, um, I…" she stammered.
Shelby rolled her eyes. "The princess doesn't like most of the food here. It's not up to her standards."
Kirsten nodded in understanding while Juliette gave Shelby a semi-grateful look.
"Hey, what's group?" Kirsten asked, suddenly.
"Oh, it's when we do our 'sharing,'" Shelby told her, rolling her eyes again.
"Sounds fun," Ben said sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, what a blast," Scott said in the same tone.
"It can't be that bad, Benj," Kirsten said to her brother, who gave her a look.
"Trust me, it's pretty bad," Scott put in.
They continued eating until Peter came in and announced it was time for group. The students stood up and followed him. They all sat down when they reached their destination.
"Okay, let's start with 'When I…'" Peter said. "Scott, start us off."
Scott groaned. "Alright…when I look at you, my heart skips a beat," he said to Shelby. She looked at him adoringly. "You're turn."
"When I have a problem, I can always turn to you. Daisy."
"When I'm bored, I know I can count on you guys to amuse me with your stupidity. Ezra."
"Daisy," Peter warned.
"What?" she asked shrugging.
Peter sighed. "Go ahead, Ezra."
They went student through student until the reached the twins.
"Care to give a go?" Peter asked.
Kirsten nodded. "When I think about the reason I'm here, it makes me want to puke." She turned to her twin. "Benj?"
"When I think about my stepmother, I want to stop thinking."
There was silence for a moment. Scott looked at Ben. Shelby looked at Scott. Kirsten looked at Ben. And Ben looked at…Scott.
"Okay, I guess group is over. You know when lights out is. See you all tomorrow." Peter said, standing up. "Kirsten, Ben, can I speak to you two for a moment."
The twins followed Peter while the other Cliffhangers sat around for a moment.
"What is it with this school and evil stepparents?" Ezra asked out loud.
Scott's eyes blazed and he shot Ezra an angry look. He felt himself calm down when Shelby's warm hand gave him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. He then remembered that Ezra had no idea about his trauma with Elaine.
"Shut up, Ezra," Shelby said to him.
"I was just wondering…sorry if I offended you, Scott," Ezra replied.
"Whatever," Scott muttered.
Peter, Kirsten, and Ben re-entered the room.
"Okay, guys, why don't you take Ben on to your cabin, and girls, you can take Kirsten," Peter said to the Cliffhangers.
They all wearily got up from their seats and took the new students to the cabins.
"It's better than I expected," Ben commented when he stepped through the cabin door.
"Why, what'd you expect?" Auggie asked.
Ben shrugged. "I don't know."
"Well, you can sleep on that bed right there," Scott said, pointing to an empty bed.
"Alright then," Ben replied, walking over to it and plopping down to try it out.
"Wow…it's very…unspacious," Kirsten said when she entered the girls' cabin.
"Unspacious?" Jules laughed. "Is that even a word?"
"Does it matter?" Kirsten shot back.
Shelby laughed out loud from her bed, and didn't try to hide it when Juliette gave her a glare.
"Well, it's reasonably spacious, right?" Shelby asked when she finished her giggle fest.
Kirsten shrugged. "I mean, I'm not complaining or anything. It's just…my house is like, really big and I'm used to that."
"Huh," Shelby grunted. She sighed and looked around the cabin. Her thoughts wandered to Scott…
She didn't get very far, though, because at that moment, Sophie opened the cabin door and stuck her head in.
"Okay, girls, lights out," she told them.
Sophie looked out the window to the boys' cabin. The lights had just been turned off.
"Good night everyone," Sophie called before shutting the door. Jules switched off the lgiths.
Kirsten walked to an empty bed and set her stuff down on the floor.
She looked at the person in the next bed and realized it was Shelby.
"Hey, neighbor," Shelby whispered to her new friend.
"Hi," Kirsten whispered back.
"You tired?"
"Not in the least."
"Ditto."
"So, you and Scott are really tight, huh?"
Shelby smiled at the thought of her adorable boyfriend. "Yeah, we really are."
"Very cool."
"Yeah, I can tell you and Ben are really close, too, right?"
"Definitely…I mean, come on, we're twins."
They laughed softly. "It must be nice knowing that there's always someone around that you can count on."
"I don't know…he's not exactly 'there' all the time, if you know what I mean. You know, with drugs and all."
"Right…"
"But hey, I'm not really that supportive of him all the time either."
"Hmm…"
"So, hey, what'd you do to get yourself in this school?"
Shelby straightened up. "Oh, um…you know, I was a bitch to my parents…uh, drugs and stuff…"
"Yeah, I get that. What about Scott?"
Shelby raised her eyebrows. "Uh…well, I…I…"
"Sorry, I shouldn't be asking. It's not of my business."
Shelby was surprised at the quickness of how she backed off the subject.
"So, man, why are you here?" Ben asked the person in the bed next to him. Ironically, it was Scott.
He kept his cool. He'd rehearsed this act. "Pretty much your story: drugs, alcohol…stuff like that."
"You have a step-mom, too, right?"
Scott's eyes widened. "How'd you know?" he asked, almost accusingly.
"You kind of told us earlier, remember? How you know how it feels to hate your stepmother?"
Scott took a deep breath. "Right…yeah, I have a stepmother. But, she and my dad are getting a divorce."
"Why, what happened?"
"I…I don't know," Scott lied.
Silence filled the gap between the two boys.
"So, why do you hate your stepmom?" Scott asked.
Ben shrugged. "I just do."
"Fair enough."
"How about you?"
"Same answer."
Ben let out a small laugh. "I think we've got some major issues, man."
"If only you knew," Scott said under his breath.
"What?"
"Oh, I said, 'Yeah, we really do,'" Scott said quickly.
"Okay…well, I think I'm going to drift off in a second, so see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, man, see you…" Scott replied, starting to feel drowsy himself.
Meanwhile, Kirsten and Shelby were having a blast talking to each other.
"Oh my God, no way!" Kirsten squealed.
"Shut up!" Daisy exclaimed, throwing a pillow at her roommates.
Shelby caught the pillow and threw it back to her friend.
"Yeah, we're trying to sleep!" Jules added.
"Ooh, sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, your highness," Shelby replied sarcastically.
Kirsten giggled loudly, causing Shelby to laugh. A knock on the window startled them.
Outside was, once again, Sophie. She motioned for them to be quiet and mouthed 'Go to sleep.'
Kirsten and Shelby nodded and Sophie, satisfied, walked away.
"Well, I don't want to get us in trouble, so I'm going to go to sleep," Kirsten said to Shelby.
"Yeah, sleep actually sound pretty good right now," Shelby agreed.
They both crawled under their blankets and let the sleep come over them…