Hola! So, this is my first Degrassi Fic. I've been wanting to right one for a long time though, but I had no fresh ideas.

But I decided on this one which seemed fun to right. I'm already on chapter five with it so, if you guys review and like it or whatever you do in these parts, then I'll keep updating. Thanks! Enjoy!

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Chapter 1: Simon's the Word

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Clare Edward's heart started to race as she stepped out of her dad's civic and onto the recently paved driveway. The building that stood in front of her was solid brick, and almost unimaginably large in size. She wondered just how many teenagers got sent here. Maybe it didn't matter, since she was just one more person forced here against her will.

"Are you ready?" Her mother's voice said from behind her as she exited the car.

Of course, she wanted to say. Of course she was ready to be dropped off at some mental institution for troubled teens out in the middle of some small town she couldn't even remember the name of. Of course she was ready to be stuck her for the rest of her school life, cut off from the real world, her home. And her friends just to be labeled insane by some know-it-all doctors every day of her life. She couldn't be readier.

Clare didn't reply to her mother as she smoothed down her flower patterned dress and went to the trunk to collect her things. At least they didn't have the kids in strait-jackets here.

Her dad circled around the car and helped her pull out her three suitcases. They weren't allowed to bring many items from home, which included laptops and cellphones and anything else that wasn't authorized by the doctors here. Clare hated the thought that even though he was fifteen, she was going to be baby-sitted by complete strangers.

"It won't be that bad, Clare," her father told her, closing the trunk and leading his family up the driveway. "You might even like it here."

Clare rolled her eyes. As if, she thought, slinging her duffel bag over her right shoulder and reluctantly following her parents into the building. At first glance, it seemed well kept. The front had a large curved desk and red carpets floors. The walls were painted a nice shade of tan and flowers on Venetian tables were placed all around. At least it took from some of her depression from being here, but not much.

From the double doors, an elderly man came through with two large men following close behind at his heels. The older man, Dr. Wok, was smiling, while the other two men behind him seemed to have scowls stapled permanently to their face. Clare wondered if she ran now, if those two men would drag her away screaming like they do in the movies then strap her to some gurney and lock her up forever.

"Clare! Mr. and Mrs., Edwards! We've been anticipating your arrival!" His voice bellowed, causing Clare to boil a bit with resentment. He acted like some long lost relative and friend. Maybe that's what he was aiming to seem like for her, but she was damned if he was going to give him the satisfaction of even a kind greeting. "Please, come into my office. My men here will take your things to your room," he looked at Clare, still smiling.

Clare reluctantly handed her duffel bag to the bigger guy as her dad did with her suitcase to the other. The three followed Mr. Wok through the double doors and down the hallway. Clare felt like the place was eerily quiet, and smelt like stale French fries and cleaning supplies.

They followed the older man down a few more hallways until they reached the end. He opened the door and Clare noticed his expensively decorated office with a great window view and a beautiful young woman sat on a chair near the wall, smiling. Mr. Wok sat down on his velvet colored leather chair and casually fixed his Ramir Clash suite. People must pay him a fortune to fix their kids.

He motioned for the Edwards to have a seat on the couch in front of his desk. They did and he immediately picked up the pen on his desk with the Institution's logo copied in red and white on the side and started to tap it onto the surface lightly.

"Welcome," he said kindly. Clare was really started to get pissed off by his constant smile. "I'm glad you chose the Degrassi program for your daughter. We're here to help.

Mr. Edwards smiled. "No, thank you. We really needed to find something for Clare. We tried therapy and we don't want to send her to a n actual mental institution."

Mr. Wok nodded. "We understand. Like I told you during examination, we like to keep things social and trivial for our teenagers. Schooling and counseling are our top priority, along with helping our patie- I mean students with their problems. Our program has proven to be very successful, and I've no doubt we'll be able to help your daughter." He looked at Clare. "Are you ready for your first day?"

Clare had to force herself from rolling her eyes at him. He acted like she was a five year old who was starting school for the first time. Did she mention his smile was really starting to get on her nerves? Well, it was.

"I guess," was her only reply.

"Clare..." Her mother's voice exasperated from beside her.

"No, it's quite common," Dr. Wok said. "Clare will open up in her own time. Which brings me to Ms. Haman," his thumb pointed to the woman on the right. "She'll be the one who leads your group and individual counseling every day or so."

She smiled and walked over to Clare, extending her hand. "Wonderful to meet you, Clare. You can call me Holly." Her voice was sweat and soothing, like cool honey sap dripping down a tree. To Clare, she seemed too normal to be running group sessions for crazy, hormonal teenagers.

Clare just shrugged and looked away. It didn't matter how nice they were, the cold shoulder was the only thing anyone in this room was getting right now, including her parents.

"I think you should go and let Clare settle in," Dr. Wok suggested to the Edwards. "I promise you, she'll be fine. Weekly calls and monthly visits are permitted."

They nodded and stood up. Clare did too, knowing the second they left, she was stuck here for good.

"Bye, Clare," her mother said, hugging her daughter tightly. Clare gave in and hugged her back, knowing that this was hard on her mom too, even if she's the one who insisted she come here. Too bad she wasn't normal like her sister, or there wouldn't be this problem.

Her dad kissed her on the forehead. "Don't worry. We'll come visit."

Dr. Wok led the three out of his office and to the hallway. Dr. Wok told Clare to wait while he escorted her parents out, and she said bye to them one more time before they disappeared around the corner.

For a moment, Clare found herself completely alone in the hallway. No Dr. Wok, or scary guards. Maybe if she was careful enough she could get out-

"Clare," came the honey smooth voice from behind. She'd missed her chance.

Clare turned and saw Ms. Haman, or Holly, standing next to a boy about her age, wearing a large hoodie and a gray beanie on his head.

"This is Adam," she presented him. "He's in your group and I'm sure he'll help make you feel welcome. Here's your room key." Holly pulled a key from her pocket with a yellow tag on its end and handed it over to Clare. "I'd show you around myself, but I have a meeting with one of the students. I'll see you in the morning." And with that, she headed off down the opposite hallway, disappearing out of sight.

"Welcome," Adam said, smiling. "Hell awaits you."

She looked up at the boy standing next to her. "Is this place really that bad?" She asked curiously.

"Not if you like scary security guards and crazy people." He started walking down the hallway and Clare followed.

"How many of them are there?"

"Security guards, or crazy people?" He asked for clarification.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Both?"

"Well, there are a lot of teenagers here. All of them with small issues to absolutely insane. When it comes to the guards, I don't know how many there are, but they all respond to the same name," Adam explained.

"Seriously?" Clare asked, not believing it. "What is it?"

"Simon," he said. "And I think they're all related. They all have the exact same scowl on their faces. They were probably born with it."

Clare giggled. She could barely believe it, but she giggled. She hadn't even cracked a smile since she found out about this place being her new home. Adam wasn't half bad and made her feel much more comfortable than Dr. Wok.

"Is there anything I should know about you?" Adam asked as he came to a stop. "You don't have to tell me what your problem is, I just want to know if there's something specific I should avoid saying or doing when I'm around you. You'd be surprised by the things that send people into an uncontrollable rage at random."

Clare blinked. Adam made it sound like the kids here were really insane; then again, it was a mental institution, even if they called the patients 'students' to make the families feel better about the place.

She opened her mouth to respond, but hesitated a moment. She hadn't planned on talking to anyone about her problems, but Adam's question seemed innocent enough. "Umm, no. Nothing specific. What about you?"

Adam shook his head. "Nope. I'm probably the most level headed person here. Personally, I don't think I have a problem. Well, not really anyway. I'm only here because mom thought it would... Help fix things."

Clare tilted her head, interested. "What do you mean?"

Adam bit his bottom lip for a second. "Well, if you read my papers, my problem's listed as 'mentally confused and a danger to self.'"

"So... You hurt yourself?"

"I used to..." He trailed off, still biting his lip and Clare could feel he was starting to get uncomfortable. She decided not to press it any further and move on to a different subject.

"Are you going to show me around or what?"

He smiled, seeming more like his previous self. "Sure."

For the next few minutes, Adam showed Clare around most of the building. Starting with the different corridors, the class rooms, the rec room when free time came along, the cafeteria, and to Ms. Haman's room. Not far from there they stopped and the end of another hallway where the door read 'BASEMENT, DO NOT ENTER.'

"That's the basement," he said. "If you haven't guessed it, you're not allowed in there."

"Why?" Clare asked. "Do they keep special things down there?"

"Well, let's just say the worst place in the whole building is down there," he said. "And you do not want to end up there. So make sure to follow the rules, and if you're going to break them, don't get caught."

"What's the place like? Have you ever been down there?"

Adam shook his head. "No, and I don't want to. Down there," he pointed toward the door, "Is 'Solitary'. They send you down there when you're in need of a serious timeout."

For a second, Clare seemed compelled to go down there and see what Solitary looked like. Was anyone down there now? Is that the only thing the basement was used for? What rules did you have to break to be sent down there?

Clare wanted to ask Adam more, but when she turned she saw Adam turn away and head down the hall. "Come on, I'll take you to your room."

She hesitated, then complied and followed him down that way. "So, where is everybody?" she asked. "Besides you, Ms. Haman, Dr. Wok, and the Simons, I haven't seen anyone else.

"Everyone's probably in Group or private meeting with their psych," he said. "And the ones who aren't are probably in their rooms or doing school work. It usually only gets active around here is around meal times and weekends. They like to keep us busy."

Clare followed Adam up the staircase to the second floor. The large, glass windows made this place bright and sunny. Right now, it didn't seem like an institution for kids and more like some vacation hotel. The upstairs carpets were the same red as the ones downstairs, but the walls were brown with paintings hung on them and stands with flowers, all yellow daisy's.

"Why aren't you doing any of those things?"

"You ask a lot of questions," he said, but responded anyway. "This week, our Group had morning sessions, and I'm not scheduled for any private meeting with Dr. Wok or Holly today. So here I am, showing you around."

"What about school? How does that work?"

He shrugged. "It's not hard. You just sit in a room for five hours doing work." Suddenly, someone came walking angrily down the hallway and pushed past Clare and Adam. Clare could see that the guy seemed beyond angry, his face red and his eyes unfocused as he stormed away.

"Hey!" She called after him, but he kept walking. "That was rude!" She said to Adam.

"That's Riley," Adam said. "He's got some serious Roid Rage issues. But when he's not angry, he's actually pretty cool."

Clare rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he seems like he's a pretty cool guy when he's not barreling people down in the hallway."

Adam laughed then paused. "What's your room number?"

Clare had complete forgotten about finding her room while asking Adam questions. She didn't remember hearing it from Holly. "Um, I don't remember. Did she say?"

Adam pointed to her hand. "Check the tag number on your key."

She did as he said and looked at her tag number. "It says… B-16," Clare told him.

Adam thought about it for a second. "Oh, that room is right… Uh-oh."

A look came over his face that troubled Clare. What was wrong? "What is it?"

"Let's just say, you're rooming with the Witch of Degrassi. Bianca DeSousa," he told her. He started walking again, down that same hallway and took a left. Clare followed close behind and they stopped at the door which read 'B-16' in large letters on the door. "You really are in hell now."

Clare sighed. "Just great." She unlocked the door and walked in to find it lacking any other person. There were two beds on either side of the room and her items were sitting on the bed to the right. The other side of the room was decorated in black and red with posters on the wall along with patterned rosaries hanging from the ceiling and bedposts.

"Whoever she is, she's not a bad decorator," Clare commented, walking in with Adam at her heels. She went to her bedside and started to open her duffel bag. "I guess the 'Simons' brought all my stuff here."

"Hey, if Bianca really starts to get on your nerves, just remember, Simon's the word, and they'll drag her right out of here and, hopefully, to Solitary."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"Do you need any help unpacking?"

Clare shook her head. "No, not really. I just have to find out where to put everything along with my books and-"

A Loud knock came to the open door, interrupting Clare. "Adam!"

Clare looked up and saw a different teenage guy standing there in the doorway, his hair in spikes and he looked a little flushed.

"Hey, Zane," Adam said. "Is something wrong?"

"Riley went into one of his fits again and stormed off. I wanted to know if you've seen him."

"Yeah, we saw him storming off a few minutes ago, I think he headed down stairs," Adam told him.

"Thanks." And with that, Zane was gone just as quickly as he had shown up.

Clare watched him leave from her position on the bed. "Are the close friends?" Clare asked Adam, started to pull her clothes out from her suitcase.

Adam smiled. "Actually they're dating. Four months now I think."

"Awe." Clare sat down on the edge of the bed. "Are you dating anyone?"

"No." That uncomfortable look crossed Adam's face again, telling Clare that the question was a little too personal.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry," she said quickly.

"It's okay. I better go," he said. "I'll see you around dinner time." He left, closing the door behind him.

Clare sighed, wondering just what was up with Adam. He seemed so friendly and lay back, but every now and again when she asked a question, he went into this uncomfortable, closed up state. Why was he here? What did he mean by 'mentally confused' and his mom wanting to 'fix things'?

Maybe she didn't want to know. Maybe asking questions here was a bad thing. She knew all too well what it was like when you thought you knew someone so well, but when you figure out their secrets, your whole view on them changes. It had happened to her before, and she didn't want to repeat her freshman year all over again.

She remembered that opening up was what probably got her here in the first place. Some things are just better left untold, and that was her motto now. And it applied even here in a mental institution, just like it did out in the real world. Maybe even more now.