The day started out like any other among the girls of Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. It was the second week back from winter break, and there was snow falling in light fluffy blankets from the thick clouds outside. Cammie Morgan sat next to her on and off boyfriend, Zach, in her dorm with her other roommates and their assorted boyfriends. It was currently 5:30 in the afternoon.

Cammie POV

I was sitting comfortably next to Zach, his arm draped casually around my shoulders. We were watching Bex and Grant argue about their favorite fighting styles, while Jonas and Liz were squished together, sharing a laptop that seemed utterly engrossing to them, since neither of them had spoken for several minutes. Macey had left exactly 27 minutes and 13 seconds ago, saying she had to get a book from the library for a project in Mr Smiths class.

Zach chuckled beside me, and I looked up, following his gaze to where Bex had Grant pinned to the floor in a painful-looking position.

"And that is why Judo is better." Bex said with a smirk. Grant struggled uselessly against Bex's strong hold. After a minute of struggling, he finally relaxed, signaling his surrender. Bex's smile got even wider as she gave Grant a quick peck on the cheek before springing off of him. Grant got painfully to his feet, and glared over at Zach, who was struggling to contain his laughter.

"Wipe that smirk off your face!" Grant seethed, annoyed. Zach removed himself from my grasp and stood to face Grant.

"Make me!" He yelled playfully as Grant tackled him. They fell to the ground in a mix of laughter, profanity and petty insults, rolling around on the floor of the suite.

The sound of the door opening drew my attention to Macy, who stepped through the door and looked at Bex and mines boyfriends with a disdainful roll of her eyes. She disappeared inside her room with her book, returning a second later, her eyes focused on the clock.

"Guys," She began. "Doesn't dinner start in like fifteen minutes?" At the mention of food, Grant and Zach ended their fight and picked themselves up from the floor. As we all began heading to the door, Bex went over to Liz, promptly whapping her in the back of the head to get her attention. It worked.

"Oww, heey!" Liz complained, rubbing the sore spot on her head.

"C'mon, geniuses, your gonna miss dinner" I called out, heading into the hallway with everyone else. We talked and messed around in the snow on our way to the dining hall. Once there we took our usual seats at the juniors table, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

4 minutes and 11 seconds later

My mother was the last person to arrive, and Mr Solomon remained mysteriously unaccounted for. Mom walked confidently down the middle of the room and took her place at the head of the staff table. She stood and the room was instantly silent, all eyes on her while we waited to hear what she had to say. My mother calmly surveyed the room with a satisfied smile before beginning.

"Ladies," My mother began, "I hope you are all enjoying your time back and returning to your regular schedules. Now, there have been a series of events that have led to the admittance of a new student. Mr Solomon should be arriving with her any minute. She will be joining the Junior class. -" The doors were suddenly opened and Mr Solomon stepped in, followed by a petite girl with long sandy blonde hair and forest green eyes. She was wearing black skinny jeans and a faded blue t shirt under a black jacket. Her converse looked as though they had survived an Armageddon. It was then that we noticed she was handcuffed.

"Bloody hell?" I heard Bex mutter beside me. The girl stood confidently, even though she couldn't have been taller than 5'4. Her eyes surveyed the room with distaste, and a scowl was visible on her features, like she didn't want to be here.

She followed Mr Solomon down the aisle and came to stop in front of my mom before turning around to face everyone else.

"Ladies, meet Nicolette DiCaprio." The girl -Nicolette's eyes hardened into a glare as she looked fiercely at us.

"If I ever hear anyone call me Nicolette instead of Nikkie I with personally snap your neck in half, got it?" Her soft, feminine voice was laced with venom. Mr Solomon cleared his throat.

"Now, Nikkie, if I remove these handcuffs, are you going to run again?" She bowed her head in shame.

"No, Mr Solomon." That seemed to please him and he reached into his pocket for the key. His eyebrows furrowed as he searched every pocket for the keys before he noticed Nikkie smirking. She reached into her jacket with her handcuffed arms and brought out several wallets, and the keys. She dropped that wallets on the floor and began undoing the handcuffs. Mr Solomon and well, everyone was staring in shock at the wallets on the floor as several people began recognizing theirs, so much that they didn't notice Nikkie slyly removed the handcuffs. In a flash, she was off, sprinting like a bullet towards the door.

"Hey!" Mr Solomon yelled, chasing after her. "Get her!" At this, Zach and Grant, who were on the other side of me, stood and got between her and the doors she was trying to get through. Her face hardened into a scowl and she growled, "Move." Grant smirked, "Not a chance, girly." This seemed to anger her more and she charged at Grant, who saw it coming and was ready to block her attack, but apparently she had other plans in mind. As Grant came forward to meet her attack, she leaped up and flipped over Grant, landing on her feet behind him without breaking her stride. Grant fell forward, leaving Zach and Mr Solomon to retrieve her. She sped out of the dining hall with the two hot on her heels.

Zach POV

Damn, this girl was slippery! I could hear the footsteps of people behind us. She took a sudden left and I followed her closely, praying that she would take the next right, which led to a dead end. My prayers were answered as she took a sudden right, halting abruptly as she skidded to a stop in the dead end. Her breathing was ragged as she glared at me. She tried to run past me but I grabbed her and managed to spin her back around, so that she remained in the alcove. She looked surprised at me.

"How did you catch me?I never get caught!" She exclained, clearly shocked that I managed to keep up with her. I smirked and pointed to myself.

"Spy." She grinned and held up my wallet.

"Thief." Now it was her turn to laugh at my surprised face. She tossed my wallet back to me before approaching me, her hand outstretched. I shook it.

"Zach."

"Nikkie."

Suddenly Grant whirled around the corner with the rest of the gang and Mr Solomon in tow. He glared when he saw her.

"You!"

"Grant," I warned.

"Stay outta this," Grant looked pissed, but Nikkie didn't look worried.

"Grant, is it? You know, I would love to fight you right now, but unfortunatley I'm still recovering from my little encounter with Solomon over there" She said, lifting up her shirt to reveal several broken ribs. I could hear someone whistle, before hearing "Mr Solomon!"

Solomon held up his hands in defense, "She pointed a gun at me!"

"You pointed two at me!" She shot back. Solomon sighed.

"Look Nikkie, you've got no where else to go! It's either this or prison. At least if you choose this route, eventually you can get paid doing the things I had you arrested for." Nikkie sighed in defeat.

"Fiine" Solomon smiled.

"Great! Lets get you into a uniform."

"uugh, I hate skirts."

Nikkie POV

Urg, skirts, how I despise thee. Well, might as well get use to it.

We walked back to the dining room or whatever and again felt everyone's eyes on me. I decided to follow Zach and his merry gang (except for this Grant dude who still looks pretty pissed off) back to their table, seating myself between Zach and Grant, since their the only ones whose names I knew. Zach turned to me and introduced me to Cammie, Bex, Liz, Macey, and Jonas. We got about thirty seconds before this girl sat down across from me and introduced herself as Tina. Then the questions began.

"How old are you?" I took a sip of water before replying, which seemed to annoy her. I smirked.

"16, i think."

"You think?" I shrugged.

"There are more important things to me than knowing how old I am."

"Like what!" I stared at her as if she were stupid.

"Like staying alive?"

"Alive? Are your parents like, wanted! Do you have people following you everywhere trying to kill you?" I laughed.

"Nope," I popped the p, "It's a little too late for them." She looked confused.

"Your parents? What happened?"

"Dead." I said indiferently, stealing a grape off of Zach's plate and popping it into my mouth. I looked back at Tina who was looking at me with pity in her eyes, in fact- everyone who had been listening was looking at me like that.

"Oh, Nik, I'm so sorry.."

"For what?" I asked, genuinely confused. Tina stared at me.

"umm, your parents dying? Since you dont seem to mind me asking, how did they die?"

"Lets see, I was four at the time, and there was an exhibit at the museum down the street from where we lived in France. They were showing this painting that my mother absolutely adored. My father was determined to get it for her, since it was almost her birthday. They were a little out of practice, but they thought they could pull it off. I remember when they though I had fallen asleep they went out.I went down stairs and decided to watch cartoons, excited with the feeling of doing something 'bad'. I watched tv for an hour before a breaking news report came on. I saw my parents, cuffed and being led into sqad cars. Somehow I new that that was a bad thing, that the authorities would come and get me, So I packed some clothes, all the money I could find and some food. Then I left. A few days later I heard that my parents were charged and executed by the French Government." I finished my story and looked around me. Everyone was staring at me, wide eyed and open mouthed. Tina was the first to snap out of her daze.

"So, Nikkie, what have you stolen?" She raised a mischievous eyebrow at me and grinned. I smirked back at her.

"A magician never reveals her secrets." There was a groan of protest from my audience as they were disappointed. I sighed.

"How about you guys name things off and I will say yes or no?" I posed. Everyone liked that idea.

"I'll go first!" Tina practically yelled. "Ok, have you ev-" Tina was cut off by the headmistress announcing, "Dinner is now over, please return to your dorms."

I sighed in relief as Tina huffed and left our area of the table. Then I remembered that I didnt have a dorm to sleep in.

"Uh, guys, I'll be right back, I need to figure out which dorm I'm supposed to sleep in." I said to our gang and they nodded. I made my way to Ms Morgan and Mr Solomon. I stopped and waited for them to notice me.

"Yes?" Ms Morgan asked me.

"Where do I sleep?" I asked bluntly. Ms Morgan handed me a key.

"Room 251, East Wing" I grinned

"Thanks" I said and left.

Finding the room was pretty easy, it was getting in that was difficult. The headmistress must have given me the wrong key or something cuz I had to pick the lock in order to get in. I finally managed to get the gosh-dang door open only to find everyone from earlier in there! I saw Zach with his arm around Cammie,who were watching Grant and Bex wrestle in the middle of the room. Liz and Jonas were huddled next to each other, staring so intently at a computer that I thought it would explode. Macey was boredly doing her nails on one of the beanbags scattered about the room. They all froze when they heard the door open and turned to stare at me. I smiled.

"Looks like I'm bunking with you guys"