Wasteland

Summary: Fifteen year old Lorna Morello is sent to a youth correction camp after being caught stealing and scamming. She immediately meets quite a few interesting and/or frightening characters there, including her roommate Boo - who is very aggressive about her sexuality, Boo's friend Nicky - a girl with hair even crazier than Lorna's inability to decide if the older girl should be like a sister to her or a romantic partner, and her counselor - a frighteningly bold and aggressive man who other girls swear they've heard terrifying rumors about. (Lorna, Nicky, Boo, and Mendez are main characters in this. Red, Suzanne, Vee, and Caputo are secondary characters. Most others who are included are either only mentioned or just pop up very minimally a few times.)

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Welcome to my second Orange Is The New Black story... My first one was a sort of test-drive, to see if I could handle the characters and situations I'm interested in writing about. I enjoyed writing my first story, and wanted to write more... So I have. As I guess I like to do, I've made all the characters into teenagers and put them into a stressful, frightening situation. I haven't been timid about including sexual content in this, nor violence and sexual assault. So be forewarned - If things like that bother you, be careful. This story can get kinda rough... But it's got some lovely bits of Nicky and Lorna's blossoming love story in it too. I hope you guys like it. It's kind of my first real story for this fandom. The other one expanded on an existing scene and was short. This one is my own original idea and is long as hell... I worked hard on it, so I hope some people out there enjoy it. :)

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CHAPTER 1

**Monday**

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With a shaking exhale and tears in her eyes, Lorna Morello looked around the room. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. She wasn't a bad person... at least, she didn't think she was. What she did was pretty much harmless. There wasn't a true victim - not an individual... and she was willing to give everything back that she could if they'd just let her off the hook... But that wasn't good enough... so she'd been sent here.

She had been ordered to live for an estimated month (depending upon her progress or lack thereof) in the Litchfield Youth Camp - which sounded much more fun by name than it probably was going to be. It sounded like summer camp on the surface - but Lorna gathered it was basically prison for teenagers. She wasn't allowed to leave. She had to follow a strict schedule and talk to counselors. The girls here even had to all wear the same thing. She had been issued three plain grey t-shirts, three pairs of plain grey sweatpants, and a sweatshirt and jacket. Even all the socks, underwear, and bras were just plain, basic white stuff. Most of the clothing was too big for her, and she wasn't allowed to wear her own stuff - not even her own underwear!

They had even already made her change out of the clothes she had come in. Lorna didn't wear sweatpants and plain ugly t-shirts. She always dressed to impress. Now she couldn't. She was going to look like she was in P.E. constantly... And even in P.E. she rolled her shorts up to make them cuter and cut her t-shirt to fit different. She wasn't allowed to do that here.

Lorna was really dreading this. A whole month in this place sounded practically impossible to survive. She already felt extremely uncomfortable just being dressed like a mental patient... She frowned and stared across the desk at the woman who was explaining the facility. Was Lorna a mental patient? This wasn't a mental hospital, was it? Youth Camp... Was that a gentle way of saying she was crazy, but too young to go to adult crazy-person jail? She didn't do anything crazy... She just stole a lot of stuff, and returned some of that stuff for cash... and she did this for a long time, at a lot of different businesses. It all caught up with her so suddenly. What she did was maybe a little wrong, a tad bit immoral... but not crazy...

"You okay, Hun?" The woman across the desk frowned. Her name was Natalie Figueroa, and she was apparently like the big boss around here. She had been talking this whole time, with Lorna spacing out here and there during the long explanation of the facility and all its rules. She must have noticed the young girl's worried expression.

"I'm fine." Lorna forced a smile, swallowing and blinking back unshed tears. "This isn't like... a crazy person center, is it?" She finally just asked. If she was in the loony bin, she had a right to at least know it.

Figueroa - who had told Lorna earlier that she could just call her 'Fig,' smiled and shook her head. "No. I mean, there are mental health concerns for some of the clients here, but nothing too significant. There are facilities specifically for that, but this isn't one of them. Mental health is by no means our major focal point here. You'll be safe. There's nothing you need to worry about. None of the other girls are going to do anything to you. If anyone does, we'll deal with it swiftly. We don't tolerate violence."

Lorna swallowed. The woman probably meant for that to be reassuring, but it wasn't. Lorna just wanted to know nobody thought she was crazy. She didn't even consider other girls here might hurt her... and Fig didn't even promise none of them would - just that if they did, there'd be consequences. Consequences wouldn't do her any good if she'd already been beaten up.

"At any rate, your schedule is included in your packet." She nodded toward the overwhelmingly full folder of papers she had given Lorna at the beginning of this conversation. "Every client here sees their counselor at minimum twice a week. We can adjust that as needed - if you're having a hard time, you can see him every day if you need to. We're going with monday and tuesday this week, since you're still transitioning into our program. If things go well, next week and the weeks after, it'll be tuesday and friday."

"Make sure you report for meals on time. We don't serve late, and don't enable eating disorders. If you make a habit of missing meals, we'll notice and it'll be just another issue to add to the list of reasons to keep you here longer. Same goes for your tutoring and study time and your job." She went on.

"My job?" Lorna frowned.

"Yes." Fig smiled. "You'll be assigned a job. It's not going to be backbreaking or eat up too much of your time. Jobs are typically a couple hours per day. It's to teach you responsibility while you're here."

"Do I get paid?" Lorna's eyebrows rose.

"A small compensation, yes. We have a small shop - with magazines, candy, art supplies, journals, sketchbooks... Stuff like that - for your free time. You can spend the money you earn from your job there. Until then, we've got a library, a rec room, tables outside, basketball hoops, a small track, garden... Even without money during your first few days here, there are plenty of things to do." The director explained.

Lorna nodded. This wasn't really sounding that bad the more the woman explained. Besides the terrible clothing and not being allowed to leave, it seemed livable.

"Phone calls are limited to between eight and nine am and eight and nine pm, from your approved list, unless there's a special circumstance or emergency. No cell phones allowed, no internet of any kind." Fig continued.

Lorna's shoulders slumped. Well, that was big... How was she supposed to live without phones or internet? How could she talk to her boyfriend, Christopher? She texted or messaged him online literally every day - many, many times per day.

"Don't be caught out of your room after 9:30pm." Fig added.

"What if I have to pee?" Lorna whispered, feeling a pout form on her lips. She never went to bed at 9:30... She wasn't an old woman... and as long as she was up, she'd be drinking water every now and then, and she always had to pee right before bed.

Fig shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Then you go pee. But try to do that before 9:30. That should be reserved for when you simply can't wait - not an every night occurrence. We can't have you all running the halls all night."

Lorna exhaled and closed her eyes. "Okay... I'll try to go before 9:30." She agreed. She'd just have to not drink anything too late. That was annoying.

"You'll do fine here as long as you follow the rules, Hun. So don't be nervous. The other girls here are typically nice enough... Don't follow their lead if they're doing anything dumb, but you'll make friends quick. We accept girls age 13-21, but it's mostly high school kids, 14-18. I think we have a couple nineteen year olds right now."

"Adults can be here too?" Lorna wondered.

"Only very young adults, and most of those twenty or twenty one are special cases. Mainly, we don't want young adults just barely older than teenagers to be treated as adults. Depending on life circumstance, some of these young women haven't ever been taught how to exist as adults. The human brain isn't fully developed - fully mature, until about age twenty-five. We're giving very young adult offenders a bit of a break. A second chance." Fig pushed her chair back and moved to stand. "You ready to go meet your room mate and have a look around the center?"

Lorna swallowed, but nodded. She really didn't want to meet her room mate. Even though she was sentenced to spend time here just like the rest of the girls - probably for a similar reason - she couldn't help but feel a little scared by her peers. Maybe they had done things worse than what she did. Maybe they were dangerous or crazy - otherwise violent or perverts. She didn't want to have a room mate.

She followed the director down a hallway, hugging her stack of clothing and papers against her chest as she walked. She passed a few girls who kind of just stared at her. They didn't look mean exactly, but didn't smile or say hi either.

"You're in room 13." Fig told her, gesturing toward a room with the number on its door. "The doors do not lock. Don't try to make it lock by tying anything to the knob, pushing the dresser in front of it... There's a good reason they don't lock, so don't try it."

"Welcome." A somewhat sinister and amused sounding voice spoke up as soon as Lorna and the director entered the room. "This my new little friend?"

"Yes, Carrie." Fig sounded annoyed as she responded. "This is Lorna Morello. Lorna, this is Carrie Black."

"You can call me Boo." The girl grinned as she walked up and held out her hand, grabbing Lorna's and shaking firmly.

"Really?" Lorna laughed nervously. "Boo?"

"Yep." Boo nodded. "I'll take it from here, Ma'am." Boo smiled up at the director as she put her hand on Lorna's shoulder. "I'll show her around."

Fig frowned. "Be nice, Carrie. Lorna, if you need anything, you know where my office is. If she gives you any trouble-"

"I won't!" Boo laughed. "Geeze. Come on, kid. I'll show you our room. You get your own bed, half of the dresser. You get a desk..." She started explaining as she gestured toward the various pieces of furniture.

Lorna exhaled nervously as she watched Fig smile lightly and back out of the room, leaving her with this new girl - who honestly looked a little scary. She was a heavyset girl, with short, dark hair, and a sort of mean look to her. Lorna wasn't great at guessing ages, but Carrie - or Boo - seemed to be older than her. Maybe even one of the young adults Fig was talking about. She hadn't actually said or did anything mean... She just looked kind of scary, and was aggressively talkative. Just the fact that she'd put her hand on Lorna's back immediately was a little odd. Lorna didn't often touch people she just met. That was reserved for close friends where she came from.

"Let's put your stuff down." Boo suggested, taking Lorna's stack of clothes from her hands and putting them into the top drawer of the dresser. "Can't say it makes much sense to give us this whole dresser when this is all the clothes we use... Most kids aren't here more than a couple months either. I guess the big offenders last longer."

"How long have you been here?" Lorna wondered.

"Two months." Boo smirked. "And I got two left if I don't fuck up again."

Lorna grimaced. That was a long time. Four months? Lorna was only here for one. "What'd you do?" She whispered, staring wide-eyed at Boo.

Boo laughed and shook her head. "Nothin' too bad. How old are you?" She frowned.

Lorna swallowed nervously. "Fifteen." She squeaked. "How about you?"

"Older than fifteen..." Boo smirked. "So anyway, the monitors and counselors run a pretty tight ship around here. There's always two monitors on duty. They can't give you medication or counsel you really, but they kind of just keep watch around the place... The counselors just work during the day unless they stay late - some of 'em do sometimes. Day meaning 8am - 1am. Their hours are staggered - they like for there to be a counselor here almost all the time, unfortunately. They can give you medication - and suggest psych stays and shit, so don't get on their bad side. They're not allowed to strip search you - though a couple of 'em might try. That's what I've heard." She laughed.

Lorna inhaled a small breath and frowned.

"They can pat you down though. Some of 'em take advantage of that. Who's your counselor?" Boo rattled.

"Um... Menendez or somethin'?" Lorna shrugged.

"Oh... Mendez..." Boo frowned. "Yeah... He's kind of a perv."

"He is?" Lorna pouted.

"Yeah. He always seems to get assigned the youngest, cutest girls. There's two other girls in here like you - young, tiny, cute... He's their counselor too. Surprise, surprise." Boo scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Can I change counselors?" Lorna whispered.

"I doubt that. Especially not yet. You haven't even met the guy." Boo laughed. "You a lesbian?"

"W-what?" Lorna breathed. Did she just hear that right?

"Are you a lesbian? Do you have sex with girls?" Boo asked slowly and more bluntly.

Lorna inhaled, feeling slightly speechless as she shook her head. "Um... N-no..." She breathed.

"Hm..." Boo shrugged, narrowing her eyes and looking Lorna up and down. "You wanna fool around anyway?"

"No... I don't." Lorna pouted. "I have a boyfriend. Christopher."

"Right..." Boo frowned. "You know... Lesbian sex doesn't count as cheating. Have you had sex with your boyfriend?" She asked.

"Well that's... That's not really your business." Lorna shook her head.

"I'm just sayin', if you're not a virgin, this doesn't have to be a big deal at all. If you've ridden dick already, this is gonna be nothing. I mean, not nothing. It's so much better, but like not as painful. I can teach you exactly how to do it." She reached out toward Lorna's arm.

"No!" Lorna gasped, slapping the older girl's hand away.

"Alright." Boo laughed. "Fine. It's just fingers. Like, seriously... It'd be me sticking a couple fingers up in you, movin' 'em around a bit... Making you feel all kinds of tingly and excited... I guarantee you'd love it."

"No." Lorna hugged her arms around herself and looked down.

"Well, maybe later. Let's go to lunch before we end up late." Boo suggested, taking off toward the door as though what she had just said wasn't completely inappropriate and disgusting.

Lorna frowned and followed her. It wasn't like she knew anyone else in the building. Though Boo was vulgar, and honestly kind of scary, she was the closest thing to a friend that she had, and the only guide she had. She had no choice but to follow the older girl.

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