Orientation

They burst through the doors of Ryder Hall and were met by a large group of staring faces. Mercedes, Sam and Quinn were in fact the very last to arrive, orientation having stared about ten minutes ago. 'Nice of you to join us.' Said a man from the front of the room. 'From the names I have left I assume you are Fabray, Jones and Evans?'

'Yeah, sorry we're late, we..' Sam started before the man cut him off.

'I don't care kid, just take a seat and I'll carry on.' Sam nodded, scanning the crowd before he spotted the others. A huge grin spread across all of their faces as they moved towards Mike, Tina and Santana, sitting at the back of the hall.

'Hey guys,' Quinn whispered, pulling Santana into a hug from behind.

'Hey, you managed to drag your ass out of bed then?' Santana grinned.

'Excuse me.' The man called to them again. 'I'm explaining the rules here, you don't want to miss one.'

'No Sir,' Mike responded, somewhat sarcastically but he let it slide as he continued.

'So for those of you who were late,' he shot them a glance. 'My name is Michael Ryder. And yes this dormitory is named after me because I have spent a lot of money on restoring it.' Santana looked at Tina as they both rolled their eyes. 'So if you break any of my rules you will be sent directly to me, understand?' There were a few murmurs and nods. They could all already tell this guy was going to be a nightmare. 'Rule number one; those of you who came in through the back way would have noticed that some of the building is still going through some reconstruction. You are under no circumstances to go into that part of the building. Rule number two; no alcohol or drugs in my dorm. If I catch you once you get a warning, twice you get a punishment and if I catch you a third time, you're out of here for good. And finally, rule number three; I know this is a co-ed dorm but there will be no opposite sex fraternising.' There were a few laughs and embarrassed giggles from around the room and then Santana said;

'What about same sex fraternising?' She grinned at him, this guy was going to be fun to play with. Quinn gave her a playful slap on the shoulder as lots of the other kids in the group laughed at her.

'You must be,' he scanned his list. 'Only one Spanish sounding name on here so, Lopez.'

'Well done.' She replied.

'Lopez, that's a warning.' He jotted something down by her name.

'Ha, oh you have got to be kidding me.' She laughed but then held her hands up. 'I apologise Mr Ryder.'

'Good, now. On with the second phase of orientation, the tour.' He handed out several clipboards to more faculty members. 'When you hear your name move over to that adviser, they will show you around and tell you your room numbers.' He looked at the list he held in his own hand and sighed, walking over to the group slowly as he read out their names. 'Chang, Evans, Fabray, Cohen-Chang, Jones and Lopez.' Santana smiled innocently up at him. 'Come with me.' He groaned. They all picked up their bags and began following him out of the hall.

'So, why did you put so much money into restoring an old dorm?' Sam asked as they walked slowly through the halls. They had seen the kitchen and the living area so far and were on their way up to the showers and the bedrooms.

'Well it wasn't a dorm when I took it on as a project.' Michael stated.

'What was it?' Quinn asked, stepping up next to Sam as they struggled up the stairs with their bags.

'It was an asylum.' She said, stopping them all in their tracks.

'You mean like, for crazy people?' Tina wanted clarification.

'Oh yeah, this was the hospital where they would try and fix people's insanity. Everything from using electroshock to lobotomising patients.'

'That's sick.' Mercedes said, all of them nodding.

'Yeah well, the property was going to be torn down. But I was already a substantial booster for the University so I thought I would buy it, do it up and we could enrol more students. You are some of the lucky few who get to stay here first.'

'Great.' Sam said, looking around like there was something wrong with the place.

Quinn looked down at Santana who was staring with wide eyes at this new information.

'San, you okay?' Quinn snapped her out of her daze.

'Oh, yeah Q don't worry.' She smiled, but Quinn wasn't buying it.

'I'm here okay. If you want to talk.'

'Yeah, thanks Quinn.' She said, and then they were all standing in the hallway of the first floor.

'So, lets go this way.' Michael let them off to the right. 'Showers are right through here, boys go to the left and girls to the right. And now on to the bedrooms.'

'Erm Mr Ryder,' Tina said. 'Where do we do washing and stuff, dirty clothes?'

'Well lots of students seem to think that's a nice present for their mothers when they return home, but if you go down to the basement there are several machines and a dryer.' Tina nodded as they continued on. 'Now here we have the bedrooms.' He began walking down the hall, calling out their names and allocating them their rooms and keys. 'Chang, room 22, on your right.' He threw a small silver key at Mike over his shoulder. 'Evans, room 23, again on your right.' Another key went flying. They then turned the corner so guessed it was split between boys and girls to some extent. 'Fabray, room 10, on your left.' He passed her the key as she was standing right beside him. 'Jones, room 12, opposite Ms Fabray.' Again he placed the key in Mercedes hand as he carried on. 'Cohen-Chang, room 13, on your left next to Ms Jones.' He threw the key back because Tina was walking with Mike, the tall football player catching it for her and handing it down. 'And finally, Lopez. Room 18 on the corner.' He gave her the key and she took it without breaking their eye contact but then he turned away.

'Hey, how comes I'm all alone on the end?' Santana protested, causing him to turn back around.

'I have no idea, luck of the draw I guess. Oh and that room has two doors, one leading out into each hallway, so just make sure you lock them both at night.' He glared at her. 'Wouldn't want any unwanted visitors now would you?'

'Whatever,' Santana mumbled, stepping back and away from him because he was very creepy in that moment.

'Alright then, I'll leave you guys to it. Pick up your schedules first thing in the morning and let the learning begin.' He smiled, whistling to himself as he walked away from them.

'Wow that guy is creepy.' Tina stated the obvious.

'Yeah, I know what you mean.' Mike agreed, kissing her on the top of the head. They were now alone in the hallway, the information about the places history kind of freaking them out, but Sam was quick to break the eerie silence.

'What do you say we unpack and then meet in the kitchen for some food? It must be past lunch time already.'

'Sounds good to me,' Mike confirmed, all of the girls nodding and then they went their separate ways.