Looking In The Eyes Of Love
A "Higher Ground" Fan Fic
By MissKate

Chapter 6: A Little Retrospection

Peter saw Juliette leading Riley around the campus, and ran out to catch up with them. He saw the disgruntled look on the new admit's face and knew it was because of her nonchalant leader. "Uh, Jules. I will take over from here. We will be having group in five minutes, so I can I have you go tell the others?" She nodded and went skipping off, to which Riley gave a little smirk.

"Not exactly a 'people-person' is she?" Riley questioned.

"Uh, you could say that. I wanted to know how you are doing." She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I'll introduce you to the rest of your group shortly. Why don't you just follow me." The two walked into the lodge and Riley sat in a chair next to the couch. Soon after, the other Cliffhangers began filing into the room.

"Ooo...A newbie," stated Scott as he followed after Shelby and sat beside her on the sofa near the fireplace. "Well, you are gonna just love group," he said sarcastically.

Each teenager found his or her spot, with Daisy, Shelby, and Scott on the couch, David sitting on the floor at the end opposite Daisy, and Ezra in a chair near them, while Auggie and Juliette sat at the table in front of Scott and Shelby. Riley watched as they all took notice of her, and as Juliette gave her a quick wave and a smile as she took her seat.

"Alright everyone, settle down. This is Riley Osborne and I am putting her in your group. I thought you needed another new face around," Peter told them, introducing the new Cliffhanger. "I think that we should start with all of you telling Riley how you got here. Plus, it will give you a little chance to share those feelings, as I know how much you all love to do that," he smirked. Nobody was amused. "Alright, tough crowd. How about we start over there with Ezra."

"Man, well, let's see. I suppose you could say that I had a little problem with drugs, and while my parents tried to solve their problems through court, they sent me to this lovely paradise."

"Thanks, Ezra," Peter said, happy that he gave an honest answer. "Aug?"

Auggie thought for moment before he responded. "I wasn't down with the good advice my parents kept giving to me and ended getting up in some gang trouble. I realized that they just didn't want me to end up like my brother."

Peter was satisfied at the way things were progressing. He liked it when the kids were honest for a change. "Jules?"

"I had a weight problem. You know, anorexia? When I did eat, I would make myself throw up. My mom was a thing with perfection, and I was just trying to live up to her standards," Juliette said, staring at the floor as she spoke.

"Your turn Dais."

Let's make this good, Daisy thought to herself. "Alright, you see, my parents are spies. Well, once I was hanging out with some friends, and I didn't know that they were on one of their 'missions' nearby, and they caught us at McDonalds. Now, my parents hate that place because they use beef in their french fries, and so when they saw me there, they totally flipped and thought that my friends were turning me into this 'McDonalds-loving, french fry-eating girl'. Well, their solution was this place, where they knew that nothing even close to McDonalds would be served, and so here I am!" Daisy was very proud of her story, and the others were laughing histerically, Peter and Sophie included. They all knew how far off her story was from the truth and congratulated her at the attempt to lighten the situation.

"Ya, nice try. Let's try that one again."

"My parents were alcoholics. Dad's in rehab now, at least trying, but Mom never got that far. Anyway, I was fed up with the crap they gave me while they were drunk. So one night, I took my dad's 7-iron, threatened to beat the living daylights out of him, and the next thing I know...I am bunking with Princess over there, and this freak." Shelby gave her a small punch in the arm and they quietly laughed for a few seconds.

Sophie sighed. "A little better. Shelby?"

She knew this was coming, and she always dreaded telling about her life. Both Daisy and Scott held her hands as she began, which Riley noticed. She knew something big was going to be revealed to her. "My step-father...abused me. I was scared every day, every night, and the only thing I could think to do was to run away, where I ended up on the streets doing anything I could for money. The police caught me a few times and after that last time, they sent me here."

"Good job, Shel." Peter gave her a nod of approval. "Scott?"

"Drugs and alcohol got me here, and the fact that my step-mother abused me made me want to stay," said Scott summing his life up in a quick sentence.

"And last but not least." Peter looked down at David and waited for him to begin.

David paused, waiting for the words to come to him, before he started. "Well, my dad is a general in the army, so childhood was kind of like boot camp. Unfortunately, his efforts weren't awarded with a straight-A student or football jock," he said, looking at Scott. "Nah, rebellion was my call in life. Drugs, alcohol...Basically anything to make him mad. Eventually, my mom threw me in here after her attempts at home-schooling failed."

Both Peter and Sophie looked around at the kids before them, and felt proud that they had all, more or less, told the truth. They only had one left. "You're up, Riley. It doesn't have to be hard, just be truthful," Sophie told her.

Riley sat in silence for a few seconds, as all the faces turned to hers. What was she supposed to say? "Umm...my parents didn't think that my boyfriend and I should have been spending as much time together as we had, so they separated us."

"Is that all?" Peter asked. There was no way that the only reason she could be in a school for "dysfunctional teens" was because they wanted to separate her and her boyfriend.

"As far as I could tell...I didn't do drugs, I didn't go to parties with alcohol, my grades were good. They were just jealous because he loved me." A tear ran down her cheek and David, sitting closest to her, set his hand upon her knee, offering comfort.

Nobody quite knew what to think of Riley's story, but they all assumed that there had to be more. As soon as their illustrious leaders let them go, the girls and boys divided and headed off to their own cabins.