New Kid at Horizon Daisy, Juliette, Kat, and Shelby were in their dorm, working on homework.
"I hate homework!" Juliette complained. "When will the new girl get here? At least I'll get to stop my homework."

"Thats what you think Princess. What if Peter doesn't chose you to show her around?" Shelby asked.

"Then, I don't know."

"Just finish it now, Jules, and you won't have to worry about it," Kat said.

"Girls?" Sophie said as she came in. "Sydney is here. She's not getting out of the car, so, Kat, please come with me."

"Is Kat going to show her around?" Juliette asked.

"Yes. It may be the last time she'll get to show someone around. Come on, Kat." And then the two left.

"That so is not fair!" Juliette complained.

"You can't be the princess everytime, Princess."

"Here, Jules, I'll help you with your homework. I have the same assignments," Daisy offered.


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"Okay, Kat. Work your magic," Sophie said, pushing Kat towards the silver Expedition. Kat walked over and tapped on the glass. The girl looked at her and opened the door.
"Hi, I'm Katherine, but you can call me Kat. You're Sydney, right?" Sydney only raised her eyebrows. "Okay, well, how about you get out of the car and I'll show you around?" Sydney stared at her with an "Oh, please" expression on her face. "Well, you can't sit in your car forever. You're going to have to get out at some point. And Sophie over there has to check your things for drugs and stuff." Sydney still didn't move. Kat was running out of ideas. "Its really not so bad here after you adjust. Some of it can be homesickness or missing your family."

For some reason, that motivated Sydney to jump out of the car. She grabbed two of her bags and Kat picked up the other two. They followed Sophie into the examining room.

"Thank you, Kat. You can go back now. I'll bring her to the dorm when we're done, and then you can show her around before dinner, okay?" Sophie instructed. Kat nodded and then returned to the dorm.

"So, what are you in here for?" Sophie asked, although she knew.

Sydney didn't answer. She folded her arms and sat back in her chair while Sophie examined her stuff. She didn't have any drugs. She knew she would get busted. She thought hiding it under the mat in the shoe was creative, but it seemed as though everyone knew about that place. So, she chose not to take anything to Horizon.

"Well, you're clean. Thats good. But you have to go wash your face and take out all your piercings. You can leave one pair in, though."

No makeup? I look awful without makeup. But she washed her face and took out the second set of earings and the two on the top of her left ear. When she came out, Sophie said, "You look beautiful. You don't need to hide under makeup." Sydney hoped she was telling the truth. She certainly didn't feel beautiful. Truthfully, she never did feel beautiful; not with nice clothes or more than one earing or her hair done up nicely. She felt a tear about to break from her eye, so she quickly brushed it away.

Sohpie led her to the dorms. It was getting dark out and she couldn't see much of the campus.
"Well, here you go. You're part of the Cliffhanger's group. Kat will introduce you and show you around and help you get settled. I'll see you at dinner, okay?" Sydney nodded. She took a deep breath and entered the dorm. Juliette jumped off the bed.

"Hi, I'm Juliette. Thats Shelby and thats Daisy." Then she leaned in and whispered. "Shelby can be pretty rude sometimes. Don't worry."

"Stuff it, Princess. We can introduce ourselves. I'm Shelby."

"Daisy," Daisy said, offering her hand. Sydney didn't take it. "Whoa, okay. I don't need to be told twice."

"Sydney doesn't feel comfortable talking right now. Just let her settle in right now, okay?" Kat said, coming to her defence. Shelby and Daisy exchanged glances and rolled their eyes, laughing. Juliette shot them an angry look.

"See? What did I tell you?"

"Quiet, Princess, or-"

"Enough, guys! Sydney, you can take that middle bed. Do you need any help making it or putting your stuff away?"

"We can do the bed and you can put up your stuff," Juliette offered. Sydney nodded and began unloading her clothes. Daisy showed her where to hang her stuff and which drawers were hers. After the bed was made and a bag of clothes were put away it was time for dinner.

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Sydney had been introduced to the guys by the time Daisy and Juliette sat down with their food. Daisy took a seat next to Ezra, which left the only open seat next to Shelby, who sat next to Scott, who was on the end, and Sydney. She still felt uncomfortable sitting next to them, and she knew it gave Shelby pleasure at the emotional stress she was going through.

"They gave me too much again! I can never eat this much, and I tell them that all the time!" Juliette complained.

"Yo, lighten up Twig, you don't have to eat that much," Auggie said. Juliette smiled at him.

"I just feel this is too much. I feel to big already."

"Yeah, Jules. If you eat all that, the ground will shake whenever you take a step," Shelby said. Tears sprung to her eyes. She hated it when Shelby made fun of her in front of the guys, especially Auggie and especially Scott.

"It already does," she whispered under her breath. Sydney put an hand on Juliette's arm, but Juliette jumped up and left. Satisfied, Shelby turned to Sydney.

"So, why don't you talk? Do you have some deep, dark secret you don't want anybody to know? Well, if its written in that old journal of yours, everybody here will know about it by breakfast tomorrow. Come on, just say one word. Just one!" she taunted.

"Give her a break, Shel. Its her first day," Scott broke in before she could say anything more. But Sydney was hurt nonetheless and jumped up and ran back to the dorm. Juliette was there as well.

"She tease you, too?" Sydney nodded. "Why won't you talk?" Sydney shrugged. She didn't know why she wasn't talking. It was probably because she was scared. She lay down on her bed and clutched the teddy bear she brought along. She began to cry silently.

"It'll be okay, Sydney. I promise. I was so scared when I first got here that I cried myself to sleep almost every night for a week."

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Thirty minutes later, Shelby came in, accompanied by the other girls and Sophie.

"I'm sorry Jules, Sydney. I didn't mean it. It just sorta...came out," Shelby said. Then she turned to Sophie. "There, I apologized. You can go now."
Sophie shook her head and left.


How will Sydney's first week turn out? Please review!