Disclaimer: I don't own
any of the original Higher Ground characters. I do own all the names you don't recognize from the show.
Chapter 4 – Development
The Cliffhangers were
grouped outside of the main lodge in front of Roger.
"Okay, guys, listen
up!" Roger said. His eyes traveled along the group, seeing
Scott's defiant face, Juliette's excited one and Shelby closed off inside
herself. "I am responsible for all of
you as Peter and Sophie are gone for the day. However, I also have my own group to look after. With that in mind, Peter has left some independent
work for all of you to do."
David groaned. "Dude, tell me not some more soul
searching. My imagination can only come
up with so much."
"Sorry, David," Roger
said. "You know Peter too well." He turned to the group. "Your assignment is to have a piece of
visual art handed in to me by 9 pm. Your art piece is to express a moment of intense emotion you've
experienced. Any questions?"
"Yeah," said Auggie. "We gotta stay in a classroom to do
this? Or can we work wherever we want?"
"This is the part I'm uneasy
about," said Roger looking them over again. "Peter's authorized you to go wherever you want – outskirts of the
forest, dorm or lodge." Juliette
couldn't suppress her smile. Roger
looked at her, narrowing his eyes. "You've all got to realize the trust being put into you. Don't break it. One more thing. This is
not a day to socialize. As David put it
so well, it's about doing some soul searching. So this is to be done individually, understood?"
The Cliffhangers muttered in
reply.
"Good. Then I'll see you all back in the lodge by 9
pm with your assignment. Happy
Independence Day."
The Cliffhangers straggled
back to their dorms to get ready. Roger
watched them with a worried look in his eyes.
- - - - -
As soon as they were out of
sight of Roger Juliette pulled Auggie and Daisy near her.
"Okay, guys. This will be easy to pull off! All we have to do is meet near the road and
hitch a ride down!" Juliette said in a
voice a little too loud. Ezra looked
towards them.
"Ssh. Jules," whispered
Auggie. "I don't know if this is such a
good idea. Peter told me a project
would be coming up that would help bring up my grades. It's gotta be this one."
"Oh, Auggie," complained
Juliette. "You've got so much art work,
you can hand anything in!"
"I don't know Jules. And what about you guys?"
"Peter knows Daisy and I
aren't artists. He'll take anything we
hand in."
"What do you think,
Dais?" Auggie asked.
"I say we do it," she said
suddenly with determination. "We've got
an almost fool-proof chance to get out of here. I don't know about you guys, but the tension's getting to
me. I can only do so much to help," she
said looking at the backs of Shelby, Talia and Scott.
"Yeah," said Auggie with a
sigh. "Old Meat is living up to his
nickname. Just sits and sulks all day
long."
"Whatever," said Juliette
with a happy smile. "So what's the
plan?"
- - - - -
Scott had been walking
around campus for two hours. As much as
he tried, he couldn't concentrate. Shelby
had walked away from him as soon as he'd tried to get near her. And Talia – he still couldn't make the
connection between the Talia he had known and the Talia he was now seeing. Thinking about her made him get a guilty
feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everyday now he was remembering that night, that night he still had
locked fuzzily away in his memory. What
had happened to her since then?
Scott neared Peter's office,
and with a quick look around him, entered the building. Like he had thought, the office door was
unlocked. He stood for a minute on the
threshold. He'd never been here alone
before. But he walked determinedly up
to the filing cabinets lining one of the walls. They were locked. In
frustration, Scott sat down at Peter's desk. And there, on a neat unopened package was the name: Talia Lewis.
- - - - -
Auggie waited impatiently in
the forest beside the road. Finally he
heard footsteps and turned to meet Juliette and Daisy.
"Supplies," whispered
Juliette pointing to the backpacks she and Daisy were carrying.
"Good idea," whispered back
Auggie taking Juliette's pack. "It's
10:30 am. I say we walk for half an
hour to get away from Horizon and then try to hitch a ride down. Even if we don't get one we should get to
the party on time."
"Great," said Daisy. They began to walk quietly following the
road at a close distance. Suddenly
Auggie whirled to look behind him.
"What's wrong, Aug?" asked
Juliette.
"Didn't you hear that,
Jules?" said Auggie, still on edge.
"No, and I don't see anything
either, Auggie. You're just being
paranoid."
"Maybe. I hope so," said Auggie looking behind him
again just to make sure.
- - - - -
Roger couldn't get his mind
off the Cliffhangers. Something didn't
feel quite right. Deciding to see if
Peter had left him further instructions he headed towards Peter's office. Once inside he pushed open the door and came
face to face with Scott, looking up from where he was sitting at the desk.
"Scott!" Roger snapped out. "What are you doing here?"
Scott winced and began
shoving papers back into a pile on the desk. With one step, Roger was beside him looking at the papers.
"Files on another
student? You know these are strictly
personal, Scott. What did you think you
were doing, huh?" Roger took Scott by the
shoulders, pulling him up and shaking him.
"Stop it, Roger!" said Scott
pushing himself out of Roger's grasp. For the first time Roger stopped to look at him. Scott had tears in his eyes.
"What's going on,
Scott?" Roger demanded. Scott looked away from him, refusing to meet
his eyes.
"I asked you a question."
"And you can go to hell,"
Scott spat out.
Roger stared at Scott for a
minute.
"I'm sure Peter will be real
interested to hear all about this, Scott. For now, you're on shuns and you're confined to the lodge,
understood?" With an iron grip on his
shoulder, Roger led Scott out of the office.
I am so sorry this took me
so long to post – schoolwork got in the way. Please read and review!
