Disclaimer: Don't own Higher Ground or the characters. Except for the ones I made up, of course. For the record, this is the unwritten second season of the show. Kat is gone (graduated), and the rest are seniors. There will be two new characters, one boy and one girl. But this will have subplots for all of the characters.

Situated in the middle of the wilderness, twenty-five miles from the nearest town, stood a school called Mount Horizon. It was not particularly big or small, but it stood out in stark contrast to the forest surrounding it.

A car pulled to a stop in front of the woodsy setting, and the motor sputtered to a halt. The front door opened, and a high-heel-clad foot stepped out, followed by its twin. The woman was in her late thirties, and she wore her age well. She tossed her bleached blond hair over her shoulders and pulled her sunglasses down, watching the back door open.

Out from behind this door stumbled a girl of sixteen years. She frowned at her sneakered toes, unwilling to make eye contact with the woman. The girl had plain dark brown hair and flashing brown eyes and was not particularly glamorous. She stood slightly shorter than the woman, even though the woman was not very tall. The most noticeable thing about the girl was that she wore handcuffs.

A man stepped out behind the girl and nodded shortly to the woman. He was a Seattle police officer and had been for many of his fifty-six years. He was a respected member of the force and had not expected to spend a full day accompanying a troubled teen to a boot camp. Especially since the girl had been silent throughout the entire drive from the courtroom in Seattle.

Sophie Scarbrow, counselor and wife to the director of the school, saw the unsure-looking trio and walked over.

"Hello, come on in. Peter's expecting you." She said this warmly, directing it mostly at the police officer. The man tipped his hat in return, and caught hold of the cuffed girl's arm, tugging her lightly as he followed Sophie toward a log cabin.

Inside, she gestured to a set of chairs. The woman and police officer sat, but the girl stood, a look of defiance in her face.

"Oh for heaven's sake," the woman exclaimed. "Sit down."

Mutely, the girl shook her head, clasping together her bound hands. Peter Scarbrow, director of Mount Horizon, exited his personal office, carrying a file. He opened it, thumbed through a few pages, and squinted at the three newcomers.

"Good afternoon, Mrs…." he hesitated.

"Higgins," the woman answered. "I was just recently remarried."

"Mrs. Higgins then," Peter repeated. He kept his face blankly neutral and glanced at the officer. "Thank you for coming down."

"My pleasure," the officer lied.

"And you must be Janey Higgins," Peter said, looking from the file to the girl. He got no acknowledgement, but the woman nodded.

"Janey, how about you and I go check through your stuff, talk a bit, and Soph here can talk to your mom."

The girl didn't respond, but Peter looked as if he'd expected as much. With a smile to his wife, he beckoned to the girl and disappeared down a hallway.

He took her to a small windowless room and set a folding chair out for her.

"Have a seat," he said. Janey stood motionless in the center of the room. Peter moved over to her, and she quickly sat. Peter backed off, slightly startled, then relaxed himself and grabbed a chair to sit in. He plopped down across from her and tried unsuccessfully to catch her eye. He brought out a pocket knife, and it was her turn to look slightly startled.

"It's okay," Peter reassured her. "Hold out your hands."

She complied, and he cut the plastic cuffs off, letting them drop to the floor. Janey wiggled her hands experimentally.

"The rules here are real simple. There's no violence, sex, drugs, inappropriate touching. We share all of the chores, even the staff. You can talk to any counselor here and it will stay between us. The only exception is if we suspect violence or illegal activity, in which case we're bound by law to notify authorities." Peter paused, but she didn't even look up. "Got that, Janey?"

A barely perceptible nod. Peter sighed. "Why don't you give me your shoes, and we'll go through your stuff." It wasn't a question, and Janey untied the shoelaces as Peter unzipped her bags, rifling through her belongings. On top were her tapes and walkman. Her mother wouldn't buy her a CD player, so she made do with cassettes.

"Like the Beatles?" Peter asked, holding up a few tapes by the band. She shrugged. Several tapes from the Beach Boys, some Bee Gees, one Monkees, one Turtles, and a couple of homemade ones, labeled Oldies Mix #1, #2, and #3 respectively in a teenaged girl's handwriting. So she liked her oldies.

She watched as he checked everything from her pockets to her toothpaste, finding nothing.

"What are you on, Janey?" he asked. A shrug. "Did you use today?" Silence.

Peter lifted her shoe and took out the liner. "Ah ha." He pulled out a bag of white powder. Janey looked away. "Anything else?" He couldn't find anything. She'd been running low, intending to go get more soon.

Putting the shoes on a table, Peter faced Janey again. "I'm putting you in the Cliffhanger group. Sophie will be your counselor, and I've gotten one of the girls from your dorm to be your buddy till you get settled in. Okay?"

Janey glared at a wall.

"Do you know why you're here, Janey?"

She glared harder at the wall.

"Janey?"

"Because my mother is a skank who can't deal with the fact that I know she's a skank." The words rushed out of Janey's mouth before she could stop them.

Peter took a deep breath. "It's normal to feel some anger toward your parents when they bring you here."

Janey transferred her glare from the wall to Peter. "The police brought me here. My mother wanted me in juvie. The courts put me here."

Peter frowned. "Looks like you lucked out then, Janey. Juvie isn't exactly a nice place."

"And it's just peachy keen here." Janey resumed staring malevolently at the wall.

"All right," Peter said, ignoring her last comment. "Why don't you get the rest of the way undressed." Another one of his non-questions. "A doctor will come in to examine you, make sure you're clean. Then you can come to my office, and I'll get you settled in. Got it?"

A slight nod. She'd turned back into the silent Janey. Peter closed her file with a barely audible snap. This was going to be a tough case. Or maybe not. Maybe the Cliffhangers would speed it up a bit. He left her alone in the room, shutting the door firmly.