Again, sorry it's been a while. I'd like to say I'll be quicker but I think one a week is on the ambitious side for me. Thank you for the reviews and encouragement though.

Rockwood Adolescent Psychiatric Centre was an attractive, old fashioned looking building on the edge of Westchester, New York. From the outside, it looked idyllic – more like a Bed and Breakfast than an inpatient facility. It had a long, sweeping pebble driveway leading to the large, whitewashed house and a large, beautiful garden with cherry trees, a stream and plenty of benches on which to enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

Inside, there was a more modern, functional feel but a comforting sense of it being a family home rather than a hospital still remained. Amelia, Meredith and Maggie sat awkwardly in the reception area, trying not to look at each other but struggling to know what else to do with themselves. In the end, it had seemed impractical for any of them to be sent to Rockwood the previous evening. Amelia and Meredith had both spent the night in hospital and Maggie had needed some time at home to come to terms with going away. So it was nine o clock on a bright, chilly morning when the girls arrived – Maggie with both her parents and the family dog, Amelia with a sister she didn't appear to be speaking to and Meredith alone in a taxi. Paperwork had been processed, goodbyes said (or not said) and now they were waiting for someone to come and show them where to go.

Amelia cast furtive looks at the other two girls from under half closed eyelashes. The blonde, skinny one looked about her age but prissy and stuck up, she decided based on very little other than Meredith's upright posture and grimly set face. The little kid was just that – a little kid. Surely there was a minimum age to come here, Amelia wondered to herself. The girl didn't look more than 10 or 11.

A nurse entered then, interrupting Amelia's musings and breaking the oppressive silence. 'Morning, girls,' she began with a bright cheeriness that set Amelia's teeth on edge. 'Let's get you settled, shall we. I'll show you to your room and then you'll be in nice time for group.'

'What kind of group?' asked Maggie. 'I don't really like groups.' The nurse smiled at her kindly. 'This one will be very friendly, I promise. Group therapy. It's where we start making you better so you can go home.'

'Don't patronise her, she's not 5,' Amelia interrupted her. 'It's where they get to pry into our personal business for an hour and call it help. Which, believe me, it isn't.' The nurse turned to Amelia with a forced, tight smile. 'Well, let's see what we can do to help that attitude, shall we, dear. Come along now, all of you.'

She led the three girls down a seemingly endless corridor before stopping at a door. We've put you in the triple as you've arrived together and it's empty. It will be nice for you to get to know each other, I'm sure. Here you are. You've got a few minutes free to get yourselves unpacked then I'll come back for you,'

'My case has been opened,' stated Amelia flatly. The nurse shifted uncomfortably. 'Your things had to be searched, I'm afraid. It happens to everyone. Now try to relax, I'll be back soon.' As soon as she had left, Amelia began tearing through her case in a panicked fury before letting out a scream of anger, slamming her fist into the wall and bursting into angry tears. Maggie backed into a small corner between her bed and the cupboard, looking horrified. Meredith regarded the sobbing girl calmly then sat down on the bed beside her. 'Drugs?' she enquired mildly. Amelia looked up. 'What's it got to do with you?'

'Nothing. Just doesn't seem right to ignore you. Have they taken a lot off you?'

'Nearly everything,' Amelia replied, brushing her hand across her face and taking a deep breath. 'Nearly?' Meredith asked. Amelia gave a small smile and reached into her bra. 'Well, they didn't strip search me,' she said as she dry swallowed 2 small pink pills. Meredith raised her eyebrows. 'Wow.' she said. 'Aren't you clever. You're going to have to come down at some point you know.' Amelia stared at the pale, almost emaciated girl beside her. 'Uh huh. And you're going to have to eat at some point. Sucks to be us, right.' Meredith stared back, angry and defensive but then suddenly started laughing and couldn't stop. Soon Amelia joined in and the girls lay back on Amelia's bed, giggling and gasping.

'Well, I'm glad you've cheered up,' came a voice from the doorway. The nurse had come back. 'Come on now, it's time for group. You can meet the others. Maggie, what are you doing down there, honey?' Meredith and Amelia sat up, startled. They had almost forgotten about their little room mate. 'Sorry, Maggie, we didn't mean to scare you,' said Meredith. 'Come on then, let's go and get this over with.'

Group was held in the Common Room, a large communal lounge area down the hall from the bedrooms. The others were already seated when the nurse led the three newcomers in – 5 girls and 4 boys. 'Ah, our new arrivals,' said a kind looking, older lady. 'I'm Dr Ross, the group therapist here. Come and join us, we were just about to start.' Meredith, Amelia and Maggie took their places in the circle, looking around them nervously. The other patients stared at them curiously. Most looked friendly, a couple guarded and one downright hostile. 'Okay,' began Dr Ross, 'As we've got three new people joining us today, why don't we all introduce ourselves. You can share as much or as little as you like. Tell us who are you, why you're here, how you're feeling today, what you like and dislike – anything really. Who would like to go first?'

After a moment of awkward silence a petite, blonde girl raised her hand. 'I'm Avery,' she said in a confident voice. I'm 16 and I've been here for 5 months. I had anorexia and depression – still have I guess, since you can't just turn it off. But I'm in recovery and I'm healthy and learning to be happy again and I'm looking forward to going home really soon. I've learned so much here and I'm sure I'll miss it but I can't wait to get back to my real life.' Meredith rolled her eyes and Amelia snorted audibly. Dr Ross looked over at her but said nothing. 'Thank you, Avery, that's a really lovely, positive start.'

One by one the others spoke about themselves: Daniel was a 17 year old alcoholic, Mia a 13 year old suffering from depression and self harm and Evan a 14 year old who'd tried to kill himself but said he didn't think there was anything wrong with him officially except that he was weak. 'Oh, you're not weak, Evan,' gushed Avery who was obviously the self appointed cheerleader of the group. 'You're a survivor and that makes you strong.'

'No, it doesn't' countered a large, angry looking girl – the one who had glared at the new residents on entry. 'It makes the doctors who saved his pathetic life pretty fucking talented and him a lucky waste of space.'

'Lizzie!' warned Dr Ross 'Positive, constructive comments only, please, you know that. Let's let everyone speak as they wish first of all. That goes for you too, Avery. I know you want to help but it's important that Evan can express himself as he wants to right now. Lizzie, why don't you tell us about yourself.'

Lizzie folded her arms and stared at the floor. 'I'm 16,' she said sulkily. 'I'm a sociopath. Or a psychopath. Or maybe both. Who knows' She looked up at Dr Ross, challenge in her eyes. 'You said we're allowed to say whatever we want, right.' The doctor just nodded calmly and looked to the next boy in the circle. He introduced himself as Carter, another 16 year old who had drug and alcohol addictions. Then there was Clare, a 14 year old with PTSD and anxiety, Natasha a 15 year old bulimic self harmer and Jamie who was 16, was learning not to be suicidal and had bipolar disorder.

'And what about our new recruits?' Dr Ross said, smiling at them. 'Can you introduce yourselves for us?' Meredith and Maggie looked like they wanted the floor to open up and swallow them and Amelia was trying to contain a fit of the giggles. None of them seemed keen to start. 'What about you, Meredith?' Dr Ross tried again. 'Well, I'm Meredith. Obviously. I'm 16. I'm a Junior. I don't know, I'm pretty much fine, really. I guess I have some issues with eating. It's not a big thing though.' Dr Ross nodded kindly, holding out a hand to silence Avery who was bursting to chime in. 'Okay, thanks, Meredith, lovely to meet you.'

'My name is Maggie,' Maggie said in a small voice. 'I'm a freshman.'

'No way!' interrupted Amelia. 'No way are you one year below me!'

'Amelia, let her finish, please.'

'I am at high school,' continued Maggie. 'I'm 11 but I'm really clever so I skipped a bunch of grades. But I don't like it there, it's very scary and I haven't got any friends. I have OCD. I think. I wasn't doing well there. My grades are the best but everything else is really bad.'

'That must be really hard for you, Maggie. Thank you for sharing that. Okay, Amelia, now it's your turn.'

Amelia looked around the circle. 'Oh, I don't know, it's much more interesting hearing about everyone else's problems,' she said with a giggle. 'But if I must. Well, my name's Amelia, I'm 15 and I am … the family nightmare. They call me hurricane Amelia, you know – I guess because hurricanes destroy things. I've got three perfect sisters and one perfect brother – they're all doctors – one's a psychiatrist - and then there's me. I'm in 'the wrong crowd'. I go to parties and skip school and hurt myself and take waaaaay too many drugs. Oxy mostly but I'm not picky. I might have tried to kill myself yesterday, I don't really know. My brother saved my life anyway, even though he kind of hates me. Don't know why he bothered really. I also crashed his car. I thought I knew how to drive but it turns out I don't. Oh yeah, and I'm reeeeeally high right now. Sorry. I'll see myself out, shall I?' With that, Amelia stood up, gave an exaggerated bow, mimed dropping a microphone and walked out of the room.

There was an awkward silence left behind her, broken by Lizzie. 'Now, her, I like,' she said with a wry smile. 'I don't think she's good for our recovery,' countered Avery with a worried frown. 'Okay, everyone,' Dr Ross interrupted, before an argument could break out. 'Let's take a short break.'