After a few hours of intense boredom, Erika had picked up a book and began reading it, draped over her bunk. Some time later, a slender girl with long brown hair and big brown eyes burst into the dorm. She looked tired, and her hair was in disarray. Erika guessed she had just returned from the hike. The girl immediately noticed the unfamiliar figure in her dorm and throwing her bag on her bunk, she bounced to Erika's side.

"Hey, are you the newbie?" she squealed, her voice overflowing with energy. She wore an impossibly large smile. Erika wondered what this impossibly happy girl was doing here, or what she herself was doing there for that matter.

"Yeah," was the only response Erika bothered to supply. Her eyes had momentarily drifted from the pages of her book to the bubbly brunette, but they soon drifted back to the pages disinterestedly.

"I'm Juliette," the brunette continued, plopping down on Erika's bed beside her. "I'm your first-week buddy. What's your name?"

"Erika," she responded, not glancing up at her, her eyes remained fixed on the pages.

"So what'd they bust you for?"

Erika glanced back to Juliette, but not for long.

"Drugs, cutting, what?" the brunette asked casually.

"Don't you have better things to do?"

Juliette stared at Erika quizzically. But despite that Erika refused to answer her, her mouth kept moving, oblivious.

"So you're in the Cliffhangers huh? The others are pretty cool, except this girl Shelby who's just mean. But you'll meet the gang soon." Juliette smiled. A pause of silence. "Okay, I guess I'll leave you to your reading. I gotta clean myself up, I was just on a hike with the other Cliffhangers. They'll be back here soon too. It was a short hike, thankfully, but still. I know it's a bit weird when you first come here, but you get used to it." Juliette bounced off Erika's bunk, smiling and went to her own, a few beds away from Erika's.

Juliette took out a brush and walked into the bathroom, admiring herself in the mirror as she washed her face and brushed through her long brown hair.

"Hey, Juliette."

Juliette poked her head out of the bathroom at the sound of Erika's voice.

"Yeah, do you need something?" she asked.

"Just wanted to know- what are the guys like here?"

Juliette grinned and tossed her brush back onto her bunk. She bounced over to Erika's bunk once again.

"Want a run-down of the Cliffhanger guys before you meet them?"

"Okay, whatever."

"Okay well there's Auggie, and he's this Latino boy, and he's really cute. He's real good at like graffiti and art and stuff."

"What's he here for?"

"Oh he was in a gang and all this stuff. Could have gone to juvie but chose Horizon instead." A pause. "And then there's Scott. He's this guy, still kinda new here. He's really into sports and stuff. Supposedly this amazing football player. That's all you need to know about him, all I know is that he got into drugs and stuff.

"And then there's this guy Ezra. No comment on him." Juliette giggled.

"That's it?"

"Yup. You'll meet them soon, I think group's soon."

After the response, Erika shrugged and went back to reading. Juliette bounced back to her bunk and picked up the brush lying on her bed.

Just then, the door burst open.

"Juliette?"

Erika looked up at the speaker. Tall, athletically built, blond spiked hair. This must be Scott, she thought. Just then he shifted his gaze to her.

"You the newbie?" he asked.

Erika merely nodded, disinterested, her eyes drifting back to the pages of her book.

"What do you need, Scott?" piped in Juliette.

"Group's in twenty minutes. Just giving you two a heads up."

"Oh, thanks!" Juliette squealed.

Scott smiled at her and Erika and subsequently left.

"That was Scott," Juliette told Erika, coming over to her once again.

"I figured that out. What the hell is 'group'?"

"Oh, just this like, meeting thing of the Cliffhangers and we open up and stuff. Peter usually just like asks us how we feel and stuff like that."

"Sounds exciting," Erika said, more to herself than to Juliette.

"So you're gonna meet the rest of the group in just a few minutes! Isn't that exciting? What do you think so far?" Erika thought Juliette would bubble over with bubbliness.

"What the hell does it matter?"

Juliette just shrugged and bounced back to her bunk.

In a few minutes time, 3 other girls, of whom Erika presumed were the remainder of the female Cliffhangers, carrying bags on their backs, returned to the dorm. As she heard the door latch open, Erika turned to face. As the three girls entered, she heard Juliette's familiar squeal.

"Guys, that's the newbie! Her name's Erika!"

"She looks friendly," quipped one of them sarcastically, noting the hostile expression set in Erika's eyes. She had shoulder-length brown hair and pretty features.

"You wanna see just how friendly?" Erika lashed back.

"That's Daisy," said Juliette to Erika. "She's sarcastic a lot."

An African American girl laughed. She had long braided hair and striking green eyes. "Dais, that's how you looked like when you first got here." She looked over at Erika. "I'm Katharine, but everyone calls me Kat."

"Newbie huh?" said the last of them, a girl with long blond hair and blue eyes named Shelby. "Do you hate this place yet? Wait until you see what they serve in the cafeteria."

Juliette gave Shelby a look. "Don't listen to her," she said to Erika. "The food's fine."

"You should know, you don't even eat it," Shelby was quick to reply.

"Can you guys can it?" said Kat, irritated.

"Oh and guys," said Juliette, ignoring Shelby's comment, "we have group in like fifteen minutes.

"Aren't you lucky," Shelby directed to Erika sarcastically. "Group is just the highlight of Horizon."

"They try to make us bear our souls," added Daisy, taking out her tarot cards.

"But try is the operative word, you see," said Shelby.

"Guys, let's give her some room." put in Kat.

"You don't need to give me anything."

Kat just stared at Erika, dumbfounded, and went to unpacking her bags.

Some time had passed, and Shelby, Daisy and Kat had left for Group. Only Juliette and Erika remained in the girls' dorm.

Juliette ran her brush through her hair some more and made her may to the door. "Erika! Come on, we have to get to group! Don't you want to meet the gang?"

"I could care less."

"Come on!" Juliette bounced back over to Erika and attempted to drag her off her bunk. Erika stifled a laugh at the futile attempt.

"Face it honey, I'm not gonna budge."

Juliette sighed dramatically. "Okay, but you can't avoid group forever. If you wanna join us, just come! I love newbies!" she skipped out of the door.

As Juliette left the dorm, Erika shook her head and wondering at the strangeness of it all. What was that girl doing here?! She was downright insane she was so happy.

Erika layed down on her side of her bunk. Everything was happening so quickly. Yesterday she was skipping school and getting high. She got home, found that large black guy there, and packed bags. Now she had been shipped off to some school for screw ups and the reality of it all was unnerving. She contemplated running seriously, figured it would be a quick route out of here, although she had heard Peter when he had said there was nowhere to run. And the drive here had convinced her that there was nothing nearby but mountains. It ha to be worth a try, though. She had nothing here. Absolutely nothing. But then again, where did she had anything of value?