To: greymist- Perhaps Shelby will be back mischevious smile. Actually, yes. I am planning on having Shelby return. Probably in a few chapters.

Chapter 3:

The next morning Lucy was woken up early for the second day in a row. She hated getting up early at first but once she was awake she loved it. She had always loved being awake in the early hours of the day. Just sitting, reading, or (more particulary) excersize. She loved working out and she was excited to be going on a hike. She would never admit this to any of the Cliffhangers, though. They all seemed to hate getting up early and hiking. Another thing Lucy would never tell a Cliffhanger was that she was actually a little intimidated. Whenever she went hiking when she was younger (she stopped when she got to junior high) she always knew exactly where she was going and how hard it would be. But Peter didn't tell anyone how hard it would be.

Charli and Jules came over to Lucy's bed and sat down on it, "So, how'd you liek your first day here?" Jules asked.

Lucy shrugged. She really couldn't come to a conclusion yet, "It was okay, I guess. I really haven't given it much of a chance, yet, though."

"Well," Charli said, "Don't worry. You really will like it. It's a lot better then home . . . for me at least." Jules nodded.

"So why are you guys here anyway?" Lucy wanted to know.

Jules shrugged, "Umm . . . back home I was bulimic. My mom wanted me to get better and I guess she knew that wouldn't happen at home. I was so mad at her when I first got here. I wanted her to die. But after a while I realized I was being selfish. You know? Always thinking about me and how unfair everyone was being to me."

Lucy and Charli nodded. Then Charli told her story, "My parents are divorced. There is no real custody agreement so I could tell my mom I was at my dad's and tell my dad I was at my mom's and neither would know. And that's what I did. I would go out, do whatever I wanted. Get high and drunk. Sometimes I would do things I can't remember but I'd hear about it afterward. But sometimes I did things and I still remember them. Things I shouldn't have done."

"Like what?" Lucy asked, "Or is it too personal?"

Charli shrugged, "No," she said, "Not to the people in here. But don't tell anyone else. They'd probably think less of me even thugh they know I'm not like that any more." Lucy promised she wouldn't tell and Charli continued, "When I was 14 I had a baby. It was a terrible mistake and I regret I was in that situation. Especially when I was so young. I still haven't told my parents . . . even though Peter has told me so many times to tell them."

"Where's the baby? Did you give it up for adoption?"

"No,"Charli told her, "The baby, who's a girl, lives with her father's parents, who are completly normal. See, her dad can't take care of her because . . . well . . . because he's here. At Horizon. But before you ask I'd like to keep that a secret. For now anyway."

Lucy nodded then asked, "What's her name?"

Charli smiled and said, "Elizabeth Helena."

Pulling their backpacks on an hour later the Cliffhangers headed out. Peter was in the lead and as he started he called, "New students up front!" Lucy shrugged to Daisy who looked at her and grimaced. Lucy walked to the front of the group with Peter, watching the others snicker and stare at her. It was kind of embarassing and Lucy had no idea why. Once they started Peter and Lucy soon got a bit ahead of everyone else. "You've done this before, haven't you?" Peter asked her.

"What hiking?" Lucy asked back. When Peter nodded she added, "Yeah. When I was younger."

Peter nodded, "I could tell." Suddenly Lucy felt awkward. She wanted to fall behind with the other kids but at the same time she wanted to keep talking to Peter. To find out more information about him.

She let herself move so she was close to him but not so close she would feel wierd, "Do you like to hike?"

"Oh yeah. But not these guys." He laughed and Lucy smiled. When he laughed it made her want to laugh. He was really nice but at the same time she knew he wasn't. He couldn't be.

Lucy kept up with Peter the whole hike, which didn't last long enough as far as she was concerned. But where they ended up was beautful to Lucy. They were at the edge of a large lake surrounded by woods. About 3 yards from where they were standing was a dock with four canoes tied to it. There was a dock on the other side as well but that one had no canoes. It seemed pretty normal to everyone else but Lucy was delighted. Everything here seemed magical to her. It was just about lunch time so they ate and Peter had them row the canoes across the lake. Daisy, Jules, and Lucy were in one canoe, Scott, Ezra, and Auggie were in another. Leaving Sarah, Charli, and Kat in the third and Peter, Mark, and Nate in the fourth.

Halfway across the lake Ezra and Daisy started singing a song, "In a white room...with black curtains...at the station..." Scott rolled his eyes and wacked Ezra on the side of his head with a paddle. Ezra, who was in the middle of their canoe, groped his head and fell back on his bench. "Hey!" Peter yelled, "Is he okay?!"

Scott's face got panic stricken, "I don't think so, Peter! I think he's unconcious!" Peter and Nate paddled as fast as they could over to the other canoe and Peter tried to look at Ezra.

He got as close as he dared without tipping the canoe and said, "Ezra! Can you hear me?" Ezra lay motionless on the bottom of the boat. Daisy and Lucy had paddled over to the canoe and were gazing in, Daisy's face was red and getting puffy, like she was going to cry, "Let's get him to shore as fast as possible." They couldn't turn around- that would take too long. So they paddled speedily across the laske to the other side.