Secrets, Chapter Five
**I know the Higher Ground section isn't frequented as often as it use to be, but people are reading the story. Please review! I don't know what to fix if I get no reviews!**
Author's Note: This is a re-do of a story I did 8 years ago. The original story is in my profile. I still get questions regarding my Kristin stories every once in awhile, and I can't really think of any way to do a story solely on her so I decided to do this instead. The original version is pretty bad/unrealistic so a LOT has changed, but the same basic plot and details are the same. I also changed some names because I was pretty dumb in 7th grade and used a lot of names of people I knew IRL.
Summary: Twelve-year-old Kristin Maddox is given a spot at Horizon after a call from her band teacher to his best friend, Peter Scarbrow. He doesn't know what her secrets are, but he knows something is horribly wrong, and Peter may be the only one who can save her.
Kristin made sure to not let her eyes meet the nurse's as she shivered in the sheer hospital gown. She was sure that the nurse had seen the bruises that marked her back, and she knew that her dad didn't know that this was part of the process or she would have had to wait to come until they cleared up.
"I fell," she said, knowing that her face was burning red from embarrassment and shame.
"Did you, now?" The nurse asked, seemingly uninterested as she wrote on her notepad. "We just need a urine sample and then we'll be done."
After that, Kristin sat back in the room where she and Peter had first talked while he talked with the nurse.
"Kristin, do you mind if we have a little chat before I show you to your room?" He asked, sitting across from her again. She shrugged but said nothing, so he continued.
"Ms. Saunders told me about the bruises and marks on your back," he started, trying to meet her eyes, but she immediately looked away. He gave her a chance to say something, but when she didn't, he started talking again. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No...I mean, there's really nothing to talk about. I told her, I fell. And my house was broken in to a few days ago. I was kind of beaten up by whoever did it," she recited the story her dad had forced into her head. For added effect, she turned her head and pointed to where she knew she still had a nasty bruise and cut.
"Mr. Davis told me about that, but he also said that he didn't think that was what really happened," Peter said carefully.
"I don't care what he said. It's the truth," she said dryly.
Peter stood up and grabbed one of her bags. "I'll show to your room. But Kristin—you can always come talk to me, or one of the counselors. That's what we're here for," he told her. She tried to manage a smile to show her appreciation, but she was sure it came off more as a grimace.
They walked towards the dorms as Peter explained the basic rules of the school.
"You have school with fewer hours than a normal school because of how small the classes are and such. You'll go from 9 until 2. You will be in the same classes as the others in your group, but we are going to test you first to see how to modify your schooling since you're younger," Peter explained. "The others in your group, the Cliffhangers, range in age from 15 to 17."
"Am I the only middle schooler here?" She asked, frowning.
"Well, yes. We kind of had to pull some strings to allow you here, but Jack said that he thought it was pretty important that you get here."
She stopped walking. "What did he tell you?"
"Kristin, he didn't really tell me much because he said you never really told him anything. He said he was worried that you were going through some stuff at home."
"Not true," she said simply and they began to walk again.
He led her up a small set of stairs and into a building where she saw two rows of beds, facing each other.
"You can tell which beds are empty, and you can pick your own. Everyone else are still in classes. We'll go ahead and leave your stuff here and go get started on your testing, and then you'll meet everyone tonight in group," he explained.
Kristin spent the next hour and a half testing in math, science, English and history. Peter stood next to a teacher who was grading the tests.
"You have very good results, Kristin!" Peter exclaimed. "Tenth grade English, tenth grade science, tenth grade history and eighth grade math."
"Yeah, I'm really bad at math," Kristin said, though she smiled at her other results.
"You're not 'really bad', kiddo. You're still a grade ahead of where you should be," the teacher said.
"That's not good, though. Compared to the other results," she mumbled.
"Don't worry about it. You'll keep bringing that up, I'm sure. The good thing about this is that you can jump into classes with the others for the other three subjects, and we'll just work on catching you up. We can take you out for math, that's no problem," Peter told her. "You'll start tomorrow."
"Great," she said sarcastically. "So do we just do real school or do we have…exploratory classes and stuff?"
"There's thirty minutes a day where you'll have a choice between art, technology, woodshop, and a few other choices."
"Is there music?" Kristin asked hopefully.
"Unfortunately, no…We've tried but there's issues with money and all that," Peter explained. "It's three-thirty, so you have an hour and a half before group. It's at 5 o'clock sharp. Why don't you go unpack and meet the other girls? I didn't realize you'd get done with the testing so quickly. I'll be in my office if you need me. Do you remember where it is?"
Kristin nodded and headed back to her dorm. There were four girls in there doing random things, most of what looked to be homework.
"Hey!" One of the girls greeted her. "You must be the new girl. I'm Kat."
"I'm Kristin," she said shyly, looking down at her bed.
"I'm Juliette. That's Shelby, and that's Daisy," Juliette introduced the other girls, who looked at her for a few seconds with seemingly no interest in making friends.
"So…How old are you?" Shelby finally asked, slamming a science book closed.
"Twelve."
"That seems so young!" Juliette said. "Even though we're all only 16, except for Kat. She's 17. But it seems like forever ago that I was in 6th grade!"
"Seventh!" Kristin said indignantly.
"How are they doing your schooling?" Kat asked.
"I was just tested. I'll be with you guys for everything but math."
"You must've tested pretty high. That's good! Everyone else is pretty much taught as tenth graders but I'm technically a senior so I stay in there, but I do my own thing," Kat explained.
"Yeah they're pulling me out for math," Kristin said. "I hate math."
"It's kind of weird that you're here," Shelby said point-blank, still staring at her like she was some sort of science experiment.
"I'm sorry?" Kristin said, staring back at her.
"So what's your story?"
"Shelby! Stop asking people that," Juliette exclaimed.
"Shut up," Shelby said, turning back to Kristin.
Kristin was trying to think of something to say when a blond lady walked in.
"Shelby, I trust you're not trying to terrorize Kristin already?"
"Me? Never, Sophie. I'm offended," Shelby said, smirking as she started going towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Sophie asked.
"Taking a walk with Scott."
Sophie watched her walk out, then turned towards Kristin. "If Shelby gives you any issues, just tell me or Kat. She tends to be a little…rough around the edges until she warms up to you."
Kristin nodded. "I can tell."
The next hour went by slowly as Kristin unpacked what little she had brought. Kat and Juliette continued to make small talk but she was really too tired to try to carry any lengthy conversation. After Shelby had left, Daisy had also left, saying something about needing to "consult the cards".
"It's time for group," Kat said.
As they walked towards the main building, Kristin asked what exactly group was for.
"Well, it's kind of hard to explain…It's when we kind of check in with Peter, I guess? He'll open for a question for us to ask, like about our day or our past…It's different every time," Juliette explained.
They got there and everyone else was sitting down on the couches already. "That's Scott, David, Ezra, and Auggie," Juliette explained, smiling at Auggie.
"You're short," David responded, staring at her.
"Thanks," Kristin mumbled. She could tell that this was going to be an interesting group.
