Scott walked towards the front administration building to meet Peter and the new student. He could see a dark car was parked near the main entrance and as he made his way closer, he noticed a lanky boy with shaggy brown hair step out from the front seat. An older gentleman – whom he presumed was the boy's father – was already at the trunk and pulled out a couple bags by the time Scott reached them.

"Scott," Peter said earnestly; "this is Mark Avery and his son, Sam."

Mark Avery immediately offered his hand out to Scott and they greeted each other. "It's nice to meet you," Scott said with a smile. He then turned his attention to Sam, who was staring off in the distance at nothing in particular. "Hi, Sam," he said warmly.

Sam glanced up to him and offered a weak smile. He then turned his attention to the ground.

"He's not exactly happy about this situation," Mark tried to explain. "But my wife and I truly believe it's the best decision."

Peter smiled. "Well, we do, too. All of our students need time to adjust and get acclimated here. It's only natural."

Mark nodded in understanding and looked with hope towards his son. Scott turned to Peter to see what they should do next.

"Sam, Scott can take you to get your physical while your father and I meet in my office." Peter said softly, knowing that many new admits do not go to their entrance physicals with much willingness. Sam merely glimpsed back to Scott before grabbing one of his bags. "And while you're getting examined Scott will need to search your bags. It's a standard procedure here." Again, Sam showed no signs of noncompliance and offered a slight nod.

"Alright," Scott said as he picked up Sam's other bag; "just follow me." The two walked off towards the infirmary as Peter and Mark headed to the office.

"Impressive," Scott said.

"Yeah," Sam replied. "What's that?"

"You're not putting up much of a fight, at least not yet," Scott grinned at Sam as they made their way across the grounds.

"I'm not going to," he said. "I kind of plan more on sliding by under the radar."

"Under the radar, I don't think that really happens here."

Scott was able to catch – for the briefest second – an expression of fear in the new student's eyes. He quickly blinked it away and averted his attention to the large building they were walking straight towards.

"This is it," Scott said as he held the door open for Sam. Once they were both inside, Scott dropped him off at the infirmary room and went into a separate room to check through the bags.

Nothing harmful, dangerous, or prohibited showed up in Sam's belongings, and before long, there was a knock on the door. Scott immediately opened it and saw a Sam standing beside one of the nurses; she held a folder with the physical notes.

"We're all done," she said as she extended the folder to Scott.

"Thanks, Liz," Scott said to the young nurse as he took the folder and held the door open for Sam to enter the room.

"You two take care," Liz said as she turned to go and offered Scott a friendly smile.

Scott returned the smile before looking back to Sam. He closed the door and motioned for Sam to take a seat. Though they sat directly across from each other and only five feet apart, Scott could not manage to catch Sam's gaze at all for the rest of their meeting.

Scott went over all the rules and expectations for students at Horizon. Sam nodded here and there but had no questions or comments. Scott was ready to take the new boy to Peter's office after his routine spiel, but he felt like he needed to say one more thing.

"Look, Sam," he started, "I was only briefed about the past year you had, and I can't imagine what you're going through." Sam's eyes stopped wandering around the room and focused on the floor between them. "I just want you to know that you deserve to be happy, and I'll do whatever I can to help you, okay?"

Sam let out a pained sigh and slowly nodded.

"Alright," Scott said as he stood. "Let's grab your bags again and head over to Peter's office. He should be finishing up with your dad by now."

They each grabbed a bag and left the room in silence. Scott could not help but wonder how to break Sam into Horizon. He had not had to do this yet; each of the other members in his group had already been settled into their lives at the school. Sam would be his first full-fledged student, and he could not help but feel a little intimidated about it.