"Go, go, go, get outta here," Iko whispered to his new friend, urging her to take cover behind a crate with him.

As he and Jill ducked behind it, the rustling noises of Smirnoff heaving himself up through the hatch into the academy attic frightened the two Dropouts even more. Jill swiftly peeked her head past the crate, watching the mountain of a man pull himself to his feet and take two noticeable footsteps forward. She pulled herself back behind the crate in an instant. Next, she turned to see Iko's frightened face as he breathed overly loudly. Not quite as loud as former contestant Jade's whispering, but certainly loud enough to potentially cause some issues.

"Iko," Jill whispered. He jolted, then stared at her with nervous eyes. "Iko, you're breathing too loud."
"Oh, sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, just-"

Slam!

Jill threw her hand over her mouth at the sound of Smirnoff punching straight through a crate on the other side of the dusty attic. The Russian shook his fist out, as if he'd done little more than punching a baby.

"Show yourself, Canadians," Smirnoff grumbled in a husky, guttural tone.

Jill glanced over at Iko once more to see him having quite a struggle to stop breathing so loudly.

"Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god, oh, god, oh, god-"
"That's still too loud," Jill whispered.

"Sorry!"

The teens' hearts skipped beats as they heard Smirnoff's heavy footsteps suddenly stop. Moments of debilitatingly frightening silence later, his footsteps returned, this time becoming just a smidge louder by the second.

"Oh, no, he's coming..." Jill peeped.

His chest thudding, Iko glanced over at his terrified friend leaning behind the crate beside him.

Confessional - Iko

"Obviously I had to do something! This cute girl that I just met is terrified, and I don't wanna just sit around like a little pansy boy. Like some kind of... pissboy. Like a little-"

End of confessional

Iko peered around in the darkness, desperate to find something amidst them to help them out. Finally, he noticed a short ladder off in one corner of the attic leading to another hatch.

"Jill," Iko murmured as he tapped her tan shoulder. "Look over there! It's another hatch! It must lead to the roof."

Smirnoff cocked his rifle. "Do I hear chatter?" he wondered with amusement, now aiming his family friendly gun out in front of him.

"It's no use," Jill whispered, barely loud enough to be heard.

"It's all right, I'll distract him."

Up on one of the multiple roofs of the academy, there was a gentle breeze. Usually uninhabited, in this moment, the friendly orangey-blonde with the black and white splatter-design dress Athena, the purple-haired queen Queen, the broody, long-haired, leather jacket wearer Holden, the baggy-clothed thief MK, plus the facially-tatted, skirt-clad, French girl Londyn hid on the roof. Most of them stood about aimlessly, with the wind pushing back their hair ever so slightly-with the exception of Queen, whose hair kept as still as the continents. Standing with her and Londyn, Holden took notice.

"That can't be normal."

Queen hesitated, then she turned to face her shorter teammate. "Come again?"

"I'm saying the amount of hold your hair has can't be normal. It looks like you're wearing a helmet."

She scoffed. "Listen, mate, there's nothing abnormal about using hair products. You ought to invest in some yourself; all that shag you have going on definitely can't be healthy. I didn't come up onto this roof to get picked apart by some stubby little Oompa Loompa."

MK let out a chuckle.

"'Oompa Loompa'?" Holden echoed. "You sure have the hair for one."

This let out a bigger, belly-laugh from MK. Queen let out a growl, rounding on Holden until Londyn intervened.

"Hey, hey, guys, can we not? Please?"

"Step off, tattoo," Queen muttered. "This is Dropout business."

Londyn let out a sigh, then turned her attention away from their quarrel.

Confessional - Londyn

"No, I think Queen's right. What happens on the Dropout team is Dropout business. Why do I care? Besides, I'm literally helping my team by letting them bicker."

Confessional - Queen

"Perhaps I was a tad harsh on poor Londyn. What can I say? That Holden riles me up worse than a delay in Father's direct deposits to my bank account."

End of confessionals

Londyn glanced over in the distance of the rooftop to see Athena standing at one end, the end closer to the dorms on the other side of the academy. She was peering over the side, staring down at the backside of the building. Below, there was a spring-loaded mattress right next to a dumpster, with a sidewalk and grass surrounding it, as well as two small dorm buildings adjacent to each other across from the grass and the sidewalk.

"Athena?"

The girl turned away to flash her a bright smile. "Hey, Londyn! What's up, girly? Hey, did I ever tell you your tattoos are so cute? I seriously love them."

She blushed. "You're so sweet."

"And your fit? A black skirt with black and white stripes on your shirt? You make me wish I was more like you."

Londyn gave an obligatory flattered chuckle. "Oh, Athena, thank you."

"Mmhmm." As she spoke, her voice was very high with cheeriness. "So, what'd you wanna talk about?"

"Well, I was curious what you're looking at."

"Oh!" Athena let out a giggle. "Duh! Of course it must look strange to you, me staring out into space, huh?"

"Little bit," Londyn replied with a smile.

"Well, take a look right down there." Athena placed her hands on Londyn's shoulders, leaning her just barely over the top of the parapet to see the mattress and the dumpsters below, right up against the building. "Call me crazy, but I'm thinking that we should jump."

"Jump? F-from an eight story building?"

With an eerily friendly smile, Athena nodded. "Mmhmm."

Silence.

Londyn chuckled. Her amusement drifted quickly, as the orangey-blonde's smile and demeanor did not change. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Mmhmm!"

Another period of silence went by.

"Uh..."

"Come on, don't be scared! Look, see that mattress down there? I'll bet Mercutio was counting on some of us getting up here eventually. Why else would a mattress be conveniently sitting by a couple of dumpsters that we could also conveniently jump into?"

"Uhm... good point, I guess? Though... couldn't those dumpsters have, you know... unsafe materials to land on? Springs or glass or something?"

"But, you know, it's up to you," Athena peeped. "I mean, we are on separate teams, so you do you."

Without waiting on a response, the orangey-blonde pranced towards another part of the roof nearby where her two teammates were about to rip each other's heads off. Without anything else to do, Londyn followed.

"Come on then, thumb-boy!" Queen snapped, throwing up her arms.

"I'm good, I don't wanna touch trash."

"I'm willing to wager that you don't want to touch grass either! Enjoying your first venture out of the basement?"

"Guys, guys, come on now!" Athena gently raised her voice, gaining their attention. "Let's not bicker, m'kay? That's not gonna solve anything, now is it?"

Holden stared at her, disturbed by her unending positivity and ability to smile.

"It'll at least keep us entertained," MK argued.

"Have you any ideas on how to solve things?" Queen challenged her.

"As a matter of fact, yes, I do!" Athena chirped.

Queen paused. "Oh. Splendid."

"Come here, everyone. Follow me for a sec. Excuse me, Londyn, sweetheart," she murmured as she brushed past her.

They followed her over to the side of the building where she'd initially been standing around.

"What, you suggest we kill ourselves?" Holden wondered, half-assedly interested. "Sounds swell, but what if we survive the fall?"

"With hair like that, I'd want to off myself, too," Queen grumbled.

"Hey, guys, please, no more fighting. I hate to see us like this," Athena asserted, placing her hands on her hips by the black buckle belt on her dress. "We've gotta work as a team, and put our heads together. We can't tear each other apart; that'll only give the Grads the advantage," she added. "With all that out of the way, you guys wanna hear my idea?"

Yet another period of silence followed.

"Great!" Athena answered for herself. "I do think we should jump, similar to what Holden said, but not to kill ourselves, silly!"

Confessional - Holden

"God, something about that chick is just... off. She talks like a seven-year-old girl trying to sell you girl scout cookies-all the fucking time. Anyone who smiles that much has to have something fucked up with their head-I'd say Lauren's proof of that. Maybe she's dying of a horrific disease. If so, I'll be sure to watch out for any signs of her spreading that shit around. Also, that's the first time I've ever heard 'kill ourselves' and 'silly' in the same sentence."

End of confessional

"Yeah, I'm willing to bet we can find another way around this," MK mentioned.

"I imagine the chance of an injury is high," Queen figured. "I'd rather not risk maiming or even placing a single scratch on this body of mine. I'll pass."

"Nonsense, Queenie," Athena protested, keeping a smile on her face. "You'll be fine! I promise you!"

"'Queenie'? You can't promise me anything until I see myself safely down there."

Athena shrugged with amusement in her orange eyes. "In that case..."

Shocking everyone else in attendance, Athena reached out and grabbed her by her shoulders, yanking her towards the edge of the building.

"What are you- hey! Psycho!" Queen yelled, but it was too late. Athena had already shoved her off the side of the building, smiling as she watched her fall.

"Oh, my god!" Londyn gasped, her, MK, and Holden rushing over to the edge to watch the girl land in the dumpster with a slam.

"That's gonna leave a mark..." Holden murmured, then he chuckled. "Maybe a little more than that."

Londyn spun around to shout at Athena, "How could you do that?"

"I had to show her that my promises are worth something!"

Crouched behind the crate, Jill's chest rose up and down as Smirnoff's heavy footsteps came closer and closer. With the exception of Smirnoff's footsteps, it was quiet enough in the attic to hear a pin drop, or to hear a WWE wrestler drop another wrestler and pin them.

Smirnoff smashed his fist through the crate Jill hid behind, causing the redhead to flop backwards and shriek with terror. The killer raised his paintball gun at her, but seconds into it, Iko came in out of nowhere, spearing himself and a crate in his hands into Smirnoff. The two crashed to the dusty floor, the crate exploding into smithereens against the killer's chest from the landing. Painfully, Iko collapsed onto his back. From where Jill cowared, she watched Iko huff for breath through his anxiety.

"Iko?"

Smirnoff chucked pieces of the crate off of him, grabbed his paintball gun from where he lay and let out a furious growl. He aimed the paintball gun at Iko, then proceeded to fire multiple shots, absolutely wailing on him. The teen cried out in agony, pelted with a non-stop barrage.

"Iko?" Jill repeated nervously.

"Go!" he wheezed. "Get outta here!"

Smirnoff switched targets, shooting at Jill, who yelped and rolled forward, evading his shots and hiding behind more crates.

Athena, Holden, MK, and Londyn's heads spun around as the hatch to the attic crashed open, followed by Jill gasping as she climbed up onto the roof. She yelped again, lunging out of the way as paintballs flew out from the hole below her.

"Oh, shit," MK muttered.

Jill swiftly examined her surroundings, swishing her red hair out of her eyes to see the others standing by the edge of this side of the roof.

"Oh, no, we're trapped!" she cried.

"No, we aren't!" Athena shouted. "Come here, Jill! Quickly! We have to jump!"

"Jump? You must be crazy!"

"Preaching to the choir there, sis," MK murmured.

One of Smirnoff's big hands appeared above the hatch, gripping onto the concrete surface of the roof.

"There's no time to waste! Come here, Jill!" Athena repeated.

Terrified, Jill obeyed, rushing over to the other three's location. As she ran, Smirnoff climbed up from the hatch and cocked his paintball gun.

"No time left!" Athena exclaimed, turning around and bolting towards the edge. Unfortunately, on her way, she slipped and crashed right against Londyn. "Look out!" she yelled, but it was too late.

Taken off-guard, Londyn fell against the side of the stone parapet and collapsed against the roof, scraping her knee on the way down. She groaned, gripping it tight as blood welled from a cut.

"Ow! God, that stings!"

Londyn tilted her head up to face Athena, but the girl was already back on her feet, zooming back towards the ledge. Surprisingly, the girl unveiled some impressive gymnastic skill, turning and backspringing through the air off the edge, soaring down to the mattress below.

Moments later, Jill rushed towards where Holden and MK stood and Londyn sat.

"Oh, no! Are you all right?"

"Watch out!" Londyn squeaked, then Jill ducked out of the way as paintballs flew at her. Unfortunately, MK was pelted, and sent yowling to the rooftop ground.

"Fuck this shit!" Holden said as he ran and tossed himself off the side of the building, ungracefully flailing his arms about as he hurtled downwards, crying out the whole way.

Next, it was Jill's turn. She glanced over the ledge for a split moment, watching Holden crash land right into one of the dumpsters. With more paintballs flying towards her, she leaped, screaming as she flew down.

Londyn groaned, clutching her knee while Smirnoff calmly stepped towards her. "No, no, don't shoot! I surrender!"

Smirnoff hesitated, then finally decided to shoot her once in the center of her face, right against her bull horns tattoo.

"Ow!"

On the other side of the building-the backside-Mercutio stood around smoking a cigarette with Tracy, each of them leaning on the brick wall of the boys' dorm.

"Say, Tracy, want a drag?"

"Oh, you know me, Cut. I don't smoke."

"What? Think you're too cool for lung cancer or something?"

"Well, we've been over this, I-"

"You're not better than the rest of us, Tracy. We're all equals."

The chef raised a finger, as if to respond, but remained silent. Moments later, Athena rushed up to the host and his accomplice, breathing heavily from the terrifying skydive she'd just performed, yet still bore the same smile on her face.

"Whoo, yeah! I did it! Yes! What a fun challenge, Mercutio! Thanks for giving us a shot to run around in your building!"

"Why, it was my pleasure," Mercutio replied with a little bow. "And Tracy's. You had fun asking people to take their feet off the confessional table in the library, didn't you?"

"Uh, yes, the most fun of my whole life, Cut."

"I can't believe I got here first! I'm so cool!" Athena cheered.

"Ah, but you are incorrect. He got here first," Mercutio explained, pointing to the roof of the boys' dorm with his cig-gripping fingers. Oddly enough, Shawn was crouched up there, staying very still with wide eyes, his eyebrows cloaked by his beanie.

This was the first instance of a frown from the orangey-blonde. "Huh. All right, then..."

"Wrong again," uttered Lauren, startling Mercutio, Tracy, and Athena as she appeared beside them.

"Ah!" Tracy yelped.

"Jesus," Mercutio gasped. "Where in the-"

"I met with Christ for the afternoon," Lauren replied, twirling her violet pigtails. "He didn't care for my footwear..."

Next, the group turned around to see Queen, Jill, and Holden digging themselves out of the dumpster. Queen audibly grunted and groaned, absolutely disgusted with the trash all over her, while Holden flopped out of the dumpster, fumbling over onto his front. Mercutio chuckled, grabbing Tracy's shoulder and prompting him to chuckle too. As the three approached the group, they were all covered in garbage, bits of banana slices and the like. Holden didn't bother cleaning himself, Jill plucked herself of any trash, while Queen damn near had a nuclear meltdown.

"Disgusting! Absolutely revolting! You'd better watch your back if you ever do something like that again, Amanda!"

"I-it's 'Athena'."

"You expect me to care? It's going to be associated with someone six feet under if you ever pull something like that again."

"But I saved you from Smirnoff, didn't I? You won the challenge, didn't you?"

Queen paused, glaring intently at the girl. "Stay out of my way."

As she walked off, one of the back doors to the academy flew open to Fish and Izzy storming towards the dorms.

"Yeah, that's it, baby! I knew I'd get here eventually!" Fish cheered. They made their way over to Mercutio, Tracy, Athena, Jill, Lauren, and Holden.

"Dammit, they beat us here! I wanted dibs on first!" Izzy complained. "Now, someone's gonna have to get their feet chewed on..."

"Dude!" Shawn called out from the roof of the boys' dorm, startling Fish.

"What the fuck?"

"You got through all that with a girl that wants to chew on body parts? You know what else likes to eat parts of the human body? What were you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that you're freaking me out, Shawn! What the hell are you doing up there? Birdwatching?"

"Not like I'd expect you to understand! You're down there, completely carefree about the fact that an actual zombie could show up and eat you at any second! Have you learned nothing from the emergence of zombie movies in the 1960s?"

After a pause, Fish grinned at one of the cameras facing him and uttered, "Yeah, I'll have a little of whatever he's on."

Next, another door not far from the one Fish and Izzy bust through opened to Stephen calmly walking through, his hands in his black jacket pockets with his unnaturally dark hair swaying in front of his eyes. Behind him, he was followed by Alanna. Unfortunately, the two were each covered in varying shades of paint.

"Hey, thanks for leading me out of there," she murmured.

Stephen turned to face her for a moment, a glint of anger in his one revealed eye, then he turned back around.

"Tracy, are we missing anyone?" Mercutio questioned.

"What are you asking me for?"

"It was your job to keep watch of the footage, keep an eye out on the contestants." With a smile, he added, "Make sure Smirnoff didn't kill anybody."

"I asked the camera crew to do it."

Mercutio, Tracy, and several others faced some of the cameramen.

"Well?" Mercutio prompted.

"We, uh, we asked her to," replied one of the cameramen, pointing at the sleek, silver-haired girl from earlier in the episode. Very nervously, she hid behind her camera.

"Ah, yes, Brook! Nearly forgot about her. Brook, tell me, are we missing anyone, or did Smirnoff shoot the rest of the cast?"

"I, uhm, u-uh-"

"Brook."

She gulped, fighting the urge to look away from Mercutio's gaze. "Y-yes?"

"Speak when spoken to, come on now."

"I chec- I could check one more time if you'd let me, please."

Mercutio nodded to her as she fiddled with the sides of the camera, looking through some of the footage.

"Uh, oh boy... n-no, we're not missing anyone."

"Hmm? Speak up."

"We're not missing anyone."

"Wonderful. Well, in that case, let's take a role call of sorts, sift through those that made it here without being paintballed. Of the Grads, I only see Fish, Izzy, and Shawn. Dropouts, I see Athena, Holden, Jill, Lauren, and Queen. You realize what this means?"

"It means we're done for the day?" Stephen grumbled.

"Shut up, Stephen. But, yes, you're right. It also means that the Dropouts win, five members to three. Congratulations, Dropouts, you take the first challenge of the season."

Athena cheered with unbridled pride, embracing Jill, jumping up and down in celebration. Lauren seemed pleased as well, patting her fingertips together, while Holden murmured, "Hell yeah," and Queen irritably picked more bits of garbage out of her purple hair.

"Grads, you will be meeting me in the auditorium at the end of the day. Tracy will gather you up when it's time, then you will place votes to eliminate one of your teammates. Spread the word. Dropouts, find the rest of your people and tell them the dorms are yours. Boys in this dorm behind me, girls in the other. That's all."

Confessional - Athena

"Hooray! Oh, yes!" she squeaked, balling her fists. "I knew my team could win the first challenge! What a joyous way to start the season. I'll bet we can win tomorrow's challenge too! Oh, how I love my team and I love my life!"

Confessional - Queen

Queen crossed her arms and glared. "I can't believe that blondie bitch literally tossed me off the roof like that. I understand that we were trying to get away from Smirnoff and all, but she could have at least pushed me towards the mattress! I didn't see her jump in the dumpster."

Confessional - Izzy

"Mark my words: before the day is up, someone will be getting their feet gnawed on. It might even be... Shawn!"

Shawn revealed himself behind an aisle somewhere else in the library by screaming at the top of his lungs, causing a ginormous, devious grin on Izzy's face, while Noah muttered from afar, "Could we not?"

Dropouts: Caleb, Damien, MK, Scary Girl, Athena, Holden, Iko, Jill, Kobe, Matcha, Queen

Grads: Cody, Izzy, Noah, Alanna, Shawn, Bowie, Zee, Fish, Jayshawn, Londyn, Stephen

Some quick OC descriptions:

Athena: orangey-blonde, orange contacts, black and white dress

Holden: long, scraggly hair, heavyset, short, leather jacket

Iko: slim-fat, short, stylish overcoat and vest

Jill: athletic build, red hair, tan skin, emerald green eyes

Kobe: tall, big afro

Matcha: brunette, business casual

Queen: purple hair

Alanna: tall, brunette

Fish: typical influencer look

Jayshawn: fit, muscular, dreads, gym tank/shorts

Londyn: brunette, face tattoos, gorgeous features

Stephen: early 2000s emo look

Mercutio: chiseled face, suit, wide-framed

Tracy: slim, suspenders/bowler hat

Brook: silver hair, oversized cardigan