Chapter 2

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Piper watched as scenery flashed by outside her window, clutching her backpack to her chest. She was on a train to the middle of nowhere, that much she knew. All that Jane had told her was that she was going to Wilderness School, which was a place for "troubled teens," but for all she knew it could be in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Jane had also mentioned that Piper should be grateful since she should be going to jail.

"Maybe there wouldn't be so many troubled teens if their parents actually did their job." Piper muttered, even famous actors had to make time for their kids, right? She rested her forehead against the window, her breath fogged up the glass almost immediately, "Maybe a BMW was a bit extravagant. . ." Then she rolled her eyes, obviously not extravagant enough if her dad couldn't even come home to deal with it.

She squeezed her eyes shut. It had been six months since she'd seen him, sometimes she wondered if he even thought about her anymore. She was probably just a burden to him, a nuisance that got in the way of his oh-so-important career.

Suddenly, the train slowed and came to an abrupt halt, Piper wiped away the haze that coated the glass. Outside, there was a station made out of wood, surrounded by miles of desert, beyond it was another, larger building (also made out of wood), which she assumed was the school.

"This is your stop, kid."

She looked around and realized she was the only one left on the train

"Thanks," she stepped out and stood, clutching the straps of her backpack, not sure what to do.

"HEY! YOU THE NEW GIRL?!"

Piper turned around to see a short, middle-aged guy standing in the door of the building. He was wearing a baseball cap over his mess of curly brown hair and a bright orange polo shirt. There was a whistle hanging from his neck, a megaphone dangling from one hand, and a baseball bat slung over his shoulder.

"Uhm. . . Yeah, I'm Piper McLean."

"Then, hussle." He turned and walked into the building, Piper scrambled after him.

"So what will we be-"

"Save it."

She gulped. "Right. . ."

"I'm Coach Hedge, the hallway supervisor. This is Wilderness School, if you hadn't already gotten that. There's no messin' around here, and I'm not going easy on you or anyone else, got it?"

"Got it."

He led her out the back door and then in the front door of the school.

There was a wide, 10-foot long entryway, that split off into two hallways going right and left. To the right was a door with a sign above it that read, 'Office'.

Coach led her through the door, inside, chairs lined three of the walls, on the wall to the right of them there were two more doors.

The door on the right had a sign above it that read, 'Principal' and a plaque on the door that read, 'Mr. Tunder.' The sign above the other door read, 'Assistant Principal' and the one on it said, 'Mrs. Tunder.' Other than that, the room was void of decoration, Piper could imagine how nerve-wracking it would be to sit in here, waiting for your trial with nothing to distract you. She hated this place already.

Coach Hedge walked up to the door marked 'Principal' and knocked.

"What is it?" A loud voice boomed.

"The new kid is here." Coach said, jabbing a thumb at her even though Mr. Tunder couldn't see them.

"Send her in."

"That's your cue, kid." Coach said, "I'll give you a tour of the school when you're finished." He stepped aside and she nodded at him, then turned the nob and stepped inside.

Sitting behind a large, oak desk was an equally large man in a blue business suit. He had long, greying black hair and a beard that was the same length. His eyes were the color of storm clouds.

The way he clicked his pen and set it down seemed like a threat. Piper swallowed nervously.

"Take a seat, Ms. . .?"

"McLean."

He nodded and gestured to the chair across from him. Piper sat down on the edge of it, like she was getting ready to take off at a moment's notice.

Mr. Tunder took a moment to take her in, likehe was caculating how much trouble she could get herself into, then he picked up his pen again and took out a sheet of paper without taking his eyes off of her.

The guy really knew how to put people on edge. Everything about him made her eneasy, from the way lightning practically cackled in his eyes to to his probably-not-so-much-of-a-habit of clicking his pen at a slow, steady rate. Like the second hand of a clock.

He set the paper down on the desk, "Full name?"

"Piper Mclean."

He took his eyes off of her for the first time to write her name in nice, tidy, script on the paper. She relaxed, but only slightly.

He turned his gaze on her again, "Date of birth?"

They spent the next twenty minutes in an intense Q&A/stare off competition. At the end, Mr. Tunder straightened the papers against his desk, drew one from pile, and held it  out to her, "This is your schedule, you may go now."

Piper snatched it from his hand and  practically bolted from the room, careful not to slam the door behind her.  Coach caught her by the shoulders right before she raced through the second door. "Woah there, take it easy."

She took deep breathes, trying to slow the beating of her heart.

"Tour time, kid." He turned around and opened the door, Piper followed him out.

He extended a pamphlet for her to take, "There's a map of the entire school and the dormitories in there." He told her, "First floor is the school, second floor is where you'll be stayin'."

Piper took it and followed him around as he showed her where everything was.

"This leads to the dorms," he said, gesturing to a staircase that had a large sign reading, 'DORMITORIES' hanging from the ceiling above it.

He lead her up the stairs and down a hallway to a door marked '6B' in gold, "This will be your room."  He pulled out a key and dropped it into her hand, "Don't loose that, if you do, you have to pay extra for a spare."

"Thanks." She took the key and opened the door.

"See you around, kid." He turned and walked off without a backwards glance.

Piper entered the room and shut the door behind her. It was pretty small, on the right wall there was a window, under the window was a small dresser and on the opposite wall was a bed, there wasn't any other furniture.

"Boring. Just like everything else here." She sighed and plopped down on the bed, "Don't get too attached, Mr. Tunder, I'm getting out of here as soon as I can."

The only problem with that was that she wasn't exactly sure how she could get out of here. They were in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by miles of desert and Piper wasn't even sure what state she was in.

She set down her backpack and walked to the window. She braced her hands against it and heaved upwards, the window came loose and opened with a protesting creak.

Piper stuck her head out and looked down, a smile crept across her face. "Too easy."

The wall below her was covered in sturdy-looking ivy. She could climb down that without even breaking a sweat. The problem came after that, she could easily be spotted running across open ground, and she didn't even know which way to go.

She chewed her lip, scanning her surroundings, her gaze fell on the smaller building and her face lit up.

"I'll just follow the train tracks." If she went at night, it would be a bree Easy as pie."

Idk about you guys, but it's really hard for me to imagine Coach Hedge with pants on. Wow. That does not sound right AT ALL XD XD XD

But anyways... XP that's why I didn't say what kind of pants he was wearing lol.

Also, you know who Mr. And Mrs. Tunder are, right? XD