"Let me just be perfectly clear that this was very much not my fault." The students all stood around the circle of collapsed trees. "Annika, nobody said it was your fault." The students had only arrived a week ago, and staying inside was boring, so they had collectively decided to go 'exploring' in the woods. "It's probably nothing, maybe a storm or something," Cecilia added. She just wanted to go home. She was a drama queen, and drama queens aren't built for the wilderness. "Or it could be aliens." A voice spoke from the small crowd, and she rolled her eyes.

Half of the group seemed to agree with Maxxie's alien theory, while the other half found it ridiculous. Personally, Clover didn't give a shit. They wanted to either go home or get high. This place was already driving them insane. They didn't recognise any of the people surrounding them, there was someone with dyed blue hair to their left, who looked a few years younger than them. On their right was someone with split-dyed black and white hair, passionately arguing that obviously, it was the work of an alien. She seemed intimidating, so Clover decided to talk to the blue-haired one instead. "Hi. I'm Clover. I love your hair." She smiled, seeming unsure of herself. "Thanks. I'm Danny. Well, it's Harley, really, but everyone calls me Danny." Clover smiled back at them. "Nice to meet you, Danny. Do you know anyone here?"
"No. You?"
"Nope."
"Guess we have to stick together then, Danny."

Danny felt like they were the odd one out in this new school. Given her past, of course, they would feel like most people didn't understand them, but it was different here. She didn't know if it was the hair or their age, but they knew she would have a hard time fitting in here. Danny had a particular talent for analysing people and situations, attempting to find out who was 'safe' to talk to here. Despite only one person being properly introduced to her, they already knew most of their names. Next to Maxxie, who was arguing that it was entirely possible for aliens to sneak into their school, was a blonde girl that she hadn't learned the name of yet, but she stood close to Maxxie, avoiding eye contact with anyone else. It was getting a bit too loud for their liking as the conversation moved on from aliens to Area 51. She looked around and saw that Clover had disappeared from where they were standing.

Natalia stood close to Maxxie as void described their very detailed plan to storm Area 51 again. Natalia had heard this about a hundred times before and shared a tired look with Noelle, who was standing to her left. "Maxxie's either going to get herself killed, or the rest of us killed. Or both, that's always a possibility." Noelle sighed, and Maxxie gave her a death glare, but Natalia laughed. "Anyway, that would never work. They'd see you from miles away." Cecilia objected. "I think we should keep an open mind," Katie suggested, "Anything is possible." Cecilia smiled at her, which surprised the other students. "I agree with Katie, let's just stay positive. If Maxxie thinks aliens exist, we should let void speak their mind." Ron spoke up from the crowd, and his sister, Mirabel, gave him a strange look.

"Hi. I'm Jared." Jayden turned around to see a boy with a friendly smile talking to them. "Hi. I'm Jayden, I think I'm in your English class?" "Yeah, you are. Mr Thompson's class?"
"Yep."
"So... what's your stance on... aliens?" Jared asked her with an awkward smile. "I don't have a stance on aliens. I'm just observing the drama here, they're all going to kill each other trying to prove their point." Jared laughed, and Jayden was happy they'd made a new friend. She'd always had good instincts when it came to people, and they knew that Jared wouldn't hurt her.

Danny walked around the forest, looking for Clover. They wouldn't usually do this, but something about this place had felt off from the moment she arrived. Plus, most of the people they were left with seemed intimidating, and if she couldn't find Clover, there were a few good reading spots, so maybe they'd be able to finish the novel they'd been carrying for the last week. As she walked around the woods, they weren't paying much attention to their surroundings and walked bumped into someone. "Watch where you're going," Danny mumbled an apology before looking up to meet the person's eyes. There were three of them, two of them looking around the same age (and a lot older than Danny), while the third was in a wheelchair and looked Danny's age. "Raine, don't be rude. I'm sorry about them." The second one (twins?) spoke, and Danny looked down at the one in the wheelchair. They were all definitely related, they had remarkably similar features, but the youngest one had a fear in her eyes that Danny was all too familiar with. "I'm Raina, this is Raine, and our sister here is Rapunzel, but everyone calls her Raps." She met the gaze of Raina and spoke after an awkward moment of silence. "I'm Danny."
"Nice to meet you, Danny. Do you know where everyone else is?"
"Uh, yeah. They're all over there, I think." Danny pointed vaguely behind them, and the three siblings left.