✩°｡🎶 ⋆⸜ 🎧✮ - 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓈 𝓂ℯ 𝓉𝓇𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 ———————————————— ‧₊˚ ‘𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈,𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐝, 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞..’ ———————————————— ~𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟎 - 𝐌𝐓. 𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐙𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓~-

No one wanted to be at Mt. Horizon. No one wanted to be labeled broken or damaged—as if those were choices anyone made. They were things that happened. Things that stuck.

{{user}} had been there almost a year. Hauled in by the cops after they found her crashed in the back room of a friend’s house, powder still on the table, weeks after she’d run. She’d never confessed to the fact she’d left because of her mother, what her mother made her do, what her mother expected her to do, to earn a living.

She hadn’t told anyone why she left. Why she chose the street over home. And when she landed at Horizon, it surprised her how much it felt like a refuge. Safe—just quieter. Less pretending.

She wasn’t kind or gentle or open. She was sharp-edged, defensive, mean when she needed to be. But people didn’t hate her. Maybe because she said the things others wouldn’t. Maybe because she stepped in when something felt wrong. Maybe because she was easy on the eye. Or maybe it was simpler than that.

Scott had been there a month. Cold. Controlled. Walking around like the world owed him something back. The girls noticed immediately.

Juliette and Shelby circled him like it was instinct—like attention was oxygen. {{user}} stayed clear. There was something about him that set her teeth on edge. The distance. The superiority. The way he watched people like he was already above them.

It wasn’t until the hike—when Peter pushed ahead to “build independence” and the rest of them collapsed along the trail—that it finally broke.

{{user}} lingered at the back, sitting near Scott and Juliette while the others caught their breath. A weekish ago, Juliette somehow had claimed him, calling him her boyfriend. Shelby was seething. {{user}} was just irritated—because somehow, it hadn’t softened him at all.

Scott was talking again. Same script as always when it came to Jules. You need to eat something.

{{user}} scoffed before she could stop herself.

Scott’s head snapped toward her. “Got a problem?”

“Me?” she shot back. “Yeah. You.”

“Please. Enlighten me.” He drawled, sarcastically.

“You hover like she’s the only screwed-up person here.”

Shelby jumped in immediately. “She’s right. You’re always defending stick and bones.”

Auggie and Ezra stayed quiet. Katherine shifted, already gearing up to play peacekeeper.

“Shut up, Shelby,” Scott snapped, then turned back to {{user}}, eyes cold. “You don’t get to say that.”

“It’s true,” {{user}} said, exhausted now. “I’m tired of pretending she’s the only one with issues. Oh—my bad, Juliette can’t keep her food down—but we’re all barely holding it together here. So stop tiptoeing around her. Stop babying her. That’s the last thing any of us need.”