After the twelfth car passed by the entrance of the academy without bothering to slow down past fifty, the driver thinking of how angry their boss was going to be if they were late for the sixth time this week, Beth stopped bothering to look when she heard one. It was actually the forty-fourth car that was the first to turn into the drive leading to the academy itself, so it turned out that not watching every car go by was the better decision then.

Before the girl even got out of the white truck, Beth knew that it was a girl. Interestingly enough, it wasn't because she had read the girl's mind, like most would assume. No, for some reason, all she got from the girl was some kind of weird music. The fact that it was a girl and that she had been listening to music the entire ride came from the driver, a man with reddish hair named Arthur. It also appeared that he thought that she was rather weird and that she didn't actually deserve a spot at the academy, but those were just his personal feelings.

Unlike Laura and Gwen, the two women who had escorted Beth to the academy, Arthur only got out of the truck long enough to move the girl closer to Beth before hopping back in the truck and leaving, mentally, or perhaps physically, mumbling about all the paperwork he had to fill out once he got to the garage. From the fact that he didn't stay with the girl, Beth concluded that she was still considered a flight-risk, and so had to have guards. That would make escaping a little trickier. Hopefully they wouldn't stick around for long.

Having heard nothing but music from the girl's mind for the entire time she had been on campus, Beth didn't bother introducing herself. The girl clearly wasn't going to be interested. Thankfully, however, Beth didn't have long to wait before the next vehicle came up to the drive and turned in. This time there wasn't someone so focused on what they were listening to that they didn't think, so she was able to tell that it was a boy, which made her tense up. The man who had been driving seemed relieved to have gotten the boy, Devon, out of his hair as he patted the boy on the back before heading over to help some others out with equipment.

Unlike the girl with the music, Devon approached joined in without much hesitation, offering a wave and introducing himself when he got closer. Unfortunately, just seeing him approach had been enough to cause Beth to take several steps away, leaving a distance of about six feet between them. It was still close enough that she felt goosebumps along her arms, but it was far enough that she didn't feel like she was going to pass out with anxiety. “I'm Beth,” she said, still sounding weak, though there was more than the medicine at work this time.

Another vehicle pulling up into the driveway caught her attention, though the voices let her know that there was another boy, this one named Ray, in the vehicle. Interestingly enough, he had had two escorts as well, though it didn't seem like wanted to flee like she did. As if in confirmation, the two escorts drove off after he got out of the vehicle and made his way over. Clearly he wasn't deemed a flight-risk, which was a thought that made Beth sigh. 

As with Devon, his approach caused her to chest to feel like it was being crushed, though his stopping behind the others did help alleviate that. Able to read his mind, she knew that he had no intention of going further and was just interested in the other students, particularly if they were like him, though there wasn't much of an explanation there for her to grab. Regardless, Beth could handle her anxiety so long as they didn't get closer, so she was grateful that he wasn't going to be coming closer.

The next vehicle that came up the drive had another boy in it, which intensified the goosebumps along Beth's arms. Surely she and the music lover couldn't be the only two girls, right? It would be ridiculous, almost as much as the sight of the boy, Arson, climbing out of the car through the broken window. The older man in the driver's seat just stared before angrily throwing the car into reverse and muttering about how he was going to explain that to his boss. Fortunately, Arson seemed to awed to actually come and join the rag-tag group, so her anxiety didn't actually increase by too much, though she did take another two steps away from the group.

A black vehicle pulled up the driveway next, this one bearing a girl named Anzhelika, which meant that she was probably foreign. The driver seemed to really like her from what Beth could hear as he helped get Anzhelika's luggage from the back of the vehicle. That was pretty much a first. Usually the drivers seemed to think of their charges as scum, much like Laura did Beth. What exactly that meant about her personality, Beth wasn't sure, but it couldn't be anything bad. Her attitude and thoughts as she approached the group further reinforced that idea in Beth's mind, and she waved back with a small smile of her own.

Music lover girl seemed to suddenly realize that there were people around, taking a headphone out of her ear and saying hello. By the time she put the headphone back in, Beth had already discovered that her name was Rosy, though she didn't seem to be as focused on her music after putting the headphone back in her ear. Beth could tell that she was thinking that Devon and Arson seemed like they belonged to street gangs. She was also afraid of going into a trance, whatever that meant, as she looked at Devon. Of course, her actions showed that she wasn't as focused in her music too, as she stepped away from the two she thought were thuggish and to Ray.

While Beth had been focused on Rosy and her thoughts, another van had pulled up the drive, this one a black like the sedan the foreign girl had arrived in. A boy, Silas, was already leaning against the side of the vehicle as the driver, a woman, got out his luggage and prepared to leave. Again, seeing a male that hadn't already been there caused her to tense up for a few moments. It helped a bit that he didn't seem to have much interest in moving from his current spot at the moment.

Having been focused elsewhere, the only thoughts from him that she remembered had something to do about jumping, which is why they had stood out. Beth had heard weirder though, so she didn't bother thinking on it too much. The thought about there possibly being teleporters at the school stood out for its oddity as well, but not as much as his thought that the place was probably full of people who could read minds and the like. That... hit a little close to home for Beth. Surely he couldn't know about her abilities, right? But that would explain what he had meant when he thought about jumping.

Looking at everyone again with new eyes, Beth realized that there was something different about them that she could feel. It was especially obvious because Laura and Gwen were there as a comparison. Perhaps that meant that they had abilities like she did. That seemed the most obvious explanation, but Beth wasn't entirely sure. The whole thing was too new for her to make any reasonable guesses about anything.

Suddenly, Beth realized that he had approached the group itself, which caused her to jump involuntarily before she managed to get her heart rate and breathing under control. He was still outside of the danger zone, so everything was, more or less, okay. It helped that he was thinking of things that she could focus on, though it wasn't as if the others weren't, like his pondering whether he should ask someone about something. She was half-tempted to ask what he wanted to know about, but she didn't think that he would appreciate knowing that she had read his mind. He was also thinking of the acceptance letter and some of the terms they had used, analyzing them to try and puzzle out some of the academy's enigma.

“Hi everyone. I'm Beth. Sorry for being so jumpy. I'm a...a bit nervous,” Beth said, figuring that she should introduce herself to the group at large instead of just one person, as well as explain her odd behavior thus far. She had been about to say that she was afraid of men, but she was aware of how that would sound and altered it to something a little more reasonable. Hopefully they wouldn't think that she was a complete idiot.