I give up on trying to escape and so does the rest of us. The woman who spoke to me earlier struts down the hallway towards us like she's walking down a catwalk. "What's the problem?" She says, frowning her face, but I can tell it's all fake.

"Why can't we leave!" I shout. The other kids behind me join in.

"Y-yeah. I'm going to be late for violin practice," a girl behind me says. 

"First of all," the woman snaps. "From now on, you will all call me Ace." 

All of us stare at her like, what kind of name is that? Is she an agent or spy?

"Second," she continues. "Until you all become proper kids and behave the way in which we will teach you, then you may be let back into society."

"What?" This girl carrying books in her hand stands beside me. "We're fine! We're all smart kids who get picked on in this school. They should be the ones being taught, not us."

"See," Ace says. "That's the problem. You see them as the problem, but it's all of you. In this school, we want to help bring back order in our town." She scowls. "Kids these days, cursing, talking back to their parent's, laughing about anything and everything, making...MEMES about serious matters. You're all out of hand! We must make sure you're firm in your education."

"That's not fair. You can't assume we are that way," the girl next to me says.

"Relax," Ace says. "All you have to do is follow the rules. In the meantime, I want you all to read these rules." She takes a folded paper out of her pocket and puts it in the girl's hand that's next to me, then walks away. 

All six of us huddle around her. "What is this?" She asks.

"She says it's the rules one boy goes." He tries to grab it, but the girl balls it up and throws it to the ground.

"Screw the rules!" She shouts, almost about to cry. 

"Don't cry," I tell her. "We'll find a way."

She looks at me and shakes her head. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Well it's happening," the boy says. He talks like he's the brave one, even though he's wearing this gold, white, and blue flannel jacket that is tucked into his pants. His glasses are almost too big for his face and his hair looks like his mom did it for him. "We can't overreact right now," he continues. "We need a plan. We all saw what happened to that kid and I can tell none of our parent's believed us. But we see now that we do need to be careful because there's something sinister going on here. I'm Scott, by the way. I think we should get to know each other. So we can help each other."

"Ugh," another boy says picking up the paper.  He walks back to us. "I didn't sign up for this. First, they put me down for being gay, never did I think I'd be put down for being smart!"  When I look at him he glares at me. He's dressed in a black winter coat and black skinny jeans. His eyebrows are done way better than mine and I'm getting very jealous of them. "And the names Felix. Straight A student." He turns to the girl beside him and smile. "Your turn, Mulan."

The girl glares at him. 

"That's not nice!" I say. The girl is Asian looking, so I found the need to stick up for her.

Felix smiles. "What? That's her name."

She nods. "It is. Just Mulan," she says squinting at us. "Not Fah-Mulan. I was an honors student," she says. She reminds me of an anime character. She has straight luscious brown hair and perfect even bangs. Her outfit looks like a real school uniform with a red bowtie added.

Mulan faces the girl beside her. "What's your name?"

"My name is, Aaliyah," she says. "I'm also an honors student. Well, I was in my old school." Aaliyah is wearing a black head scarf. She has a nose ring and eyebrows that I was so not jealous of. Before she could say anything else, Mulan sneezes without covering her mouth. Aaliyah gives her a gross look.

"I'm sorry," Mulan says. "Caught me by surprise."

Scott looks at me. "You are?"

I smile at him. "I'm Cosima."

"What a unique name," Scott says.

"I've never heard anything like that," Felix folds his arms and faces the girl who had been crying. "And who are you?"

The girl faces him. The tears are still visible underneath her eyes. "I'm Gemma," she says. "Gemma Wells, from the show The Plank."

Felix smiles with his mouth wide open. "No fricken way. You're Skyler the bitchy daughter?" She nods. "I love you so much, I do. But please tell the producers that Zach needs a trim immediately."

Gemma frowns. "I would if I could, but we're stuck here now."

"True." Felix straightens out the paper in his hands and we gather around him to look. At the top of the paper in bold letters, it says, The Rules.

1: No asking questions. Just do as we say.

2: Never state your opinion. It doesn't matter.

3: Don't read anything outside of this school.

4: Never deny a teacher's request.

5: Never tell us no.

6: Respect us.

7: No cellphones, laptops, computer usage.

8: No cursing.

Punishments

Disrespect: Gets hit. 5 strikes/atonement

Liars: Tongues grated

Stealing: Left hand chopped off

Speaking your mind or out to a teacher: Mouth sewed

Caught outside of class without a pass or good reason: Feet are burned by fire

Caught with cellphone: Acid poured into ears

All of us stare at the rules in horror. "What kind of rules are these?" Mulan whispers. "I mean, why would this school want this?

Scott shakes his head. "I think I know why," he says.