Inspired by the Tv show of the same name.
This is the story of 9 high school students from around the country, who have been sent to Beacon of Hope, a boarding school for 'at risk' teens. They each have a past as well as closely guarded secrets and...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
John found himself in his office crunching the numbers for the tenth time that morning. He couldn't make the budget fit. Somewhere in the last month they had hit that tipping point; the number of government funded students exceeded the private tuition. How could he have allowed this to happen?
Chris had volunteered to assist in the financial department last year. It was actually a task formerly held by his wife, but as her health declined, John stepped up and eventually so did Chris. Over time he saw the profit margin decrease further and further. But this month, they were officially operating in the red.
One month wouldn't break them. They did have a sizable savings for emergency repairs and other necessities, after all. And, he was sure paying his staff fit in that category. But he didn't like the number he was seeing when he checked how many months this could continue without a solution.
Perhaps he could have Coach Finstock take a look. The man did double as their economics teacher after all. With classes starting back up last week, however, he wasn't sure if he could afford to pay the man to serve as teacher, coach, and financial overseer. He'd have to ask him.
John shuffled through his papers to see the man's class schedule. He had Stiles in class right now, and that was perfect, because John had yet to put the newer student on shuns for his blatant disregard to fulfill an assigned task. He was also due for a solo session as he was about to hit his thirty-day mark since joining Beacon of Hope.
John glanced down at his numbers again. Stiles was the student that threw them off. His gut clenched, because he knew the kid had his demons. He saw it in his eyes. He suspected a recent traumatic experience when he first arrived. But, the teen wasn't opening up about it during group, and while he talked a little about his time on the streets during the one and ones, especially with Melissa, it was really just scratching the surface. As with most of his kids, the true issues laid buried beneath.
Some of the more senior students worked in the office, for experience, and sometimes students were assigned office duties as a consequence. He wasn't surprised to see Jackson polishing the furniture when he looked up. The boy could be incredibly disruptive during class if he was bored, which happened more often than not.
John quickly wrote a note for Finstock and called Jackson over to retrieve it.
"You have less than five minutes until class lets out, how fast can you run, Mr. Whittemore?" John asked cockily.
Jackson broke out in to a smile. "Challenge accepted! Where to?"
"Give this to Coach and you're free to go after, but uh, no more talking during lessons unless called upon, okay?" John knew what a feat that would be.
Jackson's file said he had an attention deficit disorder, and he was heavily medicated for it during his youth. Since coming here and clearing his system of all the drugs he was taking prescribed and otherwise, he has seemed to have a much easier time staying on task. He was doing better in school too; the big exception was in classes he shared with Lydia. Jackson liked the limelight, and if she was nearby, he would do just about anything to maintain it. This time it had been mimicking Melissa. After several rounds of explaining mitosis with an echo, Jackson found himself being asked to assist the office staff for the remainder of the class. He had a counseling session with his irritated teacher that evening, so it was really poor timing all around.
