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Alex burst into her dorm room, an entirely new load of books clutched in her arms along with what looked like a dvd case or two. As a girl who'd just had her sixteenth birthday, there was one very important class to add to her list. Namely, Driver's Ed. And being the thoughtful friend she was, she'd signed Erin up as well. With a beaming smile she walked over to Erin and dropped the stack of books. "I signed us up for a new class!" The top book, 'Driving, the Law, and You' had a serious looking young man and a frantic parent inside a car on the cover. "Driver's Ed!"

It was Breakdown's second day in the city. He had spent the entire first day helping his parents move stuff into their new home. (They sure were glad he could teleport now that he had powers! Otherwise they would have had to hire a mover. And wouldn't you know it, they would not let him hear the end of it!) Eddie loved his parents, but sometimes he couldn't stand them either. By the end of the day, he had to get out of the house. He had left after dinner (take out) and walked to Claremont (where he would be going to school in the fall). No one had been around, but he had assumed that it was simply because it had been getting late. He had left soon after sunset and gone back home. He had decided he would try again today. He just hoped he would run into somebody...

It was a fine day in early June, not long after her shenanigans with Coach Jones and the punching test, when Erin got the message from Mr. Archer about her placement test: the equipment was ready and it was time for her to take her turn! She'd been invited to meet with Mr. Archer in the Jasmine Summers Administration Building, the intimidatingly official structure where she'd first had to sign all the forms that had helped her become a student at the Claremont Academy. Fortunately, Mr. Archer was there to greet her at the door, a relaxed smile on his face. "Good morning, Erin," he told her sociably. "How do you feel?" he asked as he pushed open the door for her.

It was a lazy summer Thursday, an afternoon when Quark and Wander both had very little to do. That was a fortunate thing, as both of them had been invited by Mr. Marquez to a meeting of the Interdimensional Students Support Society, a new group specially designed for students "who have come a very long way to our school, even though they may be in the same place that they left." There'd been a promise of cookies and punch afterwards, along with a chance to meet some summer students that neither of them had quite had a chance to be introduced to yet. After all, it was a big school! The meeting was scheduled for the conference room on the second floor of the Diana Falk Cafeteria, a good-sized room with a round table and big screen monitor named after someone named Travis Hunter.

Bayview was a lovely neighborhood in the summertime, and the gorgeous rolling hills that sited the Claremont Academy was situated right in one of the most beautiful parts of the region. As the van carrying the three teenage superhumans headed up the drive to campus, the rolling hills they drove over on the way gave them occasional glimpses of the beautiful 19th century style campus. The big double gates were set in a big portico-style gate tower overrun by ivy made tired by the summer's heat, and the arriving students could just make out the burnished plaque that bore the school's name and motto on the outside wall. “The Claremont Academy for the Gifted, Scientia Potentia Est." Waiting for them at the security booth just inside the front gate was a a friendly-faced woman of middle age, wearing a sensible linen suit and a smile. "Hey folks!" she said after knocking on the window to get it rolled down. "I'm Mrs. Stephanie Harcourt, head science teacher around here. There's a snap faculty meeting been called, and what with the summer session and such that leaves just me and my science project to show you around the place for right now. Go on up and park in family parking," she said, pointing into the big lot that the gate opened up to. "I'll meet you up there..." As the van moved to pull up, she looked around and called in a teacher voice, "Hey, Mr. Koyama! What did I say about showing off?"

Once the orientation tour was over, when the students had been cut loose for a little while, Erin decided to take a walk on her own. She liked her room and her new roommate well enough, but she knew she'd feel antsy until she had a really good idea of the layout of the place. With a notebook, pen and a map of campus in hand, she headed out and onto the broad green grounds of the academy to look around. It looked a lot different than it had the last time she'd been here, picking up a part for Dr. Atom. The lawn had been brown and dead then, and there'd been a pile of skeletons over by the front gate, people trying to get in to safety or beat their way in to get revenge on the heroes who hadn't saved them, who could say? Erin shook off the memory and kept walking. It was a beautiful day in a beautiful world, and she wasn't going to spoil it. All the same, she was on alert as she walked, keeping an eye out in all directions for anyone approaching, and noting down possible strategic locations in her notebook. It made her feel better.