Juliana walked outside to the yard of the "school" with a book in her hand, intent on finding a quiet place to sit and read outside. It had been a few months since this place had been recommended to her and her parents, and few weeks now since she had started the program. It was a school for psychics, or, as they liked to phrase it, individuals with enhanced cognitive abilities beyond that of the norm. Some of them had some ability resembling telepathy, others a form of empathy, precognitive dreams, psychometry, and so on. None of their abilities were strong right now, though, despite their potential. Many of them were actually barely recognizable as abilities.<br/><br/>They were, in general, all pretty weak and very poorly controlled. Some people couldn't keep themselves from using their ability and, for example, basically constantly heard the thoughts of all those around them, while others were unable to use their ability consciously, using it when something triggered their subconscious mind to use it, or others like herself used them unconsciously while asleep. Some of the senior students had limited conscious control over their abilities, but it was very rare for any of the first or second year students to be able to consciously use their abilities, or to be able to use them for anything useful. In theory, the goal of this school was to help them to develop and learn to control their abilities. To what end, no one really knew.<br/><br/>It was a transition but she had adjusted well enough to life here, the routines, classes, testing, and people. It was certainly a different environment from her high school, but then again, many of the kids were still fresh out of high school and still in that mind set, so their behavior was pretty reminiscent of high school. Many thought that they were special because of their powers, others felt insignificant knowing that they weren't as unique as they thought, and others, like Jules, took comfort in knowing that even if they were still freaks, at least they weren't alone in that anymore. So in that way, it was a lot like high school. You had those who thought that they were the best thing since sliced bread, those who were insecure, and those who just wanted to be normal, or at least something resembling normal.<br/><br/>As anywhere, though, there were good people to be found, if you were open to finding them. She had made a few friends here already, including Elijah, so it was going well enough in that regard. She still wondered exactly what the point of this place was, what their goal was, what the purpose of these tests truly were, what the end game was. She was trying her hardest not to turn into a conspiracy theorist, or at least not to let her suspicions make her sound like she was one.<br/><br/>That was easier said than done, though. There were some shady things that were going down, or at least that's what she thought. It wasn't as though anyone was ever able to confirm as much, but she wasn't the only one wondering. No one dared ask questions where they might be overheard. Some of the more carefree individuals didn't ask questions at all, although she could not confirm whether this was because they were oblivious to such things or because they simply wished not to see them.<br/><br/>At any rate, she thought that as time went on, the answers would reveal themselves one way or another. Of course, she had no intention of waiting for the answers to come to her, but neither did she intend to go looking for trouble where it wasn't already present. She wasn't looking to become some kind of problem child that was watched day and night. It wasn't as though she were opposed to standing up to these people if they really were doing shady things, but she had no intention of doing so prematurely, as that wouldn't do anyone any good. Likewise, it wouldn't do any good for her to act without proof, as she didn't want to seem crazy, or to do something only to find out that she had been wrong all along.<br/><br/>"Uggghhhh!" she groaned to herself, ruffling her own hair with her free hand. Sometimes she wished she could be like those who went around without a care in the world, acting as if nothing was wrong, making friends, going on dates, trying to at least pretend they were normal. When was the last time she had gone on a date, anyways? Before her nightmares had gotten so bad that her parents decided to start drugging her, probably. After that, she had become a bit of a hot mess. She became hyper-alert, high-strung, neurotic. At any rate, it had been a while. Not that dating was high on her list of priorities at the moment, anyways.<br/><br/>She sighed to herself as she found a place in the grass and sat down, immediately flopping herself backwards to lay in the grass. As soon as she hit the ground, she made an<span style="font-style: italic">'eep'</span>sound, quickly sitting up and tilting her head back to look at the boy behind her who she had careless sat down in front of. "Sorry," she apologized, nervously rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess I should get out of my head and start paying attention to the real world, huh?" she admitted somewhat bashfully. She was thankful that he had been aware enough of his own surroundings to avoid tripping over her, as she was quite certain that wouldn't have been a pleasant experience for either of them.