Laren looked confusedly at Ashlyn. "What do you mean, 'theirs or ours'? There are two sets of rules?"

Ashlyn looked mischievously at Laren. "Don't you know that there are ALWAYS two sets of rules? You can follow THEIRS, which you should do whenever THEY are around. Or you can follow OURS, which you can do when THEY aren't around."

"Well, I guess I should learn both. I mean, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with anyone. I'm kind of excited about being here, but I'm also nervous. This is a great opportunity and I don't want to blow it." Laren hugged on Mr. Biggles and waited to see what Ashlyn would tell her.

Ashlyn gracefully sank cross-legged to the floor and motioned for Laren to join her. Laren self-consciously sat on the floor, knowing she wasn't near as graceful as Ashlyn.

Ashlyn lowered her voice conspiratorially. "First thing, their rules say you must ALWAYS wear the ucky gray jumpsuits. But ours say you should wear 'pretties' under it. Makes you feel a little more normal. Second, their lights out is at 9pm. NO ONE goes to bed at 9. We hide under our blankets with flashlights. Also, you can't bring food to your room, but we have stashes. But the most important thing . . . NEVER NEVER NEVER tell what you see here. They want you to rat out your friends if you know something they want to know, but we never tell. You can never tell." Ashlyn looked scary all of a sudden to Laren. 

"But, what in the world could even be told here? This place is supposed to be so wonderful. Nothing is supposed to be bad here or wrong." Laren was even more confused than ever.


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