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Disclaimer: The Gone series and its characters are all owned by Michael Grant, along with his various publishers, and no copyright infringement is intended by this story.

Author's Note: This story is an Alternative Universe, and an imagining of what could have happened to Caine, Drake and Diana before the FAYZ and before they began to discover their powers. I've had to change certain things to fit with the story, which I hope you can overlook :)

Please note that I'm from the UK, not America, and so certain phrases, products etc might not sound right: If you notice anything, feel free to PM me or post a review, and I'll be able to change it. Responses might take some time as I'm at university, but I will do my best.

This is a multichapter fic

-C-

Dear Mr Ladris,

Thank you for your recent enquires regarding your daughter's transferral to Coates Academy. We are very pleased to announce that we are formerly offering Diana a boarding place, effective from the first of September. Enclosed with this letter is a school brochure, along with a copy of a list of necessary items that students must bring with them at the start of the academic term.

At Coates Academy we put the wellbeing of our students first and foremost, and as a result ask that legal guardians sign a security contract with the school (enclosed), and send any wellbeing documents ahead of arrival. These may include anything from hospital notes to psychiatric reports. Your co-operation allows us to work more closely with the student, and to provide thorough one-on-one services with them, should it be necessary.

We look forward to receiving your confirmation.

Sincerely,

Andrea Thomas.

She didn't think they would accept her. She had thought there would have been a letter in the mail within a week, a short, polite reply from Coates Academy saying something along the lines of "thank you for your enquiry, but Diana Ladris seems to be a normal girl, and our involvement is not necessary". She had thought there would be no way in hell that a school like that would want her.

"Well?" Her father was standing behind her, waiting. She could almost taste his anticipation. He had been on tenterhooks for weeks. "Well?" he asked again, and Diana silently handed him the opened letter, too shocked to do anything else. She tried not to notice that her hands were shaking.

Mr Ladris looked up from reading and his mouth split into a smile that made his moustache twitch. "This is perfect!" he said, and Diana couldn't help but think that this was maybe the proudest he had ever been of her. "I'll give them a ring right now," he told her, ignoring her silence, and then he walked down the hallway to the kitchen phone, muttering "perfect" repeatedly under his breath.

Diana didn't move. For weeks she had been waiting for an answer, and this was not the one she had been expecting. She sat down cross-legged on the floor like a little kid, and flicked open the Coates brochure.

She flipped through the pages without looking at the writing, preferring to concentrate on the glossy pictures. The other kids looked smart and preppy in their expensive uniforms, and the grounds were big and lush, but Diana knew that the disadvantages already outweighed the good. At a boarding school there was nowhere to hide your secrets.

It was said that Coates Academy welcomed the difficult cases, the ones no-one else wanted... The mental kids who took twelve different types of medication with their cereal. What kind of school asked for a psychiatric report before enrolment?

Diana thought of her own psychiatrist. She had not been to a session in weeks. He kept ringing the house to check up on her, but Diana was always the one who answered seeing as her father was always out and her mother was...

How could she visit her mother from boarding school?

"Diana!" Mr Ladris called from the other room, making her jump. "How about we do something to celebrate? We could get breakfast from Harry's, you love it there!"

Harry's had closed down three years ago. Diana knew because her mother used to take her on the first Sunday of every month, until the health department shut it down for not having enough fire doors. Harry Hubert didn't have enough money to renovate, so it got turned into a high-class handbag boutique. Her dad didn't know that though, because he hadn't taken Diana out since she was six.

"Wow, Dad, pancakes," she said in a deadpan voice. "Nothing fills the void of utter abandonment like pancakes."

"Perfect," he said, for potentially the millionth time that morning. "Get in the car, we'll go now." Years of sarcasm had rendered him immune to Diana-isms.

"I have plans," she snapped.

Mr Ladris raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"I'm going to sit in my room and start listening to the voices in my head. I want to fit into my new school."

Mr Ladris sighed quietly. "Just get in the car."

-C-

They ended up going to a diner, and there they ate in silence. Diana picked at her plate, playing with her food instead of chewing it. Mr Ladris tried to start a conversation three different times, but they all faltered, spluttered and died.

"So... how are your friends doing?"

"I don't know. And seeing as I'm never going to see them again, I won't ever know."

Then:

"Aunt Camilla sent your mum a Get Well Soon card."

"Walmart must have run out of Hope You Aren't Paralysed For Life cards."

And finally:

"Di, I know you're upset, but you'll get loads out of your new school."

"Yeah. Like a free lobotomy and some crazy pills."

He always called her Di when he wanted to sweeten her up.

-C-

The first of September came around too quickly, and her life was thrown into two new suitcases and packed into the boot of her father's Ford Fiesta. Diana didn't watch the house she grew up in shrink to the size of a doll's house through the rear-window. Her good memories were gone now, and instead all she saw when she looked at it were police cars and crime scene tape and journalists, shouting her name and scribbling articles as her mother lay in St. Sergeant's Hospital.

"Sad to be leaving?" Her father asked. He was trying hard, like the family councillor had told him to. It wasn't enough though. Diana didn't think that anything he ever did would be enough. One of the few upsides of boarding school was that she wouldn't have her dad forcing himself to take an interest in her.

"I don't care," said Diana blankly. She stared at the road ahead.

"You care a bit," he answered softly, and Diana made a scoffing noise in the back of her throat, because she knew her voice would catch if she said anything intelligible.

Bakersfield was roughly two and a half hours away from Perdido Beach, the town which lurked closest to Coates Academy, and Diana spent the whole journey deliberating between being angry that she was going and being glad to escape. It was too hot inside the car and she rolled the window down, allowing the breeze to ruffle her hair and soothe her face. She could taste the salt from the sea on her tongue.

Coates was sat on top of a hill that was so steep Diana would have classed it as a mountain. It was a Gothic building, all stone and ivy and slate, and even though she didn't want to be, she was impressed with how grand it was. The grounds looked perfectly maintained, each blade of grass standing to attention, and as they passed through the black iron gates Diana caught sight of what looked like a sports stadium, half obscured by the East side of the building.

"Now I know why they charge so much," she said, before remembering she was supposed to be sulking. Her dad laughed and put the car into first gear, and the tyres crunched against the gravel driveway.

Coates' driveway was overly long and wide, which was lucky as everyone seemed to have arrived at the same time: the front of the school was a crush of cars and vans, each one gleaming in the afternoon sun. There were students everywhere: carrying bags and books and suitcases and paperwork; there were shouts and laughter as friends saw each other after a summer apart; kisses and hugs as parents departed the chaos in a hurry. Some of the younger kids were crying.

One particular car caught Diana's eye; an old, blue Ford Escort which didn't seem to fit in with the indulgent show of wealth that the other cars displayed.

Mr Ladris found a space and parked the car, before rifling through the glove compartment and finding her paperwork. "We go to the Entrance Hall to get you signed in, and then you'll get assigned a room. I'll get your bags."

They got out of the car, Diana accidentally hitting the vehicle on the other side with the passenger door. Her and her father both pretended not to notice the damage done. She slung her schoolbag over one shoulder, then took the handle of the smaller suitcase and wheeled it up to the front doors, Mr Ladris close behind. Most of the other students ignored her, but she caught sight of one or two throwing her curious looks. She'd been the new girl before, though, back in Bakersfield, and she knew how to play it.

The Entrance Hall was cool to the point of being chilly when they stepped inside, and Diana could not help but marvel at it. Carved from stone, it looked majestic, with its high arches and carvings. It reminded her of Hogwarts, except with less magic and more lunatics.

They joined the queue and waited to be signed in. The noise of the other students echoed, and snatches of conversation drifted towards the Ladris family.

"... her new haircut is ugly as, but she's got rid of the spots..."

"... I'm going to miss you, sweetie, but make sure you lay off the fatty foods..."

"... He's just over there, this year I'm going to get a date with him, Ruby Furlan thinks she's all that but he's never going to ask her..."

"... Wish he'd just leave, everyone hates him anyway, he's a psycho..."

"... Can't believe Mr Craston hasn't been fired, he's the worst..."

"... Is she new? She's hot, dude."

The last one came from Diana's right, and she suppressed a smirk. They might be rich weirdos, but Coates' boys were exactly the same as the boys anywhere else.

The queue moved forwards and Diana came face to face with a strawberry-blonde receptionist who looked like she was giving up the will to live. Without saying anything she held out her hand, and Mr Ladris scrabbled in his jacket pocket for the paperwork before handing it over. The receptionist found the corresponding name on the list, ticked it and then handed the paperwork back, before speaking in a bored voice with a very heavy New York accent.

"Welcome to Coates Academy, Miss Ladris. My name is Roberta Guinness. You can call me Miss Guinness. This is your welcome pack. The keys to your room are inside the envelope there, as is a map of the campus grounds. Suitcases are to be stored on the left, where one of our team will take them to your room. If you have any questions, I or one of the Prefect team will be more than happy to answer." She gestured listlessly at a group of teenagers who were stood in a huddle, talking amongst themselves. They did not look like they would be more than happy to answer questions. Diana thought they looked more like they were planning a suicide pact. "Girls are in the East Wing, third or forth floor, depending." Diana fished out her key: attached on a little blue keyring was a tag with 4-08 written on it. "Forth floor," Miss Guinness said in a patronising voice, peering over. "Your school timetable is in the pack, along with some things that might help you along in Coates."

"Like a tranquilliser gun?"

"Diana," Mr Ladris warned, fighting the urge to put his head in hands.

There was a low chuckle from the boy on the right, who was getting signed in simultaneously, and Diana instinctively turned her head and winked at him. At least someone has a sense of humour, she thought, before catching sight of him properly. He was handsome - very handsome, with dark hair and a confident smile, and there was something about his expression when she turned away that Diana liked. She took her welcome pack from the woman signing her in and walked away. She could almost feel the dark haired boy's eyes watching her, but she didn't turn around.

"I've got to go now, honey," Mr Ladris said, glancing at his watch. Diana was guessing he was going to meet his receptionist. He always did when he knew she wouldn't be around. "Ring me if you need anything. Don't be cheeky. Don't be rude. Respect you teachers. And don't get into trouble, okay?"

"Yeah," she said with no attempt at sincerity, and there was an awkward pause where neither of them knew exactly how to say goodbye.

"Okay," Mr Ladris said eventually. "Bye honey. Let me know if you need anything."

"Okay," she repeated, just as stiffly. Mr Ladris ducked his head, inviting her to kiss him on the cheek, so Diana knocked her cheek against it quickly, making sure she didn't touch him with her lips. "Bye Dad," she said, and then he walked away, pulling out his phone as he did.

"Ooh," commented a voice from behind her. "That was cold."

It was the boy from the line, the one she winked at. Diana raised a condescending eyebrow. "What's it to you?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. His parents had gone too: obviously they hadn't made much of a fuss in leaving either. Diana stored this in the back of her mind. "Just admiring it, actually. Most girls here would give Daddy a hug, make a scene. Y'know what I mean."

"Right," Diana said with pure disinterest. "Fascinating."

"It kind of is, yeah."

"Most people would just call it bitchiness." Diana gave him a look that could kill. Usually it made people squirm and leave her alone, which was how she liked to be left, but this boy kept her gaze. It almost made her uncomfortable.

"Did you want something?" she asked briskly, and he shrugged again.

"I didn't get your name," he ventured, charming smile at the ready.

"You didn't," she agreed.

When it became clear to him that she wasn't going to introduce herself, he decided to lead by example. "I'm Caine, just so you know. Caine Soren." There was something about the way he said his name that was so self-sure, so confident, that it made her feel suspicious. She mentally filed away the name, just in case, and then smirked.

"I guess I'll see you around, Caine."

She walked away before he could stop her.

-C-

Diana's room was small. It felt even smaller when she had unpacked all her stuff, although she didn't own very many personal items anyway. The only thing she took particular care with was a picture of her mother, taken before Diana was born, before the stress kicked in and aged her face. Diana tucked that between the pages of an old dictionary that she knew she would never pick up, let alone use.

She lay back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling, picking at a thread on her duvet. She had been at Coates officially for only a few hours and yet she was already bored. She wished she could speak to someone from Bakersfield - but there was no-one who she wanted to talk to at that moment. She wished she could call her mother - not that she'd be able to pick up.

"It was my dad."

"It was my dad, I saw him do it, they were screaming and he pushed her!"

"He pushed her, I swear..."

"... I think he wanted to kill her."

Diana rolled onto her side and shut her eyes.

-C-

Author's Note: And there's Chapter One. Judging by the length I've got the feeling that this is going to potentially be a very long story. If you take the time to review, that would be much appreciated :)

It's a throwaway line, but I'm wondering who you guys thought who might own the grubby Ford Escort car? You'll find out in the next chapter, but I'm just interested in your guesses.

P.S. Reading back, there is no way near as much plot as I thought there would be. This is more of a chapter setting everything up. Hopefully next chapter will be a little more fun for you all