Enter the Storm

Chapter 1: Troubled Girls

✯Season 4, Episode 13✯

Gloria Burgess looks around the center she works and lives at. Helping these girls has given Gloria the lift purpose she's been looking for since she was young. While her younger sister Kim was able to find her way within the CPD and Nicole has her family that she cares for, Gloria had turned on a completely different path. 

Despite a good childhood, Gloria turned to drugs and drinking after spending years being compared to her sisters. No matter how good she did in school or how many activities and sports she participated in, nothing was as good as Nicole or Kim. 

After years of not talking with her family, Gloria is now working with troubled teenage girls who are in worse spots in their formative years than she ever was. She'll do anything to protect as many of them as she can. Anything.

"Hey, where's Sam?" Gloria asks one of the girls, Tonya.

"Taken care of," Tonya tells her, "I have a client waiting for you, one of Sam's regulars."

Gloria sighs, nodding, "I've got it. Do your homework before you lose phone privileges."

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"Reminder: today let's strive to be aware of even the smallest choices we make. If we choose to make better choices, we will have a better life," Is heard over the loudspeaker the next day as Gloria watches over some of the girls during class.

"Gloria? This is Ryan. Ryan, Gloria. Gloria is your supervisor, she'll take you around, tell you how not to get fired and maybe make a difference," Michael introduces the two.

"Okay, cool," Ryan nods, shaking Gloria's hand.

She looks to Vince to handle the rest of class before she addresses Ryan, "Follow me, I'll talk as we go."

"All right."

Gloria fixes a poster as they walk, "Where are you coming from before this?"

He almost mimics Gloria as he fixes a crooked picture, "Graveyard shift at my uncle's auto lot."

"How'd you end up here then?"

"He's on the board here. He figured me smoking pot and banging his secretary in used station wagons no longer counted as work," Ryan tells her, setting off alarm bells in her head as she studies him.

"Right. So this floor is mainly classrooms. We've got 72 residents right now. Age ranges from 12 to 17. Most girls are here about a year while they figure out the medications and therapy that work for them, they get transferred to a lower level placement," She looks into one of the day rooms, "This is one of our day rooms. It's got a time out room attached. The cafeteria, therapy, medication rooms, all upstairs with the dorms."

"Okay, got it," He nods while a few of the girls walk out of a classroom.

"Who's this boy scout?" Tonya asks.

Gloria shakes her head, "Tonya, where are we supposed to be?"

She ignores Gloria, "This should be fun to watch."

"The answer is study hall. Now," Gloria steadies her with a glare.

"Yes, ma'am," Tonya sasses before her and the other two walk away.

Gloria looks to Ryan, "You'll get used to that. Every minute of their day is scheduled, lean into the structure. Bad days and things happen in down time."

He nods, "Right, right."

Sighing, Gloria nods down the hall, "Let's head to the cafeteria. The food's....edible."