Kingfisher: The Oneshots

Random Bus - Haunted

"Oh, come on, Jason, not you, too," Leo groaned.

Piper squeezed Jason's hand. "Jason, you okay?"

Jason let go of her hand. "Um, I don't—"

In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"

The guy was obviously a coach. His baseball cap was pulled low over his hair, so you could just see his beady eyes. He had a wispy goatee and a sour face, like he'd eaten something moldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were so impossibly white that he must've sold his sold to keep them so spotless. A whistle hung from his neck, and megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would've looked pretty scary if he hadn't been five feet zero. When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"

"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender.

Then his eyes fixed on Rebecca, and his eyes flashed in recognition.

Rebecca recognized him at once: he was Gleeson Hedge, one of the satyr protectors employed by Camp Half-Blood. If he was here, then that meant there were demigods nearby.

Hedge noticed Jason, and his scowl deepened. Jason flinched. Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat.

"We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way."

He picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.

Jason looked at the girl next to him. "Can he talk to us that way?"

Piper shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'" She said it like it was a joke they'd shared before.

Leo snickered like he got the joke.

"This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here."

Leo laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW. And Rebecca didn't—"

Piper blushed. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"

"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you?" He raised his eyebrows at Jason like, Can you believe her?

"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago."

"Why would you do that?" Rebecca demanded. "Who does that?"

"Me," Leo said simply, shrugging. "Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?"

"I don't know you," Jason said.

"Yeah, me neither," Rebecca agreed.

Leo gave them both a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend, Jason. I'm not your boyfriend, Rebecca. I'm his evil clone."

Boyfriend? Rebecca nearly choked. There was one thing she knew for sure, and that was the fact that she was not romantically involved with anyone, not even Nate. Sure, they'd kissed, like, once, but that was a complete accident and they hadn't mentioned it since.

"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front.

"Problem back there?"

Leo winked at Jason. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"