𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 •| ⊱ Jason Grace¹

•| ⊱ ONE

But 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. The blonde kid next to her looked at Mia and asked, "Can he talk to us that way?"

She shrugged because she didn't have an answer to his question. From the seat in front of them a new girl happened to be listening and said, "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'" She said it like it was a joke they'd shared before but obviously Mia knew that wasn't possible.

"This has to be some kind of mixup." Hermia said as she looked back at the blonde boy. "I'm not supposed to be here."

"I feel the exact same way." The blonde boy said as he watched the red head.

Next to the girl was a different boy who turned and laughed as he looked at Mia and the blonde. "Yeah, right, guys. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."

The girl in front of the blonde blushed as she turned to look at the boy next to her. "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 the two in the back like, Can you believe her?

Leo looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects. His long, nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving-drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket.

"Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you've got your worksheet, Jason 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?"

"I don't know you," The blonde boy, Jason said. Mia's eyes slowly moved from Jason to Leo. This answer should have brought up red flags, but Leo didn't seem to take notice.

He just gave Jason a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."

When Hermia moved her head she noticed the girl, Piper watching her closely. She must have noticed something was off because she than asked, "Mia, you okay?"

Both boys turned their heads towards the red head. Hermia didn't know what to say at first. How was she supposed to tell them she didn't know them?

With a heavy sigh she said, "I'm sorry, but I don't know who any of you are." As if feeling his gaze Mia turned her head and found Jason looking at her. She didn't know why but she felt like he knew something about her.

Before the group could comment on that Coach Hedge yelled from the front, "Leo Valdez! Problem back there?"

Leo winked at them before saying, "Watch this." He turned in his seat so he could face the front.

"Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"

Coach Hedge grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"

Mia watched everyone in confusion but didn't comment on it. The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"

Piper stifled a laugh as Leo turned look at her. "My god, Leo. How did you do that?"