Sol didn't like being a babysitter. She especially didn't like babysitting when her charges were two 16 year-olds with ADHD, criminal records, and demigod powers. And she wasn't even getting paid!
Sol crossed her arms and blew a piece of hair out of her eyes. She was waiting outside of the Wilderness School for Piper and Leo. She was told by... someone that they were demigods, and she had been tasked with protecting them until someone could come from Camp Half-Blood to pick them up at the Grand Canyon. That's where they were headed now.
She saw a head of brown curls bouncing over the crowd of students that had began flowing out the door. Leo. There was Piper, next to him, holding someone's hand. It was a blond guy, with bright blue eyes and surprisingly muscular arms for a dude that Sol had never noticed before. No, if this kid went to the Wilderness School, and was 'holding hands' levels of close with Piper, she would know him.
Sol walked up beside Leo nonchalantly. "So, you guys ready?"
"I am, so long as Coach Hedge doesn't kill me on my first field trip," The blond boy said.
Piper laughed. "Jason, you wouldn't do anything that would make Coach mad. It's Leo we should worry about." So the boy was named Jason. Sol had never heard that name here before. She briefly wondered if he was a monster, but dismissed the idea. There was something weird about him, that was clear, but it wasn't monstrous. Sol would just have to watch him.
"Hey, if Coach wants to yell at me, he'll need to use his megaphone. We sit in the back," Leo smiled his twisty, smirky grin. Sol payed more attention to him when he smiled like that. It was another thing that she didn't understand. What she did understand was that it usually foretold something that would make Sol's job infinitely harder.
"Salazar! Get over here!" Sol didn't even try to hold back her groan. Hedge avoided talking to her as much as possible. He only did so when he absolutely had to, if something was wrong. Really, really wrong. And things going wrong was something that Sol could not have on this mission.
"Hey, I'll be right back guys. Don't do anything. Stand here, don't move."
Leo rolled his eyes. "It's not like there's any cars for Piper to steal, or kids for Jason to beat up."
"Hey, I didn't ask for him to jump me!"
"Yeah, and he didn't ask for you to break his hand."
Sol walked away before she got caught up in an argument.
Hedge was waiting behind the bus, away from the kids. "Hedge, whatever this is must be important."
"Well you tell me, Salazar! Who's that boy over there? You were on strict orders to keep McLean and Valdez isolated, and it really isn't that hard!"
Sol let out a dramatic sigh. "I don't even know where that kid came from. His name is Jason, and he's like... Piper's boyfriend, or something, I dunno. I don't think he's a monster, though. I'll have to keep an eye on him."
"Just don't mess up your mission now. There's only a few hours until we're at the Grand Canyon, and then you'll be back at camp, and those kids can become someone else's problem." Hedge glared at her, but his heart wasn't in it. It never was with her. Sol went back to Leo and Piper and Jason before she had to respond.
"Alright guys, it's time to go. No funny business on the bus, or I'll have to kick you off." Sol turned and marched away.
Jason looked to Piper. "Would she actually throw us off a moving bus?"
"Probably."
"Huh."
~~~~~~~~
For someone so worried about her mission, Sol was a really bad chaperone.
She had fallen asleep almost immediately on the bus, in the seat across the aisle from Leo. She only woke up once Coach Hedge started the shouting.
"All right, cupcakes, listen up!"
Sol jolted awake. She rubbed her eyes and glanced over at the two (three?) demigods. Piper was looking at Jason like she was worried, and Jason was looking at Piper like he had no clue who she was. Leo was making what looked like helicopter blades out of pipe cleaners, oblivious to the confusion behind him and the coach in front of him.
Coach Hedge stood up in the aisle. One of the students called out, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"
"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixed on Jason, and his scowl deepened.
The coach looked like he was going to say something to him, but decided against it. He still glared at Sol though, like it was her fault he was here.
"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 Piper. "Can he talk to us that way?"
She shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'"
Piper chuckled, but Jason shook his head.
"This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here."
Leo turned and laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."
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 are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again?"
"I don't know you," Jason said.
Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone"
"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?"
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!"
The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"
Piper stifled a laugh. "My god, Leo. How did you do that?" Leo slipped a tiny Phillips head screwdriver from his sleeve.
"I'm a special boy."
"Leo, why did you do that? It's like you want to make my job harder," Sol sighed.
Leo grinned. "I do."
"Guys, seriously," Jason pleaded. "what am I doing here? Where are we going?"
Piper knit her eyebrows. "Jason, are you joking?"
"No! I have no idea-"
"Aw, yeah, he's joking," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you?"
Jason stared at him blankly.
"No, I think he's serious." Piper tried to take his hand again, but he pulled it away.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't- I can't-"
"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!"
The rest of the kids cheered.
"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.
Sol scoffed. "Really, Leo? It's your fault."
But Piper kept her eyes on Jason, like she couldn't decide whether to be hurt or worried. "Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?"
Jason shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."
~~~~~~~~
The bus dropped them in front of a big red stucco complex like a museum, just sitting in the middle of nowhere. Maybe that's what it was: the National Museum of Nowhere, Sol thought. A cold wind blew across the desert. She pulled her cardigan tighter around her. Sol was beginning to regret wearing the cardigan, sweater and jeans, but she was supposed to be back at camp today. She wanted to make a good entrance.
"So, a crash course for the amnesiac," Leo said, in a helpful tone that was definitely not actually helpful.
"We go to the 'Wilderness School'-" Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids.' Your family, or the court, or whoever, decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this lovely prison- sorry, 'boarding school'- in Armpit, Nevada, where you learn valuable nature skills like running ten miles a day through the cacti and weaving daisies into hats! And for a special treat we go on 'educational' field trips with Coach Hedge, who keeps order with a baseball bat. Is it all coming back to you now?"
"No." Jason glanced apprehensively at the other kids.
Sol shared a worried look with Piper. She still didn't know who this kid was, or how or why he got to the Wilderness School, but he seemed genuinely scared.
Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the three of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. You do everything I say and give me your dessert and do my chores-"
"Leo!" Piper snapped.
"Fine. Ignore that last part. But we are friends. Well, Piper's a little more than your friend, the last few weeks-"
"Leo, stop it!" Piper's face turned red. Jason was blushing too.
"He's got amnesia or something," Piper said. "We've got to tell somebody."
Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix Jason by whacking him upside the head."
The coach was at the front of the group, barking orders and blowing his whistle to keep the kids in line; but every so often he'd glance back at Jason and scowl.
"Somehow, Leo's actually right. There's no one here who could help with this. We don't even know what this is," Sol said.
"Leo, Sol, Jason needs help," Piper insisted. "He's got a concus-"
"Yo, Piper." One of the other guys dropped back to join them as the group was heading into the museum. The new guy wedged himself between Jason and Piper and knocked Leo down. "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?"
Sol knew this guy, Dylan. He smiled like he was God's gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere, with teeth so white they should've come with a warning label: DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY AT TEETH. PERMANENT BLINDNESS MAY OCCUR.
"Go away, Dylan," Piper grumbled. "I didn't ask to work with you."
"Ah, that's no way to be. This is your lucky day!" Dylan hooked his arm through hers and dragged her through the museum entrance. Piper shot one last look over her shoulder like, 911.
Leo got up and brushed himself off. "I hate that guy." He offered Jason his arm, like they should go skipping inside together. "'I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!'"
"Leo," Jason said, "you're weird."
"I second that," Sol chimed in.
"Yeah, you guys tell me that a lot." Leo grinned. "But if Jason doesn't remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on!"
Jason looked conflicted, but Sol nudged him toward the museum, and they followed Leo in.
~~~~~~~~
Word Count: 1,939
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A/N: Some chapters will be split differently than the original book, because of size and additions like in this one.