They walked through the building, stopping here and there for Coach Hedge to lecture them with his megaphone, which alternately made him sound like a Sith Lord or blared out random comments like "The pig says oink."
Leo kept pulling out nuts, bolts, and pipe cleaners from the pockets of his army jacket and putting them together, like he had to keep his hands busy at all times.
Sol walked behind the two boys, giving her a chance to get a good look at both of them. She had decided on protecting Jason along with Piper and Leo, if not for the fact that she wouldn't very well get answers from a dead man.
Some girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. These girls were easily identifiable as the stereotypical popular clique. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween party.
One of them said, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"
The other girls laughed. Even Piper's so-called partner Dylan suppressed a smile. Piper's snowboarding jacket sleeves hid her hands, but Sol got the feeling she was clenching her fists.
"My dad's Cherokee," she said. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."
Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, so that she looked like an owl with a makeup addiction. "Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."
Piper charged her, but before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"
The group shuffled on to the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to Piper.
"Good to be back on the rez?" one asked in a sweet voice.
"Dad's probably too drunk to work," another said with fake sympathy. "That's why she turned klepto."
Piper ignored them, but Jason looked like was ready to punch them himself. Sol didn't need this today.
Leo caught his arm. "Be cool. Piper doesn't like us fighting her battles. Besides, if those girls found out the truth about her dad, they'd be all bowing down to her and screaming, 'We're not worthy!'"
"Why? What about her dad?"
Leo laughed in disbelief. "You're not kidding? You really don't remember that your girlfriend's dad-"
"Look, I wish I did, but I don't even remember her, much less her dad."
Leo whistled. "Whatever. We have to talk when we get back to the dorm."
They reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to a terrace.
"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork."
The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.
"Man," Leo said. "That's pretty wicked."
Sol had to agree. Despite her only being here for her mission, she couldn't help being impressed.
The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. They were up so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon foor. Banks of storm clouds had moved overhead while they'd been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs.
Jason suddenly went pale and stumbled.
"You all right?" Leo asked. "You're not going to throw up over the side, are you? 'Cause I should've brought my camera."
Sol swatted at Leo's arm. "Seriously, are you okay Jason?"
"I'm fine," he managed. "Just a headache."
Thunder rumbled overhead. A cold wind almost knocked them sideways.
"This can't be safe." Leo squinted at the clouds. "Storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?"
Sol looked up and saw Leo was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear. The storm had already been moving in faster than normal. Sol had a feeling that this storm wasn't a normal storm. She couldn't help wondering if it had something to do with Jason.
"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm like it bothered him too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"
The storm rumbled. Jason reached into his jeans pocket and brought out a coin-a circle of gold the size of a half-dollar, but thicker and more uneven. Stamped on one side was a picture of a battle-ax. On the other was some guy's face wreathed in laurels. Sol caught a glimpse of inscription: IVLIVS. She tensed.
"Dang, is that gold?" Leo asked. "You been holding out on me!"
Jason tried put the coin away, but Sol grabbed his hand.
"Jason," she said slowly, a cold edge creeping into her voice despite her attempts to keep her tone casual. "Where did you get that de- coin?"
Jason stuttered. "I- I don't remember."
Sol saw Leo from the corner of her eye. He had already lost interest in the coin and walked over to the rail. Sol released Jason's wrist. "Sorry," she mumbled.
Leo waved them over before Jason could respond. "Come on," he said. "Dare you to spit over the edge."
~~~~~~~~
They didn't try very hard on the worksheet. For one thing, Leo made it clear that his was no longer in sheet form, and was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners to do his work anyway. Jason was staring off into the clouds, his eyes clouded with confusion. And Sol wasn't a real student here. She wasn't doing voluntary science homework.
"Check it out." Leo launched his copter. Somehow, the pipe-cleaner blades actually spun. Sol couldn't bother being surprised at Leo's impossible contraptions.
The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.
"How'd you do that?" Jason asked.
Leo shrugged. "Would've been cooler if I had some rubber bands."
"Leo can't do much, but he can build things," Sol remarked, earning an annoyed look from Leo.
"Seriously," Jason said, looking between the two, "are we friends?"
"Last I checked." Leo said, at the same time Sol gave a blunt "No."
Jason ignored Sol and instead turned to Leo. "You sure? What was the first day we met? What did we
talk about?"
"It was.." Leo frowned. "I don't recall exactly. I'm
ADHD, man. You can't expect me to remember details."
"But I don't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. What if-"
"You're right and everyone else is wrong?" Leo asked. "You think you just appeared here this morning, and we've all got fake memories of you?"
Everyone but me, Sol thought to herself.
"Take the worksheet." Jason handed Leo the paper. "I'll be right back."
Before Leo could protest, Jason headed across the skywalk.
Sol watched Jason walk up to coach, his six foot frame towering over Hedge. About fifty feet away, Piper was trying to fill out her worksheet, but her stupid partner Dylan was hitting on her, putting his hand on her shoulder and giving her that blinding white smile. She caught Sol's gaze and raised her eyebrows like a signal for help. Sol smiled and rolled her eyes. She stayed in the same dorm as Piper, and even though she wasn't supposed to, she sort of befriended the girl.
"So, Sol what was that whole thing with Jason's coin about?" Leo questioned, looking at something else he was building in his hands.
So he had noticed that.
Sol scowled at him. She knew she shouldn't get mad, her sudden, unreasonable temper had screwed her over more times than she could count on all four limbs, but she had never found a way to control it. "Leo, do you ever shut up? First you pull that stupid stunt on the bus, then you act like this whole fiasco with Jason is just some joke! All you ever do is make dumb jokes and dumb decisions, because that's all you are!" Sol let out a deep breath. Shoot. "Uh, Leo-"
"No, I get it." Sol turned towards the unusual words. She had never seen Leo break his 'class clown' demeanor. "I'm annoying, and I know it. I still keep doing it though. I wish as much as you do that I would stop."
Sol was frozen. This wasn't Leo. What did she do?
"I'll, um, leave you alone now."
Then lightning crashed overhead, the skywalk shook dangerously, and all of the kids screamed.
~~~~~~~~
Word count: 1,505