The Lost Hero: Jason

[Jason Grace]

Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day. He woke in the back seat of a school bus, not sure where he was, holding hands with a girl he didn't even know. That wasn't necessarily the rotten part. The girl was cute, but he didn't know who she was, or what he was doing there. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to think. A few dozen kids sprawled in the seats in front of him, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping.They all looked around his age. 15? 16? Okay that was scary. He didn't know his own age. The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, dessert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Jason was pretty sure he didn't live in the dessert. He tried to think back.. the last thing he remembered... The girl squeezed his hand, "Jason, you okay?" She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snow-boarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no make-up, like she was trying to draw no attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was seriously pretty. Her eyes seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope, brown blue and green. Jason let go of her hand, "Umm.... I-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 spotless white. A whistle hung from his neck, and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would have looked pretty scary, if he hadn't been 5'0. 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 Jason, and his scowl deepened. A jolt went down Jason's spine. He was sure the coach knew he didn't belong there. He was going to call Jason out, demand to know what he was doing on the bus, and Jason wouldn't have a clue what to say. But Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat, "We'll arrive in 5 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?" She shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness school, 'Where kids are the animals'." She'd said it like it was a joke they said before. "This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here." The boy in front of him turned and laughed, "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away 6 times,and Piper didn't steal a BMW." The girl blushed. "I didn't seal 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?' 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 with 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. Either the kid was naturally hyper, or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart-attack to a water buffalo. "Anyway," Leo said, "I hope you 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 you're best friend, I'm his evil clone." "Leo Valgez!" 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 sue your blowhorn?" Coach Hedge grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped a 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. "Valgez!" Piper stifled a laugh. "My God, Leo. How did you do that?" Leo slipped a tiny Phillip's-Head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy." "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!" "Oh, he's joking." Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for the shaving cream on the Jell-o thing. Aren't you?" Jason stared at him blankly. "No, I think he's serious." Piper tried to hold his hand again but he pulled away. "I'm sorry." He said. "I-I don't..... I-I can't..." "That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back-row just volunteered to clean up after lunch." The rest of the kids cheered. "There's a shocker." Leo muttered. 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 off 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' Jason thought. A cold wind blew across the dessert. Jason hadn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough. Jeans and sneakers, a purple T-Shirt, and a thin black windbreaker. "So, a crash course for the amnesiac." Leo said in a helpful tone that made Jason think this was not going to be helpful. "We go to the Wilderness School." Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're bad kids. You're 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 10 miles a day through the cacti, and weaving daisies into hats. And for a treat with 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 over at the other kids. Maybe 20 guys, half that many girls. None of them looked like hardened criminals. But he wondered what they'd all done to get sentenced to a school for delinquents. and he wondered why he belonged with them.


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