Home|| Leo Valdez

1

—"Lex! Lex! get up!" Getting woken up in the middle of the night is no fun for anyone. Alex included. Startled, she fell out of her bed an glared at the shadow in her dorm. 

Familiarity seeped into her. There was no danger, no murderer trying to take off her head. Just the same boy she had known forever. 

"Leo, what the hell?" She whisper yelled, massaging her head.

"Pipes and Jason are on the roof again— let's go ruin their date" There was no need for whisper yelling anymore, Alex shared her dorm with Piper McLean, one of her best friends and since she was on the roof, there was no one else except Leo and Alex. 

"That's a great idea. But maybe don't push me out of bed?" 

"Technically, you fell out by yourself" Leo grinned, or Alex thought he grinned, it was hard to see in the dark. She knew him so well she knew he must have been grinning. He did that a lot.

Sneaking to the roof was no problem. Most of the guards in their wilderness school were by the school gate or on the first floor, not by the student dorms. It was a fact Leo and Alex had endlessly taken advantage of. 

In the moonlight, Leo's features were a little more visible and his eyes shone with mischief. People often described him as a latino Santa's elf, but only Alex knew how much he took all of it to heart. 

Alex had known Leo since they were both nine, and till date he was the closest person to her. They had been through too much for anyone else to understand. One thing the two shared with Piper McLean were freaky incidents, Piper could talk anyone into doing anything, Alex could swear she got healed by water once and everyone knew how comfortable Leo was with fire. 

So the three weird kids banded together at the Wilderness school- a correction facility for delinquents and then along came Jason. As far as Alex knew, no one knew why he was there. He didn't have any previous criminal records or any records for that matter. 

Any time Alex tried to think too much about him, her thoughts would always wander, and it wasn't because of her ADHD. She knew there was something fishy about the boy but she couldn't place her finger on it. 

"I think they're gonna kiss" Leo whispered.

"They already did, didn't Jason tell you?" Alex raised an eyebrow, "Piper couldn't stop talking about it for the last three weeks"

"Last three weeks?" Did Jason not tell Leo?

"You guys do realize we can hear you right?" Piper's voice interrupted. 

Alex swore under her breath. Reluctantly, the two of them stood up from their hiding place. They wore twin expressions as they grinned sheepishly.

They were all around the same age but Piper and Jason looked older than the other. There was no denying how pretty Piper was with traditionally native American features and brown hair that Alex had helped her cut which was why it looked so ugly, but Piper somehow made it work. At first, Alex had had a crush on her, but then they became good friends and it faded away. 

Jason, much like Piper was good looking with piercing blue eyes and a broad frame. Though they were good friends, Alex always felt bad for Leo who for some reason always got insecure next to Jason. Though Leo never said anything, Alex had known him for too long and could practically read his mind.

"Sorry Pipes, it was Leo's idea though!" Alex defended herself. 

"Jackson, it's fine... let's just stare at the stars" Jason said. The four sat that way till four in the morning, when Piper woke the others to sneak back into their dorms. If they would've gotten caught, they would have been allowed on the field trip to the Grand canyon in the morning.