Ethereal

I

Alessandra

EVEN BEFORE SHE GOT ATTACKED, Alessandra was having a rotten day.

Her best friend woke from his nap and suddenly he doesn't remember anything. She watched as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to think.

"Is he okay?" Piper asked as she leaned forward, eyes staring worriedly at the confused blonde.

Jason tensed up and scooted a bit further away from Alessandra. "Um, I don't—"

Their attention was drawn away by the loud shout of Coach Hedge. "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"

Alessandra snorted at the glare Coach casted at all the students, his beady eyes staring hard at all of them. "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, Alessandra snickered and shook her head.

Jason looked at her, his brows furrowing in confusion. "Can he talk to us that way?"

She picked at her nails and shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'"

"This is some kind of mistake," Jason said, Alessandra looked at him with a raised brow. "I'm not supposed to be here."

Leo threw his arms over the seat and leaned forward with a laugh. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Ally didn't get arrested four times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."

Piper blushed. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"

Alessandra shrugged with a laugh. "I did get arrested, I'm not gonna lie."

"See, Piper, just tell the truth like Ally. You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you? Like any judge would believe that." He raised his eyebrows at Jason and Alessandra, shaking his head.

Alessandra nodded. "He's got a point, Pipes. The judges didn't believe me when I said the cop let me drive his car, trust that their not gonna believe you. No matter how pretty we are."

"Anyway," Leo piped up, "I hope you've got your worksheet,"

"What happened to yours?" Alessandra asked.

"I used it for spit wards a few days ago." He replied before turning back to Jason and quirking a brow. "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, interrupting them. "Problem back there?"

Leo winked at Jason and Alessandra. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"

Alessandra smirked, Coach Hedge always wanted an excuse to use his megaphone. 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 class howled as coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"

Alessandra threw her head back with a loud laugh. "My god, Leo, you little genius. How did you do that?"

Piper covered her mouth as she laughed. "When did you even have time to do that?"

Both girls watched as Leo slipped a tiny Phillips head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy."