Lightning and the Beauty

Where Am I? No...Seriously

                                                                                 Pierce's POV

EVEN BEFORE HE GOT ELECTROCUTED, Pierce was having a boring day. Mainly because of a lovely thing called ADHD, amazing right? He woke in the backseat of a school bus, not sure where he was, sitting next to a boy he didn't know. That wasn't necessarily the boring part. The guy was nice, but he couldn't figure out who he 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 ...seventeen? Eighteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn't know his own age. The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Pierce was pretty sure he didn't live in the desert. He tried to think back ... the last thing he remembered ...The guy got his attention back. "Yo Pierce, you okay?" 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 around 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, like him, or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo. I backed up from him. "Um, 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've looked pretty scary if he hadn't been five feet zero. 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 a kid behind him, then Pierce, and his scowl deepened when he first saw the kid to the side of him, then when he saw me he looked...relived? A jolt went down Pierce's spine. He was sure the coach knew he didn't belong there. He was going to call the kid behind him out, demand to know what he was doing on the bus—and he probably wouldn't have a clue what to say, mainly because he's a student here. Right? But Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. "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 homerun. Pierce looked at the boy next to him. "Can he talk to us that way? I mean I'm not complaining." He shrugged. "Always a people pleaser, my dear Pierce. But yes he always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'" He said it like it was a joke they'd shared before. "This is some kind of mistake," the kid behind him said. "I'm not supposed to be here." We turned in front of him turned and Leo, laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW. Pierce didn't fight 20 kids." The girl 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? Piper wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup like she was trying not to draw 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. She was beautiful, and Pierce blushed, from behind his seat of course. "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." "Guys, seriously," Pierce pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?" Piper knit her eyebrows. "Jason, Pierce, are you joking?" "No! I have no idea—""Aw, yeah, they're joking," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you? And Pierce is joining in to make it seem 'real'" Jason and Pierce stared at him blankly. "No, I think their serious." Piper tried to take Jason's hand again, which made me a little jealous, 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!" "What." I growled. "I'm not doing that." The rest of the kids cheered. "There's a shocker," Leo muttered. But Piper kept her eyes on Jason and Pierce, like she couldn't decide whether to be hurt or worried. "Did you two hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?" Pierce shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am." "Same here." Jason sighed. 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, Pierce thought. A cold wind blew across the desert. Pierce hadn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it he was lucky it was nearly warm enough, for him at least: jeans and sneakers, a tattered orange T-shirt, and a thin black windbreaker. With a guitar slung over his back. "So, a crash course for the amnesiacs," Leo said, in a helpful tone that made Pierce 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.' 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." "I'm not supposed to be here." I said again. Pierce glanced apprehensively at the other kids: maybe twenty 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. Leo rolled his eyes. "You two are really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the three of us started here together this semester, Pierce you've been here since you were like 6. I dunno I forgot. But anyway we're totally tight. You two 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 Jason's friend, the last few weeks—" My anger increased. Why was I jealous? I barely knew this girl! "Leo, stop it!" Piper's face turned red. Jason's did too. "They've got amnesia or something," Piper said. "We've got to tell somebody. "Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Hedge? He'd try to fix Jason and Pierce by whacking them 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." Leo, Jason and Pierce need help," Piper insisted. "They have a concussion or—""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. I stood my ground, he stood at a measly 5'7" while at was at a good 6'0". "Don't talk to these bottom-feeders. You're my partner, remember?" The new guy had dark hair cut Superman style, a deep tan, and teeth so white they should've come with a warning label: do not stare directly a teeth. permanent blindness may occur. He wore a Dallas Cowboys jersey, Western jeans and boots, and he smiled like he was God's gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. Pierce hated him instantly. Before Piper could speak, Pierce interjected. "The Chicago Bears are better than the Cowboys." "What!?" Dylan snapped. "The Cowboys suck." Leo and Jason looked at him confused. When did Pierce suddenly have these large morals about football, he didn't know. "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. Than Isabel, a girl with jeans, a pink crop-top, and enough makeup to choke Pierce. "C'mon Pier! Your my partner!" "What." I said, dumbfounded. She grabbed Pierce's bicep and pulled him away, Pierce making it as difficult as he could, like a child. Isabel and her 'friends' snickered at Piper and then pulled us over. "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 Pierce got the feeling she was clenching her fists, as he was his face angry. "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. "Pierce! Don't let her talk to me like that!" I growled out. "Unless you want me to punch you Isabel, shut up." She looked at me angry, shocked, than quickly changed her demeanor. "Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom." Piper charged her, I got a punch at Dylan, ruining his perfect face. He looked up at me, absolutely livid. 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, pulling me with the, 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." "Shut the hell up. All of you" They listened, a little. Their school group had the place to themselves. Maybe it was too early in the day for tourists, or maybe the weird weather had scared them off. The Wilderness School kids had spread out in pairs across the skywalk. Most were joking around or talking. Some of the guys were dropping pennies over the side. 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 kept pushing him away, and when she saw Jason she gave him a look like, Throttle this guy for me. Jason motioned for her to hang on, while Pierce made the motion of throttling him and she laughed. They walked up to Coach Hedge, who was leaning on his baseball bat, studying the storm clouds. "Did you do this?" the coach asked him. Pierce took a step back. "Do what?" It sounded like the coach had just asked if he'd made the thunderstorm. Coach Hedge glared at him, his beady little eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kid. What are you doing here, and you." He pointed to Jason "Why are you messing up my job?" "You mean...you don't know me?" Jason said. "I'm not one of your students?" Hedge snorted. "Never seen you before today." Jason was so relieved he almost wanted to cry. At least he wasn't going insane. "But you know me.?" "Yeah kid! We've been looking all over for you!" He slapped Pierce upside the head. Suddenly, most of his memories came back. He was in the wrong place. He belonged at Camp Half-Blood. "Coach Hedge!?" "There it is." He smiled at him. "Gods Annabeth and Clarisse are gonna kill me!" Suddenly Jason interrupted us. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here." "Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You got a powerful way with the Mist, kid, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monster for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a half-blood. So—who are you, and where'd you come from? "Most of what the coach said didn't make sense, but Jason decided to answer honestly. "I don't know who I am. I don't have any memories. You've got to help me."Coach Hedge studied his face like was trying to read Jason's thoughts. "Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful." "Of course I am! And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?" Hedge narrowed his eyes. Part of Jason probably wondered if the guy was just nuts. But the other part knew better. "Look, kid," Hedge said, "I don't know who you are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect four, one I'm happy about" He gestured to me, then continued.  "Of you half bloods rather than two .Are you the special package? Is that it?" "What are you talking about?" Hedge looked at the storm. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk. "This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package? Maybe you Pierce? Or is it Percy?" I don't think so sir...but Percy's missing too?" The pain behind Jason's eyes got worse than ever. Half-bloods. Camp. Monsters. He stumbled, and Coach Hedge caught him. For a short guy, the coach had hands like steel. "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out." "What director?" Jason said. "What camp?"  "Just sit tight. Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before—"Lightning crackled overhead. "That's not me." The wind picked up with a vengeance. "Nor is that."  Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails. "I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!" "I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind. "Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't. Come on!" "Move it Jason! We're in trouble!" I whip of my guitar and strum it out of tune, suddenly my sword comes out.  "Sick. I still got it."

Word Count:2841 words yay!