𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 •| ⊱ Jason Grace¹

•| ⊱ TWO

[ chapter two: jason ]

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Jason continued to glare at the door Hermia had walked through as Leo got up and brushed himself off. "I hate those guys." He offered Jason his arm, like they should go skipping inside together. "'I'm Dylan. I'm so cool, I want to date myself, but I can't figure out how! You want to date me instead? You're so lucky!'"

His gaze hardened as he said, "Don't even get me started on Jared. He seems nice on the outside, but I swear he's the devil. Not to mention he can steal your girlfriend with one stupid grin."

Jason stiffened when he heard that, but a moment later he relaxed and played it off. Besides Mia wasn't his girlfriend. But why did it kill him to think about her dating someone else? Jason turned his head to look at Leo. A moment passed before he cleared his throat and said, "Leo, you're weird."

"Yeah, you tell me that a lot." Leo grinned. "But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse all my old jokes. Come on!" Jason figured that if this was his best friend, his life must be pretty messed up; but he followed Leo into the museum.

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.

Jason was too distracted to pay much attention to the exhibits, but they were about the Grand Canyon and the Hualapai tribe, which owned the museum.

Some girls kept looking over at Piper and Dylan and snickering. But they seemed to love the fact that Hermia and Jared were partners. They kept smiling whenever the two walked by them and some even took photos of them whenever Jared placed his hand on Mia. Hermia wasn't happy about this so she would always slip his hand off her and pretend nothing happened. That made Jason smile.

He figured these girls were the popular clique. They wore matching jeans and pink tops and enough makeup for a Halloween party. One of them said toward Piper, "Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"

The other girls laughed as Mia and Jared turned toward the group. Even Piper's so-called partner Dylan suppressed a smile while Jared surprisingly looked annoyed. Piper's snowboarding jacket sleeves hid her hands, but Jason 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."