Amoriel was vaguely aware of people chattering around her but all she could focus on was the warmth that enveloped her. In the back of her mind, she registered that arms were wrapped around her with her head on the person's chest. The warmth and comfort started to lull her back to sleep until whoever was holding her shift against her.
Slowly, her green eyes opened. Outside the window, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Something in her gut told her she didn't live anywhere near this. It was too empty, too foreign. She rubbed her eyes, trying to think.
A few dozen kids were spread out through the school bus. A few of them were listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked around her age. Which was? Panic rose in her chest, how old was she? Fourteen? Fifteen?
The guy tightened his arms around her. "Finally awake mi Corazon?"
Amoriel pulled away slowly. "Um, I don't -"
In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"
She could barely focus on the yelling of the coach. Pain pricked between her eyes and ran through her skull. Coach's baseball cap, goatee, and spotless running shoes. When he stood up in the aisle, one of the students called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"
"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus. His eyes fixed on the person behind her. She didn't think his scowl could have deepened even further until she met his beady eyes. She let out a small whimper and brought her hand to her temple. Headaches couldn't hurt this much, could they?
"We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes cause any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way" Coach Hedge picked up a baseball bat.
"Mi alma, are you okay?" The guy said next to her, voice full of concern. He looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointed ears, a cheerful face, and a mischievous smile. One of his hands tapped against her knee and other messed with pipe cleaners and rubber bands.
"This is some kind of mistake," A familiar male voice said behind her. "I'm not supposed to be here"
Amoriel instantly turned around. The voice belonged to a suspiciously familiar blonde guy who looked close to her age. His hair was close-cut - like a military trim. His blue eyes met her green, "You feel it too"
Latino elf turned around too and laughed. "Yeah, right Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW. Amorie didn't painted a ballerina on the wall of the city hall."
The girl blushed. She had lighter hair than amoriel's. Her hair was chopped unevenly with intermediate small braided scattered throughout. Amoriel knew that even if the girl was trying to dismiss her beauty - she still looked a thousand times better than other girls could hope for. Except for amoriel, of course, she always looked better than anyone.
"I didn't steal that car, Leo!" Piper chastised.
"Oh, I forgot, Piper. What was your story? You 'talked' the dealer into lending it to you? "
"Anyway," Leo said. "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine and Amorie's for spitballs wada days ago. Why are you looking at me like that? Somebody draw on my face again? "
Amoriel kept her eyes moving between the three of them. Part of her wondered if she looked as scared and confused as Jason.
"I don't know you," Jason said after Leo and Piper finished their back and forth.
Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone"
Amoriel nodded with Jason, "I don't any of you"
"Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. Leo wrapped his arms back around Amoriel, pulling her to look to the front again. She glanced back over the shoulder at Jason once more. At least she wasn't alone in this.
Her heartbeat pounded against her rib cage. She absent mindlessly played with her black ring. Even for such a small trinket, there were intricate designs carved into the metal.
Who was she? Who was this Leo guy sitting next to her? It was obvious he thought they were together. She wished she remembered him. He was really handsome. If she did really just showed up - did she and Jason show up together? Did they know each other before this? Actually knew each other. Or was it by coincidence?' Amoriel tried to remember something, anything before waking up on this school bus.
"Valdez!" Coach Hedge's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"My god, Leo. How did you do that?" Piper had asked.
Leo slipped a tiny Philips head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy"
"Guys, seriously" Jason pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?
Amoriel desperately nodded along, "Who are you people? How did we get here?"
For the first time, Leo's hands stopped. Did he look - hurt? She wished she could remember him, at least him. Her mint green eyes met his warm brown ones. Even though she knew that she didn't remember him, he felt...familiar? Gods she wished she could remember him. Gods - the pain speared her head again.
Piper knit her eyebrows, " are you two joking?"
"No! I have no idea-"
"Aw yeah, they're joking!" Leo turned back to face Jason and Piper. "It's the Jell-O thing. Payback and all that?" His lips curled back to that mischievous smile. However, a more noticed that smile didn't quite reach his eyes.
Jason and Amoriel started back at Leo blankly.
"No, I think they're serious." Piper tried to take Jason's hand again, 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!" amoriel was too busy studying Jason to care. He looked so familiar. He was the only one that felt the same as her. She actually felt like she knew him.
Once the bus stopped, the class was herded to the building, a museum of...something. She wasn't sure. It seemed that both Jason and Amoriel were poorly dressed for the weather. Jason wore a purple shirt with his jeans, sneakers, and a black jacket. While amoriel wore boots with black ripped jeans with the same purple t-shirt and a black leather jacket.
"So, crash course for the amnesiacs," Leo said, his hands playing with Amoriel's. "We go to the 'Wilderness School'. 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 prions - 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 two now?"
Jason and Amoriel looked at each other in shared confusion. They shook their heads in unison. Amorie looked down at her and Leo's entangled fingers. Holding a silent battle with herself on whether or not to pull her hand away.
Leo rolled his eyes, "Seriously mi amore?" He shook his head. "You're both really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the four of us started here together this semester. We're totally tight. Jason, you do everything I say and give me -"
"Leo!" Piper snapped. Amoriel took her hands back from Leo and shoved them into her leather jacket.
"Fine" Leo's simile faltered for a second. "Ignore the last bit. We are friends though. Well, Piper and Jason are more than friends. A week after Amoriel and I got toge -"
"Leo, stop it!" Piper interjected again. Amoriel raised one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows. Now, this is interesting. "They have amnesia. We've got to tell somebody"
Leo scoffed. "Who, Coach Bedge? He'd try to fix them by whacking them upside the head."
"We still need to get some help," Piper insisted. "They got a concussion or-"
A new guy appeared next to Piper, pushing Jason away and knocked Leo down. He wore a Dallas Cowboy jersey, Western jeans, and boots. He smiled like he was the gods' gift to juvenile delinquent girls everywhere. If there's one thing Amoriel hates more than bad hair days, it is narcissists.
"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 arms around Piper and started to drag her through the museum entrance
Leo got up and brushed himself off " I hate that guy. '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!' " He imitated
Amoriel giggled " you're a weird one, huh Hermoso?"
"Well, I try my best maravillosa" Leo winked. "But if you don't remember me, that means I can reuse all my old pick up lines. Come on!" He said as Amoriel and Jason followed him into the museum.
♡◇♡◇
Amoriel tried to stay near the doors when Coach Hedge led the class to the horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass - tried. Brody, her partner, easily dragged her into the center, far away from the doors. She felt her heart pound in her chest. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon floor.
A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear. Amoriel knew that she definitely didn't belong here. She needed to be on land.
"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm as it bothered him too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"
Neither Amoriel nor Brody had the worksheet. Not like he would have helped her. As soon as she was stuck in the middle of the walkway, he paid her zero attention. Only engaging when she attempted to make her way back to the doors. She felt like something bad was about to happen. She just had a hunch, you know.
She watched as Jason made his way over to Coach Hedge. They were closer than the doors. She looked at her partner. Brody seemed to be distracted enough. Slowly more exhaled and let go of the railing. It would have been much quicker if she went straight over to Jason and Coach.
"You've got a powerful way with the Mist-" Coach Hedge watched Amoriel approach. If Jason's face was any indication, she knew she looked a mess. "You both do. If you can make all these people think they know both of you; but you can't fool me."
"Look, we don't know who we are or why We're here" Jason spoke. "we don't have any memories. I only remember my name." amoriel continued
Coach Hedge narrowed his eyes to Jason and her. "You're being truthful" He grumbled.
Amoriel's left hand started to play with her ring. The more Coach attempted to interrogate and explain, the more her vision blurred. It was like her mind was trying to show her something but it didn't have access to her own memories.
"Just sit tight," Hedge concluded after a few exchanges with Jason. "Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully, nothing happens before-"
Lightning crackled overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered.
"I had to say something," Hedge grumbled. He bellowed out to the other students to get inside.