—Alex weaved through the crowd to get closer to Piper. She grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her away from Dylan. She desperately wanted to clobber the girls who were making fun of her friend.
"You want to punch them with me?" she asked Piper.
"They're not worth it"
"What kind of shit logic is that? I don't care if they aren't worth it, I'm probably gonna be here for the rest of my life— might as well punch someone who deserves it" Alex argued.
They reached the far end of the exhibit hall, where some big glass doors led out to a terrace.
"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge— as that would cause me extra paperwork."
The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.
Alex got an uneasy feeling that she always got when she was too high up, but she dismissed it and gave Piper a wide, fake smile. The only person who could tell when Alex was being genuine was Leo and vice versa.
The canyon was bigger and wider than you could appreciate from a picture. They were up so high that birds circled below their feet. Five hundred feet down, a river snaked along the canyon floor. Banks of storm clouds had moved overhead while they'd been inside, casting shadows like angry faces across the cliffs. As far as Alex could see in any direction, red and gray ravines cut through the desert.
Alex left Piper when she realized the other girl actually wanted to complete the worksheet.
"Storm's right over us, but it's clear all the way around. Weird, huh?" Alex heard Leo, she looked up and saw he was right. A dark circle of clouds had parked itself over the skywalk, but the rest of the sky in every direction was perfectly clear.
"All right, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled. He frowned at the storm like it bothered him too. "We may have to cut this short, so get to work! Remember, complete sentences!"
The storm rumbled and Jason reached in his jeans pocket and brought out a coin—a circle of gold the size of a half-dollar, but thicker and more uneven.
"Dang, is that gold?" Leo asked.
"Didn't know you were loaded Jason" Alex spoke up.
Jason put the coin away and Alex noticed he looked sick.
"It's nothing," he said. "Just a coin."
Leo shrugged. "Come on," he said. "Dare you to spit over the edge."
No one even touched the worksheet, for one thing Alex had a nagging feeling that something very bad was going to happen, so she kept Leo within an arms reach.
But it seemed Leo had no care in the world, he was too busy building a helicopter out of pipe cleaners.
"Check it out." He launched the copter. The pipe cleaners spun. The little copter made it halfway across the canyon before it lost momentum and spiraled into the void.
"How'd you do that?" Jason asked.
"Remember the one you made last year? The one with the rubber bands... that was the coolest one" Alex remembered.
YOU ARE READING
Home|| Leo Valdez
Fanfiction"After all those years on the streets, I finally feel like I'm home" "You're lying" Leo didn't even have to look up, he knew her better than anyone. "You're right, I was always at home with you" In which there's an unlikely friendship (... and ma...
