DYLAN
G
ood news! Piper, you’re my partner.
PIPER
(she squinted angrily at him.)
Actually, I’m partnering with—
DYLAN
(he pestered, interrupting her.)
C
oach said.
Leo grabbed onto Piper’s arm.
LEO
Oh back off, she’s in a group already.
The boy laughed.
DYLAN
Okay, squirt.
He snorts, easily shoving Leo to the side. He took Piper by the arm and she shot a glance at Jason, who- wildly uncomfortable and confused- clenched his fists at his side but ultimately, did nothing.
LEO
(after the two of them had walked away.)
W
hat a jerk wad.
JASON
Who was that guy?
LEO
(stares at him blankly.)
Wow, you're really playing this whole amnesia thing out, huh?
JASON
(he fiddles with the loose leaf paper in his hands.)
You don’t believe me.
LEO
I
n my defense, it does sound pretty wack.
(Leo held out his hand in a ‘gimme’ gesture)
I
’ll do the paper.
Jason raised an eyebrow.
JASON
W
hat?
LEO
Y
ou know these things are complete bullshit. If I write the answers messy enough, Coach won’t even be able to read it. See that? I cheat the system.
Despite himself, Jason laughed.
They walked around the edge of the canyon, Leo had folded the paper and put it in his pocket. Then he had taken a handful of miscellaneous items from a different pocket (some rubber bands, two popsicle sticks, and a thin wire) and started fidgeting with it.
LEO
O
kay. Lemme give you the rundown on all the things you missed. We go to a place called Wilderness School. It's like a boarding school for the ‘bad’ kids, the ones no one really wants. It's out in the middle of legit nowhere slash the middle of the woods. We’re constantly doing stuff like this.
(his gestures vaguely to their surroundings.)
A
nd other outdoorsy nonsense. The teachers say it’s ‘character building’ but I think they just like to torture us. Right now, though, we're on a field trip to the Grand Canyon.
JASON
A
nd… who am I? Like, what am I like? How are we friends? Uh, I don’t mean that offensively I just—
LEO
(Still fidgeting, grins up at him.)
Y
ou? You’re Jason. You’re a Boy Scout, basically— a total wet blanket. You’re the all American boy next door, if you will. You have an annoyingly good moral compass and you’re the only one of the three of us who isn’t constantly getting into trouble. I don’t even know how you landed yourself in this school, honestly. You don’t talk about yourself much, actually, I don’t know much about your home life. Which is fair. Most people here have awful home lives so we didn’t press you out about it. You uh, you showed up in the middle of the semester and like, blatantly ignored everybody. Like, you were super dead set on not making friends for whatever reason. We never really found out why. Anyway, Piper as I had been best buds since the start of the year and graciously decided to let you into our madness, you’re welcome. We pestered you for weeks- sitting with you at lunch and in class, following you around during free hours- until you eventually gave in. Basically, you owe us your life. Your social life, but same thing, really.
…
They stopped walking and Leo leaned against the railing, making Jason immediately nervous he might fall over.
LEO
(hushed voice.)
Watch this.
Leo builds a little contraption with the little trinkets in his hand. He twisted part of the wire sticking out of it and the two popsicles sticks bagan to spin like a helicopter and the tiny machine sputtered to life and started flying along the length of the canyon. Leo leans farther over the railing, making Jason’s anxiety jump, and squinted to see how far out it was. It made it halfway across and fell.
LEO
Dang it, so close!
JASON
(looks down at the other boy in awe.)
L
eo— that was amazing! What was that? You just built a tiny thing with popsicle sticks and rubber bands and it flew halfway across the Grand Canyon! That was— that was—
LEO
(put his hands in his pockets, his face suddenly serious.)
H
ey, if you’re, like, doing this whole amnesia thing because you’re sick of being friends with me— us—... you don’t have to. Trust me, I’ve had friends ditch me before, it’s nothing new. If you just said it now, I wouldn’t be offended. It would be way less weird than what you’re doing now.
JASON
(flinches.)
I
’m not making this up, honest.
LEO
(not sounding at all convinced.)
“Right, okay.
