DEJA VU || Leo Valdez

one

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YOU'D THINK AFTER 7 YEARS OF KNOWING SHE'S A DEMIGOD that Brooke Jackson would be ready for everything the world threw at her, but she 100 percent was not ready for the day one of her best friends woke up with amnesia.

Let's start from the beginning. Brooke has seen and done a lot of things during her time as a demigod, travel to the underworld, almost attend a satyr-cyclop wedding, see a titan up close and personal and watch her brother idiotically challenge him, meet the Amazons then get chased by said Amazons, and fight in an epic war. But nothing could prepare her for the day she found out her brother was missing, yes, MISSING.

Big brother Percy who she always thought was invincible and hasn't seen in over a year. You see shortly after the war, Brooke decided it'd be best to take some time away from New York and explore, maybe travel the world. She didn't do much world traveling but did end up on the other side of the country which she historically doesn't have the best track record with. But while there she flourished she fought monsters and lived, went to a couple of schools, got kicked out of a couple of schools (really following in her brother's footsteps), and ended up at The Wilderness School where she has been staying for the past semester under the protection of Gleeson Hedge (who made her severely miss Grover).

Which brings us to now, Brooke Jackson is on a bus currently on her way to the Grand Canyon. See from here it seems like nothing can go wrong, but of course, it does.

It all started when Jason woke up and had no idea where he was. Actually, he didn't know anything, his whereabouts, his age, and definitely not who the girl next to him was. Or why they were holding hands.

"Jason, you okay?" The girl, Piper, asks. She 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.

"Um, I don't—"

He's cut off by Coach's loud, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"

Gleeson Hedge looked how any other coach would. 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 man surveys the bus until his eyes fixed on Jason, and his scowl deepened.

"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 picks up his baseball bat and swings like he was hitting a homer.

Jason looked at the girl next to him. "Can he talk to us that way?"

She shrugged. "Always does. This is the Wilderness School. 'Where kids are the animals.'"

"This is some kind of mistake," Jason said. "I'm not supposed to be here."

The boy in front of him, Leo, turned and laughed. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Brooke didn't flood her school. And Piper didn't steal a BMW."

Piper blushes. "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?

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 or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.

"Hey Leo. Can you quit being a jerk for even half a second?" Brooke asks rhetorically from her spot next to Leo.

"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.

Now that right there should've been a major red flag for Brooke, it was still a red flag, just not a major one.

"Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone." Leo grins widely.

"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 causing the kids to crack 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."

"Trust us that we knew." Brooke remarks causing the boy to stick his tongue at her playfully.

"Guys, seriously," Jason pleaded. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"

Piper knit her eyebrows. "Jason, are you joking?"

"No! I have no idea—"

"Aw, yeah, he's joking," Leo said. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you?" Jason stared at him blankly.

"No, I think he's serious." Piper tried to take his 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!"

The rest of the kids cheered.

"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.

"Jase, seriously. You don't know who we are?" Brooke asks concerned.

"Did you hit your head or something?" Piper wonders.

Jason shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."

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A/N: i don't know how i feel about this chapter, it could honestly be better. i'm trying to keep the dialogue and everything the same, for anyone who doesn't remember the story/details (i doubt anyone's reading anyway), but it just seems like i'm copying the book.

if anyone is reading, any comments?