νεκρός || Annabeth Chase x Fem!OC

Vol. 5-1: wow i have no idea what is happening

JASON

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Even before I got electrocuted, I was having a rotten day.

I woke in the backseat of a school bus, not sure where I was, holding hands with a girl I didn't know. That wasn't necessarily the rotten part. The girl was cute, but I couldn't figure out who she was or what I was doing there. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to think.

A few dozen kids sprawled in the seats in front of me, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked around my age... fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. I didn't know my own age.

The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. I was pretty sure I didn't live in the desert. I tried to think back... the last thing I remembered...

The girl squeezed my hand. "Jason, you okay?"

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. She had her backpack in her lap, and it kept rustling weirdly.

I let go of her hand. "Um, I don't-"

In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"

The guy was obviously a coach. His baseball cap waspulled 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 coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixed on me, and his scowl deepened.

A jolt went down my spine. I was sure the coach knew I didn't belong there. He was going to call me out, demand to know what I was doing on the bus- and I wouldn't have a clue what to say.

But Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. "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 picked up a baseball bat and made like he was hitting a homer.

I looked at the girl next to me. "Can he talk to us thatway?"

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

She said it like it was a joke we'd shared before.

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

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