Hello!

So, i was struck by a bolt of inspiration yesterday and decided to write Piper's story of her time at the Wilderness school. Lots of Jasper will be included.

if anyone knows a story like this that was published before, please tell me in a review so i can mention them. If not, enjoy the story!

"Mind if I sit next to you?"

Piper looked up from staring at her boots to see a kid about her age standing in the aisle of the bus, holding a big duffel bag in one hand. He was dressed in jeans and an army jacket with lots of pockets, which were filled up with what looked like pipe cleaners. He had long hair, sharp ears and a mischievous glint in his eyes. He was tall and spindly.

"Sure," Piper muttered. Kid's continued to file onto the bus, which was painted bright red with WILDERNESS SCHOOL PICKUP painted on the side in black lettering.

"Have you seen this?" the boy asked, waving around the Wilderness school brochure. "I mean, seriously." He flipped open one of the pages. It showed a bunch of smiling kids running along the desert with a happy-looking coach behind them. Speech bubbles came out of several of the kids' mouths saying ridiculous things like it'll teach you discipline! And jail never looked this good.

"Seriously. They expect us to look like this?" the kid asked, jabbing down with his finger. "I mean, that person looks like they got no sleep last night, and he," he pointed to another one of the smiling kids. "Obviously has no underwear on."

Despite herself, Piper cracked a smile. "I'm Leo, by the way," he said, holding out his hand. Piper shook it.

"Piper," she said. Leo dumped his bag on the ground and settled in next to her. His fingers hadn't stopped moving. They were pulling pipe cleaners out of his pockets and twisting them around, creating something.

"What did you do to secure your spot on this bus-ride-from-hell?" Leo asked her. Piper debated telling the truth or not.

"I stole a car," she admitted. Leo glanced over at her, surprised.

"You, steal a car?" he asked incredulously. "You look... I dunno, but you don't look like a thief. You look like a poster kid for native American people. You know, the good-looking ones they put up on posters and say protect our land!"

He meant it as a compliment, but it hit Piper hard. Native American. That's exactly what she was, and she hated being called it. She turned her back on Leo.

"Oh, sore spot?" he asked. "Here, I'll make it up to you." Piper turned to look at him, and saw that he had made a slingshot of sorts out of pipe cleaners and an elastic band. Before Piper could say anything, he loaded a small metal nut inside, pulled it back and fired. The bolt sailed through the air and hit one of the kids in front of them right on his neck.

Piper burst out laughing as Leo threw the slingshot onto the lap of the kid in front of him and dove below the seats as the kid he hit turned angrily, looking for the person who had hit him.

Piper couldn't help but notice how good-looking he was, with close-cropped blonde hair, clear blue eyes and a kind, gentle face. He looked like an athlete—built a lot heavier than Leo, who was small and spindly. The blond guy began to walk back, towards Piper and Leo, who was still hiding below the seats, stifling his own laughter. Piper tried her best to suppress a smile as the blonde guy drew closer, but she couldn't stop from grinning.

Instead of getting mad when he reached them, the blonde guy looked down, saw Leo hiding and laughed. He held up the bolt.

"I think this is yours," he said, handing it to Leo, who got up slowly and took it.

"Thanks, man," Leo said. "I'm Leo."

"Jason," the blonde kid said. He looked over and Piper, who felt herself blushing. "And you are…"

"Piper," she said, a little bit too quickly. "I'm Piper."

"Nice meeting you," Jason said, the bus lurched and he stumbled sideways. "I better get back to my seat. See you when we park, yeah?"

"See you," Leo said, and then Jason was gone, walking quickly up to his chair and sitting down. Piper was worried she had been obvious about finding him cute, but Leo didn't notice at all. He had all ready disassembled his slingshot and was making something else.

"So what did you do?" Piper asked. Leo looked up, surprised. "I told you what I did to end up here. Your turn."

"I ran away," he said causally. "Six times." Piper looked at him in shock. Sure, she hated living with Jane and her whatever babysitter her dad had hired while she was away, but she never considered running away.

"You ran away from your house six times?" Piper asked. Leo scoffed.

"Of course not."

"Then how—"

"I ran away from my foster home six times," Leo amended. Piper stared at him. "What? I'm not a people person."

"No kidding," Piper said. She stared gloomily out the window as the bus pulled away from the airport and started driving towards the Wilderness School, where the court had negotiated with Jane to make her spend three months— her punishment for stealing the BMW. Well, she hadn't really stolen it. She couldn't explain it, and no one believed her when she said it, but she had kind of convinced the store manager to give it to her.

Now, sitting here, she regretted stealing the stupid car. She didn't even want the dumb thing. She just wanted her dad's attention. Was that too much to ask? Should it really have been that hard for a kid to get her dad to look at her twice? Even if your dad was a famous movie star, kids should be more important that work, right?

Piper sighed, staring out at the bleak desert whizzing by out the window. The brochure made the Wilderness school sound fun, but Piper had looked online, and the reviews made it sound like three months of torture.

Although, with Jason here with her, it might not be that bad…

I don't know. what did you guys think? too long? to short? there'll be more fluff later on in the story. anyways, tell me what you guys think of it. reviews make me update faster!