I

JASON

Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day.

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

A few dozen kids were sprawled in seats in front of him, listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked around his age...fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn't even know his own age.

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

The girl squeezed his 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 as if trying not to draw attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was seriously pretty. Her eyes seemed to change, like a kalidescope-brown, blue, then green.

Jason 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 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 mouldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon Nikes were spotless white. A whistle hung from his neck, and a megaphone was strapped to his belt. He would of looked pretty scary if he wasn't five foot 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 he fixed his eyes on Jason, and his scowl deepened.

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

But Coach Hedge looked away and cleared his throat. "We'll arive in five minutes! Stay with your group of three. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any one 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 it look 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 the kids are the animals.'"

She said this like it was a joke they shared before.

Two kids in front of him, a boy and a girl, turned and laughed.

"Yeah, right Jason," the boy began. "We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times, Reagan didn't blow up a school, and Piper didn't steal a BMW!"

The girl next to Jason blushed. "I didn't steal that car, Leo!"

"Oh, I forgot Piper. What was your story? You talked the dealer into lending it to you?"

The auburn-haired girl he assumed was Reagan scowled. "Leo, I didn't blow up a school! If I did that, I would be in jail or something!"

"Well, was it school related?" Leo asked her.

"Yes."

"Well, then you can't expect me to remember every detail!" Leo exclaimed. "At least give me some credit!"

Leo looked like a Latino Santa's Elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face and a michevious smile that told you right away he shouldn't be trusted around matches or sharp objects. His long, nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving. Either the kid was naturally hyper or he was hyped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.

Reagan, on the other hand, had long auburn hair pulled back in a low ponytail. She locked her eyes at Jason. Her hazel eyes glared through her black-rimmed glasses the way Coach Hedge did. She knew he didn't belong there.

"Anyway," Leo said. "I hope you 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?"

"I don't know you," Jason said.

Leo gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure, I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone!"

"Leo, will you SHUT UP?" Reagan demanded.

"Reagan Hawkins, Leo Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled from up front. "Is there a 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 toolbelt, and continued shouting directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up. The coach troed again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The Cow Says Mooooooooo!!!"

The kids howled, and the coach slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"

Piper stiffled a laugh. "My gosh, Leo. How did you do that?"

Leo slipped a tiny Phillips-head screwdriver from his sleeve. "I'm a special boy."

"HEY!" Reagan yelled.

"Hawkins! Don't make me come back there!" Coach Hedge bellowed.

Reagan rolled her eyes, and lowered her voice. "Don't forget I'm the one that told you where the megaphone was, Leo."

"Yeah, yeah," Leo rambled. "But everything else was me."

Reagan released a groan, trying not to make it loud enough for Coach to 'come back there.'

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

"You got that right," Reagan mumbled, but Piper and Leo didn't seem to hear that.

Piper knitted 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-"

"NO, HE ISN'T!!!" Reagan exploded. She started screaming so loud the windows should have shattered. Everyone turned to see what was going on. "CAN YOU TWO STOP WORRYING ABOUT TRYING TO PROVE HIM WRONG AND-"

She stopped cold, and Jason knew why. Somehow, she knew Hedge was right behind her.

"That's it!" he yelled. "These cupcakes have just volenteered to clean up for lunch!"

"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.

"And you," the Coach exclaimed, grabbing Reagan's hand. "Are coming with me."

Reagan sent Jason a death glare right before she dissapeared into the front of the bus.

"Sorry about her," Piper apologized. "She gets ticked off easilly. The real reason she's here," Piper sent a glance Leo's way, "Is because she kept getting annoyed at her math teacher, mostly for addressing and punishing the class for something she didn't take part in."

"Oh, yeah!" Leo remarked. "She and a guy named Will Davis schemed a period of pranks for their teacher!"

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "He's right over there," she pointed to a brown haired and eyed kid a few aisles down.

Piper glanced at Jason again. "Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?"

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

The bus dropped them off in front of a big, red stucco complex like a museum of nowhere. Maybe that's what it was: The National Museum of Nowhere. A cold wind blew accross the desert. Jason hadn't paid much attention to what he was wearing, but it wasn't nearly warm enough: jeans and trainers, a purple T-shirt and a thin black windbreaker.

"So, crash couse for the amnesic," Leo said, in a helpful tone that made Jason think that this was not going to be helpful. "We go to the 'Wilderness School'"-Leo made air quotes with his fingers. "Which means we're 'bad kids'. Your family, or the court, or whatever decided you were too much trouble, so they shipped you off to this Lovely Prison-"

"You mean Boarding School," a voice said.

They all turned to the source, Reagan was standing there.

"Woah, what happened?" Leo asked, looking at the scar on her cheek where she used to put har hair.

She squealed, then quickly pushed the hair back.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"Anyways," Leo said, turning to Jason. "Everything coming back to you yet?"

"Not one bit," Jason exclaimed, shaking his head.

Leo rolled his eyes. "You're really gonna play this out, huh? Okay, so the four of us started here together this semester. We're really tight. You do what I say, do Reagan and my chores, and give me your dessert-"

"Leo!" Reagan and Piper snapped.

"Fine, ignore that last part. But we are friends. Well, Piper's a bit more than your friend."

"Leo, stop it!" Piper's face turned red.

"What? Anyways, the last few weeks-"

"Leo!" Reagan snapped. "Cut it out!" she turned to Jason. "And YOU."

She pinned him to the wall, getting in his face.

"Why are you here, huh? Are you a spy?"

"Reagan! Quit it!" Piper called.

"Whoever you are, stay away from my friends!" Reagan screamed. Jason noticed a storm swirling above the museum.

"Reagan, listen-" Jason tried to say.

"No, you listen!"

"Reagan, cut it out!" Leo called.

"Reagan-" Jason tried again.

"No! Why are you here, and why are you hurting my friends!?"

"REAGAN LOOK OUT!"

End of Chapter One