Chapter One: And Here I Thought I was Unforgettable...

Hey guys! It's Sarcasticsnark13—or Cassie—again! Enjoy, and review!

"Mira," a familiar, sweet voice said. "Wake up,"

I groaned and buried my head deeper into my warm, fleshy pillow—

Wait.

My sea green eyes flashed open, and I quickly learned that my "pillow" was none other than a certain Leo Valdez's arm. With a squeak, I fell backwards in shock, and onto the floor of the bus. Leo smirked at me and helped me up, but not before teasing me, "Aw, were you comfortable?"

Ignoring the way my cheeks lit up like a fire truck (because there was absolutely no reason for me to blush), I grumbled, "This better be good."

"Actually..." Piper said anxiously from the seat behind me and next to Jason. I turned around, and noticed that Jason was staring at me (not in a weird way; Piper's his girlfriend!), like he had never seen me before.

"Actually...?" I prompted.

"There's something wrong with Jason," Piper finished.

I glanced at the blonde, then back at the daughter of the movie actor, clicking my tongue teasingly. "Pipes, that's not how you talk about your boyfriend,"

Piper glared at me and squeezed Jason's hand. But Jason let go. "Um, I don't—"

He was interrupted by Coach Hedge, which I thought was for the best. Jason's tone... it didn't sound good... And me being me, I tented to do my best to avoid the not-good. And him letting go of Piper's hand like that... ouch. I winced.

Anyway, Coach Hedge shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"

I grinned and turned back around. The violent teacher was one of my favorite adults I've ever met. He might've been threatening to others—if he wasn't a magnificently intimidating height of five foot nothing—but not to me. He was too funny to scare me.

As he stood up in the aisle, a tall boy named Cameron called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"

"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender, but when his eyes fixed in the four of us' general area, his scowl deepened. I wiggled my fingers in hello. Then Coach Hedge looked away, clearing his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partners." At least I was with Leo and Jason; Piper was with Dylan and Isabel."Don't lose your worksheet." I sent Leo a scowl at that; he had used mine for spit wads. Not that I was actually going to do it, anyway. Maybe I should've thanked him instead for giving me an excuse...

Never mind; scowling at my best friend was much more fun.

"And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip," he finished. "I will personally send you back to campus the hard way." He picked up his baseball bat and mimed hitting a homer. I gulped at that; I had been hit by baseball bats too many times before...

Leo sensed my discomfort and sent me a smile. I tried to smile back, but it probably looked like a grimace. But then I forced a better smile onto my face, because even though I never told the boy what happened, he could always tell when something reminded me of my past.

"Can he talk to us this way?" Jason asked Piper.

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

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

Leo and I turned around, him laughing, me smirking. "Yeah, right, Jason. We've all been framed! I didn't run away six times. Piper didn't steal a BMW."

Piper 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?" He raised his eyebrows at me and Jason like, Can you believe her? "Oh, and Mira the Secretive won't tell us what she did."

"I ran away multiple times, stole from people, and fought some random people who decided that I was a good target to mug," I said bluntly, letting the naked truth hang brightly in the air. Jason, Leo, and Piper stared at me.

"You're kidding," Despite his words, Leo was looking at me in awe.

"Of course I am," I brushed my words away. Even though they were my best friends, they would hate me if they knew what happened.

Leo already knew a part of it.

I was 13, when someone screamed, "Thief!" For once, it wasn't me they were talking about. A small shape fled the crime scene, and after a second of hesitation, I followed it.

They ran through alleys and streets, running through clumps of people. And boy, they were fast. I was pretty fast, too, but they were faster. They were nimble, but I ran with a catlike grace, my small, lithe body weaving through the crowds. But then I lost them.

To my left, there was an alleyway, but a little farther ahead, was another. When I glanced into the alley to my left, no one was there, but my instincts told me that's where the figure went. I went further in, I realized there was a ladder leading up to the flat roof of a building. Smirking to myself whilst panting, I climbed, ignoring the harsh feeling of the cold iron against my hands. When I reached the top, they were there.

"You," he snarled, scrambling up and panting.

"M-Me!" I exclaimed, completely out of breath. "And now that introductions are out of the way, maybe you can stop the whole 'I'm a criminal!' thing and return what you stole."

He snorted. "I've met many hypocrites, but you take the cake."

"Thank God. It would be a waste otherwise."

Suddenly, a little girl climbed up the ladder. Her small, frail-from-hunger figure froze when she saw us. "Who're you?" she whispered. Then, she gasped. "Leo?"

"Leo" walked in front of me with purpose, knelt down, and handed the girl an apple. Was that what he stole? "Yup!" he said with newfound cheerfulness. "Now eat, Libby."

"Libby" took a bite of the apple, but looked over Leo's shoulder and pointed to me. "Who's that, Leo? A friend?"

"A stalker," Leo corrected.

I bowed with flourish, making the girl giggle and start to walk to me, but Leo held her back. "Don't," he said. "She could hurt you,"

"He's right," I agreed lightly. "Never trust strangers. They're sometimes mean and oftentimes stink. And occasionally, they even call you a hypocrite."

"You are one," he insisted, but his voice was light as well. He had to have been my age.

"Oh, I know. But that doesn't mean it didn't hurt to hear," I fake-pouted.

He sighed and turned to Libby, but I was pretty sure I saw a smile tugging at his lips. "Go down, Libby," he said softly. "I'll meet you there,"

Libby nodded and climbed back down the ladder. When she couldn't see him anymore, Leo looked down at his right hand where the apple was.

"I misjudged you, Leo," I stressed his name tauntingly, but couldn't keep the soft smile off my lips.

Leo spun back around, any trace of warmth in his brown eyes long gone. "Why did you follow me?" he demanded. But I noticed that the boy couldn't keep still; sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket. I was similar; always fiddling with the rolled-up-to-my-wrists sleeves of my much-too-big dark blue denim jacket. Always twirling my long, dark hair around my fingers (not in a flirtatious way, of course; it was a nervous habit). But then Leo suddenly cleared his throat. "Are you done staring?"

I nodded. "You were causing a ruckus and I was bored." I answered his earlier question.

"The real reason," he specified.

I threw my hands up in defeat. "Okay, you've got me. When I see people do the things I do but do it better, I get curious. Offended, but curious." I gave him a smirk before singsonging, "But I'm a better thief!"

For the first time, Leo laughed. Not a snort, and not even a snicker, but a laugh. Hearing it for the first time brought a grin to my face. I sat down, still grinning, and Leo sat next to me.

"You should be with your parents," he suddenly said. My features tugged down in a real frown.

"They're dead," I said, keeping my voice casual. But my bottom lip trembled slightly as I thought about my parents.

"Mine are, too," Leo agreed softly. "Well," He thought about that. "My mom is, at least. I don't know what happened to my dad."

"I have a stepfather," I admitted. "Never knew my dad, either,"

Leo turned to me with a large grin. My frown deepened; did he find having dead parents funny? I raised an eyebrow, but as he stood up, I noticed his eyes brown eyes held a hot, bright fire, blazing with mischief and warmth. "I think we got off on the wrong foot," he declared. "I'm Leo Valdez, the smartest, funniest mechanic you'll ever meet," He bowed with flourish.

I laughed and stood up. "I'm Mira Morgan Rivers, the wittiest, fastest thief you'll ever meet,"

Leo's grin only grew wider. "Leo!" Libby shouted from wherever she was.

"Coming!" Leo shouted back. As he began to climb down, leaving me on the roof, he said, "I'll see you around, Mira,"

"Anyway," Leo jerked me out of memory lane. "I hope you've got your worksheet, 'cause I used mine for spit wads days ago."

"And mine," I grumbled, but I wasn't really angry.

"If you're mad, you can always use me as a pillow again," he teased. My golden-brown cheeks turned bright red, but Leo continued with a smirk. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked Jason. "Somebody draw on my face again?"

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

Leo gave him a grin that would make a crocodile jealous. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."

"Leo Valdez! Mira Morgan!" Coach yelled suddenly from the front. "Problem back there?"

Leo winked at me, making me blush for some deranged reason. "Watch this," When we turned back to the front, I scowled at myself; I could not start blushing because of my best friend. "Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"

Coach Hedge grunted, probably happy to have an excuse to do so. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued to give instructions, but his voice came out like... well, I think it was from Star Wars or whatever it's called. (Hey, I've been living on the streets since I was eight! Give me a break!) Hedge tried again, but this time it blared: "The cow says moo!"

As the kids howled with laughter, Hedge slammed down the megaphone. "Valdez!"

I held out my hand for a high five, which Leo accepted, and Piper stiffled 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." I snorted at that.

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

"We're going to juvenile hall," I deadpanned, not buying his act. Piper, however, sent be eye-daggers, but knit her eyebrows when she turned back to Jason. "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?"

"And me for filling your soap with pink hair dye?" I gave him a look full of grudging respect. "But, seriously; have you ever considered being an actor? I'm sure Piper thinks you have the looks,"

Piper blushed again, but Jason stared at us blankly. "No, I think he's serious." Piper tried to take his hand again, but Jason pulled away. Again. I flinched.

"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 ever-so-empathetic kids cheered.

"There's a shocker," I muttered.

But Piper, the loyal girlfriend, kept her eyes on Jason. But the look in her eyes showed me a strange sort of confusion; like she couldn't decide to be hurt or worried. I'd know, because I felt that way the day my parents died.

Whoa, I thought. Bas Mira! Those memories held more hurt than what was needed.

"Did you hit your head or something?" Piper asked, her voice implying that she chose worried. Funny, I thought. I did, too. "You really don't know who we are?"

Jason shrugged, looking pathetically helpless. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."

I'm guessing you guys totally don't know why Jason is like that, right? Yeah. Obviously. Because this stuff is so original. Oh, and if you want a hint of Mira's godly parent, search up the meaning of her name. And review if you want to guess. I'll PM you if you're right.

~Sarcasticsnark13