Chapter 4

Leo was bored. Jason and Piper were playing Modern Warfare 3 and they kept killing each other with the volume turned up super loud. Percy was gripping the side of the seat while drinking blue Coca-Cola and watching Slappy and the Stinkers. He'd laugh every once and a while, and get refills on coke every ten minutes. Leo was wondering if since he was the son of Poseidon that he didn't have to… never mind. Hazel and Frank were watching a movie too, but it was a 3D movie: Friday the 13. They'd jump every now and then and Hazel would yell "DON'T GO IN THE CLOSET!" or something like that. Ryder was asleep listening to her iPod.

She had her head against the window. Leo thought I should really go talk to her. Why do I have to get nervous around girls like her?

Leo wasn't watching her, but at the same time he was. He was daydreaming while looking in her direction. She picked up her iPod touch and went to change the song when she saw Leo staring at her; except Leo didn't realize it. He was in a trance. She waved her hand with a confused look. He blinked and snapped out of it. He walked over to the seat next to her and sat down.

"Sorry, I was daydreaming," he said.

"That's fine," she said, turning off her iPod and pulling the earplugs out of her ears. "It was just weird, you know, waking up and seeing someone staring at you with a creepy trance look on their face."

Leo smiled. "What were you listening to?"

"I don't even know." She looked at her iPod. "Oh! "It's "Follow Me" by Uncle Kracker."

"So you have Selena Gomez who plays on Disney Channel and dates Justin Bieber to Uncle Kracker who has a song about dating married women?"

"Yep!" she said with a smile on her face. "Wait, you listen to him?"

"Eh, sort of; he's alright."

She gave Leo a yea right look. He gave in and pulled out his iPod. He scrolled down the list and she laughed.

"Seriously, Katy Perry… Ke$ha… Cody Simpson? What? Are you serious?"

"Hey, "On My Mind" is a good song!" Leo said jokingly. "What do you got?"

She scrolled through and Leo hadn't heard these names in forever. Shaggy… Lil Mama… Simple Plan… Tim McGraw… Ozzy Osborne… Kenny Chesney… Jesse McCartney… Hinder… Gretchen Wilson… Goo Goo Dolls… Edwin McCain… Aaron Tippin…

"I haven't heard of these people in forever!" Leo said. "I used to listen to them all the time but they don't come on the radio anymore… well, not as much."

She smiled. "I like old music; especially Simple Plan."

"Do you have "Shut up"?"

"DUH!" she said as she began playing it.

There you go,

You're always so right.

It's all a big show.

It's all about you.

You think you know what everyone needs.

You always take time to criticize me.

It seems like every day I make mistakes,

I just can't get it right.

It's like I'm the one you love to hate,

But not today!

Everyone turned and looked at them. Ryder wasn't paying attention, but Piper smirked at them. Leo's ears went bright red and Jason, who was out of view from Piper at the time, mouthed Piper's kicking my butt! Oh, wait! Then he smirked like Piper's.

"OW!" Jason yelled.

"What?" Piper asked, turning back around to Jason, where she couldn't see Leo.

Jason opened his mouth to speak, but he saw Leo making kissy faces at him pointed to Piper. Jason glared at Leo.

"Jason?" Piper asked. Jason threw a piece of pizza at Leo. It missed him, but hit Percy in the back of the head.

Disgusted, Percy pulled the pepperoni pizza off the back of his head. He turned around and saw Jason trying to hide behind Piper. Percy began throwing mini marshmallows at him, hitting him in the face. Jason crawled on the floor with the Pizza Percy chased him, throwing marshmallows at him.

"I could've gone all day without that picture in my head," Hazel mumbled as they all watched Percy and Jason.

"Hey, do you have anywhere I can wash my hair?" Percy called.

Ryder had her earplugs back in, listening to music. Lady Gaga's album picture was on the screen.

"Ryder?" Percy called.

"I'm ignoring you because you're standing right next to the bathroom," she said.

He looked next to him. "Oh."

She muttered something about a guy named Alistair, but her face was away from everyone. Leo couldn't help but feel a little jealous. When everyone got quite, she said, "That's my Uncle."

Leo let out a silent easy breath. Ok, I really got to meet her family after I ask her out.

"He's also held hostage," she mumbled only loud enough that Leo heard. There was soon the sound of water running. Percy began singing "I'M WASHING MY HAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIRRRRR!" in soprano. Frank covered his ears and yelled "SHUT UP!"

"Sometimes, I wonder how we're all friends," Leo whispered to Ryder. She laughed.

"Wanna listen?" she asked.

"Sure."

She reached in her bag and pulled out this mini robot. She pulled the head off and there was a thing that you're supposed to stick in the hole for the headphones.

"NO! The robots broke!" Leo said.

She laughed and stuck her headphones in one of its eyeballs.

"Ok, first you break the head off then you poke his eyeball. You just like killing mini robots, don't you?"

She pushed him playfully. She stuck her hand out for his headphones and she put them in the other eye socket.

"Now, poor Little Robby's blind and headless."

"Shut up!" she said playfully. She turned on the song "Smile" by Uncle Kracker. She put them in her ears and he put his in his ears. For some reason, Leo wanted to hold Ryder's hand; maybe even kiss her if the others weren't around. She began drumming in her leg like Leo did on the bus back when he attended the Wilderness School. Leo was thinking heck yea! Now when's this plane going to land?

The plane began to wobble like it was turbulence. Percy fell out of the bathroom, his hair dripping wet. By instinct alone, Leo reached for the armrest; instead he grabbed Ryder's hand. She didn't pull away from his hand; in fact she squeezed it as if she was scared. The plane wobbled side to side and Tim said, "I advise y'all to buckle up!"

Ryder reached for the seatbelt too late. The plane flew to the right causing her to fall into Leo's lap, causing the two of them to fall into the floor. She landed on top of him, their noses touching. When she tried to get up, the plane shifted again, causing her to fall next to him. Piper had fell on Jason, who slid into the back of Hazel and Frank's seats. He silently winced in pain for Piper's sake. Frank was keeping Hazel and him in place. Percy was bouncing around in the hallway saying "OW!"

"HOLD ON, FOLKS!" Tim yelled. "We going down!"

Everyone screamed.