Hello! Chapter two, coming at you.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favourited my story. I got for followers already! that made me really happy. Here's chapter two for you.
The bus pulled up in front of the Wilderness school dorms, a dejected-looking grey building, two stories high, with a flat roof and a running track around the back. About two hundred feet down a path, another, brighter building sat—their classrooms, Piper was guessing.
"Alright!" the guy at the front of the bus yelled. He was dressed in black track pants and a red sleeveless shirt, and he looked like a boy builder— huge arms, a square face and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes.
He looked about five feet tall.
"I'm Coach Hedge!" he bellowed. "I am your dorm master, your physical trainer and your head teacher for however long you are planning to stay with us—which I hope is a short time." he looked at all of them through narrowed eyes. "Grab your bags and go inside to the building in front of you. There'll be a list pinned up on the door. Find out your dorm, dump you bags and meet me by the track in fifteen minutes. Move, cupcakes!"
Despite his height, the guy was pretty scary. The kids jumped to their feet and started shoving each other, trying to get out of the door first. Leo nudged Piper.
"Look at this guy," he snorted, nodding in Coach Hedge's direction. "He is just asking to be pranked."
"I wouldn't," Piper frowned. "He doesn't look like he loves us."
Leo snorted again. "He's a coach. What's he going to do, hit us?" Piper didn't respond, but she couldn't be sure. The Wilderness School was where you got sent if everywhere else rejected you— maybe they were allowed to bend a couple of rules.
Piper was the last one off the bus after Leo, who cheerily jumped onto the ground and looked around. He took a deep breath and choked on the dust that was floating in the air.
"Nature— gotta hate it," he coughed, stumbling over to the massive heap of bags that sat next to the bus. Somewhere in there was Piper's, containing her life for three months—clothes, a few books, her iPod, a pillow, a sleeping bag, safety scissors (to cut her hair), a comb, some soap and shampoo.
She spotted the tattered blue handle of her bag poking out of the very bottom of the pile. Grabbing hold of it, she pulled as hard as she could, but she couldn't budge the stupid thing.
"Need a hand?" A voice asked from behind her. She spun around to see Jason— the cute kid from the bus— standing there with a gentle smile on his face. Piper saw he had a little scar on his upper lip. She wondered how he got it.
"Thanks," Piper said, backing away. He grabbed the handle and pulled. With a grunt, her bag came loose. Jason stumbled a couple of steps backwards before regaining his balance.
"Here you go," he said, handing it to Piper. Their hands touched, and a little jolt went up Piper's arm. "Do you need me to carry that as well?"
"No, it's alright," Piper replied, trying not to show how flustered she was. She was cursing herself mentally. It's just a boy, Piper. A cute boy, but just a boy. Don't act like an idiot. "Thanks, though."
"No problem," he smiled, showing perfect teeth, and Piper's heart skipped a beat. Jason turned to leave, but Leo called him back.
"Yo! Superman!" he gestured to his own suitcase. "Get my bag for me, please?" he made a show of fluttering his eyelashes and swooning mockingly at Jason, who punched him playfully in the arm. He grabbed Leo's case and pulled, hard, freeing it. Leo thanked him, and the three of them walked inside together.
"So what did you do to end up in this dump?" Leo asked as his suitcase rattled and jumped behind him on the uneven ground. Piper's own duffel bag was killing her arm with its weight, but she didn't want to ask Jason for help again, so she just suffered quietly. Jason himself didn't seem to be having trouble at all with his bag.
"I broke someone's arm," (1) Jason said, dropping his gaze. "They made fun of my mom. She's dead," he added after a pause. For once, Leo didn't make some wisecrack joke. Pain— immense pain— crossed his face for a second, and he looked a lot older than fifteen.
Piper wanted to say something comforting to both of them. They wore matching expressions of grief and suffering although Leo's had something else. Guilt? But she didn't know what to say, so she just patted Jason awkwardly on the shoulder.
"He deserved it," Leo muttered. "The kid, I mean. Good job breaking his arm, man." He high-fived Jason, and just like that, they became friends.
"Yeah," Jason said. "Insufferable prick, he was. The court sent me here after— I have no parents left, couldn't afford a lawyer, so they shipped me off to this place." He looked around.
"Armpit, Nevada," Leo nodded. Piper and Jason laughed.
"Armpit, Nevada," Piper repeated. "I like it. It's staying."
"What about you two?" Jason asked. Before either of them could answer they were at the building. The majority of the kids were inside, wrestling for positions to look at the small sheet of A4 paper pinned up on the wall.
"I got this," Leo said. "Here, beauty queen, hold this." He passed his suitcase to Piper, who held onto it. Leo disappeared into the crowd. Jason turned to Piper.
"Beauty Queen?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. "Is that your nickname?"
"Apparently," Piper scowled. She didn't like being called pretty. She tried really hard not to be pretty.
"He's not wrong, you know," Jason said. He looked over at Piper. "The beauty part… I just mean…" he cleared his throat. "How did you end up here?"
"I stole a car," Piper admitted. "A BMW. The dealer didn't even notice… in fact, he kind of gave it to me."
"What do you mean?" Jason asked, clearly confused.
"I kind of asked nicely, and he gave me the car," Piper explained. "I don't know how I did it, but it's the truth, I swear."
"I believe you," Jason said, although a smirk was playing across his lips. He found the idea ridiculous, just like everyone else, although Jason was too cute to be mad at. The way his hair was combed to one side, how a couple of pieces fell onto his forehead…
Leo appeared, breaking her chain of thought. His hands were still moving, jumping around his sweater, tapping on his jeans or playing with stuff from his pockets.
"Are you hyped up on sugar?" Jason asked as soon as he saw Leo. "Seriously, man, stand still."
"Yeah, right," Leo laughed. "That's like telling beauty queen over here to stop staring at you. Not gonna happen." Piper's face flared bright red, although, she was glad to see, so did Jason's. She cleared her throat and looked away. She did not stare at Jason.
Well, maybe a little.
"Anyways," Leo said, picking up his suitcase. "You're in dorm D-3, Piper, whatever the heck that means. We're in the same dorm," he told Jason, slapping him on the arm. "B-4."
"Meet you down by the track?" Jason asked. Piper nodded and he smiled, the little scar on his lip curving upwards. Then he was gone, lost in the crowd, and Piper was by herself.
Sighing, she moved her duffel bag from on arm to the other and trudged towards the staircase that led to the girl's dorms, getting jostled from side to side by people all around her. She stumbled on the first step but quickly regained her balance, feeling her face burning for the second time in two minutes. She stumbled up the steps.
There were five doors at the top, labeled A-E. Piper pushed open the door labeled E and found herself in a medium sized room, with a couple of couches, a few chairs, tables and a TV. Four staircases led away at one side. Piper dragged her suitcase up the one labeled 4 and pushed open the door at the top. There were three beds jammed inside. Piper took the one closest to the solitary window, throwing her bag on top with a grunt. She looked around. The room didn't look like much, a rectangular space with a dresser by each bed and a door leading off to a small bathroom.
Piper hurried back downstairs, wanting to met Jason by the track as soon as possible. She knew it was stupid, considering she had only known the guy for two hours, but he was really, really cute. Leo was nice as well, even though he could be annoying sometimes.
As Piper was starting down the stairs, another girl who was coming up stuck out her foot and tripped her. Piper tumbled down, cursing as her head hit the wooden stair hard. She rolled off and lay there, groaning.
"Oops," the girl smirked. "Sorry. Didn't see you there." Piper rolled over and got to her feet, glaring at the girl. She was dressed in shorts and a tight-fitting purple shirt, with her hair immaculately curled and her face caked in make-up. She had a pink suitcase that seemed like it was about to burst with clothes.
Piper would have happily smacked her between the eyes, but before she could the girl disappeared, still laughing. Clutching her head, which was throbbing, Piper headed towards the track. Maybe Jason could brighten her mood.
(1) Because i had no real idea why Jason was sent to the wilderness school, this seemed like as good of an idea as any
Anyways, did you like it? I'm guessing about most of the details, so if anyone has anything they can add/correct, PM me or drop a review. Also, if anyone has any ideas for what sort of trouble they can get into, drop a review as well.
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