To whoever left that disgusting guest review on my last chapter - and anyone can go read it if they want because I'm purposely calling it out - you have some fucking nerve and I will be fucking off.

V: It's Raining Bricks on the Lost Trio

Jason isn't sure how long it's been since he wounded up at the Wilderness School, but he's grown accustomed to the routine around here. His body wakes on its own every morning and moves automatically to the cafeteria and scheduled events for the day. Leo and Piper are always by his side, commenting on everything they see while Jason remains secluded to himself and takes in the environment he's gotten used to with each passing day.

Still, he can't help but feel that there's something off in this place.

Even kids slouching in couches in the student common area, sparing looks and glares at them became an everyday thing for them.

"Damn, Jason," Piper says as the three of them take their seats by the window. She sits on the dusty window sill with Leo as Jason leans against the wall beside them, looking at everyone looking at them. "What did you do to be despised around here?"

"Nothing," Jason states.

Piper grins. "Exactly."

Jason isn't sure why, but being in a social setting with people not liking or trusting him feels familiar. Maybe in his old place, people despised him for the same reasons. He was too clean-cut or too … something to be there.

Maybe that's why he's no longer with them.

"You show up out of the blue with nothing, not even memories, or so you say," Piper continues, twirling the drawstring of her sweater. "You're super smart and all the teachers love you. Even Coach and he hates everybody. It doesn't help that you look like-"

She circles the drawstring at his face. Jason raises a brow.

"We get it," Leo deadpans. "He's hot."

Piper glances at him. "I was talking about his bitch face but yes, it's hot as well. A hot bitch face. It looks like he doesn't compute emotions. A powerful combination."

"I've lived with messed up kids for so long that the metric of emotion is nonexistent."

Piper leans in closer to Jason, elbow on the table with her head on her hands. "So what's your secret?"

Jason remembers when Leo asked him that on the day they met. "I don't have one."

"That's what people with secrets say."

"I've been told to keep to myself." He catches Leo holding out a thumbs-up and nodding approvingly.

Piper smirks. "Good."

"Doesn't help that you hang out with us," Leo mutters.

"They would've hated me anyways," Jason argues. "The hot bitch face, as Piper said."

Piper cups her hand around her mouth. "We might've too."

-o-

The trio arrive to class in one of the many dingy classrooms that all look the same. The similarities aren't limited to the broken desks and musty scent with dirty windows, but also the stares from everyone else who are slouching in their seats and ignoring their tired and underpaid teacher at the front. They start distributing the tests as the trio takes their seats, papers given backside up to avoid peering over.

But everyone finds out anyways.

"Good job, Mr. Grace," the teacher praises.

Jason flips over his test and sees a bright 103% in bright red ink. He smiles to himself and turns to Piper and Leo peeking over his shoulders, jaws dropping as Leo pats his back and glances at his own test.

"How?" Piper asks.

"How did you - I got a 40 from guessing!" Leo exclaims.

Piper laughs a bit. "I got a 52 from copying you."

Leo scoffs. "Screw you. I'm sitting with Jason next time."

"No, I am."

Dylan walks by and catches a peek at Jason's score. "Please. Golden Boy over here probably cheated. I should rat you out."

"Cheated how?" Jason questions, turning to face Dylan. He'd stand and show him but Piper holds his arm.

"Do it," Piper challenges Dylan. "Nobody's going to believe you since we still did bad. Maybe Jason was at a prep school before he came to this dump to screw with your GPA here."

Dylan sneers at them before walking back to his seat. The teacher is with the kid next to him, reviewing questions on the test but that doesn't stop Dylan's dirty looks. Not even Piper sticking her tongue out has an effect on that grimace.

"What a jerk," Jason says, folding his test.

Leo makes his test into a paper airplane. "Yeah, he's been here for a while. Even before Coach got here and Coach seems like he's always lived here."

"When did Coach get here?" Piper asks.

Leo thinks, leaning back in his seat and throwing his creation across the room. "A little after I did, actually."

-o-

The trio heads outside to take a shortcut through the yard to get to the next building over. They notice crates of bricks next to a wall covered with a plastic tarp. The workers must be done remodeling for the day. The lack of drilling sounds blended in with the usual Wilderness School sounds of screaming and distant animals.

"Oh no," Piper states.

Their cohort mates emerge from behind the brick crates, all armed with bricks. Dylan stands front and centre, eyes locked with Jason. He steps ahead of Leo and Piper, his arms out and reading to fight. His adrenaline pumps, warming his body, a natural instinct that's awakening after being dormant for so long.

"Come on, we can talk this through," Jason shows his hands and open arms.

"Are you seriously suggesting democracy?" Leo asks him. "I don't think they know Greek!"

On Dylan's cue, everyone throws bricks. The little projectiles fly through the air. Jason looks up and has to be pulled to the side by Piper and they duck behind a tree. Their bodies press together as they see Leo crouching behind a bike rack. He shifts into a squat and rummages through his pockets as bricks rattle the rack. Piper and Jason turn back and they're facing each other, faces inches apart as their eyes look up and down their faces. Hearts pounding, feeling each other's breathing.

"They'll run out of bricks eventually," Jason says as he peeks around the tree to see them reloading.

"So will my patience," Piper responds sharply. "Do you want to see which one empties first?"

Jason almost said yes but Leo pulls a small firecracker out of his pocket and launches it in their direction. As their cohort mates scatter and scream at the sparks, Jason seizes the opportunity and runs out. He picks up the bricks that were thrown at them. Leo does the same but Piper steps out and walks closer to the others, fists at her sides and anger strewn across her face.

"Stop!" Piper screams.

Everyone freezes, bricks drop to the ground. Piper fumes for a few breaths before her body relaxes and her posture straightens. She smiles, proud of herself as Dylan and his cronies scatter, leaving the bricks as they flee. Leo whistles downhill as Jason grins a bit from the corner of her mouth.

"Huh, didn't think that'd work," Piper claps once as she turns around to face her boys. "I think they're scared of me."

Piper shifts to the side and her expression drops. Jason and Leo turn around and see Coach behind them. Maybe that's why everyone scattered and left the bricks behind. Jason catches Leo trying to meld himself into the bike rack in his peripheral vision. If he was trying to remain unseen, it's not working.

"Coach, I can explain," Jason says.

"Save it," Coach orders, trotting up to them.

"Coach, we were ambushed," he argues.

"Well, you Cupcakes should've put up a fight! I thought I taught you three better. Just for that, clean this mess up."

"That's not fair!" Leo yells.

-o-

Thirty minutes later and the trio has fallen into a cleaning up routine. Jason was doing all the heavy lifting of putting the bricks back in their crate in an organized fashion as Piper passes them to him from the ground. Leo was sitting against the school's building, picking at a brick with a mini screwdriver as if he was whittling a stick. Once he was finished, he laughs at the small Coach figurine he made. Jason knows he'll put it on display in his room that was slowly being filled with inventions.

Or even use it to bribe Coach one day.

"It's almost life-sized," Leo comments.

"I say we get revenge," Piper says as she throws the last few bricks in herself.

Jason rearranges those bricks. "Revenge is the last thing we should be doing."

"Are you sure?" Leo asks. "Revenge should be higher than a lot of things."

"Like what?"

"Manslaughter," Piper says.

"Theft," Leo adds.

Piper narrows her eyes at Leo as she picks up a brick to aim at him.

"Too soon?" Leo grins. "At least the bar is set low for us."

"What?" Jason asks.

"Nothing," Piper puts the brick back in the crate. "Ignore him. Point is, revenge. Let's do it."

"We've made more enemies," Leo states.

"What's new? At least we got more muscle on our side this time."

She grins as she pats Jason's biceps. Jason isn't sure he likes the sounds of that but it's better than getting a rainfall of bricks again.