I'm still in a state of not processing Jason's death so leave me alone. I was supposed to be reading Médée for class, which has the original Jason and came up with this instead. I decided to write it now since I'm currently rereading TLH.

This chapter takes place right before the events of TLH.

Story #16: Jason Slept the Whole Way There

Piper lost track of how long she's been on this school bus on the way to another one of Coach's educational field trips. She didn't see the point in them but Coach would go on about, despite the reasons for the wild kids being locked away in that dingy building, they still need soothing, deep fresh breaths of fresh air. Then Coach would ramble into his megaphone about how nature knows what's best for them. Piper, admittedly, couldn't argue with that point. Coach lost her when he would tell them to answer the mountains when they call, not ignore them. She wonders if Coach forgot they were on their way to the Grand Canyon and not the Rockies.

So much for fresh air. All Piper's inhaling are exhaust fumes, the stench from the blend of colognes and perfumes from her classmates, general school bus cleaner, dust from the roads outside flying in through the open windows, and the fresh soap from Jason sleeping beside her. Piper can only lie back, closing her eyes to try and pretend she was back in her uncomfy bed back at the Wilderness School.

Not possible. There was still the constant noise from everyone, Coach's yelling at everyone, and an engine.

Everything combined was starting to make her motion sick.

Jason was smart for deciding to sleep the whole way there. He definitely wasn't missing much, except for Leo creating a little gizmo to tamper with the schoolbus's radio and blast some heavy metal. He slept through the deafening beats causing Coach to jump out of his seat. How Jason managed to sleep through the music? Piper couldn't answer. She guesses he didn't sleep much last night.

Leo pops up from the seat in front of them. Piper opens her eyes and sees Leo working on something with the many miscellaneous objects he keeps in his pockets. He's currently braiding some pipe cleaners and weaving in some paper clips for who knows what. At least she knows that whenever she's in need of something from a pencil to duct tape, for whatever reasons, he's got it and more. It makes him the best partner for pranks and revenge plans. Still, despite the many successful jokes, they were still the Wilderness equivalent of being picked last in gym class.

And they have been picked last for gym class. Many, many times.

"He's still asleep?" Leo asks, gesturing to Jason.

Piper glances over at Jason who's leaning against her, breathing softly and unbothered. She wasn't sure when they started holding hands but it felt right. He looked so peaceful like this.

"Who knows, maybe he'll sleep through the whole trip," Piper comments, her eyes not leaving Jason.

Leo scoffs. "As if Coach would allow him to miss out on the," he clears his throat and makes it an octave deeper and scruffier, "educational purpose of the canyon's erosion, cupcakes!"

Piper laughs at the Coach impression. She'd be wary of waking Jason but he slept through all the ruckus on the bus so her laugh wouldn't deter him. Some classmates turn around and roll their eyes before going back to their iPods or throwing trash out the window to mess with the surrounding traffic. Add honking cars and cussing drivers to the list of noise.

"Valdez!" Coach yells from the front seat. "What kind of business are you up to back there?"

"None of yours!" Leo yells back. He looks away for a moment, expecting the small man's yelling to continue. He'd hope he'd use the megaphone to test out his modifications. Nothing. "How does Coach not notice him sleeping? It's moments you're most comfortable that you're most vulnerable."

Piper shrugs, looking back at Jason. "Coach seems too focused on you, cupcake."

"Hey." Leo points at her, now stretching a rubber band with his hands. "Only Coach Hedge can call me that."

Coach is now standing on his seat, which doesn't add much to his height, as he looks at the back of the bus. "What was that, Valdez?"

Leo glances at Piper confused. "How does he hear me? I barely hear me."

"Duck!" Piper yells.

She shoves herself down in her seat as Leo drops to the floor. Over their heads, Coach's bat flies. It narrowly misses Jason's head, bouncing on the seat and clonking on the ground. Still, despite the near headshot, Jason's still asleep.

"He'll probably need an ice pack," Piper mutters, swiping back his blond hair to see the bat skimmed his head and left marks. None in sight. That doesn't stop her from pecking his forehead and rubbing her kiss in place with her thumb.

"Better than a coffin," Leo shrugs. "Are we sure he's sleeping and not dead? He's sure sleeping like the dead."

"Valdez!" Piper yells.

"Hey, only Coach can call me that!"

"Valdez!" Coach screams. "Come sit at the front until you're good enough to return! And get my bat too!"

Leo stares at him for a second before looking back at Piper. "Is he for real?"

Piper playfully shrugs. "Better get going, cupcake."

Leo mocks her before grinning. He hops out of his seat and picks up Coach's bat from the ground. He swings it around, narrowly missing his classmates' heads and enjoying being cussed out by them. Piper knows he's up to no good. Coach will definitely get some new sounds added to his megaphone after Leo's done there.

So this would technically be a fake memory but let's keep it.

I'm not apologizing for all the dead jokes since TLH had a lot of those which were very rude. I can tell you that during my TLH reread, I got a lot of fake memory/Wilderness School ideas.

Kinda unrelated. I haven't watched WandaVision yet but I was listening to Agatha All Along on loop while writing this.