I didn't realize that I haven't updated this story since last year, but now I have 3 banked chapters.

Okay, so I didn't know what Campfire chapter to write next, so I got this idea from Meep's review of The Lost Student over on Ao3.

So for this story, this is a fake Wilderness School memory. But in The Lost Student, shall we say that this is a deleted scene. I have another chapter like this coming up.

Story #44: The Lost Trio Gets Detention For Tennis Ball and Frisbee Rainfall

After a night spent on the roof, Piper and Jason realized that having "access" to the roof was an advantage to them. It was the highest point of The Wilderness School. Standing on the roof's edge gave one a view of all the school grounds and the dry desert forest stretching for miles. (At least, if you cover your eyes because the sun blares and would cook anyone who got trapped here on the hottest summer days.) It's a wonder how they hike various trails in there and not end up lost forever.

Rumour has it that's how some kids disappeared from their school. Some escape only to get trapped deeper in and never come out.

"I haven't felt this warm since … nevermind," Leo says as he kicks a stray tennis ball on the roof.

One of many.

The roof was full of them. Discoloured tennis balls from the elements, cracked frisbees, weathered shoes, anything. It's not like anyone bothered to retrieve lost equipment once it soared over the roof.

Piper and Jason crouch low, looking over the edge of the roof. Leo joins them, sweat beading all their faces. Below, their cohort mates frolic outside during their allotted free time in the yard. Everyone's in their cliques, doing what they normally do. Some play soccer against the wall, others sit in groups and "do crafts" (which is anything but crafts), and there are few who walk around the track and chat. Coach circles the yard, supervising with his bat as he always does no matter the schedule. Piper, Jason, and Leo observe them all as their own (and elite) clique.

"If I hit one of the airheads, is their head going to pop?" Piper asks, narrowing her eyes at the two girls walking around the track.

Jason follows her gaze, licking a bead of sweat sitting at the scar on his upper lip. "Good question. If I hit one of the meatheads over there, will we end up with a charcuterie board?"

Piper glances over at the boys playing soccer with a half-inflated ball that plops on the ground instead of bounces. "Additional sides if you hit them in the nuts."

Jason and Piper grin at each other. Their expressions soften the longer they face each other. Maybe it was the sun, or maybe it was the fact that the last time they were here was in the middle of the night way past their curfew. They shared stories, personal anecdotes, and a kiss or two.

And haven't talked about it since. But what was there to say?

"And there goes my lunch."

Jason and Piper turn to face Leo as he pulls out a homemade invention that looks like a t-shirt launcher. It didn't look small enough to store in his pockets so they weren't sure where or how he carried that with them up to the roof without any of them noticing.

"The meatloaf pizza?" Piper questions, gagging. "You actually ate that?"

"Regrettably."

"The meatloaf topping was leftover meatloaf from yesterday which probably came from some old beef," Jason says.

Piper clicks her tongue. "And that's why I don't eat meat."

"For all we know, it wasn't even real meat. You could've eaten it," Leo argues.

Piper shudders. "Disgusting. Wilderness School meat is so foul that I'd go back to normal meat first before eating that meatloaf. That pizza was so foul that even the Romans would sob. Jason did."

Jason looks at her, blocking the sun from his face to get a better look at her. "Did not."

"You teared up."

"Cause a pepper flake or something from that pizza got in my eye."

Leo laughs as she cocks his makeshift gadget and throws it over his shoulder. "My guy, this school wouldn't know spice even if a ghost pepper haunted the hallways. I would love for this place to use even a grain of salt. Who knows what was in that pizza so much so that you cried."

"Still did not cry."

"Jason's not right, but we should refocus on our plan here," Piper says, regathering their short attention spans.

Leo pats his new invention. "Time to show off my new bad boy that I made instead of eating breakfast."

"The French toast wasn't so bad," Jason mutters.

Piper scoffs. "Jason, the French were surrendering at the sight of it."

"We're losing track of our goal here because of the questionable food here."

Piper's eyes widen as she points at him. "That's exactly why they're feeding us trash. They don't want us to focus on taking on the big man."

"Or it could be because we're trash," Leo suggests. "Not like anyone here's gotten food poisoning."

"That we know of," Piper whispers. "I'm investigating this later."

"Back to the plan!" Jason exclaims, getting all their attention again.

"There was a plan?"

"Not really, but I don't want to spend all day here sweating and talking about the cafeteria trash and conspiracies."

"That sounds like a great plan," Piper adds, grinning when Jason rolls his eyes at her.

"Change of plan, projectile vomit off the roof," Leo suggests.

Jason shakes his head. "Backburner that one. How did you make that?"

Jason points at Leo's crazy creation as he smiles at it. Leo holds it like a proud father to his newborn, which he basically was to his invention.

"Old paint sprayer and door hinges," Leo responds.

Jason looks at it, seeing how it came together and nods. " … we could always go back to trying to reason with our cohort. You know, we leave them alone and vice versa."

Piper laughs. "The heat must be cooking your pale head. Do you still really think we can just talk to them? You don't write your life with words. You write it with actions. What you think isn't important. It's what you do that matters."

"My answer to your first question would've been no."

Piper picks up a tennis ball and whips it at Jason's chest. He laughs as it bounces off him without even flinching.

"Wrong targets," Leo says.

He starts filling his contraption with tennis balls where the paint would've gone in the paint sprayer. Jason runs around the roof, lightly kicking over all the tennis, soccer, and basketballs to the others to make the process easier. Piper gathers frisbees and kicks over the abandoned shoes that have seen better days. Each of them arm up with countless tennis balls, standing at the edge of the roof where their cohort mates remain below, unbeknownst of their plan or location.

"Ready?" Jason asks.

"Aim," Piper says, narrowing her eyes at the girls walking around the track.

"Fire!" Leo yells.

The trio lets all the sports equipment loose. Screams fill the yard as tennis balls rain from above, bouncing everywhere. Their cohort scatters as the trio rearms, laughing maniacally at the yells and yelps. Piper whips frisbees, hearing them scrape against the concrete as Leo reloads.

Jason peers over the edge just in time for Coach to hit a home run with his bat and one of the tennis balls. Jason watches the ball head straight back to them. Instinctively, he leaps in the air, soaring back as the ball lands in his palm. Jason skitters across the roof, falling over an insulation pipe and landing on his back. He sits up as Leo and Piper run up to him.

"Woah, dude, you caught air!" Leo exclaims.

Piper laughs. "Basically flying! So worth detention."