Last Hero

Last Hero
Chapter 05: The New Group


***


They don't try too hard to fill the worksheet. One of the reasons, Jason's attention is too drawn to the storm and his own mixed feelings. For other reasons, he has absolutely no idea how to fill in a problem like “mentioned three layers of sediment that you observed” or “explain first an example of erosion.”


Leo did not help. He was too busy assembling his helicopter from cotton ropes.


“See nih.” Leo launched the helicopter. Jason suspected the helicopter would fall, but the propeller and the cotton rope could actually spin. The small helicopter managed to cross all the way to the middle of the canyon before losing momentum and twisting into the gorge.


“How do you do that?” ask Jason.


Leo shrugged his shoulders. “Practice is cooler if I have a rubber band.”


“Serious nih,” says Jason, “are we really friends?”


“Last time I remember that anyway.”


“You sure? When was the first day we met? What do we usually screw up?”


“It happened ..” Leo frowned. “I don't remember exactly. I'm a ADHD sufferer, man. Disturbance of Attention and Hyperactivity. How can I remember all the details?”


“But I can't remember you at all. I don't remember anyone here. How about—“


“You're right and the others are all wrong?” ask Leo. “You think you just showed up here this morning, and we all have false memories of you?”


The little voice in Jason's head said, That's what I'm thinking.


“Bring this worksheet.” Jason handed the worksheet to Leo. “I'll be back soon.”


Before Leo could protest, Jason walked across the tititian.


There was only their school group in that place. It may still be too early for tourists to arrive, or maybe this odd weather has frightened the tourists. The children of the Wild Nature School had spread in pairs on the titian. Most of them were joking or talking. Some guys dropped a penny from the edge of the fence. About fifteen yards from Jason's position, Piper was trying to fill his worksheet, but Dylan, his foolish partner, instead seduced him, clasped his arms over Piper's shoulder and gave him that dazzling white smile. piper kept pushing Dylan away, and when the girl saw Jason she gave him a look that seemed to imply, Cheek this guy for me.


Jason gestured for Piper to wait. He walked over to Coach Hedge, who was concentrating the storm on a baseball bat while watching the storm clouds.


“Do you do this?” the Coach asked Jason.


Jason stepped back. “Do what?” it sounds like the coach just asked if Jason had created a thunderstorm.


Coach Hedge glared at Jason, his beaded eyes glistening under the rim of his hat. “Don't mess with me, boy. What are you doing here, and why are you messing with my work?”


“Meanour ... You don't know me?” Jason. “I'm not one of your students?”


Hedge grunting. “Never seen you before today.”


Jason was so relieved that he wanted to cry.At least he wasn't crazy. He was in the wrong place. “Look, sir, I don't know how the story was until I was here. When I woke up, I was already on this school bus. I just know I shouldn't be here.”


“Crue.” Hedge's fierce voice swallowed up into a murmur, as if he was sharing a secret. “You have a great power to influence the Mist, boy, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monsters for days. I know we have intruders, but you don't smell like a monster. You smell like a blaster