When Calista woke up, her entire body was throbbing and it felt like she had fallen out of the sky. Blinking, she tried to figure out why she had come up with that analogy, but couldn't think of anything. Her chest tightened, trying to figure out why she couldn't think of anything other than her name.

"What do you think, Cal?" An obnoxiously high voice asked from beside her, making her snap her head to one side, tense and ready for a fight. She was met with the curious gazes of five girls sitting around her, one beside and two in the seats in front and behind her, their faces caked in makeup and all wearing the same shade of pink in various outifts. She wanted to ask who the hell they were, but restrained herself when she caught the expectant looks in their eyes. They knew her, clearly. They wanted information about something, and if she started acting like a total lunatic they would immediately ostracize her, which meant she needed to play along until she could figure out what was going on.

Sighing in a tired manner, she raised an eyebrow at the girl sitting beside her. "Sorry, but you're going to need to repeat yourself if you want an answer. I was so bored I fell asleep."

The girl's face flushed heavily and everyone sitting around them broke out into hysterical laughter, making Calista bask in the familiar feeling of people hanging onto her every word.

"She got you, Isabel," a girl giggled as everyone began to settle down, twisting her honey blonde hair around her finger.

Isabel's face went an even darker red under her makeup, and her face twisted into a sneer. "Shut up, Chantel."

The girl beside Chantel sighed and cleared her throat. "We were talking about McLean," she informed Calista with a hint of disdain in her voice. "Well, her boyfriend."

"What about them?" Calista asked dismissively, trying not too seem to interested in the gossip that was probably going to help her figure out what the hell was going on.

Isabel jumped in eagerly, apparently looking for some form of approval from someone. "Just why she would pick that little scrawny idiot over Jason."

Several of the girls surrounding Calista swiveled their heads to look behind them, and Calista instinctively followed their gaze, realizing they were on a bus.

Three kids were in the last two seats, a sleeping blond Calista had to admit was hot as Hades, but almost made her angry for some reason when she looked at him, like he'd personally wronged her. In front of him was another boy who was sitting with a drop dead gorgeous girl, both of them blushing bright red when he timidly squeezed her hand. The girl looked up and realized the girls were watching them, making her small smile disappear to be replaced by a scowl.

The five girls around Calista looked away with derisive laughter, high pitched titters that made the girl's head hurt as she kept her gaze solidly on the brunette. 'McLean' was the first to look away from their intense stare down, making Calista smirk in satisfaction.

"So, what do you think?" Isabel repeated, making Calista purse her lips. They all seemed too invested in her answer for her to back out, meaning she was either influential, or they were looking for something to attack her over. But when she'd mocked Isabel, everyone had fallen into line with her, meaning she was probably in a position of power in their social circle. That meant she needed to have an opinion.

"I think," she said slowly. "That if she's willing to go for him, it leaves Jason open for someone else."

"Totally call dibs," Chantel sighed in a dreamy voice that made several of the girls groan.

One of the girls behind Calista engaged Chantel in an argument about how she'd been chasing Jason all semester, but he hadn't given her a second glance.

"Know what to quit," she scoffed, making Chantel pout.

"Like you can talk, Marissa!" she snapped. "You've been all over Dylan for weeks!"

Marissa giggled and glanced further up the bus. "Can you blame me?"

Calista blocked their petty bickering out for a moment, glancing back over her shoulder to glance at the target of their original gossiping. Her eyebrows drew together when she saw the girl leaning over her seat to press her hand to Jason's forehead, looking genuinely concerned as her boyfriend looked a little uneasy.

Isabel seemed to notice as well, leaning in to Calista's ear in a fashion that hinted that the two girls were close beyond their social circle, genuinely friends. "Dare you to flirt with Leo, get Piper pissed off."

Calista glanced at Isabel with a raised eyebrow, unable to hide the smirk that spread across her lips. She should be gathering information, she knew, trying to figure out who she was. The temptation of chaos pulled on her though and she chuckled lightly. "You're terrible, you know that?"

Isabel grinned widely and moved into the aisle, apparently knowing Calista well enough to take that as assent. Sighing in mock hesitance, Calista slid out of the seat and practically strutted to the back of the bus, ignoring the giggles from her supposed friends as she went.

Sliding into the seat beside Jason easily, Calista almost had to fight to hide the smirk she felt threatening to rise when he scooted away from her, pressing into the window. Piper's eyes narrowed and Calista batted her eyelashes innocently.

"Is everything alright?" she asked the other girl quietly, tilting her head before she turned her attention to Jason. "I couldn't help but notice that Piper looked so concerned. I got worried."

"I'm sure you did," Piper ground out, making Calista widen her dark eyes in what she knew was a hurt expression.

"Am I not allowed to be worried about a classmate, Piper?"

"Since when have you even cared about Jason?" Piper shot back, and Calista nearly hesitated, wonder since when she'd even known Jason. She pushed that thought aside though, liking how easy it was to push this girl's buttons.

Glancing at Leo, she wasn't able to hide the small tilt of her lips that occured when their eyes caught and his cheeks colored slightly. "I've always cared about Jason," she said simply, glancing to the blond this time. "I've always cared about a lot of people."

Her voice dipped to a purr this time, and the slight flush on Leo's cheeks exploded into a full starburst of red, making her feel fairly accomplished. The irritation in Piper's eyes only made it all the better for the other girl.

"I don't know you," Jason said, making Calista's mood dip slightly, her eyes narrowing a fraction as she took in the genuine panic that was clear in the boy's face.

Leo didn't seemed to notice a genuine issue though, and just gave him a crocodile grin. "Sure. I'm not your best friend. I'm his evil clone."

"Leo Valdez!" a small man yelled from the front, making Calista look up sharply. They caught eyes and the man- who Calista realized was a coach with the godawful shirt he was wearing- paled slightly before forcing his face back into a scowl and looking at Leo. "Problem back there?"

Leo winked at Jason, careful to avoid Calista's gaze. "Watch this." He turned to the front. "Sorry, Coach! I was having trouble hearing you. Could you use your megaphone, please?"

Coach grunted like he was pleased to have an excuse. He unclipped the megaphone from his belt and continued giving directions, but his voice came out like Darth Vader's. The kids cracked up. The coach tried again, but this time the megaphone blared: "The cow says moo!"

Calista looked over to her friends, who were all giggling hysterically as they grabbed onto the seats. Isabel turned to her and mouthed 'classic Hedge', making Calista realize that his last name must have been Hedge, which made something hurt her head as she felt like she should remember something.

"Valdez!" Coach Hedge yelled, throwing his megaphone at the boy's head. Calista was surprised by the accuracy, watching as Leo narrowly ducked and the tool hit the back of the seat where his head previously rested.

Peeking over the top of the seat in front of him, Leo made sure there wasn't any more flying projectiles coming for his head before leaning against it lazily. "Problem, Coach?"

Leaning forward, Calista brushed her fingers against Leo's shoulders and nearly jumped at how warm his skin was even through the huge jacket he was wearing. "Maybe he wants you to make more modifications," she commented in his ear, making sure her voice was loud enough to carry as the kids began howling again.

Hedge looked ready to yell at her, but froze. Calista raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Something wrong Coach?" she asked, feeling something tug at the bottom of her stomach as the words poured from her mouth without her permission. "You act like you've never seen me before."

Coach gritted his teeth, and Jason looked at Calista sharply in a way that had her fingers curling, as though she was preparing for a fight without knowing how she was so prepared. Part of her screamed, panicking and begging for her to go to someone with her problems, tell them that she didn't know who she was, but the other, larger part disagreed. It curled up inside of her and told her to act natural, or what the people here thought was natural for her. Something was not right, that was for sure, and she was going to find out what it was memories or no. She had a feeling it had something to do with Jason, and was going to trust her gut at this point. It wasn't like she had much else.

"Guys, seriously," Jason pleaded, his deep blue eyes wide and becoming scarily familiar to Calista as she registered how frightened he actually looked. "What am I doing here? Where are we going?"

Piper knit her eyebrows, looking away from Leo. "Jason, are you joking?"

"No!" Jason yelled, looking desperate as he looked to his 'friends'. "I have no idea-"

"Aw, yeah, he's joking," Leo said, waving off Piper's concerns in a matter that was surprisingly callous to Calista. "He's trying to get me back for that shaving cream on the Jell-O thing, aren't you?"

Jason stared at him blankly and Calista pursed her lips. "I think he's serious," she announced, making Leo and Piper snap their heads to her with clear confusion.

"What?"

"What does he have to gain by faking amnesia?" Calista challenged. "I thought you were his friends." Her lips twisted into a nasty sneer. "I guess not, right Jason?"

Piper and Leo looked to the blond with accusing gazes that made him throw his hands up in the air. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't-I can't-"

"That's it!" Coach Hedge yelled from the front. "The back row has just volunteered to clean up after lunch!"

The rest of the kids cheered, and Calista shrugged. "Technically, I wasn't originally here," she pointed out with a wink when Piper scowled.

"There's a shocker," Leo muttered.

Piper tore her eyes away from Calista to cautiously look at Jason, timidly almost. "Did you hit your head or something? You really don't know who we are?"

Jason shrugged helplessly. "It's worse than that. I don't know who I am."

Calista felt her smirk drop from her face as Jason spoke, and struggled to get it under control when his sharp gaze fell on her with an almost accusing nature. "Isn't that a conundrum," she said softly, refusing to look away from him regardless of how challenging she must have seemed as the bus began slowing down.

Isabel called her name and she wiggled her fingers to the group, throwing Leo a wink that left him blushing bright red again and defending himself as Piper looked at him sharply.

Standing in the center of a half circle formed by five other girls, Calista half heartedly giggled as they waited for the tour of the museum to begin.

"Zee and Khloe got caught by Coach Hedge cutting class together yesterday," Chantel said with a laugh. Calista tried to focus on what she was saying, but a ringing occured in her ears and her eyes watered.

"Zee, give it back!" a phantom voice demanded, echoing in her ears as she squeezed her eyes shut, visions of a small girl chasing a boy with his face fuzzed out. "Zee Zee!"

"Calista?" Isabel asked, touching her shoulder and retracting it quickly as the shorter girl flinched. "What is up with you today?" she demanded, making Calista scowl. "What? I mean, you're wearing orange."

Looking down at herself, Calista frowned when she realized that she hadn't even looked at what she was wearing that day, which seemed out of character. What was even odder was the bright orange shirt tucked into the small skirt that made her wrinkle her nose in distaste when she read the words Comp Half-Blood written on the orange fabric. She wanted to rip the offending garmet off of herself, but with the way she was catching several of her 'classmates' ogling her, she figured they'd enjoy the show too much.

Trying for a nonchalant shrug, Calista smiled blandly. "Headache. Can't really focus on anything," she said quietly.

Isabel pursed her lips and rifled into her purse to reveal a small white bottle with red and blue pills inside. Calista must have looked uneasy, as the other girl laughed. "Don't worry, it's just Tylenol," she assured her. "I know you're not into the harder stuff."

Careully taking a pill from the girl, Calista popped it in her mouth and dry swallowed, choosing to trust the earnest look on the girl's face. Something told her that Isabel truly cared about her, or at least thought she did.

"Thanks," she said softly, making the other girl smile.

"Anytime," she promised as she squeezed the dark haired girl's hand. "You know I'm always here."

Calista didn't have time to respond, as their friends called for them to keep up as they began heading toward the exhibits inside the museum.

As she looked around, Calista realized that she was canvassing the room as though it was second nature. She noticed the little things, how Jason was paired with Leo, who kept self conciously looking to Piper, who was paired with the heartthrob Marissa was obsessed with. His name came to her easily, Dylan.

The more she looked at him, the more that seemed off about him to the girl. The way he grinned easily when people were looking at him before looking at Piper with a predatory expression that made Calista want to check on the bottle of water Piper was holding. But that was crazy, right? Expecting someone to drug a classmate when they were about to head to a national monument.

She apparently didn't even like Piper, so why was she so concerned about her? She tried to push any thought of the girl to the back of her mind, but Isabel made that pretty hard, looking up from her nails to smile fakely at Piper.

"Hey, Piper, does your tribe run this place? Do you get in free if you do a rain dance?"

The other girls around Calista laughed, ignorant to the way Calista's face twisted into a sneer. Something about the racist comment made her want to turn on her friends and rip them to shreds. Even Piper's so-called partner Dylan was supressing a smile, making Calista realize he really wasn't that attractive to begin with.

"My dad's Cherokee," Piper scoffed, looking like she was trying to keep her composure. "Not Hualapai. 'Course, you'd need a few brain cells to know the difference, Isabel."

Isabel widened her eyes in mock surprise, so that she looked like an owl with a makeup addiction. "Oh, sorry! Was your mom in this tribe? Oh, that's right. You never knew your mom."

Piper charged her, and Calista instinctively grabbed Isabel's arm, though she wasn't sure if she was meaning to yank her away or hold her down. Fortunately, before a fight could start, Coach Hedge barked, "Enough back there! Set a good example or I'll break out my baseball bat!"

The group shuffled on to the next exhibit, but the girls kept calling out little comments to Piper that made Calista grow more and more pissed off.

"Good to be back on the rez?" Marissa asked in a sweet voice.

"Dad's probably too drunk to work," another said with fake sympathy. "That's why she turned klepto."

"Enough," Calista snapped, making all of her friends look at her in shock, not to mention Piper.

Isabel swallowed, almost looking afraid. "Cal-"

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Calista asked, her voice bordering on patronizing. "Remember, Isabel, I can ruin you." She wasn't sure where the words were coming from, but she knew they were true. "Do you want to test me?"

Her friend looked down silently, and Calista smirked victoriously, catching Jason and Leo's shocked gaze. Calista raised an eyebrow at the way Jason's bunched together, seemingly lost in thought about something and ignored the way chills ran down her spine as Dylan looked her dead in the eye with a thoughtful smile, the expression widening as he realized Calista knew he was looking at her. Winking, he threw an arm around Piper's shoulders like a threat and lead her further down the hallway toward a set of glass doors.

"All right, cupcakes," Coach Hedge announced as the rest of the class made their way over. "You are about to see the Grand Canyon. Try not to break it. The skywalk can hold the weight of seventy jumbo jets, so you featherweights should be safe out there. If possible, try to avoid pushing each other over the edge, as that would cause me extra paperwork."

The coach opened the doors, and they all stepped outside. The Grand Canyon spread before them, live and in person. Extending over the edge was a horseshoe-shaped walkway made of glass, so you could see right through it.

It made Calista's stomach flip, the blood in her face draining to her feet. Isabel bit her lip when they caught eyes, looking like she wanted to ask if the other girl was alright, but thought better of it and looked away.

They were supposed to be working on a worksheet, but no one really seemed interested in that. Calista listened to more gossip than seemed humanly possible, wondering how the hell Chantel knew so much about everyone, and why the hell they cared if Tilly Russo was sleeping with three different guys, or about the complex relationship between the sweet nerdy Zariah, and bad girl Khloe, who was also apparently Isabel's supplier.

Still, she giggled when it was expected of her, and added thoughtless commentary the other girls seemed to accept as gospel. Part of her wondered what would happen if she told Marissa she caught Chantel with Dylan the previous week, but fought against her curiousity out of fear that someone would actually end up being thrown over the edge of the skywalk after a cat fight that would go down in history.

Some people just wanted to watch the world burn, and as much as Calista thought she was one of those people, she had bigger problems than girl drama to focus on.

Her eyes scanned the skywalk and her eyebrows furrowed when she saw that Leo was standing alone at the railing of the skywalk, his head tilted upward to stare at the odd weather they were recieving. His shoulders were curled heavily, as though there were some great weight lying on them. His curly hair was swept into his face, but she saw enough to know that a heavy frown was marring his face.

Just as she decided she was going to go talk to him, maybe gain some intel on herself, she felt a hand softly land on her shoulder.

Her hand flew to the owner's wrist and was totally prepared to throw him over her shoulder when Chantel blushed heavily. "Hi Jason," she simpered, making Calista's lips purse as she looked over her shoulder at him.

The blond was smiling politely, the movement stretching an aged scar across his upper lip. "Hi," he said quickly. "I need to borrow Calista for a moment."

She wasn't given the opportunity to argue as he pulled her toward the museum, his grip tightening only slightly as he assessed how stiff she was. When they were out of sight of everyone else, she found herself being trapped between him and the wall, her chin jutting out stubbornly as he stared down at her.

"If you think you can intimidate me-"

Jason shook his head. "You know something," he accused with narrowed eyes. "I don't know what, but you do."

Scoffing lightly, Calista went to deny everything when she saw the desperation in his eyes again. Jason was genuinely scared.

"The only thing I know," she said quietly. "Was that I woke up on that bus half an hour ago, only knowing my name. No age, no personality. No information at all. A total blank slate. And here you come in, apparently suffering from the same ailement. Seems a little suspicious, don't you think? Two students in the same class suddenly developing total amnesia?"

Jason's brows frew together, and he bit his lip. "Unless we weren't," he said slowly, making Calista raise an eyebrow.

"Weren't what?" she demanded, a sense of urgency filling her as she took in how thoughtful he seemed. "Care to fill me in."

Jason didn't, apparently, moving toward where Coach Hedge was staring up at the sky. Calista moved after the tall boy and nearly stepped back when she saw how murderour Hedge appeared when he looked at the two of them.

"Did you do this?" the coach asked them, making Calista double take as she assessed the question.

Jason took a step back, visibly more offset than Calista had been. "Do what?"

"We didn't do this," she informed the little man, gesturing to the almost frightening formation of storm clouds. "If that's what you're asking."

Coach Hedge glared at the teenagers, his beady little eyes glinting under the brim of his cap. "Don't play games with me, kids. What are you doing here, and why are you messing up my job?"

"You mean...you don't know me? Us?" Jason said. "We're not one of your students?"

Hedge snorted, looking irritated. "Never seen you before today."

Calista felt her mouth dry up. She had just appeared in this poor man's class with no explanation, no memory. Something was hinky.

Jason looked ready to cry from relief. "Look, sir, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up on the school bus. All I know is I'm not supposed to be here."

"Please, substitue all those 'I's for 'we's," Calista requested, earning a frown from the blond.

"Got that right." Hedge's gruff voice dropped to a murmur, like he was sharing a secret. "You've got a powerful way with the Mist, the two of you, if you can make all these people think they know you; but you can't fool me. I've been smelling monster for days now. I knew we had an infiltrator, but you don't smell like a monster." His gaze focused solely on Jason. "You smell like a half-blood. So-who are you, and where'd you come from?"

Looking at Calista, he looked even more peeved. "And what are you doing out of camp?"

"Camp?" Calista asked incredulously. "What camp? I don't even know my birthday, let alone something about a camp."

Running a hand through his hair, Jason took charge again. "We don't know who we are. We don't have any memories. You've got to help us."

Coach Hedge studied his face like was trying to read Jason's thoughts.

"Great," Hedge muttered. "You're being truthful."

Calista snorted. "What a boyscout."

"Shut up," Jason muttered to her before looking back at Coach Hedge. "And what was all that about monsters and half-bloods? Are those code words or something?"

Hedge narrowed his eyes. Part of Calista wondered if the guy was just nuts. But the other part knew better.

"Look, kid," Hedge said, "I don't know who you two are. I just know what you are, and it means trouble. Now I got to protect four of you rather than two. Are you the special package? Is that it?"

Calista rubbed her forehead. "What are you talking about?"

Hedge looked at the storm and Calista followed his gaze with a sinking feeling in her stomach. The clouds were getting thicker and darker, hovering right over the skywalk.

"This morning," Hedge said, "I got a message from camp. They said an extraction team is on the way. They're coming to pick up a special package, but they wouldn't give me details. I thought to myself, Fine. The two I'm watching are pretty powerful, older than most. I know they're being stalked. I can smell a monster in the group. There was a pretty big accident featuring two important halfbloods yesterday. I figure that's why the camp is suddenly frantic to pick them up. But then you pop up out of nowhere. So, are you the special package?"

The pain behind Calista's eyes got worse than ever. Half-bloods. Camp. Monsters. Accident. The sound of an explosion rang in her ears and she wanted to clamp her hands over them to keep from hearing it, but was too afraid that it would only amplify the noise to do so.

Jason didn't seem to be doing much better. He stumbled, and Coach Hedge caught him. "Whoa, there, cupcake. You say you two got no memories, huh? Fine. I'll just have to watch you, too, until the team gets here. We'll let the director figure things out."

"What director?" Jason said, speaking before Calista could. "What camp?"

"Just sit tight," Hedge ordered. "Reinforcements should be here soon. Hopefully nothing happens before-"

Lightning crackled overhead. The wind picked up with a vengeance. Worksheets flew into the Grand Canyon, and the entire bridge shuddered. Kids screamed, stumbling and grabbing the rails.

Calista instinctively turned to where her friends were, watching as the girls all gripped one another screaming. Leo grabbed the railing with wild, scared eyes and Hedge grabbed her shoulder before she could run over to help someone.

"I had to say something," the coach grumbled. He bellowed into his megaphone: "Everyone inside! The cow says moo! Off the skywalk!"

"I thought you said this thing was stable!" Jason shouted over the wind, sounding just about as irritated with the development as Calista currently felt..

"Under normal circumstances," Hedge agreed, "which these aren't."

"Of course they aren't," Calista grumbled, stumbling when Hedge placed a hand on her back and pushed her forward.

"Come on!"

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．

A/N

FIRST OFFICIAL CHAPTER!!! What do you guys think???