So much for the bus being close by.
I waited at the stop for forty minutes. My bus stop had been one of the first ones last year, meaning that it came super early, and I rode it for thirty minutes. This year, with the new school, I’d been placed as one of the last stops. My mother had failed to inform me of this, so I stood out in the dark, alone, for forty minutes. People gradually started trickling in about ten minutes before it came, looking at me out of the sides of their eyes. I could practically hear what they were saying.
“Look at this weirdo, standing out here in the dark by himself.”
“Is he an idiot? Does he not know when the bus comes?”
“Is that his mom’s strawberry hairspray in his hair?”
“Look, he’s got grit on his teeth!”
I shook my head, their gazes sending lasers through my back. Sweat was beading along my neck as I shuffled my feet, leaning against the stop sign, and focusing my gaze on my feet. School hadn’t even started, and I was already making a fool of myself.
It was a relief when the bus finally rolled around the corner, speeding down the street as though part of a race. I let the other students go first to make a (hopefully) good second impression. None of them seemed to care.
Hopping up the steps and praying I didn’t trip, I came face-to-face with the woman who would be driving me around almost every day. She was a heavier woman with wide, almost deer-like brown eyes. She couldn’t have been any older than forty, as her face still held onto the strings of youth. Once I got to her level, she smiled at me, a real, genuine type of smile. I’d never had a bus driver do that to me before. I could only imagine the shock on my face.
“I’m Ms. Dawn, and I’ll be your bus driver for the school year,” She had a soft voice, the kind akin to an elven melody. Well, what I imagined an elven melody would sound like. “Go ahead and pick a seat anywhere you’d like.”
I managed to shoot her an awkward smile through my wave of shock. I’d always had bus drivers who were indifferent at best, simply grunting if you said hello or, in the worst cases, not even paying you an ounce of attention. This woman was different. She was…She was kind. It was a complete shock to my system. Perhaps this year wouldn’t be terrible after all.
I finally got my legs to move, leading me to one of the empty seats at the front. I was never a big fan of sitting in the back; it was much too rowdy back there for my liking. All the quiet kids sat at the front, those who preferred to keep their heads down and look at the floor. I belonged with them, not the crazies at the back. Most of the kids up here stayed on their phones.
I had a phone, though I was never one to use it. I didn’t have any interest in the mobile games that most kids busied themselves with, and I had no friends to text. Leto’s parents forbade him from having a phone. I wasn’t exactly sure why; he wasn’t a delinquent, and he certainly wouldn’t cyberbully. Perhaps they were scared he’d be too friendly and get himself in trouble. Knowing Leto, it was certainly a possibility.
I had some social media, though I never used it. I’d made an Instagram account to watch cute cat videos, but it got dull when I didn’t have anyone to share them with. My phone was something I carried with me for safety reasons and not much else. I usually rode out the bus ride by staring at the floor and letting myself get lost in thought.
Today’s subject was the fear of what was to come.
A million things could go wrong in a day, and in my head, every one of them would. I didn’t know this building; I’d never been to it before. What if I got lost? What if I asked for help and was immediately shot down by some under-caffeinated teacher who hated children? What if I couldn’t find one of my classes and was laughed at for being tardy? What if I were pushed down the stairs? Publicly humiliated? Given a swirly? I didn’t even know if kids did that stuff anymore, but it seemed likely. The sight of my miserable self and the smell of strawberry hairspray would probably ignite some innate instinct in them to dunk me into a toilet. They were as unpredictable as animals. I had no clue what they’d do to me.
I was surprised when the bus finally came to a stop. I was so used to being on for thirty minutes that I hadn’t even noticed we’d pulled up to the school. My peers were already on their feet, hurrying out the door to go and meet their friends. I seemed to be the only one not excited. Getting up, I followed at the back of the line like a zombie, mindlessly dragging myself toward my death.
