Inter-school bus stops

[dragonflynz]

The school bus stops are always a tense enviroment. Here students from all the local high schools are forced for a moment to gather together. This is the part of the school day when teachers are scarce and rules are not enforced. Uniforms are discarded and cigarettes are lit. More fights happen here than anywhere else, but there is also a strange order to the way the teenagers gather in groups near where their buses will halt.

Every faction is represented here, and most of the time they co-exist peacefully.

[arcticgal]

Nora brushed past the hordes of hostile students, on her way to the bus stop. Everyone out here was either with you are against you, and very few people were on Noras side. She walked, ignoring everyone around her she didn't know, not making eye contact. Occasionally she woudl see a friend, and smile or wave, but otherwise she just pretended not to see. Pretending was easier than facing them.

She walked to her bus stop, and waited along the fence for it to arrive. It was a late bus; she would be waiting for a while.

[Chris Wesley]

Chris walked along, he was in no hurry to get home. homework could wait. On his way past the bus stop, he noticed a girl walking to her stop. nothing too unusual, 'cept she was kinda cute, and she was trying not to be noticed for some reason. he decided to go and chat her up.

"Hey, howzit goin? I'm Chris"

[arcticgal]

" Hi. I'm Nora."

This moron, Chris, looked fairly sure of himself. Why was it that whenever anyone talked to her, it was an over-confident loudmouth trying to embarass her? Why not some nice, shy person?

" Things are great!"

I am sick of life.

" How are you?"

Nora berated herself. Now Chris might answer. She shoudl have just ignored him.

[Chris Wesley]

Chris was surprised that the Girl had actually answered him. He usually came across as an over confident loudmouth dumbass, and got shoved off.

"I'm great. just walkin home, thought I'd stop and chat to someone for a while. which bus do you catch?"

Idle chat was the way to go, he thought.

[arcticgal]

" Uh. The one that goes into city centre."


" Why don't you just go straight home? I mean, if I could, I would. Go home, have a shower, make a hot chocolate and eat half a packet of chocolate biscuits. Then go to bed and read my book. If I were you, the sooner I got home, the better."

Perhaps if she sounded gloomy enough, and asked personal questions, he might go away. Or stopped talking to her. Or, she could just sound really boring, and he would decide that she was not worth talking to.

" Which subjects do you take?"

[Chris Wesley]

Jeez, this girl sounded pessimistic. Here chris was, trying to make friendly conversation, and she was obviously being as boring as possible.

"Look, if you dont want me talking to you, just say so. You dont have 2 talk if you dont want to."

[arcticgal]

" Oh no!"

Nora was shocked.

" I'm terribly sorry if I seemed offensive. I really do want you to answer. It just that it has been one of those truly bad days. You know the kind. I don't get many, but when I do, man, are they bad."

She smiled. She didn't smile often, but people were always telling her she had a nice smile.

" So, how are you?"

[Chris Wesley]

Chris was a bit happier now, Nora seemed more cheerful than before.

"Me? I'm fine. A bit tired, but it's always like that at the end of the day, isnt it? Sad about your day, but you get them every now and then. I know how you feel. You've got a really nice smile, by the way."

Chris was about to ask her why her day had turned out so badly, when a teacher walked up to the group of kids and asked for their attention.

"I'm sorry, but the bus has been delayed due to engine problems, and we're estimating it'll be about another 2 hours before it gets here. I suggest you ring your parents if possible, or try to find another way home"

Nora didn't look too happy about this news. Chris didn't care one way or the other, he wasn't catching the bus. But he decided to help out.

"Day's just gotten worse, hasn't it? Hey, if you want, I could give you a lift home, I got my full license a couple of days ago. The car's at my place, I didn't really want to drive it to school today. Wastes the gas. It's about a 10 minute walk, slightly better than a 2 hour wait. What do you think?"

[arcticgal]

"I suggest you ring your parents if possible, or try to find another way home"

Noras face fell. Yet another element to her bad day.

"Day's just gotten worse, hasn't it? Hey, if you want, I could give you a lift home, I got my full license a couple of days ago. The car's at my place, I didn't really want to drive it to school today. Wastes the gas. It's about a 10 minute walk, slightly better than a 2 hour wait. What do you think?"


Nora looked at the boy, Chris, and pondered his offer. It was, of course, one of those decisions that she couldn't hesitate over for the next 15 minutes. It would reach a point where it would simply look... dull of her not to make a decision.

She had no cellphone. This was a problem. Her mother was not the type of housewife who buried herself in a book all day and forgot her family. The opposite, in fact. If she was half an hour late, her mother would worry and call her father, who would also worry, who, upon her arrival home, would make her aware of the evils of not calling home, while maintaining that cell phones were cancer-causing, money-draining accessories.

However, this boy, who she had barely become acquainted with, was offering her a ride home.

There were two issues with this; for one, he had only had his full liscence a few days. Nora was not one to begrudge people their right to drive, and the governemtn had deemed him fit for driving without supervision. However, they did say that practice makes perfect. And Nora could not help but feel that Chris had not had excessive amounts of practice.

For another, her mothers voice rang in her head- "Never get into cars with strangers". But Chris didn't look like the type of person who would lock the doors and drive her out into the country, torture her to almost-death, and the bury her alive in the middle of the forest. But you could never tell.

So there lay a choce of two evils; a rather long, loud, tiring lecture when she arrived home,
or a ride with an unknown.

Nora really preferred to take her chances with the unknown.

" I would love a ride home, if that is ok." She smiled at him. He had said she had a nice smile. People said it frequently enough, but it was usually in the prescence of her parents, and the people who said it were usually great-aunts, great-uncles, extended relations, and people who wanted favours from her father.

" I live quite a long way away, though." Half an hour by bus into the city, transfer buses, then another quarter hour to get to her house.

" About forty five minutes. We live in the middle of nowhere, really."

Her parents had had the option of sending her to another, closer, private school, all girls, but her parents believed that co-ed was better. They said that in real life, you had to deal with as many boys as you did girls, so you might as well get used to it.

" Is that okay? I can pay you for the petrol, if you like. If it isn't okay, though, I can just wait here until a bus arrives. Or I could use your phone..."

Why didn't she think of that earlier? A much safer course of action. But it woudl be rude to withdraw her words now.

And to tell the truth, Nora was quite looking forward to getting a ride. Non-hostile people were always a bonus in her day.