Call the Rebels - Renegades

Four

Alec stared down at his phone, waiting for the bus to arrive. Spring break had ended and this was his first day back. The morning was dark and cold, the sun just barely having made its way up. Two boys were kicking pine cones into the streets and laughing in front of him while David stood a little behind Alec, turning around to look back at the houses every now and then. He wasn't going to ask about it until David turned around fully, and didn't turn back around.

Alec turned his head to see David waving at a short girl with brown skin and long black hair. He shook his head and chuckled, looking back down at his phone, though not really paying attention to the game he had pulled up on the screen. David turned back around shortly after, a wide grin across his face.

"So, who was that?" Alec said, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. This was the first time he'd ever seen David get embarrassingly giddy over waving at someone. And, this someone was a girl. A very pretty girl too.

"A girl I met at Subway."

Alec was expecting more from the explanation, but David only looked down at his feet. Alec didn't want to admit how interested he was in David's love life, which he thought was nonexistent. Even if it made him seem like a twelve-year-old girl at a sleepover, Alec kept pushing.

"How did you meet her?"

His words had broken whatever dam there was containing David's excitement.

"I was walking out of Subway with my usual order."

"All the meat, none of the vegetables. Unhealthy, but continue."

"Yeah, so I was leaving and she was out walking her dog. A very cute dog, by the way. I sat at the table outside and her dog came over and snatched my sandwich," David explained, his hands waving about in the air.

"The dog...took your sandwich?"

"Yeah! The little fucker just jumped up and ate it. But so she felt bad and bought me another one. We sat there and just talked. She's pretty cool."

"What's her name?"

"Tala Sicat."

"Does she go to Gatlon City? I don't think I've ever seen her at school."

"No, she goes to Lexington."

Alec turned around. The girl was sitting in the passenger seat of an expensive-looking car. She was typing away at something on her phone. Alec didn't know much about cars but it was shiny, so that was enough for him. It definitely looked better than the old Ram pickup truck that needed a wash about two years ago. The house she lived in, too, was better than the other houses in the neighborhood. Clean unchipped paint, smudge less windows, bushed upon bushes of beautiful flowers, and even a stone path cutting through the lawn, leading up to the front door.

"Of course she goes to Lexington."

"Her family owns a chain of flower shops."

That explains why their lawn looks like some kind of enchanted forest, Alec though.

David groaned, "We gotta go."

A bus stopped right at the edge of the curb, air hissing loudly as the doors opened. The guys left the pine cones and stepped onto the bus in a single file line, David and Alec following behind. The doors shut again once they all had sat down in a seat. David sat in an empty seat, while Alec went to wear Rios had been waving his hand furiously in the air, ushering Alec to join him near the back of the bus.

***

Alec kicked a small pebble down the sidewalk. Students sauntered out of the buses, walking down the path to the school's west entrance. Hugh stood up ahead leaning against the bike racks, talking to David. Rios was beside him with his earbuds in, humming along to a song.