Hot Mess Express

II.

Fuck.

You weren't sure how you got here or rather, how you got stuck here. After a quick goodbye with your family and friends this morning, you had them all convinced you were on a bus to Trost U soon after sunrise to start your new chapter as a college student.

Instead, with Annie's help you snuck onto a bus headed west towards Paradis. The bus would be stopping 150 miles outside of the city of Marley where you were supposed to switch to a train that would take you the rest of the way.

But that would be way too easy.

Instead, you had managed to get stuck next to the clumsiest woman in the world on the bus who spilled her hot coffee all over your lap when the bus took a sharp turn.

When you jumped up in shock at the heat invading your lap (and your white tshirt) you spilled your back pack all over the floor of the bus and had to crawl across the dirty floor to find your belongings.

After getting off the bus at the train station and making your way to the ticket counter, you realized that your debit card has managed to find its way out of your wallet and was currently on its way to the bus' next stop along with your last granola bar and your favorite hair tie.

"No money, no ticket" the disinterested woman at the ticket counter smacked back to you rolling her gum between her teeth"

"I have money I just lost my card. Come on don't you take like, Venmo? Cash app? Apple Pay? PayPal? ANYTHING?"

"Sorry kid, better call someone to come get you because without money you're not getting on this train." With a flat expression she turned in her chair and resumed the game of Candy Crush she was currently losing on her phone.

Defeated, you stomped your way over to a seat in the corner to call your bank and order a new card. Reaching into your purse to retrieve your phone, you came up empty handed.

You wouldn't let the tears fall. No wallet, no phone, 150 miles from home with no one and nothing. This was already a disaster.

As the salty heat began stinging the backs of your eyeballs, you felt a presence in the seat next to you.

"I would definitely be more afraid of people the size of bees than people the size of giants. I mean, giant people start attacking we can deal with that, but bee sized people? Crawling in your ears and shit. You know I'm right, Eren." A boy with a gray buzz cut and wide eyes yelled to the boy sitting directly beside him.

"Connie what the fuck are you on about now?" The boy to his left, presumably Eren, muttered back in irritation. He was tall with the most piercing green eyes you'd ever seen. His hair was pulled messily into a bun and his middle finger nails were painted black.

He had an air of familiarity to him, although you couldn't place why.

An arm around your shoulder pulled you out of your thoughts "What do you think? Bee people or giant people?"

"I uh....probably the bee people. Especially if they can fly like bees." You awkwardly stuttered back.

"See, Eren?! Imagine all those tiny hands. I'm telling you-" a chuckle inadvertently escaped your lips leading the two boys beside you to look over.

Then, before you knew it your chuckle had turned into a full belly laugh then to a hysterical cry.

The boys beside you looked on with a mixture of fascination and fear. "Must be her period" the buzz cut muttered earning him a jab in the ribs from man bun.

"Are you, uh, you okay?" Eren, you assumed, asked awkwardly while his gaze scanned your tear stained face. "I don't know how to help you here uh I bet Sasha has some food. Are you hungry or something? I'm not good at stuff like this."

"Connie get Armin quick. He's good at, you know, making people not cry. I think he's on the bus." Connie nodded his head and bolted towards the door.

"Okay our friend Armin, he's just really good in a crisis. I mean I don't know if you're in a crisis I just feel like I am now. Um, want some gum?"

You were too focused on the gravity of the situation at hand to acknowledge what Eren was saying to you.

Now the panic really started to set in. No one but Annie knew where you were and you couldn't contact her. You had no money and no way to get home. Everything was falling apart before it even started.

Eren places a tentative hand on your shoulder, giving it a light squeeze of encouragement.

"Who is this?" You quickly glanced up through tear soaked lashes to see a dark hair girl with eyes boring into you, quickly looking back down under the weight of her glare.

Beside her stood a tall boy with an ash brown mullet. His eyes looked tired and his foot bounced as he stood in place with arms crossed. If you weren't so wrapped up in your current dilemma, you would have noticed the pain that way behind his irises.

"Eren probably tried to hit on her and the idea of him brought her to tears" mullet laughed out only having a second to savor his joke before the boy beside you lunged in his direction, his warm hand leaving your shoulder.

"Shut it you horse faced bastard I wasn't hitting on her and even if I was she wouldn't cry about it." He turned to you, dropping his voice and tinging it slightly with desperation "you wouldn't cry about that right?"

At this you furrowed your brow and shook your head. As you began wiping the tears from your face you let out an exhausted sigh.

"Eren you idiot what did you do to her?" A feminine voice scolded as it approached. A girl with kind eyes and a brunette ponytail came into view, shoveling potato chips into her mouth.

"What the hell Sasha I didn't do anything! She just started crying" he rebutted. As you looked up wiping tears from your eyes, you found the brunette perched on her knees in front of you, a worried look etched across her brow.

"Sorry just a shit day. I'm trying to get to California, well Paradis and I lost my phone and debit card on the bus so now I'm stranded with no money and no phone."

You heard more footsteps approaching and realized it was buzz cut again, but in his tow was a blonde boy with ocean blue eyes and a map book in his hand.

He wore concern in his expression as his eyes took in the scene before him.

This made you look up and take in the scene around you. You were quite the spectacle with tears soaking your face and six people crowding around you in concern.

Embarrassment flooded you in an instant and you buried your face in your hands trying to figure out how you got here.

"Yeah, it's a long story. I'm trying to get to Paradis from Marley. I'm....looking for something, My family and friends all think I'm at Trost U starting my first semester of college." You looked up taking in the concerned eyes staring at you. Focusing your gaze back on Sasha, you continued.

"I just, I really need this to work out and now I have no idea what to do. I mean, how am I supposed to get across the country with no money, no phone, no nothing."

Extending her chip bag to you, Sasha placed her other hand on your knee with a smiling plastered wide across her face.

"Paradis, huh? What a coincidence that's where we're headed too. We're all from there actually." Her smile widened as she leaned in closer to you. "It's settled. You'll just come with us!"

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Hi! I'm really excited to get the ball rolling on this book. It's so hard to start especially when I have so many chapters ahead thst I'm so excited about!

Don't forget to vote and comment if you're reading this :)

With love, C.