The bus stop

Day 1

Chloe:

The first day jitters set in as I sit on the red plastic seat in the bus shelter. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the birds were singing yet the cheery atmosphere was failing to lift my mood. Yes I was excited, but the excitement level was no where near how nervous I was.

My hair was looking good for once, and I looked fairly decent. I knew it was going to be fine but I am in no way good at new beginnings. My legs were stretched out and crosses at the ankles. I was wearing my favourite skirt and a stripy top, tights and small ankle boots. What could go wrong?

I dug around for my phone and headphones and decided to listen to some music. I turned it on to see a message waiting for me.
Mum: Good luck today sweetie! x

Great. And so the more independent life begins. Nevertheless I text her back and shuffle my music. I can't help but move my head a bit and my hands tap on top of my thighs to the beat.

I glance back up to the bus board. 8 minutes till the bus should get here. But I have yet to get on a bus that has actually been right on time.

I look up and down the road. Empty apart from one figure in the distance. Suddenly a boy, who looks around my age, emerges from a couple houses down. He walks to the bus stop and sits down. One seat separates us.

Being an awkward person, I knew that this was going to be very awkward if this scenario continued to happen everyday. Maybe he was going to the same sixth form? That would be less awkward. I'd at least kind of know someone. Well I'd at least have seen someone going to this school before in my life.

I send a smile in his direction and he nods to me. Good start Chloe. Real smooth.

We sit in silence but in reality we are both listening to music. If we hadn't that would have been super awkward. One of us would have to speak then. I have to remember to always play music to avoid that situation. Mental note taken.

I look back at the board. 4 minutes. I swear time was just going slower and slower. I just need this day to pass as quickly as possible so I can be back at home, in bed, by myself. It's not like I was going to make lifelong friends anyway. I was there to learn and once my lessons are over I was out of there.

Of course it would be nice to have a couple of friends to make the whole lunch affair a bit less awkward and uncomfortable for myself. But it would take at least a week for me to try and initiate conversation with anyone. See, smiling at the boy was a big thing for me!

2 years. 2 years until I can leave and do what I want to do. Daunting yet I was more excited for that then today.

1 minute. Finally. I could see the boys hand tapping on his knee out of the corner of my eye. Maybe knee tapping could be our thing. I'm joking of course. I guess I've never had a solidified "thing" with anyone. Except from primary school, but that happy time of my life was long over and fading from my memories.

The bus pulled up. The boy and I stood up at the same time. The door opened in its usual fashion. I motioned for him to go first at the same time he did. He made didn't move so I smiled, nodded and got on. No trip ups yet.