Splinters: Part One

Part One | 4

"Oh."

"We take the bus. Before school and after."

I blinked at her. "L-like, the city bus?"

She shook her head. "A school bus, Brayden."

I sighed in relief.

"So, first thing's first, a few people you need to avoid" Ursanne began. "Zech, he's in your year-"

"Sophomore?"

"Yeah, anyways, he's a total jerk. Do not talk to him. I repeat, do not talk to him. Going near him is barely tolerable."

"Why?"

"He's just... Really annoying and thinks he's cool but he's actually a really bad person."

"How?"

"Well, I don't like him because he actually egged our house?" She said it like a question. Well, actually, no, she said it like she was scared of what I would think. "Among other things..."

"What? Why?"

She blushed. "Probably for no reason."

She took a deep breath, and then continued. "Next are the two worst girls I've ever met. Colleen and Taylah. Colleen's Barbie perfect just like her older sister who graduated last year. Taylah gossips more than TMZ and People's magazine combined."

I didn't know what she meant by that. "Were you... friends with them or something?" I asked once we reached the bus stop.

She didn't answer me because the bus arrived right at the moment. I let Ursanne enter first and followed her to my spot. As we walked down the narrow aisle between the seats, people greeted Ursanne. She seemed... popular.

"Hey, Ursa!" a boy called to her. He had flimsy blond hair and perfectly straight teeth.

"Hey, Brody."

Ursanne smiled at him and then sat in a seat just in the middle of the bus. She patted the spot next to her, gesturing me to take the spot next to her

"That's Brody. He's in my year." She shifted in her position and hugged her backpack to her chest."Alright, next is Tiffany. She's also really popular, but her and Colleen and Taylah hate each other with-"

"Why?"

Ursanne waved me off. "Apparently Colleen and Tiffany were like, best friends, and then Taylah came around and Colleen totally ditched Tiffany to be best friends with Taylah."

I frowned. "That's not nice."

She shrugged. "That's girls, espescially at Constance. Anyways, Tiffany flirts a lot so don't take it personal. She's really pretty too, so that kinda sucks."

"You're pretty." I admitted.

Ursanne didn't even believe it for a second. "Not like Tiffany. Or Colleen. Or Taylah. Those girls are..."

I lowered my gaze.

"So I think that's pretty much it. There's a few other guys but they're juniors and seniors. I guess you might be friends with some juniors but they usually hang out with seniors. You'd be lucky to be part of one of those groups."

I laid my head back and tried to stay steady on the bumpy ride to Contance PCA. Finally, in the midst of Ursanne speaking about her best friend, we arrived at Constance.

Ursanne nudged me to stand up and leave the bus. When we emerged, a girl with black hair rushed to Ursanne's side.

"Who's the boy-toy?" she asked, nodding to me from Ursanne's left side as I awkwardly walked along her right side.