How Life is Lived

Chapter 3

Kay

With one last glance around the small entryway by the front door, I triple-checked to make sure I had everything. From down the hall, I heard Josh laugh and I looked up from checking the contents of my backpack. 

"You'll be fine, sis. You do this every morning and you haven't left anything ever." 

"Well that's because I check," I replied with a hard glare. 

He laughed and put his hands up in playful defense, "Ok, ok, you've got me."

I zipped up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder with a glance to my brother, "See you later?"

"Nah, I'll walk you out," Josh responded while grabbing his keys, "I'm gonna hang out with some friends." 

"Fine by me," I shrugged while swinging the door open. I stood there for a few moments with the sunlight warming my skin. Summer was almost here. That meant I was almost free from the hell called school. I prepared myself for the last day ahead of me. After this, I would be free. All I had to do was survive a day. 

One last day. 

I felt a gentle nudge from behind me. 

"Hey, sis."

I gazed at my brother, "Yeah?"

A smile crept steadily across his face, "You're gonna be late."

I glanced at the rustic style watch on my wrist. 

6:45

"Oh, shit."

I began to sprint to the bus stop, waving a farewell over my shoulder while my brother's heartfelt laughter rang out behind me. The bus leaves at 6:50 and school starts at 7:30. The bus ride takes anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes depending on traffic, but that really doesn't matter since it's a school bus. If it were a public one... Ehhhhh... Let's just say I would have a bigger problem with timing. At the same time, a public bus would be a lot less likely to have students from my school onboard, which is an epic plus. But my sleep would suffer all too badly so...

No to the public bus. 

I made it to the bus stop with about a minute or so to spare. I ignored the few students waiting at the stop while they whispered amongst themselves. I didn't have time to worry myself with what they were saying. I gave up with that early on in my school life. Instead, I enjoyed watching as the people on the sidewalks around me walked past without a care in the world of any of the students standing on the corner. We were so insignificant to the rest of the world. Along with our problems. 

Pitiful things, our problems were. So small in the grand scheme of things. Everyone else had their own lives, with their own seemingly large problems. When you looked around, though, you realized that your problems were nothing compared to the rest of the world. How can you compare a first crush to countries shedding innocent blood in worthless wars? The world was moving around us. You either kept up or fell behind to be left in the depths of your own grief. 

The bus arrived with a screech as it came to a halt. The doors opened with a shifting sound and we all stepped aboard. I waited to go last because honestly, the fight wasn't worth it. I took a seat towards the front so that I wasn't mixed in with the rowdy group in the back or seen as a teacher's pet. Everything was a strategy in this hell. I kept my head down and took out my phone. I plugged in my earbuds and turned on some music, leaving one earbud out in order to be aware of the world around me. I was the last bus stop before coming to school, so all I had to do was last the fifteen minutes.