"Mom, that's completely unfair!" My arms find themselves crossing, and I jut one hip to the side. "Jake didn't do anything to deserve my car! Besides, he'll probably crash it into a tree. Do you really want to trust him with this?"
My mom's face is of complete composure. "It's just for the day, Alex. What harm could he do in less than 24 hours?"
"Yeah, what could go wrong, sis?" Jake smirks, knowing that his supporting side is winning the argument for him.
"Don't boast, young man," Mom replies sternly, and I stick my tongue out at my younger brother. She turns back, and unfortunately, her exasperation is still aimed at me. "It's perfectly fair for your brother to get the car for one day, Alex. Taking the bus one morning won't hurt your pride that much. Besides, I'm sure Dylan would be happy to take you to school," she adds, and I wince.
"Yeah, he'd love it," Jake smirks.
"Shut up," I mutter, flashing him a deadly glare. I sigh, giving up. I don't usually give up on these types of things; but I'm tired(it's still early in the morning), and I have other things to worry about. Like Katie. And Dylan.
Ah, what a pair, am I right?
The rest of the morning is pretty chill, and I, frustrated, stalk past my beloved car, bidding her good day as I make my way down the street towards the bus stop.
"You're not seriously taking the bus, are you?"
I whip my head around to the familiar voice. That mushy part of me, the section of my brain that I'm still trying to get used to, is relieved to see him. The other half, the old me(and still current me, I guess), scowls internally and screams at me to run away, down to the end of the block and wait for the bus like a good little girl.
Of course, I stay. I can't really move my feet.
Dylan motions me over to him. "Come on, prom queen, I'll take you to school."
I shake my head. "No, it's fine. I promise."
"I don't drive that bad," he whines, and while he crosses his arms, he still smirks.
I snort unattractively. "Puh-lease." I've stepped closer, so it seems like we're having a civilized conversation to anyone looking.
"Is that a challenge, Ms. Baker?" Dylan raises an eyebrow, and even though I know this is exactly what I wanted to avoid this morning, I can't step away. My old self can't let him win this. I've always come out on top, and that isn't going to change, not today.
But before I can reply, I can hear the distant rumble of the bus engine nearing our street. Thank God, a part of me sighs in relief.
How I wish I could just have one side of me. But that's not how this whole game works, is it?
I rush off to the end of the street, waving over my shoulder to my...what is Dylan to me? A friend? I guess. A boyfriend?
Oh, whatever. Just get on the bus, Alex.
The bus is conveniently empty, so I plop myself somewhere in the middle, but almost towards the back of the bus. I pull out my phone, check Twitter, tweet a few nonsense tweets, you know, all that good stuff.
It was all going fine, I swear, only a few people got on after that, so the bus is now halfway full, I'd say. My foot slips out into the aisle, and I don't move it, as we're in between stops. As a polite person, I move it out of the way when the people from the next stop come on. The two guys are past me, so my foot, by default moves back to its place.
You know how this all goes, right? I mean, you've got to be comfortable on the bus, it's a rickety thing.
But then a foot trips over mine--accidentally-- and I jerk my head up from my phone, and focus in on the one person I'd rather not see right now.
Katie. Of course she's on this bus.
"Seriously? Did you seriously just trip me?!" her face is full of anger already, at seven in the morning. "Do you realize how rude that is? I was having a perfectly fine morning until you decided to show up."
"Same here," I mumble, so soft that I don't think there's any way she could have heard it, but she does.
It's almost a battle cry that I hear, and I must say, she could be an awesome actress with that vocal range. It's stunning, I assure you. Except for the fact that I'm the one she's screaming at.
"Sit down!" Barks the bus driver. He clearly didn't have time for a coffee this morning.
Katie doesn't hear him, and lashes out, reaching over to claw at me with her razor sharp nails. I duck and she misses, but she's only just started. "You--"
The group of people that are surrounding us cheer us on, shouting things like "girl fight!" and "sic her!"
Welp, they aren't exactly cheering for me.
"It was an accident, I swear!" I squeal from behind my backpack that's being used as my shield.
"You deliberately tripped me!"
The bus driver accidentally goes over a curb, which sends Katie flying. She lands on the lap of some guy I don't recognize. But that doesn't stop her from hurling herself back over to me, and this time, uses her own backpack, and wams it into my unprotected shoulder.
"Good lord, woman!" I screech. "It's only seven in the morning, who lit the fuse to your tampon?"
I should have known that sarcasm wouldn't work.
She's not even saying anything anymore, just attacking me with anything she can grab. She even takes hold of the hand of someone sitting behind us and uses it to smack my face. Like, what is this, some sick type of one-way hand-to-hand combat?
I was definitely not prepared for this.
"Get off of me!" I scream, and start yelling for anyone to help me. "It was an accident! Help me! Help me!"
Then I start yelling names.
"MOLLY!"
Not on the bus.
"JASON!"
Not on the bus.
"JAKE!"
Using my car.
"MOM!"
That was dumb.
"DYLAN!"
Stupid stupid stupid stupid--
"You took Dylan away from me!" Katie yells, and by now, I think this is just some reality television series that everyone's been waiting to see. My hair is out of place, as she's pulling on it(I wouldn't be surprised if I find a new bald spot after this), and it doesn't help that everyone seems to be transfixed on us, not the fact that I'm in distress, I'm an actual person that needs help.
"We're not even together!" I cry in exasperation.
"But you want to be, don't you?"
I do.
I don't.
I do.
I just want to get away from her.
"Go torture someone else, or go back to the insane asylum that you came from!"
The words just slipped out, I promise. Or I wouldn't have ever said them.
I know how that's going to work out, though. I know exactly how she's going to take it.
There are a bunch of 'oohs' going around, as they all just think I was roasting her like I usually would to someone, but they don't know that it's actually true.
Expecting her to go crazy on me, I brace myself for another attack, but it doesn't come. She just stares at me, shocked that I said anything of the sort.
"You're going to pay for that, Baker," she says in a dangerous tone.
I don't doubt it.
01/27/2016