I unlike my sister take bus number three. My school is right next to hers. She goes to Wover High School while I go to Wover Middle School with Saige and Ivan. We all start school at 8:00.
Before school I go down to the restaurant and get my breakfast. Pancakes with sausage and strawberries. I sit down at a table alone when someone pulls a seat next to me. I look up from my plate and see my friend Danica.
“Hey Ronnie,” she says taking a seat next to me. She has dirty blonde, short hair with blue eyes and little freckles on her face. She talks in a high pitched voice and is the same age as me but is the shortest person in our grade. She’s about 4’8 while I’m five foot two, almost taller than my sister.
“Hey Danni,” I yawn. Her real name is Danica but she likes to be called Danni. She wears a blue Platinum Mountain sweatshirt with Platinum Mountain written on the front with black lettering. She also wears blue jeans and American high tops. I have on a short sleeved purple shirt with a black sweatshirt on over top of it saying #Ski in white letters. I wear blue jeans and red sketchers as well.
Danni’s parents were killed during their way back from a skiing trip in Utah. They were driving back in the night and the snow was heavily falling. A car almost hit them, making her dad swerve out of the way and skid off the road into a ditch. Her dad was killed almost instantly because of no air bag. She could climb out of the car easily because her window was broken and she is so tiny. Her mom, wasn’t so lucky. Her seat belt was jammed and she couldn’t get it loose. Danni tried to help her but nothing would work.
Her mom gave her a necklace she was wearing and told her to always remember them. After that Danni ran up to the side of the road and tried to wave someone down for help.
She told me Commander Axel found her. She told him what happened. He told her to wait at the top of the rod while he checked the crash out.
When he came back he was carrying her mom’s bag and her bag. He threw them in the back of his car and knelt down to her eye level, which must’ve been pretty far down seeing how short she is now. He told her, her mother is dead and her father was killed due to a pierced lung. He told her about himself and takes her beck here. They were already in Michigan, only a few miles from where she lived.
She was eight and a half years old when she came here. I met her when she came through the doors. And from then on, Kimberley and I have been like her adopted sisters. She is sometimes really annoying and can be loud, but all in all, no matter how many times she annoys the hell out of us, she will always be our sister.
I swallow a splash of orange juice. “So how are things at the medical base? Learning new technics?” Danni is not a regular soldier, she doesn’t train in fighting and combat. She is learning how to become a doctor in the medical facility downstairs. She likes the idea of saving people’s lives and she is one of the few people who doesn’t barf when she sees blood and bones sticking out of people’s bodies. Unlike Kimberley and I, we faint almost on the spot.
“Yah, I guess you could say pretty well, although my favorite part of the day is watching real doctors and nurses work on injured patients.” She explains.
I nod in, “Cool. I like the part of the day when I have to train with Saige and Ivan. Saige is wicked with a sword. I can hardly keep up sometimes.”
“I thought your favorite weapon was a sword?” She asks.
“It is but Saige is been using it for longer than I have. Although she is liking the whip a little more often these days.”
“Yah and probably can beat you with that too.” I smile as Saige takes a seat next to me on the other side. Her used to be long hair, is now cut to shoulder length. It makes her look older. I wish it didn’t. I wish we were all still young.
“Fine, when we get home, I challenge you to a fight. You have the whip I get the sword.” I say putting a hand out. She grins and takes it the challenge.
“Man, you and your sister as a stubborn and as confident as Luka once was.” She says leaning back crossing her arms. My smile fades. Luka was one of the greatest apprentices of all time.
“Kimberley is more like Luka.” I admit. Saige turns her eyes upward and shrugs, “Maybe, but you’re a lot like her sister. I could never remember her name.”
“I guess so,” I say, “but still.” I plop some more food in my mouth. Suddenly the speaker goes off.
“For all students riding bus number three, please make your way to the pickup spot, thank you.” The speaker makes a static sound as the person talking hangs up the micro phone. I look at Saige and Danni then wipe my mouth with a napkin before throwing the rest of my food away.
“We better get going.” I sigh.
“But I haven’t finished my bagel yet,” Saige complains. I grab her wrist while swinging my backpack strap around my shoulder. “Eat on the bus.” I say not wanting an answer. I pull her right out of her seat as she stumbles grabbing her backpack. I pull her outside as we wait for the bus to pull up. Danni comes up next to us.
I see Ivan talking to his friends, probably something about Gores and Guardians. It’s a mythological game on the computer that he and his buddies play. Blake and Jason even play it. I even seen Kimberley try to play it once, but I don’t see her play it anymore.
“You’re so lucky you have a family.” Danni says. “I wish I could see my cousins again.” He face is sad and sullen. I grin and I know it’s hard for her, heck it’s hard for mostly everyone around here, but for some reason I was one of the lucky ones and got to have my family with me. And I thank God with all my heart for that.
As the bus pulls up, kids start to pile on. Then I spot Cooper. He meets up with Ivan as he is walking up to the bus’s door. I’ve trained with him sometimes, I beat him every time of course. He’s not the best sword fighter, but with a gun, he could hit any target. Cooper isn’t a close friend, but I trust him.
“Hey, Ronnie,” Saige waves her hand in front of my face waking me up from my daze.
“Wh- oh sorry, I was thinking.” I say walking onto the bus with my head down. Saige looks around and finds her friend Brenda. She doesn’t hesitate to sit with her.
“Hey,” I hear someone call from the back. I look up and she my friend Lacy standing up and waving me over. I smile and move to her seat and sit down next to her.
“What’s up,” I say sitting next to her. She has brown, pin straight hair down to her shoulders. She has green eyes and is very thin. She is pretty, I can’t lie.
She is wearing a long sleeved, gray shirt with blue jeans. She also had on an orange sweatshirt and sneakers. “Nothing much, just another stinking’ day of school.” She sighs resting her head on her hand. “I wish they would give us a vacation soon. I really need a vacation!” She growls.
“Same,” I agree but not the kind of vacation she thinks. I need an actual vacation, away from training, school and, practically my whole life. People here don’t know how hard it is to be an outcast. They don’t realize how lucky they have it. They all get to go home and get to do whatever they want. I have to go home finish my homework by four thirty then head down to the training area with Logan and Kimberley. We train until six then have dinner. Then we either go back to training area or somewhere else he would like to take us.
So when people say ‘oh my life is so complicated, I have to do this, this and this, and then I have to do blah blah blah,’ I just think to myself ‘wanna trade.’
I practically listen to Lacy the whole way to school. I just nod or say things like, “yah” or “I know right” to her slide comments she makes, but that’s all. I look over in the isle to see Danni sitting with her friend Benny. I think she likes him but I can’t really tell. It’s hard to tell when someone likes you. I hope someday someone will like me. I look over and see Cooper and grin to myself, maybe one day.