Hooded Beauty

Chapter 2

Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the vehicle.

Oh.

My.

God.

The bus was empty! Except for that one girl slouched up in the far corner and a dark-headed guy in glasses too engaged in a book to even notice.

"Umm.. excuse me, but am I in the wrong bus?" I asked as I turned towards the driver. He looked like he was in his early fifties, with short gray hair hidden by a navy hat. His forehead wrinkled as he saw my expression - well no, you could hardly see my expression under this hood, but i guess he heard the surprise in my tone - and laughed, "No young lady, this bus is actually for Juniors and Seniors, the last time we put freshmen and seniors together it was chaotic with all the bullying so we split them up."

Oh, well then, that was a shock. The driver was british. And since when did seniors bully the younger kids if there were barely 3 in this bus?

I guess he sensed my curiosity or something because the next thing I knew he was saying, "There used to be more Juniors and Seniors, but apparently the freshmen complained to their mums' who complained to the school board. They were punished alright and stopped coming since. I still dont think they know we split them up." He laughed. "Then there's the fact that they can drive on their own"

"I'm Allyson by the way, but you could call me Ally" I reached out a hand and he shook it.

"I'm Johnathan, but you could call my John, or Johnny if you get on my good side" He said with a smile followed by a wink.

I smiled back and was about to ask him if there were any more people coming into the bus but was interrupted by a sudden groan behind me. The boy who looked about my age that was too occupied with a book finally looked up, "Come on John! We haven't got all day! School is about to start and I can't be late!"

John rolled his eyes and I laughed and patted him on the back before going to look for a seat. I saw the corner of the slouched girl's eye turn towards me. I gave her a smile and she returned it. As I neared closer, I noticed she was slouched down to her DSLR camera.

Then I noticed another kid with shaggy brown hair asleep on the bench, his feet propped up. No wonder I didnt notice him before, you had to be near him in order to see him. The slouched girl rolled her eyes at him then stood up, "Hey, I'm Jenna, you must be new since I haven't seen you around here before"

"Yeah I actually am, I'm Allison, but you can call me Ally" I say taking a seat next to her.

She looked African-American, with black braided hair and brown eyes, she was tall for her age, but I didn't mind. Based on her simple dress code, which consists of a ruffled purple blouse and white jeans, she looked like the type I could get along with. Getting comfortable, I rest back into the seat.

"So what school did you go to?" Jenna asked with a friendly smile.

I glance her way and answer, "It's out of the country, I don't think you'd know it."

"Really?" She sounded intrigued, "Then what brings you here to our beautiful California?!" She gestured her hand toward the bus window for emphasis. The bus took a turn and rounded up near a littered ally full of graffiti and hobos  that didn't look so good. Scary, to say the least.

Jenna picked the wrong timing to say that sentence.

We both laughed at the irony of the situation. "I'm sorry, let me rephrase that," she teased, "What brings you here to our creepy alley-filled California? Obviously we've been waiting for a hero who's ready to go green and save our homeland from litter and pollution as well as rid this innocent population of gangsters and clowns."