Without The Words

Chapter 14

We all stood in front of a white bus, with black tinted windows and a fancy purple design running across the whole vehicle right under the windows. The rain was still pelting down, but everybody seemed to endure it with no complaints, probably because they were used to it from meets in the past years. This was definitely new to me. I tugged my black Columbia jacket tighter around my figure, covering my green and white uniform with Rosefield printed on the front in dark green script.

I scribbled on my notepad.

I've never seen a bus like this before.

I tapped Vera's shoulder and she turned to me, her eyes scanning the notepad.

"You've never seen a coach bus before?" She asked, her eyebrows raising in amusement. She was using her gym bag as an umbrella.

I shook my head and she smiled. "You're going to love it," she said. "It's so much better than a regular bus."

I wanted to ask her more questions, but almost immediately Mr. Falliner started ushering everybody inside the bus. I whipped my head around to look behind me, but yet there was still no sign of Mr. Lee. He had to be coming, right? He was the main cross country coach, he had to come.

Since everybody was eager to get away from the rain, the bus was flooded with teammates in an instant and I was pushed to the back of the line of people, losing Vera in the process.

When I finally got inside the van, the only free seat was a two seater in the second row in the front of the bus. I took a moment to absorb my surroundings. There was a thick blue rug under me with tiny dots of purple, as well as purple lights that aligned the row that went through the bus and to the bathroom all the way in the back. Miniature TV's hung in front of every two seater. Small tables were attached to the back of every seat and I noticed that already people were using them as something to rest their head on or put their belongings on.

My eyes scanned the rows and rows of teammates, and eventually they fell upon Vera who was squished against the window with a girl I didn't know. She shrugged with a what-can-you-do type of expression and I turned around and reluctantly plopped down in the seat, the feeling of loneliness clouding around me. It's quite hilarious how lonely I always seemed to feel, even with all these people happily chattering around me about gossip I didn't know about.

Setting my black gym bag in front of my feet on the floor, I rested my head against the cushioned seat and faced the window, watching few students mentally plan a route from the school entrance to their car without getting wet.

Mr. Falliner sat in the seat in front of me and placed a clip-board, gym bag and a portable cooler next to him, occupying it as well.

It took me a few seconds to recognize Mr. Lee, who was hurriedly speed-walking out of the school with a bag in one hand and an umbrella in the other, shading his wonderfully curly hair. He was wearing a white muscle shirt, and his biceps practically blinded me. His muscles never failed to amaze me, and obviously they hadn't failed others either. I could see some of the students looking out the window too, whispering about his attractive-looking self. The rain water glistened against his typically tan shade of skin. As Mr. Lee continued to speed-walk, he shrugged on a black NorthFace and fell out of view from the window as he entered the bus.

I wanted to shrink into nothing, because just then I realized that the seat next to me was the only one left. I desperately turned around and glanced at Vera, who was wickedly smiling and wiggling her eyebrows in an inappropriate manner. She put her two hands out and shaped one into a circle, the other pointing only her pointer finger. She jammed her pointer finger into the hole she made, and I mentally gagged and threw myself back down into the seat, my cheeks heating up with only that of embarrassment. She was clearly no help, not that she could do much anyways.

My anxiety began to raise with the fact that Mr. Lee's only seat would be next to me. How would I survive an hour in a seat next to him?

I shrunk down into my seat and counted down the seconds, watching Mr. Lee as he scanned the bus, muttering something to Mr. Falliner at the same time. He appeared next to my seat and my heart sped up so fast I felt like I was going to collapse from exhaustion.

"Shit," I heard him utter quietly under his breath as he took in my almost-crouched position, my head hanging low and my tiny hands fiddling with each other. That took me by surprise. At least I wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable. I slid up more in the seat and pulled my knees in, locking my hands around them.

I grabbed my notepad from my jacket pocket and frantically scribbled.

Sorry, I wrote and showed him as I gave an apologetic smile. His dark blue eyes leafed through my tiny letters.

"For what?" He asked as he began to place his belongings on the side of his seat, his scent of mint with the smell of rain lingering off him and around our two seats.

For occupying this seat when you could have had an extra one to place your things on, I wrote, my writing becoming smaller near the bottom of the page as I attempted to fit it all on one paper.

I turned it around and showed him again. He bent down slightly and glanced more closely at the writing.

"I assure you it's no problem," he said casually, sitting down next to me as if it were completely natural. I shoved my notepad back into my pocket. I stared ahead at the seat in front of me, not daring to glance at him and risk awkwardness, although I so badly wanted to look at his mind-blowing attractiveness.

Mr. Lee started to message on his iPhone, busily tapping away with his long fingers. The glow illuminated his complexion and emphasized every angle and curve of his face. His long eyelashes cast a shadow below his dark brown eyebrows.

The lights inside the bus dimmed and everything seemed extremely dark, which was expected because it almost looked as if it were about to thunder outside. The rain was coming down faster than before, and I listened to the steady sound of it pounding against the roof of the bus.

Eventually the bus began to drive, and lights started to turn on in some of the students' seats. As everyone settled, some plugging in their earphones and others on their phones, the bus grew quiet and the sound of the engine of the bus filled the rest of the noise.

I plugged in my own earphones and played the song Mr. Lee had showed me. As unnoticeably as possible, I brought my gym bag up from the floor placed it against the window, where I lay my head against it and closed my eyes, attempting to forget that there was an unmistakably beautiful human who was sitting right next to me.

A/N: I finally thought of what town Poppy lived in (Rosefield) which is in Pennsylvania (fictionally.) I have no idea as to whether or not Rosefield is an actual town in Pennsylvania (pretty sure it's not) but I just wanted to make sure you all understand that I had no intention of putting an actual town.