Night of the Living Bacteria

Chapter Three

Jayden

I had awoken to familiar commotion about my house. Wyatt was rapping on the bathroom door, while Tessa screamed at him to leave her alone. Over the bickering siblings, I barely heard my mother calling me downstairs. Nothing is out of the ordinary today; at least, nothing here. I wouldn't see this house again until December since Mom decided to send me off to some boarding school up north. Tessa was a junior in high school, and already taking college courses at a local school, and Wyatt had been attending the community college for a few weeks. I wasn't necessarily happy about heading to boarding school, but my family's history was enough to pique some interest. So I told my mother that I would enroll. Throwing on a gray sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, I grabbed my things and hauled them downstairs. Before I had time to sit down at the kitchen table, I noticed the bus heading up the road. Luckily, I lived close to the bus stop, but there was no time for breakfast if I were to make it on the bus. I knew Mom wouldn't have time to drive me, anyway. She was heading out to work after she got Tessa and Wyatt to stop fighting over the bathroom.

"Bye Mom! I'm leaving now!" I called up the stairs. There was no answer; at least, not one I could hear over the commotion. Without waiting another moment, I walked out the front door and down the street to the bus stop.

By the time I got there, the bus was just about to pull away. I managed to wave the driver down and hurriedly climbed aboard. The bus driver gave me a look of distaste, but I ignored it, instead looking for a seat. There were no empty seats, and my only choice was to sit with someone else. To my right sat a guy my age, with tissues stuffed up his nose and thick glasses over his face. Another empty seat hosted a black-haired girl who gave me the death stare. Nope. The only other seat was next to a girl with shoulder-length hair, who stared out the window blankly.

"Hurry it up, kid! We gotta get goin'." The bus driver grumbled. I decided that the best shot was just to sit somewhere. This was the worst time to get in trouble. So I sat down next to the girl looking out the window. She didn't notice me. The bus jolted forward, and I sat in awkward silence, surrounded by kids I'd never met in my life. Finally, when I'd had enough of the silence, I turned to the girl.

"Hey," the girl doesn't respond for a few moments, though I'm unsure what she's waiting for.

Finally, she responds with a quiet, "hey." The girl didn't seem friendly, but it was worth a shot. I'd always believed that, given a conversation starter, even the quietest people found words.

"First day nerves, right?"

"Oh-umm...yeah."

Maybe she's not as friendly as you think... I pushed the thought out of my head as I introduced myself. "I'm Jayden,"

Silence.

"Ashley."

I talked to her the rest of the bus ride there, she seemed to rather enjoy listening and not talking. But, as the bus pulled into the parking lot, the doom that boarding school brought again resurfaced in my mind. Here we go...