Lighting up the darkness

Chapter sixteen "It's a long trip"

Izzy’s POV

Andrew helped me put my suitcase in his car. We got in the car and he handed me a coffee. 

“Thank you so much.” 

“You are welcome, I wasn’t sure what you wanted so I got you an iced latte with oat milk.” 

“It’s great, thank you.” 

We got to the school first. He insisted on carrying my suitcase to where we were supposed to gather. We waited together for everyone else to arrive. 

“Thank you so much for today.” I told him. 

“No problem Iz, you are really cool, you know that?” I scoffed. “I mean it. If the whole Riley thing hadn’t happened, you’d probably be quite popular.” 

“I’ve never heard of a popular girl that bags groceries to make ends meet.” 

“There’s no shame in working Iz, if anything, working and getting straight A’s is admirable.” 

“Thanks.” I smiled. 

Ms. Thompson arrived, interrupting our conversation. Andrew rushed to help her with her suitcase. 

“Good morning Iz.” 

“Good morning Ms. Thompson.”

“So, just to remind you, you are supposed to pick out a group of people to share a room with while we are on the bus.” We both nodded. 

I knew that no-one wanted to share a room with me. The rest of the students and teachers gathered, and we loaded our suitcases to the bus. It was a long drive to the airport. We weren’t leaving from the nearby airport. 

Emily pushed me to get on the bus before me. When I finally got on the bus, the only available seat was in front of Emily, around her friends. This was going to be hell. 

As soon as I sat down they started making comments about me and bothering me. I tried to ignore them, but they started kicking my seat. Their talking and laughing was so loud, that I could hear them through my headphones. 

After two hours, I was starting to get dizzy and I was fed up with their childish behavior. I grabbed my bag and walked to the front, where the teachers were. Ms. Thompson turned to look at me. 

“I don’t feel well.” She looked at me and then looked back to where I was sitting. 

“You can sit here.” 

“Thanks.” I sat and put my backpack between my legs. 

“If you feel sick, let me know, okay?” I nodded. 

I let my body relax on the seat. I could finally sit in peace. I felt my eyes closing and decided that I should take nap. 

I woke up half an hour later. 

“Are you feeling any better?” Ms. Thompson asked. 

“Yes, thank you for letting me sit here.” She smiled and went back to reading her book. 

At some point there was a lot of yelling going on and it sounded like an argument. Ms. Thompson quickly closed her book and stood up. 

“Sorry.” She said as she literally climbed over me. I blushed so much that it wasn’t even funny. Before leaving, she stopped and looked at me. 

“Well, I won’t be doing that again.” She chuckled and walked away. She got everyone to calm down pretty quick. 

She came back and this time waited aside for me to get up so she can go to her seat. I did and she smirked at me as she passed in front of me. I blushed again and she let out a chuckle. I kept my eyes glued in front of me. I couldn’t look at her.