The Final Ticks: A Collection of Short Stories

Bus Stop

Jen ran out the door, sprinting for the bus as fast as she could. She made it to five yards away before the bus driver mercilessly pulled away and moved on with its route. She cursed under her breath, then looked up in surprise when she noticed another pair of footsteps slowing down to finally stop near where she was. Jen looked up, and her eyes widened when they landed on Garrett. And he was staring right back at her.

Jen shifted from foot to foot. "Um," she mumbled. "Did you just miss the bus, too?"

"Yeah," he replied casually.

"Oh." Jen looked away and into the opposite direction from where he was standing. "Well..." Jen shifted again. "What do you think we should do?"

"Start walking or hitch a ride." Garrett nodded shortly at her before he started to trudge off in the direction of the school.

"Right," Jen sighed. She glanced left, then right, then ran after him. Silence enveloped them.

Garrett was the first one to break it. "So...you take the bus to school?"

Jen raised her eyebrows. "Obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered to run after it." Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Garrett's stop is the one before hers. "Hey, why were you trying to catch the bus at my stop?"

Garrett grinned sheepishly. "Because I missed it at all the others."

"So you thought that you could outrun the bus by some miracle?"

He looked at her like she had three heads. "Are you crazy? You think I would actually try to follow the bus? You know, there is a beautiful thing created to help the weary traveler. It's called 'shortcut!'"

Jen rolled her eyes. "What shortcuts?" she scoffed. "There is no shortcut from your stop to mine. Trust me, I looked."

"Oh? And why would you do that?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Trying to sneak to my house for a—"

"Oh, please!" Jen interrupted. "There is such a thing called 'wanting to get off the bus and get home quicker' that most teenagers have."

Garrett shook his head and waggled his finger at her. "Now, now, now," he chuckled. "No need to get feisty on me here. You'll get your turn, don't worry, honey."

Jen growled in frustration. "I won't get my turn because I disown this 'turn!' And if you want someone to be feisty, you should get a cat! I hear they love to claw things! Maybe if you're lucky it'll get to your face!" She stomped ahead, ignoring his bark of laughter.

After a few minutes, Jen felt him next to her again, but this time he looked serious. "Jen, do you plan on returning to the chess team?"

Jen stared back at him in surprise. "Uh, I don't really know. I've got tennis right now, but you know that." Jen sighed in frustrated. I hate making decisions. "I don't know..." she trailed off, looking back up at Garrett. "Why are you so determined to have me join again? Anna already has another girl to room with, right? And what about the twenty people that went to the last meeting?"

Garrett's eyes met hers. "How do you know that?"

She scoffed at him. "Oh, come on! I do have friends on the team, or did you forget?"

Garrett smirked at her. "Yeah, it's so easy to forget you, I can't even remember your name, so I'm calling you 'honey'."

Jen punched him in the arm, but he didn't even flinch. All he did was raise his eyebrows. "My, my, getting a little violent, are we?"

"You know what? Why don't you just shut up and walk on the other sidewalk?"

Garrett nudged me playfully in the shoulder with his own. "Nah, it's more fun here!"

Jen huffed in exasperation. "Why do you torment me so?"

"Because tormenting you like this is getting such a great reaction!" He smiled brightly.

Jen also plastered a grin on her face. "Oh, yeah!" she nodded seriously. "And I just absolutely love getting frustrated to the point where I stay quiet the rest if the time!"

"Now, honey, remember you ran up to me!"

She didn't say anything.

He smirked. "Is it pout time already?"

She kept walking. Garrett shrugged and walked in silence as well.

Then he walked closer. "The quiet is deafening," he whispered in her ear, a smile tugging at his lips. Jen just stuck her nose into the air, gave a "hmph!" and moved on. She didn't even crack a smile.