A Piece of Gum

Chapter 2

I kept gazing out the window while silently chewing on my gum. The flavor was so sweet and juicy that it almost made me forget about the dreadful events earlier.

Anna, are you on the bus yet? If not, you'll be late to school!

Oops. I'd never texted my mom. My parents always worried about where I was, so I had to text them every morning when I got on the bus and when I was about to go in school.

Yes. I just got on.

Are you with Lila?

Oh, boy. Such a long story there.

No, she got on the bus before me.

But if you two get to the stop at the same time, how are you not on the same bus?

It's a long story.

Well you've got unlimited texting, so let me hear it.

My fingers were still numb from the cold and I really didn't want to type a long explanation. I considered voice text for a moment, but the bus was too loud.

I sighed.

I dropped my whole wallet when the bus was pulling up.

Didn't Lila help you and see that you wouldn't make it on?

No, she had her earbuds in and couldn't hear me.

What kind of explanation is that? Why didn't you tap her?

Oh, yeah. Well, that made sense.

Because she was already boarding the bus?

That's a question? Tell me the truth right now or you're grounded.

I rolled my eyes, tapping out a reply.

It didn't go through my head to do that.

I could almost hear my mom rolling her eyes.

Well, get your head on straight please and are you with any other friends?

I'm with Delilah.

Okay, good. Don't forget to text when you get to school.

Alright.

I guess I should have thought to tap her. But she wouldn't know to put everything back in its place, I thought defiantly. I take being a perfectionist to a whole new level.

"That's a good question. Why didn't you tap her?" Delilah asked while peering over my shoulder. I just huffed and gave her my phone to scroll through. She unlocked it and looked at the text. We knew each others passwords, because we are besties after all.

"I know you take your OCD to a whole new level," Delilah joked, "but don't you think it would have been sensible to tap her so you could have gotten on the bus?"

I crossed my arms and said, "Well, maybe I wanted to wait on you."

She laughed and said, "But don't you have to go on the first bus in the freezing weather?"

"Can't a girl change her mind!" I shouted, maybe a bit too loudly.

"Okay, okay, save your grumpiness for science." I hated science as much as she hated Spanish. And I loved Spanish and she loved science. Lila was more of a math person, but neither me or Delilah were too good in that area.