The Rotation

4 - The Chaos That Is Our Bus Ride

I am standing on top of a moutain. I feel the cold breeze in my hair. A hand falls on my shoulder, and I turn to see the waitor for the coffee shop. He looks into my eyes, and I almost die of a heart attack. But all of a sudden I see Ryan fly over on a magical horse and shoots lasers out of his eyes at the waitor. The waitor ducks as to miss the lasers directed at him and summons his own unicorn to battle Ryan on. All of a sudden a loud ringing takes over all of my senses.

What.

I slap my alarm clock hard in frustration. I barely got any sleep. I don't know why, I guess I have a lot on my mind. Things are different now, I don't cope well with change.

I do my makeup extra carefully and slowly, thats's what popular girls do, right? I throw on a flowy skirt and loose knit top. Breakfast is already on the table when I walk into the kitchen. The table was very quiet today. Nobody fought, nobody spoke, nobodu made eye contact with one another. I caught a bus at the end of our road with Chris and put my headphones in to drown out the rest of the chaos that is our bus ride. Jordan goes to a private sports school in the next town over so Dad drives him on his way to work each morning.

I arrive at school to a group of of girls waiting for me.

"Hey Beth!"

"Wow, I really love your hair today!"

Where did you get that skirt?"

Ugh. Wannabes. The worst kind of people alive. I'd rather be a middle aged single mother than one of them. I walk through their group without making eye contact or saying anything and find my friends, Kyle and Darian.

"Over here, slut!" I here Darian call out. We've known eachother since we were 4. Darian's my best friend, I'd do anything for that girl.

"Hey there." I greet

"Are you still free for friday night?" Kyle smiles and winks. We're just friends, but like Darian, I've known him for a long time. He's practically my brother.

"For your big birthday bash?" I say jokingly, "How could I miss it?"

"Thats what I hoped you'd say, because I need you help with some decorating issues. You see....." I stopped listening. My attention was on him.

There he is, sitting on a bench outside the school. Ryan is sitting with a few other boys, all with oily hair and holding text books. He looks like a male model next to them. How have I never noticed him? It's like looking at a plate of french fries with a carrot stick in the middle.

He catches my eye contact and stares at me for a few seconds, looking scared yet defensive. I don't even really know him, but it hurts me to see him like this. Then he turns around and leaves for his locker, assume. His friends don't notice his exit, so maybe they're not really his friends. Why was he not given to me in my memories yesterday? I feel at home with everything and everyone but him. It's already as if I've been Beth forever.

Once I'd gotten my books from my locker I headed to my first class, which was art. I was finally starting to forget the whole incident with Ryan when I saw him sitting on the end of the table opposite mine. Trying not to make a huge deal about it, I walk straight past him to get a finer paintbrush. We were doing abstract work and the paintbrush I was using was way too thick. On my way back past him the teacher decides it would be a good idea to ask me if I need any help with my work.

"Bethany, do you need some help with your colour scheming? Last time you had a problem with that."

Ryan swings around looking terrified. I am terrified. I think I'm going to have to excuse myself to the ladies room to make sure I didn't wet my underwear. He stands up and storms out of the room. Not even Mr Pistakia notices. I run after him, how could I just let him walk away from me like that? Everyone turns their head and talks amoungst themselves about me.

I see Ryan a little bit further down the hallway. I call out to him but he starts running again. Of course, I can't help but chase after him. Damn, he's fit. I bet he runs on that path all the time. maybe I should start jogging, too. I'm already panting. Maybe I should try to walk home after this. I smell of sweat and I'm still convinced that my pants will have an unpleasant surprise in them. Ryan turns right and opens a small, narrow door. I'm pretty sure it's out of bounds there because the school keeps their old files on just about everything there. The staircase on the other side of the door that descends into darkness. I close the door silently behind me and move as fast as I can down the stairs. It was so dark that I couldn't see where I was walking.

I hear a scream that pierces through the cold air. Who was that? It sounded like a teenage girl. Then I hear sobs between screams for help. What if Ryan leads victims here to torture them? I am honestly terrified. Maybe that's what he meant when he said that he knew me better than I thought. He changed his mood so quickly, much like I'd imagine a psychopath would Wait a minute, that scream sounds familiar. Then it hits me. That scream was me.