Prophecy Girl (Lacuna Valley #1)

Chapter Three

The next couple of days were mostly the same as the first, except Nick had taken to sitting in the seat behind her on the bus. Every day she got on the bus, afraid that David would notice her again, and felt safe when she saw Nick sitting in that seat. It was a feeling that was entirely new to her, and she relished it. She tried not to think of him as her personal bodyguard, because it was humiliating that she needed one, but it was hard to ignore. She wanted to believe that if he wasn't there, she'd stand up this time. She'd yell at them, she'd spit back at them, she'd move to the front of the bus with the little kids, or do something other than just sit there and take it. The worst part was knowing that she'd probably still just try to pretend it wasn't happening, stare out the window, and cry. It was easy to think she could do the right thing when she was safe behind Nick, but she knew better than that.

Despite the humiliation on the bus, she was starting to settle into some routines. She was out of the house, the school had air conditioning, and Sam recognized the faces of people from her lunch table in the hallways and classrooms. Every day when lunch came around Mary sat on one side of Sam with her broomstick skirt and large circular glasses, Leigh on her other in jeans and a camouflage t-shirt. Though they were friends, she felt like if it were anywhere else they'd be seen on opposite sides of a protest line. They all got along well enough, though, and the fact that she had a regular lunch table already was more than she could have asked for.

It struck Sam as funny that both the elementary and high schools could be served by what looked like about a dozen buses, maybe a little less. Her class had just about fifty people in it and was the biggest class that had come through the high school yet. With so few people they'd probably need less buses than they had if they didn't have so much ground to cover. Mary had told her it took over an hour to ride the bus to her house because of the long and winding route.

Sam waited for the buses to come around to the back of the school and watched out of the corner of her eye for the black backpack covered in patches. She'd been hoping she'd get an opportunity to talk to him someday. She tried to work herself up to saying thank you, but it felt so awkward to thank someone for basically being her bodyguard.

Some of the guys from her bus were kicking a pine cone to the right of her. Sam took a slow deep breath and stepped to the left, trying not to be noticed, when she bumped into Nick.

“Oh, shit, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you. I'm sorry.” Sam stepped backwards to get away from both Nick and the pine cone, but Nick followed her.

“It's fine, my fault really. Hi, I'm Nick.” It was the first time someone in the valley introduced themselves to her without a last name.

“Samantha, Sam. Sorry about that,” she mumbled.

“Stop doing that, it's fine.”

Sam stared at the ground, unsure of what to say, and Nick did the same. She noticed the CD player in his hand.

“What are you listening to?” she asked.

Nick stared at her blankly for a few seconds. “Oh! Um, well, here...” He put the headphones on her head and pressed play. Sam jumped when the loud music attacked her. “Oops, sorry about that. I forgot how loud I had it earlier.”

“Oh my god.” Sam gasped.

“Still too loud?” Nick quickly pressed the downward facing arrow.

“No, no, just...this is Darryl's Grocery Bag!”

Nick beamed down at Sam. “Yes, yes it is. I can't believe you know that. I found them on a compilation CD in Canada awhile back.”

“I found them online. You know, last I heard they changed their name and then it's like they disappeared.”