The Deep And The Dark [COMPLETED][UNEDITED]

I

The seats on the standard school bus were not big enough for two to sit with their backs on the windows and their feet hanging into the aisles. That was the first reason I kicked Ellen to the seat across from mine. The second reason was because, sitting like I was, I could see the seats in front of and behind me. And one row behind me, on Ellen's side of the bus, was Jace English.

Now, Jace wasn't popular, or a jock. Hell, he wasn't the 6'4 dream guy that most girls fantasize about. He wasn't the captain of the football team. Jace had the hair style that most boys had, where fifty percent of his hair stuck up. But unlike most, his hair wasn't over-gelled. Instead, it had a soft, natural look to it. Like all he did in the morning was brush it skywards and leave. There was an eighty percent chance that that's just what he did in the morning. And his eyes were a shocking shade of blue. He was too perfect for me to handle.

He had two good friends, who were also on this trip, and not nearly as hot. They fit into the jock category, and had the popular school girls tripping over their oversized heels almost always. I was glad that this trip consisted of only two of those girls.

"You're staring," Ellen whispered, leaning over and dramatically cupping her hands over her mouth.

"He's sleeping," I whispered back. Besides, even awake, there was a forty percent chance that he even knew who I was. He probably drooled over the perfect girls just as they drooled over his two friends.

I reluctantly drew my attention back to Ellen. She knew all about my little obsession, of course, but I couldn't let her have the satisfaction of knowing just how far that obsession went. The bus took a turn far too fast for my liking, and I slapped both hands on the seat and the seat in front of me, panicking for a moment before we evened out again.

Ellen rolled her eyes. "They do this trip every year, with the same bus driver. I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

I bit my lip, but nodded. Every year the school funded a three week camping trip over the summer, for juniors and seniors only. Ellen and I were juniors this year, and I would be seventeen in four days, not caring that only ten percent of the people on the bus knew that. Jace was a senior.

The trip was supposed to have brutal hiking, rough living, and minimal eating, but I was up for the challenge. Trekking through uncharted mountains for three weeks sounded like a hell of a time to me. Seventy percent of the people who came were only there for the college credit, but I was far more interested in the trip.

Two seats in front of me, on my side of the bus, Haley Addams turned around in her seat to look at me. I, not favorable towards the two popular girls on the bus, quirked an eyebrow in her direction. She puckered her oversized lips and then turned back towards her bus buddy, Jenna.

"Uh, hey," I said, slinging an arm over the seat in front of me. They both turned, looking annoyed, and waited for me to continue. "What was that?"

"We're rating people on a scale of one to ten," Haley told me matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, and you were next on our list." I was going to retort something sarcastic, but Jenna cut me off. "We decided you're, like, a nine because of you're super rare."

I laughed, and exchanged a look with Ellen. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you know, you have green eyes." That was true, two percent of the population had green eyes. "And, like, a reddish tint to your hair. You're definitely not a ginger, you fit in with the theme of autumn, October, and all things fall."

"Oh, yeah, and of course you're name, duh," Haley piped in.

Jenna nodded eagerly, like Haley had just solved the worlds hardest math question. "What about my name?" I persisted. I was curious to see how the brain of a popular worked. A simple person like me didn't rate people. Except Jace, who was at one hundred percent and an eleven out of ten.

They looked at me like I was a sad, lost puppy. "Oh, hon, how many other girls have you met with the name Nickel?"

I glanced back at Jace, and was pleasantly surprised when our eyes met. We stared at each other for a few moments, and then I felt my face get hot. I grinned and looked away, towards Ellen, towards the populars who were looking annoyed.

"Not many," I told them. Jenna nodded her head once and turned back towards the front, Haley following her lead after analyzing my flustered look. They bowed their heads and resumed their gossiping. I bit my lip and readjusted my position so that I faced the front. A blush would do me no good if I looked back now.

Ellen sighed. "Let me have the window seat," she said, shooing me towards the aisle seat as she hopped over to my side of the bus. "Now put your pretty little leg in the aisle." I did as told, a laugh forming in my throat. But I held it in, knowing she wasn't being playful in having me do all this. There was a fifty percent chance he would notice my leg in the aisle, anyways.

I looked at her, about to give my sarcastic thanks, but the tires of the bus suddenly screeched and I was thrown into the aisle. I gasped and looked up, through the windshield. An enormous tree was splayed out over the one-way road, and we weren't stopping. The driver stomped on the brakes, but the bus didn't even slow one percent.

All I could do was brace myself as we hit it at seventy miles an hour and went tumbling over the side of the mountain.

***

The air smelled of gasoline and death. That's what woke me first. Not the searing pain in my side or the impossible heat coming from somewhere behind me. No, it was the smell.

And then the memories hit me like the bus hit the tree. And I was rolling down the side of a mountain, surrounded by ten other screaming kids and three panicked adults. All of which had a ninety six percent chance of death.

My eyes were open. My emerald eyes, so rare that only two percent of the population had them. And my throat was burning, and my skin was tingling. And all I could think about was the probability that I was dying.

Scattered around me I knew were twelve other people with a ninety nine percent chance of already being dead. And I didn't look around to find out.

Because I knew I was one hundred percent right. But I braced myself for whatever I might find. I clung to the hope that Ellen was alive and waiting for me to be as well. I pried myself off of a floor littered with dead pine needles and, taking a deep breath, turned around.

It was chaos. The bus was on its back, crushed and demolished beyond repair. Fire licked up its sides and consumed most of it. I sobbed and stumbled forward. The others were in there. I had to help them. I had to free them before they burned.

"Nicki!"

My ears were ringing. I stopped, gasping for air that seemed to only consist of smoke, and touched my side. The shaky hand I brought up to my eyes was coated in blood. I trembled and turned around, catching a glimpse at a figure resembling a person before my knees gave out and everything went black.