Years of the Bus

3- A Bet

“So, where are we going first?” Logan wondered from behind me as we were ten minutes down the road.

“We’re going west,” I announced, keeping my eyes on the road.

“That’s it?” Cory wondered.

I nodded in confirmation. “That’s it. I mean, we’re in Virginia, so it would be kind of pointless to go east.”

“I want to see an art museum,” Rosa chirped.

“We’ll find one eventually,” I assured her with a nod. “There’s a bunch of those, aren’t there?”

“Yeah,” She sighed, sitting in one of the seats behind me with Baker and Grace.

“Okay, don’t look now, but Kenton is back there and he’s totally looking at you,” Baker informed me in a whisper.

“Oh my gosh!” Grace squealed. “He totally is!”

“I’m pretty sure you’re both lying,” I laughed with a roll of my eyes. I obviously couldn’t just look back there and see for myself considering the fact that I was driving this huge bus on a slightly busy road. It would be about another ten minutes until we got onto the interstate, which would be way easier to drive on.

“They’re not,” Rosa assured me. “He’s definitely looking at you.”

“Well then you’re all hallucinating or something? He could be looking in this direction for multiple reasons.”

“Yeah, I’m sure, and one of those reasons is to check you out.”

“Cory!” Grace called to her boyfriend who was farther back in The Bus. “Come here!”

His blonde head popped up from his conversation with Logan and Gaige and then stood up and walked over to us, sitting in the seat across from the girls. “What’s up?” He wondered.

“What are you doing?” I asked Grace without taking my eyes off of the road as I skillfully turned the large steering wheel.

She ignored me as she faced her boyfriend with an innocent grin. “Go get Kenton and introduce him to Alaina, please.”

“Um… why?” Cory frowned in confusion.

“Just do it,” Grace jokingly demanded, pushing him towards the back of the bus where this Kenton guy was sitting.

“Okay then…” Cory mumbled, still very confused as he got up and walked towards the back of the bus.

“Let me take the wheel,” Baker chirped, standing up to stand right beside me.

“What? Why?” I wondered.

“Because,” She giggled. “When you really meet him, you’ll probably die and you can’t be driving for that.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” I laughed softly, but I knew that she’d eventually talk me into letting her drive now, so I pulled over to the side of the road just before we were about to get on the interstate so that Baker could drive.

“Um, Lanie,” Cory awkwardly interrupted Baker's response from behind me. “This is Kenton.”

I turned around to greet the stranger politely with a smile, but the smile on my face quickly diminished when I finally saw the face of this boy. I had never seen him before at school, which is believable because our school is so big, but I really wished that I had. This man was gorgeous. Handsome, beautiful, attractive, I don't really care what you call it, but this guy was it. He was all of them.

“Oh,” I squeaked as I began to drown for something to say to this incredibly wonderful-looking person.

“This is Lanie's bus,” Rosa chirped, as if that was supposed to impress this god-like creature.