The Boy from the Bus Stop

Meeting Him

“I guess that at least one good thing came out of moving.” Ally said to Cassia.

“What? I thought you said a couple weeks ago, you know, before you moved, that NOTHING good could ever come out of your moving.”

Ally rolled her eyes. “I know I SAID that, but I’ve been thinking about school starting soon and all….well  this might sound kind of stupid, but I realized that no one will know me here. I can make a whole new start!” 

“Oh, I never thought of that! You were always saying that you wish you could start over, you know, so that know one would remember what happened that day at the summer camp. This is great!”

“I’ll still miss you so much.” Cassie and Ally have been best friends for as long as anyone could remember. They met on their first day of Pre-K and have been inseparable ever since. 

“At least we can call each other, text, Instagram,”

Ally cut her off and laughed, “I get the idea, Cassia!”

“I just wanted to make a point,” Cassia said mocking a pouty voice. 

“Oh no!”

“What?”

“I just remembered! I have to finish that reading project before school starts next week!”

“You have SUMMER HOMEWORK!”

“Yeah, crazy right.” Ally said, “How about I text you while I try to get some work done?”

“Okay, but I can’t believe how much I miss you, and I’ve only been gone 2 WEEKS!”

“I know right! Hey text me as soon as you hang up!”

“Okay, bye”

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The night before the first day of school, Ally was up all hours of the night texting Cassia pictures of possible contenders for her first day of eighth grade. She knew the impression that she made the next day would brand her for the rest of her time at Sunsetville Junior High and High School. The night was filled with endless exchanges of

“Does this skirt go well with this top?” 

“Of course it does, everything looks good on you.”

“Your my friend, you have to say that.”

“Do you really think that I’d lie to you,” and on and on and on.

By the time Ally got to bed it was 11:30 and she knew that she would be getting up a 8:00 so she made it her mission to get to sleep as soon as she could.

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The next morning, she put on the clothes she spent so much time choosing and went to the bathroom to style her hair in a way she had practiced over and over and put on her makeup in a fashion that she had spent hours perfecting. By 8:30, you probably wouldn’t even recognize Ally. As she shoveled some cereal and chugged a glass of juice, she still managed to think to text Cassia a picture of her. She went to the full length mirror in her bedroom, snapped a picture, hit send and raced out the door, just in time to get to the bus stop as the school bus rounded the corner onto her street. 

As Ally was panting to catch her breath, she turned her head and noticed that standing just a few feet away was the cutest boy she had ever seen. He had gorgeous hair that swayed in the breeze, teeth that shone brighter than the stars, and eyes that were so deep, you would drown in them if tried to step in them. She looked over to him and smiled, pushing a few strands of hair out of her face. He smiled back and gave her the “up-nod.” She felt like she couldn’t breath. 

Snapping her out of her trance, the bus doors flung open and she was snapped back to reality. As she boarded the bus, there were only two seats open on the bus, and they were right next to each other. Ally’s heart fluttered and she did all she could to continue breathing. She sat by the window and he took the isle seat. Ally wanted to think that he was protecting her, even though she told her self firmly that could never happen, that he wouldn’t like her, they’d only known each other for a couple of minutes. Every time the bus turned a corner, by centrifugal force, fell into her - she knew that he wasn’t doing it on purpose and that they didn’t mean anything, but she wanted those moments to last forever. 

Ally didn’t want that bus ride to end, so when the bus pulled up in front of the school, she was kind of sad. But then something happened that no girl could be sad about. He looked over at Ally and said, “See ya around!” Ally thought that she was going to pass out.

She managed to get into school an get her class schedule. “First period - English,” she thought to herself,  oh great, first class on my first day I have to give a presentation!” Then she fixed her bag and slung it back over her shoulder. As she turned around, she saw Bus Stop Guy. Her heart stopped and only then realized that she had hit him in the stomach with her backpack. Immediately she tried to apologize, but no words came out of her mouth. He looked into her deep brown eyes and said, “No worries,” and he shrugged his shoulders and walked off. Ally saw something fly out of Bus Stop Guy’s backpack. She picked it up and started to run through the crowds of people, breaking up groups of gossiping girls and guys spinning basketballs. Ally looked down and noticed that he had almost the same schedule as her. She couldn’t believe that this could be happening to a girl from such a backwoods place. She finally caught up to him and she tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around in surprise and saw Ally. She panted from running so long and then managed to get out, “You……dropped……your…….schedule……back……..there.”

“Thanks! I woulda been lost without it”  As Ally hands him back his schedule, she notices that on the back in a large bold print is his name - ABERNATHY, CODY. “So that’s his name,” Ally thought to herself.

“See ya around.” Ally shouted over to Cody. “See you sooner than you may think,” she thought to herself.

Ally realized that she only had about 10 minutes to find her locker and get to her first class. She rushed through the crowded hall glancing left and right looking for locker #142. With only about 5 minutes to spare, she found it and shoved her bag in. Ally pulled out her report and book and raced down the hall to Room #108A. After looking for about 3 minutes, she slid into class, breathless, and took a seat in the front of the room. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw Cody walking calm as could be into the classroom and take the seat next to her. He glanced in her direction and then looked down at her binder. He said, “Hey, Ally.”

Ally replied, “Hey, Cody.” without even giving a second though about how he knew her name or how he’d think she’d learned his. Just as he was about to say something else, the teacher walked in. He was tall and scrawny looking. He had glasses that looked like they more belonged in a historical fiction book rather than on a 21st century teacher. 

“Good morning, class, I am Mr. Courtsinger” He said curtly, as though it was so hard for him to push those few words out of his mouth. He stared out at them as if he was expecting them to reply. Then he began his lesson for the day, and the class droned on and on and on……………….