Behind The Name.

Chapter 2- Cola and Coincidences

"I don't think you should've put your bag there..." I slowly say trying not to laugh. He looks down with furrowed brows and pulls his bag from under his seat. The underside of his bag has now got an even cover of what I can only hope is coca cola. He inspects the sodden bag and then flings it in front of him. He looks over to me and sees my bag positioned on my lap. And I try very, very hard not to pull a smug face. His face holds elements of disgust and confusion.

"I haven't seen you before. Do you always get this bus?"

"No, new in the area. I moved during the half term."

He nods and then suddenly pulls out his phone and starts to call someone. I look out of the window and see that dribbles of rain have started to fall. What a great entrance I'll make. Late and with frizzy hair and mascara running down my cheeks. I can hear someone talking on the other side of the phone but I try to not eavesdrop.

"No, I know but can you just tell main office. Yeah. Me and.." He turns to me from his conversation on the phone. "Sorry what's your name again?"

"Maya Anker."

"Me and Maya Anker." There's a pause. "Thanks Mason." He ends the call and puts his phone on the inside pocket of his blazer.

"It should actually be Maya Anker and I." I speak clearly, surprising myself. He laughs and nods. He turns to me and smiles.

"You know you're just like my brother Mason." So that's who Mason on the phone is.

"Is he at our school?"

"Not a student, he's an English teacher at our school."

I spare a glance at his forehead and immediately cringe. That bruise was a good one. Purple around the edges and a mustard yellow in the middle. Ouch. He suddenly looks out the window and grabs his bag and my arm and stands up and runs to the front of the bus. He says something to the bus driver whilst I'm grabbing my bag and gets off. The bus starts to move and I suddenly realise the doors are shutting.

"Stop! Wait!" I awkwardly half-walk, half-jog to the front and watch Cooper's figure go past. The driver looks back at my panic-stricken face and stops for me. "Thanks" I say breathlessly. I look down the road to see Cooper looking pretty amused by my incapability to get off a bus at the right time and jogs up to me.

"Thought I'd lost you there. No phone and no idea where you're going."

From then on we walk pretty silently. It could be because I'm too nervous about it being my first day and the fact I'm very late or the fact that Cooper was engrossed in a game of 'Puppet Soccer' I believe. By the time we get to the main office my heart is racing.

"Alright Mrs Rhodes, sorry I'm late I got Mason to pass on a message but I have Maya here who's a new student." I couldn't see the lady he was talking to but once he moved out of the way, I very much knew who he was talking to.

My jaw dropped and momentarily a smile grew on my face. "Hiya Maya! I haven't seen you in a while my lovely!" This was Lisa Rhodes, a lady I hadn't seen since...well, in a long time. She was my mum's best friend, practically family. She dashes round to meet me on the other side of the desk. She grasps me in a bear hug and I smile wide.

"I'm just going to go..." Cooper says probably a little confused. "See you around Maya" I turn and wave at Cooper and Lisa takes my face in her hands as if she can't quite believe I was there. She kisses my forehead and then arrests me into a hug once again.

"I'll just go and get your timetable." She releases me and shoots back round the desk and prints off my timetable from her computer on her desk. "You've only got 20 minutes until break so I'm going to kidnap you for the remainder of period 1. How about I give you a tour?" She speaks predominantly to herself. She takes my freshly printed timetable and gets up from her chair. She looks at the room for my next lesson and reads the information to me whilst walking. "English with Mr Brady in room 36." I scrunch my eyebrows and then it dawns on me.

"Is that Cooper Brady's brother?"

"Yes, I believe so..."