All Aboard

Part Eighteen

Dan

The collective sigh of relief the moment the doors closed behind Barney and Nav was so dramatic it was like being at a pantomime. Nav was definitely a better man than Dan was. He'll definitely go to heaven, thought Dan, or whatever version of heaven Indians have.

'Thank fuck for that!' Dan clapped his hands together and jumped up onto his knees. 'You can all come out now, munchkins, the wicked prick of the west has left the bus!'

Shaking her head, Mikaela looked up at Dan. 'Wizard of Oz? Really?'

'Everyone's seen the Wizard of Oz, Mikaela,' Dan shrugged. 'Don't give me that look.'

'I'm just surprised, that's all.' Mikaela shifted in her seat, allowing her body to relax now that she was Barney-free. She glanced at Chloe. 'Was nice of Nav to go with Barney. I seriously thought it was all going to kick off then.'

Dan, Kimberly, and Mikaela all turned to Chloe. Even Desmond poked his head out of the driver;s cab and looked at her. She tore her eyes from the spot where Nav had just disappeared down the stairs, then blinked at them all.

'What? Why are you all looking at me like that?' Chloe asked, even though there was a tell-tale flush of red creeping up her neck.

'No reason,' Mikaela said, smiling. 'Don't sit back there by yourself, Chloe, come up and sit with us.'

Chloe glanced around then picked up her bag and moved up the bus to the seat across from Kimberly.

'Jesus, my hands are shaking,' Mikaela said, holding her hands up in front of her. 'I think it's the pressure of enjoying some Barney-free time.'

Chloe and Dan laughed, and Kimberly looked down at her own hands then turned to face the front. Dan inched forwards on his seat and lifted his hand then paused, still not sure how to approach her. He'd thought being with her at her stop might have made her feel a bit more comfortable with him, so he'd tried talking to her on the way back to the bus but he hadn't got anywhere.

Kimberly hadn't shared the full story about her and the black Hollywood nerd, but Dan had fallen asleep watching Catfish a million times so he could fill in the blanks for himself. The dude obviously wasn't real, but the girl with all the makeup, Natalie, obviously was, and had made Kimberly think that whatever relationship she'd spun online was real too.

Dan had been so surprised when Kimberly yelled at him, that a silent (but violent) fart had escaped, so instead of trying to convince her to go back he thought it was best to vacate the area and get on the bus. The shouting hadn't bothered him, and if Kimberly needed to vent her hurt and anger at him instead of the chick in the mirror, then that was fine with Dan.

Kimberly

One of the benefits of spending your entire school career as everyone's favourite punch bag was that you developed a sixth sense for anticipating danger, one aspect of which was a ninja like awareness of when someone was going to touch you.

Kimberly's victim senses were tingling. She suspected that either Dan or Mikaela was about to touch her, probably on her shoulder because they were incredibly broad (or strong, as her Dad always told her). She turned around and looked into Dan's eyes as his hand hovered (just as she'd guessed) over her shoulder.

He looked at her, then at his hand, and withdrew it. 'Uh....how you doing?' he asked.

Kimberly shrugged her broad (strong) shoulders. 'Fine.'

Dan was referring to what had happened at her stop. She didn't want to get into it, definitely not in front of Mikaela, but Kimberly really was fine because she pushed what had happened down into the pit of her stomach, so it was buried in a hole underneath her breakfast and her pepperoni pizza.