Highschool Sweethearts (Melanie Martinez, K12)

Wheels on the Bus

It was a new year, which meant new opportunities...especially for Aisha. She was an 18 year old that was being sent to a new high school, in the last year for that matter. It being a boarding school did not help against her nerves for this new chapter of her life. To say she was scared was an understatement.

As she packed the last set of clothing in her suitcase, she walked downstairs to find that her mother was nowhere to be found. A sigh of disappointment, but not necessarily of surprise escaped her lips as she saw a note on the kitchen table;

"Be good at K-12. I'll see you."

And so she carried on to the bus stop, dragging her suitcase behind her and nodding along to the music playing through her earphones. Aisha had never been the anxious type, most of the time she handled situations quite carefully head-on. However, as she saw the bright pink K-12 school bus turn the corner, she could feel her heart beating profusely in her chest. This was it.

As the bus came nearer she heard the yelling and exclaiming of kids and she forced a smile on her lips. Fake it till you make it, as they say. She paused her music and stepped into the bus as the driver opened the door. He gave her a look of impatience along with a scowl as she greeted him and she grimaced.

The bus driver was not a potential ally, noted.

When Aisha looked in the K-12 bus, she was surprised to find all the yelling and screaming had stopped and all her fellow students were looking back at her with a hint of confusion. She understood she was the new kid and that that took some getting used to, but right then she wanted to run out of the bus and take a cab to K-12...she would even run if she could. However almost being swept off her feet by the bus moving dragged her back to reality. She had to find a seat.

Looking around the bus she made eye contact with some people, some nicer than others. Nobody struck her as particularly inviting and just before she sat alone in the front seat someone caught her eye. A girl, around her age hazelnut brown eyes and a small smile on her lips.

Aisha was smitten. Instantly.

She didn't know whether it was the girl's small dimple in her cheek, her hair parted in the middle half blonde and black or just her overall interesting appearance and aesthetic, but Aisha could not keep her eyes off of the girl. A smile ghosted Aisha's lips, but before she could approach the girl she was pulled into a seat by someone else.

"Hi!" the blonde girl next to her exclaimed. "you must be the new kid right?"

Aisha nervously laughed. The girl gave her an expecting look with her head cocked to the side and her arms crossed. Her confident, and even dominant attitude made Aisha the slightest bit uncomfortable. She made her feel like she was being tested. "Yeah, I'm Aisha. Nice to meet you."

"Kelly." The other girl stated and went straight in for the hug, which surprised Aisha. "you're cute. I love your hair." Kelly played with Aisha's curls after she gave her a long inspecting look.

"...Thanks." Aisha said. She was happy to have made at least one friend in this short time.

"These are the girls," Kelly said and turned towards the girls behind them. "Lucy, Anna, Julie..."

Aisha offered them all a kind smile, but in the meanwhile her mind dwindled back to the girl she had a small interaction with earlier. She looks towards the other aisle and watched the girl engaged in conversation with her friend next to her. There was still something in Aisha that wanted to get to know the girl.

"...Oh, and this is Fleur." Kelly's voice brought Aisha back to the situation.

She looked over and saw the brunette girl Kelly was referring to. She had a shy look on her face and Aisha thought the girl had a kind appearance. She offered the girl a small wave which she returned with a smile.

"Yeah, she doesn't say much." Kelly said and turned back around, guiding Aisha to do the same. She caught a look of hurt in Fleur's eyes after Kelly's words and it bothered her a bit.

Kelly went on telling her a whole story about some Brandon which she only half-listened to. The new girl was instead looking around the school bus and was quite shocked at how wild some of the kids were being. Some things she saw them doing she only ever saw in movies, or music videos or something.

The boys in the back were yelling, and laughing loudly. In the other aisle Aisha saw a couple whispering, showing way too much PDA....she could even swear that she saw their hands wandering to places they shouldn't be going in this situation. To top it all off, she caught glimpse of a joint being passed around in the back.

None of the kids were being secretive about any of it, and Aisha saw the driver seeing it in the rear view mirror. His only reaction seemed to be a small smirk when a random boy put his bare ass on the glass, but the driver did nothing. Or at least he didn't give a fuck.

This was a very very interesting school indeed.

It felt like they had been in the bus for forever and when Aisha finally actually listened to what Kelly what seeing, she caught her saying that they were almost at K-12 but they still had to pick one more person up.

"There he is," Kelly said proudly when a tall muscular boy entered the bus.

Similarly to when Aisha entered, the bus was quiet again. However it was not with an aura of confusion, more that of fascination - from the girl's at least.

"Is that your...boyfriend, Brandon?" Aisha carefully asked Kelly as the blonde haired girl bit her lip to him.

"Boyfriend?" Kelly scoffed. "No, we just have some uhm fun."

The boy stretched at the front of the bus, flexing his muscles and Aisha had to admit..he was attractive, but not all that.

"Correct that," Kelly started again, "we have a lot of fun."

"Okay..." Aisha awkwardly laughed, not wanting to think about what Kelly meant by that.

She thought about Brandon and the aura of confidence he had, much like Kelly. Was K-12 just another ordinary high school with that one popular couple that everyone wanted to be or wanted to be with?

Thinking about it, Aisha looked around at the faces of the smitten girls looking at Brandon. Even the girl she noticed earlier was staring at him. Aisha noticed her nervously tucking her hair behind her ear as Brandon winked at her and smirked.

And although Aisha found her shy smile showing off her gapped tooth adorable, she couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit disappointed that the smile was directed to this Brandon guy.

"Fucking Melanie."

Aisha looked back over at Kelly and the girl was red with anger. Aisha was almost surprised there was no smoke coming out of her ears.

"'Melanie'?" Aisha asked.

"That gap toothed bitch," Kelly exclaimed and glared at the girl. "She thinks she can take my Brandon." 

"Wow," Aisha sighed. "That was actually really mean..."

Her words went over Kelly's head as the girl perked up when Brandon saw her. "Over here!" She pointed to a seat that was already occupied and signalled for a girl to get lost...which to Aisha's surprise the girl did.

Aisha overwhelmed by Kelly's harsh words and intense attitude just rested against the window as Brandon sat down kissed Kelly's hand.

"Hey, baby. How've you been?"  His deep raspy voice elicited nothing but annoyance in Aisha now and she tuned their conversation out by starting up her music in her headphones again.

Alternating between shooting the occasional glance at 'Melanie' and staring out the window, Aisha found herself standing in front of a large building not much later. The engraved words on the front of the building read; 

"K-12 Boarding School"

And somehow Aisha found herself a little less positively excited for what was to come. But she was to make the best out of it, right?