Pro Guardian - (B.M.)

Chapter 03

Little Birdie

They'd been travelling for a while, and the automobile was rather silent. Elianne described the silence as "pleasant." Margot and Sam were chatting about the many types of conditioners they used as strong pop music was playing in the background. As dozens of automobiles passed by, Billy gazed out the window.

And she was sketching quietly in her notebook. Elianne always loved drawing, it was her safe haven, an attempt to get away from all of the stressors at school. It was never something she'd want to share with anyone. Her drawings were intimate. The only person who had ever seen her sketchbook before was her Mother. The last time, about a year ago.

"What's that light?" Billy asked suddenly, pointing over to the front of the van. He caught the attention of the other people in the car.

Rachel looked to where he was pointing and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, that? That thing's been on forever."

Margot interrupted, looking worried. "Wait, your warning light is on?"

Elianne finally caught a peek at whatever was keeping everyone's attention, noticing that the orange flashing light was indeed, the warning signal. "I think you⸺ "

"It's a really old car, it kind of just . . . Does things sometimes."

"It just does things sometimes?" Margot repeated, not the slightest convinced.

Billy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Do you want us to stop and deal with it even though we're already running late?"

Margot crossed her arms and silence overtook the car once again. Some moments later, she started another conversation. "Don't you think it's interesting, Miss Stevens, that we spend almost every day together, and we talk about so many different things, but we don't really know each other?"

"Yes, I suppose that is interesting, Margot," the teacher responded with her attention on the road ahead. "But that's all about being human, isn't it? I suppose we can't exactly learn to know each other until we start a conversation, huh?"

"We don't really know each other," Elianne added, "I mean, not really. We're all our own person waiting to be discovered, I suppose."

Miss Stevens nodded. "Right you are, my dear."

Nobody said anything else, and Margot chose to just not continue the conversation.

Through her peripheral vision, Elianne saw Billy's attention on her, but she didn't think much of it. He was most likely only glancing out her window for a few moments.

"Your sketchbook. Can I see it?" he asked.

"Are you kidding? Of course, not!" she almost yelled, quickly shutting her book away from his prying eyes.

"What ⸺ why?"

"Because . . ." she said, looking at anywhere but him. "It's sacred."

This time, he was the one who was confused. "Uh, sacred?"

"Uh-huh. Like, something special. I'm sure you have something like that in your life, too."

He thought about it for a second before motioning towards the blue pullover that he was wearing. "Does my hoddie count?" 

"Um, I guess? I don't know . . . To each's own, right?"

"To each's own," he repeated, tilting his head back in amusement. His moment of peacefulness only lasted but a second when Rachel had suddenly cursed loudly from the front and the car came to an abrupt stop on the side of the road.