Corruption

First Day

The back of the letter ordered the students to wait on the other side of the road that passed the wall. Layla, taking her notes from her years of home-schooling, packed her bag before outing on her outfit and heading out to her bike. Before she mounted her blue bicycle, her mother urged her to wait at the door. Rushing towards her, she held out a brown paper bag containing Layla's lunch, which she forgot. "Don't go dying of hunger on me. By the way, it's your favourite!"

"Seriously?" Layla looked in the bag to find a square-shaped object wrapped in tin foil with a banana and a bottle of water next to it. "PB and J? I thought we didn't have any peanut butter left?"

"Well, after the whole 'school' announcement, I figured we should act like a normal family for once, so I scraped enough money to get emergency supplies" her mother beamed, hugging her tightly. "Make sure you bring a rich boy home!~"

"Mum! I gotta go, see you after school!" Layla happily replied, pedalling off into the distance. Placing a part of her hair behind her ear, she remembered that she dyed it not too long ago. She smiled to herself as it flowed in the wind. The speakers on the lamposts passed by on every street, making her wonder why they were there.

When she got to her destination, she realised that leaving her bike there would probably mean it would get stolen or damaged. Whatever, she thought, she stole it first and someone'll steal it back. Throwing her bike on the floor, she waited for her supposed "bus" to pick her up. Glancing upwards, she recognised her famous artwork had been changed slightly. Instead of saying:

"DANGER: RICH PRICKS LIE AHEAD"

It said:

"DANGER: PRICKS LIE AHEAD" 

Someone had spray-painted over the word "rich" in black which only made Layla snicker, before hearing the bus arriving from some distance off. 

It was a tall, double-decker bus that was matte black all around. Even the windows were blacked out. However, when the door opened, she could barely hear the man driving the bus because of how much noise was on the inside. Layla stepped on the bus and was greeted by every teenager she had ever seen in her neighbourhood, which wasn't much since there was at least one space left on the bus.

On the middle row, the space left was next to an average-looking boy. He had brown hair that spiked up slightly with hazel eyes and a round-ish face. His skin was slightly tanned and his outfit almost matched Layla's, just in different colours. He had a red shirt and blue hoodie with the sleeves rolled up slightly with a string bracelet on his left wrist. He sat with his fist in his cheek as he stared out the window, ignoring the ruckus of noise going on around him.

Layla reluctantly took a seat next to him, resting her head on the headrest of the chair and finding it extremely comfortable. Sighing a bit, she could feel his gaze on her. She was right. He was looking her up and down and looked away when she caught him.

"What're you lookin' at?" she threatened slightly.

"You. What else?" he grinned, giving her the side-eye.

"There's the window, look there" she spat back.

"Nah. Besides, this way gives me a better view. Where you from, emo girl?"

"First of all, not emo. Second of all, what's it to you?"

"Just want to know where my future girlfriend is from"

Layla scoffed. "Yeah, right. I'll be your girlfriend when pigs fly and the rich shits give us charity"

"Calm down, jeez. Can't take a joke? At least tell me your name"