Say What Now?!

Chapter 3: North Direction

Chapter 3: North Direction

To prove I'm right, I put it in a song

〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷〷◠‿◠〷

The bus bumped along beneath us, and as I hummed along to INXS (just about the only band I knew and listened to), Lily attempted to make conversation.

"Aren't you excited?"

Baby, don't cryyyyyyyy.

"Oh my gosh, I really can't wait, I mean, can't this bus go any faster?"

Baby, don't cryyyyyyy.

"EEP! How long do you think till we get there? I'm so excited!"

Baby, don't cr-

"Mendyyyyyyyy!"

"What?" I snapped, pulling an earphone out.

She pouted and crossed her arms.

"You weren't listening to me!"

"No shit, sherlock," I mumbled beneath my breath.

Seeing that Lily was still expecting an answer, I checked my watch: half past two.

"It's at least another hour before we get there, Lily. And then the concert is almost three hours after."

She looked diappointed and retrieved a lollipop (of all things) from her bag. She licked at it slowly, her eyes drifting out of the window. I stared at her. Did she realise that you were supposed to such lollipops? By the looks of it, no. Seeing me staring, she thrust out the lolly towards me, with an uncanny resemblance to a toddler.

"Want a lick?"

"I'll pass."

"OK!"

I played the music again, but before the song could even end, Lily was tapping on my shoulder.

"What?"

"Don't you want to talk about One Direction?"

"Well, not particularly."

"How could you not want to talk about One Direction?"

"Am I desperate to talk to you about INXS?"

"Who?"

"INXS."

"Who's that?"

"For God's sake."

Realising that I had no intention of explaining who one of the best bands in the world was, she resumed the licking of her lolly. Then began tapping her foot. Tap. Tap, tap. T-t-tap. Tap. Tap. I glared at her.

...

Tap. Tap, tap. T-t-tap. Tap. Tap.

"Will you stop that?"

"Oh sorry."

Within five minutes, she had started humming, and to make it worse, singing.

"That's what makes you beautiful! Mmmm, mmm, mmm. Oh that's what makes you beautiful!"

I turned up my music and slouched in my seat miserably. The whole bus, which was virtually empty, soon had it's eyes fixed on Lily in annoyance. How embarrassing. And to put the cherry on top, she started dancing, if that's even possible seated on her chair, holding a lolly to her face (lick, sing, hum, lick, sing, hum), whilst the bus jolted around.

"Can you please sit still?"

"Sure!"

"And not sing?"

"Oh! Why n-"

"Or hum either."

"Oh."

Peaceful, enjoyable, silence.

"Can I whistle?"

"Most certainly not."

"How about clap?"

"Why on earth do you want to clap?"

"I'm bored!" She wailed.

"I'm irritated, but I'm not complaining."

For the third time, I slipped my ears phones in and for a while, there was peace. Of course, peace and quiet isn't in the package deal with Lily, more like a tonne of annoyance and childishness. She pulled an earphone out and said loudly:

"I'm tired! Can I rest my head on your lap whilst I sleep?"

I gave her a look.

Which she clearly didn't understand.

"What? Can I?"

"No, don't ever ask me that question again."

"Why?"

"Don't ask."

"Whaaaaaaaaat?"

"Lisa, just please, sit still, be quiet, don't hum, don't sing, don't whistle , don't clap. Just be silent, sit still, and wait."

She looked horrified to say the least.

So we sat in silence, me with my earphones in, Lily with her lollipop gradually disintergrating, and as we arrived at the first stop - not our stop either - just about everybody on the bus got off. And I don't think it was because it was their stop either.