The Only Hope For Me Is You

Chapter 3

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

I moaned. This is too early. I threw my stuffed dog Toffee onto the alarm clock and it shut off. I stretched and twirled in my blankets until I fell out of my bed, commencing my everyday morning ritual. I zombied into the bathroom across the hall and did all my necessary girl things which I shall not be describing because privacy is a virtue(I'm pretty sure I've heard that somewhere).

Looking into the mirror, I groaned. My face emphasized what I called a zombie. My face was pale, my eyes were red, and I had bags under bags under my eyes. That's what I get for crying myself to sleep last night. I'm not the type to wear make-up to school but today just screamed the necessity of it. After applying a foundation and blush to give color to my face, I said what the hey, and added eyeliner, mascara, and black eye shadow. Maybe looking pretty for my first day of school wasn't such a bad thing after all. It's not like I'll be making a habit out of it. I fixed up my long dark brown hair as best as I could. Sometimes that thing had a mind of it's own.

I was grateful for the uniform that Feely paid to be tailored. It was a navy blue jumper with a badge that said "Our Lady of Grace" and had a skirt that ended up above my knee. It fit my body perfectly.

After finishing up in my humble abode, I grabbed my bag and went downstairs to make myself some breakfast.I I popped a poptart in the toaster and waited for it to heat. Sitting on the counter I realized with an cry my mother wouldn't make me her famous chocolate chip pancakes anymore. It's a silly thing to be so worried about, but the little things like that mattered.

The house was exaggeratingly quiet, I realized. Especially for someone like me, who had grown up in a full house. My hand could get caught in the toaster setting it aflame with the rest of my body and I could die right now without anybody knowing abbout it until who knows when! That is if Feely decides to show up. By then my body would be decomposed with maggots and flies all over me. I'd just have to get used to the deep silence.

Suddenly the bus pulled up in front startling me from my reverie. I snatched the poptart with a napkin and ran outside, almost forgetting to lock up. I gotta remember that I'm a single lady living practically by myself. The bus driver stared at me with impatience as I struggled up the steps. Here I go.

There I stood in the middle of the aisle. Every eye was on me. I stared to the left and right of me to look for an available seat. How could it be that every seat was taken!? The bus lurched forward automatically forcing me to grab on to dear life to the front seat. And then I spotted it. A vacancy at the back of the bus.

I walked down the aisle careful not to stare or step on anyone as I made my way to the empty spot. I was surprised to find someone sitting on the window seat when I got there. He was sitting slouched reading a comic book with his knees up on the back of the seat in front of him. He had golden brown hair that stuck to his forehead, glasses on the hook of his nose, and uncommon hazel eyes. He hadn't noticed me until I spoke.

"Hi, can I sit here? Well, all the other seats are taken so I really have no choice, but it's nice to be nice so please don't make me beg." I added with a nervous chuckle.

"Sure." He shrugged annd went back to his comic book.

I sat putting some space between me and him. There's no need to be to creep the boy out after I've invaded his territory.

"So what's your name? You're a face I've never seen before." he said, startling me as I expected him to ignore me the whole bus ride to school.

"Frannie Fernandez. What's yours?"

"My name's Mkey Way. Nice to meet you." He held his hand out and we shook it. I had to try hard to keep from bursting out laughing. Who did that? Oh yeah, old people. I have a feeling I'm gonna like this kid.

"What's that you're reading?" I asked with genuine curiosity on my face.

"Oh..uh..it's uh..a comic book..about batman..not really interesting, I know." he said reluctantly.

"Are you kidding me? I love comic books!"

"Really?" surprise mingling in with his voice.

"No."

We both chuckled.

"Figures. So where ya from?"

"New York...the bustling, dirty city New York."

"Really? So how in the world did you end up in Belleville, New Jersey out of all places?"

Oh, my family died. Yeah right. "Uhh..just college stuff..." I said, thinking about yesterday's conversation with Feely. "Heeeeey, I can't believe it hadn't crossed my mind, but what grade are you in?" I hastily changed the subject.

He noticed the change but decided not to comment on it. Nice kid. "I'm in tenth. You?"

"Really? Kudos! Me too! Dude, that is such a relief...I'm sorry to be a burden on you, but could you show me around? Tell me what not to do and give me tips...you could be my personal Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide!"

He obviously didn't seemed pleased with the idea. Suddenly I was filled with self-cosciousness. Maybe I'm not as appealing as I thought I was. Is it that I come on too strong? Do I smell? What if I forgot to put on deodorant this morning...Maybe if I take a whiff really quickly...

 He quickly diminished my fears as he said,"I'm not really the coolest guy to hang around with if you hadn't noticed already." As if to emphasize his statement, he pushed his glasses up. "So trust me when I say that you're better off never speaking to me again when we get off this bus."

I smiled. So this is how it was going to be. "Oh, I get it."

"You do?" He said with a hint of sadness.

"Yeah. I do." Silence. "You don't want to be seen walking around with a girl like me! Trying to let me down easily..hmph! The nerve! Well you know what, smart guy?! You won't be able to get rid of me that easily!!!" And with that I made a symbolic movement of linking our hands together. It was really hard for me not to laugh.

He was beaming with gratitude until he quicky masked it with a sarcastic smile. "Damn, I knew it wasn't going to be easy getting rid of you." He made as if he were about to throw himself out the window but I "pulled" on the "chain" "linking" our hands causing him to sit down. He then shot himself with his thumb and forefinger.

And that was the start of a beautiful friendship.

"