Escaping Death [Watty Awards]

Chaper 14-Gabriel

Chapter 14-Gabriel

There weren't many students when we arrived but Gwen and I quickly loaded our belongings and got up onthe bus.  Kyle and Tammy were already on the bus and had a few available seats surrounding them.  At the sight of Gwen, Tammy got this huge grin on her face and motioned for us to sit in the seat directly adjacent to her.  Kyle also seemed surprised to see Gwen but his surprise turned into a smile once he saw how happy Tammy was.

"Hey!  I'm so glad you guys made it."  Tammy said enthusiastically.  "We're still waiting for Tristan and Molly.  If they don't get here soon they'll probably have to load up on the other bus."

"Where are they?"  Gwen asked.  I was happy that she was trying to be friendly and engage in conversation with them.  She seemed interested and not indifferent like before.

Kyle shrugged.  "Who knows.  Probably running late as usual.  Those two were never running on time no matter how hard they tried."

"That's true."  Both Tammy and Gwen said at the same time.  It resulted in both girls laughing and hugging each other.

"Oh, how I've missed you!"

"I missed you, Tams.  I'm sorry for acting like such a-"

"Umm...witch?"  Tammy offered as a choice of word.  We all knew that was not what Gwen intended to say.

"Well...yeah."  She said uneasy.

"It's okay."  Tammy said shrugging it off.  "I forgive you."  She smiled which in turn made Gwen smile.  She elbowed Kyle in the ribs.  "Right?"

He rubbed his side with a mock hurtful expression.  "Huh?  Oh yeah...right."

Tammy rolled her eyes and disregarded Kyle's cluelessness.

Molly and Triston arrived a few minutes before the buses were to depart.  In our bus, the seat had already filled up in less then half an hour.  There were no more seats so they couldn't come on our bus.  Tammy was a bit upset over this but was more happy that Gwen was here.  They were talking like they used to and the causal observer would never have guessed that they had stop talking in the first place.  There was no sign of a bruise in their friendship.

The trip was about six hours, give or take.  After the first two hours Gwen and Tammy fell silent.  Tammy had fallen asleep, resting her head on Kyle's shoulder.  Kyle was listening to music from his ipod and looking out of the window.  Gwen was restless sitting next to me.  She could never be seated for more than an hour; especially doing nothing.  She absolutely hated it.  I put my hand on hers and whispered, "Only a little while to go."  She squeezed my hand back and smiled.

It reminded me of when Gwen and I were younger.  Our parents would take weekend trips down to the lake I would tell her the same thing I told her now.  It would have the same effect on her as it did now.  She stopped fidgeting and leaned her head on my shoulder and quickly fell asleep.  I listened to the soft breathing and the occasional murmur of her talking in her sleep.  She looked so peaceful when she slept, like everything that was worrying her disappeared.

*****

"Gwen?"  I said quietly.  "Gwen."  I gently shook her to wake up.

"Yeah?"  She asked slowly not lifting her head from my shoulder.

She didn't sound like she had just woken up.  I asked, "Were you sleeping?"

"Umm...maybe."  She said trying to sound sneaky.

"Uh-huh."  I said laughing.  "Well, were you comfortable?"

"Yes.  I fell asleep for a while but I've been awake for a bit now."  She confessed.