SAVING FALCON

CHAPTER FOUR

The next morning was a Monday, which meant I had to ride two filthy buses full of obnoxious country hillbilly redneck kids to school.

The weather could best be described as damp and gloomy. Storm clouds loomed overhead ominously. The people visiting the adventure parks were equipped with complimentary rain jackets from the resort, and the employees Jacklyn, Trish, Peety, and Harris were swamped with questions from all of the visitors. They wanted to know if their excursions were canceled or not, what the weather forecast was.

Jacklyn assured them that all of the activities were perfectly safe, even if they were a bit soaked. That seemed to pacify the majority of them.

"We're gonna rough it today, right team?" She called out to the crowd of people.

"YEAH!" They all chanted in reply.

Dad accompanied me on my way to the bus station. I was trying to eschew direct eye contact because I knew the guilt would not be too enjoyable. He tried to strike up a conversation with me, asking me how things were in NY and how the weather was, but I wasn't in the mood for small talk. I wasn't in the mood for any type of talk.

The fury that I had been feeling earlier had sort of abated because I felt bad for my father, but I was still annoyed. I could tell he was making an effort to keep me happy which made me feel bad about being such a nuisance to him but he should have thought it through more.

When we got to the bus stop, he didn't hug me, and he was wearing a dark navy blue shirt I had never seen him wear. He just gave me a peck on the forehead and nodded curtly to me before starting the journey back up to the main lodge.

The first bus wasn't provided by the school system, it was just public transportation, so there weren't any other kids my age on the bus. I ended up choosing an isolated seat in the back where I could stare out the window undisturbed.

The route was narrow and surrounded by dense vegetation that grew on the mountain.

I observed all of the different trees with all their textures and colors. It was sort of soothing in a sense.

When I exited the first bus a half hour later, my posterior (AKA BUTT) was already sore and chafed from bouncing around on a hard plastic seat for so long. Fortunately, the public school system bus had thin cushioning which helped.

The bus was congested with kids. All with thick southern accents. The only thing that could be heard in the commotion was "Y'ALL DID WHAT?" And "NAW, YA AIN'T".

I found myself crammed in between a chubby squat boy with ginger hair and a tall lean girl with blond hair and freckles.

They were both trying to converse with their friends a few rows away. Shouting over the clamor. I sighed deeply and tried to focus on my feet. I was watching them bobble against the floor for the second half hour.

After what felt like an eternity of pure anguish, we finally got to the school. My eardrums felt like they collapsed. The students unloaded, pushing and shoving each other out of the bus.

I ended up tumbling over a scrawny kid. When I looked down to see who I had basically just trampled, I was horrified to see Zach. I pulled him up, totally mortified. "I'm so sorry Zach!" I told him frantically. I scrambled to pick up all of the textbooks that were scattered on the concrete.

"It's fine," he answered. He groaned as he adjusted the rims of his glasses.

I passed him the backpack with all of the supplies inside.

"How are ya Lu?"

I shrugged. "I've been better," I mumbled.

Our first periods were in two different directions. I watched him saunter off, clutching his bag close to his chest before I started on my own way.

The school day went swimmingly. I didn't receive too much homework and I found a good seat beside Zachary at Lunch Period.

I decided I should confess that he wasn't going to be coming to Falcon after all.

Zach was nibbling the edges of a peanut butter and banana sandwich when I spoke up.

"So remember my birthday this week?"

"Yeah," he replied, his words muffled by the food in his mouth.

"Well, uh my dad said that unless you can pay for your own cottage and excursion fees, you can't come," a wave of pity washed over me.

Zachary Tillis was the son of Mili Tillis and they were not wealthy, actually they were sort of indigent. I don't believe the kid has gotten a new backpack since.... as long as I've known him anyways. And he has crooked teeth that need straightening, but braces cost a small fortune so he'll be living with his misshapen teeth for a while.

He has to eat the free breakfast from the school in the mornings, and he wears clothes from the lost and found bin some days.

So it was apparent that he would not be attending my birthday.

For a second Zach looked stunned, then his expression changed. He wasn't angry, he was dissapointed. Any child who gets reprimanded regularly knows that's a thousand times worse.

I feel a pain in my gut when I see his face fall to the dirty ground.

"I'm sorry, it's just my dad is worried about the stupid money and- ",

I'm interrupted by wheezing. Zach is gasping for air aggressively.

"Asthma... Attack," he croaks, inhaling desperately.

I start digging through his lunchbox in search of his inhaler but don't find anything except some thinly sliced carrot sticks and the prepackaged lunch that the school gives out.

"Where is it?" I shouted, panicked.

"Bag-" he starts clawing at his neck.

I raced out of the cafeteria, located Zach's tattered old Jansport backpack, and dumped its contents out into the linoleum floor. His inhaler was buried at the bottom of the junk heap.

I grabbed it and booked it back to the cafeteria. I couldn't recall ever running that fast.

I basically stuffed the thing into his throat myself.

He took a dozen deep breaths, sighing in relief.

I was panting and perspiration was dripping off of me. All of the commotion had subdued, everyone was staring at me in shock.

Zach was looking around the room feeling humiliated, and I was scanning the crowd for an adult that could help Zach.

Then they all broke out into applause.

I curtsied and helped Zach get to the nurse where she could accommodate him and tried to recover as much as I could of what had fallen out of his bag, but I'm sure I missed a few of his possessions.

I had almost forgotten that I had disappointed him. I hoped he did too.