Viper

Ch. 10

  I don't know why, but I think the heating system in the bus was fixed. Did I take off my hoodie? Never.

  A couple of my newfound (kind of) friends tried to make small talk, but no one was really in the mood to hold a conversation. If not for the constant roar of the tires spinning of the road and the rambunctious clattering of the engine, the lack of talking would be either ominous or awkward. Depends on the way you think. For me, it would be awkward. However, any sort of normal conversation with me is also awkward, so I don't think my opinion matters much.

  The only person who didn't fall under the awkward or ominous group was Ostentatious. He seemed disappointed by the lack of interaction. I suppose, with the name Ostentatious, it was to be expected. If you couldn't tell, it was in his nature to be cordial and outgoing, always wanting to be the center of attention. Not necessarily in a bad way, but in a more mature I-want-everyone-to-be-my-friend sort of way.

  You know, the more I think about Ostentatious's personality, the less I understand it.

  Thankfully, no one asked me about my arm, but I assumed I wouldn't be waiting much longer. Everyone noticed it.

  Eventually, the bus pulled into the school parking lot and lurched to a stop, throwing things that weren't secured onto the disgusting floor. I don't think the floor of the bus had ever been clean. To put it into perspective, the chewed pieces of rock-hard gum that had once been stuck to the bottom of the seats would fall off when we hit a bump. Yeah, it was bad.

  We all scrambled off the bus and into the school, awkwardly following whoever was unlucky enough to be the first one off the bus to the homeroom. When we got to the room, Ostentatious and I sat in the same seats as the day before, but everyone else sat in the Algebra 2 seating arrangments with the addition of Strike and Pas to the left of Owen and Brave.

  Our teacher hadn't arrived yet, so most of us struck up small conversations. To my surpise, Grace turned around in her seat and started talking to me like we had known each other for years and hadn't experienced some weird interactions the day before. "Hey, so I was talking to my friends that aren't in our homeroom, and they said that our class was the only one to do this weird bus-route-specific class arrangment. Isn't that weird?"

  I mumbled an answer weakly. "Uh, yeah."

  Grace gave me a worried look. I guess normal people have normal conversations. Weird. Too bad I'm not normal. She looked down at my arm and pretended (badly) to notice it for the first time. "What happened?" she asked.

  "I- uh- tripped." I nearly face-palmed.

  Grace just stared at me, unimpressed, and raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh. Sure. What really happened?"

  I glanced at Ostentatious who was slouched in his chair and scrolling on his phone (read: professionally eavesdropping). His eyes flicked up and met mine before giving a slight shrug. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

  She smirked. "Try me. I've heard some crazy things before."

  I told her what happened on the way home the day before.

  She snorted, unsuccessfully trying to hold in her laugh. "You're right; I don't believe you. I like how you tell stories, though."

  I was surprised, to say the least. Ususally, people give me weird looks or call me- other- names, if you know what I mean. "Thanks?"

  "You're welcome."

  The teacher stepped through the doors quickly and apologized for being late. He opened a book and scribbled a few problems on the whiteboard all while muttering to himself about being "late on the second day of school. Thank God, I already signed the contract."