Cherry and the Cyber Chase

chapter 2

 After a cheesy spaghetti dinner, about a week later, it was time to visit Jessica in her school. Oddly enough, when Atticus and Patch were on the way to the local bus, they saw someone familiar getting on the bus as well.

"Atticus, isn't that Cherry?" Patch noticed.

"Yeah, I think so." Atticus said.

Atticus and Patch weren't totally sure, but certain, they were in line to get on the bus and saw Cherry really was in front of them.

"Cherry, what are you doing here?" Patch asked.

Cherry blinked, surprised to see them, but answered their questions. "I've signed up for an experiment after a tour here for when I graduate high school. After my tour, about a month later, I'm going to be helping with a project called 'Hell House' with some other students to study insomnia with the professor."

"That sounds interesting." Atticus said.

They kept walking along. Cherry then saw there was a NO PETS sign, so she quickly told Atticus to hide Patch so Atticus wouldn't get in trouble for bringing the Dalmatian puppy along. Atticus quickly hid the Dalmatian puppy in his backpack. Cherry and Atticus kept walking along to get on the bus and make their way for the college they would be visiting.

"This is so exciting." Atticus said.

"Yeah..." Cherry said, she was interested, but a little tired.

"Oh, I can't wait to see Jessica again, it's been so long." Atticus said.

"Don't worry, the holidays aren't too far away, she'll be back soon..." Cherry said as she leaned her head against the window, looking very exhausted like she could fall asleep any minute now.

"Still, I can't wait to see her and her video game." Atticus said.

The bus ride took about an hour because of stops and getting new people on and off. But it didn't take too long until the bus finally stopped.

"Last stop, everybody out!" the driver called once they arrived to the institute where Jessica and many other students attended.

"Sorry Patch..." Cherry said softly as she put Patch back in Atticus's backpack so they wouldn't get in trouble for having an animal on board the bus.

"It's alright, let's just get to Jessica's school and off the bus." Patch said.

Cherry and Atticus left, the driver sneezed a little and rubbed his nose as they passsed by, but closed the bus doors to get back to the bus station. The two went along, but allowed Patch's head to pop out from the backpack as they walked along the sidewalk and into the school Jessica was in with her friends/classmates/colleagues. 

"What's Jessica majoring in?" Cherry asked.

"I think child care..." Patch asked, not for sure himself as he didn't fully understand the programs. "She really loved to babysit the neighbor kids whenever she would be home from school or not spending the weekend with her friends."

"I think it's with game programming." Atticus said.

"HEY!" a portly security guard stopped them and walked over. "Where do you think you're goin'?"

"We're visiting my sister," Atticus replied. "She's a student here."

"Not if you're not on my list." the guard sneered at them.