The parent project - Chenry

Chapter four: The bus ride to hell

I don't know why I felt shocked. Maybe it was the fact that we had all known each other since pre-school. Or maybe because Jasper and Charlotte were actually touching lips, and probably tongues at the back o he bus that very moment I chose to look backward at them. This was all probably an act, some kind of sick joke Charlotte wanted to play on me as a way of getting into my head, but as I continued to stare at them and the way they stared at each other when Jasper had finally drawn back far enough for me the edge of Charlotte's jawline, I realized it was very much real. This wasn't a joke, nor had it ever been. This was serious. I retracted into my seat like a slinky spring, and Bianca's arm resumed around my neck as if I had never moved. I lifted my gaze up to Avery and Janette. The closeness of both girls leaning over the edges of their seats to speak to Bianca felt desperate, and needy. I was embarrassed for them. She was my girlfriend, and yet, sitting their I had not one urge to listen to a single thing coming out of her mouth at that moment. I heard snatches, bits, and pieces.

"-So gross."

"Oh my god, ew."

"-Making out with Jasper."

"-What? You're fucking kidding?"

Bianca whipped up faster than morning wood to rivet her attention to the back of the bus, and I stood with her to look behind us again. Were they still kissing? Did they even see us? Did they realize they were in a public bus and that shit was disgusting? I tried to cure the bitterness from my thoughts as I reminded myself that I hated Charlotte's very existence. We were no longer friends, and far be it from me that I gave a damn about who she kissed, when, where and why. The front of the bus had been completely oblivious, since couples of the class had been trading kisses on and off for the past 20 minutes. Bianca wasn't so subtle among the small audience that was already watching them.

"Could you be any more of a slut, Charlotte Bolton!"

She called across the aisle, but they didn't look up. They acknowledged nobody but each other. My chest tightened up. 

"B-"

"What?"

"Can you maybe- not."

"What do you mean?"

"Like-"

Coughing into my fist, I glanced around us, scratching the back of my neck as I nearly whispered to her. 

"Tone it down... a little?"

Bianca's eyes narrowed within half a millisecond and I braced myself for her to turn fangs on me. 

"Tone it down?"

She repeated. Her tone was so sharp I rubbed the palm of my hand over my throat to check for signs of a cut, feeling as if I was about to be lead away to the room where they gave lethal injections. 

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing!"

"You've never wanted me to "Tone it down" before... what the fuck is your deal Henry? You don't want me to embarrass your little friend?"

Bianca was now speaking loud enough for people three rows over to turn their heads in our direction and lose interest in their own conversations. This didn't need to be as big as she was blowing it up to be, which was something that I'v always irritated me about Bianca. She needed to be the center of attention in whatever situation she had planted herself in the middle of. 

"Just... calm down."

"No, no, no-"

The no's rushed out of her mouth like an unstoppable tennis ball machine. A deep dread began filling my head up until I thought it would explode.