Middle School Heroes

Chapter 39 - Going Home and Healthy Paranoia

Skye and Diana were woken up by a knock on their door the next morning about two hours after Skye had fallen asleep. She noted that Diana didn't look any more rested than she did.

"Are you ready to face everyone?" Diana asked her while they were packing up their bags.

"No, not really. I'm thinking about just going back to my room and curling up in my bed, if we're being honest."

"I don't think that is going to be possible," Diana replied.

After lunch, Professor Coulson showed up with one of the school mini busses to take them back. Although she was bouncing off the walls with nerves, Skye was the first to load her bag and take a seat. Brock had reverted to his habit of sitting alone and not talking to anyone, so she was surprised when he got on the bus and sat in the empty seat beside her, even though all the other seats on the bus were available, and nobody really needed to share a row. They sat in silence as the others began loading up.

Skye twisted and moved around in her seat, trying to relax and get comfortable as the bus finally began to move. She was surprisingly nervous about what returning to school was going to be like, and that was causing an uncomfortable fluttering feeling in her stomach. The fact that Brock kept glancing over at her and frowning wasn't helping at all. "What are you looking at?" She finally grumbled at him.

"Do you want me to move?" She recognized the cautious look on his face as one that he got when he expected her to start yelling at him only he didn't look amused by it this time.

"No," she replied a little more quickly than she probably should have. "I'm just tired and a little nervous about going back, I guess. I'll be fine."

He let out a little sigh, which Skye thought might have been relief. "Did you sleep at all last night? You look exhausted."

"Gee, thanks a lot," she scowled at him. "No. Very little sleep. Maybe two hours? There was a lot going on in my head. Pretty sure from looking around at everyone else that I wasn't the only one either."

"I didn't mean to.....Sorry........You look.......Ugh. Never mind." His look of frustration gave way to a sudden smile as he changed the direction of the conversation. "I imagine that we were all awake a while. The fact that Clark snores wasn't helping me any," he said a little louder than normal.

Skye smiled at that. "Wow. So he does have at least one flaw? Good to know he's human." Realizing what she said, they both laughed.

"Did I hear my name mentioned back there? I have excellent hearing, you know." Clark, who was sitting in the middle of the bus, yelled back to them.

"Yeah, I was just explaining to Skye how our room sounded like a freight train was going through it while you were asleep," Brock shouted back causing everyone to erupt in laughter.

"Mom used to hate going camping with us because she said my snoring sounded like a bear was sniffing around the campsite. My Dad would always argue that my snoring probably kept the bears away from our site. You're welcome, Rumlow, for keeping bears out of our room." Clark, who was laughing the loudest of everyone, replied.

"So what do you guys think? Should we start a group sing-a-long? Isn't that what people do on road trips? 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, or something?" Scott suggested from his seat in the front of the bus.

"Ahem...." Professor Coulson cleared his throat loudly.

"I'm sure he meant milk, A.C.!" Skye giggled.

Anna Marie groaned loudly. "Oh no. Mah parents used to like to sing on trips. Ah always hated it. How about we have quiet time instead?"

"Probably a better option. Singing isn't one of my many natural talents," Scott laughed.