I Am Ethan Stone

Emma

     Middle school. What a time to be alive. She was sitting in math class with her big glasses, pencil in hand. "13.8!" she called out. She was one of the smartest girls in the class. And her name was Emma. 

    Emma was not only the smartest girl in in the class, but she was one of my best friends. She wore her light blonde hair in a ponytail, and her eyes were a soft shade of green. We did everything together. From going on trips to the park, to studying for Blanny's class.

Blanny was what we called our history teacher. He would give us a list of 50 words the day before a quiz to study. Words we hadn't even heard of in our life. He always says we're going no where in life if we can't pass his class, even though he passes out A's like they're going out of style. But Emma would always be my partner in crime.

6:45 my alarm went off. Moaning and groaning I managed to pull myself out of bed. I had 20 minutes to eat breakfast, brush my teeth, get dressed with my lunch in my backpack and be out the door at my busy stop by 7:00 am.

     Bus #14, or as it's referred to as "the Caterpillar bus." I had a square frame, with mirrors that went up, and dangled from the top of the bus. It was really long, and picked up some surprisingly well behaved middle school students. I was always one of the first stops in the morning, and I always sat behind that push down emergency exit seat. I sat alone, listening to music with my earbuds, until the 3rd stop before school. That was Emma's stop. The house was fairly new and so was she. But to me it feels like I've known her my whole life.

     The bus stopped, and I poked my head out, like I did every morning. It's just something I do out of habit. I sit in the same seat everyday why wouldn't she be able to find me? I'm an overthinker. It's what I do best. She briskly walked towards me and sat down. "Hey Ethan!" She said. "Hey Emma, guess what my mom got me for my birthday?" I responded. "What?" "A kayak!" Her face lit up, and she wrapped her arms around me.  "Oh my god that's so awesome! We should take it out this weekend." "I'm down." And then the bus made its way to school.