Traumatised

I've survived my midterms, which is a good thing, but I'm not looking forward to full days of classes again.

This morning was quite an experience.

I drifted in and out of sleep for q. some time, with my subconscious flitting from one otherworldly storyline to another [at one point I was definitely describing a dream I had just had to Becky Kauffman's older brother in German]. I finally woke up around 9:45 and read a chapter or two of Lucky. I showered, ate breakfast, and left for the bus stop. [My mater was at a doctor's appointment, so she couldn't drive me to school.] On the way there, I heard someone calling my name. I turned around and saw Julia Black, who lives behind me and with whom I used to be close friends. We don't really talk anymore, but we both had not taken the afternoon bus for midterms before and we weren't sure what time it came, so our mutual plight brought us together.

We walked to Maple & Spear, which was a block away from our normal bus stop and where I was pretty sure Allison had said the bus had picked her up. For a few minutes we waited there, but then decided the bus was not coming. We walked to Adrienne's house, which was right by the bus stop, to see if we could get a ride with her mother, and Julia knocked on the door. No one answered. We started to head back to Julia's house, so I could call and see if my mum had gotten home yet. We passed our usual bus stop on the way, and a kid was waiting there. Julia yelled and asked him if he had taken the bus before. He said he had and that the bus should be here any moment.

Julia confided that she would be more inclined to trust him if he didn't miss the bus every other morning; she said she always saw him running after the bus and that it never stopped. But we waited there at the bus stop because we had no other plan of action. I hadn't had a chance to blowdry my hair, so it was still wet, and it was so cold that it literally froze. Not a fun thing. I tried to fingercomb the ice out, but that just made my fingers numb. I hadn't been able to find my gloves that morning either, which I really regretted. [When I got home, I realised my gloves were on my bedside table, where I had put them last night. So. Absent. Minded.]

The bus didn't come, but a minivan pulled up. Michelle O., my bestfriend when I was little [she's a year older than me and her sister, Sam, is a year younger— they used to live with their grandmother really nearby, and we played all the time until Julia moved in, who was my age and smarter than Michelle and Sam], was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Do you want a ride?" Michelle asked. Julia and I exchanged looks. Mimi M. [who smokes and whom I remember telling on in third grade because she stole chips from the cafeteria] was in the driver's seat. Michelle reassured us that she would be driving; she was just letting Mimi try it. Julia was leaning towards "no," so Michelle said they'd go pick up people from Mimi's house and come back to see if we still were there. We nodded and they drove off.

It was v. cold, and the bus didn't appear to be coming. Julia said she hoped they did come back, and I agreed. We huddled in the cold for some time, and then the minivan returned. Michelle was driving this time, with Mimi in the passenger seat and there were five other people in the car. There was one seat free in the back, so I got in, and Julia had to sit on my lap. As we were getting in, someone asked if we minded if they smoked. I was tempted to say "Yes, I do mind, smoking is really foul, and you'll all have lung cancer by the time you're thirty," but I refrained, and Julia said she didn't mind, but knowing Julia, I bet she did mind.

For the whole ride to school, I was deathly afraid that we would be pulled over by cops for smoking or for having too many people in the car or for some reason or another. Michelle stopped at the Mobil station to try to buy some cigarettes, but from what I could tell, they wouldn't give her any. Rap music was blaring. The guy I was sitting next to had a lighter and kept flicking it on and off. He had linked hands with the girl on his opposite side, who was "truth or dare"ing people. She dared the guy, Phil, in the seat in front of us, to hook up with the girl sitting next to him, Vanessa. When he refused, she called him a pussy repeatedly. Then she asked the guy sitting next to her, I didn't catch his name, if he was giving her a ride home. Phil told her that if a guy gives a girl a ride, she's got to give him head while he's driving. Phil also called some guy at Mobil a "Chink." A v. pleasant person, that Phil.

Mimi told the girl in the backseat to dare her, that she would do anything. The girl dared her to hook up with Phil, so she did. Then Mimi asked Phil to see his dick. He made as if to unzip his pants, and I averted my eyes, but then he said something like, "I only take it out if I'm going to get a blowjob."

Eventually, to my extreme relief, we got to school. Someone had parked in Michelle's parking spot, so she parked in a handicapped space. Julia and I thanked Michelle for the ride, then hurried into the building. The bell was about to ring in a minute; I went to my locker, put my coat in, then went up the stairs to my German class. The bell rang before I got there, but thankfully Frauie is very lenient with us and didn't even notice that I came in late, anyway.

Almeda | 27.01.03 16:56 | TrackBack