"Puny, puny, Kevin Rooney," Scott repeated as he grinned at me.

"Gonna ride on the big yellow bus with the big kids, Kevin?" Brian sneered loudly at me. The whole bus was quiet except for Brian. Everyone was listening, "So we'll need to make your bus ride more memorable, won't we, Scott?"

"Yeah, that's right, Brian, memorable," Scott agreed. Actually I was surprised that Brian knew a word as big as memorable.

School was back in session already. The summer had been way too short and I had dreaded having to go back to school and face Brian the Bully again. Maybe this year he wouldn't be in any of my classes, I thought hopefully as I looked at his ugly, sneering face across the aisle from me. The one thing that made this first day of school even worse was that I had to ride the bus because Mom was helping Dad at the office. His secretary was on vacation this week so Mom wouldn't be able to take us to school or pick us up. So here I was stuck riding the bus back and forth to school for the rest of the week. That is, if I survived this week. I was trying to ignore Brian but his loud voice and huge body made the bus seem a lot smaller than it was.

I didn't have to ride the bus very often but when I did, I usually ended up with a headache after the ride. It wasn't just the jerking, head-wrenching stops that the bus constantly made or the fighting and yelling that went on all around my seat as much as it was the two tormentors sitting across from me.

Jason was sitting next to the window and I was stuck with the aisle seat. I tried not to look at Brian and Scott but they were only across the aisle from me and that distance was way too small for my comfort.

"So, Kevin, what are we going to have for lunch today? I recommend the pizza. I need the vitamins and minerals that your pepperoni will give me so that I can pummel your face into the ground properly."

Brian was already making his lunch plans. Unfortunately, they were for my lunch. He doesn't always take my whole lunch, however, sometimes he just takes certain items off my lunch tray. He must save a lot of money that way. He usually likes to take my dessert. Sometimes, though, he will take my milk, drink from it and then put it back on my tray. Gross!"

"Hey, Kevin!" Brian glanced out the window and shouted at me, "Are you sure that you are on the right bus? Maybe you should be catching the bus with those little kindergardeners out there, they look about the same age as you."

With that observation, Brian reached over and yanked me out of my seat. With Scott's help they pushed me up and out the open window of the bus. My head and arms were forced out the window and I could see some astonished faces as kids who were waiting by the road for their bus looked up as they heard my screams. They looked shocked as I struggled to get back in the bus. Brian and Scott had each grabbed a leg and were forcing me up even further.

"Knock it off, Brian! Ouch! I see a policeman over there! Ouch! You're in big trouble now!" I was shouting anything I could think of to get them to let me back into the bus.

"Brian," Jason yelled loudly from his seat, "Are you aware that you are committing a 1090?"

"Huh?" Brian looked around at Jason, "What did you say?"

"You are committing a 1090. A crime that is a felony and you can serve up to ten years in a federal prison."

"Yeah, sure," Brian laughed, "Tell it to the judge."

Well, at least Jason had tried, I thought. I tried to yell for help some more but every time I did my mouth would fill up with wind. Uh oh, I could feel a hiccup coming on."

At that moment, when I felt the hiccups rising, a police car came up behind our bus with it's siren wailing. Brian and Scott hastily pulled me back into the bus, banging my head on the top of the window. The police car had already made a left turn and was gone by the time I had managed to get back into my own seat.

My hair had been messed up by the wind and I was trying to flatten it down. My chest was hurting from where the window had become wedged against it. I turned to Jason and asked, "So, exactly what is a 1090, anyway?

"Heck if I know," Jason laughed, "But it sounded good, didn't it?"

"Hey, Brian," Scott was tugging on his shirt, "Look over there in the red sports car, babes!" Brian looked out the window at the direction that Scott was pointing. Next to the bus there were two high school girls riding in a convertible sports car with the top down. Their long, blonde hair was blowing behind them in the wind. Brian yelled out the window at them but the girls either didn't hear him or they were ignoring him. He started pulling his big, thick body out of the window. I was surprised that he could get that much of his body out of a small bus window.

"Hey, girls!" He yelled, holding his arms out wide to them, "Take me with you!" He started making kissy noises at them and puckering his lips. The girls didn't even look at him. Their car speeded up and passed the bus and, at that moment, our bus hit a pot hole. Brian's big body lost it's balance and he started to fall out of the window.

"Hey!" He shouted, "Help!"

Jason and I snickered as Brian struggled to maintain his balance. Half his body was in the bus and the other half of his body was hanging out of it. I laughed at the comical sight, feeling no remorse for Brian's situation, because I had just been in the position that Brian was in right now. All I felt was satisfaction at seeing him fear for his life.

Scott leaped up and pulled on Brian's waist Brian yelled that he was wedged against the window and Scott was making it worse. Scott pulled down on his legs as Brian pushed himself away from the window and that was when Scott pulled hard on his jeans. Brain was wearing underwear with teddy bears on it. Red and brown teddy bears. Scott looked around, uncertain whether he should be lifting up on the pants or down on Brians's legs again. Fortunately he didn't have to puzzle over this too long, Brian gave one more push and his body was unwedged and he shot back into his seat with a huge thump! Brian sat down, red as a beet.

The whole bus had watched silently, mesmerized by Brian's antics and near-fall from the bus. But when Scott accidentally pulled down Brian's pants the kids had started laughing uproariously. Jason and I laughed so hard that our stomachs had started hurting. Then, we caught the look on Brian's face as he was pulling up his pants that made us sober up. Brian, obviously, didn't think that there was anything funny at all about what had just happened.

The bus calmed down and became quiet. Jason and I looked outside at the foggy, country farmland. There hadn't been a rainfall in several weeks and the countryside all around us was becoming dry and brittle. I picked up a notebook and fanned myself with it. It was becoming hot and muggy in the bus. Actually, the wind outside the window had felt good. It was early in the morning and the air was thick with humidity and heat. I should be in my bed at home right now. I would be getting up in a couple of hours, having breakfast, playing with Jason or Goldie, or both, having lunch, playing with Jason or Goldie some more and then supper. I had had a great summer vacation but it just hadn't lasted long enough.

"Railroad tracks!" These were the first words that I had heard our bus driver say since I had gotten on the bus, "Who will be our first runner for the year?"

Several hands went up in the air.

"How about you, Kevin Rooney?" The bus driver was looking at me through the rearview mirror, "Would you like to have the honor of being our first runner of the year?"

When the school buses had to cross railroad tracks one kid was chosen by the bus drivers to get out of the stopped school bus and run over the tracks and wave for the bus to come on across. That meant that it was clear for the bus to safely cross the tracks.

I don't know why the buses did this--just that all the buses had this policy and it was a big deal to be chosen for this honor.

"Sure," I said, getting up. This was great! I would impress these kids with my swift running and ability to safely direct the bus across the treacherous railroad tracks.

I raced out of the stopped school bus. The morning sky was a dark gray. I swiftly ran over the train tracks, feeling like a great athelete. I carefully looked down the train tracks and into the distance. It was difficult to see very far because the tracks came around a curve. Since it was still early in the day the thick fog was just barely beginning to lift from the ground.

I didn't see a train coming so I waved the signal with both my arms that it was safe for the bus to cross. At that moment the train track's flashing signals came on and I heard a train whistle in the distance.

I felt a moment of panic and my heart thudded deep inside my chest as I could see a faint light emerge in the distance through the fog. I motioned with my arms for the bus to move back, but it was too late. The bus was already crossing the tracks.

Bang! The arm of the crossing bar came crashing down on the front of the bus and the driver quickly backed the bus up.

I waited miserably as car after railroad car came whizzing between me and the bus on the other side. This was one of the longest trains I had ever seen.

"Hi," A voice next to me called out.

I looked over at the car next to me and a man was smiling at me behind his steering wheel.

"Hi," I said, pretending that I always waited like this for the bus. My mother had taught me not to talk to strangers but somehow I knew this was a different sort of situation that Mom never would have thought I would get myself into.

"School's back in session again?" The man seemed to feel that he should make conversation since we were both stuck waiting for the train to finish it's journey past us.

"Yeah, it sure is," I looked at the bus, barely visible between the blurred train, looked at the man, sighed and wished I were invisible right now.

I dreaded having to get back into that bus. I wanted to get as far away from here as possible. Maybe I could run away and become a policeman. I knew it was dangerous work, but I was used to danger, especially after the morning I had just had. Maybe I didn't know much about weapons and firearms but I could be a traffic cop and direct cars and buses, I certainly couldn't do any worse than I had here. I would use all kinds of hand signals and pivot on one foot like I'd seen one cop do, looking poised and important in his uniform. I could do that. The deafening noise of the traffic and car fumes wouldn't bother me at all, and people would marvel at my dexterity and dignity.

Speaking of traffic noises, the train's last car finally flew through the intersection. The crossing arm went up and the bus slowly crossed the tracks and picked me up. With a great deal of reluctance I climbed back into the bus. The bus driver didn't look at me and didn't say anything to me as I walked past him, red-faced and sat down.

"Rough morning, Kevin?" Jason looked at me sympathetically as I sat down next to him, "I do have to tell you, though, that in all my years of riding school buses I have never seen anything like that happen before."

If Jason meant to cheer me up with that statement he wasn't doing a very good job. This had to be the most embarrassing moment in my life. I sat there silently, waiting for Brian to say something.

I gave a side glance to see why Brian hadn't said anything yet. Brian wasn't in his seat. Scott was sitting by himself looking toward the back of the bus. Brian was sitting in the back row with Suzanne Strathmore. Suzanne was a popular cheerleader and made straight A's. She was always either brushing her hair, walking with a boy or standing around with a group of girls giggling. I couldn't hear what they were saying. Every now and then Brian would say something in her ear and she would giggle.

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least now Brian would leave me alone. I looked over at Scott. Without Brian around Scott didn't konw what to do or to say. He looked lost.

BAM! A book hit me on the head!

"I said, what's your name?" Insisted a voice behind me.

Sharon Phillips was holding a school book with a piece of paper on it. She had a pencil in her other hand and she was leaning over the back of my seat looking at me.

"Why do you want to know my name?"

"Don't tell her," Jason warned me, "She's the bus monitor. She writes down names of kids who have caused trouble on the bus. She'll give it to the principal later on."

I didn't have Sharon in any of my classes last year. She didn't know me but I knew her and the reputation that she had as a teacher's pet. I was sure she would enjoy getting me into trouble--as if I needed more.

"Why don't you write down Brian's name if you want to write down someone's name?" I asked, rubbing the knot on the top of my head.

"I already have," She motioned to the paper and I could see Brian's name written down several times, "Now, I need your name."

Sharon was being very persistent.

"Beeeeeeeep!" Three seats in front of us Charles was sitting by himself and reading a book. He dropped the book and picked up a phone out of a black briefcase that was next to him, "Hello, Mother. No, Mother. I won't forget. Yes, I'll see you at three p.m." He hung up the phone and went back to his book. At least Charles was reading. He was probably reading something like "Well-Known Grave Diggers of North America". I turned around to Jason and whispered that in his ear and we both started giggling and couldn't stop.

Sharon had finally left me alone. She was busy writing down Charles' name on the piece of paper.

The school bus stopped at an intersection and I looked up to see where we were. It seemed like I had spent half my life on this bus. I saw Angela Walston looking at me. I looked at her. She smiled. I didn't. I saw her write something down on a piece of paper and she gave it to her best friend, Becky Moore. Becky looked at the name on the piece of paper and she gave it to Amber Laine who was behind her. Amber looked at the name on the note and gave it to Charles who looked at the name on the note and opened it up.

"Hey, Kevin," Charles turned around in his seat and waved the note in the air, "It seems that Angela wants to know if you have a girlfriend. What do you want me to tell her? How about that no girl would come around someone as nerdy as you?"

Charles had a lot of nerve calling me a nerd. I didn't know which I should be more mad at Charles about, his reading the note that he was waving in the air or the fact that he called me a nerd in front of the whole bus.

I was embarrassed again. Angela had turned around in her seat and her shoulders were hunched over. Well, at least I didn't need to worry about her bothering me again--ever.

I got up. I had had enough of this. I was ready to give Charles a good pounding. I couldn't take on Brian because he was twice as big as me, but I knew I had a chance with skinny little Charles.

At that moment, the bus came to a stop in front of the school. I was relieved. Sort of. I hadn't been able to defend my honor in front of Brian the bully but I knew I would have gotten in trouble for fighting on the bus if I had gotten hold of Charles.

As Jason and I were getting our book bags together, I could feel a familiar, vague pounding within my head. I would have to deal with a headache for the rest of the school day. Oh, great!

Jason and I were waiting in the aisle, ready to get off the bus when I turned to him and asked, "Why is it that the bus driver never does anything about the trouble that happens on this bus?"

Jason didn't have a chance to answer. The line of departing kids had started to move and I passed by the bus driver. He was taking his hearing aid out of his pocket and plugging it into his ear. He saw me looking at him and winked conspiratorially at me.

We finally got out of the bus and I saw Charles in front of us at the exact moment he looked behind and saw me. I made a motion like I was going to run after him. Charles gave a little shriek and ran inside the building, shoving protesting kids out of his way.

Slap! I looked behind me and saw Suzanne turn her back on Brian, stomping away from him in a rage. He was holding his cheek and scowling. Well, it took a girl to do it but at least Brian was getting what he deserved. I wonder if it was something he had said? Jason and I laughed.

"Just think, Kevin," Jason said as we walked into the school building, "You get to do this all over again this afternoon."

Jason sure did know how to ruin a school morning.

Go back to Chapter 9
Go back to Chapter 8
Go back to Chapter 7
Go back to Chapter 6
Go back to Chapter 5
Go back to Chapter 4
Go back to Chapter 3
Go back to Chapter 2
Go back to Chapter 1
Go to Chapter 11
Go to Chapter 12
Go to Chapter 13
Go to Chapter 14
Go to Chapter 15
Go to Chapter 16