The alarm clock wasn’t what woke her up. Hayley slapped the thing irritatedly. After a hit from the exhausted teenager, the device went silent, as it had done several times that morning. Hayley made a yawn. Her consciousness vague, she eyed the numbers on the handle.

It took her several seconds to process the time. Her eyes widened. It was seven twenty in the morning. And school started at eight o’ clock. Hayley made another yawn.

For any respectable child, seven twenty may be a late time to wake up on a school day. It was late enough for many people to panic, but Hayley was not affected. Her face puffy and filled with low energy, she trudged up to her closet and took out her school uniform. It only took her a few minutes to put it on- Hayley had decided to get pants with her uniform for a reason. Stockings could take longer than five minutes to put on properly.

Hayley shoved her pencil case into her bag and tried to remember if there was anything that she forgot to put in there. She couldn’t recall much, but she suspected that once she arrived at her classroom she would regret it. Sadly, time never waited for anybody.

“Not having breakfast again?” Her mom called from the kitchen. Hayley looked up to see her little brother shoveling spoonfuls of porridge into his mouth. She shook her head. Hayley wasn’t very hungry. Besides, it wouldn’t be her first time missing breakfast. She was used to it.

Her mom sighed as if she knew that would be her reply.

Hayley looked at the clock. It was seven thirty, and the bus arrived at seven thirty five.The bus stop was around five minutes away, it would take less than three if she ran. She wouldn’t be late.

Hayley put on her sneakers and wrapped her hair up in a quick ponytail. She didn’t want to waste time combing or washing up. She had taken a shower last night anyway, and Hayley didn’t have many friends to care about her looking like a broken cream puff in the morning.

And anyway, she thought, even if she did have friends, she cared more about her report card than friendship, which was apparently fragile enough to shatter with some bed hair in the morning.

She had seen it happen. Friends separating over silly things like that. Hayley didn’t take it too seriously. Unless it was a group project, having friends was rarely helpful. On the contrary, it tied people down. Made it hard for people to distinguish between work and play.

After running to the bus, she heaved a breath. It was seven thirty three. There were still two minutes until the bus would arrive. Hayley waited, her head tilted towards the street.

The bus would arrive at her school at seven fifty three or so. School started at eight ten. Everything was back on track, just like every other morning.

Hayley stepped on the bus, paid the fare, and then promptly plopped into an empty seat. There were only a few seats left, but she was somehow lucky enough to find a seat at the windowsill without anyone on it.

The bus started moving. Hayley closed her eyes.

“Um, can I sit here?” Hayley opened her eyes again, her eyes panicked for a couple of seconds. She almost fell asleep on the bus, which was a horrible thing to happen. She could accidentally miss her stop, and then she would be late for school. Landmines were everywhere.

She relaxed as she saw the person who asked the question.

It was a girl around her age, and she was wearing the same uniform Hayley was wearing. They were from the same school, which meant she hadn’t missed her stop. Hayley looked out the window to notice the familiar scenery, and she calmed down. She must have only dozed off for a couple of seconds.

I’m still in the clear, she told herself.

“Um, sure.” Hayley answered the girl’s question. It was a public bus. Of course she could sit next to her. It wasn’t like Hayley owned the bus seat or anything. The girl sat down, and Hayley fidgeted a little, suddenly starting to feel awkward.

“Thank you.” The girl smiled. Her skin was slightly tanned, and her hair was dark chocolate with a lighter color on the edges. Her eyes crinkled when she smiled, making her look soft and friendly. Wow. She’s hot.

Hayley looked away from the girl and looked outside the window instead, feeling even more awkward. Oh, my god. She’s hot.

What the hell should she do now?

Hayley turned her head and looked at the girl next to her seat for a moment, processing what was happening. She was really pretty, was her first thought. The girl was so pretty that Hayley had absolutely no idea why she had wanted to sit next to her. Maybe there were no more seats, her rational self spouted back at her. And her legs were hurting, so she wanted to sit down?

She looked to be around the same age as her, maybe she was a little older. She was taller than her, though Hayley wasn’t sure as she was on the short side herself. Hayley looked at the floor. She wasn’t wearing high heels, the girl was wearing sneakers like her, so that couldn't be it. Was she wearing makeup? Hayley couldn’t tell.

“My name’s Ava. Nice to meet you.” And her voice was so freaking beautiful-

“Yeah. Nice to,” Hayley coughed, “Meet you too.”

Ava felt familiar, Hayley thought. Like she had seen her before. Maybe it was at the school festival? She seemed like the type that would look stunning in a dress. Hayley wondered once more why Ava was trying to strike a conversation with her, your average nobody who she didn’t know.

She took out her phone and started to type to get away from the awkward conversation. Hayley wasn’t good with people.

The bus ride was quiet. Ava didn’t talk to her any more after that, letting Hayley breathe a sigh of relief. She was on edge the whole trip, and only relaxed when the pretty girl finally got off the vehicle.

Though it was only a few minutes, the ride felt like forever. Hayley stepped off the bus, looking forward at the large building in front of her, another sigh automatically coming from her lips. Of awe, relief, or boredom, she didn’t know. Nitidus High School.

Hayley stepped forward, past the school gates. She righted her collar before entering, and patted down her hair a little, hoping she didn’t look like a mess. The uniform check was simple for her- the teachers took one look at her and nodded, letting her pass. Hayley wasn’t one who was big on looks, and her appearance showed it.

She wasn’t too ugly, but it was true that she wasn’t one of the prettier girls at school, either. Not like Ava. Hayley thought Ava could even be compared to the Princess. Even better, in her opinion. The Princess was flashy. Ava wasn’t. She seemed more like the quiet beauty.

Hayley climbed up three sets of stairs and followed the mob of students, going into her classroom. There were already a couple students there, though Hayley didn’t know their names. She wasn’t a ‘people’ person.

Her seat was at the very back, and as the number of students was an odd number, she was the only one without a partner.

It was obviously swell.

Hayley sat down on her seat before taking out her pencil case along with her sketchbook of the day. She flipped it to a blank page. She took out her calligraphy pen, black ink, and started to write in beautiful flourishing letters.

‘The Girl on the Bus.’

Hayley smiled. The words had come out very nicely. Great. 

𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳: 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬: 𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘸𝘸𝘸.𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘯.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘢/382770

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘢.