~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

The School Bus

{Kiara}

Kiara woke up in the backseat of a bus, sitting next to a boy with curly brown hair. The boy was fiddling with something he had taken out of his pocket, and seemed to be unable to stay still.

Only then did it hit Kiara that she didn't recognize the guy. She bolted up in her seat and looked around. She was in a school bus full of kids listening to iPods, talking, or sleeping. They all looked about her age... fifteen? sixteen? Holy shit, she didn't know her age. Now that was creepy.

The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out the windows, desert rolled by under a bright blue sky. Kiara was pretty sure she wasn't in a desert when she fell asleep. She tried to think back... the last thing he remembered...

"Jason, you okay?" A soft voice dragged her out of her thoughts.

"Um, I don't–" another voice had started to say behind Kiara–mostly likely a boy–but he was cut off short.

In the front of the bus, a teacher shouted, "All right, cupcakes, listen up!"

Kiara's head snapped around at that. The guy was obviously a coach. His baseball cap was pulled low over his hair, so you could just see his beady eyes. He had a wispy goatee and a sour face, like he'd eaten something moldy. His buff arms and chest pushed against a bright orange polo shirt. His nylon workout pants and Nikes were spotless white. A whistle hung from his neck, and a megaphone was clipped to his belt. He would've looked pretty scary if he hadn't been five feet zero.

The kid sitting next to Kiara snickered and called, "Stand up, Coach Hedge!"

"I heard that!" The coach scanned the bus for the offender. Then his eyes fixed on Kiara, and his scowl deepened. Kiara knew she wasn't supposed to be here, and the coach's glare was enough of a confirmation for her.

She watched as his brown eyes slid from her to someone behind her, his scowl deepening even more, if that was possible. Kiara turned behind her, curious of who the coach was glaring at. She saw a boy with close cropped blond hair, fair skin and sky blue eyes. He was wearing a purple shirt and tattered jeans.

And next to him sat the most gorgeous girl Kiara had ever seen. She wore faded jeans, hiking boots, and a fleece snowboarding jacket. Her chocolate brown hair was cut choppy and uneven, with thin strands braided down the sides. She wore no makeup like she was trying not to draw attention to herself, but it didn't work. She was seriously pretty. Her eyes seemed to change color like a kaleidoscope—brown, blue, and green, even purple.

Suddenly, Kiara was aware of what she had on. A tattered, oversized purple t-shirt, a black and white flannel, faded baggy jeans, a black leather belt, and sneakers. A gray backpack was sitting on her lap. Her short dark hair was in two dutch braids. Looking at her reflection on the window of the bus, she noticed her hair had white locks mixed with the dark ones.

At the front of the bus, Coach Hedge cleared his throat. "We'll arrive in five minutes! Stay with your partner. Don't lose your worksheet. And if any of you precious little cupcakes causes any trouble on this trip, I will personally send you back to campus the hard way." He picked up a baseball bat and made it look like he was hitting a homer.

Kiara turned to the boy sitting next to her. He looked like a Latino Santa's elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects. His long, nimble fingers wouldn't stop moving—drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket. Either the kid was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo.