It was just like any normal day for me. The back of the bus was full of its usual shouts, laughter and swears that were louder than a Metallica concert. What’s ironic about that is while Steve rambled on about some drinking contest last Saturday, I was listening to Master of Puppets.

“I thought I was going to f****** hurl after the third one, but I kept going,” he said.

“Wow, Steve, the hangover must have sucked,” Tina said, and I grimaced at the voice.

Tina was one of those girls who was popular and had the power to push everyone around. And no one had or would stand up to her. Of course, that wasn’t in my case because we surprisingly went together to the school dance in the sixth grade. So I guess that’s why she doesn’t target me.

“Felt like someone was smashing a bottle over my head,” Steve continued and he glanced up to see me eyeballing him.

“Hey Park! Where were you?”

“Record shop,” I replied.

“Should have been there, saw some Asian chicks looking real lonely.”

The comment aroused a chorus of “Ooooohhss” from the back of the bus, but it was silenced in only a few seconds.

I was surprised at first by the sudden end to the chorus and I looked up to see what everyone was staring at. I glanced in the general direction of the front of the bus, and I, too, fell silent at the sight of the new guest on our ride.

At first glance she looked like Poison Ivy, but that would only be true if Poison Ivy was one of the two spoiled sisters from Cinderella and this girl was Cinderella before she got dressed up. She had long red hair that was done up in curls and her face was covered in freckles. To make matters worse, her clothes made Cinderella’s rags look like a royal gown. What this girl brought to the table was a green and blue patterned skirt that closely resembled a kilt and a matching shirt.

My first thoughts were that this girl had to be high or something or she lost a bet, but as I looked closer at her body, I gathered the assumption that she was Scottish and much have been celebrating some kind of holiday.

Bad call doing it here where you’ll be eaten alive, I thought as she slowly began walking into the aisles looking for a free seat.

If she didn’t know the fashion sense, then she for sure didn’t know how the bus worked. In these buses it’s an unspoken rule for people that wherever you sit on the first day, it will be your seat for the next four years.

I watched on in curiosity to where she was going to sit. She attempted at first to sit near the front where most of the nerds hung out. However, they placed their books in the vacant seats, denying her silent request. Next came the middle and for the most part, it was also rejection. Something odd happened right as she neared my seat and I was able to get a better look at her and I realized that I actually knew his girl.

Even though we had never spoke a word to one another, I had seen her by the playground near my home playing with one of her brothers. It surprised me because you would have thought she would be on the bus the first day of school. Then she would have had a better chance at finding her permanent seat for the next four years. Or three in her case, because she had that look that characterized pretty much every sophomore. The look of not being fully sure of where your life’s going to take you, but you kind of have a better idea.

Anyway though, she stopped right at my seat and I knew that she recognized who I was. However, I felt torn on what to do. I considered the options. On the one hand it would be a friendly gesture and I had been raised upon that principle. At the same time though, I would probably face persecution from everyone else and would probably lose the only friends I had left. Just as I was going to make the gesture, for her to sit down, a girl on the other side of the bus chirped up.

“You can sit here if you like.” And he girl did so, and that was it.

Even though I was relieved by the fact that the girl had taken such a burden upon herself, I found myself wondering if I should have let her sit down. And to this day, that simple hesitation has haunted me.