Jerrod Makes a Scene As soon as the school bus came to a screeching halt in front of his house, Jerrod Avorius knew that summer was officially over. He barely had time to shove two spoonfulls of cereal into his mouth before he heard the bus driver honk the horn. Jerrod grabbed his backpack and lunchbox of the table so fast he knocked the partially eaten bowl of cereal onto the floor. It made a loud crash and sent soggy Apple Jacks flying everywhere. His uncle would have to clean it up while he was away at school. Hopefully Uncle Othal wouldn’t be too mad when Jerrod got back. Jerrod got half-way to the door before the bus driver gave another honk of the horn. He slammed the front door shut furiously and made a mad dash for the bus just as it was starting to roll away. He jumped into the bus just before the door closed behind him catching his backpack. He had to tug hard to get it out of the door. The other twenty-something kids on the bus all laughed hysterically at Jerrod’s mishap. The bus driver looked down at Jerrod disapprovingly and shook his head before continuing to drive. “Took you long enough Avorius!” said the bus driver annoyed. “Hurry up and find a seat, I still have a million stops to make this morning.” “Sorry Sir. Won’t happen again,” Jerrod said as he stood up dusting himself off. The bus driver hit the gas suddenly causing Jerrod to fly backwards in the aisle way. More laughing erupted from the other kids. And this was only the beginning of Eighth-Grade. Jerrod was starting to wonder if the rest of the year was going to be this bad. He struggled to get up. As soon as he gained his footing the bus driver slammed the brakes and sent Jerrod flying forward this time. Luckily he had a good hold of the seat next to him so he did not fall face-first in the aisle. The other kids cheered and clapped at Jerrod’s victory. Apparently it was rather entertaining to watch one of their fellow students struggle on a bus. The driver swore loudly when he realized that he had missed a stop he was supposed to make. Jerrod scanned the length of the bus quickly for an available seat. The bus was packed pretty full for only having half of the stops complete. As he scanned the seats several kids shook their heads or made gestures warding him away. Middle school could be so cruel sometimes. None of the other kids obviously wanted to share a seat with him. Jerrod could tell right away it was going to be difficult making friends this year. “You can sit with me,” said a mousy girl in the seat directly across from Jerrod. Jerrod could barely hear her over the loud roar of the diesel engine. Relieved and nervous, Jerrod crept into the seat and sat next to the mousy girl. She had long curly red hair in a braid and thin glasses. She was staring at an electronic tablet and didn’t even look up when she spoke. “Err, thanks,” said Jerrod rather nervously. The girl could see Jerrod’s reflection on her screen. He had short dark hair, dark eyes, and a narrow jaw-line. Her face shot up with a smile showing her perfect brace-free teeth when she realized who it was. “Jerrod? Jerrod Avorius? Is that really you?” she asked excitedly. “Yeah, you know me?” replied Jerrod. “Of course I do silly. It’s me, Jenna, remember? You used to have a huge crush on me in Sixth-Grade.” “Oh yeah, Jenna Wolf, right?” Jerrod guessed. “The one and only. You sure have changed a lot,” she noticed. “Yeah, I think I grew a few inches and I got my hair cut,” Jerrod pointed out. “You look good,” said Jenna, blushing a little. “Err, so do you,” said Jerrod turning away. His palms began to sweat a little. After a bit of an awkward silence Jerrod finally mustered the courage to speak again. “So, what is that you are reading?” Jerrod asked. “My dad got me a Kindle for my thirteenth birthday. I downloaded the Chronicles of Narnia onto it. They are my favorite books. I have all of them on here, see?” Jenna showed off the new device to Jerrod. He stared at it in wonder. “That’s cool. I didn’t get a lot for my birthday. Mostly just some money and school stuff,” Jerrod said feeling a little disappointed that his uncle didn’t get him anything cool like a Kindle. “That’s nice,” Jenna said. “So, do you have a favorite book series?” “I…uh, don’t really read a lot. Do comic books count?” Jenna just shook her head at Jerrod’s remark. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You should read. Books I mean. It’s good for your brain,” Jenna teased. Most of the bus ride passed along in silence. Occasionally Jerrod would sneak a glance in Jenna’s direction and she would look up and smile at him then return to staring at her tablet, deep into her book. Jerrod decided to just look out the window and watch the world pass by in a blur. The bus driver finally arrived at the last stop and a pair of rough-looking boys boarded the bus. One was a chubby short kid with piercings and tattoos which Jerrod figured had to be real. The other boy was tall and skinny, and had long dark hair, and looked like he was trying way too hard to pull off the Goth look. He even wore black eye-shadow and had chains hanging from his skin-tight jeans. He looked like one of Poison’s lost band members. When the two boys passed Jerrod he could smell the acrid scent of cigarettes on them. They apparently got in a quick smoke before the bus showed up. The chubby kid turned suddenly on Jerrod. “What are you staring at Loser?” the boy said as he slipped into the seat just behind Jerrod. Jerrod remained silent and Jenna leaned over to whisper in his ear. “Just ignore them, they are the school bullies. They have no respect for anyone, even themselves.” she said seriously. After the bus started moving again Jerrod felt a sudden thump in the back of his seat as if someone had kicked it. There was a pause, and then it happened again. Irritated, Jerrod shot around in his seat to confront the two boys. “Knock it off!” Jerrod said furiously. The rest of the bus fell silent at his sudden outburst. The bus driver did not even notice and kept driving. “Knock what off Loser? We aint doin nothing,” said the chubby kid. His friend just sniggered. “Yeah, you should mind your own business,” said the other kid after his fit of laughter was over. Jerrod just growled and sat back down in his seat. Obviously talking to them was going to do no good. Jenna just shook her head again. “I told you so,” she said. The two bullies kicked the back of the seat at the same time and it was more than Jerrod could stand as he shot forward and hit his head on the seat in front of him. He whipped around so quick that he was in their faces before they even knew what was going on. Jerrod’s eyes became fiery red as anger built up inside of him. “I said quit it!” Jerrod roared. Suddenly the air in the bus became very hot and began to crackle with static. Sparks burst from the lights in the ceiling and the other kids screamed in terror. The chubby bully stood up and made a fist like he was about to punch Jerrod’s face in. “You want to go punk!” said the chubby kid. There was a sudden flash of bright light and the bully was knocked back across the aisle, dazed. “Dude, what was that?” said the other boy staring in shock at his friend’s defeat. Jerrod was surrounded by a faint red aura and his eyes looked like molten embers. He seethed for a while before realizing what just happened. He felt Jenna’s cold hand on his wrist pulling him back down into the seat beside her. “Jerrod, what was that?” asked Jenna in a hushed voice. “I…I don’t know. I just got mad, and then he was knocked back. I’m not even sure how it happened,” said Jerrod shocked. Jenna put the tablet away into her back-pack and put her hand on Jerrod’s shoulder for support. He was still warm from the confrontation. Jenna could feel the heat of his body even through his hoodie. Jerrod just sat in the seat and stayed silent until the bus came to a stop in the school parking lot. It was starting to rain outside.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:51:47 +0000
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