Bus Ride

Lee walked onto the bus and ran his hand along the brown vinyl seats until he found one halfway to the back. He was in ninth grade and had graduated to the middle seats leaving the front for the seventh and eighth graders. He sat down and chose the hard steel under the window as his backrest instead of the August heated vinyl. Adjusting his books and feet to take up as much of the seat as possible he hoped no one would want to sit with him.

He saw his best friend Winston as he strutted passed and sat in the seat behind him. Lee inhaled heat, sweat and exhaust which the faint breeze barely circulated through the opened windows. He glanced at the juniors and seniors in the back seats and watched as the underclassmen broke out their books and began their homework.

Then she walked on the bus. Her backpack was slung over her shoulder without a care, her hair in loose pig tails which fell onto her shoulders, and the stick of a BlowPop danced between her lips. Gena sat in the seat directly across from him and slid all the way to the window with her green JanSport taking up the seat next to her. Lee stared. He looked away. He stared, his eyes were drawn back to her lips curving around the candy on the end of the white paper stick. She tucked the lollipop in her cheek, spun it and slowly pulled it out pursing her lips over the red, shiney candy. Lee was fascinated by her movements and couldn't understand the warmth growing from inside him.

There was a rumble of the engine and a Tarzan yell poured from the speakers overhead followed by the local pop stations call sign. They were on their way home from the first day of high school.

"Can you feel it, see it, hear it today," came quick from the speakers as Faith No More's 'Epic' jumped through the airwaves. Gena tossed her book bag onto the floor and slid to the aisle-side edge of her seat pulling herself with the heels of her Converse.

"I hate these jeans," she said pushing down the zipper bump that formed on her crotch, "they make me look like I have a penis." Lee and Winston looked at her with mouths opened while Aaron poked his head over the back of her seat laughing and looking at the now smooth zipper between her legs. This was how Gena spoke most of the time, with no filter. Laughter ensued as the bus bumped down the street. They started talking about which teachers they liked and who they thought would be the hardest this year.

Aaron bent over and someone commented on his boxers poking out from his jeans and laughed. Aaron turned and with no response blushed a little. Gena turned, squared her shoulders and said, "Dude, boxers are sexy. You're a real man when you where boxers." She turned to Winston and asked bluntly, "Do you wear boxers or briefs?"

Winston blushed and responded, "Briefs."

"You?" Gena asked turning to Lee.

Lee blushed turned his head and started looking out the window for an answer. He rode the rest of the way home looking through his new books hoping the answer was between those pages.

At home Lee was watching a cartoon of a caped crusader who during the day was a rich philanthropist. He heard the garage door open and his mother walk in.

"Mom?"

"Well, hello. How was your first day?"

"I need to go shopping for some," he paused, "for some new clothes. When's dad coming home?"