My One And Only Bus Ride

Travis, 15, US

I rode a public bus once. And only once, the reason being
it was so miserable and unenjoyable I would not care to
repeat it. Let me tell you my experience. Why you ask? I
don't know why, maybe because I'm bored. Anyway, on with the tale.

I had just got onto the bus. There were already about thirty
kids inside. Not having my money to pay the fare out of my
pocket at the moment, I just walked on into the front. My
sister was behind me, and I looked to my two friends
(experienced bus riders). All the seats had been taken,
except for the few that said "Reserved for Seniors." There
being no seniors on board, my limted intellect wasn't sure
if that meant I couldn't sit there at all, or just if there
weren't seniors.

After some aimless wandering, my sister and I just sat down. I then remembered I had forgotten to pay the bus driver, and so I stood up, even though we were moving already. I stumbled to the front and paid the driver his three bucks for me and my sister.

"Where you going today?" he asked. He was a black
man with dark glasses on. How could he see the road?

"Uh... just to Waikoloa." I thought maybe he was angry at
me for not paying earlier. Great. I didn't need an enemy. I
stumbled back and sat down. All was well. For a while.

Then the kid in the seat ahead of me turned and said, "You
smoke weed?" Disgusted, I shook my head and turned to the
window. The rolling hills of Hawaii passed us by on our way
to Waikoloa.

Another kid about three seats ahead of me pulled down his window and spat a whole mouth full of spit out the window. At least, that was his intention. The wad of drool got thrown by the wind and back into the bus. It was hurled at me at blinding speed and smacked the side of my face.

Surprisingly, I didn't even blink or twitch. I could feel the other kids' eyes on me, but I didn't care. I was never one to be embarassed easily. I took some napkins out of my pocket and wiped my face and the chair free of that nasty goo and hurled it out the window.

The kid who spat it never even turned around or said sorry. But that was ok; I never really liked the average kid from Hawaii. We finally arrived at Waikoloa and my sister and my friends and I got off. It was time to get away from that bus.