“Oh, right!” The blonde head popped back inside. A moment later the bus slowly decelerated and pulled to the curb.
Out of breath and slightly limping from the side stitch, Mina finally boarded the first steps of the bus. The bus driver gave her an indignant look; this would probably delay their arrival, and he was a stickler for being on time. She ignored him and stepped to the front row, where her teacher was sitting, to hand him her permission form.
“You really should have been on time,” Mr. West commented. His balding head glistened from the heat of the already too-warm bus.
“I’m sorry,” Mina answered quietly. “We had a power outage.”
Mr. West looked over her permission form and then nodded for her to take a seat. Walking toward the back of the bus was like being in a bad slow-motion dream. She had no choice but to be the recipient of twenty-some odd stares.
Ducking her head and sliding into the seat next to Nan, Mina poked her in the side in revenge. “That’s for making me run for so long.”
Nan grinned, showing perfect white teeth. Today she was wore an “I <3 Jacob Black” shirt, skinny jeans, and black flats. Nan was the exact opposite of Mina in every way, which was why they probably got along so well. She got a kick out of Mina’s lack of knowledge in all things social and popular.
“Well, maybe if you got a cell phone, you could have texted me you were running late,” Nan quipped, pulling out her latest iPhone, fingers flying over the touchpad.
“What are you doing? Are you chirping?”
Nan rolled her eyes and laughed. “Really, Mina. It’s called tweeting.”
“Okay. Are you tweeting?”
“Of course.” Nan smirked.
Mina’s stomach sank. “About what?” She had a feeling she already knew the answer. She’d seen something in Nan’s hand when she had previously opened the window and leaned out.
“Oh, nothing much. I’m just tweeting the picture of you running like a madman after the bus to all of my followers.”
"Followers" made it sound like some sort of cult.
“Nan, how many followers do you have?” She hoped the number hadn’t gone up.
“Well, after yesterday’s rant about the garbage they pass off as lunch, I’m up to about three hundred.” She clicked "Update," and immediately chiming could be heard from multiple phones on the bus. Snickers and heads turned Mina’s way, and she heard whispers of “loser” and “nerd.”
“Nan! How could you?” Mina said, scrambling over Nan so she could be by the windows and out of direct line of sight for most of the riders. She pulled her backpack up over her head and hid behind the bag.
“Mina, you need to learn to laugh at yourself. I’m trying to get you noticed. Hardly anybody knows who you are.”
“I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be the center of that kind of attention. I certainly wouldn’t.”
Nan raised one eyebrow in disbelief. “Nonsense. Everyone wants to get at least some attention. Well, except for you. Really, Mina, it doesn’t even matter whether it’s good or bad, true or untrue—everyone wants to be popular, to be part of some gossip.”
Nan was the friendliest and most outgoing girl in the school. Everyone seemed to like Nan, not because she was popular or smart, but because she was fun and real.
“Not me.” Mina shrugged nonchalantly.
“So I guess in that case you wouldn’t care about the current eligibility status of a certain boy?” Nan knew that her best friend had had a secret crush on Brody Carmichael ever since her family moved here.
“Brody and Savannah broke up?” Mina sat up straight in disbelief, knocking her backpack to the floor.
“Ah-ha! See, you are interested.”
“No, I’m not,” she said.
“Yes, you are,” Nan taunted. She was right; Mina did want to know.
“Okay, fine… Did they?” Mina felt a flower of hope start to bloom.
“No, but see! Wouldn’t you want to know if they did?” That blooming hope shriveled up dead.
“I hate you, Nan Taylor!” Mina shot out. “You’re a dream-killer, you know that right? Dream Killer.”
“Gee, Grimy, keep it down,” a male voice shot out from behind their seat.
Her face flushed red. Mina hated her last name, an easy target for name-calling: Grime too easily translated to Slime, Brine, Grimy. She couldn’t wait until she got married and could legally change her name…if she could ever overcome her awkwardness and talk to a boy.