Shine - Lauren Myracle [57]
Given what happened at the hospital, it was time for me and Jason to have a true and real conversation.
I WAS ON MY WAY TO TOOMSBORO BY EIGHT THIRTY the next morning. There weren’t many other people on the bus. A man wearing overalls, maybe going into town to do yard work. A woman wearing an ankle-length skirt, her hair in a bun. I didn’t have a clue what her story was. Was she a day care worker? A member of one of those old-fashioned basement churches where the ministers traveled from house to house and the females weren’t allowed to wear pants?
Oh, and there was one other passenger: Robert.
Yep, scrawny, hop-about Robert was heading into Toomsboro with me. He must have been hiding a couple of yards from the bus stop, because he wasn’t in sight when I got there.
Then the bus came rumbling around the bend and wheezed to a stop. Its doors sighed open, I climbed aboard, and woosh. He was like a squirrel darting out of the scrub brush, hyper and gloating as he dashed on behind me. He didn’t have to pay any fare since he was only eleven.
“Robert,” I said, exasperated. “What are you doing here?”
He grinned and tried to sit down beside me. “Goin’ on a bus ride. With you. Scooch and make room.”
I blocked him by planting one foot on the floor and pressing the other against the back of the seat in front of me.
“Aw, now, why you gotta be like that? I just want to talk to you.”
“Talk to me another time. And get off the bus.”
“Ain’t have to if I don’t wanna. I got just as much right just as you do.”
The bus driver hit the gas, and Robert stumbled backward.
“Young man, sit down,” the driver commanded.
Clinging to the seats, Robert tried to haul himself back to where I was. It was like watching a fish try to swim upstream.
“Now,” the driver growled.
Robert plunked himself down three seats behind me, on the opposite side of the aisle. He whispered, “Hey. Hey! Just talk to me, will ya?”
There was so much wrong with that boy, I didn’t know where to start. Following a girl five years older than him onto a bus? Hiding in the dang bushes so I wouldn’t spot him till it was too late? Poor kid must have been awfully lonely to go to all that trouble.
“You know I didn’t mean it, Cat,” he said. “What I called you the other night.”
I faced forward. “I know, Robert. Now leave me alone.”
“Can’t I come sit with you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because once you pick your seat, you have to stay put, or they’ll kick you off.”
“For real?”
“Safety regulation. And if they kick you off, the next time you try to get a ride, they won’t let you.”
He thought about that.
“How would they know it was me?” he said.
“Because they’d take a picture of you and tape it up where the driver sits, on every single bus. Now will you please stop bugging me?”
“Yeah. Okay. But I have a secret to tell you, remember?”
I twisted to look at him. He grinned, squirming with the pleasure of being noticed.
“Okay, Robert. Tell me your secret. I’m dying to know.”
“You don’t sound like you’re dyin’.”
“I am. Believe me.”
“It’s real good, the secret. You’re gonna be real happy when you hear it.”
“Why don’t you prove it by telling me?”
More grinning and squirming. He needed to be medicated—like that was ever going to happen.
“Robert? We’re almost to my stop, so if you’re going to tell me, tell me now.”
“If it’s your stop, it’s my stop, too,” he said.
“Um, no.”
“Yeah-huh.”
“Robert, I am here on business. You cannot bother me.”
He huffed. “Why you being so cold to me? Why’s everybody turned so cold all of a sudden, acting like I’m a kid when I’ve got chest hairs and everything?”
I snorted. I didn’t mean to, and if I could have stopped myself, I would have. It hurt his feelings.
“Fine,” he said. “I ain’t gonna tell you my secret after all, so fine.” He slammed his body against the back of his seat and sulked.
We rode like that for the next few minutes. As we approached the college,