Ch. 1: Bus Stop

I'd never really thought of my life as anything much. I was pretty interesting, myself, a totally independent person and complete individual, but my life was ultimately a boring piece of crud. Smothered with dog poo. My name's Hailey, I'm sixteen years old and still kicking. I get labeled as an Emo and a Goth, but I don't really think of those things. I'm just a normal...no, actually, I'm not normal. Anything but. I like to listen to music, play guitar, sing, and draw. I love writing poems and songs, and I really want to start a band this year at my school. Speaking of which, I'm going to be a new sophomore student at Wellsie Public High School. I've lived in Chicago, and thus, I know the ways of the wise and the ways not to die. Well, that's what I thought. I always made sure my life was as good as I could make it at the time. I had absolutely no idea how much this particular year was going to change everything.

Today, I didn't want to go to school. Never have, never will. But there was also a part of me that was just dying to get the hell in there and make myself a reputation. A good one. One that I could like, work with, make friends with. If anyone could handle my weirdness, that is. I don't really care about what other people think of me. If they don't like who I am, they can just shove it right up their you know what, because I won't change who I am to please them. I don't care at all about trends or styles. I just wear what I like to wear—my own style—and be who I want to be.

I rolled out of bed and started getting dressed for the day, donning a black tank top, a red and black plaid skirt, and some black fingerless gloves that reached up to my elbows. I took off the tank top, putting on a fishnet shirt and throwing the black tank top on my bed, grabbing a white tank top and sliding it over my head. I yanked my messenger bag and slung it over my shoulder, wondering why it was so light. I stuffed a few notebooks into the black bag and was on my way, hoping that I was headed for the right bus stop. I really had no idea where anything was in this town, because when my mom was driving the two of us around and showing me where things were, I wasn't listening at all. If I missed my bus or went to the wrong place, it'd be a shame, because I'd have to walk around, wondering where the high school was.

Fortunately, I got to the correct stop and waited for the bus. The big yellow monster rolled around the corner, and I stood up, taking a step towards the edge of the street. The bus screeched to a halt and the doors opened with a familiar hiss sound. I stepped inside, wondering why no other people were at my bus stop. I looked over the bus, looking at my choices. The front of the bus had a bunch of jock-like boys, talking about the sports seasons. Behind them were some girls that shot me dangerous, mean looks that I returned without hesitation. There were only some empty spots in the way back, where a group of boys were chatting. They didn't really seem like they were in a certain clique, just people. Individuals, like myself.

"Hey, girl...you'd better sit down, 'cause I ain't having any standing students on my bus," said the driver, her fat neck turned towards me and her piggy eyes narrowed. A few kids snickered, and I went to take a seat in the back. I realized that there was only a seat next to a blonde kid, four rows from the back of the bus. It looked like a girl, but they had guy's clothes and no chest. I smiled slightly, amused at the femininity in the guy's body. His golden hair was pulled into a ponytail, and it draped into his face, covering his left eye.

I asked, "Hey, uh, is this seat taken?"

He looked up at me with bright blue eyes, eyes that almost dazzled me from their crayon-perfect color, and shook his head. "Nope, h'm."

I nodded and sat down next to him. A few minutes passed, the low buzz of chatter on the rest of the bus making the lack of speech between the two of us less noticeable. I was just about to get my iPod out, knowing that the bus ride was about half an hour, and the boy's voice interrupted my hand unzipping my bag. "What's your name, h'm?"

His little "h'm" thing amused me. Was it just a habit? Did he say it because he wanted to have a trademark? Or was he foreign? I suddenly realized he was waiting for an answer and said quickly, "My name's Hailey. What's your name?"

"I'm Deidara, yeah." He extended his hand. "I like fire and art. I like to sculpt things, like animals, h'm. I really prefer to do spiders, birds....that sort of thing."

I nodded. "Pretty sweet. I like to write stories, poems, songs and anything else that comes to mind. I like to draw, and sculpting isn't my fine point, but I can do pottery. I also like to read. And I like horror movies. Halloween is by far my favorite." Smiling, I shook the offered hand.

Suddenly, a loud voice startled me. "Yo, Deidara!" The yell came from behind me, and I whirled around as fast as I could, wanting to strangle the criminal. I saw a boy leaning over the back of our seat, looking down at Deidara. To my utter disbelief, I saw a boy with skin that had a blue tint to it, with dark blue hair. He had very shark-like eyes, which focused on me for a second before dashing to Deidara. "Heyyy, Deidara....somebody's a player over here!"

I raised an eyebrow, folding my arms across my chest in anger. "Excuse me?"

"What's your name? Why're you talking to Deidara when you can be talking to me and Pein here?" He flashed me a grin and gestured at a spiky haired redhead next to him with a large array of facial piercings. "Naw, just kidding, just playing. My name's Kisame, I'm the funny one."

I pressed my lips together. "Tch....I'm Hailey. You shouldn't yell in people's ears when they can't see you....it's rude, and annoying....." She looked at him. "Kisame, huh? Cool name."

"Sorry about that, Hailey....can I call you Hailes?" He looked absolutely swollen with pride from making up the nickname. I looked at him for a minute. This guy was kind of weird....he's acting like we're best friends. A bit too much for me.

"Sure," I said, turning back around as I shrugged and shook my head, showing my lack of caring.

That was just the start of the attention. All these guys knew each other. There was a guy with a hoodie, dark skin, green eyes, and dark hair, another redhead with deep brown eyes, a long black-haired boy with reddish eyes, a guy with black spiky hair who was bouncing in his seat, a green-haired guy that looked like he had darker skin on one side of his body than the other, and a light blonde with....pinkish eyes? Oh, right, he must be an albino.

The next voice I heard was a hyper, childish sound, and I found myself looking around for some 6th grader, and wondering why they were on the high school bus. But as I looked next to us, the boy with black spiky hair had moved from two rows behind us on the opposite side to right next to us, on my left. "Deidara! Deidara! Who's the girl? Is she your sister? Why doesn't she look like you? Oh, wait, is she your cousin? Nope, you'd still look alike. Is she your girlfriend? How long have you been dating? Why didn't you tell Tobi about your girlfriend?"

I stared at the boy with wide eyes, trying to process his fleeting talking speed and what the hell he was saying with that hyped-up mouth. Deidara must have understood the gibberish, or he must have known the kid for a long time so he's used to it, and replied, shaking a fist, "Tobi, I'm not going out with her, yeah. Her name is Hailey, she's not related to me, she's not my step sibling, she's not my friend from another town, state, country or planet, she's new here, and NO, she does not want to play with you, h'm." He frowned, and I just stared at them, labeling the boy in my head as the Talkative Spaz.

I finally looked at Deidara and asked, "Can I switch seats with you? I don't like all this attention, it's creeping me out. Are all these guys your buddies?"

Deidara nodded, letting me scoot over to the window seat. "Yeah, we're all friends, h'm. We're all in sophomore year, too, except for Pein, who's a Junior, and also Itachi and Tobi are freshman," he added. I nodded and said that I was a sophomore too. Deidara smiled and pointed at where the Spaz had been a second before, but he was already back in his seat, bouncing around in a manner just as hyper as before. "The one who was just babbling is Tobi, the redhead behind us is Pein, and you met Kisame, yeah. The albino religious freak over there is Hidan, he's really rude and loud. The guy in the hoodie sweatshirt next to Hidan is Kakuzu, h'm. He's kind of a money grabber, so keep your wallet in your front pocket when you're around him. He's pretty rude, too, but it's usually because he's crabby from always being with Hidan, yeah.

"The redhead in the very back is named Sasori, h'm. He's an artist too, but he thinks art should last forever, h'm. He's wrong, though, yeah. True art only lives a little while and goes out with a bang, h'm!" He frowned and stuck his tongue out at the brown-eyed redhead, who was paying attention to a string puppet, fiddling with the arm. Deidara continued, "But Sasori is still a great artist and I admire him, h'm. The dark haired one next to him, he's Itachi, h'm. He's quiet, and doesn't really talk much, h'm. I don't like him at all, yeah."

He made a face. "And last, yeah, is Zetsu. He's over in the one-seater, across from Sasori and Itachi, h'm." He pointed over to the green-haired guy with the two-toned skin. "He's kind of....different, h'm. He's sort of a cannibal. But don't worry, yeah." He smiled. "He's getting helped out with it, h'm."

I blinked. Cannibal? "Uh, okay....can you tell me why his skin looks half light, half dark?"

Deidara shrugged. "He's from some Pacific island, yeah. We never really asked him, h'm. It's not that bad, though, yeah. It's not like jet black and paper white, as you can see. He's just a bit darker on his right side, yeah." He smiled. "He's got a multiple personality disorder, so he might be mean one minute and nice the next, h'm. Don't get freaked out. He's like that."

I nodded. "So....who would you say is the leader of your group? I mean, if you don't have one, don't take it badly, I was just wondering if there was one or two of you that kinda calls some of the shots."

Deidara pointed at Pein, but the boy couldn't see it from his seat. "Pein usually says what we have to do...I mean, it's not really a dictatorship or anything, yeah....we just sort of roll our own ways, h'm....but we all live in the same house, so he usually just makes sure we're not breaking his windows or something, h'm....he usually gives us chores for the week. He does them, too, but he's in charge of who gets what....he also settles fights between us, h'm." He glanced over at Itachi on the word fight.

"Oh, I see." I nodded. "I think this year is going to be more fun than I thought....I actually made a friend." I smiled at Deidara, hoping he considered me a friend just as I considered him one.

"Heh....we're always fun, h'm," Deidara smiled. "And I hope that friend is me, yeah."

"You are, don't worry. And yeah, I see that. So, you all live in Pein's house? How does that work?" I was confused.

"Well, we're sort of a fraternity, if you could say that, h'm. We're all foreign exchange students from Japan, but we're here to stay. It's a long story, h'm. Pein inherited his family's fortune, and his parents had a big vacation home here, so they gave it to him along with all the money, yeah. We all have a roommate, h'm. Mine's Sasori. Itachi and Kisame share, Hidan and Kakuzu share, Tobi and Zetsu share, and Pein has his own room, h'm. We share a kitchen, too, yeah. Pein and Tobi usually cook, though, yeah." He shrugged.

"Kakuzu has a job, but he doesn't share any of his money, h'm. Sasori and I sell our art, but Sasori only ever sells his work if he makes something he doesn't like, yeah. I just sometimes fire my clay instead of destroying it, even though the best part of my art is when it explodes, h'm. Itachi has an internship, even though he's only fifteen. He's very smart, h'm. We earn our own money and pool it together for Kakuzu or Pein, who're our bankers of sorts, yeah. Kakuzu gets his own money, but the rest is both allowance and money for bills, clothes, the essentials, h'm. We have a system." He smiled.

I nodded. "That's awesome."

The bus suddenly started slowing down, and I sighed, realizing that like all good things, this bus ride must come to an end. Deidara and I stood up, and I asked, "What class do you have first, Deidara?"

Deidara looked at his arm. I noticed he had leather fingerless gloves on. I wondered why he would do that. I mean, it was stylish and all, and I did that all the time, but only in the Winter, because in late summer like now, it was sticky and gross, most of the time, at least. There was writing on his arm. "I have...what does that say again, yeah? Oh, right, I have English." He smiled.

"I have Biology," I said, looking around to see if there were any other Biology students first period.

Deidara called, "Hey guys! Anybody have Bio first, yeah?"

The albino named Hidan looked up, digging around in his pocket. We all started to inch towards the bus door. He said, "Yeah, I have f**kin' Biology. You have it too?" He looked at me.

I nodded. "Yup."

"What's your damn name? Mine's Hidan."

I replied, "I'm Hailey. Nice to meet you, Hidan." His cursing was a nice change, not many people I know curse. I don't curse badly, but I definitely don't have a clean mouth. No way.

"Good to f**kin' meet you too. NOW WHY THE HELL IS THIS F**KIN' LINE MOVING SO GODDAMN SLOW?!"

Someone in the front yelled, "HEY!! CALM DOWN, THE DOORS AREN'T EVEN OPEN, BUDDY!!"

"Jashin's wrath will hit you, you heathen," Hidan mumbled, then sighed as the line started to finally move.

I wondered if I was going to have fun in Biology. From what I've seen of THIS kid, I probably will. "Hey, Hidan?"

"What the hell do you want now?" he sounded annoyed, but I could tell he wasn't. Lots of people fake being irritated so they won't have to be social.

"Let's be lab partners," I suggested, starting to walk as the line did.

I heard a few whistles from behind me, then a few punching sounds and some yelling, and turned around to see Hidan beating up Kisame and Pein yelling at them both. Hidan called, "Sure, whatever," then continued to hit Kisame.

The bus driver yelled, "Hey, kids! You don't get off when the bus empties, I'm taking you with me!!" We felt a jolt and the bus started to move again. We all ran up and jumped out the open doors before she got off the curb. Hidan started to curse fluidly at the lady, giving her the finger. I smiled lightly, happy that I had met Deidara and Hidan.