I've just decided to pick this up again after, I don't know...five years? This was written awhile ago. I just went through and did some minor corrections. If you don't enjoy it, or don't like the feel of it please, quickly wrote a review saying why. I'll never improve if I don't get criticism. So, thanks in advance!
Oh, and the voice that this is written in is going to change fairly drastically between chapter one and two. Maybe someday I'll totally rewrite the first chapter, but for now...deal with it I guess.
The air was brisk and his breathe showed with every puff. A small cloud of steam issuing out of his lungs. He rubbed his hands vigorously and hopped about, fueled only in part by the cold. He had gloves on and a brown beanie. A plane gray hoodie and blue jeans made up the rest of his outfit. He plopped his bag full of books down on sat atop of it. "Hey, aren't you a little old to be riding the bus?" The young man jumped, startled out of his nervous thinking. Glancing about this way and that he couldn't seem to locate the source of the hidden voice, that is until he looked down. There, staring up with large brown eyes was a little boy.
"What?" The question left his mouth with a flop. It crawled out of his mouth and just kind of fell onto the ground. If the word was a bird being pushed from it's nest it would have made a sickening thump sort of noise as it came down.
"I said, aren't you a little old to be riding the bus?" The little brown eyed boy stared up, his eyes giving off a challenging stare. The young man paused for a second, unsure of how to reply. After deliberating for several seconds he found what he was going to say. It was simple, yet elegant.
"No." It was pure poetry. Also, very suave. He was slightly proud of himself for playing it so cool.
"Oh, you just look a little old. How old are you?" The question, though innocent, had a weight behind it. Once more the young man deliberated, unsure if he should get into the deeper spiritual rarefactions behind it.
"I'm sixteen." He decided with literal.
"You ARE to old be riding the bus!" The force with which the brown eyed boy exclaimed this particular statement made the young man step back.
"I am not! I'm plenty young enough to ride the bus to school!" This outburst made several passers by glance up and give him a queer look. Though they quickly went back to their own worlds.
"Nu uh! When you're sixteen you're supposed to be able to drive yourself to school! Any one who can't is a loser. That's what my older sister says and she's really smart, and WAY older than me. She's almost thirteen." The young man sighed. The brown eyed boy continued to talk with him, regardless if he replied or not. It didn't seem to matter one way or another.
After what seemed like an eternity, but in all actuality had only been several minutes, the bus appeared. As the big yellow beast rolled up and hissed to a stop Aang let a small sigh out, happy to be on his way.
"So you must be him then, eh?" An older man, dressed in an old brown suit, stepped out of the office and approached Aang. He wore a well practiced grin, a grin that said, 'look at me! I'm your friend. I'm a happy fellow. Though all day I deal with ungrateful little punks and then go home to be trapped in a loveless marriage with a wife I grew to hate ten years ago! Also, I ate oatmeal this morning.' It was exactly that kind of grin. Aang simply nodded his head a gave a quick, yessir. "So, let's take a look at your profile here. So, it says your name is Aang...Huh, well that weirds. Your last name seems to have been smudged off here. Well, no matter. Here's your class schedule. You'll get assigned a locker later, until then just carry your back-pack with you." The man with the all revealing grin handed Aang a sheet of paper, detailing how his Days from here on out where to be spent. Monday through Friday, eight to three. Aang simply nodded while he was speaking. "Say, I heard you rode the bus today."
Aang glanced up and said, "Yeah? Is there a problem with that?" I slightly confused look passed onto his face. Unsure of how to continue. "I mean, if it is a problem I could find another way to get to-"
"Oh no, no problem. You just seem a little old to be riding the bus at this age." Before Aang could begin to formulate his defense the man said, "Well, you don't want to be late to your first class on your first day! Get on with you, you little rascal!" At once the brown suited man turned around and fled back into his office to continue to drink his spike coffee and weep silently, leaving Aang very confused and very alone sitting in a new school not entirely sure what he was doing there.
"Well, I better get on my way! Not gonna get there any faster just sitting here!" His cheerful voice and chipper attitude gained him several sour looks from the others waiting in the office. "Have a nice day!" And as he merged his way into the stream of student bodies he gave a friendly wave goodbye. One that was not even returned with a friendly smile.
The mass of students swept him down the hallway. Pushing through the crowd proved to be a fearsome task, one that he was barely able to manage. With people pushing in all around him and he just a few meager feet from the room in which he needed to be. Suddenly a bell rang and the crowd dispersed in a a matter of seconds. What once seemed a task of herculean proportion was now only a matter of walking a few feet and opening a door. Slowly, and with some trepidation, Aang turned the doorknob and opened the door. Poking his head in he looked around. He saw a simple enough classroom. Students sitting in rows and a teacher at the front. Five by five, very symmetrical. Though he wasn't sure what else he expected to see.
"So you must be our new arrival!" Aang was startled, though he new he shouldn't have been. You can't just stand in the opening of a door way all day and not expect somebody to notice. Stepping all the way he felt a large sheepish grin pass over his face. His hand came up behind his head and he began to scratch.
"Yeah, that must be me!" A small chuckle escaped his lips. He could feel a blush creeping up his face and he tried, to no avail, to will it away. Being the center of attention for a whole room was a nerve wracking thing. He wasn't quite sure on what to do next.
"Well, why don't you come up here and introduce yourself! Let us get to know you! I'll start, My Name is Sarai Bennett, though you'll be calling me Mrs. Bennett. I love lizards, hiking, and the english language. Which is what you'll be learning in this modest classroom of mine." As she talked Aang was able to look at Mrs. Bennett. She looked to be around five seven and had shoulder length brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. She wore a brown pair of slacks with a light yellow long sleeved shirt and a mismatched blue sweater vest. Her shoes didn't match either, they where black with a small pink bow on either. Her was pretty, in a modern way with which one wold judge pretty. High cheek bones, the not overly strong. Hazel colored eyes and a slightly crooked smile. She had a face all the young men in the class didn't mind staring at.
Stammering slightly Aang walked into the center of the room. Most of the eyes where on him, though some where staring up at the ceiling and a few where looking down at their desks. "Um...uh...My names, uh...Aang." He paused for a second to get his bearings.
"Is it, just Aang?" Mrs. Bennett smiled in a gentle teasing sort of way.
"Um, uh..Yes." This elicited a few chuckles from the students. "I mean, It's way I go by."
"Okay, I see Aang. So what do you like, dislike? What brings you to our school?" Aang wasn't sure how much more he could take. His legs felt weak and his stomach was in knots.
"I came here for...reasons." Aang didn't want to go on.
"And what where those reasons?" Mrs. Bennett's eyes seemed to sparkle with laughter, though she was polite enough to hold it in.
"Reasons! Okay!" Aang hadn't meant for it to come out so forcefully. Not with so much bite.
"Okay, maybe someday later you can tell us." Mrs. Bennett didn't seem to want to push the issue any further. She directed him to his seat and began her lesson for the day.