In this story the Cahills vs Vespers series has not happened, at least not yet.
Disclaimer: I am not one of the many authors who have contributed to the actual series. Seriously tracking these down one by one in the library was difficult.
Amy was getting tired of school. Normally she actually kind of enjoyed it. Learning without life or death situations creeping on you at every corner held quite an appeal at first. She was even okay with the homework, she understood that it was necessary to help her learn despite how much she hated doing it. No what was driving Amy absolutely bonkers was the other kids.
She had never been the world's largest social butterfly before the clue hunt. Now she was having an even harder time clicking with them. Most of her close friends had faded to acquaintances, and she had become quieter. On the other hand she liked to think that she had a quiet confidence now, her stutter had practically vanished. The only people she ever made more than small talk with anymore were the teachers. This had gotten her the label teacher's pet fairly quickly. She seemed doomed to a quiet existence until she graduated. For this she was both grateful and depressed.
Home was a different story. There were always Cahill's calling in for her opinion on one important matter or another. She always did her best, to advise or direct them to someone who would know what was to be done. It was rather stressful being the family head. At least with her limited social life she always had the time for each of them. The young Cahills are probably what had been keeping her sane. They had bonded more closely as a group since the end of the hunt, promising to work together better than the previous generation had for the good of the world. She had also taken up martial arts in case she ever needed it in the future. Dan was a big help too, in his own annoying way. He distracted her from her lack of friends, as well as helping out with the Cahill side of things.
Today though Dan had gone to a friend's house, Atticus if she remembered correctly. So she sat by herself on the bus. Unfortunately as the bus was almost always overcrowded this did not mean she got to sit alone. Figuring she would be in for a long awkward silence on the otherwise noisy bus, she went for an open window seat. A lot of people boarded, and just when it looked like she might end up alone after all, a girl came rushing onto the bus. This was not the least bit unusual since she had been so close to missing it. What was unusual was the fact that Amy did not recognize her. Amy had gotten very good with names, and faces lately, and the girl before her was definitely new.
She took the only open seat left right next to Amy. The girl had brown hair done in a ponytail and plain blue metal glasses. Out of breath she kind of sunk into the seat. Knowing she had probably had a rough first day, the school was a maze, Amy decided to exercise more social skills than normal, and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Amy, you must be knew what's your name"? The girl seemed grateful and quickly responded.
"Hi, I am Sofia, and thanks you are the first person to introduce themselves to me today without being asked to do so by a teacher."
"Well it's kind of nice to have a bus buddy for a change," Amy said. "So where did you move in from?" It was nice to be able to speak this easily for a change.
"Oklahoma, I would say the town, but it is not very big so you most likely would not recognize it. We moved because my dad got a promotion, so the rest of my family was thrilled. Me not so much". Realizing she may have offended her new companion she quickly backtracked. "Not that it is not nice here or anything, I just miss home." Amy nodded. Then looking for a different subject the Sofia suggested they switch seats explaining she was second to last off, so Amy would have an easier time getting out. Amy shook her head, and gave a little smile.
"Switching wouldn't be of much help, I am the very last one off. Well normally I have my little brother Dan with me, but still we're a ways out there." Sofia looked surprised but then a pleasant expression came over her face as she realized she would not be on the bus practically alone after all.
"That's neat." she said simply. They continued to talk until it was time for Sofia to get off. Amy had of course specifically arranged to be the last stop. The whole point of riding the bus in the first place had been to seem more normal. That couldn't exactly be accomplished if the bus stopped right in front of a large mansion for all the students on board to see. She had been needing someone to talk to, and was never more glad she had forced Dan to ride the bus.
