The sounds of the eighties greatest hits woke her up.

The girl groaned and hid under a mop of messy brown curls as a smooth male voice belted out his troubles.

Sometimes I feel I've got to-(run away)-I've got to-(get away)-from the pain you drive into…

Her hand slapped on the alarm clock, just missing the "off" button.

…Toss and turn, I can't sleep at night! The man sang on.

Finally, her fingers found the button. She smirked as the song was cut short. Peace and quiet at last!

"Meryl, get down here or you'll miss the bus!" Her mother shouted. So much for quiet. The girl slapped on a plain black t-shirt and some jeans and slugged downstairs.

Meryl wasn't a morning person. The only reason she managed to wake up before noon was thanks to an alarm clock and her mother's persistent calls. Several spoonfuls of sugar into her cereal kept her that way until she got on the bus and fell asleep again. Speaking of sugar…She thought as a bowl of chocolate frosted sugar bombs were placed in front of her. It was a bowl of diabetes just waiting to ruin her perfect sugar levels. Meryl didn't care, though, and tore into it like the neighborhood dog tears into the mailman's pants.

"Slow down, girl! I don't want you to choke." Her mother urged. Meryl just grunted and continued to massacre the poor cereal. Her mother chuckled, but didn't say anything. The woman was a licensed nurse, and could handle a simple choking.

The rest of the morning was uneventful. The daily checklist was followed as normal: get up, eat, dress, etc. The only thing left was the bus. Meryl's bus picked up at least twenty kids on her stop. She lives in a huge apartment complex full of rich and poor alike, and most residents were under thirty. The college was ten minutes away, and two high schools were only five.

Meryl wasn't the most social person in the world. Far from it. On most mornings, she only talked to her mom and saved the talking for school. It didn't bother her. She was content to sit back, listen to her iPod, and wait for the bus to come. Everyone knew that.

That didn't keep her from people watching, though. She knew only a few of the kids on her stop; most of them were in other grades and in different cliques, so neither parties tried to befriend another. One of the kids she knew, a Porto Rican boy named Gabriel, was busy picking a fight with another quiet, iPod-listening boy. The iPod-boy was holding a cupcake, about ready to eat it. Gabriel, being the trickster he was, tried to swipe it. Instantly a fight broke out, and a crowd of curious kids blocked Meryl's view.

This wasn't the first time Gabriel got into a fight, and this won't be the last. Gabriel loved to get people riled up in any way he could; spreading bullshit, starting rumors, and getting into fights. Stealing a sweet from an obviously stronger boy…this was a new one. This is going to be funny. Meryl thought, chuckling to herself. Gabe's antics always were. It was part of his charm.

She walked over and pulled out an earbud. Standing on her toes, she peered over the row of heads to see the much taller I-pod boy try to fight off the short, bulky Gabriel. They were shouting things at eachother, but Meryl couldn't make them out. She pulled out the other earbud and pushed her way forward.

Gabriel was kicked in the gut. He stumbled back, but kept his balance and lunged for the taller boy, "What the hell, Gabe! It's mine! Go get your own!" iPod-boy shouted, holding the prize in his right hand. Still, Meryl's odd little friend kept lunging. Even with his stature, the boy was a damn good jumper, and soon he managed to snatch the sweet from the boy's hands.

"Hell no! There's no way a person like you can get one of these, anyway! You stole it too!" Gabe shouted. Meryl raised an eyebrow. What was so special about a cupcake? It was a cupcake, something she could buy with five others just like it for three bucks.

"Dude…it's just a cupcake. Calm down." She teased. By now the crowd was dissipating. The show was over. Gabriel looked over at her, holding the cupcake delicately, like it was fragile china.

Gabe looked over at Meryl with the exact same expression of Golem from The Lord of The Rings. She twitched under his terrifying gaze, half-expecting him to call it 'precious.'

"Why don't you take a bite and find out?" He proposed. The other boy cursed loudly, but they both ignored him. Meryl wasn't as much of a dick as Gabe, but she liked messing with people too. Right now, she could go for some sugar, and she didn't know this guy. Why not mess with him? She would only take a bite of his cupcake, it's not like she would lick it all over.

"Sure." She said, smirking. Gabe offered her the cupcake and she quickly snatched it up, ripping off a small corner. The iPod guy started to object, but the little bit was already in her mouth, and damn did it taste good!

"What the hell did you just do!" The guy shouted, but his voice didn't sound right. Meryl licked a bit of icing off of her lips, ignoring the boys. She held out the cupcake to Gabe, but he was turned away, taking a sucker-punch to the face. Just then, the bus pulled up, and the driver was screaming at them, "Sit down and shut up!"

Too late, Miss Crabtree. She was already long gone.