DISCLAIMER:I'm not Stephenie Meyer.

A/N: Thanks for the good reviews on the first chapter. I hope to balance the home and work life of Edward and Bella and not get too technical. If I mention something and you don't know what I'm talking about, feel free to ask. The story is set in NY since I live and work in NY and know the rules and regulations.


Chapter 2:The New Girl

"Good afternoon, Isabella!" Demetri greeted me with a smile as I entered the inner sanctum of the bus company. His smile creeped me out, like it wasn't natural for him to be nice. I sensed a true fakeness to his outwardly warm greeting.

"Good afternoon, Demetri." I tried to sound as nice and sweet as possible. Yes, I was metaphorically kissing some ass. I needed this job and didn't want to blow it. "I'm sorry about this morning."

"We understand." Demetri was sitting behind a desk, his face stretched up and over the monitor in order to see me. "The fact that you did not leave your friend alone at the hospital speaks volumes in regards to your character. Your driver has gone outside."

Immediately I panicked at his words. "Oh, am I late?"

"No, dear, you're not late," he reassured me. "Edward and his merry band of misfits are always early, which is the nicest thing I can say about them." Rising from his seat, he grabbed a sheet of paper, walked in my direction, and handed it over the counter to me. "Here is a copy of the run sheet for you. Please acquaint yourself with the directions and the kids. If Edward is ever absent, it may fall upon you to direct a substitute along the route." Demetri pointed to a specific location on the sheet. "Edward's bus is van number forty-seven. He leaves around one twenty, so you still have some time left. As you know from when you were here for your orientation, we supply coffee and tea, so help yourself. When you're ready, walk out the back door, go along the side of the building, and you will find the van parked along the fence."

"Okay, thank you." I glanced up from the sheet to find Demetri glaring at me very oddly. "I'll grab a cup of coffee and then go out to the bus and wait for Edward."

"Very good, dear," he said. "Welcome to Volturi Transit." I turned and walked away as his lips formed into another insincere smile.

I checked my watch and saw that I had another twenty minutes before we were scheduled to leave. Stopping at the coffee maker, I poured myself a cup, added milk and sugar, and then scanned the area. The break room was packed with a varying array of people. Instead of standing idly around, I spotted a small, round table and opted to sit at it. I studied the sheet Demetri had given me, reading the kids' names and addresses. I was trying to make sense of the directions, but it was kind of hard since I wasn't originally from the area. It sounded as if we had to go on three different highways to get to our destination, and it made me nervous.

"Hi, you must be new!"

Raising my head to the sound of the annoying nasally voice, I saw three girls standing before me. They plopped down in the other folding chairs that surrounded the table. The one in the middle reached out and snatched the run sheet from my hand.

"Oh, you're with Edward!" Her voice sounded happy, but her facial expression showed something entirely different. The other two girls exchanged glances and smiled at one another.

The girl on the left spoke up. "Jessica, you need to stop being jealous that you're no longer with Edward."

Jessica's mouth hung open at the girl's comment. "I am not jealous, Angela! Besides, I wasn't with Edward."

The girl on the right snorted. "You liar," she said. "I know you had something going on. With the way Masen looks, it's hard to believe he hasn't slept with half the girls here." The snorter extended her hand to me, and I accepted it against my better judgment. "I'm Lauren, and this is Jessica and Angela."

"You just need to be careful and watch out… what's your name?" Jessica asked.

"Bella," I said. "Why do I have to be careful and watch out?"

"Edward and his group of rejects," she explained. "If they're not getting into trouble, they're creating it or looking for it. Feel free to stare at him all you want, but never make him yours. He's the love 'em and leave 'em type, you know? Edward may be good looking, but he's really a loser."

I noticed that Angela rolled her eyes at Jessica's tirade and wondered how much she embellished the truth. "Oh, stop it, Jess." Angela said. "You're just jealous you're no longer with Edward. You don't get to stare at him for four hours a day now. Who's your driver this afternoon?"

Jessica appeared as if she was going to get sick at Angela's question. "Mike Newton and this is going to be an afternoon of pure hell, that's for sure. Both of us are subs on the run and don't know the kids. And, then of course, it's Newton that I'm with. He has to tear himself away from his office downstairs in the garage and the porn on the computer to actually work."

Lauren smiled at Jessica's words. "Poor baby! Why don't you give Newton a reason to stop looking at porn? Flash him those big titties of yours!"

I couldn't believe that one friend would suggest that to another friend. It didn't make sense to me! I had hardly touched my coffee, so I took a big gulp of it, hoping not to burn my throat in the process. Angela looked at me and for some reason I didn't understand why she was with Jessica and Lauren. "Don't take what Jessica says to heart."

"I am just warning the girl, that's all!" Jessica exclaimed with flourish. Some coworkers at a table behind us stared at Jessica.

From behind me and off to the left, I heard a door open and close. Jessica looked up and blanched at whoever was walking in our direction. "I think we leave now, Jess," the voice said.

I glanced up to see a blond haired man staring at Jessica. "Okay, girls, that's my cue to leave. Catch ya later!"

Jessica got up and I felt someone staring at me. Looking up, I caught who I presumed to be Mike Newton eyeing me like I was a glass of water and he was in a desert. "Hey, sweet cheeks, are you new?"

"Her name is Bella, asshole. Use it." Angela sternly told him.

"I've got to get going myself." Folding the run sheet, I stood and shoved it into my back pocket. "Nice meeting you, Angela." I smiled at her and left, heading straight to the back door. It didn't faze me that I failed to mention Jessica, Lauren, and Mike when I said good-bye. Angela seemed nice, but I wasn't too sure about Jessica and Lauren. As for Mike, my first instinct was to avoid him like the plague if there was any truth to what Jessica said about him.

Practically hugging the building, I walked past a round, red metal picnic table and in between a bus and the garage. At the end of the building I spotted van forty-seven across from it, but no one was sitting inside. I checked my watch again. It was still before one-twenty, so I was safe from meeting Edward for another few minutes. I wondered if I should listen to Jessica's warnings about Edward or if Angela was correct. Maybe I'd just have to figure Edward out for myself. In all honesty, I shouldn't even care. In a few months, I hoped to be out of this town and on to the next one. Leaning against the van, I felt the early September sun against my skin. Not really wanting to engage in conversation with any other coworkers that may have walked by, I kept my eyes trained to the ground.

Off to the right I heard rambunctious laughter coming from a group of people. Keeping my gaze trained to the ground, I tried to watch them out of the corner of my eye. There were three men, two of them whose backs faced my direction. The biggest one turned and saw me. The other one turned quickly and looked away. From the quick glance, I knew that he was handsome. Jessica made Edward out to be some good looking big player and Demetri said he had gone outside. Could that be him? I could surely understand Angela's comment about Jessica staring at Edward for four hours a day.

The tall blond man started to walk toward my direction and then went into the garage. As he approached I could tell he was dressed in a uniform like Mike had been and that he was one of the mechanics. The short little black-haired girl the blond guy had kissed went and hugged the gorgeous one and then practically danced off to another bus in the yard. That left the handsome one, the big tall guy, and the gorgeous blonde girl all standing together.

The three of them could all be models on a cover of a magazine. Hell, the other two could be as well. It was easy to imagine them modeling for something like Abercrombie and Fitch. The three of them started to walk in my direction and I grew increasingly nervous, but I didn't understand why. The two men walked on either side of the gorgeous blonde, each one had of their arms wrapped around her as they walked together. I heard the handsome one say good-bye to the remaining two, and then I felt him approach me. At that very moment, I was torn if I wanted him to be Edward or just another douche bag at this place.

He stopped in front of me and spoke. "I. Swan, I take it?"

I raised my head and dared to look at him. Damn, he was even better looking in person. I impulsively licked my lips and tried to think of what to say.

Introducing yourself would be a good start, dumbass!

He extended his hand toward me. "Edward Masen, it's nice to finally meet you," he said. Shit, he had a gorgeous voice. He could do voice over work for TV and radio commercials.

I finally managed to untangle my limbs and tongue and extended my hand to him. Edward's hand felt so warm and inviting in mine, not cold and clammy like my hand probably felt. "That's me," I said, trying to breathe. "It's Isabella, but please, call me Bella."

"What's the story about this morning?" he asked. "I'm still trying to decide if I should be mad at you for missing work or not."

Asshole flag!

"I'm so sorry!" I tried not cry. "My roommate was sick, and I had to take him to the hospital. We were there all night. I got home at four in the morning and I set the alarm so I could catch some sleep, but I totally overslept and didn't wake up until eleven."

He looked at me, his face full of doubt, but he waited to speak until I was finished with my explanation. "Ah, okay, so you're a good friend. I'm down with that." He smiled at me. "We should get going."

Good guy flag!

I lied. And while I hated to lie to Edward or to anyone in particular, Demetri and Edward didn't need to know all the horrible details of why I was at the hospital or why I was late. It wasn't any of their business. It was between me and Tyler, and I knew that Tyler wasn't going to tell anyone. Edward went to his door, opened it, and hopped inside. He pressed a button and the passenger door slowly opened. I stepped inside, climbed up the short set of stairs, and sat in the front seat off to Edward's right hand side. Edward shut both doors and quickly removed a tape from the radio. Standing up into the aisle, he grabbed the dark ribbon and pulled it out. Throwing it on the floor, he stomped on it repeatedly before throwing it in the garbage.

"I'm not crazy, I swear it," he said, taking out a pair of sunglasses from his shirt pocket and putting them on. "That was a tape Jessica made which drives me crazy. She's a little slow on the uptake and never got a clue."

"Okkkkkay." I sat back and wondered what the hell I was going to do for the next hour. I never thought to bring a book with me. I'd have to go to the library and pick out something. Edward started the bus, and as he pulled out of his parking space, the tall blond man from earlier appeared by the garage. Rolling down his window, Edward steered the bus toward his direction. "See you Friday night, Jasper!"

"Get some good movies, bitch!"

"Don't skimp on the pizza!" Laughing, he rolled up his window and drove to the end of the lot. A few minutes later we were on the highway, and I dug the run sheet Demetri had given me out of my back pocket.

I had been staring out the window, paying attention to where we were going when Edward's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Okay, here's the deal. It can be a long damn drive every day. When we don't have the kids on the bus, I don't care if you read, take a nap, play iPod or cell phone, a PSP, or whatever. But when the kids are on the bus, I fully expect you to be paying attention to them."

He could have delivered his speech in a million different ways. Coming from most people, it would have sounded patronizing, but it didn't. "What do I need to know about the kids?" I asked curiously. The only thing on the run sheet was their name, address, and the directions to the schools.

"We go to three schools right now. The first one is where Tyson goes, and I can tell he's is going to be a handful. He's about ten or eleven, and I never had him before. Pick a lane, damn it!" Edward slowed the bus, checked his mirrors and then continued. "Sorry, Tyson doesn't want to keep his seat belt on. He talks some, but sometimes you can't understand what he says. I talked to the driver that had him last year and they told me that they had problems with him too. Their overall impression of the kid was that he's smart and knows what he's doing. Oh, and I may have a potty mouth, but I keep it in check in front of the kids."

I smiled to myself. "Understandable. What about the other kids?"

"Brandon doesn't speak at all," he said. "If he stops in front of you and crosses his arms in front of his chest, it means he wants a hug. You can tell him no. Brandon is about ten or eleven. Xavier just turned seventeen in June. He does talk, but you could ask him the same question twice in a row and he'll give you different answers each time. Xavier sits in the back and makes lots of noises and looks out the back window. If he asks you for a massage, it means he wants you to scratch his back."

"Okay, thanks for telling me about that," I said. "Or otherwise, I'd wonder what he meant exactly."

"It took us a while to figure that out in the beginning," he admitted. "David is about nine. He talks a little bit too, but he's hard to understand. You really have to listen to him. If he starts making certain noises, you have to watch out." Edward tried to imitate the noise for me. "It means something is going on in that little head of his and he's going to go off. He's a bit of a small kid, but David can pack a punch when he goes off. His mom sends a bag of stuffed animals with him every day. Sometimes he plays with them, sometimes he doesn't. That's all I can think of that might be of importance to you."

"You don't know anything else about them?"

"Sweetie, the only thing I know for sure is the information you see on that run sheet you have," he explained. "Everything else we learn from dealing with them on an everyday basis or if the parents volunteer any information. I'm only assuming all of them are autistic from what I've learned about autism. There could be other things wrong with them some of them too. I haven't the slightest clue. Do you mind oldies?"

"Oldies music you mean?"

I noticed Edward was merging onto another highway. I compared it to the exit number on the run sheet and it matched. "Yeah, oldies music."

"Yeah, I don't mind oldies. Why?" I asked.

"It's the only station that comes in when we hit the mountain," he explained. "Hence forth why Jessica made that stupid tape with kiddie music on it and why I stomped it to bits. The kids may be autistic, but they aren't stupid. They aren't four, and none of them actually seem to be on the age level of a four year old either." Edward clicked on the radio and the sounds of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons drifted through the back speakers. "Oh man, Xavier is missing out on some good stuff. The last time Frankie was on, Xavier lit up for some reason."

Jessica had to be wrong about Edward. This guy—he couldn't be an asshole. There was no way. An asshole wouldn't have told me so much information about the kids he drives. He would have never noticed one of them being interested in the music of Frankie Valli.

The rest of the ride was spent in mostly silence. I tried to pay attention to where we were going and to get the feel of the area we passed through. When we pulled up to the first school, we waited ten minutes in a line up with other buses. Restless, I grabbed the broom from the back of the bus and swept the floor. Edward grabbed the bottle of Windex and a roll of paper towels from up front and cleaned the inside of the windshield.

When Tyson got on the bus, I immediately sensed trouble. I could've sworn that he gave me an evil glare as he sat in the seat behind Edward. "Tyson, put your seat belt on for Bella."

Tyson moved over to the window and stared at me, not putting his seat belt on. "Tyson, put your seat belt on." I said sternly. His eyes squinted at me before he reached for the seat belt and put it on. Yup, I feared this kid was going to be a handful. On the way to our second school, Tyson made some noises and looked out the window. He started saying the word "book" over and over. Edward told me that Tyson had a book in his book bag he could look at. Opening his bag, I found the book and gave it to him. I thought he was going to hit me in the head with it. Edward explained to me how we had to wait in another line up at Brandon and David's school. Very slowly, we moved forward until Edward was told to park against the curb, and then we waited while Brandon and David's teacher's brought them out. Edward instructed me on where they each sat—each one in a second seat—and that they could put their seat belts on by themselves. Tyson tried to take his seat belt off, but I sat across from him and told him to put it back on. He finally relented, but not before I noticed David seemed to be upset at my raised voice, and clicked the seatbelt back on across his lap. Edward drove over to Xavier's school next door, and he boarded the bus almost immediately. I went in the back and watched as Xavier put on his seatbelt and then he looked at me with wonder.

"You are?" he asked.

"I'm Bella, it's nice to meet you Xavier."

"Hi, Bella!" He rocked back and forth in his seat and flapped his ears quickly with each hand.

"Um, Bella, a little help up here, please." I heard Edward's voice and turned to see Tyson standing next to Edward. We were on a main road with no place to pull over, but Edward had slowed the bus to a crawl and kept it straight as I carefully rushed to the front. I don't remember how I managed to get Tyson back into his seat, but I did.

"I'm so sorry about that, Edward," I apologized. "I didn't know he was going to do that."

"Don't worry, he surprised me," he said. "All of a sudden Tyson was just standing there. I wasn't expecting it. I'll have to wait to leave Xavier's school until he's all settled and you can come back up front."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

The rest of the afternoon went smoother. Tyson continued to test me on multiple occasions, trying to take off his seatbelt. He thought he was sneaky, but I caught him. He went off on the window once, hitting with his forehead and then breaking out in tears. I tried reading to him, but he didn't seem to want that. He held onto his book, but didn't look at it himself either. I tried to pay attention to all the kids, but it was mostly Tyson that took my attention. David tried to get me to play with him, but it was hard to with most of my attention focused on Tyson.

The ride back went faster, and Edward had the radio on set to the oldies station. I noticed Brandon seemed to enjoy the music as much as Xavier. He rocked back and forth in his seat, clapping at times, smiling, and in a generally good mood. I had never met him, though, so maybe he was always that way. Xavier sat in the back, watching the cars come up behind us. He would randomly repeat verses of some of the songs, and I tried not to laugh when he started singing along to "Heatwave." I looked up and caught Edward taking a quick glance in his overhead mirror at Xavier before his eyes went back to the road. He had a smile on his face and I'll be damned if he was trying not to laugh too.

Before I knew it, we had hit town and on our way to our first drop off. I was so glad when Edward filled me in and told me that Tyson was the first to go home! Edward explained to Tyson's father what happened with him in the morning and in the afternoon. Tyson's father stated that Tyson kept his seatbelt on in the car all the way to South Dakota. Yeah, well, being with a parent in a car and being on a bus were obviously two different things for Tyson.

Now that the seeker of most of my attention was gone, I was able to sit with David and play with him. He leaned against my side with his arm wrapped around mine, and looked up at me with a huge smile.

"Guhhhhhh." At least, that's what it sounded like. Edward wasn't kidding when he stated that David made a lot of noises. We dropped the rest of the students off, and then Edward drove back to base. He backed up the bus into the spot and opened the door so I could leave.

"Thanks, Bella," he said while looking down at what I knew was his log book. "You did a good job this afternoon. We leave at six forty-five in the morning."

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Good night, Bella."

With his final words, I disembarked the bus and went inside the building to punch my time card. I exited the front door, walked out of the lot, and took the shoe leather express toward home.;


A/N: Reviews are like chocolate... I can't get enough. :)