Highway to Hell
"BRAIWOOD SENIORS '03 FUCKING RULES, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tommy Baker yelled as he streaked across the school's quad. It had been a moment that he was looking forward to all year, no problems, no repercussions, he just stripped down beneath his graduation gown and instead of throwing his hat into the air, everything else went up. Now he wore only that mortarboard as he performed a naked back flip on the grassy quad as school security finally caught up. People were laughing left and right, though more than a few did so out of disgust as the track star was knocked to the ground by a fifty year old man easily weighing 200 pounds more. People ran around, some in graduation gowns, some in their street clothes, and more than a few in one of many states in between. Somewhere in the office building three members of the football team snuck in and piped "Jungle Boogie" over the loudspeakers, gaining even more attention from campus security than anyone would have ever hoped.
Still, it was Graduation Day. Despite the delinquents, despite the problems, nobody really gave a damn about what was wrong. For the students, it had been the end of their student career, their metamorphosis into adulthood and their next stage of life. For the teachers and staff, it was just a relief to be without them. Even the campus security was full of smiles, much as they may have been doing their best to corral the students within the school grounds.
That was the brilliance in the Senior Picnic. Usually it had been one of those events that was done early in the week before graduation ever got around to happening, but this year they packed it in between graduation itself and Grad Nite. It would keep everybody in place and would make sure the delinquency would be kept to a minimum (well, that, and it would prevent at least 80 of the smuggled alcohol from finding it's place into the graduation ceremonies), and it was a massive success. Local pizza restaurants and ice cream joints had donated enough food to feed an army, and overall it was a massive success. Well, aside from the occasional puddle of vomit from those who combined massive amounts of pizza with alcohol, it was a success, but that much was to be expected.
"Come on, turn that thing off," Tamyra said bashfully as she tried to hide from the video camera's aim. Smiling a wide smile from behind it's viewfinder, Nick wasn't one to back down.
"Awww, come on, you look great," Nick retorted as he focused more on her face. She did her best to look away, hiding a toothy grin with defined dimples. She couldn't let Nick win, he always did that. Always made her feel so happy and tingly, no, she couldn't let him win, couldn't let him get that last laugh in.
"No I don't," she replied, "that thing always makes my booty look big."
"Oh you're booty's just fine," he shot back, "You've got meat on your bones which is a damn sight better than half the girls here."
"Yeah?" she asked. Visually, Tamyra knew that she was an average girl at best, able to name her greatest assets and flaws off on her fingers. Round face, dimples, nice smile, eyes, fit tummy, all good. Maybe a few too many pounds, could use a bit more of a tan, and that damn curly hair that just won't straighten out, not good. Self-conscious was a quality she knew she possessed in spades, yet at the same time was one she couldn't do anything about. Another one of those things that made it ever the more amazing that Nick had ever considered her beautiful...
He always had that persona of being one of the pretty boys. He was smart, funny, came from a moderately affluent family and was a star on the swim, water polo and football teams. And yet while most of the athletes from Braiwood High School were just dumbasses who survived too much on testosterone and cruelty, Nick was... decent. Surprisingly decent even.
"Yeah," Nick said quickly, "buncha girls here think lookin like sticks and twigs are gonna get them by in life, and maybe they're right, but give 'em a few years and they'll starve themselves more and more to a point where they can hardly stand, looking like a skeleton and thinking they're beautiful while you're going to be even hotter than you are right now, and let me tell you you are pretty damn hot right now."
"Take out the casual swearing and I'd take that for very romantic," she giggled, "but instead I'll take that for very sweet."
"And I'll take whatever I can get," Nick replied.
"You could take more than that you know," Tamyra said with a mischievous smile, "though you tend to do that anyway."
"Yes, yes I do," Nick continued, "and I didn't hear you complaining last night."
"No I didn't, not one bit," Tamyra responded, "and I'd complain even less if you put that camera away."
Smiling, yet resigning himself to the fact that the situation wasn't liable to change much otherwise, Nick folded the camera's viewscreen in and deftly slipped it into his backpack. Squeezing it between his towel and swim trunks (they promised swimming for Grad Nite, thank God), he made sure it was properly cushioned before linking his arm around Tamyra's waist.
"I absolutely adore you," she said as they began to walk away from the fray.
"Feeling's mutual," he continued, sighing as they began to walk across the quad. It was hard to believe that high school was over. Four years ago it started, full of fear, full of hope, and full of expectations that never would be met. At the same time, it was a period of unbelievably great experiences. First kiss, first dance, first major party, first time getting arrested for driving a golf cart on someone's front lawn while under the influence, first A on a test. Good times, good times.
"Man, we're out of here, can you believe it?" Nick said with the best words he could muster. Never a poet, but that never stopped you before now did it?
Phoenix Bus Lines, #31 the side of the vehicle read. It could have read Bob's Smoked Horse Emporium for all Nick cared, it was a damn sight better than any of the school buses that Braiwood High usually had their hands on. Their old yellow buses were decades out of date, the school district too cheap to pay for anything other than new metal detectors and athletic equipment. This bus though, this was nice. Nicer than anything the school could afford normally, so when they went all out like this, it was special. No, it was HUGE.
Pushing open the side door, the young couple was greeted with a welcome blast of cool air. In the Southern California heat that the early summer provided, having a bus with an air-conditioner was an unbelievable perk. Light seventies folk rock played over the speakers, adding a bit of pleasantry to what was otherwise a harsh mess of noise coming from the quad.
"And the road leads to nowhere, and the castle stays the same..."
"Ben?" Tamyra asked with surprise as she saw the driver, "They gave you a sweet ride for once?"
"Yeah," the aged black man said with a bit of a laugh. He had been Braiwood High's bus driver for god only knew how long, seemingly as old as the school itself. For a long time he'd been disrespected and yelled at by more kids than he could count, time and again passed over for promotion after promotion, and yet he still kept that good cheer and smile. True, most people didn't even know his name, nor did they know his real smile, but to those who did he was the most kind.
"I'm as surprised as you are, but they wanted someone who knew what they was doin and I'm about as good as it gets here," he continued, "A/C, stereo, television, bathroom, VHS and DVD players and first class seats, hell, this is better than my apartment! Best grab yourselves some seats though, things are gonna fill up here pretty quick."
"We the first ones?" Nick asked.
"Almost," Ben said as he looked over his shoulder with a bit of a grimace before looking back to the young couple, "come on kids, get yourselves some seats."
Following the bus drivers gaze, Tamyra caught sight of a boy that more than explained the his look. It's not that there was anything outwardly wrong with the boy, it was just... it was just an understanding that nobody talked about Damien Myers if they weren't ready to.
He had transferred over a year and a half before right out of a hospital after spending a long period of recovery from a car accident. Mentally he was all right and a pretty funny guy to the people who took the effort to get to know him, though asking him about anything that happened before the accident seemed to be a dead end as he either didn't or wouldn't remember much. No, what really seemed to hit Damien the hardest were the physical scars the accident left. His left arm had been severed raggedly below the elbow, while jagged scars criss-crossed his chest, neck and the side of his face. Most people tended to ignore him, while the better portion of Braiwood High School's popular crowd tended to keep the small and wiry boy as their whipping post for verbal abuse. He seemed to take it all in good humor, though with the given nickname of "The Demon", it was hard to understand how he just let it all roll off his back. As Nick and Tamyra passed towards the back to grab a seat, Damien gave a pleasant nod and a crooked smile as he went back to mastering his most recent Gameboy conquest.
"Creepy," Nick muttered softly as he settled into his seat.
"Oh come on, he's not all that bad," Tamyra said with a knowing smile, "besides, I had that creepy look myself a while back and you seemed to like it."
"Your goth stuff?" Nick asked with a laugh, "I just thought you looked hot in all that leather."
With a fit of giggling, another pair of students stumbled aboard the bus. Jackson and Eliza, class stoners though they may be, were quite a cute couple in a hippie/artsy sort of way. Friends with Eliza, Tamyra waved up towards the front of the bus. Eliza raised a hand to respond, but was cut off as Jackson tackled her onto a seat in another fit of laughter.
"Gee, thanks, and here I thought it was my sparkling personality," Tamyra responded with a roll of the eyes as she caught sight of that quiet girl (Tammy, right?) entering the bus and taking a quick seat up front. With innocent wide-eyes and a grin that was nothing short of infectious, movie geek Paul Holt gave Ben a high five.
"Any chance we can just lock up now and take this thing like a private limo?" Paul jokingly asked the bus driver.
"No luck kiddo," Ben replied, "we gotta fill this one up, school's too cheap to charter too many buses ya know?"
"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," Paul muttered as he made a beeline towards the back of the bus.
"And don't let me catch you writing anything on those seats again!" Ben yelled back to Paul with enough anger to cause the young boy to zip his backpack up once again. A good guy overall, he'd been caught on more than one occasion using magic markers to write classic movie quotes on school buses, bungalows and bathrooms, a well-known and rather annoying trait known schoolwide.
"So what are you going to remember most?" Tamyra asked as she looked off into space.
"'bout what?" Nick responded.
"About high school," Tamyra replied, "I've been saying goodbye to so many people, hearing what everyone seems to think is important and what they're going to take out of it all, and I haven't heard that from you, it's weird. I mean, I think I know going in what your answer is going to be, but I want to hear it to see if I'm right."
"So you want to hear something you think you already know the answer to?" Nick asked.
"Because I like being right?" Tamyra responded with a knowing smile, "Come on, hit me with your best shot, you can still prove me wrong."
"Well..." Nick responded as he mused off into space. He wanted to put the words together but didn't quite know how to make them come out.
"I don't know," he admitted, "I think I will. But I don't know. Gimme a few, aight?"
"Yeah, sure," Tamyra said as she quickly kissed her boyfriend on the chin. Hearing a high-pitched yet still masculine 'Wassup Ben!' coming from the front of the bus, Tamyra stood up and quickly waved the boy over.
"Hey Josh, over here!" she shrieked with particular glee. Short and wiry Josh Peters bounded quickly past the rows of seats towards the two young lovers. For lack of a better title he was the official Braiwood High School class clown, quick with a joke and even quicker with a comeback. He'd done more than a few amateur standup competitions and even made fifty dollars by placing third in a real competition. He was one of those guys that seemed to be everyone's friend, never really the most popular of guys in the world, but never on the outs with anyone. True, he was more than a bit of a horndog when it came to the ladies, but with less than discriminating tastes Nick and Tamyra had become the boy's best friends.
"Wassup guys?" he asked as he propped down in a seat opposite the young lovers.
"Not much, just waiting and wondering," Tamyra responded, "really want to get going though, I mean, with what we paid for this you know it's gotta be good."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Josh quickly replied, "though I will be getting a game of miniature golf out of you guys when you're not making out, right? I mean I know you want to make babies and all that stuff but I came here tonight wanting to beat the pants off a jock at miniature golf and I intend to pull it off."
"Yeah, yeah, fine," Nick responded as he waved the boy off, "you'll get your game of mini golf."
"Sweet," Josh replied simply, "I am so gonna be hustling, so totally gonna be hustling the miniature golf course."
"You know you really need to get a life now, don'tcha?" Tamyra asked with an eye to the door to see if any more of her friends would enter. No dice, just some wannabe ladies man who stood around, eying the few girls in the bus cockily.
"Hey man, holding things up there," the six and a half foot tall Geiger said as he pushed Gervase out of the way.
"Why would getting a life make anything any easier?" Josh asked, "I've been without a life for six damn years now and I couldn't be any happier! Yes it's made me dangerously suicidal and a borderline alcoholic, but damn it's fun!"
"You are a sad strange little man," Tamyra teased as she kicked at him, her moment of revelry taken out by a sharp noise at the vehicle's front.
A shrieking distinct to that of a crew of teenage girls filled the bus and drowned out much of the noise as most of the "Swim Six" entered energetically. They were all stars in every sense of the word, each girl mastering the scholastic as well as athletic realm as key players in their swim team while remaining one of the tightest friendships in Braiwood High School. As always leading the pack, Anna drummed her fingers on the seats as she passed. Immediately flanking her were the energetic blonde (and Anna's best friend) Jenny, and the African-American Naomi (although all the Swim Six were rather gorgeous, Naomi did tend to turn the most heads.) Carrying up the rear of the group were Lindsay and her football player boyfriend Rudy and the Native American Sky along with her twin sister Lexie. Being the outsiders of the clique, Lexie and Rudy remained rather quiet as the five girls chattered and shrieked energetically, stopping and posing as Jenny took what appeared to be the fiftieth Polaroid picture of the night.
"Now that I'm not gonna miss," Josh said as he cleared out an ear and watched the girls grab some seats nearby.
"What's that?" Nick asked.
"Losing an eardrum every time a girl gets excited," Josh joked, "I mean, yeah, I do want that, but preferably if I pay her first."
"You're disgusting," Tamyra deadpanned as she craned her neck to see if any of her friends had ambled aboard the bus.
The somewhat timid yet pretty in a mousy sort of way Lara Drake was followed in quick succession by four of the class "criminals", or more appropriately people that no one would have really wanted to mess with. Peter was a known street racer and back alley brawler (and raging alcoholic, though he kept that part quiet), Ashley got around rather well with the drugs and scuffles, while Jacob was just an all around badass. Gus, well, he was a redneck through and through having grown up most of his life in the desert towns, and with his knowledge of fighting, boozing and shooting shit up out of boredom he was one most didn't choose to get along with. Despite their intimidating appearances, there was a unique camaraderie between the crew, one that was manifested itself in the quiet confidence they entered the bus with.
"Looks like this is gonna be an interesting trip," Josh said as he watched that skater dude Matt enter followed soon after by the cheerleader Maxine. Taking a long and rather blatant glance at her shirt, he added, "Lots of nice... scenery."
"Pervo," Tamyra said as she stuck out her tongue to the class clown. Never one to back down from a challenge, he followed suit.
As he watched classmate after classmate file aboard the bus with great anticipation, Nick finally felt the words he'd wanted to find coming through to him.
"You know, I actually think I am gonna miss this place," Nick said as he watched Marie, Lori and Lisa file onto the bus (though they came in together it was more than likely happenstance; all three were pretty big bitches when it came down to it and hot though they may be, Nick wasn't interested in the slightest), "a lot of good memories here you know?"
"A lot of bad ones too," Tamyra interjected.
"Yeah, but you gotta take the good with the bad," Nick said, "I mean, for all the fights and all the bitchiness that comes with the place, this is high school, you got as many good memories and good times. You just gotta learn to forget about all the crap."
"I can forget the crap," Tamyra replied, "it's the drama, ugh, that, now that is the worst. All the lying, all the backbiting, all the rumors, I wasn't even a part of them and I got sick of 'em."
"You started some though," Josh corrected from his seat as he checked his pair of novelty swim trunks (true, he'd probably get in trouble for them any other day, but given that nobody'd give a damn in a few days he didn't mind bringing out the pair with the words 'Insert hand here' over the crotch).
"That's beside the point," Tamyra said dismissively, "Jeremy's an asshole and he deserved whatever bad press he could get for what he did to her."
"I'll give you that, he was a pretty big douche," Josh said as he craned his neck over the seat in an effort to try and see if any more hotties got on the bus. Instead, he just found political loudmouth Blake, skinny gay boy Michael and lardass AJ. No chicks, god damn it.
"I mean, I'm a douche bag, but I'm not that kind of a douche bag, ya know?" Josh continued to reasonably deaf ears. Normally everyone that could, did listen to the class clown as he joked, but the next person entered the bus, nearly all conversation went silent. Wherever he was... trouble tended to follow.
Luke entered the bus rather smoothly despite the fact that the trickle of people getting on the bus became something of a flood. As he confidently strode through the aisle he got more than a few appreciative glances from the girls, but for Luke that was hardly something new. Striding along with a grin that had separated many a girl from her panties, he slipped in beside his recently ex-girlfriend to see if he could get a reaction. Given Lara's look of disgust, it was clear what kind of reaction he'd received.
"Get away from me you dick!" she practically shrieked, kicking him from the bench seat, "And take that slut of yours with you!"
Without missing a beat, Luke got back to his feet with that same cocky grin of his and stole a seat a few rows back. Normally his quick wit would have taken Lara down a peg, but his confident smile was more than enough to show that he had complete control of the situation, had it all planned out and was enjoying every second of it.
"What's that all about?" Nick asked.
"Young love..." Josh interjected, then quickly adding, "and the fact that Lara's dumb enough not to realize that Luke's a total man whore."
"Ah," Nick replied with a nod of the head. It was no secret that Luke was one of Braiwood High School's charmers, he'd been with more girls and guys than anyone could count at this point, seeming to take it all as some sort of cha-
"Oh no," Tamyra muttered as she tried to duck behind the seat, "I am so suddenly wishing we were on another bus."
"What?" Nick asked as he craned his neck to take a look.
"Cavemen, twelve o'clock," Josh whispered from across the aisle as he did his best to seem invisible as well.
Looking the other way, Nick could see what they had seen before he, and already he shuddered. This ride... it was going to be hell.
"YEAH, GRAD NITE!" Mike yelled at the tops of his lungs as he entered the bus, "WHAT'S UP NIGGAS?"
"Shut the fuck up," Joel commanded as he sucker-punched Mike in the kidney and forced the other boy to collapse to the floor.
Why here? Why this bus? There's a half-dozen other buses, of all the buses going out tonight why'd they have to get on this one? Why? Nick sighed. Anyone who had ever been through high school had their own share of bully stories, stories of people who had terrorized them, stuffed them in trash cans, lockers, pantsed them. However, Joel and his posse... they had brought bullying into an art form.
To anyone who had known him it was enough of a miracle that he made it through senior year; he was an imbecile in many a sense, a rich and violent one at that. While he came from a reasonably affluent family, he was known to have a short fuse and had already been arrested four times for fighting in three different schools. In one fight he allegedly gouged out a guys eye just because he'd put his foot on Joel's motorcycle so he could tie his shoe, though no one was willing to find out whether or not it was true. He was on the verge of receiving some serious psychological counseling on how to get rid of his aggression when they'd recommended he take up a sport, and lo and behold he joined the wrestling team. This simple act had taken the edge off his violent nature and changed his standing in school. No longer just a thug, he had rocketed to the top of the Braiwood High School hierarchy, as being loud, mean and insulting to women seemed to get the girls to flock to him. Joel was the king... and he knew how to get his subjects to flock to him.
Already trailing behind him were his minions from the wrestling team. His blonde bimbo of the month, Carrie (who most called CC) clung to his waist, and although she was pretty stupid and didn't object when Joel would smack her from time to time, she was easily the least objectionable of the bunch. There was Mike, a.k.a. Big V, the shortest and wiriest member of the wrestling team, and by far the loudest. He was a fan of inflicting pain however he could in the ring, and though he wasn't the brightest outside, he was oddly adept at blackmail. If Mike was the Jester to Joel's king, then Karen was quite probably his loyal advisor. Short, overweight and extremely muscular with a head of spiked hair, the admitted bull dyke was more than enough to make waves on the wrestling team among the men. If anything, she had her moments it seemed where she rather enjoyed breaking guys in half.
Following Karen were the last two members of Joel's gang, yet easily the most bewildering. Shane was for lack of a better word retarded, some complications during childbirth it seemed, but he was incredibly strong and took part in several of the school's sport teams. Nick himself had a rather dark sense of humor, he was one to admit it fully, but them taking advantage of the handicapped wasn't cool, not in any way, shape or form. Behind Shane was the last of Joel's gang, the drunkard exchange student from England, Bo, who Nick didn't really know, or care, a lot about.
Please God, no, Tamyra thought, just let this be over, no more, it was bad enough for four years, don't let it happen again. Having lived life as an outsider in the Braiwood High School hierarchy, Tamyra found herself on the receiving end of much of the cruelty that the cliques had to offer. The girls made fun of her, while the guys harassed her simply because it was easy. Dating Nick seemed to make it a bit better, but that didn't stop all that cruelty had to offer. Nobody, but nobody would stop Joel.
Well, almost nobody...
"How long is this ride again?" Tamyra asked nervously in an attempt to take her mind off the situation.
"An hour, hour and a half maybe, we're headed out by Vista Del Mar," Nick added.
As the wrestlers settled in at the back of the bus and already began howling, Tamyra grimaced.
"You want to switch buses?" Tamyra asked with even more hesitation.
"It's not that bad," Nick insisted, "relax, just, relax."
"Easy for you to say. It's gonna be a long hour and a half," she muttered.
"I can make it go by faster," Nick responded as he placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Yeah, you can," Tamyra responded as she kissed him again.
"Awww, you guys are cute, just like old people," Josh joked from across the aisle.
"Eat shit," Tamyra replied as she gave her boyfriend another kiss. They rolled around on the seat, giggling to each other as Tamyra did her best to brace a foot against the wall for balance. Josh meanwhile had his eyes trained back on the front, and the next sight quite clearly made his eyes go wide.
"Yowza," Josh said, with no other words quite clear enough to explain the vision. Indeed, she was a vision, nay, a goddess to behold. No, it wasn't that fat girl Elena, that library chick Katie (what the hell was she doing here anyway, she never does anything fun), or that nerdy genius kid who walked in just before, no, it was Katherine. Katherine Farraday. She was one of those girls that every other girl wanted to be, while every boy wanted to be with her. Long blonde hair, glowing smile, eyes of both green and blue, and a body that was both petite yet curved, she was visually impressive, yet at the same time was probably the single nicest person in school.
For the longest time she'd been the silent, lonely type, but had taken senior year as her last hurrah, the last chance to shine, and had completely revamped her personality. She was nice to everyone, outgoing, becoming friends with almost anyone and everyone who was willing to converse with her. Couple that with the fact that she also started showing some more skin at the same time, it was not hard to understand why she'd suddenly become so popular. Poor taste in boys that had hurt her more than once, but still popular.
It had only been a matter of ten minutes, but already the bus was beginning to fill up. Friends were joking around, some couples (like Nick and Tamyra) took the time to get tender, while none of the cliques lost their unique touch. The wrestlers took up the back seats of the bus rather loudly as they passed around a plastic baggy of watermelon cubes soaked in vodka, while a few seats up the five out of the six members of the Swim Six present chattered and giggled with a certain ferocity.
"What happened to Lenore?" Sky asked.
"Hot date," Naomi replied, "got herself a new mystery man."
"Ooh la la," Jenny added as she sprawled herself out across Anna and Naomi's laps much to the amusement of her friends, "she's in loooove. Hope she has better taste this time."
"Tell me about it," Naomi replied with an eye roll, "she's still got some stitches left on her cheek."
A hush fell over the bus if just for the slightest of moments as five more girls entered the bus. Stunningly beautiful though they may be, enough Braiwood alumni had fallen before their wrath to know that they were ones not to mess with.
"Now this ride's gotten damn near disgusting," Tamyra muttered underneath her breath as she tried to hide against her seat. One only needed to get the slightest glance at the cheerleading sweater to know that it was in their best interest to get out of these girls way. It isn't enough I'm on a bus full of macho jerks but now we gotta deal with these bitches? Jesus, they didn't even have to pay for Grad Nite, won those tickets in some random drawing! All five of them coincidentally won five free tickets, how's that even possible with a student body like this?
"Yeah, but if that's disgusting, then sign me up for some of that!" Josh said as he delighted in ogling the beauty queens as they took up their seats towards the front of the bus.
Tamyra could only sigh. One had to excuse Josh's hormones more often than not, but being one of the prime targets of The Brat Pack's wrath, she could only shudder. They just couldn't seem to handle the fact that a reformed goth chick had hooked up with a jock as hot as Nick and made sure Tamyra knew everyday that she did not belong. From the taunts to the threats to the letters stuffed inside her locker, Tamyra would have spent many a night crying if it hadn't been for Nick's infinite patience. He would always tell her not to worry, always tell her to not give a damn about the girls... Just another one of those things that made her adore him ever the more. Unfortunately, there were more than a few people who weren't nearly as lucky. Stuff they did to guys like AJ, Carlos and Damien... downright nasty, and how they treated Maxine! That was just obscene, she was a cheerleader like them, one of their own, and they treated her like she was the dog shit just because she was a little different!
"Well I can see that this is gonna be a fun ride," a booming voice proclaimed from outside as it bounded up the stairs and into the bus. More than a few cheers went out from those assembled in the bus as the one, the only, Mr. Jarlath "Jim" Rhodes walked up the stairs and watched over the students. At 62 years of age, Mr. Rhodes was a barrel-chested man with silver hair, wire-rimmed glasses and a growing bald spot, but his sense of humor and the fact that he was willing to talk to most anyone about anything from Venus Flytraps to the proper treatment for STD's made him easily the most popular and beloved teacher among the students at Braiwood High. The fact that he was on the verge of retirement was disheartening to many, but the fact that almost all the seniors had passed through his Biology class at one time or another was more than enough to make it up to them, if just for the memories. He was even the one to give The Brat Pack their moniker.
"All right, we're about ready to get our butts in gear by the looks of things, but since there are more lawyers out there these days than teachers I gotta go through this part so bear with me. These are the bus rules," Mr. Rhodes said as he pointed to a small box that was printed on the back of the visor above the drivers head, "I expect you all to look them over at some time or another. If you don't get the chance, here's the Cliff's Notes version: No biting, no spitting, no kicking unless someone deserves it, no flash photography and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle yadda yadda yadda you kids know what you're doing. You've all got diplomas, that'll make you right from now on out."
As laughter scattered out through those actually listening to him, Mr. Rhodes took the opportunity to do a quick head count. 47... 48... 49. That's a nice even number, right?
"ALL ABOARD!" Mr. Rhodes yelled triumphantly as he tossed his paperwork on the dash and braced his hands along overhead luggage poles, "GET YOUR SEATS AND BUTTS IN GEAR WE'RE ON OUR WAY OUTTA HERE! Come on Ben, let's get a move on."
The elderly black man calmly pressed the button to pneumatically close the side doors and watched as they slowly cycled shut.
"Wait!" a boy's voice yelled from the outside as a hand quickly shot its way between the doors. The doors closed and jiggled around the arm as it stuck through before Ben had the chance to press the open button.
"Just in time boy," Ben said with a laugh as the doors opened. Carter, one of the most sheepish looking people in school and Vice President of the SDS Club stepped through the doors with a gawky grin.
"Anyone else I'd have told Ben to get this thing in gear and leave 'em in the door," Mr. Rhodes said sarcastically as he swung into an empty bench seat, "get yourself a seat kiddo."
"Thanks Ben, Mr. Rhodes, wouldn't miss this for the world," he said as he shouldered his pack and ambled on down the aisle, "hey Ash, what's happenin?"
"Nice fashionably late entrance!" Josh yelled over the rows of seats before collapsing down in a laughing fit.
"Aw come on, it's Grad Nite," Tamyra said as she rolled her eyes, "cut the guy a little slack."
"Yeah, and it's also the last time most of us are gonna see each other," Josh countered, "I gotta use what material I got while I still got an audience I know it's good on."
"He's got a point," Nick said as he wrapped an arm around Tamyra's waist and pulled her in close, "but that don't matter now, let's enjoy the ride, yeah?"
As the two exchanged a soft kiss, Tamyra's sarcastic look melted into a genuine smile as she spoke up, "You know, I think that might just be the best idea of all good ideas I've heard yet."
"You guys are disgusting," Josh said, getting no more of a response from the duo than a rather emphatic middle finger from Nick. Disgusting, absolutely disgusting. Then again, they're getting some and you're not, so who should really be complaining here?
Sighing at the fact that he no longer held such a captive audience, Josh looked over the crowd to watch the rest of the bus' occupants. So many cliques, so many clichés, hell, put in a few more jocks and nerds and it'd be the perfect teen sex comedy, instead it's the last night we'll see each other. Ah well, it all evens out in the end, don't it? Just have a good time, some nice peace and quiet and-
"CAN WE CHANGE THIS HIPPIE CRAP FER THE LOVE OF GOD!" Mike V. yelled from the back, "PLAY SOME REAL MUSIC!"
Revving the bus' engine as he finally closed the doors, Ben calmly and quickly rolled through the radio stations one playing some 80's hard rock.
"...ain't got nothing I would rather do; going down, party time, my friends are gonna be there too, I'm on a Highway to Hell!"
"NOW THAT'S MY KIND OF MUSIC!" Mike yelled again as he retreated back to his seat, laughing maniacally at his negotiating skills while most of the people surrounding him looked mortified. Joel simply sucker punched his friend in the kidney to knock him back into his seat. More than a few laughed, while even more didn't even give a damn what Mike V. was doing because, well, he was Mike V. Kicking the bus into gear, Ben deftly drove the vehicle out onto the street to the tune of fifty cheering teenagers.
"We're really doing this!" Tamyra said optimistically, "We're really going to Grad Nite!"
Checking the rear view mirror as he rounded a corner, Ben got a quick survey of the students and teacher. Everyone was busy talking, laughing, making out, playing games or doing their best to get some quick sleep before the night's festivities. Sure enough, it would be a long night and one that would be remembered for a long time... too bad none of these kids would be the ones doing the remembering.
Sighing softly, Ben pulled the privacy curtain across his back to hide him from the view of the rest of the bus' occupants. Cracking out a sore spot in his neck, he reached into the glove compartment and withdrew a Government Issue gas mask, pulling it deftly over his head in a practiced move. Lord knew it'd come in handy once they started pumpin in that knockout gas...
"It's gonna be one helluva night," he muttered to himself with a wry laugh.