Name: Bus Ride
Patton's age: 7
Fanny's Age: 7
Grade: 2nd
Patton got onto the rickety school bus. His mother would have a heart attack if she saw this bus. He said hi to the bus driver, a friendly 40 something lady who had once been a truck driver. She gave him a toothy smile (She had a large gap between her front teeth, kinda like his front teeth with their tiny gap) he sat down in the back seat and someone sat next to him. "Hey Patton!"
Patton looked at Nigel Uno; he was a British kid who had been made bald in an incident with the Delightful Children From Down The Lane "Hey Nigel."
"Abby needs to talk to you about something, but….are you 7 yet?"
"Yeah…why?"
"Just….come on." Nigel seat hopped up a bit and Patton followed him until he was sitting next to Abigail Lincoln, Abby was a smart dark skinned girl who liked almost anyone.
"Hey Patton, are you 7?" Abby asked right away
"Yeah, I turned 7 on September 17th."
"Have you heard of something called the KND?" Patton just looked at the girl blankly "Well it's a club that Abby's sister is in, it's a bunch of kids ages 7-13 defending other kids from adult tyranny. It's serious business."
"Abby's getting inducted into it tomorrow!" Kuki Sanban screamed in Patton's ear, he rubbed it and looked at the Japanese girl. She was always laughing, was always happy, loved Rainbow Monkeys, and had a huge crush on Wally.
"Is that right Kuki?" Patton asked her as she squeezed into the seat next to him
"Yep! She got in early because her sister is the leader of sector V. Abby's not gonna be 7 until November."
"Yeah, Cree's about to get a promotion though." Abby said
"I didn't know that!" Hoagie said from the set behind them
"Yeah, Patton if you join then you, Rachel, me, and Fanny will be in before any of these idiots." Abby whispered so that only Kuki and him could hear her, out of the many people in the school, Kuki and Abby were just a few people who knew Fanny's real name. The bus stopped and a red headed girl got on and sat in the front seat.
"I gotta go; this KND thing sounds pretty cool though. Sign me up okay?"
"Okay, Fanny's already signed up. She'll be amazing, especially since she took karate since she was 4."
Wally popped his head over the seat "Frankie is gonna be in the KND too! No, no no no no! No!"
"Come on Wally, the girl's a good fighter!" Kuki said
"When did you notice that? When she was beating the crud out of me and Hoagie?!"
Patton chuckled as he moved up to the front seat to sit by Fanny "Hello." She said smiling at him as he sat down
"Hey, so apparently you're in the KND thing?"
"Did they recruit you too?"
"Yeah, Abby just asked me."
"Did dumb and dumber find out I was gonna be in it?"
"If you mean Wally and Hoagie then yes, and Wally wasn't very happy about it."
"I would be more angry if he was happy about it. Beatles may be cute but he's too stupid and annoying for my liking."
Patton just stared at Fanny "You think Wally is cute?"
"Yeah….kinda." Fanny's face turned red as she turned to look out the window "I can't believe I just told you that."
"I'm not gonna tell anyone. You have my word and for me that's that." He grinned at her
She looked at him and smiled "You have such a cocky smile, it makes you look like you're up to no good."
"Half the time I'm not. That's why we had detention yesterday."
"Yeah, we were kinda asking for it, setting up a bucket of water above Mrs. Chivney's door." Fanny giggled and looked at Patton "I like hanging with you, you seem to understand me like no one else."
"Yeah well, you're the first girl I've met like...this."
"Like what?" Fanny asked suddenly fierce
"Like, not a tomboy but not a girly girl either. You love sports and would rather be covered in mud then going to like…a day spa with your mom."
"Doesn't mean she doesn't make me go. This is definitely not my normal smell." She shoved some of her red hair in Patton's face
"Lilac?"
"I don't even like lilac! My mom has one daughter so she has to drag me around like a lost puppy dog. My dad is almost as bad, everything I do needs his approval first. The only thing he has set in stone for my future that I like is swimming. He's the coach of the high school swim team when he's not working at the office."
"It's sad they don't have a swim team in middle school, we're closer to that then to high school." Patton said sadly "I haven't even met your dad you know."
"I know….you don't really wanna meet him."
"Why not?"
"It's just who you are….he wouldn't like what your dad did." Fanny said quietly
"A soldier?"
"Well, more like, your name.'
"My name?"
"Yeah, Drilovsky, I knew it sounded familiar, when I mentioned it to my mom I thought she was going to pass out. My uncle who died? He was in the military and was shot. He was really good friends with this guy Boston Drilovsky."
"Wait a minute, my grandfather was friends with your uncle?!"
Fanny gasped "Grandfather? I figured he was a cousin or something! He's so young!"
"Yeah, Drilovsky's have children fast. I can't believe your uncle is Rich Kid Noah! Papa talks about him all the time!"
Fanny giggled "Well my dad blames your grandpa for his brother's death. He thinks you guys are just theiving maniacs."
Patton chuckled "Well we kind of are."
Fanny grinned at him, he was really cute when he laughed, the was his long hooked nose crinkled up and his eyes squeezed shut "How about I go over to your house?"
Patton stopped laughing "My house? Like the place my demon mother lives?"
Fanny nodded "Why?"
Patton laughed nervously "Nothing, no reason, I just didn't think you'd wanna be around her if you could help it. She's usually drunk by now if she ain't working. My annoying little sister will be there too."
Fanny shrugged "It'll be a change up from my usual glamour life."
The next chapter takes place after school this exact same day and kinda changes the image of Patton from this un loved military brat to a loved musically raised military brat.
