On the way to his art class, Sun walked with Hurley.
"See? I told you Sawyer doesn't hate you."
"He didn't bring up the ranch thing, but he does hate me. You gotta believe me on that one."
"I think you're thinking too much about it," she said as she waved goodbye.
"See ya later, Sun."
Art was as boring as ever, and Hurley couldn't get his picture just right. He had tried to draw the comic book style as best as he could, but his polar bear kept looking lop-sided.
"What the hell is that? A mouse?" Sawyer asked behind him.
"It's a polar bear," Hurley said as he kept working.
"A bear? That ain't no bear."
"It's a bear," Hurley insisted.
"If you say so, Tubo," he said before walking off.
Like that, the switch had been flipped and the mean Sawyer had come back. He wondered if there was a way to make him stop with the nicknames. Surely there was something Hurley could put on the line to make him give it up.
The day passed much the same as the morning and by the last hour of the day, Hurley was more than ready to go home. The joy didn't last long when he realized he had to go to work at 4:30 at Mr. Cluck's chicken. He didn't even know where his uniform was. Someday, he would be able to quit his crappy job at Mr. Cluck's. He always thought about playing the lottery, just because taking a shot was better than not even trying. He'd never win if he didn't even try. With his luck, though, he wasn't sure if it was such a good idea.
For now, though, the job wasn't always bad and it gave him something to do after school. When the bell rang, Hurley shuffled through the hallways trying to make it fast enough to catch the bus. Missing the bus home would be horrible.
He reached it in time and hopped on as the driver with the pointy salt and pepper beard turned on the bus.
"Thought you weren't going to make it," he said with a goofy grin.
"Me too," Hurley sat down a few seats behind the driver, whose little sign read Lapidus.
"Thanks man," he said.
"No problem," Lapidus replied, "It's my job to make sure you guys all get home safe and sound and that's what I aim to do."
Hurley pulled out his iPod before he remembered it was dead. Sighing, he stuffed it back in his backpack. Someone moved to his seat.
"Hi?" he said as he turned to the blonde girl.
"I saw you this morning when your iPod died. I was thinking we could share."
"Oh, okay," he said, unsure of what she was doing.
The more he looked at her face, the more familiar she seemed, "Do I know you?"
Smiling shyly she shook her head, "We've gone to school together for a while, but we've never really talked or anything."
He nodded, but was almost positive he had seen her somewhere else before.
"I'm Libby, by the way," she added.
"Hi, Libby," he said, "Hugo. Well, Hurley."
"Hey, Hurley."
She held out an earbud and he put it in his right ear with the other hanging out her left. She started the music and the song was one of his favorites.
They're gonna wash away, they're gonna wash away.
Never had he been so glad to have one of those days.
