"Mind if I sit here?" said Sam, sitting on Drew's lap.
"Get off me!" she screamed. Everyone looked at her.
"Are you all right?" asked Casper.
"Yeah… I think I just had a bad dream," she replied. She realised she was sweating. It had been a dream about the bus crashing, but it had seemed so real…
Oh well, at least everything was okay.
"Wait!"
Everyone looked out the window. Drew automatically took a photo, just as a black guy came running out of the main doors, his arm reached out to the bus.
Zack.
Everyone applauded and cheered when he got on. "Yo man, what kept ya?" shouted someone.
"I'm really sorry," Zack said. "Really, really sorry."
"Hey, don't lose your head," said Casper. "Sit down."
But Zack found he couldn't sit down, as Drew had leapt to her feet. "It was real!" she screamed. "The exact same thing happened in my dream. We're all going to die!"
"What dream? Are you okay?" Casper pushed Brett out into the aisle and got to his feet. Sam took this opportunity to try and slip past Drew onto her seat, but couldn't.
"We have to get off this bus now!" Drew cried. She began shoving everyone in front of her off the bus. Seb made the mistake of trying to restraint her – instead, he ended up being pushed out the door as well.
No one tried to resist Drew's pushing, as there are few things more dangerous than a woman in hysterics. The result was, everyone who had been standing in the aisle – Drew, Casper, Brett, Zack, Sam and Seb – ended up on the pavement outside the bus.
Casper was still trying to calm Drew down. She was frantic now, screaming over and over that the bus was doomed.
Sam managed to slip past her, and tried to get back on the bus. But the driver shook his head. "You lot of trouble-makers, you stay off my bus!"
"No, wait, I didn't-" Sam began, but the door slammed shut in his face.
"Now look what you did," Zack complained. "We're stuck!"
On the bus, the driver turned round. "Anyone else want to get off? Last chance."
Danny got up to follow his friend. Alexa went after Seb. Leo, eager to finish his conversation with Zack, who was one of his best friends, also rose. Zoë figured she could impress Zack by staying with him, so she moved out too. After a second of indecision, Phoebe followed suit. She didn't like being with Alexa, but she held her friendship with Drew very dearly.
The exiled passengers looked up in surprise as the five new arrivals disembarked. Alexa hugged Seb. Zoë sidled closer to Zack as Leo greeted him. Phoebe came over to Drew and Casper. Danny, figuring a hug would make him look gay, shook Sam by the hand.
Drew looked round as the bus started up. All her friends had got off, except…
"Jerry!" she screamed. Jerry looked out of the window at her in surprise. She made frantic gestures for him to get off.
"Leave him alone," said Casper, rubbing her back soothingly. "The bus is going to be fine."
"No!" She pulled away from him roughly. "Jerry! Please!"
Jerry looked puzzled. The bus began to drive away.
Drew sank to her knees as the bus trundled down the street. She started sobbing.
Then the bus stopped. Jerry got off, and the bus drove away.
"I hope you're grateful for this," Jerry said, sighing. Seb had been trying to engage him in a conversation about his sister – a topic that Jerry preferred to avoid.
He was taken by surprise when Drew hugged him. "Thank you," she said. Then it suddenly dawned on her. The bus…
She took off down a side alley. Casper, then eventually everyone else, followed her.
Drew emerged where she had hoped – right in front of the construction site. And there was the white van, with the pipes in the back. She watched, powerless, as a stream of petrol leaked towards a man standing with a cigarette. He was too far away to warn.
There was a loud smash from her left. All the other passengers, who had now caught up with her, looked around for the source of it. But Drew already knew.
The bus, with some of the windows broken, skidded round the corner. And the worker dropped his cigarette.
The van exploded, and spat its deadly payload at the bus.
Drew turned away.
Casper and the others watched in horror as the bus completed its final journey.
It was later that day, and Drew was sick of explaining. She had told the police the same story six times now, and every time she told it, they all looked at her as though she was insane.
They had spoken to the others first. Drew had silently counted them all, and realised with a jolt that there were eleven of them.
She had saved eleven people from death.
When she had told them about her dream for the seventh time, the inspector in charge of the investigation sighed, and said, "Okay, Miss West, you can leave."
Drew thankfully exited the room, and received a very long, tight hug from Casper.
They reported it on the news that night.
"In a shocking accident, a bus crashed today and killed thirty two people, along with the driver. Sadly, it was a school trip, and all the passengers were seventeen or eighteen years old. Apparently, it was started by a brick, which distracted the driver. The bus crashed into a construction yard where it was destroyed by an exploding fuel canister. Bizarrely, twelve people had got off the bus moments before the accident. According to the police report, one girl, Drew West, had a premonition about the accident. Very strange, but these things happen."
These things happen. That was it. So a bus crashed – that sort of thing happened all the time.
It was so much worse when it was the bus you were on.
Drew shivered. She had come very close to death today. She didn't want to have to face it again.
Of course, if she hadn't, this story would end here.
But it doesn't.
However, bear it mind that all beginnings must have an end… but no one says it has to be a happy one.