Author's Note: So this is my attempt at completing the assignment and the prompt. I'm British so we were never really taught about Rosa Parks beyond the basics and so please excuse any inaccuracies. It's just a story not meant to offer an opinion or be offensive.
Historical!AU Challenge:
61 - American Civil Rights Movement
Music Assignment:
Option 3 - Write about a beginning
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise!
All the World's a Stage
Angelina felt the weariness in her bones as she dropped on to the bus seat. It was the last in her section and she felt grateful shoots of relief tremble in her muscles as her legs were relieved of their burden.
She glanced towards the window, smiling briefly at the woman next to her, and watched as the rain ran in rivulets down the window. The storm had come from nowhere, but it had come thick and fast. Each rattle of wind held the thick bite of winter and sleet stuck to the windows where the rain had nearly frozen.
Angelina relaxed back into the seat, allowing the warmth to seep into her and closed her eyes. The bus ride home was now an hour long and she was prepared to enjoy every second of it.
For twenty blissful moments nothing out of the ordinary happened. Angelina had let her head drop forward and was dozing peacefully after the long day of shop work. She heard the familiar roar of the engine as it settled down into the stop and the shuck and hiss as the door opened. She only half heard the quiet hum of the passengers as they boarded and continued to doze peacefully.
"Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats."
Angelina jerked forward in her seat to see the driver standing in the middle of the row. It took her a few drowsy moments to realise that he was addressing her row, an impatient look on his face. She glanced around, taking in the few white passengers who were standing, and the fact that the coloured section sign had been moved back a row and she sighed.
She knew, without looking, that the rest of the seats in her section were full, but had to ignore the silent protests of her weary body as she picked up her bags and stood with the rest of the people in her row.
"Why don't you stand up?"
Angelina turned, ready to inform the bus driver that she was moving and would do so in her own sweet time, when she realised that he wasn't speaking to her, or even looking at her. Rather, his narrowed eyes were fixed on the woman in the seat next to Angelina, who was indeed still sat down.
Angelina watched, a mixture of fear, pride and a little self-shame stirring in her heart, as the woman stared up at the bus driver determination written all over her face. She lifted her chin, looked him in the eye and shrugged delicately, clutching her purse in her lap.
"I don't think I should have to stand up."
The reverent hush that had fallen over the bus and its passengers filled with unspoken tension as the battle of wills raged between the driver and the seated passenger. White women whispered quickly to each other, murmuring their shock and disgust whilst those at the back of the bus sat torn between encouraging or containing their coloured sister.
"Well," the driver said quietly, his voice a measured silk over steel, "if you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police."
Angelina looked back to the woman, her head snapping as if watching a tennis match, but the woman still did not move. She looked at the bus driver calmly and simply said, "you may do that," before turning to look out the window.
Angelina felt her mouth drop open and murmurs of frantic conversation broke out across the bus. She watched as the driver stared hard at her for a few moments longer before storming down to the front of the bus, presumably to call the police. The woman continued to look serenely out of the window, awaiting her fate, her profile highlighted by the bright lights of the Empire Theatre.
Angelina knew, in her heart, that this was the start of something big.
Please leave a review!
Much Love, MaryandMerlin x
