Hey hey, well... Here it is. It's not /that/ exciting or anything... I think. xD Anyways, here tis:

We were 'grounded' so to speak. That meaning a week worth of free period in Darbus's room when we got back to school. It was the day of another bus ride back home. But just to make sure they picked out any possible chance of fun, the chaperones rearranged our seat assignments. We all had to be miserably separated and also forced the rest of our classmates to suffer as well.

Alphabetical order.

Zeke was up near the front with his 'B' last name and Chad wasn't too far behind him. Ryan and Sharpay, obviously shared a seat, a few rows behind Chad and his disgruntled partner. My last name, Harrison, gave me the best seat in the house. About 4 or 5 rows from the Evans', I sat by Larry Hamilton. Of course, the nose-picking one that was by Sharpay on the way to Breckenridge. Taylor ended up sitting in the front of the bus by the door. Her seat partner, in my opinion, was unbelievably better than mine. Kara McDaniel was a cheerleader and also the head pom pom waver. She had her reliable best friend right behind her. Just Taylor's luck.

'Wow, this'll be fun...' I scooted as far as I could from LArry, who had the window seat. Taylor turned around and waved at me. I waved back and nodded sympathetically to her 'shoot me now' face. A bit of making faces at each other and desperately looking at any place but the window, the time passed slowly. Very slowly. Then, though the bus took an abrupt stop where we were just to stretch our legs and such.

I jumped up from my seat, eager to bolt from the bus, and even better yet, Booger Boy. The people sitting behind me pushed past and I ended up letting them go first. Curse my good nature. Finally, I stepped off the stuffy vehicle with a deep breath of air. I coughed a little after breathing in exhaust from the bus's back end.

Taylor was waiting out the door. "Now I have the pleasure of knowing precisely how to give yourself a manicure. In case the nail lady is on her day off..." She added a dramatic gasp at the end of her statement.

I looked at her, pretending to be impressed. "Do tell..." I remarked, sarcastically.

"Well, first you have to buy one of those file thingies..." she began with her best ditzy tone.

"Okay okay!" I interrupted before she could get too in depth. I didn't want to waste our 'rest stop' taking about the importance of firm nail beds.

"So your ride so far was...?"

"Ugh, torture... I almost fell off the seat from trying to keep my personal space from Larry," I replied, scrunching my nose.

"Well that can't be half as bad as sitting by Sharpay," Taylor stated, looking over my shoulder at the Evans twins. Sharpay was lecturing Ryan about something that he was paying absolutely no attention to.

I smiled a little, and looked back to Taylor, who stared back at me as if I was supposed to offer a response.

"What?" I asked, cluelessly.

She shook her head with an amused smile. "You're hopeless."

I opened my mouth to argue, but changed the subject instead. "You and Chad are only a few seats away," I teased, elbowing her gently.

"An aisle and 3 rows." She stated it so bluntly, I had to laugh. "What? I was bored okay?" she added, joining into my laughter which was rudely interrupted by the bumbling bus driver.

"Hurry it up!" he grumbled, staring straight ahead at the road ahead.

The two of us groaned in unison and decided to take as long as the kids far away. Taylor exaggerated her slow motion entrance to the bus. I laughed at her, naturally and turned to see Sharpay huffing through the crowd. Ryan settled by Taylor and I.

"I might as well get to my seat... After all, I'm already half way on..." she said, looking between me and Ryan.

I nodded and waved at her indicating I would stay just a bit longer. Turning to Ryan, I asked, "Have some lovely family bonding?" I waited for his response with an innocent look on my face.

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah... Did you have some... Uh, bonding with thumb wars or something?" he asked, practically confusing himself with the comment. "Okay, well that doesn't work so well," he added, his expression full of thought.

"Ahem! We don't have all day!" The man in the front seat grunted at the lingering students. That bus driver sure was impatient. Didn't he know that he was dealing with a group of teenagers?

I shrugged nonchalantly glancing at Ryan, before snatching his hat off his head. I giggled and hopped up the steps into the bus. Once placing Ryan's hat atop my own head, I inspected myself in the driver's mirror.

Ryan touched his bare head and looked up at me, bewildered. "M-my hat..." he whimpered, pretending to be devastated.

I played with my hair, continuing to primp in the mirror, which got me a sharp glare. I struck a pose just before Ryan reached me. He paused, watching me, expecting me to just hand the hat over.

I placed my hands on the hat protectively. "Aww, I wanna wear it!" I whined, with a playful grin.

"But, I... feel so incomplete!" he pleaded dramatically with an equally playful smile on his face.

The driver cleared his throat loudly. "In your seats!" he demanded after Ryan and I stood there, oblivious. Each syllable was separate and harsh.

I cowered away slightly at the bus driver's narrowed eyes. Then, quickly I reached over to Ryan and ruffled his hair. "There, no more hat hair. You're good." I stuck my bottom lip out as a last plea to keep the hat on for the bus ride.

Ryan let out an exaggerated sigh and turned to head off toward his seat. After settling next to Sharpay he smiled a little.

"Yay!" I squealed, ready to head off down the long aisle to my own seat.

"Miss Harrison..." Mrs. Darbus chimed in with a threatening tone. "Sit down..."

"Yes ma'am."

Once I meandered reluctantly to my spot beside Larry, the bus started with a rumble and chugged down the road.

"Nice Fedora," Larry muttered, glancing up at me for a brief moment. He let out a tiny snorting chuckle.

I nodded, looking up at the rim, no doubt giving me a cross eyed expression. "Thanks..." I managed, with a polite smile. That was probably the second word I'd spoken to him the whole trip, besides "Hey".

He seemed to perk up a bit and glanced at me for just a bit longer than the first time. I stared straight ahead. "It looks lovely on you..." he stated, obviously trying to break the silence between us. The words seemed to sink in to both of us as I stared at him for a moment, and his eyes widened.

"I-I mean... Not that you don't look cute all the time. Cause you do... I meant... Oh gosh," he stammered, his eyes glued to the window. "Sorry." His babbled came out almost as a yell, but the apology was more of a whisper.

I tried my hardest not to smile, because to him it would seem like I was making fun. But I managed a tiny smile, a gentle one. "It's okay," I said equally as quiet. "Thanks for the compliment."

He showed a smile, which practically resembled a grimace. Then, the silence took over again. I couldn't complain, though. I would probably rather silence than actually striking up a conversation with Larry. I seemed to make him a bit nervous.

It seemed like a whole day of driving before the bus finally screeched to a halt in the school's parking lot. I almost leapt off with joy, but I stopped, glancing down at Larry. I had to say something.

"Um, it was nice being your seat partner..." I said quietly, with another one of those polite smiles. Well, it wasn't a flat out lie. I used the word 'nice'. It's that word that substitutes any negative adjective in this sort of situation. He nodded slowly, still watching the back of the seat in front of him, avoiding my gaze.

I left the seat and bounded down the aisle, waving at the bus driver just to make him sneer. Taylor was at the bottom of the steps waiting again.

"How was that portion?" she asked, clearly distressed from the long ride.

I started laughing a little. "Larry called me cute."

Taylor rolled her eyes and pushed the fact aside. "Well, we all knew he has a crush on you..." she said flatly, giving me a 'duh' look.

"I didn't know that..." I trailed off, feeling slightly left out.

"Ashley!" Someone was calling my name from in the mass of parents searching for their kid. I figured it was my dad, or just some other Ashley they were calling to. I began to scan the faces in pick up trucks for my dad, just in case.

"Hey." A hand slipped into mine and spun me around, face to face with Ryan.

"Long time no see..." I grinned and offered a quick hug. "Do you want your hat back?" I asked, putting on the heartbroken charade, fully equipped with the pout.

"Oh, don't you give me that face... It's not fair!" he said shaking his head, and placing an arm around my waist.

I smiled and stood on my tiptoes to carefully set his hat on his head. Once I leaned forward with the hat in my hand, he stepped closer, causing our lips to meet.

"Ashley?"

Ryan and I jumped apart as that voice so familiarly sounding like my dad returned, now closer. I turned, anticipating to explain myself. Instead, I flung myself at the source of the voice, throwing my arms around his neck.

"Oh my gosh! When did you get back? I missed you so much!" I stepped backwards, grinning and noticed the two on either side of me. Both were equally confused and curious as to who the other was.

'Oh, introductions would be good...'

Hehe. Well, now is the time to really tell me that you are/have been reading this story. There's a cliffhanger-ish thing, and I'm not sure how long I'll continue writing if there is no reason to. So, review and such. Please? C

-Ali x3