Chapter 42: Hilda & Friends: Bus Troubles
Nasos and Sig sat at a bench at the former's nearest bus stop. By the second, countless cars passed them by, one after another. Both watched quietly in almost a trance-like way after having already been there for a while.
Following a quick glance at her phone, Nasos turned her attention to her friend, his expression as blank as usual.
''Hey, don't fall asleep on me here!'' The girl nudged him, with a lighthearted tease.
Sig took a bit to catch onto it but replied with a small quiet smirk.
''I won't.'' He assured her.
''I'll remember that, sleepyhead.'' Nasos said as she began to wildly ruffle Sig's hair. Giggling all the way.
'Heh. Stop.'' Sig weakly protested, but he didn't really mind it.
''Make me!'' The girl kept at it, both teens being too caught up in their play fighting to notice a few people passing by, giving them quick looks.
Meanwhile, not too far away, fellow pinkhead Hilda ventured towards the very same bus station. She should have been excited for this and in her heart, she was, but there was this lingering thought that kept nagging her, enough so that she could feel her stomach act up a bit.
''Hehehehe~ come on Hilda girl, you just need to get that over with and it's gonna be fine.'' She said to herself, trying to pep herself up.
It's moments like this that made the laughing curse even more dreadful than it already was. There was no way she was going to stand up to Sig and Nasos though, she waited way too long for this. They waited way too long for this.
Not like she had much time to ponder over this to begin with. Before she knew it the bench with both of her friends stationed on it entered her sight.
The girl innerly braced herself and slowly approached her destination. She wished she could have been more quiet about it, keep watching them just a little more before breaking them out of their play fight, but her curse was never gonna make that easy.
Indeed, the two visibly heard her laughter from not far away, coming to a quick hold to turn their heads into her direction.
''Hi Hilda!''
''Hey Hilda.''
''He-pffft-hahahaha!'' Hilda burst into laughter. It didn't even have to do with her curse, Sig's massively disheveled hair gave her a refreshingly genuine laugh.
Sig and Nasos looked at each other, both taking note that this was a genuine laugh. Soon Nasos joined in when taking note of Sig's hair. The boy on his part merely smiled and corrected it a little.
''Glad you could make it!'' Nasos stood up and gave her best friend a fist bump, which she gladly returned.
''Hehe~ There was no way I was gonna pass this up!'' Hilda responded in kind, doing well at masking that she was actually quite nervous.
Sig didn't say anything, though that was normal for him. He went up to Hilda, who greeted him with a small high-five.
''So, the pa-hahah-rk's first?''
''Yep. Checking out the fair nearby and then over to my house to watch the Streets of Agitation movie. It's gonna be more relaxing to do that afterwards.'' Nasos layed out their plans for the day,
''I do appreciate that you guys-hahahah-held off on watching it until now. I would have made things awkward-snrk-at the movies, because...you know.'' Hilda's face dropped a little saying that, the sense of guilt written over her face as if someone put a pen to her face.
''It's more fun with you anyways.'' Sig comforted Hilda and succeeded in making her light up again.
Hilda could feel her face warm hearing that, though before she could give much of an answer, their bus had entered the scene.
The senior student tensed up again, though luckily Sig and Nasos didn't seem to notice.
This was it. The moment she would either get by easily or bury her head in shame. Still no less tense, she followed her friend to their public vehicle of choice.
The trio got their public transport cards scanned and began their search for a spot to sit. Luckily for them, despite the bus being rather filled, they could quickly make out a free spot in the very back for all three of them.
They squeezed themselves through the amounts of people present and planted themselves to their seats, with Hilda taking the middle spot.
''Guess the fair is popular again.'' Sig flatly observed.
''Likely, now that they-pfft-got more teens going there again.'' Hilda threw in.
''Can you imagine running into Schezo and his goons there?'' Naso mused, slightly shuddering at the thought.
''I'd rather not.'' Sig said all that needed to be said about that.
''I don't need a swirly or wedgie today ei-hahaha-ther.'' Hilda concurred on that.
All three teens began to relax in their positions as the wheels of the bus went round and round. A small silence began to befell them, aside from the occasional small giggle from Hilda, as all three took in the environment around them.
Lots of people crammed into a small space, only getting fuller after every station? People almost tripping over each other and a strong sense of heat building from how overcrowded it was?
Yep, it was an average bus ride alright.
Nasos took note of a couple not far off from them. Both in each other's arms and giving each other sickeningly sweet nicknames that visibly made some of the people close to them cringe.
This made her think.
''Hey, Sig. Are Arle and Lagnus still broken up?''
''Yep. Lag is taking it pretty hard.'' Sig was visibly a bit upset about that too. He never did know what to do for him in these situations.
As is often the case when Sig felt down about something, Hilda took note.
''Hey, they always get back toge-pfft-there don't the-hehehe-y?'' Hilda could feel her laughter start to get worse again. 'Now of all times.'
''They do. It's just taking long this time.'' Sig really didn't know what to make of it or how he felt about it.
''We-hehehe-ll, just gi-pfft-gi-hihihi~ Ju-hahahah!'' Hilda tried to talk, desperately repressing her laughter, but all it did was make it worse.
She kept laughing at an increasingly louder volume, this is exactly what she didn't want.
''So-snrk. Sorr-hihhihi! I-I-pffft~'' She desperately tried to speak up, but any attempt to repress the laughter just made it even worse.
Tears began to form in her eyes. She couldn't stop, she never could. No matter how desperately she wanted to, the curse kept its tight grip on her,
''Hey, Hilda, breath!''
''Hilda…''
Both Sig and Nasos were visibly worried about her. Rarely did the curse get this bad for her.
To make matters even worse, they could hear someone make an accusing rasp towards them.
Of course, it had to be the bus driver, but even everyone else gave them an incredibly irritated look.
It was at that point that Hilda wished she could just disappear into the ground. This is precisely what she was afraid of.
''Pipe it down a bit. Will yah?''The bus driver scolded her in a manner more befitting of a little child. The condescending tone was not lost on her friends, who had to repress the urge to give him a mouthful.
''It's not that easy.'' Sig began to argue.
''She is literally cursed. She's not doing it on purpose.'' Nasos also spoke up.
''On purpose or not, it's obnoxious. Can it or get lost.'' The bus driver was still no more willing to give her a break.
''I-I. Snrk-'' Hilda failed to form a sentence, her laughter masking the shame she was feeling.
''Hey! Put a sock in it! She's bound to pass out soon!'' Someone from farther behind shouted.
This got a laugh out of everyone in the bus, outside the teen trio, even the stern-looking bus driver. It became clear that nobody outside her friends was willing to extend her any sympathy.
The humiliated girl buried her face in her hands, still unable to stop the laughter. As much as she wanted to, it just wouldn't end. The tears came again and her stomach hurt as all get out, this was the worst way this could have played out.
Nasos felt herself seething with anger over what these jerks were doing to her friend. It felt as if everything inside her was boiling and waiting to be let out with a thorough chewing out for everyone.
Before she even got to say anything though, Nasos took note of Sig. It rather caught her off-guard. The boy's stoic expression still gave away a sense of silent fury, even if his body language was also the same as ever. More strikingly though was his red eye. Maybe she was just imagining it, but she could swear she saw it glowing a bit.
Sig said nothing. He silently stood up, taking Hilda's hand, which caught her off-guard a bit, and then he turned to Nasos.
''Let's get out of here.'' He said and Nasos agreed.
The boy gently motioned for Hilda to get up and kept holding her hand, as the trio made their exit out of the bus. The only thing they heard were cheers that what they saw as a mere source of annoyance was leaving the scene.
Soon after, the teens watched as the bus left the station without them. Neither Sig nor Nasos spent much time thinking of that though, they were more concerned about Hilda.
''Hilda...you okay?'' Nasos softly inquired of the cursed girl, gently wiping some of the tears on her face away.
''I'm sorry, I-I me-heheehe-ssed it allll hahahahahaha up…'' Hilda felt like completely devolving into a crying mess, ashamed of everything that happened.
Then suddenly, she felt a pair of hands wrap around her, pulling her into a gentle embrace. Sig softly placed his head on her shoulder and briefly let her take in what was happening. She hugged back, not sure what to even say, she just felt so sorry about everything.
''You don't need to be sorry, They're jerks that don't understand.'' Sig assured her, tightening the embrace.
Nasos soon joined in, turning it into a group hug.
''Forget about them. Let's just go to my place and have a good time, okay?'' She tried to turn things around into a more positive direction.
''You're not mad?'' Hilda managed to ask without a laugh for a change, still shaking a little.
''What? Never!'' Nasos was almost a bit shocked to hear that.
''I just want you to smile again.'' Sig in a way that might have sounded awkward from anyone else, spoke what he felt.
''Feeling the waterworks coming again, Hilda pulled both of them into another hug, which they gladly returned. They remained that way for some time. She needed this.
The warmth.
The comfort.
The love.
She did let go eventually, finally finding it in herself to smile again, as her friends wanted.
No more words needed to be said. Both Sig and Nasos each placed one of Hilda's hands into their own and walked off on their way to Nasos' home.
As much of a trainwreck as that bus ride was. Hilda could rest easy knowing that no matter what, she could count on her best friends…
Authors' Notes:
WARE: This one took a bit. It is a chapter that is very important to me and RL kept me busy, so things took a while, but thanks to a recent one-shot, I found a good means to balance RL responsibilities and keeping up my writing pace better.