(y/n)'s POV

I rolled my eyes at the school bus coming to pick me up, along with a couple other kids. One of these kids happened to be my good buddy Spot, who showed the same annoyance as I did.

"I swear, we ride a snail to school everyday," I complained.

"No kiddin' I bet snails move faster than Mr. Nunzio." He whined back, but with a little more dignity. I gave up dignity long ago and rarely looked back.

"At least he's here now, we may not completely miss first period," he continued to grumble, making me hum in agreement. The other kids here were used to our complaining, and often added in when they'd had enough caffeine to (reluctantly) power through the day. Today they were silent, nodding along and watching.

"If I didn't have a stupid test today, then I definitely wouldn't mind the inevitable tardiness," I responded as the bus pulled up, coming to a hesitant stop. I climbed on first, claiming my seat near the front, with Spot sitting across from me. I sprawled out and got out my phone, seeing him do the same. I got an idea and opened our text conversation, sending him a simple "loser" and calling it a day.

I then noticed I had an unread message from Jack, reading "What a cool coincidence, that won't get me arrested or anything". I grinned before texting back "looking like an actor who plays a long dead criminal can't get you arrested, Jack -_-" and calling it a day.

I decided to follow my daily morning bus ritual and fall asleep, snuggled against the cold metal wall. It was nowhere near comfortable but I was tired and needed the rest. So I closed my eyes and went into my normal half-asleep state, trying to not hear the plenty of conversations taking place around me.

Spot's POV

I opened SnapChat and saw Race posting about Jack having a crush on someone. That piqued my interest, being more than just the typical drama. In an almost completely male friend group, ya don't get as much crush drama as you should. Especially since a lot of them were somehow straight or uninterested in one another.

Weirdos.

I decided to Snap a picture of (y/n) napping as she always did, on the not-so off chance Jack could like her. It was fuel to the fire for fun, I guess. I also knew that Race would tell me if he was staring at his phone all gooey eyed, since they caught a ride from Crutchie's mom every Monday morning.

I took the picture of her snuggling the wall, backpack leaning against her, and captioned it "what a mood", satisfied with my work. I almost immediately got a text from Race and opened it, my smirk widening.

Messing with Jack was one of my favorite pastimes, honestly.

"why's Jack looking at his phone like he wants to make out with it? what did you do?" I read, grinning ear to ear. I screenshotted my snap and texted it to him, earning the infamous three dots in return.

"wait why did you take a picture of her sleeping"

"because, Racer, it's funny. she gets annoyed at it"

"if she slaps you its your own fault"

"me @ romeo daily"

With that, I closed my texts and switched over to a game to play, passing the time until I was in the eternal pain of Hell. This Hell happened to be high school, the worst circle of Hell truly.

I didn't even live in Lower Manhattan like most of the other kids in the school. I was a Brooklyn kiddo, which automatically made me a feared student. That alongside my small group of friends, resting bitch face, and rock hard muscles that I worked hard every day for.

Which was weird, since I also got along well with the goofiest, biggest group of friends on the planet. They called themselves the Newsies, for some strange reason, and were pretty decent when you knew the milder ones first. The milder ones consisted of kids like Davey, Crutchie, and (y/n).

They were kind of like a gateway drug to the hell that was their friend group.

Don't get me wrong, not unlike me they were willing to beat just about anyone up if it meant protecting their buddies, but they were also dumbasses and would drink paint regularly if it weren't for the rational ones telling them not to. That was my role here.

So why exactly was one of my best friends the craziest one, Racetrack Higgins? Of course, if you told him that he'd do a backflip and hug me and shove chocolate in my face or something.

Which, in all honesty, was kinda hot.

(y/n)'s POV

I stirred as the bus came to a halt. I noticed girls were getting off the bus, but the boys were sitting still. My bus driver had a weird rule that all the girls already had to be off before any of the guys could even start getting off the old thing. Strange, but not horrible for me.

I grabbed my backpack and walked off the bus, being the last girl. I blinked blearily, still desperate for just a bit of sleep. I didn't even stay up late last night, but I was always relentlessly tired.

I always had the classic "I don't care" look about me, wearing an oversized hoodie, sweatpants, and no makeup. I didn't care if other people did, but I didn't bother.

It wasn't like I was gonna look particularly cute either way.

I reluctantly went into the large building where I had to receive my shitty public school education. With the annoying and stupid students who cared even less than I did. teachers who hardly cared if we were dying but would yell at us for a skirt half an inch too short, and a prison-like look.

The air was colder than normal today, so I snuggled further into my soft hoodie. It provided little help, but the action was nice. My hands were super cold too, but that was nothing abnormal. I wanted to scream or groan or drop dead but I guess going to first hour history would just have to suffice.

(1053 words)