Elizabeth

I dreaded winter break, unlike your average burnt-out college student. Winter break meant that I had to leave the quiet comfort of my dorm and reunite with the chaotic jumble of people I called family. I had to mentally detach myself from endless studies and the haze of exams and prepare myself– almost as if I was getting ready for Doomsday.

To kindly put it, I was not looking forward to seeing my mom and grandparents after exactly four months and thirteen days of not having to interact with them. College was a gift–where I immersed myself in the plentiful world of Biology textbooks that weighed and cost an arm and leg and thick binders of notes that I painstakingly organized, highlighted and sorted through. If they happened to call, I always had the perfect excuse– I have to study, Ah-ma. After my first sentence, I was let off with not so much of a protest.

But, now, I have no decent excuse to pardon myself from seeing them.

I let out a silent sigh and gingerly packed my clothes in my compact suitcase, carefully smoothing each crease and folds of my pajamas into the compartment. Satisfied with the neat row of clothes nestled in my suitcase, I packed away my textbooks and completed assignments inside my backpack, making sure that they aligned perfectly inside. In the midst of clearing the tiny bed, a loud knock reverberated against the thin door.

The door swung open unexpectedly and the individual popped her head in with sharp eyes. Of course, it had to be someone from the school faculty.

"You're done? Good, you can go now," She stated after giving a brusque appraisal of my neat dorm. Her lurid pink hair shifted back and forth as she scanned the room, popping her pink bubble obnoxiously as she did so.

"I have a few things to clean up," I answered flatly and she rolled her eyes.

"Fine. You have five minutes. You better be gone by the time I come back." She left in a huff after letting me off with a rude warning.

Clearly overstaying my welcome, I left the dorm room with a last lingering look, finally leaving my safe haven and heading back to where I called home not-so-sweet home.

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The wait for the coach bus was grueling. A few students lingered near the bus stops, chattering away loudly. My headphones were not loud enough to drown them out and I checked my watch pleadingly. Of course, there was twenty minutes left and surely, the bus should be here before then. I glanced around in growing despair as the flow of boisterous students piled out of the college and headed towards the coach bus terminal. I inched away from them into a small corner of the wall and instantly regretted my decision. A strong whiff of cigarette smoke wafted across my face and I coughed loudly, choking through the thick fumes of polluted air. I could feel my face distorting in utter disgust and in my irritation, I tugged my headphones off my head and around my neck, turning my head sharply to the source of smoke.

And there, casually leaning against the outer part of the bus terminal wall, was the offender. I eyed her pointedly but she was oblivious to my death stare. I cleared my throat loudly, trying to catch her attention but she seemed lost in her own world, staring off into space, inhaling so deeply on her cigarette that her cheeks hollowed.

Again, the wind seemed to favor her, the smoke billowing right into my face which I unknowingly inhaled, the poisonous air invading my space. That was more than enough for me and my tolerance for anything I disliked was next to nothing.

"Um, excuse me?" I snapped loudly, my fingers clenching tightly around the band of my bookbag. I was not too known for being able to abide it when people lack zero respect for other pedestrians nearby. I had zero patience or tolerance for it, and I was not going to stand there and let it slide.

She glanced at me coolly, her finger tapping on her airpod. Cold, tawny eyes met mine and she looked me up and down in barely contained disinterest. "Can I help you?" She replied tersely, her raspy voice grating in clear irritation.

I pointed at the No Smoking Allowed sign above her head and she didn't even bother looking at it. She casually took a deep drag of her cigarette and stared at me dead on. Smoke billowed out of her dark, lipsticked mouth as she exhaled.

"And?"

Anger flickered through me and I could feel my grimace becoming more pronounced.

"No smoking allowed," I answered in a biting tone and she snickered, completely disregarding my pointed remark.

"Like I said–And?"

Just the same way she had appraised me, I appraised her up and down critically. Like a typical delinquent, she was dressed inappropriately for the chilly weather. Torn, black jeans with her tattooed skin gleaming underneath, a black, raggedy hoodie that frayed at the ends of the cuffs with a faded skull in the middle and beat up converses. Her hair was a spiky, inky mess, fluttering in the cold winter breeze and she was pierced to the max, with studs lining the ridge of her ears, and silvery jewelry sparkling from her eyebrow to her nose to her lips. To make matters worse, she had thick kohl slathered on her eyelids and waterline, smudged around the corner of her mud-colored eyes. She was definitely not someone I was particularly thrilled to look at or even talk to but I had claimed my little safe corner to myself and she was basically an invader.

"You can't smoke here." I gave her the obvious statement, glaring at the offending object dangling loosely between her slim fingers.

"If you don't like it, then get the fuck away from me," she snapped, flicking the ashes close to my shoes.

I stood my ground and narrowed my eyes at her. "I was here first," I bit out through clenched teeth.

"You definitely were not. I was here first and your Karen-ass decided to be in my personal space so you can go," she replied with a derisive snort.

I sputtered but right behind her, I noticed the bus turning the corner and heading straight for the designated bus lane.. Deciding to drop the argument, I turned my heels and walked away from her, heading to the disorganized line in a hurry. It was a waste of time for me to interact with people like her, and I was more interested in getting the best convenient seat anyways.

With a sigh of relief, I found a preferred seat right in the third row of the bus and quickly lodged my luggages in the upper compartment of the bus before settling down by the window seat. More and more students piled in, skipping my seat and heading straight to the back. The bus was pretty full by then, and no one had decided to sit next to me, which I was grateful for. Just when the bus doors began to shut and I thought I was in the clear, it reopened. Confused to feel the bus halt to a sudden stop, I glanced up to see the bus driver conversing animatedly with that same girl who was illegally smoking before.

To my utter horror, the middle-aged woman was smiling at the delinquent in an oddly familiar manner, barely glancing down at her ticket before gesturing to her to find a seat. I shrunk in my seat, trying my best to avoid eye contact. Too late.

Her eyes met mine and she smirked at me, her lip ring glittering in the dimness of the bus. As if the Heavens was purposely trying to make my life harder, she headed towards me.

Please don't sit next to me, please don't sit next to me, I pleaded internally but once again, Heavens disregarded me. She plopped down next to me with a huff, the mixture of the smell of cigarettes and cheap perfume clogging my nostrils.

I peered out the window with pursed lips as she made herself comfortable. I tried my hardest to melt with the side of the window to avoid any human contact but she seemed like the vindictive type as her elbow bumped roughly against mine. I cringed and she glanced over. I could feel her hard gaze on me and it took everything in me to return her stare belligerently. The corner of her dark lips twitched as if my reaction amused her and the more I tried to shift away from her, the more she crowded me.

Her leg nudged against mine and I held her stare with tightening lips. Very briefly, her tawny eyes flickered down to my mouth and then straight back to my eyes, her wicked smirk widening.

"Got a problem, Karen?" She taunted in a low voice, so low I could barely hear her through the rowdiness of the students.

"My name is not Karen," I replied stiffly, crossing my arms tightly across my chest.

Her unwelcome presence made me uncomfortable and I considered changing seats, even if it meant sacrificing my window seat. There was something that I really disliked about her, from the way she looked to the way she acted.

"You talk like a Karen, you even look like a Karen," She observed with a tight sneer across her face. She flicked the collar of my steamed button-down shirt peeking out of my jacket with her long, slim black-tipped finger. I flinched as she leaned her face closer to mine. She made a show of inhaling deeply and chuckled hoarsely. "Oh, God, you even smell like a Karen!"

Close up, I could see the green specks in her light brown eyes as she moved alarmingly close to my face. My breath caught and I was too unsettled to think of anything to say, trapped under her probing stare. I could feel my face heating up from embarrassment and growing fury but just as suddenly, she pulled away with a slight scoff and turned her attention to her phone, as if nothing happened.

I stared blankly at her, my jaws working as I rummaged my brain for a smart comeback. I wanted to tell her off, I needed to say something but I was drawing blanks and eventually, I gave up and turned my body away from her, my eyes planted firmly through the window as the dead trees and snow-covered pavements flewed past.

Still, her presence was like a nagging mosquito, buzzing at my awareness and I desperately turned on the volume of my favorite mythology podcast, trying to forget about the interaction. I managed to reassure myself, comforted by the fact that after today, I will never see her rude, sneering face again.

Something tickled the back of my consciousness, and for some unknown reason, I knew that I was just lying to myself.