It had been raining all through the morning. Emerson was at the bus station. Her driver had called in sick and she didn't plan on calling her parents. So, she had to rely on public means to reach her school. Sitting on one of the chairs, she looked around. 

There weren't many people at the station. Maybe, it had something to do with the rain.

“Look who it is!”

Someone exclaimed from the back.

“Long time no see, huh?”

“Dude, look at his uniform!”

“How many clothes did you say you had, stupid?”

Emerson turned around to see what was going on as the voices from before fell into fits of laughter.

“What? Finally felt like showing up?”

They were Brad and his crew. Why were they being so mean to someone?

Surrounded by all of them, there stood another, unfamiliar boy in a faded black hoodie. His shoulders were hunched and his fists were curled tight as he tried to be nonchalant.

Taking in everything, she understood what was going on. But why would they do this?

“He made me stand here for no reason for so many days.”

“Because of you, I had to deal with the teacher for being late.”

“Why were you absent for the last few days?"

Ignoring the question, the boy tried to walk past them, but one of them blocked his path saying, 

“There is no way we're letting you go, dumbhead.”

His eyes widened in fraction. Restless, his gaze darted from one place to another in search of something. Some kind of help that could get him out of there. 

“I bet he still doesn't know how to read,” one of them said, high-fiving others.

And then the strange boy's eyes locked with hers.

They were desperate, desperate for some way out of it. He knew this could get physical anytime soon and he couldn't afford that.

“I'm sure Miss Hadley told you to improve your reading skills, Brad, didn't she?”

A voice questioned. It took her longer than a moment to realise that it was hers. 

She watched, frightened, as they all turned towards her. Her eyes locked with the boy's again whom they were bullying. He looked tired. His want to escape more than ever, but the intervention had made even him standstill.

“Emerson? What do you thin—”

Before Brad could say something more, the bus arrived. One of his friends shoved the boy before walking in. Other than Emerson, he was the last one to climb up. Emerson watched as he took a seat at the very back. Those seats always remained empty.

Debating in her mind for a moment, she made her way to the back and sat beside him. Keeping a seat between them.

He was looking out of the window. Seeing yet not seeing. He had a faraway look on his face. As if not in the moment.

“Hey.”

She got no response. Clearing her throat, she tried again. 

“Hey, I am Emerson.”

The boy jumped a little on his seat as he turned towards her, confused.

Up close, she could see the prominent bags under his eyes. From stress and lack of sleep.

“I've never seen you around, what's your name?"

“Theo,” he responded in a low voice.

“They shouldn't have said all that about you,” she attempted again.

Tugging on his sleeve, he looked down.

“They weren't wrong.” 

His voice was barely audible, but she heard it. She couldn't help disagreeing with him. He was so wrong in believing anything they had told him. But it only made sense that their words would affect him in ways. This was one of them.

“They were. I've got points to prove them wrong. Do you want to hear them?”

And Emerson would prove it to him. Not let him believe in all that they had told him. 

He looked at her for a moment and then deciding to just let her speak, he said, 

“Alright.”

That day Emerson made a friend. What she didn't realise was how much her single act of kindness had affected the boy in the black hoodie.

Because he will always remember her as the girl who lent a helping hand.

______________

~Years later~

_______________

It was a sunny day. A very bright, sunny, humid day. None of which Emerson liked. But she had to hurry and just deal with it. Plus, she didn't have her car. Well, that was another story. So, she had to take the bus. This was bad. 

Walking to the bus station, she took a look around. Her gaze met with someone else's. 

That face looks awfully familiar, she thought as she picked up her phone which had started ringing, Stop staring. They would think it's suspicious.

“Em. You wouldn't believe what happened,” her classmate burst out in excitement.

“What did?”

“He got suspended. Well, technically there's more to it than that, but he'd be getting the full brunt of it, trust me. After all that he has done, Brad deserves it. And he'll be getting it.”

Brad Vincent and his crew hadn't changed much in all those years. They had gone from bad to worse. They had committed felonies and got away with it that his pot of wrongdoing had filled up and tilted.

“But how? He'd had everything checked—”

“I heard there was an anonymous tip from someone which was enough to get them to take action.”

“Oof,” she whistled when she heard the bus arrive, “Ok, the bus is here. Talk to you later.”

With that, she stood up and walked towards the bus. Someone passed by dropping a newspaper in her hands. It was the college's weekly. She opened it and found herself reading the article she had written on the topic of college crimes. 

When did this happen? Since when do they care enough about these topics?

And beside that, there was a poem that she had written with her name under it.

How? How in one night did this all come about, when they were so sure that it was written by one of brad's friends.

Wait, she looked up, watching the person walk away and her mouth gaped open.

Oh, he did not. After years of no contact, he could not just disappear. She wouldn't let him.

Jumping out of the bus, she ran towards him.

“Wait, you little—”

“Ow!”

“Oomph.”

She threw her body into stopping in and they both fell.

“You do know how to greet people, don't you?"

“You didn't plan on running away, did you, Theo?”

“That was the plan.”

She swatted his arm as their eyes found each others' and they both started laughing.

                            ____________