Brain Freeze

Taking public transportation to school was always an adventure. The bus screeched to a halt and Kathleen climbed aboard in a cloud of exhaust fumes, flashing her student bus pass to the scowling driver. The drivers always seemed less friendly on the first day of school. Perhaps it was all the additional stops he had to make, picking up the flood of noisy grammar and high school kids.

The Catholic grammar school didn't provide busing to out of town kids and the Catholic high school didn't provide busing at all. If your parents worked, or couldn't be bothered driving the long distance to the school (as was the case with Kathleen's mother), you took the "T". Mass Transit, in this instance, consisted of a 20 minute bus ride from her home town to the dingy depot in Arlington Heights and a transfer to the Harvard Square bus, jumping off at the stop in Arlington Center. A short walk across 4 lanes of traffic and down one city block and there you were; Arlington Catholic High School.

Last year she had hoped off the bus two stops earlier to attend her Catholic grammar school. This was to be her freshman year. New school, maybe new friends...she should be excited and nervous, right? Kathleen sighed as she glanced around the orange plastic seats skimming over the adult commuters with noses buried in travel cups of coffee or the morning paper, and her eyes settled on an empty seat near the center of the bus. The back of the bus was filled with a familar looking rowdy group of young kids. Former classmates, mostly, with a couple years to go before they joined her in high school.

Two girls from her class waved at her to come sit with them. One was wearing the same shiny new teal polyester uniform Kathleen was now sporting and the other wearing a Navy wool vest and green pleated plaid skirt of the rival Catholic high school the next town (and 4 bus stops) beyond her new school.

So...Mindy is going to Matignon and Kelly is going to A.C.H.S. Interesting. Wonder what those two will do without each other.

Kathleen waved dismissively at her "friends" and eyed the empty seat again. She kept walking resignedly and instead took an empty seat across the isle from Mindy and Kelly. These two best friends were always joined at the hip. It was a little startling to see them obviously headed for different schools. 

"Oh my God, Kathleen! You're going to A.C. too? I'm so glad I am going to know someone there! How was your summer? I spent a week in Italy with my Grandmother. They have the most adorable guys in Italy..." Kelly spoke almost at a sound level only perceptible by dogs and at a speed that put an Uzi sub-machine gun to shame.

Mindy spoke over Kelly. "Oh my God! I don't know what I'm going to do without you guys. I am the only one going to Matignon from our school. I'm not going to know anybody! Kelly, I'm still mad at you for not talking your Grandma into taking me to Italy too! I was soooo bored the week you were away..."

As the two girls turned away from her to resume their rapid-fire conversation, Kathleen removed her head phones and raised her voice. "KELLY! Why aren't you going to Matignon with Mindy?"

Amazingly, the two girls went silent and looked at Kathleen. They glanced at each other and Kelly said, "I didn't pass the entrance exam for Matignon. Mindy did. It's a better school and she will have a better chance of getting into Vassar if she goes there."

Vassar? Kathleen blinked and said, "Oh."

The girls turned away again and resumed talking. Kathleen replaced her headphones and stared at her ugly teal shrouded lap. Her uniform skirt was knee length and smooth, except for one kick pleat in the front. What ever possessed A.C. to change their uniform to this truly hideous new ensemble was beyond her. The "old" uniform chose that moment to board the bus in the form of a Junior she didn't really know. It was a pretty maroon and gray pleated plaid skirt with tiny yellow pin strips and a nice gray wool vest. "Junior" girl made her way to the back of the bus but left a couple rows of seats separating her from the rest of the kids.

She looked at Kathleen and inquired, "Is that the new uniform?"

Kathleen nodded.

"Wow. It's really ugly."

That was the extent of their conversation.

The bus rolled to a stop in front of the McDonalds and one more person stepped up into the bus. Kathleen eyed this girl with interest. She was also sporting the ugly teal uniform. Another freshman? She didn't look familiar. "New girl" eyed the back of the bus and quickly planted herself in the empty seat in the middle that Kathleen had almost sat in earlier.

As the bus made its way through the center of Lexington, Kathleen found herself studying the back of "new girl's" head.

Why did she sit up there and not back here with the rest of us?

New girl pulled a notebook out of her backpack and began writing at a furious pace. When the bus pulled up to the bus station in Arlington Heights, New Girl didn't stop writing. Kathleen sat watching her as the rest of the bus passengers got off. The bus driver stepped off the bus and into the small snack bar inside the depot. As the bus sat idling, Kathleen saw one of the Harvard Square buses pull into the lot. If they wanted to be on-time for school, she and new girl really needed to catch that bus. She made her way up the isle and paused next to new girl's seat.

"We'd better catch the next bus now or we'll be late," she said as she tapped new girl on the shoulder. New girl jumped in fright and snapped out of the writing trance she seemed to be in. She looked around at the empty seats and finally saw the second bus boarding.

She nodded yes at Kathleen and they both quickly hopped off the empty bus and onto the nearly full new bus. New girl took the last empty seat at the front of the bus and Kathleen hesitated for a moment and then sat next to her.

 

ryanagi at 12:06:30 PM EDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 5 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Kathleen contemplated her eight grade class photo.

  My nose is crooked. I look like I have no eyelashes or brows. Does anyone find red hair attractive?? My freckles...God, I am so ugly. Who would date this?!

She stuck her tongue out and made a face.

  Yep, bet that's attractive... "No time to waste staring at the circus freak today, I'll miss my bus," she muttered out loud.

After applying some lip gloss, she grabbed her backpack from the hook on the back of her door and made her way into the kitchen. She squeezed around her mother's ample form and reached for the box of donuts on top of the refrigerator.

"Tsk. I thought you were trying to lose weight, dear." Her mother's tone froze Kathleen's hand in mid-motion.

Her fingers twitched slightly and retreated. She gave her mother a light peck on the cheek and squeezed her way back out. 

"Do you want a granola bar for the bus?" her mother called sweetly at her retreating back.

"No thanks, Ma. I'll just get some fruit or something at school."

As the front door slammed shut, Kathleen heard her mother yell, "Come directly home after school today, young lady!"

Kathleen sighed and retrieved her walkman from the exterior pocket of her backpack. She rammed the headphones down over her ears and hit play. After adjusting the volume to a satisfying eardrum rupturing level, she began her long trek to the bus stop. Her head now satisfyingly empty of thought.

 

Kathleen: High School student. Raised in conservative Irish Catholic household with limited income. Suffers from low self esteem, poor body image, major depression, and panic disorder. Hides her conditions from all her friends, teachers, and most of her family. Finds it difficult to form lasting friendships and prefers to blend into the background. Is terrified that the few people who seem to like her will find out about her problems and will abandon her. She is tall, athletic build, dark red hair, startling ocean blue eyes, and heavily freckled.

Theresa (Kathleen's Mother): Stay at home mom with overpowering personality. She is short and excessively over-weight, but her attitude more than makes up for her lack of stature. She runs her home with an iron fist, but shows an almost giddy and boisterous personality to outsiders. She is devoutly religious. She is a control freak and demands perfect obedience from her children. No one can run her house better than she can and no one can do anything the "right way". She does it all; cooking, cleaning, laundry, household finances...etc. She has shocking red hair cut close to her head, pale (almost milky) blue eyes, ruddy skin with tons of freckles, and thin almost non-existent lips on a very round face. Her normal mode of dress is a house coat or caftan/muumuu and white Keds with no socks.

There are lots more characters, but more work needs to be done on my story outline. This is planned to be youth oriented fiction dealing with mental illness and deep secrets. A dash of Judy Blume with some decidedly more adult themes placing this story more with the teen rather than pre-teen set.

ryanagi at 4:28:06 AM EDT Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 4 comments: Show Recent | Add your own