The Mournful Mass Transit (Hannah tag any)

[Hannah Bell]

The alarm clock bleated its woeful tune to disrupt the morning’s peace. Hannah groggily opened one eye to see that it was early. Too early. There was no school today, and thus there was no reason to be awake at this time in the morning. The alternative, however, was fitful rest with the chance of terrifying dreams involving bullets and sprays of blood. To Hannah, the choice was an easy one.

She threw off her covers and padded into the hallway. The whole house was quiet, which meant her mother wasn’t awake yet. Hannah entered the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. She wasn’t very hungry, so she grabbed an apple before returning to her room to start the morning routine.

Showered and clothed, Hannah retuned to the kitchen to pillage the brown liquid in the coffee pot. As she drank her first cup, she wondered if all black was more appropriate to wear to the memorial. Was it a funeral exactly? She wasn’t sure. She went back up to her room to change, found a black skirt and top, previewed it in a mirror, and decided against all black. She put on the skirt, but picked out another nice blouse, this one a dark green, and finalized herself in the mirror.

Her mother still wasn’t awake, which Hannah preferred. The last thing she wanted before heading to this memorial was a great deal of fussing. She was specifically not trying to think about the reasons this was being held, and if anything her mother would no doubt keep reminding her. Hannah just wanted to get there, sit down, and get through it.

Hannah left the house just in time to catch a city bus heading towards the school. It was already packed. Nicely dressed but somber looking kids her age populated the seats, some with parents but most without. Many she didn’t recognize, likely Silver kids or friends that weren’t in high school. A few she did know, but the only words spoken were hollow greetings.

She walked towards the back of the bus, where he spied a lone seat yet unoccupied. Its bench partner, however, was taken by someone Hannah didn’t recognize. Not wanting to discomfort the person sitting next to it, she slowly sauntered up.

“Pardon me, but is this seat taken?” Her southern drawl sounded way too bright, but Hannah’s voice was already starting to show her trepidation. Hopefully the passenger would just say no, giving her an excuse to get off the bus and go back home.

[johson]

Ashton had ridden in on his motor cycle, he needed to feel alive, under the leather jacket was a white shirt and tie, his helmet and jacket were on the floor next to him. The day before had been a very long day, his team was in a disarray and his sister had for the first time in her life helped him get very drunk after they had managed to get home.

Their father had thrown a fit when he had found them drinking his best scotch, it was earlier this morning however when he had been called by his mother for the first time in many years, she had told him that she was coming to town to see him and his sister, he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to see her, after so many years. After all she had left him and his sister with there father, no matter the excuse, they had to deal with him every day of their lives without her.

"Pardon me, but is this seat taken?"

Ashton looked up at the girl, "Sure thing there is no one sitting there so you might as well." Ashton said to her. "Your new here right, or at least I haven't seen you around here before." he said aware that he was not the most observant person in this school when it came to new faces anyway.

[Hannah Bell]

“Thank you.” Hannah sat, though the nerves she felt about the memorial remained. This boy seemed nice enough, if older. “I don’t know if we’ve met. I’m Hannah. Hannah Bell. I go to Gould. I assume you go to Silver?” Conversation might help her distract herself from the day, and Hannah generally enjoyed talking with people as long as they weren’t idiots or jerks. So far, this boy seemed like neither.

“I’m not really new, but I was gone last semester living with my grandmother down in Georgia. That’s where I’m from, if ya couldn’t tell already.” Hannah smiled. Her accent as usually one of the first things people commented on. She liked it. It set her apart from other girls and usually got her a lot of attention, especially from boys. The only time she didn’t like getting attention was when people asked her if she was the daughter of “Daisy Bell, the famous country singer!” That’s always how they said it, too. At least usually. The resemblance wasn’t too hard to notice, so easy that even stranger s sometimes made comments.

Hannah finally gave the boy next to her a good looking over. He was in good shape, and he was cute in that sorta rugged guy way. Not that Hannah was looking for a date on a day like this, of course, but it’s hard not to notice when boys are cute.

“Where are you from? Round these parts or somewhere else?” She always like meeting people from different parts of the country, and secretly hoped this guy was from somewhere interesting.

[johson]

Ashton looked at her with genuine interest, someone admitted to knowing what country music was in a school full of people who thought real music was what ever could make you deaf inside a week of listenting to it... this could be interesting he thought to himself as he smiled.

"I'm from Encino." Ashton said. "Not quite the deep south but still a good place to grow up for most people anyway." Ashton said to her. "And yes I'm from Silver, I am the school football captain and in my last year so hoping to get something worth while out of my last year here and get a good college." Ashton said his eyes drifting through the crowd, thinking about everything that had happened to the schools in the last few months. It already seemed like the seniors were starting to leave, their was certainly a fair amount of preparation in their classes for this, and schools were already talking to him about life after Silver. "I'm looking at New York myself, but as long as its far from this city I will be ecstatically happy." Ashton said to her.

"I used to think that the end of the year would come up to soon, but a few of my friends have already left the school, and after the events of yesterday, departing could not come soon enough." Ashton said honestly.

[Hannah Bell]

Hannah was impressed. She had no idea she was talking to the Captain of Silver’s football team. He could be a useful guy to be friends with, especially if Silver and Gould do end up combining, as rumors purport. She briefly wondered if the teams would combine or remain separate, but the conversation brought her back to reality.

“New York? Wow, that would be just amazing! It just seems so big, ya know?” Hannah often thought herself what New York would be like, and would love to visit someday. “Why is it ya want to go all the way over there? Seems like an awful long way to travel. Though I know what you mean about getting away from here. I like it most the time, but sometimes I feel like I just need to get the heck away!” Hannah realized she was starting to ramble. She usually didn’t mind, but she tried to keep it under control when meeting people for the first time.

The mention of the previous day shut her up quick, however. The brief mention of it brought the horror of the event flashing though her mind. She saw the spray of blood, the poor girl who dropped to the ground. Hannah realized she didn’t have any idea who the girl was or if she was okay. Hannah did nothing to help. Tears began to form at the edges of Hannah’s eyes as guilt began to grow on top of fear and sadness. Soon the tears escalated into rivers streaming down her face. She tried to hold it in but realized she couldn’t. Not wanting to face the humiliation of breaking down in front of a bus full of people, she quickly stood up and pulled the cord to stop the bus. As it slowed to pull over, she moved towards the exit, hoping the guy she met didn’t think she was a horrible person. She hadn’t even gotten his name.

[johson]

"The city isn't really the problem, so much as my father, the team coach, he has always been an ass to deal with. Even more so since this happened, my father hit the roof about the schools lack of security, just for a second there I had wished he was one of the victims. My hate for my father and the crap his put me and my sister through since our mother walked out on us when my sister was just out of diapers." Ashton said to her he knew this was a little cold of him, but he had long since given up trying to hide the contempt he held for his father, or how his mother had left them both behind when she left him.

"New York is a pretty long way away from LA, and it offers all kinds of new challenges for me, their I can just be me rather than Ashton Johnson the football player who's dad made him captain of team. I won't feel like I have to prove myself to people who see that I am the coaches son, and make the judgement that I got the captaincy because of that little nugget of information." Ashton said to him whihc was very true, he did feel like he had to work a little harder to get the same effects of respect that the rest of his team got.