On the bus

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Oh the School Bus. Place of awkward stupidities and ridiculous stories.

Let me recount some:

One time on the bus, when I was going to Middle School, I was asked by a person that I did not know whether I was <my name>. I said yes. A few minutes later something sailed past my head and hit the seatback in front of me. I turned around and saw the person that asked me who I was smirking evilly. I still don't know who they were or what the hell was going on.

In the last year of high school, there was one day where when I got on the bus, the bus was PLUMP FULL. There was only ONE spot left.

This seat was right beside a boy who perpetually sat by himself. Oh did I mention he's the younger brother of a boy that used to bodycheck me into lockers? This kid is not much different from his brother. Same bad attitude. So naturally, I stared up and down the aisles of the bus for a good long time, desperate to find ANY OTHER seat. The bus was already well on its way before I sighed heavily and the driver finally told me to find a spot quick. There was NO option. I HAD to sit by this kid. Of course he protested when I sat down but I snapped, "I haven't got a choice, now, do I?" He said nothing. He just turned and faced forward and stared straight ahead in a resigned manner. His backpack made a good buffer zone so we weren't in physical contact proximity, at least.

We both sat quietly the whole ride and neither of us did anything. I bet he was thinking about if he actually had someone sitting beside him before I'd gotten on, that he wouldn't have been put in that position. Freaking moron.

Bodycheck?

Mhmm. I'd be walking down the hallways of the middle school and this one kid would take a run at me and smash right into me. Since lockers covered most of the walls, 9 times out of ten I was smashed into a locker. Since the hallways were usually crowded I had very little room to evade or maneuver.

My mother used to do that to people when she was in middle school. I hear all these wonderful stories of what it's like to be on the other side of bullying from her.

Anyway, back to the relevant topic. My brother and I were verbally abused by a special ed bus driver when I was in fifth grade and he was in first. That's probably the worst bus experience I've ever had. I've blocked out most memories of riding that bus, but I remember how good it felt the days I didn't have to ride it. I also remember that the bus driver liked to leave before all the other busses came so I had to get out of class earlier (which I hated doing) and if so many as a single bus had come before I boarded (and I was always the last to board) he would yell at me. This happened daily. He would also yell at us for talking to each other and he'd yell at us for stimming. The aid on the bus was just as bad. The experience with that bus driver actually sent my brother over the edge and he went into his first mental hospital (the first of six) because he was becoming so violent at home. I'd had years more experience with being abused and harassed so I fared better than my brother.

Another bus story was when I was in sixth grade I had to cross a highway to get to my bus stop and they couldn't change it to the other side of the highway. I had to cross seven lanes of traffic every day to get home in the afternoons (in the mornings it was on the right side of the highway, go figure). My parents tried to get them to change it to the other side of the highway, but they were so busy with my brother and the mental hospitals that the issue just got pushed aside.

I've got plenty of more little stories about interactions gone wrong with my fellow bus riders, but neither of them come to mind as more eye-opening than the two I told you guys. Especially the first one. I'm still afraid of special ed busses, but I'm not as afraid of highways anymore. That's good...right?