As the decrepit bus trundled along the highway, its worn rubber tires gripping the sealed road beneath them in a desperate struggle to keep it on the road and in control, a tall, lanky teenager fussed with his tie, trying hard to remove it from around his throat in order to increase circulation to his brain. After a few attempts, he successfully pulled it off, the knot unraveling in his calloused hand with ease. As he fumbled with the remains of the knot, nothing more then creased material sitting atop his palm, his gaze slowly traveled up the cushioned seat in front of him to the window, a symbol of freedom and rescue in his eyes. The trees rushed by in a brilliant spectacle of green and brown, and he sighed at the fact that he still had a good half-hour to travel on his school bus. He thought of what was planned tonight, however, and a smile slowly invaded his face, the edge of his lip creeping up from his chin to his cheek. At this thought, however, he was reminded of something. He turned around and gently poked the sleeping figure of his friend and classmate, Mark. "Hey Mark! what've you got planned tonight?"

The figure slowly stirred beneath his dark red blazer in a futile attempt to ward off his good friend, but it was to no avail. The blazer was quickly removed from his face and revealed a pale boy of sixteen years. He had bright blue eyes, and his dark black hair was messy beyond belief. He had not used a comb in three years, he boasted, as if that was actually something to be proud of. He wore his school uniform, much like his friend, but unlike his friend, however, his uniform was still intact. His tie sat neatly perched underneath his throat, with every button done on his pale blue school shirt. The state his uniform was in directly contradicted the state he kept his hair. He was a small boy, neither tall and lanky, nor short and overweight. He blinked once, twice, in order to get his eyes back in focus, and also to provide a few extra seconds so his mind could comprehend what he had been asked. He removed his Sony headphones, which were playing 'Crawling' By Linkin Park. With a slight yawn, he replied.

"Nothing much dude. I gotta finish these Chapter summaries by Monday or I think I'm gonna get the strap." Mark replied sarcastically, as he always did. His friend, Jimmy, was used to this, and simply brushed it off as 'Mark' humour.
"haha...Yeah ok man whatever. Listen, if you manage to get those chapter summaries done, come to the cinema. Me and a few others are gonna watch this sick movie called Constantine." Jimmy remarked happily, pleased once again at what he had arranged for the night.

"Heh. Yeah I'll see." Mark replied half-heartedly, and with that he replaced his headphones back over his ears, signaling the end of whatever conversation they had. Jimmy's voice, and the Linkin Park song now replaced with Michael Gray's "The weekend", Mark sighed inwardly and looked out the dusty window of a bus that simply defied all rules he learnt at school that day simply by running. He didn't feel like going out. He was getting swamped with homework, and he didn't want any distractions. Couldn't afford any. Jimmy didn't bother replying. He expected as much anyway. Sometimes he wondered why he was even friends with him. At his previous schools, kids like Mark were always the ones who were picked on, bullied and teased. At this school, however, things were different. No-one picked on Mark. The school didn't seem any different; kids just avoided him all together. Jimmy was never the type to bully kids, but the other students knew that they shouldn't cross paths with him. With a shrug of resignation he turned back to face the front and stare out the window, counting down the seconds until he reached his home.

Mark's eyelids were drooping, and the lulling call of the Sirens in his ears, for he was now listening to one of his younger sister's songs that had found its way onto his mp3 player, Destiny's child, seemed too much for him to bear. And so, with the rhythmic bouncing of the school bus, coupled with the tunes belted out onto his eardrums, Mark was soon lulled into a deep sleep, one that he may never wake up from...