Chapter 17: : Chapter 17

‘Have you seen Florence anywhere?’ I ask my friends as the other students start getting on the busses.

‘Nope. Maybe she’s already inside.’ Jamie shrugs and follows Orion into the vehicle closest to us.

‘You coming, Eli?’ Marcus asks, stopping in the doorway, thereby effectively keeping anyone else from entering. I’m convinced he’s the only person going to this academy who can do that without getting yelled at.

‘Safe me and Florence a seat,’ I tell him. I know she’s not in any of the other buses since I’ve been scanning the crowd for her since I got here. Besides, I think she’d come find us if she were here. Just to make sure, I send the girl a quick text asking where she was.

‘Five more minutes to take off, kids! Everyone get on the busses!’ Mr. Hank yells. Not many students are still outside but I don’t make a move to join my friends in the vehicle. I simply stand next to one of the doors so I can stall a bit.

They can’t leave if I keep the door open and I am not letting it close until Florence walked through it.

‘Elija! Stop messing around and take a seat!’ Mr. Hank snaps at me, leaning out of the window of a bus nearby. The ones surrounding the vehicle my friends are in start filing out of the parking lot but I refuse to get inside. Florence hasn’t answered me which means she’s probably on her way. It’s unlike her to be late. I’d bet my right foot she is freaking out over it.

‘Florence isn’t here yet,’ I tell him calmly.

‘Florence?’ The man groans, looking skywards as if asking for strength. Then he mutters something under his breath and glares back at me. ‘If your ass isn’t placed on one of those seats in the next five seconds, I’ll come out there and drag you inside. Don’t make my job any harder than it already is.’ I’d feel bad for him but at the exact moment he stops talking a new voice reaches my ears.

‘I’m here! Don’t drive!’ I see Florence running across the parking lot to reach us, nearly falling over her suitcase in the process. I try my best to stifle a laugh.

‘Oh thank god. I thought we were about to have a tent shortage situation like last year,’ Mr. Hank mutters.

A very out-of-breath Florence finally stops in front of me, bending over with her hands on her knees as she wheezes slightly.

‘You good?’ I ask, still trying not to smile. Don’t blame me. If you had seen the way she ran over here you’d be cracking up.

‘Yeah. Totally. Just need to- catch my breath. Ran- all the way,’ Florence tells me between breaths.

‘You take a second. I’ll just put your Suitcase away.’ I grab her luggage and open the storage area on the bus while the girl tries to tell me I don’t have to do that. ‘Florence, it’s already done,’ I tell her. She finally stands up, wipes her forehead with the back of her hand, and smiles shyly at me.

‘Thanks.’ Her cheeks are really red but I’m not sure if it’s just Florence blushing like she often does or because of the heat. Either way, our teacher interrupts our little moment.

‘Both of you, IN THE BUS!’ Florence flinches and apologizes profusely while I shoo her into the vehicle, no longer hiding my laughter.

Inside, Jamie waves us over. My friends are taking up two four-seater booths, if you will, and I see they’ve saved us two seats. Florence damn near slumps in the one beside Benji who’s quick to hold out a bottle of water for her.

‘How did you manage to be late? You’re always on time,’ her friend asks while she drinks up.

‘Yeah, Lorence, don’t you live like right next to school?’ Orion adds.

‘My parents-‘ she breaks off and her eyes find mine for a quick second. ‘I slept in.’ she laughs a bit. Yeah, that really wasn’t a good safe. I’m curious to know how her being late is connected to her parents but I won’t ask her now. Not when it’s clear she doesn’t want to tell us.

I take a seat opposite her, leaving the window seat empty next to me. Marcus, Liam, Jamie, and Orion are sitting in the booth next to us but it’s a long ride so we’ll probably end up changing seating arrangements at some point.

Probably when someone from the other booth gets too sick of Liam. Full offense.

–

‘I am bored!’ Jamie whines. He’s sprawled over two seats, his back on Orion’s legs while his head hangs down over the edge of the seat and his feet are up against the windows. I can see Elsa, how Florence so helpfully named him, is trying his best to look annoyed. Meanwhile, his hands are absently playing with the hem of the other boy’s shirt so I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling.

‘If you don’t stop whining, I’ll kick you so hard you won’t be making any sounds other than squeals for a week,’ Marcus threatens. I don’t doubt he could make that happen. I’ve seen him shoot a goal, I wouldn’t want to be in the football’s place.

‘You’d have to catch me first,’ Jamie challenges him but I think it might be due to Orion’s death glare that Marcus doesn’t say anything else. Instead, he chuckles and raises his hands in surrender.

Yep, Elsa has it bad.

‘Well, if you guys are really bored, we could always take the BuzzFeed sorting quiz,’ Florence suggests. ‘I can’t believe you’ve never taken it,’ she adds. I smile to myself and shake my head.

This girl.

‘We’re talking about Harry Potter again, right?’ Benji asks tiredly. We’ve been on this trip for about three hours and that might be the longest my friend has gone without smoking in months. Orion seems a bit edgy too. Edgier than usual, that is. Though he’s longing for cigarettes rather than weed.

Furthermore, the guy on his lap seems to be kept in a good mood.

‘I’m down. Though we all know I’m Gryffindor,’ Jamie announces loudly. Then he asks Florence more quietly, ‘They’re the funny ones, right? I remember liking some twins in the movies and they had red hair. red’s Gryffindor.’

‘First off, some twins. You are breaking my heart. Second, hair color has nothing to do with your house. But yeah, the twins were in Gryffindor.’

With that clarified, the discussion is over and my friends take the house sorting quiz. Every once in a while, one of the guys asks what a certain word or question means but other than that they seem quite focused.

I think I know who’s in which house but I’ll wait for the test results to confirm my guesses.

‘I got Hufflepuff,’ Benji says.

‘Duh,’ Florence and I reply at the same time. My heart simply skips a beat at the smile she sends my way. She looks pretty when she smiles.

Ugh, what is happening to me? I sound so lame!

‘Why are you guys not surprised?’ Benji asks.

‘Let’s just say Hufflepuff is often associated with herbology,’ I tell him, earning a stifled laugh from Florence.

‘Mine says I’m Slytherin,’ Liam announces. Again, I knew that. Even though I think Liam offers a really bad representative of that house. As a Hufflepuff, I feel the need to defend our friends in green. They deserve better than someone like Liam.

‘Bam, check it out! Gryffindor! I told ya!’ Jamie yells loud enough to cause many annoyed faces to turn our way.

So far I’m going three for three.

‘They put me in the same house as him? I don’t think I like that old hat or whatever it’s called,’ Orion mutters. I’m going to guess he’s referring to Liam which makes him a Slytherin as well. I can see that.

‘What about you?’ I ask Marcus.

‘Gryffindor.’ Florence raises an eyebrow at him, quietly sizing him up. When he notices, he asks her what she’s thinking.

‘Nothing. Just didn’t know where to place you. You know, with that whole ‘guarded and mysterious’ vibe you’ve got going on,’ she mocks him slightly. She’s smiling and not at all coming across as mean as Orion would, and Marcus clearly finds it amusing. He smiles at her, which makes her beam in return.

I expected to sense the usual twist of jealousy but it doesn’t come. I feel like Florence just likes to make people smile.

Either way, I have no claim on her. She’s free to beam at whoever she wants.

Doesn’t mean I’d have to like it.