26)

As the bus rattled down the road I looked over my shoulder to see both my parents waving at me, Ami and Aran with my Dad blowing kisses at us with both hands. My brother was waving back while Ami had slunk down in her seat behind me.

Slunk was how my Grandfather described me moving around in the morning before anyone else woke up. To come or go unobtrusively or furtively

Sitting down, I glanced at the reflection in the window over Aran’s head to check who was slipping up the aisle behind me. The younger black kid was focused on keeping an eye on the driver while he slunk up the aisle half bent over in an effort not to be seen being out of his seat in the moving bus.

He was so distracted in doing so he didn’t even notice as I twisted around in my seat to look him dead in the eye as he dropped down in the seat opposite my younger sister. For a moment he looked surprised as I asked him. “Something I can help you with?”

Then he got a big grin on his face. “Yeah, I heard your dad is opening a Dojo. Is he going to teach the Wolfs how to fight, or can he teach me how to fight them?”

Another kid with a big, tangled mess of red hair yelled out from the back. “Shut up Kevin!”

Two of the other people on the bus yelled out as well, quite happily. “Shut up Kevin.”

Kevin, I presumed, rolled his eyes, then stuck out a hand. “Hi, I’m Kevin.”

I rolled my eyes a bit, "Yeah, I heard. Sara." I shook his hand. He grinned and held his hand out to my sister. She looked away for a moment, straightened up, and turned back to shake his hand. "Ami Caine. And today is the first time either me or my sister have heard anything about our dad opening a Dojo. But you should be careful about signing up to train with him."

Still clutching to his hand, she leaned forward to whisper at him. "Our Uncle says he practices a Dodge a Wrench school of teaching.” Then she nodded slowly before letting go of his hand.

Keven looked confused for a moment, then a little worried. The red headed kid laughed, while a black girl around my age leaned across the aisle from further back at him to whisper, “What did she say?”

The bus driver laughed and I looked up to see Grandpa standing in front of his gate. The old man had changed into a bathrobe, bunny slippers, and was wearing a knight's helmet as he waved at the bus as it drove by his house.

Ami giggled as Kevin stood up and slowly turned to keep Grandpa in sight, before sitting down and looking from me to my sister. “That was your grandfather right?”

I sat back and took my hands from my face. “No. Don’t ask again.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

The old bus rattled to a stop a moment later and a nine year old girl rushed in the door, with her Mom in her Deputies uniform sitting on the hood of a Sheriff’s department vehicle and giving her daughter a last wave as the bus began to pull away.

Oh sure, the little werewolf girl can run around with the bus in motion. Werewolf Shenanigans, calling it.

I had heard of Shenanigans before but had still looked them up to get the official definition. Secret or dishonest activity or maneuvering.

Milinda stopped in the aisle next to me and began pushing past my legs. “Hi Sara, I want to sit next to Aran. We’re in different grades and I want to play with him while I can.”

She wiggled in between me and my brother, then blew in his ear to get his attention from the window, making the boy jump in his seat before running his ear into his shoulder while giving her a bewildered look. The little girl nodded at him, “Your Mom told me to do that when you went off in your head, she said it works on your Dad too.”

I abandoned my seat. My brother was in good if slightly unwanted hands. He gave me a pleading look as I wandered down the aisle of the bus towards an increasingly worried looking girl who I guessed was the older sister of Kevin.

Yes, I did guess that because she was black as well, but I was heading her way because she was the only girl on the bus my age. “Hi, I’m Sara and I am lacking in most social skills. Can I sit next to you?”

She blinked rapidly, then gave me a shy smile as she nodded and slid over to give me some room.

I noticed she was hanging on to a school bag in her lap almost protectively, but not from me, in fact, she relaxed a little as I sat. "So I'm Sara, and my family just moved to town and I'm hoping you can fill me in on some things?"

Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. "S-sa-sorry. We just moved here too. My whole family." She paused "Oh, I'm Nicole. Webber, Nicole Webber." Then she nodded, more to herself than me.

I leaned over and whispered. “So… Wolves?”

Her face went red. "We aren't supposed to talk about that, unless…” She gave me a questing look.

Looking up at the window again, I could see the red headed kid carefully not looking our way as he stared intently at the back of the seat in front of him with an intent look.

I held up one finger to Nicole to wait, then turned around to face the boy across the way. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out the key ring with all of two keys on it in addition to the silver plated whistle on it.

It had been one of the first things I had ordered with the gift certificate my aunt had gotten me.

Holding up the whistle I asked. “Do you know what this is?” The boy’s eyes glanced at me, but he didn’t turn his head.

I shook my keys. “Oddly enough it’s called the Redhead silent dog whistle. I don’t know if it will hurt your ears, but I’m willing to find out if you keep listening in on a private conversation.”

Now he turned his head, wide eyed as he looked at the whistle, more in curiosity, than fear. "Is that really a dog whistle.? Does that even work on us?”

I looked down at it. “I’m not sure. I haven’t wanted to try it around my dog if it’s going to hurt her ears, and he kept following me every time I tried to sneak off to try it myself."

I tucked it back in my pants pocket, one of the ones my Mom special ordered which had real pockets and an extra piece of fabric in the middle so I could do kicks without splitting the seam. "I mostly got it to taunt my Grandpa, but its moment hasn't come yet."

Turning the other way I saw Nicole giving me a horrified look. "What?"

She leaned forward to look at the redheaded kid, then scrunched down in her seat. “Isn’t that dangerous?"

I frowned a little. “Him, he’s like nine." I pointed across the aisle. "My sister could take him, and she hardly trains anymore. Not at fighting."

The red headed kid let out a “Hey!” In protest.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Seriously, my Dad taught her to go for the eyes and the fingers. She wouldn’t fight you, just hurt you badly enough so you can't fight. Plus she's mean."

The red headed kid started to look thoughtful as Ami turned to look down the aisle and pointed her finger at her eyes, then at him.

Then I turned back to Nicole. “So my family moved here to live closer to family after our old house burned down without anyone getting hurt. You?”

We managed to have a nice chat for the rest of the trip.