[https://img.wattpad.com/8c2e5f363a91ec332339dc91e7ae4b188d547426/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f436c525678534e4c6636784a76673d3d2d313235363530303339382e313732346134646564636538663538383637323033303035343332312e706e67]
The car pulled in next to a bus stop.
"This is where you get off," her mom said with a smile. Sophie gave her a worried look.
"Aren't you coming with me?" she asked.
"No, there are no parents allowed on the school bus. But either way, the bus trip is a lot of fun, so you've got something to look forward to."
Sophie's mom leaned over Sophie and popped the car door open on the passenger side. Truth be told, Sophie would still rather just turn around and go back home. She still wasn't convinced that she'd end up liking the school, and her mom hadn't been willing to tell her anything more about it.
Every time Sophie had asked, her mom had said the same thing: "I don't want to ruin the surprise."
Sophie shook off her anxieties and got out of the car.
"And Sophie, remember that you have to try to meet your classmates where they are. If you want them to give you a chance, you have to give them one too, even if they're not all nice to you right off the bat. And maybe try not to ask too many questions about everything all at once. Can you promise me that?"
Sophie nodded. "I promise."
"That's my girl! Then I'll just wish you an amazing first day of school," her mom said. And with that, she closed the car door, waved goodbye and drove off.
This left Sophie standing by the bus stop, feeling a whole lot of emotions at once. She still knew basically nothing about the school, and yet she was feeling pretty excited. Would it really be different from all the other schools? Did she dare to hope?!
The bus stop was located at the edge of town on a road called Edge Road.
It wasn't a very creative name, Sophie thought. The road was pretty boring to look at too, because all the houses looked exactly the same. They were all the same height, with the same windows, doors, roofs and bricks. Even their gardens were the same, down to the height of their hedges and the placement of their flowers.
On the other side of the road, just outside the town border, it was an entirely different story. There, nature was growing wild and free. The trees were reaching high into the sky, and their branches twisted and wound from tree to tree, creating a thick, impenetrable wall. The forest's leaves and bushes were growing so thickly that the sunlight could barely reach the forest floor at all.
Sophie turned away from the forest.
Where is that dumb school even supposed to be, anyway? she thought as she started grumpily kicking at some pebbles that were lying on the sidewalk [https://img.wattpad.com/d8445b3c01ead8c4e6b260ed5217194768f42cfd/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f597552626868774a5a61466844513d3d2d313235363439373533382e313730396234363739316239323261383839393235353136323133392e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Where is that dumb school even supposed to be, anyway? she thought as she started grumpily kicking at some pebbles that were lying on the sidewalk.
All her nagging worries were starting to come back now.
What if Mom is wrong? What if this school turns out to be just like all the other ones? Sophie thought.
The longer she waited, the more her excitement started to disappear. After twenty minutes her courage had left her entirely, and there was still no bus to be seen anywhere. And her mom had said that the bus was supposed to be there after five.
Maybe she should just go home. If the bus couldn't show up on time, why should she even bother? Sophie let out a sad sigh, turned on her heel, and took the first step in the direction of her house. But just then she heard the sound of a car horn blaring.
Her eyes darted towards the road. There was still no bus there, or any other vehicle for that matter. She turned in the direction of the forest, but there was nothing there either.
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That's odd, she thought. I could have sworn I heard a honk coming from that direction.
Now she heard another honk. And yes, she was right. The honking was definitely coming from the direction of the road, but she still couldn't see any bus. What she COULD see was a large shadow in the middle of the road. It was a little bit faint, but it kept growing more solid, as if there was something casting the shadow right above her – and getting closer!
She slowly lifted her eyes up towards the sky and let out a gasp. Right there, flying up above her was a yellow school bus with... WINGS?!
Sophie stared mouth agape at the flying yellow bus, which was keeping itself floating in the air with strong flaps of its massive eagle wings. Sophie rubbed her eyes in disbelief, but she wasn't imagining it. The bus was really there, and it was descending towards the road. Every flap of its wings sent out strong gusts of wind that almost knocked Sophie backwards. When it finally landed, the eagle wings simply disappeared into the sides of the bus. The front bit of the bus looked like a giant eagle head with headlights for eyes.
Is this real, or am I dreaming? Sophie wondered.
The door of the bus swung open. Behind the wheel sat a very small man wearing a carefully ironed blue uniform. He had a massive beard which went all the way to his belly button and a small, round body with thin arms and legs. His legs barely reached past the edge of his seat, but strapped to his feet were an odd type of stilts that reached all the way to the floor. What Sophie found most impressive about this bus driver, however, was his hat. It was at least three times as tall as he was, and yet it stuck firmly to the man's head when he turned to look at something. Which he did now, turning towards Sophie.
"You'd be Sophie Somera, then?" he asked with disinterest, scratching his beard.
Sophie didn't say a word. She was too busy taking in the sight of the odd-looking man. The bus driver sighed with irritation and spoke up again.
"Sophie Somera!"
The words sent a jolt through Sophie's body. "Yes, sorry, that's me!"
"Well, then you'd better pay attention when I call your name, right?" the little man chided. "Now get on, we need to get going."
"Ummmmmmm..." was all that Sophie managed to say.
The small man gave her an impatient look as he drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. Sophie felt like she couldn't even move, it was all so strange. But she knew that just standing and staring was impolite, so she had to say something.
"How come your hat's so big?" she asked. It was the first thing that had popped into her head.
The small man sighed. "It's to make sure that tall people can see me. Why else would I wear it?"
"Uhhhhhh ..." Sophie tried again. "How come your bus looks like an eagle?"
The small man rolled his eyes and pulled out a notepad with a short list written on it. He scanned for Sophie's name.
"Oh, I see. So it's your first day, then, is it?"
So it's your first day, then, is it?" [https://img.wattpad.com/fc663c1b06c7b182b65a116c407d2d3d90903b89/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f3950544235413172764a796a39773d3d2d313235363439373533382e313730396233653531323663623032623934353439323637353334312e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
Sophie nodded.
"Well, that explains all the ummmm's and uhhhh's. Now listen here. I'm the bus driver, and I've been asked by your parents to pick you up and bring you to the school. Their names are Marco and Colette Somera, aren't they?"
"Right."
"Thought so. Well, you're not the only kid I'm supposed to pick up, and if you don't get your butt in here now, we'll be late. So, will you please get on, or do you just wanna keep asking questions? Maybe you wanna know why I'm wearing these stilts, too?"
Sophie shook her head. "No, I just assumed you wore those so that you could reach the gas and the brake," she said as she boarded the bus.
"Um, yes, that's right," the little man said before closing the bus door.
With every step she took, Sophie was half expecting to slip through the floor of the bus and wake up from this strange dream. But she didn't, and she could feel the excitement coursing through her body again.
She and the small man were the only people in the entire bus, so she sat down in one of the seats near the front with a view through the front window. Once again, her jaw dropped. In front of the bus, where moments ago the trees had grown densely and blocked even the sunlight, now there was a clear path straight between the trees. The bus driver started the bus and drove off down the newly formed forest path.
The bus driver started the bus and drove off down the newly formed forest path [https://img.wattpad.com/8bc20986ab6a0eb946a21f662bcba89d7e6c1f36/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f54614f764c68785a6944695161673d3d2d313235363439373533382e313730396235376531323833343731303234353935353138343034332e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
The bus was roaring through the forest, going faster and faster. On each side of the forest path, the trees were packed densely. And the further the bus moved into the forest, the bigger the trees were becoming and the less of the sky was visible through all the leaves and branches. By now, the forest path was covered by a darkness so thick that Sophie could barely see anything.
The bus started to slow down. Up ahead, some other kids were waiting for the bus.
Through the darkness, Sophie could barely even see what the kids looked like. But even with what little she could see, something seemed a bit strange about them.
The bus stopped, the door swung open, and the other children stepped into the bus.
Sophie was lying in her bed with the duvet pulled up over her head [https://img.wattpad.com/8c8906bfb2eff326a3f9cd52b86ce8ec6d8acc52/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f767862706948304a73664a7570673d3d2d313235333934313835302e313733663230616534623765333861363936343636313337343032322e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]