Serendipity 2.0

ROXANNE POV
I check my ipod.

Quarter to eight. Shit.

Hopefully, I will get to school on time. I blame Tumblr for making me catch the second bus instead of the first. I was sitting right at the back, listening to my music and draining out all the noise coming from the front. The sun was warm on my shoulder as I leaned against the slightly graffitied bus window. I was having the hardest time keeping my eyes open, as once again, I left to do my homework at eleven o’clock at night. As the bus slowly moved, the motion almost entrancing me, my eyes became heavier and heavier...

…


I frowned.

Something was nudging me. Eyes still closed, I moved away a little, wanting the annoying thing to stop.

Then I realised.

I immediately woke up, realising I had fallen asleep on the bus. The first thing to greet my sight was one of the exchange boys, Louis I think, smiling at me. He was sat backwards on the bus seat, a row in front of me, “Sleepy are we love?” He asked.

A little embarrassed that I had to be woken up, I yawned, “Yeah just a little bit.” I blinked slowly to take in my surroundings again...until I noticed, “Wait! What the hell?” I looked frantic, “This is where we were when I fell asleep.”

I sat up straighter, checking my ipod for the time. Oh my god. We had been in the same spot for twenty minutes.

“Yeah we haven’t moved for a while and no-one knows whats going on.” He confirmed my thoughts, “The bus driver doesn’t even know” He said looking around the bus filled with kids loudly talking or zoning out with their headphones.

I pulled out my phone to check to see what was going on. According to my local news feed, there was four car pile up just around the corner from where we were stuck. Reporting that there would be delays up to an hour until they sort out the accident.

Louis noticing my intense staring at my phone asked, “What’s the verdict?” Getting up and deciding to plonk down on the space next to me. He was leaning over my shoulder to have a look at my phone screen.

Jesus Christ. He was way too close for me to deal with. Breathe, I told myself, “There’s been an accident around the corner. They are saying that there will be heavy delays in this area.” I sighed, opening my messages and texting the girls that I was going to be late.

I stood up, Louis moving out of the way, heading towards the front of the bus, dodging students who were filling the aisle up. I told the bus driver about the accident, letting him know about the delays. With an ‘okay’ and a smile from him, I headed back towards Louis, popping only one headphone in my ear.

“Shouldn’t you be sitting with your guide person?” I asked as I retook my seat next to him.

“Stewart’s back there talking to his friends-” He replied, pointing to a group of boys who looked like they were in a deep conversation, “and to be honest, their conversation was kinda boring so I decided to keep you company, considering you’re kinda a loner up here,” He smiled.

“Thanks!” I said sarcastically, “And don’t worry, I’m used to it by now. I’ve been sitting by myself on the bus since year seven,” I said shrugging my shoulders.

It was true. All of my so-called old ‘friends’ who caught this bus all thought they were suddenly too good for me and left me to sit alone. It started with the bus, then turned into excluding me in class to completely not talking to me at all. I grew not to care, the aid of my playlists soothed any feelings left I had for them. Now, this fifteen-minute journey is the only joy I get in the morning.

“Aww-” Louis whined, “well for the next six months, that is going to change. You officially have a new bus buddy babe.” He said slinging an arm over my shoulder.

I laughed, “Thanks Louis,” I smiled back, checking my phone for any messages. Surprisingly a message from my guy friend - Matt popped up, he had sent me one of his classic derp selfies.

I heard Louis chuckle from beside me, “Who’s that?” He asks amused.

“Matt, a guy from your year group-” I started to explain, Louis’ raised eyebrow indicated a question, “Not like that-” I playfully slapped his arm, “he’s just a friend,” I laughed, “we met in a musical a couple of years ago and we were friends ever since.”

I lifted up my phone, taking a response selfie. Louis jumped into the picture as well, pulling a just as an ‘attractive’ face. I showed him before I pressed send, his laughter confirmed it was indeed a fab pic.

“Oh you have to send that to me!” He smiled, “-here gimme, I’ll put my number in your contacts and send it.” He reached over and swiped my phone before I could protest.

He handed it back to me just as quickly as when he grabbed it, his phone dinged with my message. I looked down to see what he made his contact as, “The ‘Tommo’, really?” I said giggling and raising an eyebrow, as he just nodded with a proud smile.

“So... do you want me to give Niall your number or...?” Louis said smirking, making me turn to an instant tomato red shade.

I awkwardly laughed, “No it’s okay...I don’t even know why you would ask that-”

“Ok ok-” Louis replied quickly with a laugh, noticing how uncomfortable I still was about the whole ‘I kinda like him’ situation, “subject change. So, what musical is the school currently doing?” He said changing his composure.

“We’re doing Grease this year,” I said as the blush from that last comment slowly went away.

“Seriously? That’s my favourite musical! ” Louis said, excitement showing in his eyes.

“You should totally come and watch when we’ve finished with rehearsals!” I smiled.

“Yea! I-” My phone dinged, interrupting Louis’ reply.

matty:
hahaha classic! :) :) who’s the dude next to ya?

me:
that’s louis - one of the exchange students from the uk :) you would love his accent ;)

matty:
we’ll just have to wait and see at assembly today :P

“Ohhh that’s right,” I finally said, turning to Louis, “We have a whole school assembly today, they are going to introduce you boys to the school.” I could tell by the look on Louis' face that he was slightly nervous, “Don’t worry about it!” I reassured him, “But, be warned, there will be quite a few girls very happy to see you guys.”

“Oh and why is that babe?” He said with a smirk, tilting his head slightly.

My eyes widened at my slip up, “Oh...well...you know...you’re not, um, unfortunate looking.” I said as a blush slowly crept back up my face.

“Right-” He said with a sassy smirk, “So-” He changed the subject again, “tell me something about yourself? Do you have any siblings?”

“Yes I do, I have three older siblings, two older sisters and an older brother. What about yourself?”

“So you’re the youngest? ...Well, I guess dating is out of the question,” He joked, “But yes I have four younger sisters, two who are twins and a half-sister.” He finished with a small smile.

“Ahhh, so you’re the protective older brother?” I assumed.

“Very much so.” Louis said with a proud smile.

“Then you and my brother would probably get on very well.” I giggled.

“So I was right about the whole dating thing?” He asked, his arm now resting on the seat in front of us.

“One hundred percent,” I nodded, causing us as to laugh, “So what about home, where do you live?”

“Well my family lives in a town called Doncaster, which is near Sheffield.” He said looking up as if he was seeing a mental map, “What about you? Have you always lived in Sydney?” He asked.

“Yep, in western Sydney born and raised-” I said with a smirk.

“On a playground is where I spent most of my days-” Louis joined in understanding my reference.

“Chillin’ out, maxin’ and relaxin all cool, and shootin’ some b-ball outside of the school-” I sang.

“When a couple of guys they were up to no good, started making trouble in my neighbourhood.” He sang a little too enthusiastically, making me laugh.

“I got in one little fight and my mom got scared she said-” We rapped together, as we finished the last line, “you’re moving with your aunty and uncle in Bel-air!” We both sang in a high pitched voice which dissolved into laughter.

When we both calmed down I looked around the bus to see we were getting a few strange looks from the other students, “My respect bar for you has gone up so much after that.” Louis said using his hand to show it.

“I’m surprised you know it, my sister and I full on looked up the lyrics to learn the whole song.”

“I used to watch it religiously back in Donny, even converted my sister a while back.” Louis smiled.

I could tell he was already missing home. I don’t know if I could ever leave my family behind for that long of a period.

“You must miss them a lot? Probably not the same bunking with Stewart, ay?” I asked.

“Yea, but I’m sure I will live.” He pretended to fake cry, trying to cover up his softer side from showing.

“So did you have to walk far to catch the bus?” I said changing the subject, noticing that the bus was moving a little bit again.

“Um not too far, I know Stewart lives on Franklin St...I think?” Louis said furrowing his eyebrows, second-guessing his comment.

“What? No way! I live on Franklin St!” I said looking at him incredulously.

“I think the number is 39 or 38...something like that?” Louis said.

My eyes widened, “You’ve got to be joking, that’s like legit three houses down from me!”

“What? Then why didn’t I see you at the bus stop this morning?” Louis questioned.

“Well my mum and I do this thing every couple of weeks where we get up a little earlier and go out for breakfast. She then normally drops me off at the bus stop near the cafe we go to.” I explained.

“Aww that’s so sweet,” Louis said a genuine smile making its way onto his face.

The bus began to move back at a normal pace now, swerving between lanes to get around the crash site.

“I hope you weren’t counting on going to first period.” I laughed at him.

...

LOUIS POV
Ok so, I’m not usually a shy person - not by any means. But when you’re the new exchange kid and you have to walk into class LATE, you are bound to grab attention. I knocked on the old wooden door of my second-period class, entering and keeping my head low. I could instantly feel numerous pairs of eyes burning holes at the back of my head as I walked straight to the teacher's desk, handing him my late slip.

“Alright class!” The teacher began, clapping his hands to get the students attention off me and onto him, “For the rest of the year, we will have a new student in our class, he is on exchange from the Uk and his name is...” He said as he glanced down at the papers, “Louis.” He said gesturing to me, making everyone’s eyes instantly snapback.

I pushed down my nervousness and lifted my head up, giving the class a dazzling smile.

“Ok so, Louis, you’ll be sitting next to-” He announced, getting my attention, “Matt, just over there.” He said pointing to a boy who lifted his head at the sound of his name.

I walked in Matt’s direction, sliding down into the seat next to him. I saw Matt’s eyes widen in realization as the teacher started talking again. I mouthed the word ‘hi’ as I didn’t want to draw any more attention to me. He smiled in return and slowly moved his textbook to the middle of the desk, allowing me to view the case study they were already learning. The lesson continued in silence and it wasn’t until ten minutes before finishing that the teacher gave us some free time to discuss.

“So, you’re Louis from the picture Roxy sent, right” He finally asked me.

“Yea I sat next to her on the bus this morning.” I said chuckling slightly, “Do you talk to any of her friends?” I asked him, curious if he had been ‘graced’ by the presence of Mya and Coraline.

“Yeah, I’m actually quite close with most of her friends.” Matt smiled, fidgeting with a coin from his pocket.

“I gotta ask, do they always have that attitude and wit to everyone or is it just to me and my mates that cop it?” I leaned in, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah! Coraline was telling me about you and your friends actually-” He started off, “but they’re all usually nice and down to earth people so I don’t know...” He trailed off.

“But that’s the thing right-” I confessed to him, “We haven’t done anything wrong towards them, well that we know of.” I ponded.

“Well maybe that’s their defence mechanism?” Matt questioned, “But once you see one of their youtube videos, you’ll know they are actually amazing girls, that I promise.” He said shaking her head.

“Youtube ay? Do you think you could send me a link or show me one of the videos?” I asked as innocently as I could.

Matt glanced over at the clock on the wall, probably checking that there was enough time left, “Yeah, I can show you one of their covers before the bell goes.” Matt agreed with a smile.

He opened up youtube on his phone, typing in the words ‘FUSE’ in the search bar. He clicked on the first video that was called ‘Brokenhearted - by Karmin, cover by FUSE.

...

Notes

Chapter four is up! Sorry this one took a while. I wasn't really digging this chapter as much as the others but I thinks its better than the OG :)

xxx 'carrie' (aka maddie)