The dark blue bus with the Trinity School logo on the side drove off from the bus stop with Desaray and Becky on it. The two girls sat in the rear seats where they normally sat. They were usually the first people on the bus, so they got first dibs on seating. Some may wonder why they sat in the back and not the front or the middle seats. This was because Becky needed to copy homework almost every day.

Now this did not mean Becky was a dumb girl by any means. She was always in the top five of her grade during tests. She was just not someone who did her homework due to her gaming habit. When she copied Desaray's homework, it would always be much different than the original, and she sometimes would even find mistakes as well and point them out to Desaray, which Desaray was always grateful for.

The bus slowed to a stop, and more kids got onto the bus. Becky poked Desaray and whispered into her ear. "Jake is here. He is already coming this way."

Jake Williams was one of the popular boys in school and seemed to have a habit of trying to get close to Desaray. She did not like him as anything more than a friend since he was too stuck up for her liking, so she stealthily put her bag next to her in the open spot so he could not sit right next to her. Jake smiled at Desaray's move and sat in the seat just in front of her, looked back at her with that same beaming smile, and gave his usual greeting. "Good morning, Desaray. Did you think about the thing I asked you the other day?"

Desaray rolled her eyes as she looked at the young boy, who was just fourteen himself. His black hair was neatly trimmed, and his slightly tanned skin seemed to glow. One smile from him could make a lot of girls fall in love. Sadly she had to admit he was indeed handsome, but…. "I thought I already said no, right there on the spot without needing to think about it. Jake, I will say this now, go find another girl. I am not going to go out with you any time soon. If I recall correctly, you have asked me out every year since middle school. One time I even punched you in the face. Another time I threw you over my shoulder when you tried to pull me back. There was also the time I kicked you between the legs. Shall I reenact all three of those moments for you now?"

Jake squeezed his legs together, just thinking of what happened back then. The first time they met was in middle school. It was the first day Desaray had transfered in. Her silver blonde hair and her ice blue eyes had put him in a daze when he first saw her. He was even teased by his friends because he couldn't stop staring at her.

Because he was younger, he was also much more impulsive and did not understand the meaning of space, especially when it came to being between a male and a female. It happened on their first meeting….

Desaray had just walked into the door of her classroom on her first day of school. Her silver blonde hair at the time was slightly shorter. She was very nervous as she came to stand in front of the class to introduce herself. "My name is Desaray Harris."

"Miss Harris, please take a seat next to Becky and Jake." The teacher, who was pregnant at the time, motioned for Desaray to sit down. The classroom had a low student-to-teach ratio, and the seating was in a half-moon shape. This meant unless you sat at the ends, you had a person on either side of you. While the desks were still separated, it was still close enough that one could reach over and touch the other with no problem.

While this was Jake and Desaray's first meeting, it was not Becky and Desaray's first meeting. They had been friends since they were young since they had lived in the same building. It was because of Becky's parents that Desaray was able to enter the school due to a recommendation and even got a bit of a break on the tuition. This was because Becky's parents knew the school's dean.

As for Jake, the first incident between him and Desaray happened as soon as she sat down. She had just put her blue backpack on the back of her chair and sat in her seat when a hand suddenly grabbed hers. Ricky had Desaray take self-defense classes since she was young, which she still attended to this day, so when she was suddenly grabbed, she turned and….

"Ow!" Jake held his nose as blood squirted out. He had been hit right on the tip of his nose.

"Don't touch me!" Desaray yelled out. Becky, who was sitting next to her, panicked and quickly pulled Desaray back before she threw another punch. The teacher, who had just sat down and was about to start class, looked at the scene with eyes filled with disbelief.

"What is going on!?" The teacher cried out as she stood up again.

"Teacher, Jake tried to grab Desaray, and she hit him in self-defense!" Becky quickly explained. No matter what, she would protect her best friend!

"Jake! Did you try to touch a girl!?" The teacher being female, immediately turned against the poor young man who had just been punched in the face.

His eyes were watering up as he tried to stop the bleeding. But he still answered in a pained voice: "I just wanted to hold her hand…."

"You can't touch people without permission! Come on, I will take you to the nurse." The teacher sighed as she looked at the class. "Take out your math books and study page twelve. I will test you when I get back!"

Thus, their first meeting was met with Jake going to the nurse's office and then to the hospital to have his nose put back in place. Desaray had given it a good clean break. The second and third time was not much different. He was thrown over Desaray's shoulder a month later when he tried to get her attention by grabbing her hand and pulling her back. The third time he had tried to come on a little too strong after watching a show that had a man pin a girl against the wall, which ended up getting him sent to the nurse's office once more. Since the last time, though, he did not try to do anything to make Desaray mad, but he still tried to get on her good side and confessed to her at least once or twice a year.

Desaray found each incident good practice for her self-defense abilities. She was able to apply them to real-world situations, which worked out well for her. How good she would be in a real fight was another question altogether.

- - -

"Why are you not answering?" Desaray asked with a raised eyebrow. She had to admit she did find Jake amusing.

"Desa, I think that is enough. He might cry again." Becky chimed in, which got an instant reaction from Jake.

"I will not cry!" Jake yelled out, his face growing red. But it was a fact that each time Desaray beat him up, he did cry.

"Alright, I will leave you alone. But I will say this one more time. The answer is no." Desaray stated firmly. She really did not want anything to do with Jake beyond friendship. She knew Jake was handsome and had been chasing her since middle school, but she could not see herself with anyone her age at this time. She just wanted to live her current life without love as it would just make things messy. She wanted to graduate and get into a good college in four years' time. Then and only then would she even think of love.

"Hey, why is the bus not moving?" Becky suddenly cut in. This made Desaray look up toward the diver's seat. She had not noticed until now, but the bus had not moved since picking Jake and the others up.

"Sorry, kids, there seems to be some kind of traffic jam. I am not sure what is going on." The bus driver explained. He had been trying to get back into traffic, but no one was moving.

Desaray's thought went back to the blue object she had spotted in the back alley. But she quickly shook her head to clear her mind. She grabbed her bag and stood up. "Let's go. With how traffic is, we will probably make it there faster if we walk."

"I hate to say it, but you are right. I will call the school to have the kids walk. Sorry about this." The bus driver, who was a sixty-year-old old man, let out a sigh. He felt bad for making the kids walk to school, but at this rate, they will end up being late no matter what. Luckily the area was a high-end area where crime was less likely to happen.

"Wait! I haven't finished copying the homework!" Becky cried out, but seeing Desaray starting to get her things together, she had no choice but to follow along.

"When we get close to the school, we can stop so you can finish up. Either way, we will end up being late as things are now, so a few more minutes won't hurt." Desaray did not wish to leave Becky in a tight spot, so she did not mind being a little later than they were already going to be.

"That's my bestie, Desa!" Becky happily gathered her things and hugged Desaray's arm as the two girls alighted from the bus.

The sounds of horns honking could be heard echoing through the streets. Even some people were sticking their heads out of their car windows and yelling at the person in front of them to move as if they could do anything.

"I wonder what happened…." Becky pursed her lips. She hung on to Desaray's arm, which was normal for her when they were walking around the school. Desaray was also used to this as well since Becky had always had this habit of clinging to her since they were young.

"I am not sure," Desaray answered as she looked down the road. She also wished to know what was going on.

"Girls look." Jake held his phone up, which caused Desaray and Becky to stop, along with a few of the other kids who had gotten on the bus. They all gathered around to watch a live video of what was happening down the street.