Earphones

• Rebecca Wilson, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

I'm wearing my earphones, but I'm not listening to any music. The only reason I bother to wear them is to stop the people from talking to me. The first time I caught the bus, I didn't wear the earphones, a mistake I will not be making again, causing some other student try to befriend me. By talking about the weather. I tried not to snap, I really did, but people are annoying sometimes - correction, all the time.
You see, weather is simply wind currents, precipitation, ocean currents, air pressure and - admit it - climate change. See what I mean about people? Annoying. Weather is certainly not an appropriate topic for small-talk; for that matter, neither is anything else.
Science is my compass, my guide through life. It's trustworthy and reliable, not like people.
Hence the earphones.
Outside this bus, precipitation seems imminent. This is also annoying, not because I have anything against rain (except as a topic of social interaction), but the build-up of clouds is making it rather difficult to see my work properly.
I look up, surely we should be arriving at my stop by now.
Wait, Goatee-and-Glasses Man is gone. His stop is after mine, and I'm sure I tripped over his foot getting on the bus, so he's not sick.
Oh. I've missed my stop.
I look out the window, I don't recognise this place, and we’re on top of a hill, a lot of grass, a lot of trees. I'm a long way from home.
I press the buzzer, I should get off as soon as possible.
Mere seconds later, I'm off the bus and the storm is about to begin.
Other people would hide under that large tree over there, but I know that doing so would make me a target for the lightning. Therefore I'll just have to sit here, on this bench, on this hill, exposed, and here comes the rain. Brilliant.
Actually, brilliant! The gentle rays of the setting sun are causing the drops of precipitation to turn to gold. Scientifically of course, it can't be true, but it is!
So I'm sitting here, on this bench, on this hill, exposed, drenched, and lost. My compass isn't working for me anymore, but I don't care. This is beautiful, I have to tell someone.
So maybe I won't wear the earphones anymore.