There was a headline in the newspaper on October 7th, 2006:

Killer Bus Driver!

This morning, shortly around 7:30 am, a bus suddenly disappeared when it was supposed to arrive at a field trip destination in Albany.

What ever became of this bus?

Local searchers have found the remains of a school bus, destroyed, but it still had two- dozen teenager’s bodies in the seats.

The driver had mysteriously vanished.

The school officials have declared that the school bus driver’s name is Charles Hampton.

When searching through criminal records, police found that Charles Hampton had been to jail five times over the last ten years, and had a record of six kidnappings.

This man is still at large. If you see Hampton, report to your local police immediately.

Charles Hampton’s photo is on the New York Times’s website.

New York is usually very noisy and loud by 6:00 AM, but not at my street, and especially not at my house.

My house was dark and quiet. The only sound that you could hear if you walked in that silent morning was the soft snore, coming from my dirty bedroom. Clothes littered the ground, candy wrappers were dropped carelessly, but I didn’t care. Clean was for geeks.

On my bedroom door, there was a sign that I had put up a few weeks ago, that read, “Nick’s room: Do not enter.”

But of course, these kinds of signs do not ward off any annoying little sisters, but hey, I tried.

There I was, lying on my bed, the dark green blankets and sheets all wrapped around my body. The alarm clock that was right above my head read: 5:59.

I shifted, just as the continuous and annoying sound of: BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! woke me up.

I grumbled some inaudible words to myself, and rolled out of bed.

Today was not a day I was looking forward to. In fact, it was on the bottom of my list of things I wanted to do. Yeah, of course it is always fun to go on field trips, but today, we were going to the Niagra Falls.

And, I was going for the freaking ninth time! Enough is enough!

I was walking past my parents’ room, when I heard the faint whisper, “Nick? Nick? Are you there?”

I sighed, knowing that my mom wanted to say goodbye.

“Yeah, Mom, I’m here.”

“I, uh, put the field trip permission slip on the table.”

“Ok, Mom.”

“Have fun.”

“Ok, Mom.” I was starting to get frustrated. She always was like this, every single day! She always told me to –

“Be safe.”

“Alright, Mom! I get the point!”

“Ok…see you after school.” She whispered, and then a faint snore told me that she had fallen back asleep. I rolled my eyes.

I quickly took a shower, brushed my teeth, threw on some partially clean clothes, and headed out the door, into the gray, misty New York morning.

It had rained last night, and so it was really chilly. I was still freezing cold, even with a black hoodie!

I lived in the suburbs. My parents have always wanted to live in the Big Apple, but guess what? Yeah, you got it. We got stuck in the suburbs.

The bus came to a stop and I got on. The steps were slippery, and Tracy, the girl in front of me almost slipped. She laughed in embarrassment and continued up.

Tracy was this girl that I have known for about all my life. Everything about her, from her dark brown hair, to her light green eyes just made me fluster. I don’t know if she knew it, but I sorta liked her. Wait, no, not liked, it was kind of more than that. I couldn’t really tell if it was love, or just a huge crush on her.

Anyway, she clambered up the stairs, smiled at the bus driver, and turned to sit in an empty row. I followed her, but two people were between us.

“Hey, Trace!” I called to her. She looked up and smiled.

“Hey, Nick.”

“Can I, uh, sit here?”

She looked down at the seat next to her. She blushed. “I, uh, I’m saving this for someone.

Rejected!

“Oh, ok…” I said, trying to fight back the urge to cry.

“Can I sit next to you, Tracy?” a boy named Michael said to her. I turned around and saw Tracy nod, and Michael smiled evilly at me. I stared at him; my face red with anger, and then turned and went to the back of the bus.

Double Rejected!

My history class was first period, and that was my class that was going to be having the field trip to the Falls. My teacher, Mrs. Mitchell, was explaining the safety precautions that we would have to take around the Falls, and I paid no attention. I put my black history binder on my desk, and texted with my red flip phone. Mrs. Mitchell never noticed. She never does. This is where I can find some peace and quiet and just text my bud, Austin Jackson. Austin was in his history class with Mr. Stevenson. He would also be going on the field trip today, and we are in the same group.

I smiled as I read:

R U GONNA ASK SAM OUT?

Samantha Gerber was this girl that was sitting in a row behind me. She was totally hot, and most every boy in school had been falling for her for years. Right now, as far as I knew, she had no boyfriend.

I texted back:

MAY B SUMDAY WHEN SHE NOTICES ME

I knew that was a complete lie. I knew that if I covered up that I liked Tracy and said I liked Samantha, then he wouldn’t ever figure it out.

I shut my phone and looked up. Everyone had risen from their desks and leaving the class. Apparently, Mrs. Mitchell was done explaining. We headed for the door, and then out into the hallway. I quickly opened my phone and texted:

MEET AT MAIN HALL

When Austin came to meet me, I noticed that he held his phone in his hand, carefully hidden away from teacher’s prying eyes. I smiled. Austin and I had been friends ever since I could remember, and I don’t know how I could have gotten through algebra without him.

When we exited the building, we turned right, still talking about how hot Samantha is, and how dumb it was that I had to go a ninth time to Niagara Falls.

“I mean, every person that lives in New York had been there at least three times,” I said.

Austin nodded and then hurriedly looked behind him.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s Jennifer!”

I laughed and turned around. Yeah, there was that U-G-L-Y chick that Austin has been falling for for years. Jennifer was this girl with huge buckteeth, and huge bug-eyed glasses. She talked like she had something stuck up her nose, and often drooled. I had no idea how Austin could fall for a girl like that. He must be like a complete nerd.

“I just…I just don’t see what you can like in her!” I said. Austin gasped and said, “Oh my gosh! She got on bus 231! C’mon let’s get on that one! Hurry!”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me towards bus 231, but I pulled away.

“No way! Tracy and Samantha got on bus 99! I am going there!” I yelled.

Austin glared at me. “Fine! Have it your way!” Then he stormed off the bus 231.

I laughed and turned to face bus 99. I sighed and then ran to it. The bus driver smiled at me. Surprisingly, it was a guy. I mean, it’s not like guys can’t drive buses, it is just usually girls who do it, you know?

Anyway, I looked back and saw that Tracy was sitting next to Angie, her best friend, in the emergency exit door. I looked down and tried not to meet her eye. When I passed her row, I looked up for Samantha. She was sitting in row 20. And it was just her.

I walked up to her. “Hey! Uh, I can please sit with you?”

She looked at me. There was an awkward silence. She looked at me and then looked down my legs, and then to my shoes. She sighed and said, “Sure.”

I gasped. Only a couple times had I ever been accepted to sit by a girl! Especially a really hot girl!

I quickly slid into the seat.

“So,” I said, “what’s up?”

“Not much, just the same old, same old.”

I nodded. “Yeah, that’s usually how everything is.”

Gosh, I sounded like an idiot.

“Yeah…” she replied.

Then she put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her bright pink cell phone. She flipped it open and started to text.

I felt rejected again.

I sighed and looked up towards the front of the bus. The bus driver was staring vacuously into the driver’s window. His face was blank, but his eyes were clouded. He had really untidy black hair, and it looked like he had just rolled out of bed. But then, I thought, he probably did. I ignored him and looked back at Samantha.

“So, uh, how do you like school?” I asked.

She didn’t answer.

I shut my mouth and tried not to sound like a complete fool.

I pulled out my cell phone, just as the bus began to move. It was about time too!

I opened up the unread text messages and found one from Tracy. I eagerly opened it:

I M SRRY BOUT THIS MORNING ON BUS. I DIDN’T MEEN TO AFFEND U OR ANYTING. WILL U PLZ NT B MAD AT ME?

I smiled and looked at Tracy. She was talking to Angie. I yelled to her, “Hey, Trace! I forgive you!” I laughed.

She turned around and smiled. “Thanks,” she mouthed.

I smiled and looked back at Samantha. She was still texting.

“Who are you texting?” I asked.

“My boyfriend.”

Those two words hit me like a ton of bricks. She had a boyfriend? Since when?

“Oh…” I replied.

There was another awkward silence, and I sighed. I pulled out my red cell phone and texted to Austin:

WAT R U DOING?

A couple of seconds later, I got the reply:

TALKING TO JEN.

I shook my head. Gross!

The bus turned on the highway. We were now traveling further and further away from school and nearer to the Falls.

I had put my phone in my pocket. Austin had stopped texting me, and Tracy never talked to me again. Now I am sitting next to the silent Samantha, whose fingers were still flying away on her phone.

How could someone text that fast?

I leaned back to see if I could read what she was writing, but then I heard a loud BANG! that echoed throughout the whole bus. It seemed like an explosion had erupted inside. Many people screamed out in surprise.

Samantha and my head’s both jerked up to the front of the bus. And then it hit me.

The bus driver was pointing a small, handheld gun at Mrs. Mitchell, who was sitting in the front seat. I heard Samantha drop her phone.

The bus driver shot again at Mrs. Mitchell, and this time, more people screamed. Mrs. Mitchell slowly fell to the floor of the bus. I heard a girl in the front of the bus scream and start to bawl. The bus driver quickly pulled over to the side of the highway and stopped.

He put his right arm that was holding the gun at a right angle. Everyone in the bus stared at him; all was silent. I felt deadly chills climb up my back, and into my neck. I knew what was happening. We were going to be kidnapped and then killed. And then once we were all dead, the police would never find out bodies and then—

Terrifying images flashed through my mind.

The bus driver took off his seatbelt and pointed the gun at the passengers. Many screamed, but I kept quiet, too stunned to speak.

Samantha froze. She didn’t know what to do.

“Now everyone,” the bus driver said very, very loudly, “will put their cell phones, Ipods, and all other electronic devices in this here bucket!”

The bus driver held up a big bucket in his hands.

“If you choose not to cooperate, I will be forced to shoot and kill you.”

I gasped. My cell phone was in my pocket. Would he notice it? If he didn’t then I could call 911. But if he did—

“Put it in the bucket!” he roared at a girl in the front seat. She screamed and fumbled with her hands. “Give it to me!”

Samantha suddenly looked down, and grabbed her cell phone that she had dropped. She put it in her pocket.

The bus driver ripped it from girl’s hands that was sitting up front, and pointed the gun at her head. She screamed as loud as she could.

Suddenly, there was another explosion that came from the gun, and the girl that fumbled with the phone dropped to the floor of the bus, dead.

“I AM NOT JOKING AROUND HERE! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!” the man roared at the top of his lungs.

This is not the entire story, it is just the beginning. Please critque my story until you can't any more, and I will post the rest!!!