1 The day of the disaster Tyler Manning couldn’t believe he had screwed up so badly He leaned over and rested his forehead against the seatback He clutched his cell phone in his hand trying to focus on the maze game he’d downloaded the week before Usually he could finish a level within a few minutes but today he just wasn’t thinking clearly The school bus lurched jolting Tyler backward and forward so his head smacked on the seat in front of him He dropped his phone It skidded up the floor crashing into the pair of feet in front of him 1
Hey Sha’relle snapped pulling off her headphones Sha’relle’s music was playing so loud that even in the seat behind her Tyler could hear it was Beyoncé Yeah watch it her seatmate Daniela said glaring back at Tyler Sorry Tyler rubbed his forehead where he had smacked it on the seat He felt around on the floor until he found his phone His phone had lost service once the bus had gotten far enough into the middle of nowhere Tyler wished he had some music saved on his phone since he could no longer connect to his streaming app but normally he wouldn’t have needed it because he and Ethan would have been talking the whole way home That’s what they did for the past speech-team events they’d gone to this year Instead Ethan sat two rows back with L J who was in the spot Tyler had occupied on the way to the state tournament right across the aisle from where Julia Evans sat Since they left the tournament Ethan had acted as if he didn’t even know Tyler 2
The panels of the bus’s front door were rattling The way they rattled one side had to be loose Tyler wondered if the school district saved the rundown buses for these Saturday speech tournaments The bus rumbled down Interstate 10 through the Arizona desert The trip back to Phoenix was a torturous hour and forty five minutes Normally that didn’t seem far but today it felt like the longest ride ever and they were only halfway there Through his window Tyler saw endless acacia trees buckthorn desert willow trees and deer grass On the way to Tucson Tyler’s teammates had been all fired up goofing around and practicing speeches for their events But no one had that energy anymore after losing at State With a sudden popping sound the bus sputtered and lurched and slowed down The driver struggled to pull over to the side of the road Why are we stopping Sha’relle asked kneeling up on her seat 3
Probably ran out of gas José said Other students leaned up in their seats to get a better look The noise inside the bus grew as they began chattering about what they thought the problem might be Tyler spotted smoke escaping from under the front of the bus The bus driver reached down from his seat pulled a latch and popped the hood He whispered something to their speech-team coach Mr Dwyer who then stood in the aisle and faced the team The loose door shuddered as the driver opened it Everyone calm down The driver needs to check something under the hood We should be back on the road shortly Mr Dwyer adjusted his baseball cap and scratched his beard Tyler frowned Their coach usually wasn’t a fidgety guy He hadn’t even seemed this anxious at their tournament earlier that day Something seemed seriously wrong We can’t get stuck here I have plans tonight Sha’relle said 4
