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Talia ran up the staircase taking three steps at a time. When she reached the top, she broke into a run toward the far end of the boarding area. She passed several buses then accidentally bumped into a woman. Talia yelled back, “Sorry!”
The last bus, the one she needed to board, had begun to pull out. Talia just caught up to the back of it, and she ran alongside, banging it with her hand. A teenager seated in the last row glanced down through the window then reached up and pulled the cord. A chime rang inside the bus, and the driver stopped.
The door swung open, and Talia boarded, holding her ticket out. “It’s just a tour bus, ma’am.” The driver said, apparently surprised at Talia’s persistence.
She found an open row midway down the aisle, dropped her pack and sat by the window. She
