Human For You

Kestrel was never a really big fan of people, but when her parents died in a car crash due to a drunk driver, that settled it. People were absolutely the worst! Today she was happy to go to school, but at the same time, she really wasn't. Today, her class was going to the Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan. But it also meant she would be stuck on a bus full of her other classmates to get there, and they were also getting a new student today as well. She got up out of bed to see her dog sleeping at the foot of her bed. She walked over to her closet and grabbed a black T-shirt and a red, buffalo plaid button up with long sleeves. She grabbed a pair of light gray jeans with a small hole in the left knee. She quickly got dressed. Her cousin called her down for breakfast, so she had a chance to eat before school. The smell of bacon sent her dog running down stairs in hopes of getting a piece of bacon to eat. She laughed as Mango scooted down the stairs barking with excitement. His tail wagged happily, fast enough that it felt like a fan. Before she went out of her room, she grabbed her turtle necklace. She stepped down the dark, wooden stairs to then enter the kitchen. At the table, her cousin sat in a chair reading his college textbook. He gingerly flipped the pages as he read. Kesteral grabbed a small breakfast to eat before she had to catch the school bus. When she sat down, she noticed an envelope on the table with her name written on it. She looked up at her cousin with a curious face. "Open it. It's for you before you go on your trip," he said with a smile on his face. He pushed the envelope towards her, sliding it across the table. She picked it up and carefully opened it, sliding her nail on her index finger across the top of the envelope. Inside of it there was a cell phone and some cash. She pulled it all out and realized there was more cash than she thought, $1,000. Kestrel let out a gasp of surprise. Could it actually be? She thought to herself. "Happy early birthday," he said, which made her realize her birthday would happen while she was gone. She looked at the clock then realized that the bus would be here soon in a little less than a quarter of an hour. Kestrel quickly finished up her breakfast so she wouldn't miss the bus. She packed all of her stuff in her school bag, put on her shoes, hugged her cousin goodbye, then walked out just as the bus pulled into the driveway. The yellow bus opened it's doors, allowing her to enter while the stop sign was stretching into the road. She walked up the bus stairs, while the bus driver said hello to her. To be nice, she made a fake smile when she walked by. The bus was loud and out of control like normal, paper getting thrown all over the place. It was a total mess. There was trash everywhere, on the floors, stuffed in between all of the seats, also getting thrown around, towards other kids. She sat down at the very back of the bus, where no one else ever sat, because that was where the security cameras were. She turned on her new phone to see what it was like. The background was a picture of her dog. It already had a playlist downloaded with most of the songs she liked. Her contacts were already set up too. She plugged in her ear buds and listened to her music. She soon realized her backpack was moving. She pressed the pause button, then slowly unzipped it. Out popped the head of her dog with his ears perked up, he somehow sneaked into her bag while she wasn't looking. Her corgi smiled at her. Mango's tail smacked the sides of her bag as it wagged happily. She pushed him back into the bag so no one would see him. It didn't help that his tail was still wagging. The bus picked up the other kids in her class that she knew more than she would like to. The bus only got louder as more people came on, making it unbearably loud.