Melody sighed as she glared at her phone for the last time before packing up. It was 4:30pm and her tutee was nowhere to be seen. She felt like she had spent two hours doing nothing but homework. It was great, it meant that she didn't have to worry about it while at home, but she hated being stood up. If they had been late, yeah she would have been upset, but it would have been better than what she felt now. She quickly grabbed her things and rushed to the bus stop noticing how empty the halls of the school were. It felt inappropriate to be out there so late by herself, with the teachers cleaning up classrooms and making their way to their cars.

It was still cold outside, and the cool air was enough to calm the rage that Melody had within her. Hopefully she could get it together during the bus ride home. And thankfully nothing else made that day even worse for her.

She wouldn't really worry about being disappointed the day after though, as she didn't have the tutoring session that day. She could just focus on her school work and what she would have for dinner. Hanna loved freezer pizzas, to the point that they were guaranteed to have them at least three times a week. But Melody was hoping to have some mac and cheese, just something else other than freezer burnt cheese-lovers pizza.

Dinner was still on her mind as the last bell rang and she made her way to the bus stop. Unlike during her tutoring sessions, the bus stop was packed with students waiting for the bus. Melody knew that it was going to be noisy as everyone tried to pack in like sardines. That's why Melody knew that there were more than one bus and another bus stop that wasn't as crowded as the one closest to the school. So as students crowd together, watching the first bus come to the bus stop and open their doors, Melody continued walking until she made it to the next stop. Hopefully early enough to snag a seat, and late enough for most people not to be on the second bus.

As Melody settled in, she could feel her mind drift again. It would take at least ten minutes for the next bus to come, and she was still thinking of dinner ideas. Maybe there were still some chicken nuggets? A part of Melody wishes they kept actual food around instead of a bunch of processed junk.

"It's kind of cold today isn't it?" she had heard someone say, but she didn't really pay much attention to it. Most people didn't talk to her so she just assumed she was just listening in to someone's conversation. She turned around to see just another boy standing there, and he was staring at her.

"Oh," she said, trying to find something to say to make this situation less awkward. "Yeah it is." she nodded along, turning back to the road, watching cars go by.

"I can't wait for spring," he said, sighing. Melody tried not to look at him. She really wondered why he was talking to her. So she just nodded along. There wasn't really much to add to the conversation anyway.

"What's your favorite season?" he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He just wore a hoodie, no gloves or proper boots. Melody wondered how he isn't cold out here.

"Hmm?" Melody was surprised someone wanted to continue having small talk with her. Occasionally she gets bothered by older men trying to start a conversation, but Melody knew that their intentions were anything but pure. They had always approached her while she was wearing her school uniform, always at this bus stop, where it was close enough to the high school, but not quite enough to stand out as suspicious. Melody knew that girls like her would just go missing, or dead in the gutter somewhere, so she kept her distance from them, much to their display. But Melody didn't know exactly what this boy wanted, who was making him talk to her? What kind of trick was this?

"I mean, my favorite season is summer. School's out, ice cream sundaes on the beach, stuff like that. What about you?" He said looking onto the passing cars. He was waiting for the bus too. Was he just really talkative?

"I like spring." Melody said, entertaining his question.

"Yeah, why spring?" He said, pulling out lint from his pockets and flicking it into the snow.

Melody sighed, "Because, all the trees start changing, and the birds start singing again. Everything just feels alive again." She looked down at the snow covered ground, feeling the chilly wind scrape across her face. How long will it be until the bus comes now?

"Yeah, that's really deep," He said, kicking snow off of his boot. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "My name's Emilio, in case you wanted to know."

"Hey Emilio. I'm Melody."

"I've been seeing you around school lately, so it's nice to finally talk to you." He said taking a step forward. Melody looks up to see another bus coming, hopefully her bus. A part of her felt something off about the conversation. Like she had been watched by him for a while. She never really noticed anyone outside of people she knew in her classes. Did she unknowingly do something to make her stand out? What about her was approachable? But Emilio wouldn't let her stay within her thoughts for long.

"That's our bus," He said, now standing beside her and sighing. "Your bus is 42 right?"

"Yeah," she said, watching the bus stop in front of them, hearing the screeching of the doors open. He let her enter first, as she swiped her student bus card and settled for a seat in the front. No one else was inside other than the driver, something that Melody silently cheered in relief in her head. As she adjusted her backpack between her and the side of the bus, she glanced up at Emilio standing by her.

"You don't mind if I sit next to you?" As the bus doors screeched closed and the jolt of the bus moving slightly shifted him as he held onto the grab bar. Melody felt off, as though he wanted to tower over her.

"No, please sit." She said, shaking her head then looking out of the window. She thought that he would say something else to her, but when she quickly snatched a look at him she found him deep in his phone, scrolling away. A part of her was relieved that he wasn't bothering her anymore, but another part of her didn't mind starting another conversation. It had been a long time since she had spoken to anyone her age about something other than school work.

Melody went back into staring at the activity outside of the bus, cars and trucks zoomed by as the bus periodically stopped. She watched on as people walked on the sidewalk across the street. It would take at least 30 minutes for Melody to arrive at her bus stop. It would take 15 stops for her to finally make it home. About 15 minutes into the trip, she heard the ding of the bell, signalling that someone's stop was next, it happened so often that for the most part Melody tuned it out. It was the tap on her shoulder that got her attention. It was Emilio.

"It was nice meeting you, Melody," he said, pulling himself up from his seat with the grip bar. Melody did nothing but nod in confirmation. Then as the bus jerked itself to a stop and the doors screeched open, Melody looked on at Emilio as he made his way towards the exit. "See you around sometime." He left before Melody could even think of a reply. She felt bad that she didn't say anything to him before he left. And although she still wasn't sure about him or his motives, a part of her thought that he was nice. And while she didn't always look for people she knew while she was waiting for the bus, next time, she hoped, at least she could look forward to seeing him again.

Although she had skipped a day, Melody finally went back to that bus stop. Given the shitty situation that happened yesterday with her tutee, she felt glad that she didn't have to be stuck in the library doing nothing but homework the entire time. She stood by the empty bus stop like she usually did, digging in her bag to make sure she got her chemistry homework that she stuffed in her locker after third period. She didn't expect someone to be behind her.

"Hey," she heard. It felt as though they were right behind her, so she jumped. As she turned around she found it was just Emilio.

"Uh, hey." She said, quickly zipping up her bookbag and tossing it behind her.

"I didn't mean to scare you." he said, kicking the snow off his shoes.

"You're okay," she turned to watch the road.

"I didn't see you out here yesterday." he said, inching forward. It was more of a statement than a question, but Melody knew that he wanted answers.

"Yeah I had something to do after school."

"You work? Sports?"

"I tutor." Melody shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know how long that gig was going to last. Hopefully long enough for her to change her grade. Time could only tell.

"Nice. You'd look like you'd be good at tutoring." He said, cracking a slight smile. Melody couldn't help but to smile as well. Was that supposed to be a complement? She nodded along nervously, glaring back to the road, looking for the bus.

"Hey listen," he said, approaching Melody, reaching into his pants pocket to pull out his phone. "I need your opinion on this."

"Okay…" Melody was somewhat unsettled, feeling her feet drag away from him.

"I need to know what looks better for my home screen?" He showed Melody an image of some anime character, looking back at a distant terrain. "Scroll through, which one do you like best?"

He hands Melody his phone, something that confused her. They had just met the other day, it seemed a bit soon to be giving what seemed like a complete stranger, your phone. Maybe he didn't see her as untrustworthy or maybe unathletic enough that he had no problem running after her in case she decided to keep it. She had no need for another phone, so there was no need to do anything deceitful, but it was something Melody thought about as she scrolled through images. How close did he think the two of them were?

There were a few images that she could recall watching their perspective anime. There was Back in Time and Back Again for Dinner, Just Because I Love You, and Samurai Pudding Got Isekaied to name a few. Some were just some generic anime girl pin ups that she just scrolled through without a second look, until eventually settling upon an image and handed Emilio's phone back to him.

"Ah, Thunder World," he said, smiling at the image on his phone. It was just the protagonist and his family enjoying a meal. Melody still remembered that it was the last happy moment in the anime before things went to shit. Although she really enjoyed mysterious thrillers, that one was a particularly sad one.

"Yeah, it's a good anime." Melody said, adjusting her book bag and stepping closer towards the street as she watched a bus approach. 

"It was! I can't wait for the second season. You recognize any of the other anime during your scrolls?" He said, putting his phone away and walked beside her.

"I recognized some of them," she said, watching as the bus opened its doors.

"That's nice. It's hard finding anyone that watches anime. Have you ever watched Uniquely Human?" He asked, watching Melody board the bus and find a seat in the front. He sat beside her.

"No. Should I?" she said, placing her book bag in its usual place. All of her shows were coming to an end so she didn't mind getting into another one if she really liked it. Searching for good quality was a hit or a miss so she didn't mind taking a chance to see if Emilio's picks were good.

"Totally. The first season is already done, the second season should be coming out in a couple of months. It's really a good show. You should check it out." he said, nudging Melody's shoulder. At first it weirded her out, but she decided there was nothing weird about it. He was just being friendly.

"What was it about?"

"Well, it's about this guy…" He started giving her a quick synopsis of the show, making sure not to give out enough information to spoil it for her. And Melody seemed genuinely intrigued about the premise of the show. Maybe it wasn't so bad to continue talking to Emilio, they seemed to have something in common. 

But whether she wanted to or not they continued talking about shows they watched, what they liked and disliked about each of them, as he slowly chipped away at her shell. Soon it was enough to exchange numbers, and then eventually, to get her to his house. And now, somehow, managed to push her into attending a party that she should have never gone to.