Grade 3 · Story
The Best Seat on the Bus
A rainy morning at a bus stop on a quiet street. A yellow school bus waits with its door open. A boy of about eight, with tan skin and short black hair, in a yellow raincoat, climbs the steps holding a dripping blue umbrella. Children's faces look out of the fogged windows. Puddles shine on the road.
Every morning, Caleb hurried to the back row of Bus 9. The back seat bounced the highest over bumps. It also had the biggest window. Caleb always put his backpack on the seat beside him, so nobody could sit there.
One rainy Monday, a new boy climbed on at the last stop. He walked down the aisle with a dripping umbrella, but every seat was full. Nobody moved over to make room. The boy stopped next to Caleb's backpack and stared down at his wet shoes. "Find a seat, please!" called the driver.
Caleb remembered his own first day at this school. He had eaten lunch all alone. He pulled his backpack onto his lap. "You can sit here," he said. The new boy, Felix, slid in next to him and smiled. When the bus hit the big bump on Hill Road, they both bounced up and laughed. Caleb decided that the best seat was even better with two.
Written for PlayOwl
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