The Front Seat

When I was in 4th grade the cool thing to do was sit in the front seat of the bus. I know that stereotypically the back is the place to be, but on my school bus things were different.

One day I was in the second seat. The kid in the first seat got off the bus, and another boy and I raced for the open spot. He jumped over the seat behind, while I slid from the second seat diagonally. He told me to get out of his seat.

The bus driver saw it all in his fancy mirror and, before driving to the next stop, turned around and yelled at the boy both for jumping over the seat and for telling me to move.

I felt awful. If I had just stayed in my second row seat instead of competing, it wouldn't have happened. I hated the look on the boys face while the driver was yelling at him. I hated that things were weird between us after that. I literally felt sick to my stomach thinking about it. Like I needed to throw up, but couldn't.

That's pretty much how I feel now.

I messed up.