Chapter 3

********Steven

Monsters, Monsters, Monsters... It didn't use to be like this all the time. I've known Fran since we were kids in elementary school. She was just a normal kid back then. I remember the first day I met her, she was wearing a bright pink backpack with a keychain of some princess. 

"Hey, you!" 

I jumped a little, I was very shy, still am quite a bit actually.  

"Umm.. Me?" 

I hid my eyes behind my glasses as I looked up at her. She was just as stunning as ever, blonde hair big circle glasses and those green sparkling eyes. She walked up to me and put her face right next to mine so she could see all the details of my face. 

"You have green eyes too! My name is Francine! Nice to meet you!" 

She was so close to my face I felt like I couldn't breathe, were my hands always this sweaty? Is it hot in here? Oh yeah we are outside, its Fall, I am wearing a sweater. 
 

"umm, uh, ok" 

I didn't really know how to talk to other people at the time. 

"Fran- Francine? Why do you want to be my friend?" 

As if she had known me for a long time, she instantly answered, 

"Because, you're kinda cute" 

My cheeks were on fire. I was already sweating, but I started unconsciously taking off my Scarf and I starting taking out my inhaler. What does she mean? Before I could get a proper explanation, we were ushered into the classroom where we were even seated next to each other. I might not know what she meant by cute, but at least I have a new friend.  

One day we had a field trip going up to a mountain peak to learn about nature. We all climbed into the bus, I was at the back, I was kind of hoping Fran would sit next to me, but there was this other girl who came up to me instead, 

"um can I sit here?" 

I didn't want to say no, I sat there for a second thinking, 

"uh!? I mean I don't want to make you uncomfortable!" 

She exclaimed, after I took just a tad too long considering what I should say. 

"no-no please sit here! It's ok." 

With a nervous smile she scooted in next to me. She had reddish brown hair and she also wore glasses. Apparently everyone I know wears glasses or something. Her hair was short, only reaching her shoulders, but her eyes were slightly covered by her bangs. I anxiously looked forward to seeing if Fran got on the bus, when she did we waved at each other and she smiled. She walked closer and realized that she couldn't sit right next to me. She walked right up to the red haired girl and said, 

"hey, that's my spot" 

She pointed at the place that the girl was sitting. The red haired girl froze, her eyes closed and she held her books tight to her chest. 

"it's ok Fran, you can sit in front of me" 

She realized there was still an open seat in front of me and she suddenly brightened from her hard glare. 

"oh yeah that works!" 

She plopped her pink backpack onto the seat next to her's and sat on her knees while facing backwards in the chair. 

"so what's your name?" 

The red haired girl, a little surprised that someone was actually talking to her said, 

"Rebecca Rose... But you can call me Becca" 

I chimed in,  

"well if you want to hang with us today you can Becca." 

She looked at me with some excitement in her face, then she looked at Fran too who also seemed excited. She nodded a lot and giggled a bit letting out a big sigh of relief. She was quite brave that day. 

The bus started climbing the large mountain, some dark clouds had formed above us and soon enough it started to rain. Hard. The driver nearly couldn't see out the front of the bus and there were a lot of switch backs, he was taking it quite slow but there suddenly two white lights coming directly towards us. The bus driver swerved to the opposite lane, but the bus couldn't stop turning. The next moment it was like we were all floating, it felt very strange. It was a moment that felt like it lasted for far longer than it did. The bus lurched hard as it hit the ground, my head hit the window and I was knocked out.