The weekend was near. Most kids were eager to be out of school. Come Monday morning, whispers and brags of all the fun things that they experienced would fill the hallway. Penn would listen to it all with a stone face. Making a direct line  to his first class. In there it would be quiet. The rest of the kids would milk out whatever time remained before the first bell.

Monday mornings were Penn's least favorite time of the week. Friday mornings on the bus, like current, were not his favorite as well. There was pain in knowing how close the weekend was. However there was still a bit of hope. 

hope

that this weekend might be different. Maybe he would be invited to something. Probably not. But more likely, although still unlikely, Penn might happen upon something interesting while roaming around town by himself.

The 

bus

was a menagerie of sounds. Girls chanting nursery rhymes together. A nerdy boy named Randy Charles remarking loudly about something gross. Todd Shelby at the back of the bus making a loud joke.

"Jay's mother's blood type is Ragu! Get it?!"

Laughter.

Nobody picked on Penn. He was a ghost instead. Maybe if someone like Todd Shelby picked on him, then at least he'd get attention. At least feel the fear associated with running into Todd and his goons. Have something to look forward to or anxiously run away from. Instead he sat on the bus staring out into the empty wheat fields thinking: how will I pass this weekend?

After the wheat was harvested and the air came to a chill, these thoughts became more painful. Existing alone in the late

autumn

, just before true

winter

was the loneliest feeling Penn knew. The cold, the empty fields, the lack of laughter when sitting at home alone reminded him of death. Not biological but spiritual. Like without the modern amenities of the house and the stove and the heater he would be dead. Left alone to fend for himself out in the barren fields.

After the bus arrived Penn let all the other kids off first. As Todd Shelby passed by he said, "why do you let everyone out first?"

"I'm not in a hurry."

Shelby smirked. First at Penn and then to his goons who were waiting for their leader's reaction.

"This is a cool kid, ain't he? Not in a hurry." He laughed. The goons laughed along with him. They left. And then Penn got up to leave. His palms had sweat.