Bus CXVIII

Louisa: Thinking about getting a job

Jack: Big mistake, Lou-Lou

Louisa: It's a mistake to want to better myself?

Jack: Yes, but that's really a separate issue

Louisa: Work is good for the soul

Jack: Last week you said the same thing about muffins

Louisa: Well, the two things aren't mutually exclusive

Jack: Find yourself a job at a muffin factory, and you're all set

Bus CXVII

Jack: Did you see the school's got a new sponsor?

Louisa: I just finished writing an angry editorial about it for the Gazette

Jack: How can you write an editorial when you're not the editor?

Louisa: The question you ought to ask is how can it be appropriate for a school to get sponsored by a company that makes rifles

Jack: To be fair, they don't actually make rifles. Just rifle bullets.

Louisa: Oh, that's okay then!

Jack: If they didn't make the bullets, people would still own rifles. They'd just be hitting each other over the head with them or something.

Louisa: Well, that still sounds better than everyone shooting each other

Jack: Yeah, I guess it does. Didn't really think that one through.

Louisa: If we've gotta have a sponsor, it should at least be something in keeping with the character of the school

Jack: Like what?

Louisa: I dunno. Cheap cider or something.

Jack: Is that really any better than guns?

Louisa: A little bit, yeah. We already have a drinking problem at this school. We don't yet have a shooting problem.

Jack: Except heroin

Louisa: Well yeah, obviously

Jack: This is kind of a crappy school, isn't it

Bus CXVI

Jack: Fucking Phockford

Louisa: Huh?

Jack: Ronnie Phelps. Lizzie Rockford. Phockford.

Louisa: Clever

Jack: Why doesn't she like me?

Louisa: I really can't imagine. You're angry, bitter, cynical. Everything a teenage girl could want.

Jack: I just feel so empty

Louisa: You can share my sandwich if you want

Jack: Not that kind of empty

Bus CXV

Louisa: Would you rather be able to fly or turn invisible?

Jack: Both

Louisa: You have to choose

Jack: Then neither

Louisa: What, you're too good for just one superpower?

Jack: What's the point of being able to fly if everyone can see me? It'd be ten minutes, tops, before I got declared a danger to national security and shot down by anti-aircraft guns.

Louisa: Okay, then forget about flight and just choose invisibility

Jack: That's no good either. If I can turn invisible but still have to walk everywhere, people will just keep bumping into me all the time.

Louisa: Fine, what power do you want? Totally free choice.

Jack: Selective hearing. I wanna be able to block out all the stupid things that people say to me.

Louisa: That's really lame

Jack: Yeah, but whenever people say it's lame, I'll just block them out

Louisa: Still lame

Jack: Alright, what would your power be then?

Louisa: I dunno. Maybe really good cooking skills. I always burn everything.

Jack: Cool. We could be a superhero tag team.

Louisa: Not much of a tag team. Somewhere there's a deaf chef who's got as much power as the two of us combined.

Bus CXIV

Louisa: Has your sister found a new job yet?

Scott: Nope, she's had to start signing on

Louisa: Oh dear. Well, at least she's getting some money in.

Scott: I guess, but she's pretty down about the whole thing. It doesn't help that they made her jump through all these hoops to qualify.

Louisa: What kind of hoops?

Scott: Actual hoops. It was part of the Unemployed Sports Day.

Louisa: What's that?

Jack: It's a new government initiative to get the unemployed in shape for a future of manual labour. And they sell tickets to help fund the unemployment benefits.

Louisa: What, so a load of rich people can point and laugh?

Jack: It's mostly family members screaming and crying, but yeah. In theory.

Bus CXIII

Louisa: Be Christmas soon

Jack: Argh, don't remind me

Louisa: Not looking forward to it this year?

Jack: I never look forward to it. We've been friends for eleven months, and you don't know I hate Christmas?

Louisa: Was hoping you'd change your mind. How can anyone hate Christmas?

Jack: Well, hating things gets easier the more you do it

Bus CXII

Louisa: Did you hear what happened to Mr Halley?

Jack: Who's Mr Halley?

Louisa: Science teacher with the afro

Jack: Don't think I know him

Louisa: He comes to work on a skateboard

Jack: Not ringing any bells

Louisa: Well, he was covering for Miss Caesar yesterday

Jack: Who?

Louisa: You must know Miss Caesar. She has a peg leg. Anyway, Mr Halley decided to show the class a documentary, but he mixed up the discs and accidentally put on a porn film.

Jack: He showed his class porn?

Louisa: The worst part is he went to the toilet as soon as it started running, so it took him five minutes to come back and realise his mistake. By then Paula McIntosh had called her dad to ask some pertinent questions, and the damage was done.

Jack: Ha. Typical Paula.

Louisa: You don't know Paula either, do you?

Jack: Not as such

Louisa: Her dog played piano in assembly that time

Jack: I must've been sick that day

Bus CXI

Jack: I saw your dad in Plumpton last night

Louisa: Oh yeah?

Jack: He was going into a flat up near the big roundabout with the flowers

Louisa: Yeah, a lot of his friends live up there

Jack: Must be really close friends. He had a key and everything.

Louisa: He's a friendly guy. And obviously he has a degree in floristry, so he probably likes being near the big flowers.

Jack: They're not big flowers. There's just a lot of them.

Louisa: Whatever

Jack: Okay, I'm not buying this for a second. Have you guys moved or something?

Louisa: You came round my house three days ago. No, two days ago.

Jack: It was four days ago

Louisa: If you must know, my parents are taking a little time apart. That's just where he's living at the moment.

Jack: Oh man, I wish my parents would do that

Louisa: You'd be welcome to it. I just wish my parents liked each other.

Jack: Well yeah, me too. But I've learned to be realistic.

Bus CX

Louisa coughs violently

Jack: Hey, are you okay?

Louisa: My head's on fire and I feel like I'm about to vomit

Jack: Some of us just call that Monday

Louisa: And these so-called cough sweets aren't working at all

Jack: Probably cos those are breath minths

Louisa: That's no excuse

Jack: Didn't you wonder why your breath was all minty?

Louisa: I thought it was another symptom

Bus CIX

Louisa: Sorry about Lizzie

Jack: Huh?

Louisa: Oh. Nothing.

Jack: What is it?

Louisa: Well, I thought you must've heard. She's got a new boyfriend.

Jack: Oh, okay. I guess that's her business.

Louisa: Wow, I'm glad you're taking it so well

Jack: How did you expect me to take it?

Louisa: Major tantrum. Like your sister when they run out of strawberry ice cream.

Jack: Lizzie uses strawberry shampoo

Louisa: She really doesn't

Jack: Well, she would if her hair didn't naturally taste of strawberries

Louisa: You've tasted her hair?

Jack: Well, I tasted somebody's hair. So who's the lucky guy then? God, it's not Scott, is it? No wonder he hasn't been around much lately.

Louisa: No, Scott's still as lonely and unfulfilled as the rest of us. It's Ronnie Phelps.

Jack: What the fuck? I wish it was Scott. At least he can tie his own shoes.

Louisa: To be fair, Ronnie wears loafers now