Bus XXVIII

Louisa: That donkey's coming in again tomorrow

Jack: What, the same donkey that turned on all the gas taps with its teeth?

Louisa: Yeah, and last week it broke into the PE block and ate all Willy Martin's clothes

Jack: Why the hell do they keep letting this demon donkey onto the grounds?

Louisa: Apparently the sanctuary insisted on a twenty-visit contract. They drive a hard bargain.

Bus XXVII

Louisa: Why're you on the late bus too?

Jack: Fell asleep in Art

Louisa: Oh, bad luck. Detention sucks.

Jack: Nah, nobody noticed so I just slept right through. Only woke up at all cos Mrs Fibonacci was coughing up blood so loudly in the sink.

Bus XXVI

Scott: Can we do something tonight? Just you and me?

Louisa: Are you asking me out?

Scott: No, I just don’t wanna stay in

Louisa: Cos of your mum being in that asylum?

Scott: Actually, I’m enjoying the place more without her. I reckon they should just give kids a house instead of parents. It’d be a much better system.

Louisa: Why not hang out with Jack?

Scott: No! He’s the problem!

Louisa: How come?

Scott: Ever since my mum left, he keeps randomly popping round. Says he doesn’t want me to feel lonely.

Bus XXV

Louisa: Guess who I saw delivering papers down Scott's road the other day

Jack: Jesus?

Louisa: Nope

Jack: Buddha?

Louisa: Nope

Jack: Muhammad?

Louisa: Nope, you’re in the wrong area entirely

Jack: Vishnu?

Louisa: Why would any of these people be delivering papers? The correct answer is Lizzie Rockford.

Jack: Oh. Why are you telling me this?

Louisa: Because something tells me you’ll be holding your nose to set foot in Scott’s flat more often from now on

Bus XXIV

Louisa: Oh wow, you got a laptop?

Jack: Nah, it’s my dad’s. I’m watching a movie on it.

Louisa: What movie?

Jack: I dunno, it’s just something he left in the tray. Started playing when I switched it on.

Louisa: Any good?

Jack: It’s alright. Bit gory.

Louisa: Budge up and let me watch too

Jack moves; Louisa stumbles awkwardly into the now-vacant seat

Louisa: Why’s that guy flying a helicopter upside down?

Jack: There’s some kind of magnet on the roof, pulling him down

Louisa: He’s gonna crash right into that baseball crowd

Jack: Nah, he’s turning on the turbo thrusters

Louisa: What are they?

Jack: I dunno, but the dentist mentioned them earlier

Louisa: The dentist?

Jack: He borrowed the helicopter from his dentist. They’re fighting this evil company who poisoned the President's dentures.

Louisa: So the President’s dead?

Jack: Nah, he hasn’t put them in his mouth yet...but he switches them over on the first day of every month...which is today...and the butler’s just started microwaving his morning curry

Louisa: The President has microwave curry for breakfast? What a stupid film.

Jack: Yeah, it is a bit crap

Both stare at the screen, transfixed

Bus XXIII

Louisa: Huge fight at the chess club last night

Jack: Anyone I know?

Louisa: Just some guys from Brooks Academy

Jack: I should start coming to the chess club again

Scott: One time my grandad spent ten days on a life-raft with another guy, waiting to be rescued, and all they did the whole time was play chess

Jack: He good then?

Scott: Only won one game

Jack: Better than none

Scott: Yeah, but it was only cos the other guy forfeited

Jack: Why’d he do that?

Scott: Grandad threatened to push him overboard

Jack: What a charming anecdote. I’ve never seen anyone beat Lou-Lou.

Scott: How’d you learn those skills?

Louisa: I used to eat this cereal that had chess tips on the back of the box. Loved that cereal.

Bus XXII

Jack: Wanna get an ice cream in town?

Louisa: Nah, I’d better not. Too expensive.

Jack: You sure?

Louisa: Yeah, I just wanna go home and cry

Jack: How come?

Louisa: It’s Ms Pappus. Every week she does these lame impressions of celebrities, and she gives you a detention if you don’t laugh.

Jack: That’s a shame. We’ve got Mr Thales. He’s pretty fun. Did a quiz last week.

Louisa: Oh man, that sounds great

Jack: Yeah, it was alright. My group would’ve won if it wasn’t for Scott.

Louisa: What did he do?

Jack: Shouted out that Karl Marx was one of the Marx Brothers. Before we’d even had time to confer.

Louisa: Who was he then?

Jack: He invented Communism!

Louisa: Oh. I’ve never been too sure what Communism is, to be honest.

Jack: It’s just this thing about how we’re all exploited by our bosses because we do all the work but they make all the money

Louisa: What’s so great about that? Anyone could think up that. Ronnie Phelps could think up that.

Jack: Ronnie Phelps can’t even tie his shoes. Anyway, there’s more. Marx said one day we’re all going to kill our bosses and share the money out equally.

Louisa: Wow, that sounds pretty good. I dunno if I could kill my boss though.

Jack: Well, you’re only part-time. The full-time workers will do the killing. You’ll just have to spit on the corpse or something.

Louisa: When’s this gonna happen then?

Jack: I dunno, but Marx said it’s inevitable, so we just have to sit around and wait

Louisa: I hope it doesn’t take too long

Jack: Well he predicted it, like, two hundred years ago

Louisa: Two hundred years ago? And it hasn’t happened yet? What if it never happens?

Jack: I’m sure it will eventually

Louisa: Yeah, in another two hundred years! God, I feel depressed now. I was all ready for this wonderful future and now it might not even happen.

Jack: Sorry

Louisa: It’s not your fault. Just this stupid world. Let’s get that ice cream after all.

Jack: What about the money?

Louisa: Ah, fuck the money. In fact, let’s get a whole tub. I need cheering up.

Bus XXI

Louisa: Your mum found a job yet?

Scott: Nope

Louisa: How’s she coping?

Scott: Well, she’s drinking a lot...

Louisa: Oh dear

Scott: And the other night she wanted to stick her head in the gas oven

Jack: You still have a gas oven?

Louisa: Oh my God! Did you talk her out of it?

Scott: No, but I was baking a pie...so she had to wait ‘til it was done. And by then that dancing show she likes had come on.

Louisa: Phew

Scott: So yeah, a happy ending

Bus XX

Louisa: So, I’m going to New York this summer

Jack: You already told us

Scott: Didn’t tell me

Louisa: It’ll be my first time on a plane

Scott: Oh no, don’t go by plane. They’re all gonna start crashing soon.

Louisa: What?

Scott: Yeah, I read this thing once about how the statistics say that way more planes should be crashing. Soon they’ll all be dropping out of the sky, to even it out.

Jack: That doesn’t sound right...

Scott: You can’t argue with statistics

Bus XIX

Jack: Unseasonably warm today, methinks

Louisa: 'Methinks'? You're not Hamlet.

Jack: Would that I were