Author's Note:
Here is the original Crimson Milk story. The reason it went away originally is uninteresting and convoluted. The reason it took so long to bring it back is two things. First, the file itself where I kept the text of the story became a mess and I was reluctant to sort it out. Second, and more importantly, I was never happy with what I wrote and wanted to go back and sort it into something better. I think I'm doing that now with the Reborn series, so I'm more comfortable getting this back out. Lots of people have asked for it over the years and I've always appreciated that feedback. Enjoy!
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A paper ball whizzed past Amanda's head, causing a mild squeal from the pack of girls beside her. Mr. Nelson glared back at the students from his rear view mirror while the young men in the back of the bus giggled and pointed fingers at one another. Amanda pushed her ear buds in a bit more firmly and tried to ignore the rampant flirting going on around her.
She focused her attention on the woods outside of the window. The road back to Cloverdale was pitch black, with only the shadow branches of the forest waving back at her. Amanda had joined the local junior college's debate team in hopes of expanding her social circle. For a while she had actually believed that life would be different after high school, that cliques would dissolve in favor of true, honest friendships, and that boy's heads wouldn't be turned so easily by big breasts or a round ass.
She had tried. Thoughtful conversations, expressing interest, doing all the things she'd read about really reaching past a boy's libido to find the romantic young man underneath. It had not worked. Most of the boys she met were the same enough blood for one brain slobs that she had known in high school. In the back of the bus, Ethan, a muscular senior with neatly groomed blonde hair and smooth face, led the pack in whispering lewd jokes to one another while passing back and forth a shared bottle of water. Amanda didn't know if Mr. Nelson ignored the smell on his team's breath or simply didn't care. Luckily, the popular girls stayed away from the drinking so she wasn't pressured into it either.
Their sobriety didn't stop them from absorbing all the attention though. Erica, a twenty year old blonde girl kept pushing up her cleavage any time one of the boys talked to some other girl. But she made sure to get very close to Ethan at every opportunity. The team gossiped most of the year that they were sleeping together, despite rules against that kind of thing. Amanda didn't particularly understand the rule, but still jealously wanted it to be enforced.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the dingy window. Her dry brown hair framed a very plain face. Her eye shadow, which had given her so much confidence that morning, had been dulled and smeared by sweat brought on from hot stage lights. She took such pride in her makeup because Erica looked more or less like a clown. In some small way for Amanda, it made up for her flat chest and butt.
As the bus flashed past the Welcome to Cloverdale sign, the bus shook violently for a moment, but Amanda barely noticed. It wasn't until she heard loud, airy pops and the bus began to swerve that she was roused from her envious thoughts. The other students began shouting and Mr. Nelson bellowed as he desperately tried to maintain control of the vehicle. With a final lurch, the bus crashed into the ditch and everyone bounced back into their seats.
"Is everyone ok?" Mr. Nelson asked, rubbing his own forehead. He quickly walked back through the bus, checking on his students. He grabbed Amanda by the shoulder and pulled her upright. She saw him mouth something to her, but couldn't hear him over the scrambled static from her ear buds. Nevertheless, she nodded and he moved on. She pulled the ear buds out of her head and looked down at her phone. It had cracked somehow, right down the middle. More confused than distraught, she turned to look out the window again. She had seen something, she remembered. Red eyes, right before they crashed.
"My phone!" Erica screamed, holding up the device. It had cracked as well. "How the hell are we supposed to call for help?" The road outside was deserted and a sense of panic rose quickly as others discovered similar damage to their phones. "What the fuck is going on?"
"Erica," Mr. Nelson said swooping past her. "Don't start a panic, I'm sure they just got damaged in the crash, maybe if you all didn't have them in your hands all the time." His eyes lingered on her upthrust chest for a bit too long as he passed her, causing another small flame of resentment to well up in Amanda. "Now, listen everyone, I'm going to go out and see what we hit. Stay on the bus, someone will be along in a minute and I'll flag them down for help. Just be glad no one got hurt."