Tres

The first thing I did when Kit got on the bus was wave. Then, I noticed that his hair wasn't the shaggy mess I was used to seeing. Instead, his blonde hair was in a buzz cut.

"What happened to you, Kit?" I ask as he sits next to me at the back of the bus.

"My mom finally lost it. She couldn't stand my shaggy hair so she brought me to the barber over the weekend and told him to give me somethin' called a crew cut." He slumps in his seat as he said, "Thank you for not laughing TOO hard by the way, Katrina-Claudia."

I frown because he only says my two first names when he's mad at me. "Okay, I'm sorry for laughing...Kitrick Ian."

He snorted as he said, "You can't do that to me. Unlike you, I don't have two first names. My parents gave me one first name and one middle name like normal people do."

"Well then, normal people are superstitious aren't they?"

"No, they're not."

"Yes, they are. Middle names were created because middle names were originally names of saints. Parents did this so the saints would protect children with their namesake." Kit only reads extensively on subjects he likes to debate on. Like human rights issues, matters of national security, and sports.

Kit took his brand new Android out of his pocket and pulled up the internet where he typed: history of middle names.

After skimming a times article about the subject he mumbled, "Well, I'll be damned. But if middle names were originally the names of saints it's not a superstition. It's a religious construct."

"Religious construct steeped in superstition, you mean!" yelled a kid at the front of the bus.

"Hello Mack! Nice to see you too! Are you going to be on the debate team this year!?" I roll my eyes at Kit. Kit and Mack are debate rivals. They always end up tied during most debates which is a thorn in both their sides.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world!" he responds back.

"Shut up!" shrieks Maybelline Struther with her trademark frizzy Brown hair. It's made her hard to miss. Which is why she's been carving her own path as the schools diva. "You idiots can have at it on the debate floor 'kay!"

"Yes ma'am," replies Kit with an actual salute.

Maybelline wrinkles her nose at being called ma'am as she whips her head to face the front of the bus. I nudge Kit's arm as I whisper, "You should be nicer to Mack."

"Why?!"

"Sssshhh! Mack gets his ass whooped more than you do, Kit. I've helped with those various cuts and bruises myself."

Kit shakes his head as he whispers back, "You think getting his ass whooped so many times would stop Mack from getting low-point wins."

"Not sure what that means but all I know is you're both on the same team. Act like it. Or I'm going to start calling you Kitrick." Kit narrows his eyes at me and slides my backpack away from me.

"You. Wouldn't. Dare." With each word, he took something out of my backpack. I gasped as one of those things he took was my wallet. I leaned towards him to grab my wallet and he used his long arm to stretch it out of my grasp.

"Give it back Kit!"

"You wouldn't dare. Right Kat?"

"Oh, I dare. Hey!" I yell, louder than I've ever yelled on a school bus. "Everybody! Kit is short for Kit-ri--"

"No!" shouts Kit as he drops my wallet to cover my mouth with his hand. Leaving the wallet on the floor in the bus aisle. We look at each other and then glance at the wallet on the floor. Just as it's been snatched up by stoner Sal.

She grins at Kit and I as she says, "Thanks for the free meal guys."

Her long dark green hair, which she proudly says to everyone willing to listen she dyed all by herself, is combed and in a nice and neat ponytail for the first time since she started getting high in sixth grade. Kit took his hand away from my mouth as he said, "Don't worry, I've got this."

"You better," I reply as I snatch from him my backpack and the other two things he took: my fuzzy pen (something Kit's coveted since I bought it at the end of freshman year) and my blacklight flashlight (a gift from my cousin Hernando...not sure how he got it since his mom doesn't give him any money). Still, Hernando said I could have it so it was the closest thing to a gift I got from him.

Kit smoothed on the charm as he directed his attention to Sal. "Hey Sal."

"Hey," she replies as she places my wallet in her dirty denim coat pockets.

"Nice hair by the way, I can see your green eyes so much better with your hair swept back. Is that why you dyed your hair green?"

Sal shrugs as she said, "No. I just wanted green hair. I don't need a reason, Adair."

"Oh yes, I completely understand, Sal. Now, let's get down to business. Kat and I weren't playing the game of dibs just now. Kat was trying to be very mean and do something...mean. So I confiscated her stuff until she promised not to say it. So Sal, you just stole."

Sal leaned close to Kit as she replied, "Yeah? Gee, Adair. I had no idea what I just fucking did. Also, I didn't hear Kat promise you not to do anything."

"Thank you, Sal. She's right, Kit. I didn't promise. Or should I say, Kitrick?"

Before Kit flips out on me Sal said, "Kitrick? Huh, that name actually suits you, Adair."

"It does?" he asks Sal astoundingly.

"Sounds very southern. Like my name...it's so old fashioned too, I hate it. That's why I just go by Sal."

"Isn't your whole name Sally?" he asks her. I'm tempted to prompt him to get to the point, but I sit on my hands and wait. Hoping small talk is part of Kit's plan.

"It is, but I hate it. Rhymes with silly and I'm anything but that." She crosses her arms in front of her chest and leans back in her bus seat. "I'll tell you what. I can give your squeeze her wallet back as long as I can have a favor from you Kit."

"What sort of favor?"

I don't care about the favor like Kit does. I was too focused on me being referred to as his squeeze...sounds so demeaning.

"Any favor at a predetermined time in the future. Say, February 1st?" Sal raised her eyebrow as she waits for Kit's answer.

Kit opens his leather satchel and pulls out a notebook. "Well Sal, as you probably know, my dad is an attorney. One thing he's taught me since I was a kid is to have favors, bets, or promises," he glances at me, "in writing. So here. You write the when and where of the favor and I'll sign off on it. Oh, and leave it a mystery. I do love mysteries."

As Sal scribbles the favor in Kit's notebook he says to me, "Don't worry, Kat. You'll be reunited with your wallet soon."

Sal gives Kit his notebook back as he reads it over. "I'd like to add a condition to the favor if I may. Where I go, Kat goes."

"What?!" I respond.

"Do you want your wallet back or not," he says through gritted teeth.

"She's not getting her wallet back till you sign off on the favor." Kit gives me a simpering smile as he looks at me directly in the eyes. I can't tell if looking people directly in the eyes is some bad habit of his or if he does it on purpose.

I put my hands up in the air in resignation as I say, "Fine, I'm on board."

I look at what Kit writes: Addendum; Kat goes where Kit goes. Then, he signs off on it and takes a picture of the contract with his phone, before ripping the page out of the notebook.

"Sal, I took a photocopy of the contract for my personal records and you get to keep the original." Sal took the paper copy and placed it in a ratty folder she pulled out of her bag. "Satisfied?"

Sal took my wallet out of her denim jacket pocket and threw it at me. I'm happy I'm good at catching things or it would have hit my face.

"Deal." After she said that the bus arrived to our high school. She was the first kid to stand as she said to us over her shoulder, "I'll see you bitches around."

Glaring at him I say, "What the hell have you gotten us into Kit."

"I have no idea Kat. I'm just glad you're coming with me so I don't have to face it alone."