Free The Agent's Daughter by Ron Corriveau Page A

seat was.”
    “ It’s not like that,” Jean
said, in a half whisper. “Only certain people sit in the back if
you know what I mean.”
    A look of understanding crossed Travis’s
face. “Oh. You mean the learning challenged kids sit in the back?”
he whispered back.
    Melina smiled. “In a manner of
speaking.”
    “ The popular kids!” Jean
whispered a little louder. “They sit in the back.”
    “ Ohhh, I get it now,”
Travis said, nodding his head. “Popular. In the back. I should fit
right in then.”
    Travis turned and headed for the back. Jean
turned to Melina. “You are not going to let your brother sit back
there, are you? They will eat him alive.”
    Melina looked at Jean and then toward the
back. Travis had taken off his shoes, and now he was stretched out
on the long back seat. He was using his backpack as a pillow, and
he was well on his way to sleep.
    “ We are right here,”
Melina said. “At the first sign of any trouble, I will go back and
get him. He needs to see how things work here.”
    The relative silence of the bus was
interrupted by a small commotion toward the front. Ellen Barrow and
a few of her minions were getting on the bus. Ellen didn’t have her
driver’s license either, and her parents didn’t let her ride in the
car of any of her fellow students, so she had to ride the bus.
Every day she took out this misfortune on the poor souls at the
front by making a few rude comments about their clothing or hair as
she passed through to the back.
    She stopped when she got to Melina and Jean.
“I heard that you are Alex Winfield’s partner for the magnetism
lab.”
    “ Yes,” Melina said, with
mock dread. “I am going to be forced to spend hours at a time in
close contact with him. Oh, the horror.”
    Ellen smirked. “Laugh now, Roberts. I told
you that he was way out of your league. It’s just a matter of time
before he-”
    Ellen looked toward the back for the first
time.
    “ What is that thing in the
back row?” she said as she moved toward the back of the
bus.
    She stood over Travis as one of her gang
poked at him. He opened his eyes and slowly sat up.
    “ Who are you and why did
you wake me up?” he said indignantly as he sat up.
    “ Wait, how old are you?”
Ellen said as she got a better look at him.
    “ I am in the seventh
grade,” Travis said. “I take classes here a few days a
week.”
    “ What are you doing back
here?” Ellen snapped.
    Travis got that confused look on his face
again. “I thought it was obvious that I was taking a nap. You know,
lying down. Eyes closed. What do they teach here? Sheesh.”
    Melina stifled an audible laugh. Ellen was
not smiling. “You don’t belong back here!” she said with a raised
voice.
    “ I was told that there
were no assigned seats and that I could sit anywhere on the bus
that I wanted,” Travis said as he looked around the
back.
    Ellen pointed right at him. “Look little
boy. Only certain people are allowed back here. I would suggest
that you get your little seventh grade butt out of that seat and
move to the front of the bus.”
    This was it Melina thought. Time to get
ready to comfort her little brother as he slinked away from the
back. Travis, however, had other ideas.
    He arched his brow and displayed his angry
face. “Listen, toots. I don’t know who you are, but you should get
to know me. My name is Travis Roberts. I won a Castle Grant this
year. Do you know what that is?
    Ellen and her minions looked at each other.
None of them had the answer.
    “ I didn’t think so. It is
a grant given to the top five middle school students in the
country. That may not impress you, but here is the sweet part. It
comes with a stipend of 250,000 dollars to be spent at the school
that I attend.”
    Ellen rolled her eyes. “Big deal, so you won
a prize.”
    “ Focus here, lady,” Travis
continued. “You are missing the sweet part. The 250,000 dollars.
That pays for three teachers and a whole science classroom full