Overtime (14 page)

Matt got hold of the puck and made a sweet move at the blue line to gain the zone. Emily called for it in the slot. He slid it over and Emily blasted it in for a goal. Julia and her friends might not like those two girls, but
boy could they play!

The rain was coming down in buckets. Charlie had never seen so much water pour from the sky. It was raining so hard his mother let him borrow an umbrella, even though it was almost guaranteed never to make it back home again. Still he was soaked to the skin. Pudge shivered next to him, equally wet.

“Maybe we should call the skate-a-thon off,” Pudge said. “Attendance is gonna suffer with this weather.”

“We won’t get a bus again, and we’ll lose our deposit,” Charlie replied. Pudge didn’t answer, and who could blame him for wanting to go home. Not a single member of the committee had shown, apart from the ever-reliable Dalton. Charlie had sent one of the buses back, and this one was less than half full — a waste, as A.J. had predicted.

A fresh crack of thunder sounded, as if to punctuate his dire thoughts, which not even the arrival of Scott, Nick, Zachary and Matt could lighten. Ms Cummings tapped Charlie’s umbrella with hers.

“Are we about ready to go?” she said. “It’s a long drive to Humberside, especially with the rain. The driver told me he has to make another pick-up after he
drops us off, and he really would like to get a move on.”

Charlie cast his eyes around. “May as well,” he said.

She put her foot on the first step. “We can leave now,” she said to the driver, and went into the bus.

Charlie took a final look around. The rain was skipping off the pavement, leaving a fine mist hovering, like a low-lying fog. It was actually kind of cool, and he allowed himself the luxury of watching, if only for a few seconds, to distract himself from what was happening. In the distance, he made out the form of two umbrellas, and as they got closer, he detected three people huddled underneath. One umbrella tilted up slightly.

“Sorry, Charlie,” Julia said. “I had to haul these two out of bed.”

Rebecca and Alexandra peered out from under a small umbrella.

“And I’m going to be thanking you for a long time,” Alexandra grumbled.

“We’re glad you made it, anyway,” Charlie said. “You’re lucky. We were just about to leave.”

“I sure feel lucky,” Alexandra said.

“We should get into the bus,” Rebecca said.

“Good idea,” Charlie said. “By any chance, did you bring your pledge sheets and permission forms?”

Rebecca and Alexandra handed him their permission forms. “What pledge sheets?” Alexandra said.

“You know … the pledges … the sheets.”

“I told you guys,” Julia said, handing hers over. “Didn’t you get any pledges?”

“Sorry, Jules,” Alexandra said. “I forgot. My bad.”

“How could you forget?” Charlie said, his frustration rising to the surface. “Why do you think we’re doing
this?”

“I’m asking myself that same question,” Alexandra shot back.

“We can get sponsors after,” Rebecca suggested.

“That’s probably okay,” Julia said. “Right, Charlie?”

With only ten students participating he wasn’t about to say no. “Fine. No problem. But we should get going.” He noticed Julia scowl at her two friends as they got into the bus. Charlie wanted to ask Julia about the practice yesterday, but she went in before he had the chance. There would be time later, so he didn’t sweat it. Charlie followed, and the driver closed the door. The three girls sat up front. Dalton was talking to Ms Cummings. The guys were at the back. He took a seat behind Pudge.

He tapped Pudge on the shoulder and said, “I think we should sneak by without losing money. Even if the other kids who registered didn’t show, they might have still raised some money.”

“Did we get enough pledges up front to pay for the ice time?”

Charlie held up a cheque. “I gave the money we’ve collected so far to my mom, and she wrote me this to cover it. I’ve already collected some money from you, Julia, Zachary, Matt and, believe it or not, Scott!”

“I guess pigs can fly,” Pudge said.

“The rest will pay when they collect on their pledges. Oh, and Dalton scored big — he got two hundred fifty dollars in pledges. That dude is amazing.”

“He might have got this wrong,” Pudge said. “Our fellow students didn’t exactly get too stoked about the skate-a-thon.”

“I guess it wasn’t the best idea,” Charlie said.

“It was a good idea and it should’ve worked.”

“But it’s like no one cares.”

“No one cares about what?” Scott said.

Charlie was taken aback. He must have said that louder than he wanted.

“We were just talking about the fundraising,” Pudge said. “Charlie’s right. Except for … I don’t know … a handful of people … like the people on this bus, no one seems to care if the school closes.”

“It’s been one big epic fail,” Charlie said, “and this skate-a-nightmare isn’t going to set any fundraising records either.”

For practically the first time since he’d met Scott, his friend leaned back in his seat without saying anything. Nick looked out the window. A depressing silence spread. Charlie felt helpless and angry at the same time. Why didn’t people care? Why didn’t they help out? They could raise the money if everyone tried. Instead, it seemed more cool to joke about the school closing, and uncool to do anything about it. It was hopeless. In a few weeks they’d all be at different schools — sooner if this storm destroyed the plastic sheeting. He looked out his window. They were on the ramp to the highway that went around the lake, which meant they still had a long way to go.

A huge thunderclap made him jump out of his seat.

“Is this the end of the world?” Scott said.

“That was like ten thunders all together, times two — or one of Scott’s burps,” Nick said.

“Maybe it wasn’t a burp,” Scott said, crossing his legs and waving his hand in front of his nose.

“You didn’t eat a burrito for breakfast, did you?” Nick said.

“Let me think. There was the bowl of cereal, a granola bar, toast, a banana, half a container of yogurt, another banana, and yes, a burrito from dinner two nights before. Can’t expect me to skate a marathon when I’m half starved.”

Nick began scratching at the window. “Great. A bus with windows that don’t open.”

“It’s not my fault,” Scott said. “Blame the beans.”

That broke the boys up.

“So what’s so amusing?” Alexandra said. She was kneeling on her seat peering over the top.

Charlie struggled to think of an explanation.

“I heard Scott’s name linked to a burrito,” she said. “This could be a long day.” She turned back around.

“I’m glad I didn’t mention the French toast,” Scott whispered to his friends.

The sky lit up as a bolt of lighting illuminated the windows so brightly that Charlie wondered if the driver had turned on the lights. That was followed by yet another massive crash of thunder.

“I might have had two burritos,” Scott said.

No one laughed. The storm was getting a bit scary.

Charlie saw something moving up ahead on the hill that bordered the highway. “That’s kinda strange. Do you see that?” he said to Pudge.

Pudge strained his neck to look.

Charlie heard a loud rumbling.

CRASH
!

The next thing he knew he’d been thrown out of his seat. The bus veered violently to the right. Charlie heard
a high-pitched squeal, and then felt another crash against the side of the bus, even harder this time. Charlie and Pudge banged into each other, sending Charlie somersaulting over the arm of a chair across the aisle.

CRASH!

The wheels screeched, and then the noise stopped. For a second Charlie thought it was over. Then he felt the sensation of falling.

Pudge fell on him, and then flew off. Charlie spun over, landing on Scott and Nick. He heard Nick gasp for breath. Screams and moans mingled in the air, as Charlie struggled to untangle himself. Charlie looked down, too terrified to utter a sound. The windows were pressing into mud. He could make out bits of rock and tree branches.

It took a few seconds for his brain to catch up.

The bus had slid off the road and rolled.

“Are you guys okay?” Charlie said loudly.

“I’m good,” Pudge said, sitting up.

“I don’t believe I am seriously injured,” Dalton said from a few rows up.

Then Charlie heard Nick moaning softly.

“Did you hurt something?” he asked urgently.

“My leg — it feels busted,” Nick said between short breaths.

“Help me here, Pudge,” Charlie said.

They turned Nick around as gently as possible so he could lie down. Scott was struggling to sit up, and Dalton went to help him. With the bus flipped on its side, Scott was actually sitting on the windows, leaning against the roof. His left arm dangled down his side. “I can’t feel my arm,” he whispered. “It’s totally dead. I can’t feel anything.”

Charlie couldn’t believe his eyes. Scott’s arm had somehow grown several centimetres.

“You’ve dislocated it, for sure,” Dalton said. “Hold it to your side.”

Scott leaned back against the roof and grasped his arm with his other hand.

“Anyone else hurt?” Charlie called out.

“Bashed my knee up pretty good,” Zachary said between clenched teeth.

A flash of lightning lit up the bus. Charlie looked around in horror. His friends had been tossed around like ping-pong balls. And now everyone was lying on the windows, and no one was moving at the front. A crack of thunder unnerved him, and he fought to stay calm.

“Matt’s hurt too,” Pudge told him. “He’s bleeding real bad.”

“I’ll be okay,” Matt said bravely. “It’s only my nose that’s bleeding.”

Charlie’s heart practically jumped out of his chest when he saw his friend. Blood covered the side of his face. There was a gash on his forehead, and blood was oozing out.

Charlie crawled a few metres towards the front. “Ms Cummings? Ms Cummings?” His voice quivered slightly. “Are you okay?”

“She’s hurt,” Julia answered. “Can you come over here?”

“Go ahead, Charlie,” Pudge said. “Check it out.”

Their eyes met. This was bad — scary bad.

“Call 9-1-1,” Charlie said, “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ve got them on the line,” Dalton answered. “The emergency vehicles are on their way.”

Charlie began crawling across the windows to reach the girls. It was awkward, and his pants got soaking wet, but he was too freaked out to care. A second flash of lightning gave him a clear view. His teacher lay on her back clutching her leg, blood trickling down her temple. “Ms Cummings, the bus fell off the road. We’ve been in
an accident!” he said to her.

She opened her eyes and raised her head slightly. “Where are we?” she asked. Her head fell back.

Julia clambered across the windows and crouched beside Charlie. Her lower lip shook as she spoke. “We need to get out of here. We’re falling into the lake. Water is coming in.”

Charlie looked closely at her. “Are you okay? There’s blood on your jacket.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine. It’s not my blood.” She gripped Charlie’s arm. “Alex and Becca are really hurt.”

Charlie felt sick to his stomach.

“Who’s not hurt?” she asked.

Her question snapped him out of his fog. “You, me, Pudge and Dalton.”

She groaned. “We’ve gotta get out.”

“Charlie. Julia,” Dalton yelled. “The 9-1-1 dispatcher told me to try to get everyone off the bus.”

“We’re thinking the same. You and Pudge get the guys to the back, and we’ll bring the girls,” Charlie said.

He found Alexandra kneeling, swaying slightly, looking confused. Julia slipped in next to him.

“Becca’s way worse than me, Jules,” Alexandra said, half-crying.

“We’ll take care of her,” Julia reassured her.

Charlie and Julia both went to Rebecca. She was curled up on her side, her breathing very quick and shallow, and both arms were wrapped around her stomach, but she was calm.

“Where does it hurt?” asked Charlie.

“I think I broke some ribs when I fell,” she gasped. “I’m light-headed. I can’t breathe right.”

“Rebecca and Alexandra, listen to me. We’re going to get you off the bus now,” Charlie said, trying desperately to sound in control. “We’ll help you to the back doors. Julia, you get Alexandra, and I’ll help Rebecca.”

The bus rocked a bit, and he and Julia exchanged a worried look. Alexandra was able to walk, but Rebecca was in so much pain she couldn’t move. Charlie looked over Julia’s shoulder. The water in the front of the bus seemed to be rising. Time was running out.

Charlie put his arm around Rebecca’s neck and squeezed the other under her knees. It was too tight a space to just pick her up and he had to slide her up on his thighs first. By pushing against the roof he was able to slowly get to his feet. Bent over, he made his way towards the back, willing himself to ignore the strain in his knees and back. Rebecca closed her eyes the entire time, her only sound a single whimper when her foot hit the side of a chair.

Pudge saw him struggle and helped him the last bit. Alexandra was able to crawl by herself. Ms Cummings made it with Julia’s help. Dalton was tending to the boys’ injuries. They were sitting on the windows off to the side. Charlie opened the emergency exit. The wind practically ripped it out of his hands, and it smashed into the ground. He popped his head out, shielding his eyes so he could see. It was a frightening scene. It wasn’t ground that the door had smashed into: it was mud. The hill had collapsed and mud and trees had smashed into the bus, sending it off the road. The back of the bus was still on shore; the rest was in the lake. A massive evergreen tree, its roots ripped right out of the ground, lay on its side about ten metres away, wedged in between
two boulders. Mud was everywhere, littered with rocks, busted-up and splintered trees, and tons of branches. He looked up the hill, and in the distance on the highway he saw a few cars.