Well written, if a tad bit cliched. But that's okay, I'm guilty of it too. I did notice two things, though. First, why did the rest of the boys leave Jared alone after he hit Derek in the face with the boots? Even if they are afraid of him after this point, I think there should at least be some dialogue before he and Cynthia just walk away. The other thing I wondered about is why Jared doesn't recognize Cynthia if they are on the same bus. He doesn't have to know her name, but he should at least recognize her as someone he has seen before. Just my thoughts on it. Overall, though, I did like this story quite a bit.