walk or hide

Schoolchildren were issued free bus passes for the entire school term, but replacing a lost pass came at a cost that parents were expected to pay. After experiencing the fallout from losing my first one, I became determined never to admit to another loss, despite managing to misplace several more over the years.
During the warmer months, the solution was simple enough: a five-mile walk home. Winter, however, brought a different challenge. On those cold, dark afternoons, a small group of loyal friends came to my rescue. School bags would be piled strategically across a bus seat, while I squeezed myself into the footwell beneath, hidden from view for the journey home. Looking back, it was a mixture of fear, friendship, and youthful ingenuity that somehow seemed perfectly reasonable at the time

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