Roberto Duran forces himself out of bed at 5 a.m.  each day to catch the school bus.  On the way to school, he looks out the window and notices the darkness of the sky and listens to the country music the bus driver plays early in the morning.  Arriving at school, he takes steps down the bus and realizes this has been his everyday routine for all of his years that he has attended high school.

Duran’s parents are not able to pick him after school because they get home from work late. Being 18 going on 19-years-old and riding the bus as a senior isn’t a problem for Duran but there is one thing that makes him one of a kind: he is the oldest student on the bus.

“It stinks to ride the bus as a senior,” Duran said. “I’m the oldest one as well as the only one with a beard on the bus.”

Duran had a chance to get a car from his dad, but he took advantage of earning his car. Duran’s dad always told him to choose out a car of his choice around five times but Duran never saw it at his sight.

“My dad wanted to buy me a Charger for my sixteenth birthday but something changed,” Duran said. “He found out that I was skipping school.”

Riding the bus for five years and waking up at five in the morning is something Duran doesn’t look forward to. And the music he listen to when getting onto the bus.

“I hate it when I get on the bus and when the bus driver is blasting her country music early in the morning. It’s just not my thing,” Duran said.

Duran isn’t embarrassed that he’s riding the bus because he says he minds his own business and does his own things. After riding the bus for five years, he never knew he could earn a letterman in riding the bus all four years of high school. Going to bed early for Duran is tough for him.

“I try to get to bed by 10:30 because I want to watch my Family Guy first,” Duran said.

Being trusted by his parents is an issue.

“My parents don’t trust me with a car,” Duran said. “My dad has the money to buy me a car.”

Decisions that Duran makes now in high school effects the consequences of earning the privilege to get a car from his dad.  It’s important to him to pass his class and graduate this year.

“My dad said if I don’t go to college he’s not going to buy me a car and that he is going to buy himself a corvette because I am not in college,” Duran said.

Duran doesn’t like asking other students for rides because they always ask for something in return. Usually  gas money. He thinks it’s not worth the price just to get a ride home.

“I don’t want to pay other students five dollars everyday for gas money to get a ride home, some people just make up excuses to not give rides,” Duran said. “That is why I just ride the bus home.”

Going through something like this makes Duran hope the same thing isn’t returned to people that he admires in the future.

“I hope my kids don’t suffer through this like I did,” Duran said.