forum Need some help with the beginning of my story

Started October 19, 2018 by @Starfast group

tune

So for the purpose of getting the plot of my story going, I need my main character (A teen boy in his last year of high school) to be out at a bus stop late at night (like probably between 1-2am). I came up with one scenario and wrote out the chapter, but then came up with a slightly different version and started writing that one as well. I was going to go with the second one, but now I'm second guessing myself and I'm not sure which one would be better and I was hoping I could get some opinions.

Here's the different scenarios. They both start out with the main character at a party, and not really having a good time:

Scenario 1 The MC leaves with his friend who drove him to the party. As they're driving the friend gets a call from his mom, who is wanting to know where he is and gets mad at him for being out later than he said he'd be. He explains to his mom that he's driving the MC home, and he'll be home soonish. The MC feels kind of bad because his house is quite out of the way. He tells his friend that if he gets dropped off at one of the main bus stops, he can bus home instead. The friend agrees, a little bit reluctantly and drops him off.

Scenario 2 In this version, the friend was supposed to be the designated driver but ends up having a bit too much to drink leaving the MC with no ride home. He decides to take a bus home and as he's leaving the house he gets into a conversation with a girl that he's had a crush on for quite a while, but isn't very close with. She offers to give him a ride, but mentions that she's also driving one of her other friends. Since she doesn't have a full drivers license it's actually illegal for this character to have more than one passengers who aren't family. The MC doesn't want her getting in trouble because of him, so he asks to be dropped off at the bus stop which is a little closer.
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Regardless of what I choose, it won't have a huge impact on the rest of the story (this is like, the very beginning and the plot gets started after he gets dropped off at the bus stop). But I'm just wondering if one is better, or more believable than the other?

I think the second one is a little more believable, although they both can be if written well. With the first one, I have a hard time believing the friend would just leave the MC at a bus stop late at night just because their mom is upset. And likewise, I can't see a parent (or at least a good one) being too okay with it either. Especially if the MC has been drinking. This scenario would likely give a negative first impression of the friend and consequently, their mother. If this is what you want then I say go for it.

The second one is more believable, since I am assuming they aren't super close too? And the lack of a full license is more reasonable than an upset mother.

My only other note is being conscious of where your story takes place. Is it in the city or in a rural town? Because bus schedules are different depending on the place and I can tell you, there are no buses running at 1 or 2 am where I live.

It takes place in a city close to where I live and we do have night busses that come like every 30 minutes or so throughout the night. I've even looked up the schedules to see how he would get from the party to his house. I was going to mention that in the original post but it was getting a little long.

Anyways, thanks for the feedback. I was kind of leaning more towards the second one, but part of the reason why I was hesitating was because going with the second one would mean having to rewrite the first chapter and make a couple of edits in the next few. I think you're right though. I don't want people to think that his friend is a bad person, and I hadn't really considered how that would look when I first started writing it. I'll probably go with the second one unless someone has a really compelling argument as to why I shouldn't.

I can understand the hesitation. I've been there before with my own work. In the end you just have to go with what you feel is right :)