Wrong Phone - G.D.

eight

I entered the bathroom where I found Ethan fixing his hair and taking some mirror selfies. I opened the faucet and let the cold water flow over my hands. I was very aware of where I was now, the boys bathroom, the place where Ethan and I were often pushed into the booths and later had to find our heads back in the toilet bowls. What a bastards. A sigh escaped from my throat when I thought back to those thoughts. I grabbed my phone and left Ethan for a moment, I didn't want to be in this room for any longer or else the claustrophobia would catch me. With my phone in my hands, I opened the door and left the toilets. I bumped into someone and dropped my phone. I wanted to be noticed as little as possible so I looked the other way while the girl apologised and picked up her phone from the ground. "Uhhmm.. I'm.. I'm sorry..", she said. I nodded in apology and looked deeply in her eyes one last time after I grabbed my phone. They were beautiful. Just as her. I felt my body heat up. I nodded again and then broke the eye contact when I quickly ran to the stairs. "That was weird", I thought to myself.

I waited at the top of the stairs until Ethan was ready so that we could continue the little tour. Not much later, I saw Ethan appear at the bottom of the stairs and told me to come downstairs. I sighed as I walked down the stairs. "Any idea where that guide is?", he asked in the meantime looking for the school guide. "Nope, not seen", I shook my head and looked around to the girls classroom. I bumped into the same girl with whom I just made eye contact on the stairs. Bit strange. Ethan rubbed his chin. A sign that he was thinking. "Maybe in the cafeteria?", I suggested. Ethan looked at me intently. He shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe", he said and turned around.

The canteen, just like almost the rest of the building, remained almost the same as 5 years ago. Ethan walked in front of me and asked almost every person here if they might have seen our school guide. I felt sorry for that poor man, because it turned out that he had been seen in the toilets 20 minutes ago, but he still hasn't left the toilets. They said that he often has problem with his bowels. But it's everything so sudden. While Ethan was busy talking to a canteen lady, I walked around and looked at the framed football, wrestler and lacrosse shirts that hung there. "Dolan, number 8!", I read out loud. "Ethan, they've hanged your lacrosse shirt!", I yelled to the other side of the spacious room. "Really?", he asked in amazement as he slowly came my way. "Here he is! I'd already lost him!", he joked. I laughed as I went on looking again. The tables were, as always, not really cleaned. But what do you expect from a high school?

"Hey Grayson, we can have a look on the balcony over there", Ethan said when he returned from his conversation with a few teachers. "They have a couch and chairs, so we can just chill there in the break, without the whole school noticing us", he said. The idea appealed to me, but I still had a strange feeling in my stomach. "You mean that we won't be recognized in a hustle and bustle, really a big crowd?", I asked in disbelief. He nodded his head with pride, "Yup", he looked up. I followed his gaze. The balcony was quite large and if you stood here you couldn't really see who was up there. "Then we have a nice view of the school without feeling small", he gave me a wink and patted my shoulder. I gave him a weak smile. "Hey, you really don't have to worry, it'll be okay", he assured. I cleared my throat and nodded my head. He was right.

-
Ethan and I were sitting there for about 5 minutes when the bell sounded. "Showtime", Ethan said while rubbing his hands. "If you said 'Failtime', I believed you more", I joked. We laughed a little too hard together and we command the fact that people will hear and recognize our laughter. Ethan was childishly holding his mouth and pretending to be startled. I grinned softly at him. The door of the balcony opened and our school guide appeared. He looked a bit white and didn't feel 100% at all. "Everything is going well, sir?", I asked politely as soon as he sat down next to me on the old Chesterfield couch. He nodded and grabbed his bottle of water in his bag and a painkiller. "It may soon become quite noisy", he warned us. Ethan and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. "What is it?", the guide asked in confusion while he took another sip of his water. "No, it's just, we've went here here to school, so we know how loud it can be during the breaks", Ethan explained to the guide. He nodded understandably.

-
After 10 minutes of chatting and sharing stories, Ethan grabbed his phone, wich again reminded me of my phone. I felt in my front pocket to check if he was still there. 'Yup', I thought to myself as soon as I felt the cold metal of the device against my fingertips. I stood up to see if there was something behind me that could cause a jittery, because my back tickled. "Maybe it's just your shirt", Ethan said when he found out for what I was looking for. "Maybe, but at least I know that it's terribly itchy", I judged. I sighed for a moment and then looked at the space in front of me. The canteen was filled with students. From bullies to the sweetest diary writers. I stood there for a few seconds until I realized that everyone could see me. "Omg, is that Grayson?!", I heard from the left. "Grayson?! Ethan?!", I then heard from the right. "The Dolan Twins are here?!", I heard from all sides. "Ah ooohh", I heard Ethan muttering. I turned to him as quickly as possible. "What now?!", I asked trying to get heard through the screaming of the students. Ethan got up and looked in a panic at the school guide who was turning white of sickness. Great. We didn't have much pleasure in him either. The doors of the balcony opened and two larger security guards appeared. "Grayson. Ethan.", said the biggest one. We both nodded desperately. "We are going to make sure that you guys leave this building safely, if you want to follow us?", the other said. Ethan looked at me. I could see the fear in his eyes. We both didn't like chaotic and hysterical fans. He looked back at the security guards who patiently wait for an answer. Ethan slowly nodded his head and the security guards took us to an emergency exit.