The Elements

Chapter 4 - In School: The Birthday Note

Chapter 4

Copyright © Filipa Tavares and Nanci Fidalgo 2015

                "If you don't get here in 10 minutes, we're leaving!"

                Wrote Bethany in a quick text to William, while she and her other three friends waited for him at the building's lobby. It was 8 o'clock and they had 4-5 minutes to get to the bus stop and catch it, and another 10 to get to school.

                As always, William was late. William's parents, Johnny and Ted Johnson, were unemployed so they didn't need to wake up early. Because of that, William had to get ready all by himself and, most of the time, his friends had to wait for him. And with most of the times, we mean ALL the time.

                That day, he was even more late than usual and he had just woken up because of Bethany's text.

                "Damn it! I need to get ready!" he thought.

                He got up and got dressed quickly. He made his breakfast and ate it, while looking at his watch. 8:10.

                 "William! It's nearly time!"

                He read out loud, more to himself than to anyone else, Bethany's text.

                "I'm leaving the apartment right now! Be there in 1" he wrote.

                He picked up his bakcpack and ran to the elevator. "OUT OF SERVICE", it read in a board which was on the old and rusty elevator's door.

                "Really? Come on!"

                He ran downstairs. William lived in the 8th floor, there were a lot of stairs. And he had such little time. But he ran the fastest he could.

                "Come on! What are you waiting for? We're already late" William said, when he got up to his friends, grabbing  Bethany's hand and pulling her out the building.

                "Waiting for what? For you, of course. Could you even get here later?" Bethany asked a little bit annoyed.

                "He could. He took less 3 minutes than yesterday." Francis started. "And if you did, we would've lost the bus"

                "I'm sorry, okay? I tried to be fast but I fell asleep and the elevator was out of service... If I was really that late you could've went without me."

"We wanted to, believe me. But someone here didn't let us because we had to wait for you..." Peter said, while he, Francis and Thomas looked at Bethany, who was now blushing deeply.

"And now, because of it we're all going to be late!" Thomas said, starting to get a little nervous.

"No we're not! It's still 8:12. We still have 3 minutes to catch the bus. And we're almost there, come one." Bethany said.

They got there before the bus did. Peter, Francis and Thomas ran to the bus stop, but Bethany and William stayed behind.

"Thank you. You know, for waiting for me." William said, giving her a kiss on the cheek, which left Beth with blushed cheeks.

"Anytime. That's what friends are for, right?" she said, with a big smile on her face. William nodded and gave a forced smile, the two joining their friends.

Bethany and William had a really special friendship. All of them were super close, but between them two it was really different. They liked each other, a lot, but none of them wanted to admit it.