By: Roshni Balasubramanian
It was March when Liz and Andre
were lost in a place called boredom. Boredom was a place where most teenagers
were stuck in when holidays came by. Soon, even the internet and social media
becomes boring. When in school, all they thought about was going on vacation
and now all they think about is going back to school.
Liz was usually alone at home,
desperate for company. To her disadvantage, she lived far away from all her closest
friends and felt left out when they met up without her. She was very attached
to her best friend, Andre, and they always had so much fun when they were
together. They had some sort of
agreement that whenever their friends met up and Liz couldn’t go, Andre would
stay at home too, and video call Liz just to give her company. That’s what
friends are for, right?
One particular evening, at the
very end of March, Liz was spinning in her office chair while watching YouTube
videos that were called ’10 Ways to spend your Holidays’. She heard the phone
ringing from the next room, and put her feet firmly on the floor to stop the
whirling of the chair. She moved to the room and gave the phone a hideous look
as she walked towards it. As soon as Liz saw ‘ANDRE’ on the caller ID, she
literally ran towards the phone.
She answered the call with a
rather loud “HEY!” and Andre yelled back. Andre was just as bored as Liz was
and informed Liz that all their friends were meeting up once again. “When?” Liz
asked. “They are at the bowling alley, playing as we speak”, Andre said with a
brisk tone. “How come they never even asked me if I wanted to go? Why didn’t
you go?” Liz asked confusedly. “They probably know that you can’t make it. I’m
sure they feel just as awful as you. But, I decided not to go. It wouldn’t be
much fun if your best friend can’t make it?” Andre said in her usual,
comforting voice. Liz instantly felt better, not because of what Andre had
said, but because she knew that she and her best friend were going to have more
fun that night than any of her friends would.
Liz went back to her office chair
and sat down, impatiently waiting for Andre to set up her webcam. After the
call started, they talked on and on about nothing in particular. It was the
most fun Liz had had all day. After a while, after Andre and Liz had finished
gossiping and chattering, Liz said “So when does school reopen again?”
“For me it’s the 5th
of April and for you it’s the 8th of April”
“What do you mean? Doesn’t school
start at the same time for all 10th graders?”
“Oh yeah! I forgot to mention this earlier, but I’m
moving schools.”
“Yo-You’re doing what?”
“It happened suddenly. I’m so
sorry.”
Both of them just shared a moment
of silence.
Liz filled up the quietness and
said in a glum tone “How could you do this to me? Why didn’t you tell me
earlier?”
Andre gave doltish excuses.
“I didn’t mean it, Liz. Oh my
god, what’s happening? I don’t feel very well. My throat feels like its closing
up. Ah! Help.” “Oh my, are you okay? Don’t panic. Tell me exactly what you’re
feeling.” Liz said without a pause.
“HELP. HE-HELP. IT HURTS. Help.
He-helpp. help” Andre said, looking almost unaware of what was happening to
her. She then closed her eyes and her body just fell back into her chair. “OH
NO!! WHAT HAVE I DONE? WHAT HAVE I DONE? I SHOULD HAVE JUST CALLED HER PARENTS!
WHAT HAVE I DONE?”
Liz sat, with both her hands on
her head, staring at Andre’s dead body with remorse. Tears fell from her eyes.
She looked at her best friend’s face through the screen and had a montage of
memories flash before her eyes. After a few minutes of silence, Liz still did
not know what to do but stare into the screen and cry.
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” Andre
screamed which threw Liz off her chair.
Chuckling, Andre looked at Liz as
she got up and said “APRIL FOOLS!!!”
Liz wiped her eyes, looked at the
time which read 12:06 AM and told Andre, “I hate you so much right now. That
was so horrible. I didn’t know what to do. You should be a professional actor
you know. Ugh. That was so mean.”
“I’m sorry. But wasn’t that so
much fun? Ah, that was the best wasn’t it? April Fools’ Day got the best of
me.” Andre chortled out.
“Please don’t do that to me ever
again. I love you so much and you made me so guilty for saying all those things
about you leaving school. It IS your decision. I’m sorry, Andre.
“I was kidding about that too”
Andre said struggling to keep a straight face. “I guess I got you twice. Do you
think I would actually leave this school and not tell you? That’s crazy.”
“Well, at least now, we can tell
our friends what we did when we didn’t go bowling and this time we’d be telling
the truth.”
“I’m so glad to have you as my
friend.” they told each other.
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