“May I have all of the class officers down to the office please, all the class officers to the office! Thank you,” said Miss. Jones, the principal, on the loudspeaker. Nice lady in my opinion. Very fashionable and she smells sweet.

 Ugh. Sliding out of my chair, I moped out of the classroom and down the hall to the elevator. There is no way I am going to walk all the way to the office when I have a convenient shortcut. 

“Ryan sweetheart, hurry up back to class please!” Miss Henry yelled as I walked out of the room. I didn't respond.

I pressed the elevator button and waited for it to open. 

This elevator is so slow. I thought to myself, looking at my shoes.

Finally, the door opened and I stepped in. 

Stepping into the elevator, the door shut loudly behind me and with a slight rattle, the elevator started. But, when I looked up I realized I am in an elevator with Ava Brown AND Ella Lewis. This is not good. 

Thud.

The elevator bounced and jolted to a stop. My heart started to race but I was too busy processing the fact that I’m with them in an elevator. Then it hits me, we are trapped. Ava and Ella looked up and I could tell they were not very pleased with the situation either. 

Ava Brown and Ella Lewis used to be best friends. I had a crush on Ella and she had a crush on me… the issue is that Ava liked me too. So when Ella dated me Ava got super mad because Ella didn't even care about how she felt. But Ella was a good friend and broke up with me to save her friendship which broke my heart. I caught feelings for Ava, so we dated which made the problem even worse and now we are all trapped in an elevator TOGETHER. I know, it's complicated.

“Hello Ryan,” Ella said, gritting her teeth and furrowing her eyebrows.

“Hey Ryan,” Ava followed, in a soft voice, waving slightly but still looking down.

“Uh, guys,” I said, pointing to the doors, “I think we’re trapped.” 

Silence.

Looking up, my eyes met Ella’s icy blue ones. My favorite memory of the time we were together came flooding back. It was winter, and we were taking a walk and she was cold. Of course, without delay, I gave her my sweatshirt, our eyes met and she smiled. She never had to say anything for me to know how she felt. But looking at her eyes now, they had a cold hard core to them. No warmth at all, so I looked down again. 

And then there's Ava.

You know when you feel someone staring at you and you instantly get chills and your stomach flutters? Well, I looked up and my eyes met with hers. She has these hazel eyes but depending on the lighting, they appear to become a washed out, soft green. I dated her in the summer. We had many picnics during the day and made s’mores and looked up at the stars together at night. A classic date night. 

I sighed lightly under my breath. There was a cold silence in the room. 

Ava, sitting down now, started to cry. She tried to make it subtle so neither me or Ella would notice, but I totally did.

“Hey, what's wrong Ava?” I asked, a soft tone to my voice.

“It’s just, it’s just,” she stuttered, wiping her nose with her sweatshirt sleeve, “we are definitely going to die here!” And then she started bawling.

Me, being the gentleman that I am, went to comfort her, but Ella slammed her foot and stopped me mid way to getting to Ava. 

I stepped back. 

“Oh my god this is so typical of you Ava,” Ella said, rolling her eyes, “you're just so sensitive! When I dated Ryan,” she said, pointing at me, “you cried and told me I was a terrible friend. What was I supposed to do? He liked me and I liked him. God, you're just so annoying.” 

And suddenly there was an explosion in the elevator, and it wasn’t the elevator, but rather Ava and Ella. 

“What?” Ava said, looking up now, her eyes red and puffy from crying, “it was totally fitting to cry about the fact that you dated the guy you knew I liked! And it was totally fitting to call you a terrible friend because of the fact that you didn't care about it at all!”

“I can’t believe you just said that,” Ella responded, shaking her head in disbelief.

By this point, I am totally invisible… but that didn't matter, because this argument was getting heated.

“What did I say, Ella,” Ava said, standing up now, a sassy tone in her voice, “I CAN’T BELIEVE WE WERE EVER FRIENDS!”

The elevator went silent. 

Ella took a step back and her face turned a pale shade of white. 

Ella looked around the elevator, trying to avoid making eye contact with anyone for as long as she possibly could.

Finally, she was able to stutter just a couple of words.

“We have been friends for, for,” Ella stammered, blinking rapidly, trying to keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks, “Since forever Ava. I can’t remember a time when we weren't friends.”

Ava, staring at her shoes, nodded.

“Ava, we can’t be like this any longer, I-I miss you,” Ella said, shrinking a little.

“I-I miss you too, I guess,” Ava responded, playing with her hair.

“And, we might as well make up since we may never see the light of day ever again,” Ella chuckled, looking at the door to suddenly, jolting back into reality.

“Yup,” I nodded, “Hello, I’m here, just heard that sappy conversation you girls were just having but have you noticed we are still trapped?” 

“Oh my god,” Ava muttered under her breath, “oh my god!” she yelled louder.

“HELP! HELP!” we all started yelling.

Then, magically, the doors opened. And we were on the same level as we were on before. We all ran out of the elevator and fell to the floor. We were gasping for breath while toppling on top of one another, making a scene of the floor.

After we settled down, Ava and Ella got up and hugged. 

Gross.

“We are never going to ruin our friendship over a boy again,” Ella said. 

Ava smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Hello children.” It was Miss Jones, the principal. 

We all stood there, gasping for breath, waiting to hear our punishment. 

Suddenly, Ava blurted out, “We were trapped in an elevator with no escape! I thought were were going to die. I mean, we were going to die! And-and,” she stuttered, flailing her arms around, “so please don’t punish us! It's not our fault… ma’am.”

Miss Jones smiled and laughed and Ava’s face turned bright red.

“Who pushed the elevator button?” Miss Jones asked, with a mysterious smile formed at the tip of her mouth.

We all stood there in silence, waiting, until we realized that none of us had actually pressed it.

We exchanged embarrassed looks and Miss Jones nodded.

“Well, you kids better run along to the first grade assembly, you’ve missed nearly half of it already,” Miss Jones stated, smiling, “now run along kiddos! I’ll let them know you’re on your way!” 

“Yes ma’am,” we all stated, walking down the hall to the stairs to get to the assembly in a much slower, but safer way. 

As we walked down the hall, I smiled and sighed. I guess my mom was right. I shouldn’t date until second grade.