School Days - Chapter 16

Later, lying in bed after the show, Amy thought over the rest of their day. Tina had been adamant she'd seen Jake out of the door, but a quick sprint out into the crowded street hadn't proved fruitful. Even if he had been there - and Amy was a little dubious - he had been swallowed up by the Saturday crowds.

They had met up with Ella's father promptly, though all a little more laden down with shopping bags than they had been when they set out. Ella in particular had taken advantage of the big city shopping, she didn't usually have access to with her best friends in tow for advice and opinions, even if she did usually end up ignoring both. Dinner and a show had followed a quick stop back at the hotel.

All in all it had been an amazing day, but Amy had felt a little distracted ever since she had seen Jake. She shuffled around in her bed once again, trying to find a position that would help her go to sleep. But it was her brain that was the problem, not her body. She was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open, but her mind wouldn't stop spinning, trying to ponder out whatever was going on with Jake.

What seemed like hours later but was in fact minutes, she gave up trying to get to sleep and instead decided to ponder out the next sequence in her short story. Her soon-to-be-published short story, she reminded herself with a grin.

She knew her characters inside out. She had the story planned out. She knew exactly where everything was going to end up. She wished her own life was as certain as that of Cindy and Lola. Sure, they'd started out destitute, but everything was going to work out wonderfully for them, even if they didn't know it yet. Amy was looking after them. She just wished someone was looking after her, making sure she'd get her happy ending.

Amy woke up the next day to Ella sitting at the bottom of her bed and bouncing up and down. Tina was wandering around the room finishing getting up, a small smile on her face at what was coming.

"Wakey wakey, sleepy head," Ella sang with far too much energy for how early it was. Amy grumbled, buried her head under the pillow and tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, Ella had other plans.

"Oh no you don't," she said with steel in her voice before pulling the duvet away from Amy and dumping it on the floor. "Come on! Up, up, up!" More bed bouncing followed this proclamation before Amy finally groaned and relented, peeling open her eyes through sheer force of will.

The reluctant half growl that escaped her mouth was all Ella needed to know she had won. She retreated to Tina's bed and sat quietly, glowing with her triumph. "Good morning," she said brightly. Amy's only response was to groan in her general direction before stumbling into the bathroom.

"Why!" Amy shouted through the door. Ella simply laughed in reply.
Emerging, clean and somewhat more awake, a few minutes later, Amy glared at Ella who simply giggled in response yet again.
"Somebody isn't a morning person at all!" She said with a grin on her face.
Amy harrumphed.

"Well then you won't want to know who I just saw downstairs...." Ella petered off, knowing that this was the way to pique her interest if anything was.

Plastering an obviously fake smile on her face, Amy turned to face Ella and in her sweetest voice flattered her into revealing all. And after a long and round-about story, she finally reached the point.

"So there I was, after all that, in the lobby, and who should walk past but James Stanford!" Tina and I both looked at her a little blankly. We both knew that he was her favorite stage actor, but she had met him before and it wasn't all that surprising that he was in the area given that it was his show we had seen the night before.
"That's great, Ella," Tina said with fake enthusiasm when it was clear she wasn't yet going to add anything more to the story.

"Yeah, really great Ells," Amy echoed. Then she realized something. "That was what you got me up for!" Amy almost yelled at her before falling flat back on my bed. "It so wasn't worth it."
Ella grinned a little evilly. "That was everything," she said. "There was someone with him. I thought maybe they knew each other, but I wasn't sure until this morning."

Her attempt to get her two friends interested once again failed. They both thought it was some other star and neither was particularly bothered.
"Yeah, well you can tell us all about it over breakfast," yawned Amy. "Let's go." She almost bodily dragged her two friends out of the room.

A few minutes later found them staring at an amazing buffet breakfast. They quickly loaded their plates up and went to join Ella's father at his table. Polite chit-chat filled the time, and Ella didn't have time to finish what Tina and Amy was sure, wasn't going to be a fascinating story.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later that they had time to finish their conversation. After packing their things and loading the car, Mr Thompson had left them to wander around the city some more before leaving. His one caveat was that Amy and Tina keep Ella away from any shops.

They just about managed this, and were sat looking at some of the old buildings when Ella let out an 'ooh!' of excitement. Assuming she'd seen some celebrity, the other two girls searched around them for whoever it was.

Seconds later Ella grabbed bother their arms and demanded their attention. "So, he wasn't alone. Guess who was with him?"

Amy and Tina both looked askance at their over-exuberant friend. "Ok," she carried on, quickly guessing that they weren't in the mood. Ella's glance towards Amy let her know the answer a second before she said it.

"Jake!" squealed Ella. Tina looked blank for a second before realization dawned on her face.
"Stanford," we said in shock at the same time.