London Times

Friday:

"Isn't that amazing?" I looked up at Big Ben, snapping pictures with my digital camera. It had been two days since the guy's had asked us out. Katie and I had gone shopping for dresses yesterday, which we'd hidden underneath our beds so Tammy wouldn't find them. Katie snuck away a few minutes ago, to meet Dougie at the entrance of the hotel and Tammy was so entranced with the clock tower, she hadn't even noticed. "I heard that it's actually leaning and if you-" She stopped as she must have finally turned to look at us..only, to find me alone. "Where's Katie?" I looked away from my camera.

"She said she wasn't feeling well so she went back to the hotel room." I smiled, turning back to snap a few more pics of the parliament building.

"Oh! Well, we should go check on her then!" She grabbed hold of my arm,

"No!" I thought quickly. I suppose I shouldn't have yelled, because she was now giving me the 'oh, no you didn't' stare. "I mean," Think Ellie, think! "She left quietly because she didn't want us to have to go home and miss sight seeing just because she wasn't feeling well." I smiled and Tammy nodded, understanding. "Yeah, so let's go check out the London bridge."

"That sounds like Katie. You guys were lucky you hadn't gone to see the changing of the guards. I mean, it was an infamous moment but all you really missed was a bunch of yelling and marching." I laughed along with her, picturing the the men in red shouting in their accents and marching around in those giant fluffy hats.

We'd barely made it to the London Bridge, and Tammy was already socializing with a few locals who'd decided to take a stroll on the bridge. I'd been staring out into the water, thinking about tonight when my phone went off in my bag.

Help! I need somebody, help! Not just anybody, help! You know I need someone! Help!

It was Katie's personal ring tone. I flipped open my cell and answered.

"Shmell-"

"Ellie!" I jumped as Katie screamed into the phone. "I can't do this! Come save meee!" She whined. I laughed, turning to make sure that Tammy wasn't headed back over to me. She seemed to be having a good time, so I turned my back to her, walking away a bit.

"Katie, Katie calm down. Breath hon, in" I breathed in with her, "And out." I heard her breath out and could tell that her breathing exercise had worked, yet again. "Are we good?"

"Mhm." She whimpered. I smiled, shaking my head.

"Okay, now what's the problem?" She took another breath and I turned again to check on Tammy.

"I can't do this! What in the heck was I thinking?!" She was panicking. I guess I could understand, especially since her last boyfriend was a shmuck. Now she was going on a date with a guy she hadn't known all that long.

"Katie, look just calm down. It'll be fine! You can't keep thinking that just because Ricky was a jerk, that every guy is a jerk." Ricky, in case you didn't know, was her last boyfriend which, might I add, was back in eighth grade.

"You're right. See, this is why I needed to call you."

"Well, anytime. That'll be a dollar fif-" She hung up on me. Jerk. I closed my phone and placed it back in my bag.

"Ellie!" I looked up to see Tammy motioning for me to come to her. As I approached, I noticed she was talking to a woman who looked a little older that Tammy and standing beside her was a girl that looked about my age. "This is Debbie and her daughter Linda." I smiled politely and waved. "I figured you two would get along, she's turning seventeen in a few months and she's lived in London her whole life!" I was eighteen and I was still getting play date? Are you kidding me?

"Nice to meet you." I waved, clutching my bag tightly in both hands.

"Yeah, I thought I'd show Tammy around the more adult side of London, and you and Katie could hang out with Linda. How does that sound." Linda was smiling at me as though she was thrilled to be spending time with a couple of American girls that happened to be around her age. You've got to be kidding me.

"Sounds...great!" I added a smile to make it more believable. Why did Tammy have to be so freaking social?

About three hours later, we sitting in a small restaurant. I was eating a small salad, because I didn't know what Danny had planned for tonight, while Tammy was finishing off the last of her pasta.

"Well," She took a last bite before wiping off her mouth and placing her napkin in her near empty plate. "How was your day then Ellie?" I smiled, thinking about how much better it was going to be getting.

"I had a blast." I smiled, setting down my fork.

"We've only got another three weeks left so we better soak up as much of this cloudy weather as we can." Seeing as she and Katie lived in Alabama, they were used to extremely hot weather so, cool London was a nice change apparently.

"True." I nodded and got up as Tammy did the same, only grabbing the bill.