When The Lights Go Out

After going through the lunch line, I followed Bekah to our usual table. As we got closer, I saw two of my four best friends, Ellie and Noah, eating the surprisingly good mac & cheese that was being served as today's lunch.

I sat down next to the leggy brunette as Bekah sat on her left, leaving Noah to pout at being left by himself on the opposite side of the dull green table.

"Noah, stop being such a girl," the last part of our five-some, Lucas, laughed as he sat next to the pouting teenage boy.

The five of us have been inseparable since third grade. We met in second, but as much as it may shock you, we didn't all click immediately. Ellie, Bekah and I did; but it took a summer apart, and a little growing up, for us to realize that those two boys were going to be an essential part of our group. The five of us have been through everything together. And we plan on keeping it that way. These people, as crazy as they may be, are more like my family than my biological one. No, scratch that. They are my family. And I love 'em to death.

"Kate." I looked over at Ellie as she snapped her fingers, bringing me out of my thoughts for the time being.

"Sorry," I said with a sheepish smile, which soon turned into a playful glare as my friends laughed at my obvious zoning. "Really? I see how it is." I stuck my tongue out and went back to eating my lunch.

"Oh, shut up," Bekah rolled her eyes and smiled. "You know it's only cause we love you." Looking up, I saw the rest of them nodding their heads with seemingly innocent looks on their faces.

"Whatever," I laughed. "So, what's the plan for tonight?"

"Um, I was thinking we could have a girls' night," Bekah started, but was interrupted by the boy's disagreement. She ignored them and looked at Ellie and I with her eyes wide. "I need to talk to you guys about something."

I furrowed my brows in confusion, wondering why she wouldn't say it in front of the guys. We told each other everything; nothing, and I mean nothing, was kept secret. You may think that's weird, but that's just how close we are.

"A-And we can decide what we're gonna wear to the party tomorrow." She tried smiling, but she looked more confused than anything.

"Okay," Ellie said, sounding just as confused as I was. And you could tell by Lucas and Noah's faces that they were equally as puzzled.

"Sounds great, Beks." It was awkwardly silent for a moment as we all tried to think of something to say.

"So. Luke, man, what are we gonna do while these losers have their 'girly night'." We all laughed, relieved, and thankful for Noah.

"Well, I wanted to see that new movie, Drive, wi—"

"NO," Ellie cut him off, with her eyes wide and jaw dropped. "You cannot see that movie without us!"

The boys looked at us for a moment before Lucas spoke up, "Why do you even want to see that movie? It's an action movie...about a getaway driver. That doesn't sound like something you girls would want to see."

"Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean? Girls can't like action movies, or ones about driving?" Bekah scoffed, "You of all people should know how much I love The Fast & The Furious movies."

Noah chuckled and looked at Lucas, "She's got a point, dude." He chuckled, "And I personally think it's awesome when girls like action movies."

"Thank you, Noah!" Bekah exclaimed as she high-fived him. "Plus.. You know," she paused and cleared her throat. "Ryan Gosling is in it. So," she looked at Ellie and I, and we looked at the boys, voicing our agreement.

"Seriously? I am not going with you guys if you're just going to be fan-girling over how hot he is," Lucas said.

"Oh, come on! Please? You can go see like, Shark Night, or something! I heard it's horrible, but you can make fun of it while eating movie theater popcorn! And I know how much you love both of those things," Ellie looked at the boys and pouted. Noah and Lucas looked at the three of us skeptically, as if contemplating whether seeing a horribly cliche movie about a shark eating people was really worth sitting through two hours of us girls drooling over Ryan Gosling. "Come on. They even have it in 3-D," she pouted again and looked at Bekah and I for help. Meaning, we ended up giving the boys puppy dog eyes, as well.

"Fine," Lucas sighed. Us girls smiled and high-fived each other, before turning and smiling innocently at the guys.

"I do like 3-D, though." We all laughed at Noah and continued conversation as we finished our lunches.

The rest of the day went by very slowly due to my anticipation of what Bekah was going to tell Ellie and me tonight. But, thank goodness, the bell finally rang, signaling the end of last period. I hurriedly grabbed my books and headed down the hallway to get my things. As I walked further, I saw Ellie waiting by my locker with an anxious expression etched onto her face.

"Hey," she said as I worked on opening the lock. "So, what time is this thing tonight?" I chuckled as she bit her lip.

"You anxious about what Bekah has to tell us, too?" I grabbed what I needed out of my locker and placed it into the bag whose strap was currently resting from my right shoulder. Closing the locker, I turned to look at Ellie who was nodding her head furiously.

"Yes! I mean, I'm kind of excited," she laughed. "It has to be pretty big if she wouldn't even say it in front of the guys."

"I know what you mean." I laughed along with her for a moment before we started walking towards the main doors. "But I’m kind of nervous. You don't think it's anything bad, do you?"

"No," she said, furrowing her brow. "I don't think so, anyways. I'd think if it was something bad, she would've told all of us."

"Yeah, I hope you're right." We walked outside and I saw Bekah waiting by her car and laughed. "Ah, I think I better go. We all know how impatient she is. Anyways. Tonight. 6:30. My place." I smiled and she nodded as I walked over to Bekah.

"Hey," she smiled. "You ready?"

I nodded and we got into the car. The ride to my house was unusually quiet. I kept looking over at her to see her biting her lip, a sure sign she was nervous.

"Beks?" I asked softly. "Do you want to talk?"

"Um, I, uh...I think I'll just wait until tonight. Yo-You know? Uh, so I don't have to tell it all twice," She laughed nervously. "And you know how Ellie is. If I tell you before her, she'll be all pissed."

"Yeah, true," I said slowly as we pulled up to my house. I climbed out of the car, but before I closed the door, I leaned down and looked at Bekah for a second. "So. I'll see you back here, at 6:30?"

"Yeah. Of course." I closed the door and saw her wave a little bit before speeding off.

I lifted my left arm and looked at the pink and white band on my wrist and sighed.

3:52

All I know, is this is going to be a very long two and a half hours.