By Julie

My clarinet teacher’s comments washed over me. More staccato there, A flat there, play it with a metronome, measure 27 has a dotted half note, hike up the tempo. Could I get the piece right for once? Teachers always had something to say. Well, I’d better bike home fast. Angry gray clouds ballooned from nothing in the lofty sky. Mom might have dinner ready when I got home. Maybe Toby would be hungry. The dear little hamster had been alone for an hour! He wasn’t used to that, no, since I was home-schooled. He would cope better with me being away if I just went to the local public school. I might actually make some friends that way, too.
I marched down the hallway of the music studio, wondering why it was two floors. I stopped to wait in front of the elevator. A girl with thin, blonde hair that was almost white stood in front of the door. She was slim and rather short, I found myself towering over her. My red hair suddenly seemed much too long and I was suddenly a bit bashful about the freckles sprinkled messily over my face, which I wished was neater. I wished there wasn’t a big pizza sauce stain in the middle of my t-shirt. I get nervous around kids my age sometimes, and she was no exception. Ding! The elevator pulled up. An excited kid of about five or six dragged her mother out of the elevator and across the hall to the violin studio. I was unsure for a second if I should let the girl into the elevator first or head in at the same time. Then I wasn’t sure if I should wait for the door to close or to close it with the button. Then I wasn’t sure whether to talk to her or not. I was just deciding not to when the elevator came to an abrupt stop. I wobbled over and crashed into the railing. “Whoa!” the other girl said, crashing to the floor. My nervousness about the girl gone (but about the elevator, it was buzzing), I helped her up. “I think it stopped in between floors,” the girl said, jumping on the floor to test the stability. I punched the FLOOR 1 button again. “Button’s not working,” I remarked. “We’re trapped.” In response, the girl pressed the button repeatedly, as though it would suddenly work, and jumped on the floor again. The big sign with red letters stated 2… but it quickly flashed to blank. “What do we do?” I asked, sounding hopeless. “I’ve never exactly been trapped in a broken elevator before.” The girl grinned slightly. “Me neither. Is this what that red button with the bell on it is for? Is this a real emergency?” I thought it over. “Hm… that’ll probably make sirens go off, and possibly sprinklers. What if the elevator works after a minute and we’ve got everyone in a panic? Or what if it’s just a power outage or something?” I considered. “If it was a power outage, the lights wouldn’t be on,” the girl corrected. “Should we try yelling?” I thought, then nodded. There wasn’t anything else to do. “HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME!? IS THERE ANYONE DOWN THERE OR UP THERE!?” and “HELP! WE’RE TRAPPED IN HERE BETWEEN FLOORS!” we yelled. “I really wish I’d taken the stairs,” the light-haired girl said. “HELP!” I bellowed one last time before sinking to the elevator floor in defeat. This time, a voice called back. “CAN YOU HEAR ME?” from the top floor. “YES!” the girl and I shrieked. “THE ELEVATOR BROKE AND WE’RE STUCK IN BETWEEN FLOORS!” The voice was quiet. “I’M GOING TO GET HELP!” It finally yelled, and I assumed he took the stairs down to the first floor. Well, he kind of had to since the elevator was broken.
“Um, hello.” the girl said. My awkwardness returned. “Um, hello. I’m Ashling. I’m eleven,” I told the girl. “Cool name. I’m Winterlynn, but most people call me Winter. I’m eleven too.” Huh, that was kind of funny. I met a girl called Winter- in February, even. “What do you play?” she asked. What do I… oh, yeah. We were in the music building. “Clarinet.” I answered. “You?” I asked, even though I could tell from the long, slender case. “Flute,” she answered. “My teacher’s Mr. Romerez. He’s okay. Well, he’s nice. What school do you go to?” Oh, I hated this question. “Home-schooled.” I said, somewhat downcast. “Ah. I go to Bennet Middle.” I smiled, Bennet was near us. “Where do you live?” I asked. “My family just moved in to a house on Springlind Street. You know where that is?” I nodded excitedly. “Yep, I live on the street it intersects with! Maybe we’ll be friends.” The comment flew out of my mouth. Had I just asked someone to be my friend? I didn’t know… was that rude? Winter acted like it was no big deal- she smiled, even.
Next thing we knew, people were connecting fuses and meddling with wires around the elevator, and then our fun was over when it started up and whirred down to the first floor. I picked up my clarinet case, and Winter slung her pink and blue backpack over her shoulders. We left the broken elevator. I was just beginning to enjoy myself, too. “All right. It was nice meeting you! I guess I’ll see you around,” I waved. “Hey- I have a scooter. Want to walk home?” Winter asked eagerly. “Ooh, I’ve got a bike. Sure! By the way, do you have any pets? I have a hamster- his name’s Toby.” Winter giggled. “I’ve got three rats- Shadow, Henrietta, and Sprinkles. They’re sweet little things, even though most people don’t like rats.”
Before we knew it, our fun was over again when we passed my house. “Oh, that house is mine. I’d best be going.” Winter pouted, then flashed me a wide grin. “I like your garden gnomes, especially the one with the mushroom. All right… bye!” Winter scootered away, and I stepped inside. “Hey, you’re really late, honey! I was getting really worried about you! And who was that?”
“That’s Winter, she lives down Springlind. And I’m late because we got trapped in an elevator together. It broke between floors. Yes, I’m all right. Is dinner ready?”
I left Mom standing in the kitchen as I ran down to my room to feed Leo. I could just see the corner of the house that Winter had described as hers, out my window. I could just see a window and a door. I was a little let down that the door and window was all I could see, but then a familiar face came up to the window! She even waved!
I hurried down for my own late dinner thinking, what a lucky day!