Why Wait?

I twisted the dead blade of grass round and round between my fingers until it fell apart and was gently carried away by a soft burst of wind. This was what I was doing at 7:30pm on a Friday night. Playing with grass. If you think this was my idea of a good time, you must be seriously disturbed. I had thought this night was going to be fun. I thought my friends had a plan. I thought I could trust them to organize something for once. I thought wrong.

I really wanted to go to the movies . I hadn't been with all of my friends for a while, and I was hoping they would call. Earlier in the week I had heard my friend Lea talking about going to the movies on Friday after school, and, as usual, I got too excited. "Will you call me?" I had asked anxiously. "I really wanna go!"

"Yeah, I'll call you," Lea answered monotonously. "We'll probably go around four or something."

"Ok! I'll be waiting!"

My answer was sincere. I would be waiting. All afternoon. I got home from school. Took a shower. And waited. Four o'clock came and went, and I waited. I flipped through the T.V. channels for about an hour. Only stopping long enough at food commercials for my mouth to start to water. Then I searched through my pantry. I thought that stuffing my face with all the junk food I could find might cure my boredom. I was so bored, I actually started to work on homework. As my eyes started to fill up with tears, for I could not figure out how to divide exponents, the phone rang. I jumped up from my desk and ran so fast down the stairs I actually kind of crashed down them. Once I was safely down the steps of death, I scrambled across the kitchen floor and snatched the phone from the counter. "Hello?"

"Hey. Is this Rosie?"

"Yeah! What is up?"

"Umm, this is Cory. Lea told me to call you. We are probably gonna go to the movies in, like, a half hour. Think you're gonna come?"

The word probably should have set of an alarm in my head. The alarm that says "don't count on it". I ignored the warning.

"Yeah. Are we gonna meet at Marshy's house?" I replied.

"Umm, yeah. Meet there in like fifteen minutes."

"Ok, see ya in a little bit."

Cory's response was a muffled grunt and then he hung up. I basked in the thought of finally having something to do, and then I realized I only had fifteen minutes to get ready. I crashed back up the stairs, threw on a semi-clean, but cute, shirt, pulled back my hair, grabbed my cash and unwedged my bike from its corner in the garage. I was off.

I pulled into Marshy's driveway just in time. Oh yeah, I thought. When I walked up to the porch I noticed the front door was ajar, so I let myself in. "Hello?"

"We are outside," came Cory's voice.

The back door was ajar too, so I happily skipped out to meet my friends.

"What is up?" I asked. By this I really meant, "When are we leaving?"

"Nothing. We are just waiting for Joan, Leesie, and Kirk."

"Oh. When do you think they'll get here?"

"Umm. You know Leesie, probably not for a while."

I let out a disappointed sigh. I really wanted to go. NOW!! I was on time, why couldn't everyone else be?! Being late didn't seem to bother the rest of the group, so they continued their conversation. I sat down on the lawn and let the already setting sun warm my face. I was going to be waiting for a while.

So, that is how I ended up here. Playing with the grass. Two hours have passed, and Joan, Leesie, and Kirk are no where to be found. Yes, we have called them. Each time we have gotten the same response. "We are on our way!" Sure you are. The chance of getting to the movies before my curfew became very slim. More time passed and I sat in silence. Why didn't anybody else care about going to the movies? How could they stay content just sitting there? Then the sun slowly went down and the mosquitoes came out. It was nine pm. Can you guess who came marching through the door? Joan, Kirk, and Leesie. The desire to freak out at them had faded at about 8:30, so I just sat there and waited some more. I waited to see what my friends would decide to do next. "Well, I guess movies are out," said Marshy.

No one even attempted to make an apology. It's not like the three who were late had done anything wrong! NO!! Of course not! Why would they be at fault?!

"Yeah," said Lea. "What should we do?"

"I da know," everybody grumbled.

So, we sat. We sat there on the cold grass. I was pissed and everyone knew it. I stayed separated from the group for the rest of the night. Just me and the grass. When 10:30 finally rolled around. I pulled myself up from the ground, wiped the wet blades of grass off my butt pockets and let out a slurred good-bye. "See ya guys later," I sighed.

"Ok," said Lea. She leaned in for a hug. It was half hearted, but at least it was a hug. The rest of the pack only grumbled a soft "Good-bye", and I left.

As I somberly walked down the dark and empty streets of my neighborhood, I began to think. I thought about what I had actually done that day. I had waited. I had waited all freaking day. Waited for a call. Waited for my friends to show up. Waited for something to save me from my boredom. I had waited all day, and nothing had come from it. I had accomplished nothing. I didn't even get to see a good movie. As I walked up the cement stairs to my front door I made a promise. Never again would I wait for someone else to make something happen for me. Even for something dumb like going to a movie. I had to do it myself. If I had gone to the movie on my own and had made my own plans, my day would have turned out a lot better. But instead I had waited. Never again, I thought. Why should I ever have to wait?