Today was Friday.
Sally has a thing about Fridays. It doesn’t even have anything to do with the upcoming weekend, or anything- at least, we don’t think so. It’s just her thing. Almost every other day last year, she’d suddenly look up, slamming her hand on the table, the one eye that was visible under her hair sparkling, and she’d go “Duuuuuuude…it’s *FRIDAY!*”
“No, it’s Tuesday…” we’d tell her. And ever since then, it’s been her day. A day of stupid, unreasonable happiness. For everyone.
Even after the end of that happy year and the start of this awful one, where nothing is the same and everything seems ruined, Fridays remain Fridays.
Sally, Isaac, Miley and I used to go to the vending machine after school sometimes and get fruit snacks, and throw them into our mouths, purposefully missing, leaving a trail across the field on the way Home. Oh, we had a grand old time.
Which is why, a few days ago, when I found some quarters in my pocket, I dragged everyone back inside and trudged all the way to that vending machine. “SOMETHING has to be the same!!” I told them, desperate and spluttering. “Just like old times, remember?? Just like old times!!”
We waited, we cheered, we scraped up our money and found the machine completely and absolutely broken.
The screen was cracked. The buttons weren’t lighting up. It was so broken it wouldn’t even TELL us it was broken, it just kept flashing different statuses every other second- “Out of Order” “Temporarily out of order” “Please choose a selection” “BROKEN. BROKEN. BLEEEEEEEP!”
We just stood there for a minute. The devastation was hard to describe.
It’s been like that all week.
It’s been terrible.
Which is why, when Sally came up to my locker today after school with a dollar and said “Let’s go to the vending machine!” :D I told her we couldn’t. Not again. Not after what happened.
“But…but I have faith. I have faith because it’s Friday.”
Her single eye was so sad. And her faith was so strong, her hope so sure.
"And also my dollar is really crisp. This is a really crisp dollar."
I got everyone together- Sally, Isaac, Miley, Pen, and Morgan. We stormed down the hall, a big brigade, and I kept on explaining to everyone the importance of them all having faith, all at the same time, long after they stopped listening. And the less they listened, the louder I became.
“Believe! Believe with everything in your entire being that this time- THIS TIME- everything will turn out okay. And if we all believe at the same time, it’ll work. It’ll work. Have faith that it’ll work. Complete and utter absolute faith that THE VENDING MACHINE WILL WORK TODAY!!”
Pen and Morgan left through the backdoors, and it was only the four of us again.
We rounded the corner as a herd, and saw someone reach down and pull red vines out of the bottom of the machine. We screamed and fist-pumped as one being, and ran over and frightened the poor little sevie girl so much that she gave us her spot in line.
We were on the verge of tears.
It was a very emotional experience, especially for Sally.
And so we got fruit snacks and stale sour gummy worms, and walked home with a renewed sense of power and trust.
Sally has a thing about Fridays. It doesn’t even have anything to do with the upcoming weekend, or anything- at least, we don’t think so. It’s just her thing. Almost every other day last year, she’d suddenly look up, slamming her hand on the table, the one eye that was visible under her hair sparkling, and she’d go “Duuuuuuude…it’s *FRIDAY!*”
“No, it’s Tuesday…” we’d tell her. And ever since then, it’s been her day. A day of stupid, unreasonable happiness. For everyone.
Even after the end of that happy year and the start of this awful one, where nothing is the same and everything seems ruined, Fridays remain Fridays.
Sally, Isaac, Miley and I used to go to the vending machine after school sometimes and get fruit snacks, and throw them into our mouths, purposefully missing, leaving a trail across the field on the way Home. Oh, we had a grand old time.
Which is why, a few days ago, when I found some quarters in my pocket, I dragged everyone back inside and trudged all the way to that vending machine. “SOMETHING has to be the same!!” I told them, desperate and spluttering. “Just like old times, remember?? Just like old times!!”
We waited, we cheered, we scraped up our money and found the machine completely and absolutely broken.
The screen was cracked. The buttons weren’t lighting up. It was so broken it wouldn’t even TELL us it was broken, it just kept flashing different statuses every other second- “Out of Order” “Temporarily out of order” “Please choose a selection” “BROKEN. BROKEN. BLEEEEEEEP!”
We just stood there for a minute. The devastation was hard to describe.
It’s been like that all week.
It’s been terrible.
Which is why, when Sally came up to my locker today after school with a dollar and said “Let’s go to the vending machine!” :D I told her we couldn’t. Not again. Not after what happened.
“But…but I have faith. I have faith because it’s Friday.”
Her single eye was so sad. And her faith was so strong, her hope so sure.
"And also my dollar is really crisp. This is a really crisp dollar."
I got everyone together- Sally, Isaac, Miley, Pen, and Morgan. We stormed down the hall, a big brigade, and I kept on explaining to everyone the importance of them all having faith, all at the same time, long after they stopped listening. And the less they listened, the louder I became.
“Believe! Believe with everything in your entire being that this time- THIS TIME- everything will turn out okay. And if we all believe at the same time, it’ll work. It’ll work. Have faith that it’ll work. Complete and utter absolute faith that THE VENDING MACHINE WILL WORK TODAY!!”
Pen and Morgan left through the backdoors, and it was only the four of us again.
We rounded the corner as a herd, and saw someone reach down and pull red vines out of the bottom of the machine. We screamed and fist-pumped as one being, and ran over and frightened the poor little sevie girl so much that she gave us her spot in line.
We were on the verge of tears.
It was a very emotional experience, especially for Sally.
And so we got fruit snacks and stale sour gummy worms, and walked home with a renewed sense of power and trust.
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