"Hey, Andy, what's up?" Thomas asked, answering the phone.
"My dad got a draft notice." She replied, her voice trembling.
"Yeah, so did my dad. We talked about it, and I'm going to go instead. Do you want to meet at Barnes and Noble and talk about this over a cup of tea? That normally calms you down, and I can tell that this is really upsetting you." He asked.
"Yeah, ok. I'll meet you there in twenty minutes." She said, and they hung up. Grabbing her purse and keys, she walked outside and drove to Barnes and Noble.
"Why don't you take his place in the war?" Thomas asked half an hour later as they sipped their tea at a small table in the book shop.
"My dad would never let me. I'm his little girl. You know how over protective he is." She replied.
"Then don't tell him." He said logiclly.
"I guess I could do that." Andrea said, liking the idea more and more as she thought about it. It would keep her father out of the war, and she would be able to get out of the house and expirience a little bit of freedom. "I think this is going to work. Can you help me?"
"What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't help you? I've got to go now though. My parents want me home early." Andrea nodded, a plan already forming in her head. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, Andy." "All right." She stood and they hugged. "I'll catch you later."
"I can't believe you're actually doing this." Thomas said, two weeks later as they sat in the hair cuttery.
"You're the one who gave me the idea."
"Yeah, but I never thought you would go through with it. You're going to wind up killed, then what am I supposed to tell your family? 'Hi Mr. McKay, I convinced your daughter to go to war, and she died. Please don't kill me.' Yeah, that will go over swimmingly. I'll meet you in Heaven, Andy." "No one is going to die, Tom, I promise. We're both going to get out of this alive. Now wait here, I'll be back soon." Andrea said, standing, and walking into the back room. Twenty minutes later, Andrea came back in. Thomas stood and stared.
"I thought you said you were getting a hair cut!"
"I did." She replied, running her hand over her now almost completely gone hair. He sighed and handed her his cell phone.
"Make the call." She took the phone and dialed her the draft center.
"Hi, my name is Andrew McKay, I wanted to inform you that I will be taking the place of my father in the war." She said, deepening her voice slightly.
"Thank you Mr. McKay, report to the station on your draft notice Monday at oh seven hundred." They hung up and Andrea sighed and handed the phone back to her best friend.
"C'mon, let's get back to my place. We have a lot of packing to do before Monday."
"Get down!" Andrea yelled, jumping and landing on her stomach in the deep snow. The grenade exploded and Andy feltthe heat from the blast, but as soon as the heat had somewhat disappated, she got up on one knee and began firing her weapon. She looked around her at the war. This was bad. People were dieing. She had to do something. But what? Then it came to her. Ducking back down into the snow, she dug into one of her many pockets and pulled out a grenade. She pulled the safety, stood up and through it as hard as she could at a nearby mountain covered by snow. "Andrew! What was that?" One of the other soldiers yelled at her, but she wasn't listening. Maybe, just maybe this would..."BOOM!" The grenade had the effect on the thickly packed snow that she had hoped for, but what happened next was not what she had bargined for.
"Andy! Look out!" Thomas yelled. She looked toward the enemy, but it was too late to move. One of the enemy soldiers had fired their weapon at her. The bullet embedded itself into her stomach, but as she started to fall backwards, someone caught her from behind. What happened next was such a blur that Andrea wondered how much of it was real.
The snow on the mountain fell and crushed the enemy. Thomas was there, trying to stop the bleeding. He yelled for a medic. He told her to stay with him, reminded her that she had promised that they weren't going to die. He said that she needed to stay awake; but she was so tired. Her eyes began to unfocas, and then everything went black.
When Andrea opened her eyes, she noticed the she wasn't anywhere she recognized. "Hello?" She said, barely over a whisper, her mouth was so dry.
"Welcome back to the world of the living." Someone said right next to her. She looked over and smiled at Thomas.
"How long was I out?" She asked, rubbing her tender, throbbing tembles.
"A week. How are you feeling?" He asked moving from the chair next to her to sit on the edge of her bed.
"Like I havn't eaten in a week. Where are my parents?"
"I'll ask the nurse to bring you some food." Thomas said, getting up and begining to walk out of the room. Reaching out, she grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Thomas, where are my parents?" He just gave her a sad look before going to find the nurse.
"Andrea, we're so glad you're alright. Thomas has been in a right state since you were shot, dear." Thomas's parents, Lea and Eddie, walked in the door. Lea came over and gave Andrea a hug. "We heard about your parents, dear, and we just want you to know that our doors are always open to you." Lea continued.
"What happened exactly with my parents? I couldn't get a straight answer out of Tom." Lea looked at her saddly, it was quite obviouse where Thomas got that look. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, Lea took both of Andrea's hands in her own in a comforting way.
"You're parents. They were quite angry with you. They said not to come back." She said.
Andrea stood in the crowd, looking up at the President. The war had ended, because a huge mound of snow fell on the enemy soldiers and their commander, but as Andrea looked around, she began recognizing some of the enemy soldiers. Standingin the crowd! She had to tell someone. "Lea! The soldiers! The ones everyone thinks are dead, they're here!"
"Andrea, the doctors mentioned that you would probably go through post-traumatic stress at some point soon. I'm sure that's all that it is." Lea said kindly, almost as if Andrea were a child of five. Knowing she wouldn't get any help here, she casually began walking up towards the stage. The security stopped her and she quickly explained what was going on.
All of the sudden shots were heard all through out the pavilion. Andrea turned to try to help, but something heavy hit her upside the head, and, again, everything went black.
Andrea sat up on the couch in Thomas's house, suddenly awake.
"You know something, Andy? You really gotta stop scaring us like that." Thomas said. He was sitting at the end of the couch, reading.
"What happened?"
"The President was attacked, but the guardes were able to get him to safety and arrest the people who tried to kill him. You've been out for about 12 hours." Thomas said, closing his book and turning to face her more fully. Andrea got up, turned around, and sat back down so that she could lean against Thomas. "So...uh...I was wondering if maybe you wanted to catch a movie and get dinner or something." He said after a moment's hesitaion.
"Yeah, I'd really like that." Andrea said with a smile. Maybe now that the war was over, Andy could have some normalcy in her life, starting with a dinner and a movie date.
THE END Seriousely, that's it.
Why are you still reading?
That's the end of the story.
You want to know what happens to Andy and Tom?
Well this is a fairy tale. Don't you know how they're supposed to end?
I'm not saying it.
Fine!
And they all lived happily ever after...
Happy?
Good, now review or go away please, I'm tired and I want to go to sleep.