A/N: This is the memoir I had to write for 10H English. woohoo...


Telephone Booth

It was our second to last night here, the horizon outside the window was pitch black, it was a cold English February night. Courtney, Rhonda, and I were sitting in the cramped red British-style telephone booth that was situated at the bottom of the stairwell, near the Pax Lodge's emergency exit. Our week-long stay in London was coming to a close, in almost forty-eight hours we would be on a plane home. It was past eight in the evening and we had nothing to do, since the fight between the freshmen; Jamie, Kaitlyn, Emma, and Candace left us all to be on our own, until it was resolved.

It was around 5 PM when the fight between the four of them broke out. No one really knows what started it, and Jenny planned on leaving it that way. International World Thinking Day is tomorrow, and all the Girl Scout troops staying at the Pax Lodge needed to meet in the recreation room for a cultural gathering. Rhonda, Courtney, Vanessa, Taylor, Caroline, Sarah, and I were the only ones from our troop that went, not even our leaders came down. They were too busy dealing with and trying to settle the drama. Time passed, and girls among the group shared their Girl Scout traditions. The most memorable out of the meeting was the young woman from Argentina who taught us a traditional Girl Scout dance and song. The gathering ended after an hour, and still neither the other girls nor our leaders showed up. Well that sets a good example for Americans, now doesn't it.

Dreading to go upstairs, Courtney, Rhonda, and I sat in our usual hang-out spot, the telephone booth. I was sitting on the tall stool, while Courtney was on the desk, and Rhonda was sitting on the floor under the counter-desk.

"What do you wanna do?" Courtney asked.

"I don't know. I just don't want to go upstairs. They'll probably eat us." I replied.

They both chuckled.

"Yo, you wanna prank Caroline?" Rhonda asked with an evil smirk.

Courtney and I looked at each other and shrugged, "Sure."

"Ok, you two go distract Caroline, and I'll take her key to our room. Then we'll tell her I'm upstairs destroying the place, and see what she does." She revealed her master plan.

"Then where are you going to be?" Courtney asked, confused.

"Hiding in here."

"She's going to see you." I doubted.

"You wanna bet?" Rhonda challenged.

"No, I'm good."

"Good." She smirked.

Courtney and I exited the booth and walked around the corner to the computer lab, where Caroline was situated at a computer, her keys placed next to the mouse.

"Hey Caroline." We greeted.

"Oh, hey guys." She replied.

"Can we try a magic trick on you?" Courtney asked, and I looked at her like she was crazy.

"Um, I'm kinda busy."

"Please, it won't take long." Courtney begged, batting those pretty brown eyes of innocence.

"Sure." She caved.

We turned the chair around so Caroline was facing the wall opposite the doorway, that way Rhonda can sneak in and swipe her key off of the table. I placed my hands over Caroline's eyes, like Courtney instructed, while Courtney started to whisper little words of nonsense to make it seem like she was strangely casting a spell. Once I noticed Rhonda creepily exit the lab, I signaled to Courtney with a head jerk to wrap up her "spell."

As I removed my hands, Courtney asked Caroline "Are you sleepy yet?" In her sweet and innocent voice.

"No." Caroline replied with a tone.

"Oh well. It didn't work." I shrugged.

"Guess I got to perfect my skills." Courtney shrugged also.

"Guess so." Caroline agreed, turning back to face the computer screen to continue checking her email.

"Alright, see ya Caroline." Courtney and I simultaneously said.

"Ok."

We made our way back to the telephone booth, where Rhonda was sitting on the stool. Courtney and I climbed in and we all shifted around to take or usual spots.

"Where's the key?" I asked.

"I put it in the drawer." Rhonda answered, pulling out the small black drawer with a bunch of miniature pencils and notepads inside.

"That's smart. She'll never find it in there." Courtney praised.

"Yeah." I agreed. "But what are we going to do now? Stealing her key is hardly a prank."

"Ok, you guys are now going to tell Caroline I won't come out of the room." Rhonda told us.

"She won't care." Courtney said.

"Well then you guys make something up." Rhonda snapped.

"Kay, we will." I replied grabbing Courtney's wrist and pulling her out behind me.

Caroline was still sitting in front of the same computer checking her email. This isn't going to work. We're going to get caught.

"Hey, Caroline, have you seen Rhonda?" Courtney asked.

"We can't find her anywhere." I added.

"No. Did you guys check the caf?" Caroline replied.

"Yep, that's the first place we looked." Courtney chuckled.

"What about the gift shop?"

"Second place." I said.

"The bathroom."

"Yes." Courtney replied.

"Did you check if she was in the shower?"

"She took a shower last night." I reminded.

"I don't know, our room?" She said a little annoyed.

"Right! That place! I can't believe we didn't think of that." Courtney exclaimed.

"And you two are honors students." Caroline shook her head.

"I'm in regents' classes, thank you very much." I called over my shoulder as we walked out of the computer lab.

- -

"So how'd it go?" Rhonda asked when she saw us approach the booth.

"We told her we're going to check your room to see if you're in there." Courtney informed her.

"Wouldn't you have done that first?" She questioned.

"It's us." I replied.

As we were discussing our next plan of attack, the eldest Girl Scout leader, Maria came down the stairs. Maria was about seventy-five, but she doesn't look it, and since she is the eldest here, she asked for all of us to call her Grandma. She noticed us in the telephone booth and asked us to pose for pictures, because we were "just too funny." As we were taking a few pictures, I noticed Candace descending the staircase. That's one out of four. They're getting somewhere.

After the photos Courtney and I went back to disturbing Caroline. Being Caroline, she was still checking her email. Candace was sitting next to her, sifting through her own emails.

"Oh, hey Candace." Courtney greeted. "How'd it go?"

"It's still going." She laughed. "Emma has some real problems with Jamie and Kaitlyn."

"That's not good." I jumped in.

"Tell me about it." She sighed.

"Oh, Caroline, Rhonda's locked in your room." I brought up our little lie.

"Ok." Courtney was right, she didn't seem to care.

"She won't come out." Courtney added.

"I'm sure you guys will make her."

"Yeah, let's go try again." I nudged Courtney.

We met back in the telephone booth for a few more minutes, before Courtney and I decided that we'd have to extend our lie further to actually get Caroline to care that Rhonda was in their room alone, with all Caroline's stuff.

"Caroline," I said in a worried voice.

"What." We could tell she was getting annoyed with us.

"Rhonda's gone psychotic." I finished my sentence.

"She's making these weird like rabid animal noises and from outside it sounds like she's throwing things around." Courtney added, worried.

"It's freaking scary!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah." Courtney agreed.

"And she won't open it for us. But since it's your room too, can you force her out?" I asked her.

"Will this get you guys to leave me alone?" She asked.

"Yes." We both replied.

"We just want our Rhonda back." Courtney said with puppy dog eyes and a pouty lip.

"Fine."

"Yay!" We both exclaimed.

She believed us. She really believed us.

- -

We trailed behind Caroline up the staircases to our second floor rooms. Only Courtney and I noticed Rhonda hiding under the telephone booth desk. We both tried to stifle our laughs. Caroline marched up to her door and started knocking. "Rhonda, open up, it's Caroline." She got no answer. "Rhonda, come on. I know you're in there." She started getting frustrated. She banged on the door, "Rhonda open up!" She banged harder, "Rhonda stop it, I know you're in there! Open the freaking door!" Caroline was furious. Courtney and I were scared; we didn't mean to make her so made. "Rhonda!" Caroline nearly screamed.

Suddenly, we heard "You've been punked!" shouted from behind us. Courtney and I jumped out of fright, and Caroline turned to face the person.

"Oh. My. God." Caroline exclaimed. The two of us turned around to come face-to-face with Rhonda. "You guys are horrible. I hate you guys." Caroline screamed.

"Oh come on roomie. You love us." Rhonda smiled.

"Not right now. You guys are so mean." She snatched her key out of Rhonda's hand.

"Caroline, it's a prank." Courtney defended.

"But a bad prank." She went back downstairs to finish up writing her mother an email.

Just then, Emma and Vanessa's room's door opened. Emma was standing in the doorway with and very angry face on. She was still in her days outfit, and her face looked a little tired. Probably from all the fighting.

"You three are so mean. What did Caroline do to you?" she yelled, and none of us said anything, thinking the question was rhetorical. "That's right, she did nothing. And just because you're eighth graders doesn't mean you can act like babies. So grow the f*** up. Especially you, Dominique. You need to settle your s*** with Taylor because it's bad for the troop. You all should try and be friends. This is Girl Scouts. So really, apologize." She finished lecturing, and then slammed her door shut.

The three of us stood there for a second, before turning around and heading off to my room for some privacy. I wonder if Emma practices what she preaches.

Two days, just two more days with them and then I'm back home. One day and a plane ride. I can make it, I have Courtney and Rhonda. My two best friends in the world by my side.