~Dan~
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Ugh, school.
Double ugh because it's Monday.

I somehow managed to force myself out of bed and get ready for school. I was out the door in twenty minutes and I almost missed the bus, only catching it by the last second.
"You're lucky Howell." My cranky bus driver muttered as I made my way to the very last seat where my girlfriend Cat was sitting.
"Hey babe." I gave her a passionate kiss on the lips.
"Hey." She smiled as I wrapped my arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder. "How's it going?"
"Just wonderful." I gave her a kiss on the forehead. "The band's doing great and I have you in my life."
I saw hints of a blush forming on her face. "I wish we had classes together. But no, you have to be super smart."
According to everyone in my grade, I was super smart. I guess I could see where they came up with that, seeing as I take all college classes. And mostly juniors and seniors (I remembered what the Americans call them!) took them and I was the only freshman (Look at me! I'm remembering more American stuff despite having a few years to learn it!) in any of my classes.
"Hey, you'll still see me at lunch." I told Cat as we arrived at school. I didn't live that far but I was too lazy to walk. And plus, I was still too young to get my license.
"True." She grabbed ahold of my hand and we walked off the bus. We were silent until the principal beckoned me over.
"I'll catch up with you later." I called to Cat as I went over to him.
"I need to talk you to in my office." He told me in his booming voice. He must have seen the expression on my face because he quickly added, "Don't worry. You're not in trouble."
I sighed with relief as he led me into his office. I sat down in the chair and he sat down in the one that I wished I could sit in because not only was it ten times better than mine but it also spun around.
"Dan, how would you be interested in being an aid to a fellow student around here?" The principal asked. "You're the perfect candidate because you and this student have all the same classes."
"Really?" I was surprised and I was searching my memory to try and figure out who in this school had every single class with me. I eventually gave up and asked who the person was.
"His name is Phil Lester." The principal adjusted his glasses as he responded to me. "He's a senior. But you probably know him since you two have every single class together."
I tried so hard to remember there ever being the name Phil Lester ever come up in any of my classes. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't become familiar with the name.
"No, I don't recall that name."
"Hm, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. Phil's a quiet one."
"If you don't mind me asking, why does he need an aid?"
"He lost his legs due to frostbite." It was quite strange how calmly the principal had said that. But from what I heard, he's been the principal of this school for a long time so he's probably seen a lot during his time. "He'll need help carrying his stuff around and you'll have to ride the elevator every single time you need to switch floors."
I'll be honest, I'm terrified of that elevator. From what I heard, it's been the same since the school was built in the early 1900's. I've also heard plenty of stories about it breaking it down and kids being stuck in there for more than an hour at a time.
Just thinking about going in that elevator made my heart drop. But it seemed like this Phil kid really needed someone to be there for him. And I want to be that person.
"So Dan, what do you say?" The principal asked me. "Will you be Phil's aid until the end of the school year?"
"Yes." I smiled. "I will."
"Wonderful! I'll go tell him! You wait here and then I'll bring him in here so that you two can introduce yourselves."

About three or so minutes later, a kid with jet black hair and ice blue eyes came in with a wheelchair. My eyes immediately darted to his missing legs. The jeans that he was wearing only made it much more obvious that he didn't have legs.
"Well, I'm going to write you two a pass so that you're excused from being tardy to your first class." The principal told us with a smile on his face. "In the meantime, you two introduce yourselves and get to know one another a bit. After all, you guys will be around each other quite a lot until the end of the year."
Phil didn't say a word as the principal walked out. So I decided to be the one who introduced himself first.
"Hey, I'm Dan." I got up from my seat as I extended my hand out towards him.
"I'm Phil." He took my hand in his and shook it. I could tell by the look in his eyes and the way that he shook my hand that he was extremely shy. I could also tell by his accent that he was British, just like me.
"It's great to meet you." I wanted to keep the conversation going.
"You too." He nodded.
I was about to say something else when the principal returned and handed us our passes.
"You two head on out now." He said. "You don't want to be more late than you already are."
"Right." I walked out of his office and then turned to Phil. "Hey, where's your stuff?"
"Right up here." He moved his wheelchair over to where a pile of books were. I was glad at that moment that I had a backpack. "Can you hand me that notebook at the very top? It's the one that's red."
"Sure." I grabbed the notebook and gave it to him before taking the other stuff in my arms. "Let's head off to class now."
"Let's stop at my locker first so that you don't have to carry so much."
"Yeah, that's an even better idea." I laughed. "Where's your locker?"
"Upstairs."
Great. Taking the elevator already. This is the one time when I hate that all the senior lockers are upstairs.
"We'll have to go on the elevator of doom!"
"So you've heard the stories about it too?" I asked him as we began making our way towards it.
"Who hasn't? It's basically a school legend now."
"Very true." I pressed the button and waited for it to open. "I wonder how long it'll take for this old thing to open?"
As if it didn't like me calling it old, it opened just a moment after I said that.
"I don't think I've ever seen it open that fast." Phil entered the elevator and I followed soon after. "Dan, I think you have elevator superpowers."
"Are elevator superpowers even a thing?" I laughed as the doors closed.
"They are now." Phil smiled. His smile faded as soon as the elevator began moving up. I was glad that I wasn't the only one who was terrified of the damn thing.

*****

"There." Phil shut his locker and put the lock on it. "That'll make it way easier on you."
"It does make it way easier on me." I agreed. "But you know what sucks? First period ends in ten minutes so we'll have to go back downstairs to where my locker is and grab my stuff for second period. And you know what that means.."
"It means that you'll have to use your elevator superpowers to save the day!" Phil cried happily.
All I could do is just laugh in response.