Waiting for Mike (perrentes)✅

Chapter 1

"Race you!" Mikey yelled, a competitive gleam in his soft brown eyes as he began to scale the tall hill that lay behind our houses because we lived next door to each other. He ran as fast as he could, his hair whipping in the wind, as I tried to catch up with him. Eventually, I did, taking hold of his hand as we began to run together, almost nearing the top. We collapsed in a giggling heap as we reached the top where the old oak tree stood.

Mike and I came here every day after school. It was our own private place and we would sit on the branches of the oak tree and tell each other everything. On hot days during summer holidays, we would lie beneath the cool shades of the branches and I would play my guitar for Mike. He would always smile and lean against the trunk of the tree, watching as I played.

After we stopped giggling, Mike stood up, helping me off the floor. We climbed up to the highest branch that was thick enough to sit on. I slid along the branch, to the part closest to the trunk and leant against it, running my fingers over the smooth bark. Mike slid along to sit next to me, taking hold of my hand, like he always did.

"Hey, Mikey?" I asked him, staring down at our hands locked together.

"Yeah, Tone?" he replied, fiddling with the hem of his shorts.

"We will always be best friends, won't we?" I wanted to know.

"Of course, Tone, you're my best ever friend," Mike replied, squeezing my hand reassuringly and smiling at me.

"You're my best friend ever too," I told him, following his gaze to where our feet dangled in the air, above the ground.

"Hey, look Tone, there's a book down there! Let's go see what it is," Mike exclaimed suddenly, letting go of my hand and jumping down.

I followed, jogging over to where Mike was crouched behind the tree. He picked up the old tattered book, examining it carefully and running his hands across the cover.

"What book is it?" I asked, leaning over his shoulder to look at the cover.

Mike opened the book, looking at the first page. It was laid out with character names and lines.

"It's not a book, I think it's a play," Mike responded, smiling at it and turning back to the front cover.

"Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett," I read the gold print font aloud.

"Hey, let's read it," Mikey declared, leading me back up the tree.

I followed eagerly. For the rest of the afternoon we sat in our special oak tree, reading the play and acting out certain parts and putting on voices. The play was all about two tramps sitting in a ditch by the side of the road, waiting for some guy named Godot who never comes. Mike and I loved every second of it and finished the play just as the sun was starting to set, melting orange streaks across the sky.

"So Godot never comes?" Mike asked, furrowing his brows and looking cutely confused. Honestly, I liked Mike as more than just my best friend, although I wasn't too sure if that was okay. It had confused me a lot, but I mostly just brushed it aside. After all, at that point I was only eleven.

"I guess so," I shrugged, as Mike frantically flipped the last page back and forth as though he was searching for another ending.

I shivered in the soft cold breeze that fluttered through the oak tree leaves.

"You cold, Tone? I guess it is getting pretty dark," Mike asked me.

"A little, wanna go back to my house for dinner?" I responded as we climbed down the tree.

"Yeah, we can show your mum the play, is she feeling better?" Mike wanted to know, smiling sympathetically at me.

"I guess she is," I responded, looking down at my feet. At this point, my mum had stage two lung cancer.

I shivered once again and Mike unzipped his jacket, handing it to me.

"Put it on, you'll feel warmer," he insisted, smiling as I put it on.

"Thanks, Mikey," I told him, giving him a quick side hug and zipping up his jacket which was warm from his body heat.

We hurried back down the hill in the growing dusk. When we reached my house, I opened the door and ran in with Mike in tow.

"Mum, we're back, I've got Mike with me, we have something to show you," I called out, as Mike and I ran up the stairs.

We found my mother propped up in bed, under the soft floral sheets. She looked a little pale and tired, but smiled nevertheless.

"Hi Tony, Mike, how was your day at school?" My mother asked, hugging us both, like she always did.

"Good, thanks," Mike responded, as I nodded in agreement.

"Look, we found this up the hill. It's a play called Waiting For Godot  and its amazing," I rambled excitedly, whilst Mike nodded eagerly next to me.

"Yeah, you want us to show you it?" Mike asked, grinning at me.

"Sure," my mother chuckled at our excitement.

And so that night we performed it for her, passing the book between us and doing all the voices and acting out each movement. My mother smiled and laughed and told us how good it was when we were finished, clapping for us whilst Mike hugged me.

"Well done, guys that was great," she smiled and then she started coughing, really coughing.

And I got scared.

Mike ran to the bathroom and got her a glass of water.

It didn't help much and we had to call an ambulance.

I cried into Mike's shoulder, sobbing into his t-shirt as the ambulance pulled away and a nice lady in a paramedic uniform. He clung to me and whispered that it would be okay.

And it was okay. Well mostly. My mother came out of hospital, still with stage two lung cancer and most things continued as normal. That was until the new kid, Jaime Preciado showed up in our sixth grade class.

A/N: so new perrentes. I hope you enjoy. Obviously most of the story will take place when they are sixteen so this is a bit of background and there will be a little more background in the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading.