Read Online Will You Be My Friend? by P.J. Night - Free Book Online Page A

up to the drawer’s handle, but she just could not reach. And even if she could manage to get the drawer open, how would she get the files out?
    Standing in the corner next to this cabinet was a ladder. Is there even room enough in here to open this thing? Beth wondered. There was only one way to find out.
    Slowly and quietly Beth slipped the ladder from its resting place. Pulling the two hinged sections apart, she managed to pry it open. The legs on each side rested against the base of a file cabinet.
    I just hope I can wriggle myself up and still be able to open that top drawer.
    As Beth took her first step onto the ladder, she heard voices coming from the hallway just outside the door. She froze in place, on the bottom step, standing on one foot.
    â€œThis is the old student records room, huh?” said a woman with a young-sounding voice.
    â€œNot so old,” replied a man with a gruff voice. “It took this school a while to join the twenty-first century. Believe it or not, we only started keeping student records on computer this year.”
    â€œSo what did you do before that?” asked the woman, sounding totally surprised. “Keep records on, like, paper?”
    â€œYup. Want to see? The door should be unlocked. Harold Wasser has been digitizing all the records in here so that we can eventually empty this room.”
    From her one-footed perch on the bottom step of the ladder Beth saw the doorknob turn and the door open slightly inward.
    Fear coursed through her veins.
    That’s it. I’m finished, Beth thought. My life is over. The school will have me arrested. My mom . . . I don’t even want to think about my mom.
    â€œNo time now,” said the woman. “Got a meeting. Maybe later.”
    â€œOkay,” said the man.
    The door closed with a thud—the most beautiful sound Beth had ever heard.
    When she heard the two sets of footsteps fade away, she stepped down off the ladder to compose herself, and also to give her aching left leg a rest.
    Well that explains why the door was unlocked and why all these file folders are stacked on top of the cabinet , she thought in her relief. Someone is taking all these paper records and scanning them into a computer.
    Beth started back up the ladder but then paused suddenly.
    Which means that Harold Wasser could come in at any second to grab another handful of files!
    Beth scrambled up with a new sense of urgency. She had to find what she needed and get out of there as soon as possible. Time was most definitely not her friend.
    Reaching the highest step of the ladder, Beth slowly eased the drawer open and pulled out a fistful of folders. Placing them on top of the cabinet, she flipped through, page by page, searching for the face she knew all too well even by the dimmest of light.
    About halfway through the first folder, Beth heard a noise. She paused. Glancing down, she saw a hand shoving the one tiny window in the room open. A face flashed in front of the window but vanished before Beth had a chance to process it.
    Scrambling down the ladder, fretting the lost time in her search, Beth squeezed between two file cabinets and pressed herself against the window. She stuck her head out and caught a glimpse of a tall figure disappearing around a corner.
    Elizabeth? Beth wondered at the retreating head of short, black hair.
    Beth was confused, but she didn’t have time to think much about what was going on. She would certainly get caught if she waited any longer. Not to mention that she needed to get home before her mom arrived.
    She was halfway back up the ladder when she glimpsed more movement outside the window.
    What now? she thought.
    She climbed back down and peered out the window. Nothing, but then all of a sudden something popped up and grabbed her hand. Beth jumped back a bit before she noticed that it was only a curious black cat, on its hind legs, peering into the room. Beth reached out to pet the cat, but it hissed,