Santiago and Felix wanted to go to the mall on Saturday. They had both saved up their money from lawn mowing and yard work. Each had been working for 3 weeks on Saturdays and Sunday afternoons to earn money. Their favorite place in the mall was around the food court and video arcade.
Santiago’s older sister, Felicia, offered to drive them since she was going to get her hair done at Pro-Cuts there anyway. Felicia told them to be ready by her car at 9:45 Saturday morning. The mall opened at 10:00 and it would take them about 15 minutes or so to get there. Felix had a tendency to be late all the time, so Santiago was a little worried that he wouldn’t show up on time. Santiago had a plan to make sure that didn’t happen this time.
He asked his mother on Friday after school, if Felix could spend the night. Luckily she agreed if they didn’t stay up late and if he cleaned his room before Felix came over. So Santiago quickly called Felix to see if he could come over and spend the night. Felix was elated! “Sure thing, buddy! I will be there in a jiffy!”
“Don’t come too soon, I have to clean my room! Mama made me promise to do it!” Santiago said.
“No worries, dude, I can help.” Felix replied.
So it was set. Santiago did ask his mama is Felix could help him clean his room. His mama just laughed and said, “Sure, you boys are so silly.”
As soon as Felix got there, the boys started on their room cleaning project. This gave Felicia an idea, too.
“Guys, if I am giving you a ride to the mall tomorrow, how about cleaning my room, too?”
“No way! Not a girl’s room!!” They both exclaimed at the same exact time.
“Oh, well, can’t blame a girl for trying!” Laughed Felicia. “Don’t worry, I will still take you.”
That night the boys played video games and watched a combat movie. About 10:30pm, Santiago remembered what his mama said about not staying up late. He told Felix, “We better get to bed, Mama said not to stay up late if you came over.”
“No problem, let’s hit the sack,” Said Felix.
The next morning, they were up, bathed, dressed, and had eaten breakfast by the time Felicia was ready to go.
“Wow, on time both of you and ready. This must be a special mall day for y’all!” She said.
When they got to the mall, Felicia told them to be sure to keep an eye on their watches. She also told them to meet her back at the door they came in exactly at 12:30. Her hair appointment would take one hour and then she wanted to meet friends to shop, as well. The boys agreed.
Their first stop was the video arcade where they met up with other friends and started playing games. It wasn’t long before Felix wanted to go get a snack at the food court. You could say Felix liked food. He wasn’t over weight or anything, he just liked to eat. Santiago was in the middle of a game and said he would be there shortly. Well, you guessed it, shortly didn’t happen. Felix had his snack and waited for about 30 minutes for Santiago to show up. He didn’t know what to do. So he headed back to the video arcade. He did notice that his watch showed it to be 12:10. They only had 20 minutes left and they had not even gone to any shops. Felix felt a sick feeling that he better find Santiago fast or Felicia would not be happy. She might not ever take them again if they did not make it back on time. Felix started almost running around a corner and splat! He ran right into Santiago!
“What took you so long, dude? I had my snack and waited on you forever!” Felix said in a bit of a disgruntled voice.
“My fault, all my fault! I was beating the game and didn’t want to stop! Sorry. You are my best friend and I feel bad for letting you down.” Replied Santiago.
“No worries, we better get going back to the door we came in at and meet Felicia.” Said Felix.
When they got to the meeting place, Felicia was just walking up.
“Hey guys, y’all want to stay longer?” She said.
The guys grinned and nodded yes.
“Great, meet me here at 2:30. I am going to the movies with my friends. I already called Mama to let her know we would be staying longer.”
Happily the boys went to shop with their money, bought new sneakers, ate lunch and even got to play video games again.
