“Savannah, you have to get up!  We are here.  We are at the airport,”  Rylee, my best friend and one of my classmates, said to me.
Rylee was a person everyone wanted for a friend. She has blond, shoulder length hair. Her eyes are baby blue and sparkle in the light. She has the cutest outfits. She’s always the one that everyone wanted to look like. I have known Rylee since I was one and she’s my best friend.
Everyone was off the bus except me and Rylee, so I yanked my suit case out from under my seat and we hurried to catch up with our group. Miss Hays, the teacher that was watching us, said that our flight was leaving from gate H-12. Miss Hays was probably the nicest teacher; she has brown hair with blond highlights and was very skinny. We were only by gate H-1, so we started to jog. We finally made it to our gate and they were calling us next after zone 3.
“Zone three, last call for zone three,” the flight attendant spoke at the front desk. We all gathered our stuff together and waited for zone four to be called.
“Boys and girls, I will be assigning you a job when we get to London and you will do it with a partner. Immediately, Rylee pointed at me and I knew that meant she wanted to be my partner. Miss Hays told us that one of the jobs we could choose from was cleaning up after a fire that had happened last year. Both Rylee and I shot our hands up and volunteered to do that.
Then I heard the microphone being picked up and the flight attendant said,
“Zone 4, you may enter the plane at this time.”
We all trudged down the narrow hallway and got on the plane. The pilot came on the loud speaker to make an announcement.  He told us the flight was going to last nine hours with no layover. Suddenly my jaw dropped.  This is going to take forever. As the plane started its engine and taxied the runway, I started to think about what we would do in London. First, we might go to Big Ben.  Then the pilots came over the intercom and let us know that we had seven and a half more hours until we arrived. Everyone on the plane started to stand up and shake their heads.
Time passed and we finally got to the London airport.  After landing, we went to the baggage claim to pick up our bags. Everyone scrambled around to get their bags picked up. We all stomped out the door to get on the bus that would take us to our rental home in London.  It was about a thirty- minute drive.  I got out my iPad and started to play on it. Then I got a text from my mom. I was so happy because I had not texted her, actually I had not talked to her since we left to go to school and get on the bus.
My mom’s text read, “Hey, Savannah! How is everything going?”
I replied back saying,
“Good.  We just got out of the airport and now are on the bus heading to the rental house. Also, mom we won’t have cell service when we get to the house. So I will talk to you later. I love you so much mom.”
Shortly before we arrived I looked out the window and there was a sign that read, “Closed because of a fire. Reopening in the fall.”  At that moment I knew that was one of the buildings we would be working at. I saw ashes and half of a wall; the rest had fallen. We finally arrived at the house and I hurried up the stairs because I wanted to pick my room first.  I chose a teal room for Rylee and me to share. It was close to the stairs, which I liked because we would be the early birds and get up every morning and start working on our job.
When everyone got upstairs they said,
“This is like a dream house. Four stories high with a pool, slide, hot tub and a water park just down the road. It was getting late, so we all decided to change into our pajamas and go to bed.
The next morning, I looked out the window, jumped up, put on my tennis shoes, and put on some junky clothes to work in.  I asked Rylee if she wanted to go now.  Anxiously, she jumped out of bed and got ready. We went into Miss Hays’ room and told her that we were going to start our job and we would be back later. We walked out the door and started in the direction towards the house that we were going to work at. As we got closer, it smelled like something was burning and heard people screaming. Immediately, we started to run in the direction of the noise. As we got closer, my jaw dropped so far that I heard it crack.  Rylee was so confused. A house was on fire. Rylee and I sprinted up the hill to get a closer look. There were families on their knees bawling. It broke my heart to hear kids  screaming for help.  What made it worse was finding out that it was a day care burning and there were still kids inside.
“Savannah look at this,” Rylee said with her blood shot red teary eyes.
“I know Rylee, but what can we….” I started to say but was then interrupted by Rylee.
“Savannah, I know this sounds scary but we have to do something. We have to go in and save them!  There are kids inside and they deserve to live.
“ Rylee said in a soft voice. Rylee and I sprinted toward the fire. Parents were hunched over trying not to drop to the ground, with tears running down their faces. Rylee and I said a prayer before we went in hoping the kids would come out safe. We rushed in and time seemed to slow down.  The only sounds I heard were kids screaming with fear. We took long strides and then split up to go get the kids. I turned to the left and Rylee turned right. In a split second the smoke had covered her up. I could not see her anymore, but I could hear her talking to the kids. I ran up to her and could hardly breathe. It was worth it. I thought.  No matter what it does to me, I want these kids to survive. I heard another voice in the distance and went to the child, leaving Rylee struggling to get the kids out.
I said to the child,
“I’M COMING!  START WALKING TOWARD MY VOICE.”
Then I saw a four year olds sweet face looking right at me.  I stared into her eyes. She looked so scared.  Her eyes were filled with fear. As I pulled on her arm, I shouted for Rylee,
“Rylee, do you have any of the kids?” There was no response. Out of the corner of my eye I saw flashing lights. As I looked out a smoke covered window that was nearby, I saw the flashing lights of an ambulance and then noticed Rylee lying on a stretcher. I started to die on the inside. She was everything to me. We had laughs, tears and fights but we were still best friends. Terrible thoughts entered my mind. Did she die?  Or was she just hurt? I looked at her again and saw her pointing to the sky with her eyes still shut. I have to go see her now.  I sprinted to get the kids. So far I had 4 out of 5. I could not find one.  As I hopped over a chair, a piece of ember touched my foot. “Ooouuuchhh,” I screamed. I was in so much pain, but couldn’t waste anymore time. I had to go. We were five feet away from getting out of the burning building.
I gave the girls a hug and said, “We can do this!”
We leaped over a piece of wood that was on fire. I could see the flames in the kids’ eyes. We had one more step. I hoped, while praying, that everyone was going to be ok. We carefully walked toward the door, another piece of wood started to fall.  We all sprinted before it fell and luckily made it out safely. All I saw was the flashing of camera lights.  I felt arms tightly wrapped around me.
Everyone was saying, “Thank you.  Bless you.” I slowly walked up to the ambulance. The guy standing there sadly mumbled,
“She is gone.”
I screamed,  “What?  No, please! Rylee, don’t leave me! You’re everything to me.” With tears streaming down my face, I knelt down to say goodbye. I saw all of the class standing across the street from the burning building staring at the sky and shaking. I read Miss Hays lips,
“RIP Rylee, we love you”
Miss Hays said that we would be leaving for home right away because of the loss and since we have no cell service we need to go home and let Rylee's family know what had happened. Whenever she said Rylee I died inside. Everyone walked back to their room and packed up. We all got on the bus for the airport. Before we left, I told Miss Hays that I had forgotten something. I walked back to the room that Rylee and I shared and said goodbye to the memories. Then I walked back down the stairs and got on the bus.
We finally arrived at the airport, went through security and got on the plane. Several hours later we landed in California. Before we got off the plane, we all held hands and prayed. After our prayer, we all looked for our parents. Oh gosh, it’s going to be mess in Rylee’s family when they hear the news. Rylee’s mom and dad were outside the security area waiting for her. This is going to be very difficult. I had found my mom and she was asking where Rylee was. I stood in silence not wanted to think anymore of losing my best friend. We walked out of the airport and looked ahead.  I saw them standing there, in tears, bent over covering their faces talking to Miss Hays.