We were totally out of breath by the time we got there, but as the pod went up, I found the perfect view to de-stress with. Holly and her mom had picked the perfect time, the very start of the evening. The city was twinkling below us, and the traffic on the bridges and boats underneath looked like tiny little toys. I was worried about Fred though. He was unusually quiet, like when we first met, but whenever I asked if he was okay, all he said was “we’re on the London Eye” and then started telling me about the Great Fire of London. Or the plague.

We touched down an hour before our train was due to leave, with six things still left to do. Despite being totally exhausted, we rushed straight back toward the Tube.

“Twenty-three thousand, one hundred and thirty-four steps. We should have gotten sponsored for today.” Fred flopped back on the Tube seat.

“Oh yeah? And who would we raise money for?”

“Overworked elves,” he replied immediately. “I couldn’t even hack a day.”

“Only one thing left though.” We’d gotten creative on the sprint to the station. “And we’re done. Like done, done, AND done.” There was no way I was getting thrown out of the competition—not after all this. “How long have we got?”

Fred looked at his watch. “Fifty minutes. And it takes ten to get there. We should be fine…”

“Yup.” I liked this. Say it to bring it into existence and all that. “Hopefully there’ll be hardly any line for that dumb photo now.” I jumped on the Underground Wi-Fi and posted an update to my followers to let them know I was going to do this. “So what was your favorite part?”

“The London Eye, probs… I’m not a huge fan of heights.” So that’s why he kept reading death facts from his phone. “Everyone’s got to do it once, right? And now my once is done.”

“I’m sorry…” I felt like a bit of a jerk for not realizing sooner. “Was it worth it?”

Fred turned to me but took a long time before he answered. “Absolutely.”

And we both grinned. For so long that it gave me enough time to think, We’re really both smiling at each other, aren’t we? And then, Is this weird? And then, No, and then smile some more.

But my smile vanished as an announcement came on. THIS TRAIN IS BEING HELD DUE TO THE PASSENGER ALARM BEING PULLED ON THE TRAIN AHEAD.

What?

The old lady next to me leaned over, seeing my panic.

“Nothing to worry about, it just means we’ll be stuck here a while.”