There were better and worse moments in my life but there was one thing in which I was lucky. My class. Three years ago, when I saw them for the first time, we didn’t know anything about each other, apart from the fact that we would get bored together during lessons and perhaps play truant. It was a small class in a private school – there were only ten of us. Six boys and four girls. After three years we were really close – real friends. Well, of course, as it happens in any class, some people were bigger friends than others… Now, my best friend is Maciek. Ania is his girlfriend. Her best friend is Matylda who is secretly in love with Maciek. Ania and Matylda spend a lot of time together painting. They both want to study art. Hanka and Kasia are also very good friends. Hanka’s boyfriend is Tomek, also from our class. Kasia also has a boyfriend, but he is older and we don’t know him very well. Well, I like Kasia very much. Some time in the past, it was in the second grade, I thought we could be together, but then she met this guy and it seems we lost her… And I lost my hope. The other three boys in the class have a rock band. Well, so we are a kind of mixture. We don’t take drugs. We drink beer sometimes. Some people smoke, some don’t. And we like spending time together. I can’t believe in the future we will have our own lives, we’ll go to different universities and perhaps even live in different cities…
I decided to organize a campfire just after the Matura exam. I knew a place: not far from Warsaw, by the river. Beautiful for celebrating our last time together. On Saturday evening we set off, with sausages, drinks and guitars. Tomek and Maciek have got cars, so we were ready for the trip. We really love playing and singing together although it’s not very popular nowadays… The fire was fantastic. We roasted sausages with bread and drank beer. It was warm and we could see bright stars in the sky. Only Kasia was sad. I thought it was because she couldn’t invite her boyfriend here. But it appeared the reason was completely different… From time to time she took her mobile and texted somebody, I could hear also the signal of messages coming. She was with us, but in fact she was absent…
I decided to talk with Hanka. She was Kasia’s friend and I was simply worried, although Kasia wasn’t my girlfriend. “He is very jealous, her boyfriend”, Hanka said. “It’s like obsession”. He calls her or texts her all the time, he watches her from his car, he even follows her! He doesn’t let her meet anybody. He accuses her of having a love affair with somebody. Kasia is fed up with him – but she is afraid when she says she doesn’t want to continue this relationship, he will become mad and kill her”. I couldn’t believe it! How could I be thinking she was happy? Why didn’t I see it before? I turned back to look at Kasia, I wanted to talk to her, to give her some advice, to protect her, but… she wasn’t there! I looked round but she was not sitting by the fire. “Where is she?’, I shouted to Hanka. “Hey, don’t exaggerate.” – she laughed. “I guess she simply, well, she’ll be back in a moment, for sure”. But she wasn’t. After ten minutes I decided to look for her. I couldn’t find her anywhere. “Kasia! Kasia!” I was shouting! No answer. I returned to the fire and persuaded everybody to go with me. It started to rain but we didn’t even notice – we were so worried! We divided ourselves into four groups and went in four different directions.
The rain got stronger and a storm began. We started to run to the river and suddenly, in the light of a lightning, I saw some shape on the river. A boat! I shouted. Let’s go! We ran as fast we could. It was really dark: only sometimes the river was lightened for a moment: then we could see some movements on the boat, and when we got closer, we also heard the noises of an argument. The boat was swinging with two people on it. I recognised Kasia with her long, curly hair. Suddenly she fell into the water. I didn’t hesitate for a moment and I dived. I could see her hands and her head above the surface and I swam as quickly as I could. Fortunately I’m a good swimmer. It lasted too long, I thought I had lost her. Luckily the river is not very rough here. I managed to catch her under the water and pulled her to the shore. She didn’t breathe. I took a deep breath and started to push air into her lungs. I wasn’t even thinking that – in fact – I was kissing her… After a moment I felt her breathe. She was saved. I was so weak that I simply sat down on the ground. The storm had finished but it was still raining. My friends helped me to take Kasia to the campfire – but of course there was no fire! Everything was cold and wet. She was feeling well, but we took her to hospital. I can’t think what could have happened…
She hasn’t told me yet what exactly happened on the boat – and I’m not really sure if I want to listen. The only thing he said was “It was an accident”. I don’t even know what happened with the boyfriend. The fact is that he disappeared from our lives. She doesn’t want to talk about the past and we are more and more fascinated with the present. We have passed our exams and we are at the university. We all – our class – meet sometimes. But some people meet more often than others. Like Kasia and me.
Improve your vocabulary!
get bored – być znudzonym
to be in love – być zakochanym
accuse – oskarżać
persuade – przekonać
argument – kłótnia
swimmer – pływak
ground – ziemia
last – trwać
fastinate – fascynować