"A great calamity is coming."

That's what everyone's been saying today, April 1st, 2008. 

Tomorrow, apparently, the world will end.

"What a bother" I mumbled, staring at the ceiling of my room. 

With a sigh, I drag myself out of bed, brushing my teeth and getting dressed for what might be the last day of school ever.

As I walk to school, lost in thought about the supposed apocalypse, I nearly bump into Sara.

"Hey!" she said. 

"Did you hear? The world is ending!"

"If it really was, why are we still going to school?"

Sara opens her mouth to reply, then closes it again. 

"That's..." She points at my face, her expression a mix of surprise and admiration. "Actually a good point. Wait, are you smart?"

"Nope" I reply, deadpan. "I've never been part of the intelligent population."

A slow grin spreads across Sara's face. 

"Good soldier! Now, do you want to skip school?"

I look at her for a moment, considering. 

Her eyes are bright with mischief. 

"Yeah" I find myself saying. "Why not?"

Sara's smile widens. 

"Excellent! Our first destination is the zoo. I've always wanted to see animals up close and personal!"

With that, she grabs my hand and changes direction, pulling me along with her.

"Wait" I say, jogging to keep up. "Haven't you been to a zoo before?"

"Well, duh!" she replies. "But there's one thing in them that absolutely fascinates me... zebras."

"What's so weird about zebras?"

Sara stops abruptly, turning to face me with an intense expression. 

"They're like horses, but black and white. How does that even happen?"

"Evolution, probably" I suggest.

She shakes her head vigorously. 

"No! That's where they get you. It's not evolution, it's aliens. Zebras are actually cameras for aliens to watch us from above. They're waiting for our demise so they can swoop in and steal all the cats!"

I stare at her for a moment. 

"That sounds like a great movie idea. Hey, there's an ice cream shop over there. Want to grab some?"

Sara's face lights up. 

"Yeah, sure!"

We walk into the shop, the little bell above the door tinkling as we enter. 

To our surprise, the place is completely empty.

"Hello?" I call out, looking around.

Sara giggles. 

"Maybe the Calamity already took them?"

"Super scary" I said sarcasticly. "They're probably all believers, hiding in their homes."

"Yeah" Sara nods, taking to a cup and starting to fill it with ice cream. 

"My mom begged me to stay home, but I said, NEVER!" She pauses, glancing at me. "I'd rather spend my time with you."

"If any other girl said that to me, I might have fallen in love," I said, grabbing my own cup.

Sara's eyes widen. 

"HUUUUH?! Why is that? Why not fall in love with me instead?"

I look at her, fighting to keep a straight face. 

"You're too stupid to be loveable."

"Whatever you say, Mr. Smart Guy" she says, sticking out her tongue. "Now start paying!"

We walk out of the shop with our ice cream.

"Okay, I hope I don't mess this up 3.1415926... 7? Yeah, I might be stupid after all."

"I told you so" Sara says smugly, then looks around at the city. 

People are going about their day.

"What if tomorrow really is the end?" she asks.

I shrug, licking the melting ice cream from my hand. 

"Then it is what it is, I guess. We all die eventually."

Sara turns to me, her expression uncharacteristically serious. 

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"But... what if I want to go outside like this with you more often?"

I meet her gaze. 

"If it's truly the end of the world, at least that's the last thing we did, right? Cherish the last moments, or something like that."

She stares at me for a moment, then breaks into a grin. 

"I was just joking. Why are you taking everything so seriously?"

I look down, hiding a smile. 

"That saddens me. I put my heart into what I said, and you don't think of it with all of your heart."

"...Loser" she mutters.

We walk in comfortable silence until we reach our destination. 

Only to find out, the zoo is closed.

"This is anticlimactic" I say, staring at the locked gates.

Sara turns to me. 

"What if... we break in?"

"I'm open to a lot of things, but isn't this too much?"

In response, Sara scoops up a spoonful of her ice cream and, before I can react, pops it into my mouth. 

I blink at her in surprise.

"Look" she says with a grin "you took a bite of my ice cream. Now repay me, and let's go to the zoo!"

As I swallow the ice cream, I find myself nodding. 

"Fine" I say, unable to resist her enthusiasm. "But if we get caught, I'm blaming you."

"Deal! Now, let's find a way in..."

I sighed, swallowing the ice cream she'd fed me.

We circled the perimeter of the zoo, looking for any weak spots in the fence. 

The place seemed deserted, probably because of the whole end-of-the-world thing. 

Finally, we found a section where the chain-link was slightly bent.

"Jackpot!" Sara exclaimed, already starting to climb.

I hesitated for a moment, then followed her lead. 

"I can't believe we're doing this."

Once inside, we crouched low and made our way towards the animal enclosures. 

The zoo was eerily quiet, with only the occasional squawk or growl breaking the silence.

"Where are the zebras?" Sara whispered, her eyes darting around excitedly.

I pointed to a sign. 

"African Plains exhibit, that way."

We walked along the empty paths, our footsteps echoing slightly. 

It felt surreal, like we were the only two people left in the world. 

Maybe we were, if the doomsayers were right.

As we rounded a corner, Sara suddenly grabbed my arm. 

"Look!" she said, pointing ahead.

There, in a large enclosure, were the zebras. 

Sara's face broke into a huge grin. 

"They're even cooler up close! Look at those stripes... definitely alien technology."

I couldn't help but smile. 

"Yeah, they're pretty impressive."

We stood there for a while, just watching the zebras. Sara's hand was still on my arm, and I found I didn't mind the contact.

"Hey" she said softly, turning to face me. "Thanks for coming with me today. I know it's kind of crazy, but... I'm glad I'm spending what might be my last day with you."

"Me too" I admitted.

We wandered through the rest of the zoo, marveling at the animals. 

Lions, monkeys, and elephants.

"It's kind of sad, isn't it?" Sara mused as we watched a polar bear swim lazy laps in its pool. 

"If the world really ends tomorrow, what happens to all these animals?"

I shrugged. 

"I guess they go with the rest of us. But hey, at least they don't know it's coming."

"Maybe that's better" she said thoughtfully. "Not knowing, I mean. Just living each day like it's normal."

We fell into a comfortable silence after that, continuing our tour of the empty zoo. 

As the sun started to dip lower in the sky, we decided it was probably time to leave before any security guards showed up for the night shift.

Making our way back to the bent section of fence, we climbed out as carefully as we'd come in. Once safely on the other side, Sara let out a whoop of triumph.

"We did it! Successful zoo heist complete!"

"I don't think it counts as a heist if we didn't actually steal anything."

"We stole an experience" she countered. "That's even better."

As we walked away from the zoo, I didn't want the day to end yet. 

"Hey, um, do you want to grab some dinner or something?"

Sara's smile softened. "Yeah, I'd like that."

We found a small diner that was still open.

 Inside, there were only a few other people.

"Guess not everyone's hiding at home" I observed.

Sara nodded. 

"Maybe they're like us. Figure if it's their last night on Earth, might as well enjoy it."

A tired-looking waitress came to take our order. 

We both got burgers and shakes, because why not?

As we waited for our food, Sara twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "So, what would you do if you knew for sure the world was ending tomorrow? Like for real, the craziest thing?"

I thought about it for a moment. 

"Honestly? Probably exactly what we're doing now. Spend time with someone I care about, eat good food, and have fun while trying not to freak out too much."

She blushed. 

"Someone you care about, huh?"

"Well, yeah," I said, feeling my face blushing. "I mean, we've been friends for a while now, right?"

"Right" she agreed. "But, just friends?"

Before I could answer, our food arrived. 

We dug in, the conversation shifting to lighter topics as we ate.

After we finished eating, neither of us seemed eager to leave. We ordered another round of drinks and settled into a comfortable silence.

"You know" Sara said eventually "I've always kind of liked you."

I nearly choked on my drink. "What?"

She laughed at my expression. "Don't look so surprised! I mean, why else would I drag you out of school to break into a zoo with me? Like seriously who would do that?"

"Because you're crazy and I'm easily persuaded?"

Sara rolled her eyes. "No. Because I wanted to spend time with you. Just in case... you know."

I nodded, understanding. "Just in case it really is the end."

"Yeah" she said softly.

I reached across the table and took her hand. 

"I like you too, you know. Even if you are stupid."

She squeezed my hand, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. 

"And even if you're a smartass who's not actually that smart."

We sat there for a while longer, holding hands across the table and talking about nothing and everything. A

s the diner started to close up for the night, we reluctantly got up to leave.

Outside, the streets were eerily quiet. 

It was already night and most people were probably at home.

"I should probably head home" Sara said, though she made no move to go. "My mom's probably freaking out."

I nodded. 

"Yeah, same. But, um, can I walk you home?"

She smiled. 

"I'd like that."

We walked slowly, neither of us in a hurry to end the night. 

When we reached Sara's house, we stood awkwardly on the front porch.

"So" I said, scuffing my shoe against the ground. "I guess this is goodnight. Or goodbye, if the world really does end."

Sara looked up at me. 

"Can I try something? Just in case it is goodbye?"

Before I could answer, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine. 

It was a soft, sweet kiss, over almost before it began.

"Wow" I breathed when she pulled away.

She grinned. 

"Yeah, wow."

We stood there for a moment, just looking at each other. 

Finally, Sara broke the silence.

"So, um, if the world doesn't end... do you maybe want to do this again sometime?"

I laughed. 

"Yeah, I'd like that. It's a date."

She smiled at me. 

"It's a date. Goodnight, dummy."

"Goodnight, crazy" I replied with a smile.

As I walked home, I couldn't help but feel a sense of hope. 

Maybe the world would end tomorrow, maybe it wouldn't. 

But either way, I was glad I'd spent today with Sara.

The next morning, I woke up to my alarm clock blaring. Groggily, I reached over to shut it off, then froze as realization hit me.

I was awake. The world hadn't ended.

2nd of April, 2008.

Laughing with relief, I jumped out of bed and walked to the window. 

Outside, everything looked normal. 

People were walking their dogs, cars were driving by, and the sun was shining.

I quickly got dressed and rushed downstairs. 

My parents were in the kitchen, looking slightly sheepish.

"Good morning, honey" my mom said. "I can't believe we actually thought tomorrow was the end of the world."

"It's okay. I had a pretty good last day, all things considered."

As I walked to school, I spotted Sara waiting at our usual meeting spot. 

When she saw me, her face broke into a huge smile.

"Hey!" she called out. "Looks like the aliens decided to spare us after all!"

"Yeah, I guess they did. Or maybe the zebras put in a good word for us."

The End.