Arnold and Kathleen were dancing contently to the music (her much more gracefully than he) when Keesha and Casey approached them. Keesha turned to Kathleen and asked, "May I cut in? I'll bring him back in a minute." Kathleen was too confused to protest and backed away. Keesha turned to a just as confused Arnold, who wasted no time. "What's going on, Keesh?"
"Look," Keesha began. "We live closer than anyone in the gang, yet this is the first we've seen each other since you got married, and I don't get why."
"Uh..," Arnold stammered. "I have a kid, Keesh. It's hard to do much of anything with a kid that young with both of us working. Plus your job is still new and stressful…"
"I know all that, I understand, and I'm not blaming anybody," Keesha interrupted. "But you would think if we're as good friends as we all say we are, we should have made some sort of effort." She paused, her brown eyes openly communicating her nerves. "I mean, I get that all eight of us aren't going to have many opportunities anymore to all be together, so you'd think mini-groups like us who live close by would take advantage. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"Yeah, I do," Arnold responded. "It's not like I don't want to. It's just…" It was Arnold's turn to pause. "You live your life day to day and things like this keep getting pushed back and back until it's been two years and you realized you haven't seen your best friends in forever. I've been thinking about that ever since I got the reunion invitation."
"I just don't want to drift apart completely. The eight of us...we have something special I think and to lose it would be stupid."
Arnold nodded. "I agree completely."
"So what do you say, Arn? How about we both make an attempt to see each other when we get back to DC? Remember, it's hard making new friends down there because it's so hard to find people who aren't douchebags."
Arnold laughed. "Deal." The two shook hands. They had long ago stopped the pretense of dancing and were standing near a wall. They looked out for their wife and fiancée, finding the two talking near the refreshment table.
Keesha studied them. "They seem to be enjoying each others company. That's a plus."
What Keesha didn't know is that Casey and Kathleen were discussing her.
"Sorry about Keesha's rudeness there," Casey started. "She's been anxious lately that her and her friends are drifting apart."
"It's OK," Kathleen replied. "It's their night, and I get the anxiety. These guys have been best friends since third grade. I teach third graders, and to me, it's mindboggling."
"That Miss Frizzle must have been some teacher."
"Yeah, I'd love to know her secret. Most of my kids like me, but I'd be shocked if they remembered who I was twenty years later with any sort of detail."
"I don't think it's for us to understand. Every time I ask Keesha she stumbles and says she's can't explain, which is the only time that ever happens."
Kathleen shrugged. "Arnold's told me some…things, so to a point I get why they have such a tight bond. They're all pretty nice people, and they've welcomed us into their group, so yeah, I want them to stay friends too. Arnold always seems a little happier when he sees one of 'the gang.'"
"Yeah, Keesha too, so we'll see."
The two noticed Arnold and Keesha coming towards them. "Have fun catching up?" Kathleen asked. She turned to Casey. "It was good talking to you. We should all get together at some point. Also, if you ever want to babysit Stephen…" She winked in an obvious fashion.
Arnold laughed. "Funny, Keesha and I were talking about similar things. We'll talk and hash something out when we get back to DC."
Casey nodded. "Sounds like a plan." Arnold and Kathleen went back to the table. Casey turned to his fiancée. "Feeling better?"
"Much."
Meanwhile, those that chose to eat rather than dance returned with their food. Carlos handed a plate of vegetables to Phoebe. "Here, Pheebolino. This is the only veggie stuff there and you better eat it before it gets gross looking…more so."
Phoebe took the plate half-heartedly. "Thanks Carlos."
"You just can't stop being a ladies' man, can you dear?" Martina asked. Before Carlos could respond, they both noticed a distracted looking Phoebe paying no attention.
Carlos snapped his fingers. "Earth to Phoebe. What's up?"
"Oh, um, I just found out my roommate got engaged last night."
Ralphie, having escaped Wanda's clutches, returned just in time to hear that. "Really? Cool! You don't look so thrilled though."
"Oh, I'm happy for her," Phoebe replied, still deep in thought. "But this changes some things. I'll either have to move or find a new roommate."
The rest of the gang gradually returned to their home table. Those that hadn't grabbed food did so, despite the tepid reports from those that had already grazed.
"I'm convinced this is repurposed cafeteria food," Tim remarked.
"In hindsight, we shouldn't have been surprised," Keesha scoffed.
"It reminds me of the food we ate in Iraq," Wanda absentmindedly added. The rest of the gang stopped what they were doing and looked at her. "What?"
An uncomfortable moment of silence passed before DA spoke up. "You've never really said anything about what happened when you were over there, so we were surprised."
"What's there to tell? It's war. It sucks. The end."
Another awkward silence. This time Ralphie spoke next. "OK Wanda, but well, we all mostly know what everyone else has been doing, except for you. We all just want to make sure you got through that shit alright." The rest of the gang nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for your concern," Wanda shot back, her voice dripping with irritation. "Really though, I'm fine, and I'd really appreciate it if you all would stop walking on eggshells around me. That part of my life is over, and I'd prefer not to discuss it."
Before anyone could respond, the music stopped and was replaced by the screech of a microphone feedback. The gang instinctively covered their ears, while Wanda tried to duck under the table before Phoebe stopped her. The auburn haired young woman looked at Wanda with concern, causing the latter to look away.
At the microphone stood the Walkerville High principal, Mr. Chafee. He was a short, squat, balding man who exuded anything but strong leadership. Luckily for him, that wasn't quite reality, thus saving the school from anarchy.
"Welcome back Class of 2004!" he started, trying to sound enthusiastic. "It's so nice to see you all again. You all look well and happy, which is great to see." He paused for applause. Little came.
"OK then. Well, normally these things have awards, but your officers I guess were too busy to put that together." The gang again glared at Dorothy Ann, who sighed and threw up her hands in frustration.
"However, I did want to acknowledge some members of your class here today for special recognition. Before that though, let us please hold a moment of silence for your classmates that have tragically passed away."
Mr. Chafee read the names of the four that had died in the past ten years. Nobody in the gang knew them that well, but they all bowed their heads respectively, with the Catholics in the group (Carlos, Martina, Phoebe, and Ralphie) crossing themselves for good measure.
"Thank you," Mr. Chafee continued. "Now, let's first acknowledge those members of your class that have served their country." He read a few names before getting to, "Wanda Li, recently back from four tours of duty in Iraq with the Air Force."
Wanda reluctantly stood up and took the applause, but clearly did not look happy about it. She sat back down as fast as she could.
"We also have some classmates that came from quite a ways to attend this reunion, starting with Phoebe Terese, who came all the away from San Francisco." He pronounced it Ter-rees.
Phoebe turned beet red and buried her head into her arms. She eventually raised one arm to acknowledge the lukewarm applause before going back to being mortified. Her friends tried with various degrees of success not to laugh, but unfortunately for them, Mr. Chafee was not finished.
"We also have some of your classmates who have settled here in Walkerville and are doing great things, such as our former baseball star Ralphie Tennelli. He's now a police officer here in town serving and protecting our fair city."
Ralphie groaned and stood up for the recognition, clearly not pleased. What the hell is happening?
Mr. Chafee finally realized he had long since lost the room and quickly wrapped it up. "Well then. Once again, thank you all for coming, and enjoy the rest of the evening." With that, he high tailed it off the stage. The DJ went back to work and in an attempt to provoke nostalgia of the year the class graduated, R. Kelly's "Ignition" began playing.
"Wait a minute, isn't this a song from 2003?" Keesha asked while trying to coax a still mortified Phoebe back out of her shell.
"Don't remember and don't care. I just want to forget that that happened," Ralphie curtly responded.
"It would be just like this school to get the year wrong," Tim added with a smile.
Without another word, Keesha grabbed Phoebe by the arm and took her to the bathroom so she could recover in private. At the same time, Tim noticed some of his old artist friends (much to his surprise) and went over to catch up with them. Most of the others took that as a cue to find some of their other friends and do the same.
Except for Carlos. He whispered something to Martina, and the two left for parts unknown, snickering as they disappeared.
