Stay Young Forever
Chapter 29
Note: In my defense, I had to rewrite this chapter 5 times. Yes, 5. I would start writing it, get far on it, then accidentally do something so the page goes back to my previous one, without saving my work. Every time this happened I didn't want to rewrite it, causing me to be so late. But I finally got it done, and I hope you like it. It took a lot of work. So expect plenty more soon to make up for the missed ones, if it doesn't keep erasing my work.
When we all gathered in Sikowitz's room it was as if we were taken back in time.
Unlike the main floor with the new lockers and such, this room looked almost exactly the same. The chairs looked new, but they were in the same brand. They even had the same colors; blue, green and yellow.
The stage looked new too, as if it's been refurbished. It was the same layout and size, but the wood looked darker and shinier. Everyone seemed to huddle towards the stage first while I slid my fingers along the cool surface of the plastic chairs.
It felt weird being in this room again. I felt as if everyone should be shouting out settings and plots for a sudden skit, and I felt as if I should be wearing some red dress with frills and heels or a bow in my hair. And it wasn't a bad feeling either.
"Wow." I heard Andre say, and I looked up to see everyone huddled over something on the wall above the stage. I walked over and peered over Beck and Tori's shoulders to get a better look.
Everyone was staring at a picture of Sikowitz celebrating 20 years of teaching at Hollywood Arts. He looked kind of old now, unlike before when he could pass for 32. Now his brown hair was fading into a light gray, and he had more wrinkles under his eyes. But his face still had the same goofiness in it, and his eyes had a look of curiosity. I then felt a huge longing to see him again, and see how he's been. He was the best teacher I could have had.
Under the portrait was a stack of yearbooks, and it looked like it could be around 20. We picked up the first one, and skimmed all the new kids attending. Then we started to make guesses about what their talent was and why they were here.
"I wonder if ours is in there somewhere." Robbie said, and Trina started to sift through them to find out. Soon enough we found the 4 yearbooks with our freshman, junior, sophomore and senior years of High School. Trina also grabbed the one with her freshman picture in it.
We all crowded over to the chairs, different people taking different yearbooks. Robbie took the one with our junior year, Beck and Andre taking the one from freshman year, Trina taking the one from her freshman year, and Tori and Jade taking the one from our sophomore year. I ended up being left with the one from senior year.
We all huddled in a small circle with the chairs, flipping through the pages and laughing at the memories. We got into a conversation with each other, seeing who can find the funniest picture. Meanwhile I was flipping through mine, seeing where our pictures were. Then, in the back, I found them. They were the extra pictures they put in the back, pictures of events and just kids hanging out around the school. So much goes on here that it takes up 6 pages.
There were pictures from plays and skits, pictures from dances and outside events, even pictures from kids in class. Our group was so large and social that we spent most of our time in front of the camera, so we were in many of these pictures. It was before Beck dumped Jade, so there were shots of all of us together in there.
I scanned the pages, smiling and occasionally laughing at pictures of people, doing weird things in the school I once found normal. Now I'm not too sure.
I didn't see or at least notice a picture of me until the third page. On it was a large picture of Jade and I, smiling at the camera. We were in front of something tan, and by the lighting, dresses and surrounding people I figured we must have been at a dance. Jade looked fairly happy, and I realized that this was the Prome after Beck dumped Jade. She looked happy though, which I was glad to see. I looked at myself, and was a little surprised by what I saw.
I expected myself to be in a poofy pink dress with a bow in my long red hair, but instead my hair was in a side french braid and I was wearing a sky blue dress that wasn't that poofy at all. I looked decent, and not at all how I remembered.
I didn't even realize that I was staring at the yearbook page for several minutes until I felt someone beside me. I turned and saw Beck, also staring at the picture.
"What are you doing?" I asked him. Andre was still looking at the freshman yearbook in the corner of the circle, but Beck had abandoned him to sit behind me.
"Looking." He said, still staring at the picture. I closed the yearbook and gave it to him, told everyone I was going to the bathroom, and headed out.
I wasn't exactly sure why I was so upset about that picture, and Beck seeing it. But it stirred something inside of me, and I felt uneasy. So I just went into the bathroom and sat on the floor with my eyes closed. I was tired of trying to find myself, I was tired of trying to pretend I was someone I wasn't, and I was tired of pretending I was back in junior high. I wanted to just be someone, and be sure of who that person was. I used to know, but I felt as if lately I didn't know anything.
After about 7 minutes I walked back to the room so they wouldn't suspect anything. I felt a little better, but I still felt lost. Wasn't High School meant for finding who you are? So why is it that I'm wondering this now?
"Hey Cat, your back." Jade said, and everyone was still sitting in a circle. But now the yearbooks were back and they seemed to be talking about something.
"Hi." I said, walking over and sitting down next to her.
We then spent the next hour talking about nothing and everything. We told stories, we talked about things that happened that others didn't know about, and we talked about things that have happened lately that reminded them of a story. When we were done my stomach was grumbling, and we hadn't even done the whole school yet.
We all moved on to the rest of the school, which wasn't as eventful, but very memorable. The library, the lockers, the classrooms, even the trophies brought up memories in us. We didn't leave until 6.
Right before we left I went back up the stairs, telling everyone I had to do something first. I then went ahead to the right corridor and up some more steps before reaching my destination, locker 342. My old locker.
It used to be insanely girly. It was decorated in a light pink background with glitter and bows and rainbow stickers all over it. Basically it was everything I was in High School.
Now it was covered in masquerade masks, with a rich dark blue background. It was actually very pretty, and I found myself staring at it for several minutes before realizing everyone should be waiting for me. So I ran my fingers along the cool metal of the locker, and waved goodbye as I returned the keys and headed out.
