It was Larry Tudgeman. But he wasn't dressed in his usual filthy, stain-ridden shirt that he wore for God knows how many years. He was sporting a tuxedo to this formal affair. As strange as it seemed, Larry almost lookeddecent. All the young women in the room stared, and---could it be? Were they drooling? I guess it was a well-known fact that Larry Tudgeman was the wealthiest man in California and owned a franchise of country clubs that spread throughout the western United States, but this still WAS Larry Tudgeman.
One short, red-headed girl walked nervously up to him. "So, Larry, umdo youhave a girlfriend?" She smiled sweetly at him.
Suddenly, a tall, curvy black girl stepped forward and grabbed hold of Larry's left hand.
"Hi, baby," she giggled. She gave the girl a dirty look. "Who are you?" she sneered.
Larry came to her defense. "She was just uh, asking for an autographright?" He grinned an earnest grin.
Near tears, the girl replied. "Nevermind, I don'thave apen." He walked back to her girlfriends, dejectedly.
Kate sauntered back into the gym, still expecting to be the center of attention. When Larry's unnamed girlfriend noticed her, she scoffed.
"Kate Sanders, how nice to see you," she said in a rude, sarcastic tone.
Kate lowered her eyes. "Look who's joined the party--Miss Claire Miller. Or should I say 'Mrs. Claire Tudgeman'?"
"I'm gonna get you, you little bit"
Mr. Escobar cut her off. "Girls, girls, let's all calm down now and have a good time, is that alright with you?"
Kate and Claire cooled off---for now.
The nameless boy ran over to her, breathless. "CLAIRE! CLAIRE! It's me..."
"Ugh, the last thing I need right now is some little pipsqueak bothering me. Why don't you just go play with your little toy train, or something?" She stomped off to a table in the corner, dragging Larry with her. Herds of people were still piling in, trying to get this party started.
Then he came to the door. Ethan Craft.
But Ethan wasn't in his usual friendly mood. He looked as if he went to the reunion against his will. He shuffled his feet and stared at the ground as he walked. When Kate turned around and saw him, she felt a rush of excitement. Kate had never admitted it to anyone, but she had had a massive crush on him---even after he was disowned by all the other popular guys in 10th grade. But a deep sadness overtook her when she thought of those times. Ethan had turned to her, asked her to be his helping hand, but in fear of ruining her reputation, she avoided the "loser".
But even someone as selfish as Kate still had a heart. She didn't want people to know. Know that she had changed. She was more concerned about people remembering that she was popular than leaving the impression that she was a kind person. She wanted to be a different Kate, but she didn't want to come to grips with the fact that all of those years of being popular were to go to waste. Kate found herself staring at him. He was sitting with his post-10th grade friends, just talking. It's hard to believe, but for Kate, it wasn't always about the looks or the popularity. Ethan had something special, that only she understood. He may not have been the smartest guy, but he was never mean. Of course, he was popular, and he held his own, but he never looked down upon anyone. Ever.
Kate sighed. Looks like I have no friends, she thought. She debated trying to reconcile with Ethan, but she put herself in his position. I would never forgive me.
~~~~~
Lizzie took her seat. It was almost 8:00. The reunion wouldn't last forever. She had to go, sooner or later. Just to check up on people. See how they were. That's all she really wanted to do. If she ran into her friends, she couldn't speak to them. They would hate her, and she knew it. She sipped on her strawberry smoothie. The Digital Bean. This place held so many memories for her; she was surprised it was still around.
Every kid that walked by her stared. Her waitress even remarked, "Aren't you a little old to be here?" Lizzie just rolled her eyes at that.
If only things were more simple. She laid her head down on the cold wooden table.
A finger tapped her on the shoulder.
"Lizzie?"
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[A/N: I've been reading so many evil stories with evil cliffhangers, so I'm doing the same to all of you. I apologize if this wasn't a very good chapter, because I wasn't too enthusiastic about writing it, but I had promised a couple people that I would post it tonight. I'm never making any promises again, blah. The other thing about this chapter was that I had good ideas but I didn't know how to expand on them. And please note that this is just the beginning of strange things that will be happening throughout the reunion. Feel free to ask questions about the story, oranything, really. Except what's going to happen. And feel free to make predictions.
Most people write that they know where they want to end up in their story, but they're not sure how they're going to get there yet. Well, I'm not even sure where I'm going with this. I'm just going with the flow. I think it makes it more realistic. That's just me, though.
I wanna know what you think. Even if you don't have anything to say about it, just leave me a review to let me know that you read it. Ha. Thanks.]
