We're burning down the highway skyline
On the back of a hurricane
That started turning
When you were young

"Cody!" Adena shrieks, her head whipping around at her friend's voice. "Oh my gosh," she springs to her feet, smiling widely and embracing her, "you look great!"

Despite her apprehension, Cody can't help but smile at Adena's enthusiasm, something she's missed during her long nights of studying alone in a dorm.

"Thanks," she chuckles, hugging her back, "so do you." Adena finally lets go and Cody turns to face Squib, mentally kicking herself for ever thinking it wouldn't be awkward.

"Hi," he says first, a small smile on his face as he, too, rises to greet her.

"Hi, Squib," she smiles again and gives him a hug, though not as tight as Adena.

"You even sound different!" Adena exclaims, seemingly oblivious to the tension in the air.

"Yeah, well," Cody shrugs sheepishly, leaving at that.

"Let's get out of here," Squib nods to the grounds beyond the bleachers, "we were just killing time until you showed up."

Cody nods as they walk down the bleachers and Adena talks excitedly the entire way into the school. It's pretty dead inside, and Cody remembers how she used to find it like this when she'd return early, unable to take one more tennis match.

"So," Adena says, clinging to her friend's arm, "what have you been up to? It seems like we haven't talked in forever!"

Cody hesitates. Adena is in medical school, and Squib is quickly rises to the top of the professional ranks, and they all became exactly what she knew they would. And she, who had always been so sure and never had a moment of doubt, wondered how to explain her sudden epiphany during the summer after senior year.

"I'm…studying to be a teacher, actually," she says at length. The other two stop in their tracks, and even Squib stares at her.

"…A teacher?"

"Yeah…" she shrugs, trying to act nonchalant.

"…You mean, like Wiley?" Squib asks.

"Sort of," Cody rolls her eyes.

"Oh…that's cool!" Adena finally chirps, and Cody can tell that she's still confused, but she appreciates the effort.

"What happened to journalism?" Squib asks.

"I dunno…" she shrugs. She's already had to go through all this with her family, which doesn't even makes sense, because it's not like teaching is a bad thing. "I changed my mind."

"Okay…"

"Hey, let's go check out the Open," Adena suggests, trying to ease the moment. She grabs Cody's arm and leads her down the hall, Squib following obediently behind. Cody sort of likes that they're pretending to just be looking around their old school, when they all know that they're trying to visit the two people who couldn't make it.

"Okay, this totally isn't fair," Squib quips as they enter. There's some sort of game system hooked up to the television, a stereo in the corner, a few computers along the wall, and shelves of books near the couches. Cody thinks Bates must have had his own epiphany.

"Look at this," Adena laughs in disbelief. "Bate is still running this place, right?"

"Yeah," Squib nods, falling onto one of the new couches, "I ran into him this morning."

"I'm sure that was fun," Adena laughs.

"The first thing he did was ask what I was up to," Squib says incredulously, "like I just decided to come back here and cause trouble."

"Well, can you blame him?" Adena laughs again.

But Cody doesn't join in, because she can't stop staring at the racquets on the wall. There's Curly Madison and Walter Wells and all sorts of other Cascadian legends. And then there are those who never really got passed the starting gate.

And suddenly she's fifteen and barely knows who Squib is, but she's pretty sure she's going to marry him because of the way her heart fluttered when he called her 'City Girl'. And her camera never leaves her side because tennis players are weird and she needs to capture all their weird moments on film. And she barely knows any of them, but she thinks that maybe they'll be friends for a really long time. And when she's writing for the New York Post and they're all famous tennis champs (because that's what they're all going to be) they'll laugh about their school days together.

And suddenly they're all outside laughing and promising to meet up in five years. And her fifteen-year old self never imagines it will be like this.

She notices that the room has gone quiet and Squib and Adena are now staring at the same spot she is.

"The picture isn't there anymore," is the first thing Adena says.

"It probably fell," Cody reasons. After all, after they left, there was nobody to remember Megan and Sebastien and straighten the picture whenever they walked by.

Cody realizes that to most of the students that now attend Cascadia these are not the racquets of two of the best people they've ever known, or two of the most promising tennis players Cascadia's ever seen. They're just two random racquets surrounded by much more famous and interesting ones. She almost wants to cry.

"I keep trying to get them to put mine up there," Squib says, trying to break the tension, "but Bates says I'm not quite famous enough yet. I think he just doesn't want to admit I actually made it."

Adena laughs and it's a little forced, "Probably not."

Cody wants to talk. She wants to tell Megan and Sebastien about all that's happened. She wants to tell them about the teaching thing, because she knows they'd understand. She wants to tell them all about Tanis and Cameron, and explain to Megan that she thinks she'd really like Tanis once she got used to her. She wants to tell Sebastien that she's managed to keep his secret all these years, and that's she hopes he's proud because sometimes it was really hard. She wants to tell them about Nate, because she's pretty sure they'd think he was cool, and about Cassidy and Lucas and all the adventures they had with them.

She wants to tell them about all the things they've missed. About every broken rule, every breakup, every kiss, every fight, every card game, every scandal, and everything in between. Because she knows they would've had so much fun, had they been able to join in.

She wants to tell them that she likes to think they've finally gotten passed all the drama and now they're together, because they would've been a really cute couple.

But she's pretty sure that she'll appear just a little crazy if she starts talking to them right now, so she stays quiet.

Adena's phone rings and Cody feels like she should hush her, as if they were in a church and not the Open.

"Hello?" She listens for a moment, then turns to them, "I need to take this, guys," she sighs. "It's my partner," Squib nods, and Cody realizes she must've missed something earlier while she was gathering her courage in her car. "This'll take a while," she sighs again, "I'll meet you at the backcourts in half an hour?" The two nod and Adena walks out the door, explaining something really complicated that Cody hopes she'll never have to learn.

"Project," Squib offers by way of explanation. Cody nods, and realizes that she doesn't want to stare at these racquets anymore.

"Wanna go check out the beach?"

As you can see, in my world the Open was never torn down. Because that's just not right. This chapter made me kind of sad. I hope it wasn't too wordy.

Thanks for all the reviews so far, here and on the forum :)