Maddy
Colt texted Milo.
Jason was coming, which meant I actually had to go to the reunion. It was going to be held out on the quad of our old high school. The theme was Friends Forever, and it kind of made me want to puke in my mouth. Then again, that had been our slogan throughout senior year. Everyone had been so happy… we’d loved each other… Yay, friendship bracelets.
Our class had literally earned the most detentions in the school’s history. It had been so bad, our senior prank had been to litter the principal’s door with them. We had so many combined that we had been able to create a trail out of the office and down the hall.
Over eight hundred and seventy-two pieces of pink paper.
It had been a beautiful sight.
Until our principal’s eye had started twitching, which Jason, of course, had pointed out, earning him yet another detention — with me, since I’d laughed with him.
We hadn’t been the best kids.
But we’d sure had fun.
I wouldn’t change any of it, except for how it had ended.
Funny how people often want to change the middle of the story, the boring part, or the part that builds into this beautiful crescendo.
But me? I always hated The End.
And The End I hated the most, made me look in the mirror and realize that the reason I felt empty, was because I was afraid.
“You ready?” Milo asked once we were out of the car and walking toward the large group of old classmates.
“No,” I admitted. “The other day everyone was too drunk to even ask me a question. They’d just wanted to party. Plus, I was with Jason the whole time. This almost feels like I’m about to be naked in front of everyone.”
“While Jason would probably prefer that…” Milo laughed, “…it’s not going to be so bad. Trust me. Ten years… well, people change a lot in ten years. Add in kids, jobs, stress, family, and we’re all just trying to survive the best way we know how.”
I linked my arm in hers. “Thanks.”
My tall heels clicked against the pavement as we got closer, and my legs started to sweat beneath my skinny jeans. I’d decided to go for a simple white strappy tank, only dressing it up with my heels and a few layered silver necklaces.
Milo, however, looked dressed-to-kill in a sleek, multi-colored maxi-dress and hoop earrings. She’d always been the wild one out of all of us. It made sense that she and Colt would be a great fit.
I rubbed my sweaty palms on my jeans as Liza ran up to me and pulled me in for a hug. “Word on the street is that you and Jason are hooking up.”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop listening to the elderly gossip.”
“But Blanche finally stopped threatening everyone during happy hour. Get this, she doesn’t even make the busboys cry anymore! Plus, she has all the dirt on your man.”
My man.
I gulped.
My man.
Let’s hope so.
I tugged down my shirt and gave her a weak smile. “We’re just talking right now.”
“Good to know,” a familiar deep voice said from behind me.
I completely froze, as a cold sweat broke out.
Horrible timing.
The worst.
I pasted on a smile and turned. “Hey, Levi. Good to see you.”
“Weak!” He stared down at my outstretched hand. “Only a handshake for the guy who bailed you out of this place?” He pulled me in for a hug before I could stop him, and that was about the same time Jason walked up looking hot-as-sin in a pair of fitted jeans, a tight black shirt, and a pair of Ray-Bans that made him look like a rock star.
“The hell!” he roared, lunging forward then jerking Levi away from me.
I was so thankful I could have cried. Levi and I didn’t talk anymore, and to be honest, he’d only made me feel awkward after that day, as if somehow, I’d helped him screw over one of his best friends. It was a gross feeling, one I’d tried to forget until now.
“Whoa!” Levi held up his hands and laughed. “What are you gonna do, Officer? Arrest me for hugging a sexy piece of ass?”
Liza gasped and mouthed, “Sorry,” to me.
She left out the part that her brother had turned out to be a giant jackass. From the bits and pieces she’d given me since I’d been back, I’d gathered that he’d been dropped from two Canadian football teams early on, before coming back home with his tail between his legs and working at one of the prestigious car lots that only dealt in foreign cars.
He had quit school.
Quit everything.
And was clearly bitter.
“I’d watch what I say,” Jason growled, still fisting Levi’s shirt between his fingers.
A few people started whispering and walked closer to us.
The very last thing I needed was a scene.
“Jason, let him go,” I pleaded.
“Yeah, Jason, let me go, like she let you go,” he sneered.
I covered my eyes, but peeked through, as Jason swung. His fist connected with Levi’s jaw, and then his nose, and then a good stomach punch, before Reid and Colt pulled him off.
Levi lunged, just as Max stepped in front of him.
Max swore as he stumbled backward after earning a punch to the face, then cracked his knuckles and whispered, “Oh, this is gonna be fun. Haven’t been in a brawl in so long. Come at me again, and I’m going to make you feel me in a way that nobody wants to be felt, got it?”
Levi just sneered and tried again.
Max not only blocked the punch, but snapped Levi’s arms to the side and threw a kick to his stomach, sending him crashing against the cement.
The guy ran his mouth as if he was afraid one day he’d be given a limit on words. Who knew he could fight?
Levi stood up again just as Reid stepped forward and earned a, “Pretty boy,” comment that had another punch being thrown. Reid somehow fell against a bystander, who shoved him, and with all the testosterone flowing, the skirmish had turned into a giant fistfight that was only stopped seconds later by sirens.
“Well, well,” Jason said as one of his police friends — by the looks of his smirk — handcuffed Levi. “It’s not detention when you’re not in high school anymore.”
And then I was arrested right along with Levi, Milo, and Becca — who had just arrived and seen Max throw a kick and had assumed we were getting attacked.
Our classmates stared at us in horror as we were shoved into cop cars, and I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or pissed.