I heard one of the guys chuckle but I
couldn’t tell who, I was busy biting my lip to keep from laughing
myself. “Hello.” I said they focused on my face without
comprehension. Not surprising. Though they still looked exactly
alike in the face Becky, (or was it Betsy, I couldn't tell) had
added a bit of weight to her entire frame, the other had pageboy
cut but they were there, in my mind, laughing as Rebecca threw
another insult my way.
“Hiya! You need to locate your badge and
please make sure you keep it on so that everyone knows who you
were.”
“Um thanks.” I looked over the badges and
found mine. I quickly grabbed and palmed my badge and stepped out
of the way so the guys could get their IDs and as we walked into
the dining room I realized that this was the last place I wanted to
be.
After I got back from the gym, besides
locking the doors, I also had showered then curled up on the bed
and realized, painfully how I now had nothing to go back home to
and cried myself to sleep. I slept fitfully for about an hour and
awoke with red rimmed eyes and very sad. Captain was my life. He
was protective and loving. I was going to miss him intensely.
So now I was here in this room with about a
hundred people I couldn’t tell you their names and only two that I
liked. This was going to be a long night. I took stock of the exits
and the layout of the room as I walked around. I looked at the
‘Remembrance Board’ and noticed there were five people who wouldn’t
be here tonight and then moved on. “So it looks like we are sitting
alphabetically tonight.” Kyle whispered in my ear.
“Are you going to be ok?” Carson asked.
“Hey I’ll be fine. They’re going to feed me
remember.”
“Hey kitten you want to blow this off and go
get pizza?”
Oh boy did I! “No I have to do this. A good
portion of my life was spent with these people; I need to face them
now.” And maybe a poison or few…no, no I knew better. So I would be
a good Harley tonight and just rub it into their faces.
“Ok well looks like things are going to be
starting.” Kyle said just as a bald man on stage said. “Welcome
graduates of 2001. If everyone could take their seats we have a few
speakers before dinner is served.”
“Damn.” I said and Carson chuckled and sent
me on my way with a pat on the bum. I jumped slightly and looked at
him over my shoulder; his eyes were still extremely intense. I hope
that promised fantastic orgasms later.
Corn lily, what was going on with me?
I found my table and seat and waited
impatiently for the bald man to finish his speech.
“Hello all graduates. I’m Mr. Simons I was
Principal from 81 to 2001 and I watched all you grow into the
people you are today. It gives me great joy to know that you all
grew under my care and teachings and nothing gives me greater
pleasure than to introduce to you your class president and friend
to all, Rebecca Morrison, or as you may remember her Rebecca
Stanley.” Applause rippled across the room as Rebecca took center
stage, a place she’s always enjoyed, and apparently still does.
Cyanide she still looks good!
She looks like the girl I met that first
day, but older and more…woman.
“Hello class of 2001, welcome home!” she
waited for the applause to die down. “Now I know some of you never
left the area, and some of us have traversed the world and I want
to say thanks for all those who have come and a moment of
reflection for those who will never make it home.” She pointed to
the Remembrance Board and then continued. “Tonight’s dinner will be
for us to say hello and see old friends. Tomorrow are the classes,
please make sure you have your schedules so you know where to
go.
Now for the important stuff; we went to
school together longer than most high schools, we were privileged
in that we got to form deeper friendships and were able to keep
those friends through the ups and downs through the last ten
years…” I tuned out the rest she just continued to talk about her
achievements in a vague way that everyone thought she was talking
about them. I looked around and realized that I really didn’t know
a single person here. Oh sure I could remember just about all of
them, but to tell you their names I would be at a loss. There were
only a few that I would never forget; Rebecca, the Twin B’s,
Stephanie, Marcy and Tiffany.
Oh there’s Tiffany now with a very pregnant
stomach. My throat closed as I thought what it would be like to be
a mother…someday I suppose, then again maybe not I couldn’t even
keep my dog protected there was no way I would bring a child into
this life I lead.
I glanced around to find the next one.
Stephanie, oh, Stephanie where are you…I couldn’t find – oh never
mind there she is. She got fat. I smiled despite myself, now I’m
not one to judge on the weight of someone, they could be healthy
just big, but her, no, no way. She had to be three times her size
from high school and she was pasty and seemed to have trouble
breathing. Ok so that was an exaggeration…she was only twice her
old size, but despite her pallor she was smiling at a man that was
sitting next to her. I noticed a ring and felt a pang of jealously
that she was married. Again if I loved someone so much that I
wanted to marry them, I’d soon as kill them than marry them.
Finally I located Marcy. Marcy looked to be
the least changed out of the all, next to Rebecca that is. Her
blonde hair was cut short now in that pixie style that can destroy
a many woman’s looks but on her it looked good. Her heart shaped
face was brought out by the hair style and made her large round
blue eyes look innocent. In this room of people who pissed on me in
school and pissed me off, she was the most sympathetic of the lot.
She would smile sadly as the latest torment was over but never did
anything about it.
I knew her secret but never told. I could
have used a companion down on the bottom rung but I let it slide,
that and I was selfish when it came to my knights. But looking at
her now I was truly jealous. She had a natural beauty to her and
she seemed to know it. I couldn't blame her one bit.
I focused on other things instead of the
Pussy Posse. I took a better look of the decorations, the tables
were draped in white linen and the plates were square and brightly
colored. The center pieces were of our mascot, the lynx, or a toy
version of him holding balloons and a sash saying class of 2001,
okay so those were rather cheesy, but it somehow fit with the
overall décor. I saw more balloons and streamers and the floor
sprinkled with confetti. The main colors were the blue and silver
of our school and there were secondary colors of a pale yellow and
a muted orange and deep red. All in all I’d have to say Rebecca did
a good job, but I’d never say it.
I focused back in on the speech just to hear
her say “So to all those here I say let’s eat!” Now that was
something I could applaud too. The side doors opened and in walked
servers with food carrying at least four plates each and started
walking around and placing plates in what seemed a sporadic
pattern, but I soon realized they were placing the steak dinners to
those who ordered them. My brilliant mind put this together shortly
after a plate appeared in front of me and Rebecca sneered at me as
she sat down. “Red meat is so bad for you.” she adjusted her dress
and laid her purse on the table, "I'm Rebecca Stanley and you
are?"
“Um…ok, thanks for the heads up.” I replied
as I cut into the still bleeding piece of meat, trying not to throw
who I was in her face. I had already slipped my name plate into my
thigh holster so I couldn't be identified. Then added, “I happen to
think the protein is good for you.”
“Eating meat is bad for your body period.”
She sneered again at my food and then I realized why she looked so
good, she had to have a very good surgeon on retainer. Her face did
not match the mood she was in. When she sneered her face remained
passive. I wondered briefly when the word was done.
I cut into my steak and stuck a piece into
my mouth and the flavor came alive, it had so many under tones and
over tones that it danced a tango on my tongue. I closed my eyes
and moaned, it was good and I was famished.
I sat up closer to my plate and dug in, I
didn’t care who saw or watched I was starved. I did stop
momentarily when I noticed that Rebecca got the chicken plate.
“Um…” Nope, not going there. I shook at my head. Wow I was so glad
that I now knew chicken was not meat.
I finished well before anyone at my table
did, and I was still hungry. I sat back and watched people as they
focused on their food; some eating similar to how I eat (mostly
men) and some just picking at their food like they weren’t really
hungry (most of the woman). So now that I knew where the nasty
people were I focused on finding the two that are the most
important. I decided that pizza was sounding good too, so got up
and wandered to find them.
“Hello?”
OH MY RICIN! I jumped. My dad would take me
over the coals if he found out someone had snuck up on me. I
turned. Hello died on my lips, it was Donny the Quarterback. “Um,
hello.”
“I was just wondering if you are in the
right place. It is my responsibility to make sure that everyone is
wearing their name tags, and I don’t see yours anywhere.” I
shivered and not in the good way as he ogled my breasts. Eww, what
a creep.
I took my name tag out of my purse and
pinned it to my breast. “Oh, gee, can you see it now?” I fluttered
around my breast and spoke in an innocent way.
I practically saw him drooling. “Yes, I see
it now.” He glanced at my name and tried to place me. Considering
he either has his tongue down Rebecca’s throat or laughing so hard
while one of his boys tormented me I wasn’t surprised that he
couldn’t place me. “I’m sorry I don’t remember you, and I’m sure I
knew all the pretty girls in school.”
I swayed up to him and placed my hand
against his chest and leaned up and whispered in his ear making
sure my chest was pressed against his. “I was known as Hairy
Skeleton.” His jaw drop and with my nail I lifted his jaw up and
sashayed away. Oh, wonderful power.
I found Carson first and took a good look at
him, how anyone could mistake him for something he wasn’t was
beyond my comprehension. But it seemed the glasses worked, and the
fact that he shaved off his stubble leaving only a mustache didn’t
hurt either.
He was laughing like a buffoon and I was
hooked. Sitting there like he was reminded me of how young we were
when I left. I wanted those years back. I wanted to go back and not
leave, I wanted to stay, but I knew that by me leaving has made us
into the people we are today, and for that I have no regrets. He
caught my eye and smiled at me and I knew that I had to tell them
the truth about who I was.
And hope they would stay.
Next I found Kyle, he, without a disguise
went unnoticed by most. There were a few that braved the masses and
asked for an autograph, or said something that made him smile. His
smile though ten years older was still the same easy going,
carefree smile he’d always had.
God, how much I loved these two. I caught
his eye and his smile increased and I placed a hand to my stomach
and rubbed. He got the message and stood. He dominated a room, when
he was in it and I couldn’t see why no one else noticed. I watched
him walk, an easy hip rolling glide that matched the rest of his
body. He was the willow tree, not for thinness no, but for the
strength and ‘go with the wind’ attitude he possesses. As he tapped
Carson on the shoulder he said something to him and they both
looked at me and I repeated my previous sign for ‘feed me’. Carson
smiled and stood.
Carson’s walk was different. He had a gait
to him that one could easily compare to a predator, he was a silent
walker and it showed as he walked through the room without
disturbing a single person. He was the mighty oak – strong and
unbendable, sturdy and dependable. He was someone who would make
the wind bend around him. I wanted to tap into that strength and
keep it as my own.
I smiled as they approached, "let’s get out
of here, the food was good but nowhere enough and I think there's
still some pizza in my room.” They both saluted me and followed me
out of the banquet room.
My room was a sanctuary of sorts. Yes we
were free from the crowds and mindless chatter, but now we were
face to face with a huge white elephant that somehow made a home in
what seems to have ended up being the gathering space, my fault
again, I was going to have to confess.
My stomach rumbled and was presented with a
piece of pizza "Oh, thanks” I ate as my mind thought through all
the things that could go wrong when I told them, but I knew I
needed to say something.
I was no longer hungry, as the worry and
fear ate at me.
I dropped my half eaten slice in the garbage
and grabbed my jammies out of my bag, “I’m going to get into my pjs
and curl up in bed and watch a movie if you care to join I’ll be
out in five.” I walked into the bathroom and firmly shut the door
and resisted the urge to open it. I didn’t care if they both stayed
or if one or even neither stayed. I meant what I said. I changed
and washed my face and put my hair in a braid. As I stepped out and
just before I turned the corner I wondered if they would both be
there.
Carson.
He sat on my bed like he belonged there and
smiled like he knew it. “Hello Hars. I hope you don’t mind I have
come to watch a movie with you?”
“Nope don’t mind at all. Anything good on?”
I avoided starring too long at his naked chest and opted to climb
into bed, fully clothed, and slip under the covers. He watched me
the entire time.
When I was finally, somewhat (not at all),
comfortable he looked down at me and smiled. “Hars you act like
you’re scared.”