The Reunion

Gracie

 I wake up the morning of the reunion, it was odd waking up in my old room, i have this feeling that I'm late for school and I'm going to be in trouble but I'm 30 and not in high school but being back here, in this town, my room, riding around town in my old car it just transported be back.

I look over at the dress I'm going to wear tonight and thats totally something high school Gracie wouldn't have worn, i was always the jeans and a tshirt with sneakers with a hoodies wrapped around my waist to hide my stomach kinda girl, i also had glasses, granted trendy looking glasses, round lenses rimless glasses. Over the years I got contacts, lost weight, met my best friend who helped me in the wardrobe area and taught me about makeup.

Looking at the senior photo of me hanging on the wall in my room I can see why he was never interested in me, he was also a jock and they never go for the nerdy, artsy girl whose nose was always in a different book every other day. He did always ask me what I was reading though and I would tell him, but once I got hooked on the smutty books I made my own book cover like the ones we use to cover out text books, to hide what I was reading not only from students and teachers but also from him.

I had the biggest crush on Elliot, I didn't at first, but once we was away from his friends and the team and it was just him and i it was nice, he opened up about his life and i got to know him and he got to know me, he knew that my goal after graduation was to to go NYU and major in English and became a book publicist. Elliot, I wonder if he will be there, it will be nice to see him after all this time.

I hop out of bed and head into the bathroom that's connected to my room threw my closet, and jump in the shower, once out and all clean, i wring out some of the water out of my hair and apply some curling gel, and plop my hair in my shirt, i head back to my room and get dressed, I've always loved this dress, i bought it with my first big paycheck, when i saw it in the widow in a shop in the east village it just spoke to me and it mostly said you need to year me to your high school reunion am i petty? No but i was such a mess and for while people use to mess with me but one day it just stopped, i don't know what happened maybe they found someone new to pick on or it was just that my time was up, but whatever it was as soon as i saw this dress i knew i just had to have it.

With the deep V neck line with the scalloping edge and the clingy material it shows off my curves and my chest wonderfully, it makes me feel sexy.

After slipping into my dress I head to the kitchen for something quick to snack on before I brush my teeth, and finish getting ready. I do one Final check in the mirror and for once I love what I see.

I toss my heels in the passenger side of my Jeep and hop in, i plug in my phone and play my "High school jams" playlist and so many things memories make their way in but a lot of them have him in them whether time has corrupted them or what but their were a lot of times that after our tutoring session he would get a call from a friend and they wouldn't be calling him to go to a party at someone's house, he's asked me to tag along a few times but i never thought anything of it, i figured it was more of ah shit she heard that i should ask so i don't seem like a dick kinda thing, I always said no and made an excuse that i was tired or whatever but really part of me wanted to say yes, but i knew it was just a pity invite.

I pull out of the driveway and make my way to the old High School. Once in the parking lot I parked my Jeep and it must have been instinct or mussel memory because I parked in the same parking spot I have for the last 3 years of school. I hop out of the Jeep and make my way to the other side and slip out of the flats I wore and put on the Louboutins I brought with me. I don't look like I used. I look hot.

I walk into the gym and look around, it still smells the same, kinda makes me nauseous, I always hated gym, I always got out of it somehow but i still got credit for it as long as i changed. I look around and up on the wall are giant posters of the top athletes and right their on the wall is him, Elliot. Top Football and Baseball athlete of our graduating year.

"Omg Grace, is that you!" I hear someone behind me squealing, i whip around and its one of the popular girls, and wow she really let herself go, she must have showed up right after work without changing, she's in scrubs and sneakers i look her up and down trying to recall a name, but nothing.

"It's me Tiffani from high school we had English together." Its been so long and i never really payed much attention to people other than my friends and Elliot, i shake my head slightly "i went to homecoming with Elliot." She adds, now I remember the bitch who ruined my entire week, i spent week in my room trying to find the best way to ask him who he was going with and if he didn't have anyone yet, i would be the brave one and ask him, just before I had the chance to she swooped in at the booth we were sitting at in the dinner and started rubbing his arm, and batting her lashes at him, i got up because i didn't want to hear him say he would love to but when i got back from the restroom she was gone and his nose was back to working on the paper we was writing.

"Wow Tiffani, I'm so sorry, its been a while how have you been?"

"Its good, i got married righ after school to Travis, and a few moths later i was pregnant, i love being a mom, and i work at the local nursing home, but enough about me what about you? Where are you now?"

"Well I work and live in New York City, its wonderful, no kids no husband, but im a publicist, writer, and co owner of (insert name here) ."

"Wow NYC, must be a huge change from here."

"At first, but its really been the best move for me, i dont own a car i ether walk to take the subway, so i lost quite a bit of weigh my first year and have been able to keep it off." I say as i run my hands down my side while shaking my hips back and forth, i see out of the corner of my eye i caught the attention of a few guys and they keep whispering to each to her. I laugh to myself.

"Well, i better go in and register, ill see you around." I say as i walk to the other side of the gym my heels clacking all the way echoing off the walls making people stare at me.