The Beautiful Ones

Prologue

If I came across a real time machine and was given a chance to change something in my timeline, I would immediately grab that one-time opportunity and change my past, most particularly my high school days. Those times when we were still young, obnoxious, crazy, and ill-tempered and all other things related to the foolishness of teenage kids in high school. Really, I would go back, relive, and rewrite all of those experiences. That however is impossible.

So here I am again visiting my parents' house sipping hot black coffee and eating boneless bangus for breakfast together with my wife. We were spending a short vacation from work since today would finally be the day to meet my former classmates in high school. I couldn't believe that 25 years have already passed since we graduated. I still can easily and fondly remember the memories that we had when we were still in our teenage years. A lot of things have happened in high school. We had the best and worst moments in our lives back then. I am pretty sure I am going to recall all of them again in verbatim with my fellow classmates later this evening. Some of us, like me, have been waiting for this day all our lives since high school reunions rarely happen in a lifetime.

I have been tracking my classmates, friends and acquaintances alike, through social media. Some of them are now successful doctors, lawyers, businessmen, politicians and whatnot. I have observed through Facebook that some of my classmates are happy and content with their lives while some were still struggling to make ends meet.

High school life can be a happy experience for some of us, while others can have a life filled with regrets. It was the stage in life where you start to have responsibilities and have to act appropriately towards each of them. Those were the years where you would decide who to be friends with. Questions like "Should I be with the cool kids or just be myself?" would arise from each of us. Those were also the years where some kids have started to rebel and experiment some things only adults are supposed to do.

High school can make either a person happy, silly, stupid, violent, loving, carefree, or any other emotion known to man. It can also be an emotional battleground since some relationships can crash and burn. It can be a very difficult stage for some people that some of us can't wait for it to be over and move on to the next phase of our lives that is of course, college. But one thing I know for sure is that one of the most memorable things we have had in life would always be in high school may it be a good memory or not.

So, this day finally came and I couldn't wait to meet my classmates and tell them some catching-up stories. I can't wait to laugh with my old friends again. But before I will reveal who became successful in their lives or not. Let me take you back to the late early 2000s when kids wear baggy clothes and when the World Wide Web was still as young as a preschool kid. The early years of our high school lives were peaceful until one day in our senior year, a nerve-wracking news shook the lives of all of the people at school. This is how the tumult of our final year began.