Remembering You

Sean

--August 31st, 2026, Monday, Student drop off--

I watch as his eyes widen, and his face flushes with embarrassment. He gives me a quick awkward smile, and before I can smile back he practically runs off. 'Who was that?' I wonder, trying to spot him again. 'He looked familiar...'

"What we looking at?" Raven says. I turn to see her squinting into the crowd of students, one hand on her hip, and the other right above her eyes.

"Nothing." I say. She turns her attention to me as she puts her hands back down to her sides.

"You sure?" She asks me with slight concern lacing her words. I just nod.

Raven has always been the one that checks up on everyone, mentally and physically. She says she wants to become a nurse if basketball doesn't work out for her, but it probably will seeing how well she plays.

She stares at me a moment more –as if trying to figure out if I'm lying– before talking again. "Well, I have AP psychology to get to, what about you?"

"Same," I say, remembering my schedule.

"Wait, really?" I nod. "Yay! I won't be alone." She smiles at me as we start walking towards the school. That's when I realize Jasmine isn't with us– neither was Milo and Elijah but it was normal for them to go off by themselves.

"Where's Jasmine?" I ask Raven. They're usually attached at the hip together so it was weird seeing them apart.

"Mia stole her," She says with the tiniest hint of irritation in her voice. Mia was Jasmine's friend from cheer, and that was all I knew about her. "she wanted to talk about the homecoming parade or something." I nod. It made sense, the cheerleaders were a part of the parade.

"Isn't that like a few weeks away though?" I ask, opening the door for us. Raven mumbles a quick thank you to me as she walks through.

"Yep. In fact, it's basically a month away! But I guess it's always good to be overprepared rather than underprepared." She says as her phone buzzes in her pocket.

"School's blog?" I ask as she takes her phone out.

"Yup," She says, looking at her phone screen. She lets out a whistle. "I know you don't care but I'ma tell ya anyways– first of all though, did you know there's a new kid?" She asks me. I shake my head. "Well, there is. Here, look." She gives me her phone as she taps on something.

A picture of the exact same boy I saw earlier talking to Willow appears on the screen. He has a sharp jawline, fluffy brown hair, light tan skin, and dark brown eyes. He did look super familiar, like I knew him from somewhere but just couldn't remember where.

"What's with the face?" Raven asks me.

"Huh?" I look up at her from the screen.

"The face," She says gesturing to her own with her hands. "you're making a face."

"Oh, really?" I ask her. She nods. 'Weird. I'm usually good at keeping a poker face,'

"You're furrowing your eyebrows and slightly –I don't know– pouting." She says. "Which is weird because you usually don't care at all when I show you stuff. So, what's up? Do you know him or something?" She asks, raising an eyebrow at me and folding her arms.

I shrug. "I don't know," I say, giving her phone back. She scoffs as she takes it.

"That's not a valid answer." She says.

"Technically it is." She rolls her eyes and frowns. "I seriously don't know, Raven. He just looks familiar, I guess." I say. Raven looks at the screen.