The Harper Generations

Homecoming, trolls, and punch. Oh, my!

Misty

After that crazy ass night where Banks left behind a black mark on the pavement, things somewhat settled down. Does the city condemn his house count?

The authorities declared the house unfit for any resident. Who would want to live in a home where someone stored decomposed bodies in their deep freezer? Well, unless you're Jeffery Dahmer. Shudders.

My dad forbade me from going near that house. Fine by me! If I never step near that house, it's all good in the neighborhood. Something wasn't right with it anyway.

On the plus side, homecoming arrived. Alana came over to help me get ready. Dad kept fighting for her attention until Alana shoved him out of my bedroom and closed the door. I couldn't help but giggle while Dad knocked on the door.

"Alana," my dad said on the other side of the door.

"Not now, West. Beauty takes time!" Alana yelled back.

"Beauty always takes time, according to you! How about we hurry this beauty up so we can spend time together?"

"You're always so impatient!"

"Because you take forever!"

I snorted a laugh while listening to them.

"A few more minutes!" Alana shouted.

"A few more minutes, my ass! You said that two hours ago!"

"You're so damn impatient! Go grill, Tino!"

"Fine! You wait, woman!" My dad's footsteps retreated as we laughed.

"Nate never changes. He's still as impatient today as he was in our past life." Alana sighed and finished my makeup.

"How did you and Nate come back? I know we returned through our birth. But how did you two return?" I asked Alana.

"Honestly, one minute, we were with Lucille. Then, I woke up in the hospital after a slip and fall."

"You landed in the hospital because of a slip and fall?"

"That's what the doctors said. But I couldn't remember my life before the hospital."

"That's weird. My dad had an accident two years ago when we were visiting family in West Virginia."

"What happened?"

"He went fishing with the family and fell into the river. He wasn't breathing when they pulled him out."

Alana's brows lifted in surprise before furrowing. "I'm guessing that was Nate's chance to return."

"It doesn't matter." I shook my head. "He's still my dad."

Alana nodded, giving me a soft smile.

Now, it was all making sense. My friends' parents had some weird accidents, resulting in memory loss. What if their parents had died briefly to give family members a chance to return?

I need to stop thinking about our strange return and focus on homecoming.

******
Valentino

I finished getting ready and grabbed Misty's corsage before leaving to take her to homecoming. But not before my folks took a billion pictures. It didn't matter. They followed me to Misty's house to capture the moment with her.

West and my dad talked while Alana and Misty came downstairs. Ma and Alana made Misty and I pose for pictures.

"Ma, we need to get going," I said.

"Tino, it's your senior homecoming. We want to capture this moment. Now, hush." Ma waved me off and snapped a billion pictures with her phone.

"Plus, you both look adorable," Alana said.