I Found Out About Our 20-Year High School Reunion from an Old Friend Because Nobody Had Bothered to Invite Me – But the Moment I Walked Through Those Doors, I Realized Why
Alison walked in carrying two paper cups.
“I figured you’d already had your third cup,” she said, setting one down in front of me. “But I brought you another anyway.”
“You know me too well,” I replied, laughing.
She dropped into the chair across from mine, her eyes scanning the photos on the wall.
There were before-and-after pictures of clients, framed magazine features, and one old snapshot of the two of us from senior year.
“You know me too well.”
“God, look at us,” Alison murmured. “You with those thick glasses. Me with that awful perm.”
“You always had nicer hair than me,” I said, smiling at the memory. “And you were the only person who ever sat with me at lunch.”
“Somebody had to. Those kids were monsters.”
I nodded, remembering the whispers in hallways, the cruel sketches passed around in class, the way I used to count the minutes until the final bell.
“You were the only person who ever sat with me at lunch.”
None of that hurt the way it used to.
The wounds had become scars, and the scars had become proof of how far I had come.
“You saved me back then,” I told her quietly. “I don’t think I ever really said it. But you did.”
Alison waved a hand, suddenly busy with her coffee lid. “You saved yourself. I just sat next to you.”
