�Alyson? Alyson Almond?� a voice came from behind them. Alyson whipped around, coming face-to-face with�.her old high-school boyfriend.
�Luke! Hi! How have you been?� Alyson asked.
�I�ve been great!� Luke said, grinning, �God, you look beautiful! You�re with the same friends, too�.Kennedi. Siobhan. Tara.� Luke acknowledged the three girls with a nod. They smiled back as Luke turned back to Alyson and continued, �How have you been?� he asked.
�I�ve been good. I�m a teacher and I�ve been married five months now.� Alyson smiled, holding up her left hand.
��.Wow! He�s a very lucky guy! Any plans for the future?� Luke asked, looking completely enraptured in his old girlfriend.
Tara shook her head and turned to see Kennedi and Siobhan, but they�d disappeared. A quick sweep of the large room revealed them on the dance floor, getting their moves down. She sighed and grabbed a glass of punch for herself, sweeping the room for sings of familiar faces, seeing how many she could recognize. Soon, she heard a familiar voice behind her, �Tara?� it asked.
She looked up, �Oh, h-hi.� Standing in front of her were�.Theresa, Diane, and Oliver, three of the most notorious students in their high school. All three were bullies, and massively rude and seemed to thrive on making others tremble, and the looks on their faces didn�t show any signs of change in behavior.
�Tara. You have not changed a bit! Your mommy still dress you?� Theresa taunted.
�She must still live with her mommy. Look, no ring. Even her lesbian friends have gotten hitched but Miss Mouse still hasn�t.� Diane said. Tara wanted to shoot nasty comments back at them, but somehow when she was around them, her nerves went all wonky.
�Where�s your little twin that betrayed us?� Theresa asked, �Or has she run off with another woman?�
�Maddi�s�.she�s dead.� Tara said, ever so quietly.
�Oh.� Diane didn�t look like she even cared,
�That bitch had it coming.� Theresa sneered. Alyson was walking over to Tara now just in time to hear that comment. She charged over to Theresa and spun her around, grabbing her by the shirt.
�What did you just say?� Alyson asked, �You better not have just called one of my best friends the b-word.�
Theresa turned pink, �Um, well she�s-she�s dead now, not like she can hear me.� She stammered. Alyson was the only of the friends Theresa and Diane were actually afraid of. Oliver had been afraid of both Alyson and Madison, the two had the gift of making the troublemakers tremble.
�I don�t care. I don�t ever want to hear a derogatory comment about any of my friends come from your mouth ever again, do you understand?� Alyson asked, practically snarling in Theresa�s face.
�Whatever.� Theresa scoffed, and pushed Alyson away and stalked off, Oliver and Diane following. Alyson sighed and went over to a chair and sat down, pushing her now chin-length hair away from her eyes.
�You okay?� Tara asked, sitting next to her.
�No. I had to tell Luke that Maddi�s gone, and now he has to tell Todd, Maddi�s old boyfriend. He�s here, too.� Alyson sighed, �Then I had to get those dips away from you, and I really wish I could beat them up for you, but I�d go to jail, so�.yeah.�
Tara slipped her arms around her friend, �I love you.� Those three words seemed to change everything in Alyson�s expression. She smiled, and leaned her head on Tara�s shoulder. She looked out on the dance floor and locked eyes with Kennedi, who tapped Siobhan, and they came over.
�Ally, you look flushed, honey.� Siobhan said, worriedly, as they sat down next to Tara and Alyson.
�It�s okay, I�m just reeling from having to break the news about Madison and then having to get the three most idiotic people in the class away from Tara after they called Maddi the b-word.� Alyson explained.
�Ouch. I think we had to tell about five people actually, no one seems to know, yet.� Kennedi said, understandingly.
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