When Anna first saw Fredrick at school, she’d been stunned. But when Jacqueline passed her by in the mall a few days later, she felt something closer to horror. She really shouldn’t have been so surprised – after all, she had just seen Fredrick in school. Still, the thought that she would ever see Jacqueline again after all this time had simply never occurred to her.
Jacqueline was rather tall and thin, with beautiful blonde hair almost to her waist. She wore a short jean skirt and a violet top, and was just as striking as when she and Anna were growing up. Anna, who had been sitting with her friends at the food court, started choking on her soda when she saw Jacqueline sail smoothly by.
“Are you ok?” Joanna asked, looking a tad more concerned than Anna felt was really necessary. Still coughing rather violently, Anna merely nodded.
Sharon took a bite of her hotdog as she leaned back in her chair, looking behind Anna and trying to see what she’d been staring at. She saw Jacqueline flipping her hair over her shoulder as she walked into a clothing store across the way. Guessing correctly, she turned to Anna and asked, “What? Jackie? You know her?”
Jackie? Since when does she go by Jackie? Anna thought.
Once she finally regained control of herself, only coughing occasionally, she replied, “Well…no. I’ve really just seen her around.” which at this point, she decided, was more or less true. After all, how well could you really know someone you hadn’t seen in centuries?
“Isn’t she a junior?” Carmine asked, looking jealous. “She’s so pretty!”
“I know.” Joanna said wistfully. “And I heard she’s dating that senior, Freddy.”
“Yeah, that’s what this girl in my gym class told me.” Carmine replied.
“Freddy?” Anna interjected, her voice a little shrill. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down before continuing. “Freddy who?” Maybe it’s just a coincidence, she thought desperately.
Carmine paused a moment to think. “Evans, I think. Yeah, Freddy Evans.”
“They’ve been going out for a while, haven’t they?” Joanna asked as Anna’s jaw dropped.
This was all news to Anna. She hadn’t even known that they’d been in this town at all, let alone that they were here together. Anna was surprised that they were a junior and senior, and wondered why they weren’t in the same class. But at least it explained why neither of them were in any of her classes. She sat there dumbfounded, listening intently to the conversation, her head bouncing back and forth as her friends continued their exchange.
“He’s really cute, too.” Joanna announced shyly.
“He is!” Carmine was much more enthusiastic in her declaration. Then, sinking her head into her hands, she said, “She’s really lucky, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.”
The conversation lulled, but Anna’s thoughts were still racing at lightening-speed. Freddy? Jackie? What was this? Well, Anna guessed those names did sound more modern than Fredrick and Jacqueline. Still, Anna couldn’t recall hearing either name being mentioned around school before. How had she been so out of the loop? And more importantly, just how long had they been in her school?
“When did they start going here?” Anna asked. She felt nauseous and hoped it didn’t show on her face.
Carmine looked surprised, as if she’d all but forgotten Anna was sitting next to her. But then her gaze turned thoughtful.
“Oh…I don’t know…” she said, trying to remember. “It’s been a few weeks at least. I’m not really sure when it was, though.”
“Yeah,” Sharon broke in. “It’s like they just showed up all of a sudden, but I can’t really remember when that was.”
“You didn’t even know they were here, did you?” Carmine asked, a knowing smile playing on her lips. When Anna slowly shook her head, Carmine asked, “How could you not have known?”
How, indeed? Anna couldn’t help but wonder that herself. How could she have missed them invading her school? It seemed like just when Anna was really starting to get comfortable with her new life, her past had come back to haunt her in a very real way. She’d tried so hard to forget about everything that had happened – she’d tried to forget about them. And now, here they were – together in her own backyard.
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