15 years later.
My name is Sarah Beverly Gordon. I am a professional dancer now. I've traveled the world and performed for so many audiences. Let me catch you up on everything I can. It's been 14 years since I graduated highschool. I graduated top of my class and went off to study dance in Barklee. Zaccai didn't pursue dance though, he wanted to be a detective and so he went to study criminology and cyber security in Australia for 4years. We tried the long distance thing but after two years be both agreed that it just wasn't working. The break up was painful but peaceful. After graduating he went to Belgium and did a 2year course on criminal law. As for Dez, he became an overnight star while we were still in our Junior year of highschool and so after we graduated, he went on tour for two years. After his tour, he decided to take a break and go back to school and coincidentally ended up in Barklee too. We managed to catch up and eventually started dating again but I graduated before him and it was my turn to tour the world and perform. We also broke up because of the long distance thing a couple of months after I left and I ended up submerging myself in dance completely. That's how I met my dance partner. He studied dance at NYU. We've won plenty of awards for our duets and have even appeared on various television shows and movies. Ace became and actor after high school, he did a few short course here and there but his main focus was his acting career. Flora may have been his initial motivation but her actually developed a serious passion for it. He's been in over 40 films and stared in 15 of them. Because of him, I ended up being re united with Zac and Dez because he asked as all to be part of one of his films, that was around nine years ago. We all became super close again and haven't lost touch since. As for the rest of the crew, we only recently got reacquainted. Ryan was in the military at some point but now he is a Bio engineer. Eliana is a pediatrician, and got married to Dez. Hope joined the fashion industry, she used to work for my mom but now has her own fashion line. Ezra is a surgeon believe it or not. He's actually a real genius. Mike became a CSI and actually works with Zac. As for Oscar... He's the guy from NYU, my dance and life partner. Yup... I ended up with Oscar. We didn't really speak after highschool and only met 5 years later. I didn't even know he was the Oscar from highschool until two years ago ( we got married six years ago...) So yeah... That everyone I think.
Anyway, today is thanksgiving and it my turn to host so everyone is on there way here.
"Mom! Where are me pink sparkly shoes!"
That's my daughter Adriana.
"There in your closet."
That's my son, her twin brother Lucas. No, I didn't give them matching names. And no... I don't dress them in twin outfits. No hate to people who do that but I find it creepy.
"Are you ready? Zac texted me. They're almost here."
Oscar walks in, buttoning his cufflinks. Is it just me or does anyone else find it really attractive when guys do that?
"Well, all the food is ready, the table is set and most importantly, the kids area has been set up."
I hired extra nanny's today because I need a break. Since I'm not really working anymore, I'm with my children 20/7.
"Great!"
"Now we just have to wait for everyone to arrive"
"Dez said he might be late but he'll definitely be here."
"That's odd. Dez is never late"
In fact, most of the time he is early.
"Yeah well Rosa is rejecting every outfit she tries on and Levi says he doesn't want to come because he'll get bored"
Rosa and Levi are Eli and Eliana's daughter and son. Levi is 11 and Rosa is five.
"I can't really blame Levi... There are no kids his age. And wardrobe crisis is a real issue."
"Well, the neighbours have a son Levi's age plus we have a bunch of video games he can play in the game room"
Those video games are mine... He might ruin my progress
"What if I buy him new videogames to play?"
"Sarah... You are 31 years old. Let the boy play your games."
"First of all... Never say a ladies age out loud. Second, I am 31 and jobless. I am in this house all the time, games are my only escape."
I whine.
"You know... There may not be anyone Levi's age but you'd make a fine substitute."
I fold my arms over my chest and glare at him.
"You can pout all you want, I'm not taking it back."
"Oh yeah?"
I challenge
"Yeah."
I arch my brow at him and decide to use my Ultimate weapon.
"Adriana! Lucas!"
I call. Oscars only weakness is our children. She comes running with Lucas dragging behind her.
"That's not fair."
Ha! Look who's pouting now.
"Who do you think is more grown up? Mama or papa?"
"Mama!"
Adriana shouts with a wide grin
"Papa."
Lucas deadpans. These are the moments when I hate the fact he took after me.
"Ha!"
Oscar lets out. I pick up Adriana and lift my chin up, clinging onto my dignity.
"Hmph. You are a traitor Luc"
Lucas just shrugs his shoulders and Oscar scoops him from the floor.
"That's my boy"
He cheers.
Did my deadpan attitude annoy people this much. I feel bad for anyone who interacted with me.
___
Everyone is here now; Mom and Dad, Ace and his wife Avery, Ryan and his girlfriend Emma, Hope and Derek who got married believe it or not, Zaccai and his fiance Cindy, Ezra, Mike, Mr and Mrs Krov, Mr and Mrs Alvarez and Mrs Barlowe with here daughter, Anna, and her husband. I had no idea she had a 10 year old daughter. But we only met again a year ago during a dance event.
"Hey!"
Dez hails as he walks in with Rosa, Levi and Eliana.
"Hey!"
We all hail back and start teasing him about being late.
"Okay, now that everyone is here, we can eat."
I announce and everyone cheers.
We gather around the table and say grace before everyone digs in. Hours of work, gone in seconds... My heart's breaking just a little and a part of me feels like scolding everyone for clearing all the food that I made. But what else did I expect them to do? It's not like not eating it would be an option.
___
"Man, it's been a while since we were all together like this."
Ryan let out as we all watch the stars from the gazebo skylight, the children having the time of their lives with their grandparents. I didn't even need to hire nanny's... Sigh...
"Yup... Since our highschool graduation actually."
Oscar joins in, a soft grin on his face.
"We used to be really popular back then"
I had all but forgotten how popular we were. If Eliana didn't bring it up I don't think I would've remembered how much attention our dance crew got. People even started to hire us for weddings, proposals, music videos and the like.
"Yeah..."
I agree.
" I wonder if people still think about us."
"Of course they do."
Zaccai lets out proudly. He hasn't changed one bit. It honestly hard to believe I dated him. But I was a kid I guess.
"Remember the time the fans broke into a social media war over whether Sarah should be with Oscar or Zaccai."
Why'd Ezra have to bring that up?
"Yeah, Zaccai wouldn't let you two be alone together for even a second."
Hope chuckle
"Hey... I was a jealous boyfriend. But turns out he was her soulmate, and Cindy was mine."
He's right. As much as I thought we would, most highschool couples don't last forever and we're still great friends. Come to think of it, Eliana and Dez are the only highschool sweethearts here... Well, excluding my parents of course.
"I'm glad we did this."
Mike admits with a grin. We all nod and laugh at nothing in particular.
My name is Sarah Beverly Gordon. I have a great family, cool friends and I'm living my best life,my dream life. Even though people can be a pain sometimes, they can also be worth sticking with. Their annoying nature can also be comforting sometimes... And entertaining. I'm glad I made friends, and I'm glad we're still friends. I'm also glad I became friends with the likes of Erica all those years ago... Despite everything she did, I don't hate her. It hurt, true but... Hating people's just not my style I guess. Or maybe it because deep down I know that I never wanted to be hated despite how badly I treated people, I simply believe that it was just my Innate personality and I deserved to be hated, but that wasn't the case.
Nah... That's too deep.