Chapter 21

AMBER'S POV
The gym looked exactly the same as it had 10 years ago and I felt a strong wave of nostalgia. I had performed for three years in the same spot I was standing and the look in Mel's eyes told me she was reminiscing too so I allowed myself to drift back to the past.
***Flashback****
"Come on, girls. The match is about to start, let's finalize this routine for the last time!" I yelled as the cheerleaders of Oxford Oaks gathered in the empty gym to master our cheer. It was our last cheer before prom and the basketball team's last match and they had to win.
"Who are we??!" I yelled from the front of the line where Mel was standing next to me
"Oxford Oaks, great and strong. Fierce and Brave, Sassy and Smart!!! Gooooo Oaks!" The girls yelled as we raised our pom poms to the roof.
"I miss those days a lot you know" Mel's 26 year old voice flowed through into my daydream and I blinked back the tears that were gathering in my eyes.
It was 1:33pm and we had successfully arrived at the reunion party late. It wasn't entirely my fault though, the uniform had decided it wanted to bail on me but my miracle workers had found a way around it. Mel on the other hand, had had one of her fights with Ken over the phone and she was sulking but with the right amount of iced coffee and reminiscing, she was in a better mood than me.
I quickly selected a seat that was at the far end of the gym but was also near the exit just in case I needed to make a beeline for the bathroom. Most of the friends I had back in highschool had relocated away from Los Angeles and even though I was excited to meet them and do some catching up, I was going through turmoil. What if they found out I had triplets and I wasn't married? Or worse still, that I didn't go to college.
"Why are you sitting here all alone? You should be mingling" I told myself it couldn't be who I thought it was but today wasn't my lucky day. Eve James smiled at me as she approached my hiding spot. Sorry, my sitting position.
"Yeah, I'll do that in a bit" I choked out already feeling uneasy. I had thought I was going to somehow get through the event in one piece but nemesis was catching up to me fast. Where was Melissa when you needed her?
Eve James was one of the few reasons highschool was horrible for me. Emphasis on a few cause highschool was very good for me but Eve made sure she taunted and bullied me at any opportunity she had and she was smiling like she had just seen yet another chance to exert her supposed dominance.
"Have you seen my brother?" Pauline appeared behind Eve and I wanted the earth to give way. Both of them together was a bad sign and Mel was still MIA.
"She used to have a thing for Jay back in the days, didn't she?" Eve smiled at me and Pauline have a throaty laugh.
"He's here and I heard he has been looking for you ever since he got back. I wonder if he knows his high school crush is now a single mother of three adorable children" Eve dragged on as someone asked from behind us,
"A single mother of three?" I could recognize that voice even in my sleep, Jay Harley.
JAY'S POV
Daniel's car was parked in the school compound as Noah drove into the school. Eve sat quietly next to me but I could barely focus on her. Pauline had told me the reunion was going to clear up all my confusion and I was looking forward to it more than anything.
"I think the party has started" Eve said as we got down from the car. I was sure as hell not going to spend the night tied to Eve so I told her to go in without me. She wasn't thrilled about it but she had no other choice but to comply. I had to see the boys, that's where the main party is.
"Broo...ooo..oo, you're li..ke a wh..ole hour ate!" Daniel spoke with a slur and I knew instantly that he was drunk. In fact, all of them were already drunk and it wasn't even 3pm yet. The reunion party had been divided into two parties earlier on, firstly, the meet and greet was supposed to hold from 1 to maybe 4 in the evening, then there was going to be s switch from 6 to a remake of the most epic party Oxford Oaks had ever seen, the after prom party.
This time around, the prom party was taking place in the gym and not in Daniel's house and I couldn't agree more. A lot of things could had been avoided if we had just listened to Mr Chris and held the party back at the school gym but this time, things were going to be done right. Or so I hoped.
After about an hour of trying to convince the boys I wasn't going to engage in any form of drinking, I stumbled into the gym a little tipsy from the two and half cans of beer I had been forced to drink by yours truly. I noticed Pauline and Eve were hovering over someone at the far end of the gym and I couldn't help but wonder what the two women were up to.
Curiosity gave way for interest as I waltzed towards them to find out who the brunette with the strange colored eyes was and what her business was with my step sister and Miss Valedictorian. I got there just in time to overhear Eve call the woman a mother of three. I stretched my head forward to see the face of this beautiful woman wearing a cheerleader's uniform that had given birth to three kids but still looked very fit.
I couldn't hide my surprise when Amber Swift's eyes met mine, "Single mother of three?" I blurted out before I could help myself.