The Past and the Future: After the Adoptions

Eisenhower High School

Keira's POV

I'll admit it, what was happening today was my idea, much to everyone's dismay. All the talk from my friends about how much they missed high school gave me the idea to have them all volunteer at Eisenhower, our old high school, for a day. 

"I can't believe my niece, Acadia, is in high school." Catlynn said. "I mean, I was in high school when she got adopted and now she's having the same classes and teachers that I had back then, it's just wild to me. Apparently that one science teacher, some of you know who I'm talking about-"

"The ableist one?" Clementine said, cutting Catlynn off with a soft smirk on her face. 

"Yeah, that ableist one that always gave you crap about your feeding tube back when you had it!" Catlynn laughed. "Yeah, he's still there, and Acadia has him as a teacher. Turns out he's just as bad now as he was then."

"I'm surprised Evvy didn't get him fired." Clem said, giggling after she said that. 

"Yeah, me too." Penney said under her breath as we all went into two separate cars, Catlynn, Penney, Clem, Miriam, and Tripler in Catlynn's car and me, Josie, Matilda, and Valerie in Josie's car. 

"Well, I'll see you guys at the school?" Catlynn said. Josie nodded and said, "Yeah, I'll see you there. Hopefully I don't get lost or anything."

"How will you get lost? You drove there by yourself every single day senior year." Penney said.

"Haven't been there in a while, I guess. Anyway, see you in 20, peace!" Josie said, getting in the driver's seat of her car and slamming the door. 

We all nodded and headed off to Eisenhower High School, waiting to see how much it had changed while we were gone.

___________

"I find it kind of bittersweet how all our senior signatures are still there. And how we basically just claimed this little corner of the wall." Matilda said, sighing as she found her name on the wall we all signed during our graduations. "Wow, my handwriting was messy way back when."

"Bold of you to assume it isn't messy now." I said under my breath. 

"Shut up!" Matilda said, swatting my arm as Penney held the door for us. 

"It's a work day for me, I gotta go to my class." Penney said. "My sophomores have a test today and I doubt any of them have studied."

"I could help them." Clem shrugged.

"Clementine, that's technically cheating, plus you absolutely suck at math." Penney deadpanned as we all headed into the school.

In that moment, we were all hit with a wave of nostalgia. 

I smiled as I walked down the hallways, remembering all the times I used to stand in the atrium and meet my friends in the morning. I remembered when we would always compare schedules the week before school started and give the younger kids advice on how to survive our sometimes terrible teachers. I remembered sitting at lunch with my friends, laughing and swapping food like a miniature potluck. 

"High school really was fun, right?" I said. 

"Imagine going there every single day." Penney snorted as we stopped by a classroom that I assumed was hers. "The kids are going to be here in a couple of minutes, and it's funny how much some of them remind me of us as kids. That may just be because Cat's niece is in my third period class, but still. I look at some of them and I think of us in high school."

I smiled as I saw a school bus pull up and students run out and into the school.

"I have to go downstairs, I'll see you all later?" I said.

"Yeah, I'll see y'all at 3. Let's have fun!"