Writing Prompt Wednesday #42

He hadn’t seen her since the day they left High School. https://www.dailywritingtips.com/writing-prompts-101/

    He hadn’t seen her since the day they left highschool, but nothing had changed. She still had that same white smile, that same joyful laugh, those same brown eyes. She met his gaze and shot him a glare so fierce that he stumbled backwards. It had always amazed him, how quickly those warm eyes could fill with such hate and anger. No, nothing had changed.
    Things hadn’t ended well.
    Who knew that a relationship that had lasted three years could turn sour so quickly? It was always a problem, he thought, but they’d been able to ignore it. Then graduation came and everything spiraled into chaos.
    “We have different futures,” she had said. He could remember her voice like it was yesterday. “We can’t stay in each other’s way.”
    He had begged, pleaded, tried to make her understand what he would do for her. It didn’t matter. She was bent on the fact that they were bad for each other, and she wouldn’t listen to a word he said about it. 
    So life went on. He graduated college with a degree in education, started teaching back at the school that he missed so. He had heard she had gotten married, then divorced. And now she was here.

    “Hey Gwen it’s been a while,” he said, trying to remain nonchalant with all of these memories whirring around his head.
    “It has,” she said. “How’s life?”
    “Good, good. Living the dream,” an awkward pause. “How about you?”
    “I’ve been good, my son’s starting school here this year.”
    “Really? It’s been that long, huh?”
    “Yeah it has.” Another awkward pause. She looked around the room, noting, “You’re teaching in D-10.”
    “Yeah, Mr. Eichen retired a few years back. I asked to be moved to his room, has a few good memories attached to it,” he said softly. She smiled at him. How long had it been since he’d seen that smile? “I miss you Gwen.”
    She sighed, and the smile was gone. “We’ve gone over this Lark-”
    “I know, I know. ‘Things won’t ever work out with us’, I’ve heard.” He looked at the ground. “I just wish they could’ve.”
    “We had to go on different paths,” she started.
    “And we’ve both ended up here, in the same place we started,” he said bitterly. “Funny, isn’t it?”
    Gwen frowned, placing her hand over his. Suddenly the room shifted. It was 1992, and he was 14. The sound of students talking surrounded him, overwhelming him. It was hard to breathe.
    A hand settled on his wrist, tying him back to earth. A girl, with red hair and blue eyes. She smiled at him. “Hi, this is D-10, right?”
    “Oh, uh, yeah, I think so,” he said.
    “Good,” she said. She stuck her hand out. “I’m Gwen Fillon.”
    “Lark,” he said, shaking it.
    “I have to go,” Gwen said, jerking Lark back to reality. He nodded, and she started to walk away.
    “Hey Gwen,” he said. She turned. “I’ll keep an eye out for your son.”
    She left, and Lark watched her the whole way out. He sighed and made his way to his computer. When did things become so complicated?
    The class roster had been sent to him through his email. Curious, he scanned the pages until he found it. Fillon, 3rd period. Gwen’s boy, then. And his name was Lark. He stared at the name for a few moments, then slowly closed the window. 
    He hadn’t seen her since the day they left highschool. Oh how complicated things have gotten since then. But maybe, just maybe, things weren’t as different as they seemed.