Page 92 (1/2)

March 2020

Kitty Walks On By, Calls Your Name

BEN PARKED, and we sat in the car for what seerio into battle

“It’s not too late to back out of this,” he said finally “There’s nothing in the universe that says you have to go to your high school class reunion”

Ten years With everything that had happened to ht to have passed On the other hand, I could still remember what it felt like to walk down those stinky school halls and worry about grades and graduation and the rest of it Ben was right, I didn’t need to do this, I didn’t need to be here, and I certainly didn’t need to drag hi

He earing a suit and tie, his courtroom best, a fresh shave and brushed hair, all the polish and not hisscruff, whichthis seriously I was in a very mature cocktail dress, black with a red belt, in a style that showed off ure My blond hair was up, and I’d put onin the ht to dress up more often

Did I really want to do this? We could start the car back up and turn around right now

I wouldn’t even have known the reunion was happening except Sadie Martinez sent ed me—she didn’t want to be here alone Sadie and I had been best friends, study partners, double dating to prom, all of it And I hadn’t talked to her since junior year of college because I hadn’t talked to anyone since junior year of college The year I’d been attacked by a olf and transforh school class reunions

My life fell into two halves: before I was turned into a olf and after High school was before It had happened to soh those hotel ballroom doors and wouldn’t know anyone, and the ones I did knoould be angry that I’d stopped talking to the because I was a monster Because I wasn’t just a olf I hosted a talk-radio advice show on the supernatural and had been caught shape-shifting on national television I was a famous olf

Part of anted to turn around was the off chance so they’d be doing the world a favor But I felt like I owed it to Sadie, after all the years I’d dropped out of sight

“Did you go to your high school reunion?” I asked Ben was enough older than me that his ten-year reunion had happened before I o

“Oh hell no,” he said “I couldn’t get out of there fast enough”

“You weren’t even a little bit curious about what happened to people?”

“Nope” He grinned “My dad was in prison by then, I had no interest in explaining all that to that crowd”

I was suddenly daunted I was going to have to explain the olf thing over and over again “Maybe I don’t want to do this,” I murmured

“Okay,” Ben said “Just to get it out in the open, why are we doing this?”

“Because I’ that only happens once, and if I miss it I’ll alonder”

“All good reasons Right Let’s go We can always ditch if things go sidewise”

“But they’re not going to go sidewise It’s a high school reunion, what could possibly go wrong?”

He gave , I knew that lesson