Confrontation

"My name is Reese Walker, and I hated you all." he said as he grabbed the microphone at the auditorium podium. The chatter from the ten-year reunion died off as the attention was suddenly focused on the twenty-eight-year-old man on the stage. Minutes earlier, many of them had been having a conversation with him, not recognizing him. No one had asked his name, but they recognized that he was successful by the Rolls-Royce he had arrived in, the thirty-thousand-dollar watch on his wrist, and the finely tailored suit he donned for the evening. Jaws dropped as his identity registered in their minds. 

Although he was successful and the object of envy now, Reese Walker was far from that level in high school. Many of the people at the reunion didn’t even recognize his name when he announced it. Ten years ago, Reese Walker went to high school with them but had no friends. Ten years ago, the only contact he had with his peers was when they would point at him and make fun of the clothes he was wearing, unaware that his parents had scrimped and saved to get him the few outfits he had in his closet. 

Reese Walker was no jock. Coming in at a mere 135 pounds, a slight breeze could knock him off balance. The only interaction he had with athletes is the occasional times when they needed “help” with their homework. By help, Reese would be required to perfect their shoddy efforts into A+ work. While bullying had shifted into being more psychological from the technological advances of the internet, these athletes were not above some physical “persuasion”. Reese experienced it only once when he didn’t have time to do five essays for the basketball players, and they locked him in a porta-potty overnight. 

Standing in front of his graduation class ten years later, he recognized a few of those guys and felt their shocked gazes scanning over his new appearance.

“It’s been a while since I’d thought about many of you,” he continued as he scanned over his audience whose attention was his from the moment he spoke. “No one recognizes my appearance, and some of you may not even recognize my name. But I recognize every one of you, and I remember who you used to be.”

With that, he nodded his head towards one of those basketball players, Josh Strickland. Josh looked away for a minute in perhaps embarrassment, but Reese hoped it was out of shame that he glanced away. 

“I remember how you treated me. All of you.” he declared defiantly. “I remember the bullying. I remember when I asked you to the homecoming dance, and you turned me down. I remember it all.” He stated this as he made eye contact with Alicia Stevens, a former cheerleader. He had pulled her aside and away from her friends, and asked her if she would be his date to the dance. Although a simple “no” would have sufficed, she scoffed and backed away from him, saying “I don’t even know you!”

Reese remembered that he thought to himself after this, “Well, at least no one else saw that”, but when he got home, he found that she did know who he was because his name and the story was plastered all over Twitter. During school the next day, people he hardly knew walked up to him, grabbed his hand and mockingly said “Will you go to the dance with me?” He ended up not going to homecoming at all. After the dance, he went back to being a nobody, a ghost in the hallway without a face.

Reese’s gaze stopped on one person in the middle of the crowd, and he winced slightly. Connor Ray was looking back at him. Connor had been the closest thing to a friend that Reese had during his senior year. He was somewhat popular and had even hung out with Reese a few times. Reese had considered them friends. However, on graduation day, everyone was taking pictures and celebrating after the ceremony, and Reese walked up to Connor and invited him to grab pizza to celebrate. Connor looked from Reese to his friends. When he looked back at Reese, he responded with “No, I will not go to the dance with you!” which resulted in an eruption of laughter. 

After that moment, Reese erased high school from his mind, or at least, he tried to. He spent all his time becoming the best version of himself that he could. He spent an hour a day in the gym, changing his body from its tree-branch shape into a modern-day Conan the Barbarian. The gym is where he met his wife, Tracy. They dated for only three months before pulling the trigger and getting married in a courthouse. 

Somewhere along the way, with heavy encouragement from Tracy, he found God. She had encouraged him to go to church, and his spiritual walk grew as he learned of forgiveness, love, and sacrifice.

He sculpted his mind too, educating himself on business and ethics until he was wiser than most of his professors. After graduating college, he started a gym equipment company that grew exponentially and made him wealthy beyond his desires. He was living his best life, and he believed he had left high school in the past. Then, he received the invitation for the ten-year reunion. All of the hurt and emotions flooded his mind again. Despite all of his success, he would never be his best self without addressing the mental scars from high school trauma. Thus, he came to the reunion.

“I can’t change how you all treated me,” he said and sighed as he looked down at his wedding band. “None of us can change the past, and I’ve learned that the hard way. But I just want all of you to know that I’m in a much better place than I was ten years ago, and even though it’s no thanks to you… I forgive y’all.”

With that statement, he put the microphone back, walked off the stage, and walked outside. Within a few moments, the music was blaring again, and their celebration had continued. He started walking back to his car when the auditorium door opened and a voice called for him.

“Reese!” it echoed. Reese turned around to see Connor standing apologetically. Connor didn’t say anything for a moment, but it was clear that guilt was eating away at him. How do you apologize for something that you’re already forgiven for?

“Wanna go get some pizza?” Connor finally asked, and Reese gave a soft smile at his lost friend.