Sorry

They all laughed as they sat around the vinyl table in the diner. They all thought that it was a joke. That the past was all rainbows and butterflies. They hadn't recognized me when they walked in. I hadn't meant to stay in the beginning, but then they had started reminiscing about the past. I had sat back down and listened, wondering if they saw things or remembered things the way that I had. But they didn't.

"Ah, remember that time at the bonfire?" asked Guy 1.

I couldn't remember their names. We didn't exactly run in the same circles at the time, and I rarely ever talked to them.

"Yes!" replied Guy 2, "I remember that! Where the nerd- oh, what's their name?! - well, anyways, where we had given them the wrong directions? Oh! That was amazing! The look on their face..."

"That was hilarious!" cackled Guy 3.

I felt my face burn from embarrassment. I didn't mean to make a complete fool of myself. How was I supposed to know that the email had been tampered with?

"Man! That was funny," continues 3, "Or that time where we had hidden his phone, and he couldn't find it? The kid burst into tears in the middle of the hallway!"

They all howled with laughter. Heat flooded me and anger burned bright.

"Dude! She literally fell to her knees when she saw it was gone! I have never seen a more dramatic response! Like, seriously, who does that?!" chortled 1.

"Or that time where we left her outside in winter? How did she even get back in?!" exclaimed number two.

I gripped the sides of the table. My knuckles turned white as all blood ceased to flow to my fingers.

"Man, what was her name again? It's on the tip of my tongue... Brianna? Bridget? Br..."

"Bree," I supply.

Guy 2 snaps his fingers.

"That's it!"

They all paused as I stood up from the table and turned to look them each in the eye. They sat in the booth behind me, allowing me to be able to eavesdrop without any hardship.

Needless to say, I was surprised the high-school jocks had turned into beer-bellied, middle-aged, already balding men. It hadn't even been twenty years since high-school! What have they been doing with heir lives? I hadn't really seen them when they had walked in. I had only been able to identify their voices. They all looked at me with boredom and annoyance.

"Thanks, but what do you want? Do you know the girl?" he sneered.

The other two laughed, but i didn't see the humor in it. There was no burn or punch line to what he had said. If he thought that that was funny, well, he has become kind of an idiot.

"I don't know her. I am her. Bree Wilson. I would say it's glad to meet you, but then I would be lying. I don't really want to waste my conscience on scum like you."

They pale slightly, except for Guy 1 he began to howl with laughter.

"No way! You know, you've changed quite a bit from the last time I saw you."

I narrow my eyes in his direction.

"So have you. The difference is that I changed for the better. You..." - I make a show of looking him up and down. - "Well, haven't."

His grin turns into a scowl.

"What do you want?"

I sit down in the booth next to Guy 3. I folding my hands in my lap, I begin to talk.

"To set the record straight. You all were reminiscing about what had happened in that past, I think that it is about high time that you saw things from my perspective.

"Yes, you all gave me faulty directions. In the process of looking for the driveway in the middle of the woods, my car had broken down. I had to walk for about three miles- all of which I had walked while it had been pouring rain- and finally came upon a house out in the middle of nowhere. There was a really sweet woman and her son- who was about my age- living there. That is where I met my husband.

"And when, you hid my phone? I cried because Mom had told me that morning that my Grandma wasn't doing well. She had told me that I needed to have my phone on me in case she called. While it was hidden, my Mom had called. She had called to tell me that I needed to come and say good bye. You robbed me of my good bye to my Grandmother who was dying of cancer!

"Lastly, the time when you had left me out in the winter? I had met a dog. No one else was around, and my phone was in the school. As I am sure you remember, there were no houses around the school. I was stranded. The dog had come along and huddled up next to me. I faded into unconsciousness, and when I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. I had mild frostbite and was in critical condition, but was better by the end of the weekend. I kept the dog. Named him Blue. He was a German Shepherd. I hadn't remembered what had happened and have only just recently gotten all of my memories of what happened that night back."

I fell silent and watched them all squirm. I let the silence deepen for a few seconds before speaking again.

"I can forgive you of the first and last event. Something good came out of them, and they wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gone through the hardship. But the second? I can never forgive you for that. It was a stupid, idiotic, brainless stunt that left me deep in depression."

I stand up and give them a cold smile.

"Now, I have places to be. Excuse me."

I can honestly say that I didn't look back at them once. I didn't walk up and talk to them for their benefit or for them to have a change of heart. I knew that they wouldn't. I had done all that because I needed to get it all off my chest. That was all for my benefit. Not theirs. I didn't need a sorry. Seeing them like that... Well, you don't really care once you've seen someone significantly lowered in life.