Continuous School

[10 years later - The following month]

"You look nice," Ruby said as she looked at Owen who was attempting to tie his tie, staring down his reflection as if it was going to kill him should he look away.

"Thanks..." He continued tying whilst his eyes became more and more intense, grinding his teeth.

"Shall we go?"

"Sure..."

The two of them left their house mentally prepared for the day ahead of them. Ruby had to prepare for the exhaustion she was about to face putting up with her husband for a day. Whilst Owen was challenging the fact that Charley was getting married.

The wedding venue was the same place everyone in the small town got married at, the only church. The venue was always booked out and it was always a challenge to host something there. Luckily, the person who was in charge had to face Charley who wasn't going to let anything ruin her big day.

She sat with her parents trying to calm her nerves. They kept talking about how pretty she looked and how they didn't care if she got divorced several years later.

"Pretty venue..." Sean said as he arrived with Lily who was trying to hide her embarrassment from being dressed in somewhat fancy clothes, but not fancy enough to outshine Charley. "Come on... You weren't that bad on our wedding day."

"That's because I knew you were going to be waiting for me..."

The two of them were met with a surprise attack. Both of their faces turned red as if they were poisoned by each other's love. Some would throw up at the thought, but for these two, they loved embarrassing each other.

"I haven't seen the others in so long! Hurry up!"

At the other end of things, arriving just in time was Ethan and Kaylee who just stepped out of their car. Due to her fame, she covered her face and wore sunglasses with an overly large hat. Often forgetting to take them off inside. Such was the life of a world-famous star and human that annoyed all her friends with her modesty.

"Great venue... really dark though..." She said as Ethan snatched off her glasses and pulled her to where they had to go.

"We are the last to arrive." He said as if he was running off no energy.

"What's wrong with you?" Another voice called from the car as Ethan was about to lock it.

"Why are you here, Bella?"

"Charley and I are friends..."

Ethan's sister Bella, was now 29. She was a successful chef and trained nonstop in a foreign country to pursue her dream. She runs a restaurant which also serves the catering for the wedding. So her reason of 'being friends with a girl she wasn't that close to' was justified.

"Let's go...We'll be late."

The ceremony started just as Ethan and Kaylee took their seats next to Simon and Claire. The two of them gave creepy smiles to Ethan who quickly fell asleep, using Kaylee's hat to hide it. Only, he had Kaylee jabbing into his side every time he started snoring.

# # #

After the ceremony ended, everyone moved and were all sitting around the tables that made it clear where they stood in Charley's mind.

"Told you we would be at the back," Owen said as he held out his hand so money could be put on it.

"I agreed with you but lost rock-paper-scissors so I had to take the losing bet... what a shame." Ethan pulled out a 20 and didn't try to hide his gambling addiction.

"Simon..." Owen said, trying not to come off that he was extremely happy to have won the bet, "Where is yours?"

"God damn it... I should have gone with rock..."

"It makes sense to be at the back," Bella said as she refused to take her insane gaze off Owen. Looking for an opportunity to take the money back or stab him with a fork.

"When are you getting married?" Owen ripped out the forbidden words that would make Bella annoyed.

"When are you getting divorced?" She retaliated back causing Ruby to let out a giant ugly laugh that was quickly shut up by Owen's next comment.

"If anyone's going to get divorced it'd be your brother. Better keep an eye out Simon, Kaylee will be single soon."

Perhaps this wasn't the right time to bring up such a thing. Talking about divorce at a wedding and old love rivalries between your friends should be buried far underground. But for Owen, nothing was ever off-limits, for it was 10 years ago.

"I have a boyfriend, dumbass." Bella decided to tell the group, and her brother, for the first time.

"You have a what now?!" Ethan almost stood up in shock but was forced down before he could make a fool of himself.

"I hope he proposes soon..."

"Moving on..." Lily said, trying to halt the argument that was about to break out. "Who is this person that Charley is marrying? How did they meet?"

"He stalked her in Sixth form. I had to fix it." Owen said, "You don't have to call me cupid. But we all know that everyone on this table is together because of me."

Everyone was already sick of Owen's arrogance. Ruby had been putting up with it for so long she had several ways planned out on how to kill him, one of these was intended to take place at a wedding.

"So... How's Matt?" Simon asked Sean to change the topic.

"He's good. He's gone back to study and is now a software engineer... he's doing well for himself."

The group was calmed at Sean's habit he picked up from Lily. One where he would often smile to himself whilst everyone would stare at the cuteness that they radiated. It seemed that no matter how old the two of them got, they would always be considered the cute ones in the group.

"Kaylee... we all haven't spoken to you in a while... How is everything?"

"Good, things are going well. I'm on a long break till my next role but hopefully, it all goes well in the audition."

The others listened as if they weren't already aware. They all kept up to date with the recent news about her and tried to make sure the world knew they were close friends with a famous actress.

"Can I ask a question, Kaylee?" Owen said, gently raising his hand.

"Oh god no..." Ruby reached into her bag, looking for the usual knife she kept there but could only find the rope.

"Go ahead..."

"This has been bugging me for 10 years. Back in Sixth form, you wrote a letter during the sports festival, what was on it?"

"Oh yeah!" The love guru, Claire, jumped out and stole Ethan's seat from him, snacking on popcorn next to Kaylee who was being pincered by both of them.

"O-oh..." She stuttered, fully aware of what the note was. Trying to hide her face.

Ethan and Simon both reflected on the sports festival, unable to remember fully what happened. But when they did, their faces turned sour and they started grinding their teeth at the painful and embarrassing memories of love.

"I-it was nothing... it was stupid..."

"Come on say..." Owen kept pestering until Ruby gave in and kicked him in the face, digging into his eyes with her high heels.

"CALM DOWN WILL YOU!" She screamed.

"It was only a poem..." Kaylee blurted out.

"A poem?" Owen asked through the rubble and the pain of Ruby's shoes digging into his face.

"Y-yeah... I was going to give it to Ethan... I thought writing my feelings in poem form would be best..."

Claire was satisfied with the answer and sat back in her chair, nodding to herself as if she was in deep thought, replaying the whole of the final year back in her mind.

"Ok, that's all. We can go now." She said to Simon as she dragged him out.

"Is that really you all you came for?"

# # #

Days only have 24 hours, so eventually, things must come to an end. As such, the group all waited outside the venue with the setting sun in front of them. They watched all the other guests fly out and rush to their cars so they could get out of their uncomfortable clothes and make sure to watch the TV shows they all missed due to a stupid event.

"It was good seeing you all again!" Kaylee said as she and Ethan walked to their car to drive off.

"We should meet up again soon. Go for a few drinks." Simon quickly mentioned before being dragged off by Claire, who was slightly jealous.

"I'm always free, just message," Sean said whilst he waited for Lily to hug everyone goodbye.

"Looks like it's just us left." Owen turned to face Ruby who stared at the white walls of the building.

"Doesn't this remind you of our wedding?"

"Of course. That was the best day of my life."

Ruby turned as red as usual and stormed off leaving Owen behind by the entrance. She ran to the car by herself and was ready to drive off after stealing the keys, but felt like waiting for Owen, resting her head on the side of the window.

"Guess I better go as well," Owen spoke to himself as he was alone, as one normally does when alone.

As he was about to take one small step, he was called out:

"Oi, D.i.c.khead." A familiar voice that shook him to the very core called out. He turned around to look at a girl who he hadn't seen in years. She looked the same but was taller and much prettier. Her hair was straight and dark. Almost the same colour as her sisters but dyed so they didn't look alike, whilst her sharp eyes showed evil intentions and scheming that looked like they had tortured many.

"Oh, it's the devil... Didn't know the devil could age."

"Ha! I'm older now so I can swear at you."

Charley's sister stood next to Owen, stopping him from leaving.

"So your sister got married. When are you getting married?"

"I'm only 17. I need to focus on exams, pervert."

"Right..." Regardless of her age, Owen couldn't deal with the girl he stood next to. He looked left and right for a way to escape but saw no success, it was made even worse when the next person arrived.

"ALEX!" the new voice called out.

Owen turned around to look at a large white dress running down the hallway at such speed that it could turn into a giant rolling marshmallow, holding something in its hands.

"You forgot these."

"Damn it, Chi." The girl took some flowers from her sister's hand.

"Long time no see, Charley."

"What do you mean? We just saw each other at the wedding. Idiot."

Owen just stood and smiled. He didn't think too much of it as this was meant to be the big day that she would never forget and tried to hold in his swearing and rage.

"Wait a minute? Who's Alex?" Owen asked only to be responded with fingers pointing to Charley's sister.

"Me." She said. "Alexandra. Everyone calls me Alex."

Owen was faced with one last awkward situation. After meeting her 13 years ago, he only just found out her name. He had only one option, to act as if he knew it all along.

"Oh of course! Alex... I thought you said... malic... yeah..."

The sister laughed at Owen whilst the sun finished setting. He looked at the two small people in front and only realised that Alex had outgrown Charley. He felt like making one last joke about it all but closed his mouth and could only smile at the memories that were in front of him.

"Congratulations on getting married, Charley." Owen said, "Make sure to call once in a while, ok?"

"Duh, of course. We are still friends."

Owen walked off to his car as everything went silent. The sisters laughed at each other and waved at Owen as he opened the door to his car. A moment that would be remembered by them all. It was a shame that Ruby ruined it,

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" She screamed as she picked at his face.

The car drove off with Charley waving at it with her husband walking up from behind. Alex stared at the car and walked away by herself, leaving the two of them alone, hand in hand.