“Does anyone know what happened to her?”
They all shook their heads as a bunch of soccer guys came running towards them. “What’s the hold up?” One of them slapped Stefan on the back.
He lifted up the picture. “Do you remember her?” Several of them shook their heads, except one guy who frowned, reaching forward to grab the photo.
“Who is that?” he asked.
“She went to Lowell, you wouldn’t know her.” Stefan snatched the picture back.
“But I do know her. I think she went to Balboa High. She looks really different in this picture.”
“Wait, do you go to Balboa?” Uncle Alex pointed at the curly-haired guy. He looked younger than me. He stepped forward with a nod.
“How do you know her?”
With a huge grin the guy shook his head, his dark curls bouncing. “If you knew her, you wouldn’t ask that question.” Waving his hand, he called over his shoulder. “Hey, Brayden. Come check out this photo!”
Stefan nudged his opponent. “When did she go to Balboa, Justin?”
“I’m telling you man, I know this chick. She was at Balboa for like two months.”
“When?”
“A couple years back maybe. I wasn’t there then, she used to party with my brother’s crowd. I’ve definitely met her before.”
“Party?” I could barely get the word out.
The guy looked at me, his brown eyes dancing. “Absolutely, bro. She was wild.”
“She so was not. You’re talking about a different girl.” Colette shook her head.
Holding the photo up to his face, he looked at it closely. “She definitely looks different, but I bet you a hundred bucks when I show this to Brayden he will tell you it was that chick he used to hang with.”
“What was her name?” Uncle Alex asked.
The guy shrugged.
“Riley.” Colette answered.
“Nah, it wasn’t Riley. Tyler or something?”
I swallowed, my throat burning as it tried to contain the bile.
Brayden took his sweet time sauntering across the green park. By the time he finally reached his younger brother, most of the Lowell High players had lost interest and gone off to restart their game. The Balboa High player still stuck around, gazing at the photo with this annoying grin. I snatched it back and turned towards Brayden as he approached with his girlfriend and another girl. They looked older than me. I felt small beside them and tried to push up to my full height.
“Hey.” I stuck out my hand to shake. He just kind of looked at it then over at Justin.
“So what am I looking at?”
I held my breath as I passed the photo over. The guy squinted at it, looking as though he didn’t recognize the picture. Relief started to ebb through my system. Hopefully that Justin kid was wrong. But then Brayden’s girlfriend leaned over his shoulder and gasped.
“Shit, is that Taylor?” She whipped the photo from his grasp.
“Taylor? No way.” Brayden held the other edge of the photo and peered at it. His chuckle was dry and a little surprised.
“Man, she looks different there.” Brayden’s girlfriend couldn’t take her eyes off the picture.
“Different how?”
“Well, her hair’s way longer and she dyed it. It used to be an auburn color.” Her fingers tinkled around her own blonde hair. “I can’t believe it.”
Auburn. I wrinkled my nose, trying to picture Dani with reddish brown hair. “Are you sure it’s her?”
“Well, pretty sure, I guess. I mean, maybe it’s not. She does look like Taylor, although she seems really subdued in this pic. Where did you get this?” She flapped the photo at me.
“I…” My tongue felt thick and flabby.
Uncle Alex stepped up, smiling at Brayden’s girlfriend as he gently took the photo back and handed it to my stupid self.
“This girl that you went to school with, what did you say her name was?”
“Taylor Jones. She was one cool chick.” The girl was grinning with some memory. I wanted to know what it was, unravel her brain so I could see what Dani was like as Taylor. “You know for a sophomore, she fit into the senior crowd straight away. People couldn’t get enough of her.”
“What made her so cool?”
The girl tipped her head. “I don’t know. She just had a way about her. She kind of swept into school like a whirlwind. She had everyone eating out of her hand.”
“Especially Howard.” The girl behind her sing-songed.
“Who’s Howard?”
Brayden snickered. “He was this total geek who Taylor played like a pro. She managed to convince him to pay her for ‘cool classes.’ I mean who can pull that off?”
“Cool classes?”
“Yeah, like she gave him a make over and kind of brought him into our crowd.” Brayden crossed his arms. “Howard was a senior like us, but such a loser.” The guy scoffed then cleared his throat as if he felt bad.
“The deal was that if he outfitted her for the prom, she’d be his date and you know, let him….” Brayden’s girlfriend wiggled her eyebrows. “On the night.”
I felt sick. She what?