“Then, at the start of junior year, something happened, and Kendricks had fallen out of her good graces. Now instead of charming glances, she gave him dark looks out of the corner of her eye. Meanwhile, he sat sullen in class, his smug look wiped away. Now it was me who she peered at in class with charged glances. We became a couple just a few days into term, and I had gained myself an enemy.”
Jack reached for the first projector slide, as Adam dimmed the lights. Adam knew most of what was coming; he had lived through it. Liam and Tommy did too, but they were too young to remember. Adam did worry about how his brothers would react. Before him, the screen came to life, flickering memories from before Adam's own time. Stony Field, Steeplechase's football field, flickered upon the makeshift screen.
Angus stood on the edge of the metal bleachers with a Jeff cap adorning his head and a cigar hanging off his lip. Next to him, a much younger Moira, with flowing waves of red hair and horn-rimmed glasses, stood beside him, cheering her son on in the Thanksgiving football game vs. St. Bart's Prep. On the bleacher next to them sat two girls - one, an older girl of about sixteen years of age with black hair and blue eyes, and another with bright red hair, braces, and freckles aplenty, who appeared to be around ten years of age. Angus leaned down to the red haired girl and said, "Clap for Jack, Bridgette! There he is!"
Bridgette leaned towards the dark haired girl, and pointed out her brother, in his scarlet helmet and gray football jersey. "There he is, Catherine!" she yelled, clapping excitedly with the crowd. Jack, then seventeen, was being herded off of the field along with his teammates. The Mustangs had just won their fifth consecutive Turkey Bowl against the St. Bart's Falcons, and it was thanks to a successful pass from quarterback Frank Kilpatrick to wide receiver Jack Morrow. Frank and Jack celebrated with Jack's family.
Angus leaned in towards Frank who now towered over him and said, "Laddy! How tall are ya know? Six-two? Six-three?"
Frank, still out of breath from playing, laughed and said proudly, "Coach measured me in at six-five."
Bridgette giggled behind her mother as she stuck her tongue out at Frank. Behind them, Catherine ran to give Jack a hug, as spectators on the bench looked on. One of them, a thin, blond-haired boy stared with deep discontent. Catherine noticed, and whispered to Jack, "Come on! Bernard is staring again." Jack looked back to see Kendricks on the bleachers giving him and Catherine a loathsome glare. Jack smirked at the boy as he walked off with Catherine.
The scene faded, and now a graduation ceremony in Cedar Hall was flickering brightly on the wall. A sea of students in scarlet robes were sitting in metal folding chairs atop a large stage. One by one, the students were being called to receive their diplomas, followed by polite applause.
"Sandra Johnson!"
"Bernard Kendricks!"
"James Kerr!"
"Francis Kilpatrick!"
At the announcement of Frank Kilpatrick’s name, the polite applause that had been afforded to others increased in volume and intensity. Most people simply clapped because Frank was the school's star quarterback, but his father in the back of the auditorium was happiest of all. He stood up and clapped boisterously from the second row. "It's about time, Frankie!" Eamon Kilpatrick yelled, with a deep Scottish brogue. Frank walked across the stage with a big smile on his face. He collected his diploma before taking his seat again.
"Kimberly Leaman!"
"Christina Monti!"
"Andrew Morris!"
"Jacob Morrow!"
The same polite applause that was given to the other students was accorded to Jack. He confidently crossed the stage and collected his diploma, then took his seat with a smirk as the names continued. When finally Catherine Westfeld had received her diploma, the recession march had begun to play and the overjoyed students flooded from the stage into four separate aisles as the scene on the projection faded again.
Light blinded the projector screen as the morning glare reflected off of the freshly laid snow on the ground. Catherine, dressed in white from head to toe, stepped onto the deck of her grandmother's thatched cottage. In her elegant satin white wedding gown with box pleats and a sweetheart neckline, she looked radiant and stunning. Her black hair, pulled up in a sleek French chignon adorned with a sprig of baby breath, stood out in stunning contrast against her white formal attire. Catherine walked delicately over the freshly laid snow, and with each step moved gingerly across the frozen earth. A bright red horse-drawn sleigh, pulled by a black draft horse waited for Catherine to take her to the church. Ernestine, who was dressed elegantly in a dark green long-sleeved gown, helped her granddaughter into a fur cape that protected her skin from the cool winter air. Angus came out of the house, and helped Catherine into the sleigh as they rode off together. While other cars skidded in the ice and snow, Catherine and Angus glided gracefully across the land.