Pacifica High School - Reef Reflections Yearbook (Garden Grove, CA)

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Erika M-Grade 1

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There rs a place of no return Where memorres forever burn A heaven hell or purgatory recalls old shame or ancrent glory And has not faded or been forgotten It s hard to face and meet wrth tears It haunts a man throughout hrs years And when lt rs unmasked at last We see that rt IS named our Past It lived when man was first begotten,

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The Showdown she watched him walk into the room as she had countless times before with his innate poise, perfect nonchalance, a smile on his tan face, his professional lips parted in a thousand-dollar smile many years of orthodontists and braces' work now forgotten in his aura of manliness shaking off of boyhood remembering to be mature, it s a tough job, but he was good at it as he was at everything he did. she watched him, l L. trying to ignore the flood of memories trying to pretend he was just another guy, no one important, just another pretty face and not her first love, the theft of her heart that he had pinned upon his bulletin board next to old newspaper clippings of prep baseball fame and pictures of Cheryl Tiegs and Charlie's Angels beside countless other hearts with forgotten names that had never been reclaimed from that blue-eyed criminalg but she wanted hers back. failureg a new sensation to her because she never did things at which she might failg it wasn't her way pride was too strong, vulnerability a sin. Beth Adelman Grade 12 but she had failed with him although she didn't know why it hadn't worked or what shc'd done wrong and there wasn't a night since then that she hadn't lay in her bed torturing herself with questions that could never be answered, as she crossed the room he watched her coming with her head held high, green eyes veiled with the same aloofness he'd never been able to penetrate, the same defenses held up that he'd never been able to bring down even in their most tender moments together. she stopped and they smiled at each other he, warmly, she, carefully, and they started the formalities, the hi 's and whatcha been up to? 's and then they both stopped, regarded each other carefully, and he saw a little vulnerbility begin to show, - the defense slipping ever so little, but just enough to say what needed to be said without feeling as though he were talking to a brick wall. I cared for you, y'know. and she shook her head no, you didn't. at least, not enough. he shrugged I want us to be friends. we can, can't we? and then she smiled, a smile of joy and purity untainted by defensiveness and pride, full of vulnerability and honesty and beautyg of course, of course we can. always. he leaned over and kissed her gently and they hugged each other softly and soundlessly and she turned and walked outside and he let her go knowing she needed to be alone and realizing for the first time how badly he'd hurt her. she sat on the fence and cried for the millionth time since she'd known him but this time, as she cried, the tears were tears of release and not of pain. at Katherine Wilkes Grade l2